Teacher and staff member of the Russian Center in Krakow Magdalena Ples has familiarised the students with history, traditions and rituals of the Day of Russian students during classes and language courses at the Center on January 23-25. This day merges four seemingly incompatible celebrations; Church commemorating of Christian martyr Saint Tatiana, the day of establishment of the first Russian university (Moscow State University named after Lomonosov), Slavs’ holiday named Babi Kut, and the name day for every Tatiana.
Young people learned a lot of new information during the classes. They watched a multimedia presentation, took part in virtual tour of MSU and Saint Tatiana’s Home Church, and watched the report about Russian students celebrating Tatiana Day.
The students were interested in the holiday’s history, roles of Lomonosov and Shuvalov in signing the order of MSU establishment, official celebrations of Tatiana Day and festive entertainment.
Polish students really liked funny superstitions and spells that Russian students do to pass the exams successfully, and they even decided to adopt some of these.
Helena Ples, Krakow
