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Welcome to the Ecom Monthly Russian Videocast.
July is a very hot month,
so I think a lot of people feel like going swimming or just going somewhere close to a place with water.
So, in Russia, there is a very old festival that is celebrated by gathering next to a river, or many different rivers in Russia.
So, we will talk about it in our Season Talk.
And in Culture Talk, I would like to introduce Russian climate and geography.
Maybe you will find it interesting.
I hope you'll enjoy our videocast. Давайте начнем.
In July, in Russia a very ancient pagan festival, called Ivan Kupala Day, is celebrated.
This festival is celebrated from very old times
and definitely at the time of revolution and afterwards it was not celebrated,
but recently since there is a tendency to bring back the old traditions,
many people started celebrating it again.
This festival is very interesting.
At this time young men and women gather in places close to a river
and for example the girls make garlands, very beautiful garlands and throw them into the river.
It is also possible to tell fortunes using the garlands.
For example, those who are not married yet, can find out whom and when they are going to marry.
Also some people jump over fire and look for fern flowers.
It is very difficult to find fern flowers since they are very rare.
That's why people believe that the person who will find a fern flower will definitely be lucky.
So, if you go to Russia in July, I recommend to try to look for one, may be you can find it.
Also today I would like to talk about Russian geography and climate.
As you probably know, Russia is a very big country
and its area occupies 16,995,800 square kilometers.
That is a lot and by area it is about 4 areas of the European Union,
I mean, that if you multiply the area of the European Union by four, you will get the area of Russia.
That is a lot.
Therefore if you would like to travel from the European part of Russia to the Asian part,
you will cross 11 time zones.
That is very far and if you go by train, then your journey will take you about 10 days.
Three thirds of the area of Russia are occupied by Siberia, and, as you know, it is very cold there.
Actually the average yearly temperature on the whole territory of Russia is minus five, to be exact, it is minus five point five degrees,
and in Siberia the average winter temperature is almost minus twenty.
So it is very cold.
And if you are going to the south of Russia, it will be quite warmer and very dry, there are even deserts there,
so in some places it is even very very hot and it is difficult to find water.
In Moscow and in St. Petersburg the climate is more similar to the European one.
And here it is also very cold, and very windy with the wind blowing from all sides, and here...
not so cold, but could drop down to minus twenty, minus twenty five.
Although that would be probably considered very cold for most Europeans.
I hope that one day you will visit Russia and will get to know its climate and geography through real experience.
I hope you enjoyed our July videocast
and that you have learned many new things about Russian geography, climate, and about our festivals.
As I have mentioned earlier, it is not so cold in Russia in July, actually it is quite warm, and in some places it is even hot,
so although it is hot and everyone wants to relax,
I hope you will not give up your Russian studies.
See you next month. Good bye.