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Здравствуйте. Welcome to the Ecom Russian Monthly Videocast.
How is everybody doing?
I hope you are enjoying your winter holidays and are preparing for the celebrations of Christmas and the New Year.
Russians celebrate Christmas in January, so we will talk about this in the next month.
This month, in our Season Talk, I want to introduce to you how Russians prepare and celebrate the New Year.
It is quite a big holiday in Russia.
In our Culture Talk, we will introduce some Russian gestures.
For example, this one.
Do you know what that is? Can you guess?
Well, you will see in the Culture Talk.
So, давайте начнем.
On the night from the 31st of December to the 1st of January, many people, almost everyone in Russia celebrates the New Year.
Basically, this event is celebrated all over the world, but Russians consider it to be very special.
Many people believe that, on New Year's Eve, wishes come true
and many consider it necessary, to have many lights switched on in the house on New Year's Eve,
to invite many people, and make sure that the family gathers together and also that there is plenty of food and drinks on the table,
then one can live happily and prosperously for the whole next year.
Russians often drink a lot during the New Year, for example: champagne, Russian sparkling wine,
and also some drink ***, and other alcoholic drinks.
Also many people send cards to each other.
Recently, not so many people send cards by post, and many prefer to use email,
but still sometimes we send postcards, that say: "Happy New Year!"
Actually, New Year is a family event,
but since in Moscow, there are fireworks on the Red Square at midnight,
so many people definitely go outside, despite the fact that it is very cold,
and celebrate the New Year at the Red Square.
And, as you can see here, the fireworks on the night of the New Year are really really beautiful.
You should definitely watch them, if you are in Russia during the New Year celebrations.
Also today I wanted to talk about Russian gestures.
Actually Russian gesticulation is quite diverse
and there are many gestures in Russia that are not used in other countries.
Today, I would like to introduce three of these gestures and all of them have the same meaning.
Please try to guess, what do they mean.
So the first gesture is like this...,
the second gesture is like this...,
and the third gesture like this....
So, do you know what your Russian friends are trying to say, when they show you these kinds of gestures?
Maybe some of you have guessed, that they mean to go out drinking together, for example to a bar.
And if you would like to go out drinking with your Russian friends,
you can try using one of these gestures.
So, on this I would like to finish our December videocast.
I would like to thank you for watching our videos for the whole year,
and, I hope, that despite the fact that December is a very busy month,
and we all have many things to do, and we are meeting our friends, family, doing lots of shopping,
I hope, that it will not slow down your studies of Russian.
I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope to see you again in the next year. Good-bye!