Sample Russia - Holidays (Grades 3-6) Worksheet
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Russia - Holidays
By Ekaterina Zhdanova-Redman 		  
1     Russians love to celebrate holidays, and there are many official and non-official holidays there. But before you find out which holidays are celebrated in Russia, let's talk about a calendar.
 
2     There are many different kinds of calendars in the world that have different numbers of days in months, different numbers of months in a year, and are based on different things, usually natural events. There are calendars based on phases of the Moon (lunar calendar), the Sun (solar calendar), stars and constellations (sidereal calendar), and many others.
 
3     You, of course, know the kind of calendar we use now. It is based on a 24-hour day, has 365 days (or 366 days in a leap year), and 12 months in a year. Julius Caesar developed this type of calendar in ancient Rome in the mid-first century BC. It was called the Julian calendar after him and was used in Europe until late 16 century.
 
4     The Julian calendar was not very correct--its year was a little bit too long, so in the 16th century it was corrected by Pope Gregory XIII and was called the Gregorian calendar. This reformed calendar moved dates 10 days forward, so for example October 5 had to become October 15.
 
5     In Russia, the Julian calendar has been used for a much longer time than in Europe, and wasn't reformed until 1918. According to the Gregorian calendar, dates had to be moved 13 days forward, so February 1, 1918 became February 14. To avoid the possibility of confusing the names of these calendars Russian people called the old Julian calendar the Old Style calendar, and the new Gregorian calendar--the New Style calendar.

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