A brief history of the National Unity Day holiday in Russia. A brief history of the holiday of National Unity Day in Russia The history of the creation of the holiday of National Unity Day

National Unity Day

National Unity Day is an official public holiday in Russia. Noted fourth of november, since 2005. The last holiday (non-working) day of the year in Russia.

Official status of the holiday National Unity Day in the Russian Federation

The holiday was established by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2004 on the basis of the Federal Law “On the inclusion of Article 1 of the Federal Law “On the Days of Military Glory (Victory Days) of Russia.” Accordingly, for the first time Russians celebrated the holiday on November 4, 2005.

Brief information about the history of the holiday

National Unity Day is celebrated in memory of the events when the people's militia, led by Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, liberated Moscow from Polish invaders in 1612.

History of National Unity Day

- On October 22 (November 1 according to the Gregorian calendar), 1612, militia fighters led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky took Kitay-Gorod by storm, the garrison of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth retreated to the Kremlin.

— Prince Pozharsky entered Kitai-Gorod with the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and vowed to build a temple in memory of this victory. On October 26 (November 5 according to the Gregorian calendar), the command of the interventionist garrison signed a capitulation, releasing the Moscow boyars and other nobles from the Kremlin at the same time.

— The next day (October 27) the garrison surrendered. At the end of February 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Romanov, the first Russian Tsar from the Romanov dynasty, as the new Tsar.

— In 1649, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, October 22 (according to the Julian calendar), was declared a public holiday, which was celebrated for three centuries until 1917.

According to the Orthodox church calendar, this day marks the “Celebration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (in memory of the deliverance of Moscow and Russia from the Poles in 1612),” which falls on October 22 according to the Julian calendar. Due to the increase in the differences between the Julian and Gregorian calendars over the past centuries, this day has shifted to November 4th. It is this date - October 22 according to the Julian calendar, or November 4 according to the Gregorian calendar - that was chosen as the day of the public holiday.

Every year the Russian Federation celebrates National Unity Day, the date of which is November 4. This is a major public holiday for the whole country and is an official day off.

The holiday was approved by the Federal Law, signed in 2004 by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, and already in 2005 the whole country celebrated the national Russian holiday. And the initiative for approval was introduced by the Interreligious Council of Russia, whose leaders are representatives of the traditional faiths of the state.

The Interreligious Council's proposal to celebrate the holiday on November 4 was made for a reason. The date of the celebration is connected with the tragic events of 1612, when the capital of the Russian Federation, Moscow, was liberated from invaders from Poland.

Today, the Russian Federation is home to 195 nationalities and peoples that belong to various religious movements. Every person living in Russia can easily answer when is National Unity Day, and the goal of the holiday is to bring all people living in Russia to unity. During the celebration the people of Russia honor the liberators of Moscow, and express their civic position - the desire for peace in their own country and the prosperity of the state. The celebration is accompanied by political rallies and special events.

History of the National Unity Day holiday

At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries there was a series of tragic historical events that were called the Time of Troubles. Many historians note that the Troubles were caused by the end of the rule of the Rurik dynasty. Then economic situation became unfavorable and there was a foreign invasion. The people were forced to take up arms against the invasion of the Polish invaders. During the Time of Troubles, two attempts were made to create a militia.

Creation of a militia

The people were forced stand up for the defense of the homeland after the death of Patriarch Hermogenes. Prokopiy Lyapunov, a native of the Ryazan region, led the first militia, but there was discord between the Cossacks and nobles, and Lyapunov was killed on false charges, and the militia was dispersed.
Second wave of militia was raised in Nizhny Novgorod in 1611 under the leadership of the headman Kuzma Minin, who proposed to raise funds for the creation of defensive purposes, after which the townspeople, with their consent, were taxed to create a militia. The main commander of the second wave of the second wave of defense was Dmitry Pozharsky, whose candidacy was nominated by Minin himself. Minin immediately became Pozharsky's assistant.

A call was sent out from Nizhny Novgorod to all cities of the country to gather militia. Not only peasants and townspeople, but even nobles joined the ranks of defense. In counties and cities of the Volga region were formed main defensive forces. The main goals of the rebels were to liberate Moscow from invaders and prevent a foreign sovereign from being on the Russian throne. At the same time, the boyars, led by Prince Fyodor Mstislavsky, sought precisely to ensure that the prince Vladislav, invited from Poland, would come to reign. After the overthrow of foreign power, the militia sought to create a new Russian government.

