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Almost every nation and country has a reputation of some kind. The Englishmen are reputed to be cold, reserved, rather naughty easy-going and fond of sport. They are the nation of stay-at-homes. «There is no place like home», they say. The English man’s home is his castle is a saying known all over the world. They prefer a small house built for one family, with a small garden are a fire in the centre of the house. They like animals very much and follow the traditions concerning food and meals. We know much about English traditions and customs but now I’d like to say a few words about the traditions of my native land-Russia. First, about Russian people. To my mind, the main traits of their characters which differ them from other people are hospitality, their «open heart», «golden hands», wise Russian fairytales reflect this wisdom. Our people are hardworking, patient, never loosing hope for better life. The Russians are the talented nation. Russia gave the world beautiful names of Pushkin and Lermontov, Chaikovsky and Repin, thousands of names of world famous poets, writers, composers, scientists. All of them are the pride of the nation because they sand the beauty of our nature and people.
Besides these great names in literature and music, our country is famous for Russian traditional specific crafts its skilled craftsmen. Painted boxes of Palekh, coloured shawls of Pavlov Posad, clay toys of Dymkovo, laces of Vologda are known all over the world.
The names of Gzhel and Khokhloma are considered to be the symbols of Russia as well as matryoshkas and samovars. The history of khokhloma goes back into the 17th century Producing of tableware-dishes, spoons, mugs was begun at that time in the villages of Suomino and Khokhloma in the Nizhniy Novgorod Province. On the banks of the great Russian river Volga. Many carpenters, painters have been working since then reviving traditions of old masters. The Khokhloma style is characterized by using plant elements in painting the tableware. The prevailing colours are black, yellow, golden, green and red. And nowadays this craft is sure to be saved, it will be developed and brought into the future by the new generation of painters.
The reviving of old crafts is connected with the reviving of the traditional arts of all peoples inhabiting our big country. There are 100 of them. They revive their culture, costumes, dances and language. It is the revival of our souls. Now we celebrate the forgotten holidays - Troisa, Maslenitsa, Easter. We again sing Russian folk songs and chastushki, dance Barinya and perform khorovods, ride in troikas. Traditional Russian cooking is world-famous for such dishes as okroshka, shi, pelment, kurnik, kvass. We begin to build and reconstruct churches. The example of it is the building of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. It is the symbol of reviving human feelings, national pride and patriotism.
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