Victory Day Celebrations: Memory and Validation

Abstract

The Soviet Union was characterized by an array of holidays related to socialist ideology and nation building, including May Day and Victory Day in May, Women’s Day in March and Revolution Day in November [Lane 1981; Serbyn in press]. While the effects of the fall of the Soviet Union on daily life have been extensively documented, folklorists have yet to examine its concomitant effects on these socialist holidays. This paper, which examines the evolution of one of these holidays, is based on data collected at the fifty-sixth celebration of Victory Day (May 9, 2001) in Novosibirsk and in interviews with five Novosibirsk residents, all ethnic Russians. My informants, all residents of Novosibirsk ranging in age from 27 to 65, were raised with these holidays. For these people, they constitute a tradition akin to calendar rituals in the Russian village. The Soviet national holidays, primarily an urban phenomenon, united city residents and celebrated seasonal change (e.g. May Day was not only a celebration of the worker, but also of the coming of spring) as well as furthered political aims. At the present time, Labor Day and Revolution Day are almost exclusively Communist celebrations, despite the fact that they remain national holidays. However, Victory Day is celebrated by a large proportion of the population in the Russian territory of the former Soviet Union. (1) Here I examine why celebration of this holiday has survived nearly intact when other Soviet holidays are much more restricted in practice. In addition, I shall discuss whether the Soviet functions of the holiday have still been preserved or whether the holiday serves other purposes in the post-Soviet world.