In March 1612, under the banner of Minin and Pozharsky, the militia marched to Yaroslavl, where the “Council of the Whole Land” was created, which became a temporary government body. It is important that in the general liberation from foreign invaders Representatives of all classes and peoples who lived on the land that was part of the Russian state took part. By joint efforts, on November 4, 1612, the people took Kitay-Gorod by storm, and were able to defeat the Polish invaders and drive them out of Moscow.

The powerful impulse of victory in November 1612 served to revive the great Russian state. In 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected a new tsar, Mikhail Romanov. To honor the icon that protected the militia during their exploits, Prince Pozharsky built the Kazan Cathedral at his own expense.

In 1649, on November 4, a mandatory holiday was approved in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary and in gratitude for her assistance in release great country from the Polish invaders, but during the Revolution in 1917 the holiday was cancelled. It is worth noting that the holiday was not new for the Russian Federation, but in 2004 new life was breathed into it.

Holiday traditions

Today, this holiday symbolizes the unity of the people, thanks to which it became possible to defeat the Polish invaders of Russian power. This the holiday gives an opportunity not only remember not only one of the great victories, but also reminds Russians that Russia is a multinational country and only through joint efforts can the enemy be defeated. To this day, lush and grandiose patriotic celebrations take place in all cities of the Russian Federation. Folk festivals include fun entertainment programs, concerts and fireworks.

The loudest celebrations

In 2005, Nizhny Novgorod became the central city in which a large-scale celebration took place. And also in November 2005, a monument to Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Mitin was unveiled. The monument was erected on National Unity Square near the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist.
Since 2007, the holiday has gained enormous popularity, with 39 events taking place in Moscow alone. Every year, a ceremonial laying of flowers takes place at the monument to Mitin and Pozharsky with the participation of top government officials.
in 2013, according to information from the head of the nationalist movement “Russians”, he noted that more than 20 thousand people took part in the action called “Russian March”, held during the celebration of National Unity Day.

Ecuadorian authorities have denied Julian Assange asylum at the London embassy. The founder of WikiLeaks was detained by British police, and this has already been called the biggest betrayal in the history of Ecuador. Why are they taking revenge on Assange and what awaits him?

Australian programmer and journalist Julian Assange became widely known after the website WikiLeaks, which he founded, published secret documents from the US State Department in 2010, as well as materials related to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But it was quite difficult to find out who the police were leading out of the building, supporting him by the arms. Assange had grown a beard and looked nothing like the energetic man he had previously appeared in photographs.

According to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, Assange was denied asylum due to his repeated violations of international conventions.

He is expected to remain in custody at a central London police station until he appears at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Why is the President of Ecuador accused of treason?

Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa called the current government's decision the biggest betrayal in the country's history. “What he (Moreno - editor’s note) did is a crime that humanity will never forget,” Correa said.

London, on the contrary, thanked Moreno. The British Foreign Office believes that justice has triumphed. The representative of the Russian diplomatic department, Maria Zakharova, has a different opinion. “The hand of “democracy” is squeezing the throat of freedom,” she noted. The Kremlin expressed hope that the rights of the arrested person will be respected.

Ecuador sheltered Assange because the former president had left-of-center views, criticized U.S. policies and welcomed WikiLeaks' release of secret documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even before the Internet activist needed asylum, he managed to personally meet Correa: he interviewed him for the Russia Today channel.

However, in 2017, the government in Ecuador changed, and the country set a course for rapprochement with the United States. The new president called Assange “a stone in his shoe” and immediately made it clear that his stay on the embassy premises would not be prolonged.

According to Correa, the moment of truth came at the end of June last year, when US Vice President Michael Pence arrived in Ecuador for a visit. Then everything was decided. “You have no doubt: Lenin is simply a hypocrite. He has already agreed with the Americans on the fate of Assange. And now he is trying to make us swallow the pill, saying that Ecuador is supposedly continuing the dialogue,” Correa said in an interview with the Russia Today channel.

How Assange made new enemies

The day before his arrest, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristin Hrafnsson said that Assange was under total surveillance. “WikiLeaks uncovered a large-scale espionage operation against Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy,” he noted. According to him, cameras and voice recorders were placed around Assange, and the information received was transferred to the Donald Trump administration.

Hrafnsson clarified that Assange was going to be expelled from the embassy a week earlier. This did not happen only because WikiLeaks released this information. A high-ranking source told the portal about the plans of the Ecuadorian authorities, but the head of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, Jose Valencia, denied the rumors.

