Maslenitsa is the Russian version of Mardi Gras and during the festivities, copious amounts of blini or pancakes made with a yeast batter are served and eaten with great gusto.

Russia’s best known and recognizable folk craft items are the nesting dolls known as matrioshka dolls. These dolls come in a wide array of colors, sizes and motifs and represent Russia herself.

Griby are mushrooms in Russian. They are a delicacy picked in the forest and often dried for use after the mushroom picking season. Griby impart a delicious flavor to soups, stock and many other dishes.

Read about Gavrila or Gabriel Derzhavin, a Russian poet, writer, scientist, and politician in the role of Senator, Minister and personal secretary to the Empress Catherine the Great.

Nikolai Gogol was born in 1809 in the Ukraine in close proximity to the village of Dikanka. Gogol had a mystical personality and he wandered for a good portion of his life. He is the author of Dead Souls.

Read the Russian folktale about the old woman, her field of oats and the goat with the glass eyes and golden horns.

There is a name in the annals of Russian history that still intrigues people, some ninety five years after his untimely and premeditated demise: Rasputin. This article delves into his early life.

The Christmas holiday is celebrated for a period of two weeks until Epiphany and is known as Svyatki. Russians travel from one house to another, singing carols or kalyadki, eating and drinking. Good wishes abound and in the past, it was the time for divining the future.

My fondest recollections of the Yule season date back to childhood, when I anxiously awaited the arrival of not Santa Claus, but the Russian Santa called Dyed Moroz or Grandfather Frost. Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated thirteen days after December twenty fifth.

Discover the traditions of Russian Christmas Eve or Sochelnik. Did you know that Russians also have a version of the tale "The Night Before Christmas," written by Nikolai Gogol?