Russia: The People From Grolier's The New Book of Knowledge

	Students play outside a church school in Gorodnya, Russia, about 100 miles northwest of Moscow. The school was organized by a local priest for children from poor families who were not going to school. Photo: AP/Wide World

Although East Slavs form a majority, Russia also has a number of non-Slavic minorities. The second largest ethnic group includes peoples of Turkic origins, such as the Tatars, the Chuvash, and several smaller groups in Siberia. People in the third largest group, the Finno-Ugric, are concentrated along the border with Finland, in the eastern plains and Ural Mountains, and in northern Siberia.

Language

All Russians speak Russian as their primary language. Russian belongs to the East Slavic group of languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European family of languages. Tatar, Chuvash, and other languages are spoken within distinct ethnic groups.

The Russian language is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, also used by other East Slavs and some South Slavs. The Cyrillic alphabet is based on Greek letters with a few additions to convey Slavic sounds. It was probably developed in the 800's by a student of St. Cyril, a Byzantine missionary after whom it is named.

Religion

Although religion was officially banned during the years of Soviet rule, Russians historically have belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Today about 40 percent of ethnic Russians consider themselves orthodox Christians.

Most Tatars and other minority peoples in the Russian Federation are Muslims. Russia also has a significant number of Jews, although large numbers have immigrated to Israel and the United States. Russia also has a relatively small number of Buddhists among the Mongols of the lower Volga River (the Kalmyks) and in the vicinity of Lake Baikal (the Buriats). A small Baptist denomination is the only sizable Protestant group. There are, in addition, even smaller groups of evangelicals such as Pentecostals, Seventh-Day Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Education

In Russia, education is mandatory between the ages of 6 and 17, and almost everybody over the age of 15 can read and write. Schooling from the first grade through college is free. However, only a small percentage of the best students are able to pass the entrance examinations required to gain admission to a university. Of the approximately 40 universities in Russia, Moscow State University in Moscow is the largest.

Under the Soviet system, schools were noted for their difficult curriculum, and students excelled in the sciences, mathematics, foreign languages, physical education, and the arts. But the downfall of Communism and the collapse of the Russian economy dramatically affected education. Today schools are underfunded and suffer from a lack of basic materials. Often the government has difficulty paying the teachers' salaries.

Libraries and Museums

Nearly every town or village in Russia has a public library. The country has two national libraries, the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg and the Russian State Library in Moscow. The largest library in Siberia is the Tomsk State University Library.

Russia contains several of the world's finest museums. Moscow alone has approximately 100 of them, notably the State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts at Moscow University. Notable institutions in other cities include the Nizhniy Novgorod Art Museum and the Novosibirsk Art Gallery, which is renowned for its collection of Russian icons. The State Hermitage Museum, located in St. Petersburg, is one of the largest and most famous art museums in the world.

Way of Life

The great majority of Russians are city dwellers. City people, for the most part, live in apartments. The typical Russian family has two wage earners--the husband and wife--and one or two children. Often, one or more grandparents may also live with the family. Although luxuries are few, most homes have television sets and electric appliances.

About one-quarter of the population lives in villages scattered across the vast area of the countryside. Most of the villages were established as collective, or state, farms during the Communist era. Almost all villagers have electricity but many lack running water. Water must be drawn from wells, often at some distance away.

Food and Drink

For Russians in the countryside, black bread and cabbage soup are staple foods. In the cities, bread, kasha (made from buckwheat), and sausage are commonly eaten. Other favorite dishes include borscht (a soup made from beets or other vegetables), beef Stroganoff (made with sour cream), bliny (stuffed pancakes), and golubtsy (meat wrapped in cabbage leaves).

Caviar, probably the country's most famous and expensive gourmet delicacy, is enjoyed when available and affordable. The best is obtained from the roe (eggs) of sturgeon from the Caspian Sea.

Russians everywhere drink much tea and vodka. Mineral water is preferred to tap water. Soft drinks have become increasingly popular.

Sports and Recreation

Soccer (Europeans call it football) is the most popular team sport in Russia, as in many other countries, followed by basketball, volleyball, and hockey. Lapta, a popular bat-and-ball game similar to baseball, has been played for a long time and is mentioned in old Russian literature.

Russians also enjoy spectator sports, such as boxing, wrestling, skiing, ice-skating, swimming, and gymnastics. In past years, the government provided financial support for a wide variety of sports teams in international competitions.

Cultural Heritage

For most of Russia's early history, its culture was largely religious in nature. Russian art, in particular, was characterized by religious themes, especially during the Middle Ages, when the creation of icons, or religious paintings on wood, flourished. Unaccompanied vocal music was part of Eastern Orthodox worship. Russian architecture was influenced in large measure by that of the Byzantine Empire, centered at Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

Western artistic and literary forms were introduced in the 1700's, and by the 1800's and early 1900's, Russian poets, novelists, playwrights and directors, painters, composers, musicians, and ballet dancers and choreographers had gained world renown.

Donald W. Treadgold
University of Washington
Author, Twentieth Century Russia