Assange's expulsion was preceded by the corruption scandal surrounding Moreno. In February, WikiLeaks published a package of INA Papers, which traced the operations of the offshore company INA Investment, founded by the brother of the Ecuadorian leader. Quito said it was a conspiracy between Assange and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and former Ecuadorian leader Rafael Correa to overthrow Moreno.

In early April, Moreno complained about Assange's behavior at Ecuador's London mission. “We must protect the life of Mr. Assange, but he has already crossed all boundaries in terms of violating the agreement that we came to with him,” the president said. “This does not mean that he cannot speak freely, but he cannot lie and hack.” ". At the same time, back in February last year it became known that Assange at the embassy was deprived of the opportunity to interact with the outside world, in particular, his Internet access was cut off.

Why Sweden stopped its prosecution of Assange

At the end of last year, Western media, citing sources, reported that Assange would be charged in the United States. This was never officially confirmed, but it was because of Washington’s position that Assange had to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy six years ago.

In May 2017, Sweden stopped investigating two rape cases in which the portal’s founder was accused. Assange demanded compensation from the country's government for legal costs in the amount of 900 thousand euros.

Earlier, in 2015, Swedish prosecutors also dropped three charges against him due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Where did the investigation into the rape case lead?

Assange arrived in Sweden in the summer of 2010, hoping to receive protection from American authorities. But he was investigated for rape. In November 2010, a warrant was issued for his arrest in Stockholm, and Assange was put on the international wanted list. He was detained in London, but was soon released on bail of 240 thousand pounds.

In February 2011, a British court decided to extradite Assange to Sweden, after which a number of successful appeals followed for the WikiLeaks founder.

British authorities placed him under house arrest before deciding whether to extradite him to Sweden. Breaking his promise to the authorities, Assange asked for asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy, which was granted to him. Since then, the UK has had its own claims against the WikiLeaks founder.

What awaits Assange now?

The man was re-arrested on a US extradition request for publishing classified documents, police said. At the same time, Deputy Head of the British Foreign Ministry Alan Duncan said that Assange would not be sent to the United States if he faced the death penalty there.

In the UK, Assange is likely to appear in court on the afternoon of April 11. This is stated on the WikiLeaks Twitter page. British authorities are likely to seek a maximum sentence of 12 months, the man's mother said, citing his lawyer.

At the same time, Swedish prosecutors are considering reopening the rape investigation. Attorney Elizabeth Massey Fritz, who represented the victim, will seek this.

One of the new holidays that recently appeared on our calendar is National Unity Day.

The date of this holiday historically became November 4, and this day has been an official holiday for residents of Russia since 2005. However, it is worth understanding how National Unity Day came about, and what events is this holiday dedicated to?

National Unity Day: a brief history of the holiday

This holiday was established in honor of an important event in the history of Russia - the liberation of Moscow from Polish invaders in 1612, and is timed to coincide with the Day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Back in 1612, when the Russian land was groaning under the yoke of the Polish-Lithuanian invaders, in the city of Novgorod, under the leadership of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, they gathered a people's militia and liberated Kitay-Gorod on October 22. And the military, who were in the service of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, took refuge in the Kremlin. On October 26, capitulation was signed, and the next day the army surrendered. Thanks to the selfless feat of the people, in 1613, towards the end of February, a Zemsky Sobor was held, at which a new king from the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail, was elected. From then until 1917, the Russian Empire was headed by tsars from the House of Romanov.

A completely logical question would be: when is National Unity Day in Russia, if according to history it is October 22, and the celebration is November 4? It's all about calendars. After 1917, the Soviet government changed the calendar from Gregorian to Julian, so October 22 in the modern world corresponds to November 4.

Day of National Unity is a holiday of courage, heroism and unity of the people, when, not being afraid of the enemy, people rallied together under the leadership of Minin and Pozharsky and liberated their homeland from the enemy army and from unrest. Thanks to the people's feat, an autocrat appeared in Russia.

The history of the establishment of the holiday in Russia was quite complex. Heated debates arose in society. Opinions about the holiday differed. There was an opinion that National Unity Day would not take root in modern society. But in 2004, the idea of the holiday gained strong support not only in the Duma, but also in the church, and also thanks to widespread public support. And at the end of 2004, on the eve of the New Year holidays, on December 27, a draft law was adopted in the Duma.

Different opinions of Russian citizens initially caused misunderstandings about the holiday and often linked the introduction of Unity Day with the desire to replace (cancel) the November 7 holiday. But thanks to numerous discussions, National Unity Day became independent and not “artificial.” This holiday testifies to the strength of the human spirit and says that no matter who you are, rich or poor, no matter what faith you belong to, united, all nationalities courageously and selflessly fought back the Troubles that had hitherto walked across Russian soil.

