Fall is considered the most romantic time of the year. It inspired Russia’s greatest poets, including Alexander Pushkin and Sergei Yesenin, who found that its “farewell beauty” delights the eyes.
Russian artists also adored the colors extravaganza of the fall, as well as the unique light ambience.
September 1, officially the first day of fall in Russia, is a big holiday called ‘Knowledge Day’, when all the children go back to school after summer holidays.
The most popular definition of fall is ‘golden’. Because… it’s golden in Russia!
All the seasons in Russia have quite distinctive weather conditions, and fall is always about trees turning yellow and red, carpets of fallen leaves appearing and walking under the constant rain. While September can still be warm and green, in October, true fall arrives.
It’s time to wear bright colors to match nature and to get rid of the fall depression frequently caused by the end of the summer, by the cold and the gloomy, gray sky, as well as the dreaded sense of the upcoming long winter.
When it’s sunny outside, people tend to go out for walks.
Parents struggle with the first cold, while heavily dressed kids enjoy their time outside.
The brightest trees to turn red, yellow and orange - and other shades of fall - in Russia are birch and maple trees.
Early fall is always time for fun - playing with all those leaves, collecting them into bouquets. People like to dry them up between book pages, so that they can suddenly come across one years later, neatly pressed and dried.
But, it is a pain to collect all those leaves. Since Soviet times, Russians have got used to cleaning up all the fallen leaves, so that they don’t clutter the streets - especially in spring, when everything thaws and everything is not covered in this stinky, dirty compost.
Everything is transformed in the fall and looks incredibly different - be it Lake Baikal…
…the picturesque Volga River banks…
…the Caucasian mountains
…or the former royal residence in Tsarskoe Selo near St. Petersburg.
Moreover, fall is time for picking mushrooms.
There really are lots of mushrooms in fall and Russians are obsessed with collecting them!
…and for harvest (having no idea what on earth to do with all those apples later!)...
…and for hunting.
Even Soviet leaders used to hunt. Pictured below is Leonid Brezhnev.
Fall was also colored in red, not only because of trees, but also because of the main Soviet fall holiday, the celebration of the Revolution anniversary. A big parade with placards and red banners used to be held on November 7 every year.
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