
Unity Day, also called the National Unity Day (Russian: День народного единства, romanized: Denʹ narodnogo yedinstva) and the Day of People's Unity, is a national holiday in Russia held on 4 November [O.S. 22 October]. It commemorates the popular uprising which ended the Polish-Lithuanian occupation of Moscow in November 1612, and more generally the end of the Time of Troubles and turning point of the Polish intervention in Russia.
The day's name alludes to the idea that all classes of Russian society united to preserve Russian statehood when there was neither a tsar nor a patriarch to guide them. In 1613 tsar Mikhail Romanov instituted a holiday named Day of Moscow’s Liberation from Polish Invaders.[1] It was celebrated in the Russian Empire until 1917, when it was replaced with October Revolution Day, a commemoration of the Russian Revolution. Unity Day was reinstituted by the Russian Federation in 2005, when the events of the year 1612 have been celebrated instead of those of 1917 every 4 November since. The day is also the feast day of the Russian Orthodox icon of Our Lady of Kazan.
History
One of the initiators of the establishment of the holiday was Vladislav Surkov:
Reception
According to a poll in 2007, only 23 percent of Russians know the name of the holiday, up from 8 percent in 2005. 22 percent identified the holiday as the Day of Accord and Reconciliation, the name of the holiday on 7 November during the 1990s. Only 4% knew that the holiday commemorates the liberation of Moscow from Polish-Lithuanian invaders, and in 2005, only 5%. [4]
See also
- Battle of Moscow (1612)
- Public holidays in Russia
- Russian march
- 1612, a historical film dramatizing the purpose of Unity Day
- Unity Day (disambiguation), in other countries
References
- ↑ "Russia Newsroom article". Archived from the original on 2011-11-27. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
- ↑ "⚡️ЧВК Пегов⚡️Сурков и Бородай о будущем ЛДНР, Украине, Боинге, Байдене и чиновниках⚡️ - YouTube" [⚡️PMC Pegov⚡️Surkov and Boroday about the future of the LDPR, Ukraine, Boeing, Biden and officials⚡️ - YouTube]. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
- ↑ "Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, day of celebration, meaning, photo. Holidays Kazan summer and Kazan winter (autumn)". 499c.ru. Archived from the original on 2023-11-25. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
- ↑ "The Moscow Times".