Today National Unity Day is celebrated widely and en masse. Concerts, rallies, festive processions - all this unites people and reminds them of the feat of their ancestors, which is not forgotten even in 2015, after 403 years.

He elected Mikhail Romanov, the first Russian Tsar from the Romanov dynasty, as the new Tsar.

On November 4, 1612, soldiers of the people's militia under the leadership of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky took Kitay-Gorod by storm, liberating Moscow from Polish invaders and demonstrating an example of heroism and unity of the entire people, regardless of origin, religion and position in society

However, opinions were expressed that the November 4 holiday has no historical connection with the events described above, and discussions were made about the way of dating old holidays in a new style. All these opinions boil down to one thing: in order to abolish the Soviet holiday of the Great October Socialist Revolution, as well as to complete work on the bill ahead of schedule, the date November 4 was chosen.

It was also noted that National Unity Day is a resurrected public holiday established in 1649 by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. According to this decree, the church holiday of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God acquires state status. With the advent of Soviet power, the tradition of celebrating the liberation of Moscow was interrupted.

Some political scientists and politicians also spoke out about the holiday. Their opinions on this issue differ. There were words that the new holiday would not take root in Russia, and that National Unity Day has good prospects in the future.

History of the holiday

The immediate reason for the introduction of the new holiday was the government's planned cancellation of the celebration of November 7, which in people's minds is associated with the anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917.

The idea to make November 4th a holiday National Unity Day was expressed by the Interreligious Council of Russia in September 2004.

It was supported by the Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy and thus acquired the status of a Duma initiative.

On the same day, members of the Presidium of the Interreligious Council of Russia appealed to the Chairman of the State Duma, Boris Gryzlov, with a request to consider the Council’s statement on establishing the date November 4 as a holiday. The Council supported the initiative to introduce a new holiday. The corresponding appeal, along with the text of the statement, was distributed in the Duma in connection with the consideration in the first reading of amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation related to the revision of holiday dates.

On the eve of the first celebration of National Unity Day, a sociological survey was conducted in 46 regions of the country. 33% of respondents believed that on November 4 in Russia the Day of Accord and Reconciliation is celebrated, 8% were going to celebrate the Day of National Unity, and 5% - “Day of Liberation from the Polish-Lithuanian Interventionists.” The same poll showed that the majority of Russians (63%) had a negative attitude towards the cancellation on November 7.

Even more interesting are the results of the 2009 survey. The question was formulated as follows: “What kind of holiday is celebrated in Russia on November 4?” More than 30% of respondents found it difficult to answer. 45% responded that they would celebrate National Unity Day, and 6% said that November 4 is the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Just over 10% of the population believes that in November the country celebrates the anniversary of the October Revolution.

The holiday was also actively celebrated in Moscow (where two religious processions and a “Russian March” took place; the president of the country laid flowers at the Moscow monument to Kozma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky), Samara, Volgograd, Vladimir, Kostroma, Petrozavodsk, St. Petersburg and other cities.

2011

Holiday celebrations are taking place all over the country. Dmitry Medvedev laid flowers at the monument to Minin and Pozharsky and organized a reception at the Grand Kremlin Palace. In parallel with the nationalist “Russian March,” a demonstration under the same name “Russian March” took place in Moscow, for which the “Nashi” movement has been gathering representatives of various nationalities for three years in a row.

year 2012

Traditionally, the center of the festive events will be the city of Nizhny Novgorod. The regional government allocated 15 million 200 thousand rubles for organizing the holiday. In addition, by November 4, a sand sculpture about 30 meters long and about 5 meters high will be erected in Nizhny Novgorod. There is information that the sculpture will be thematic, that is, depicting Kozma Minin’s appeal. The full program of festive events in Nizhny Novgorod became known a week and a half before the start of the celebrations.

Notes

Links

Federal Law of December 29 No. 201-FZ
Echo of Moscow. What will be celebrated in Russia on November 4, 2005? About the Time of Troubles, chronology of events, confusion with calendars.
News. Holidays. How they appear and who installs them. Interview with Andrei Nikolaevich Sakharov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A detailed discussion of the problems associated with the date of the holiday and its history.
BBC Russia. Heroes who were not given their due during their lifetime.
RIA News. Russian Unity Day. Reference
V. E. Shmatov. Prince Pozharsky is a man of high faith, honor and duty
Vladislav Nazarov. What will be celebrated in Russia on November 4, 2005?
Smirnov I.V. Politics vs science. Biography of National Unity Day published

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

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