Voices from Russia

Monday, 6 December 2010

A Multimedia Presentation. The Spirit of Christmas Throughout the World…

Ded Moroz Procession in Krasnoyarsk

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Christmas/New Year’s Tree in Red Square near St Basil Cathedral in Moscow…

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46-metre (151 foot) artificial tree decorated in the centre of Krasnoyarsk…

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Christmas tree in Freedom Square in Tbilisi in Georgia…

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Concert, Романс к Рождеству (The Romance of Christmas), Part 1, State Chamber Choir of the Republic of Tatarstan (director: Milyausha Tamindarova) (N.B. The spoken intro to the concert extends to 4.15 of this part… then, the music begins)

Pyotr Tchaikovsky, То было раннею весной (It was in Early Spring)

Mikhail Glinka, В крови горит огонь желанья (The Fire of Desire Burns in My Blood) (soloist: Yekaterina Leider)

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Workers install a 30-metre (99 feet) tree in St Peter’s Square from the forests of the South Tyrol at the Vatican…

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Edible Christmas tree made of «Ferrero» candies in Covent Garden, London. The tree is composed of 10,000 «Ferrero», chocolates, weighs 200 kilos (440 pounds), and is about 3 metres (10 feet) tall…

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Paul O’Toole from Somerset poses in front of his house, decorated with 40,000 Christmas lights. The decorations cost him 15,000 UK Pounds (740,109 Roubles 17,677 Euros 23,626 USD). He bought his first decorations in 1998, and, since then, he has raised more than 10,000 Pounds (493,406 Roubles 11,785 Euros 15,751 USD) for charity.

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Decorated house in the village of Poynton in England…

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The Romance of Christmas, Part 2

Pyotr Bulakhov, Не пробуждай воспоминаний (Do Not Stir Up Old Memories) (soloist: Ruslan Safin)

Aleksandr Varlamov, На заре ты её не буди (Do Not Wake Her at Dawn) (soloist: Larissa Zvonareva)

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More than 1,000 people dressed as Santa Claus sit on the steps of the Sydney Opera House after the annual charity marathon…

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American alligator in a Santa Claus hat in the zoo at Vallejo CA USA…

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Huge backlit Santa Claus by the side of the road near Berlin…

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Photographer under an umbrella is reflected in a Christmas decoration in Gelsenkirchen, Germany…

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The Romance of Christmas, Part 3

V. Kharisov, Cantata Elegy Душа (Soul) (beginning)

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Indonesian Christian holds a candle during Christmas Mass in Surabaya, West Java, Indonesia…

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Lighting candles on Christmas Eve at the St Aleksandr Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria…

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Meeting Santa Claus for the first time in New York City NY USA…

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Workers install a Christmas tree in the center of Santiago de Chile, the Chilean capital…

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The Romance of Christmas, Part 4

B. Kharisov, Cantata Elegy Душа (Soul) (conclusion)

Sergei Rakhmaninov, Здесь хорошо (It’s Good Here) (soloist: Aida Garifullina pianist: Artyom Abashyov)

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Christmas service in Nanjing in the PRC…

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A girl decorates the Christmas tree at her home in Baghdad, Iraq…

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Nigerian pilgrims pray at the grotto where the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ at the Cathedral of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine…

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A home in Matraville, a suburb of Sydney NSW in Australia, decorated with Christmas garlands and lights…

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Archbishop Seán Patrick O’Malley of Boston (1944- ) (he’s a Capuchin monk, by the way) distributes Christmas dinner to the homeless at a shelter on Pine Street in Boston MA USA (Archbishop Seán is the real deal… the press keeps him in the limelight, but since he’s legit, that’s no big deal… unlike an unnamed OCA bishop who ostentatiously lives in a HOOMie “homeless shelter” on the left coast)…

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The Romance of Christmas, Part 5

Léo Delibes, duet from the opera Lakmé (soloists: Yekaterina Leider and Aida Garifullina pianist: Artyom Abashyov)

Niccolò Paganini, Romance (guitarists: V. Kharisov and Aleksandr Lavrentev)

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A pair of penguins inspect their Christmas gifts at the zoo in Hannover, Germany…

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Choristers of the Salisbury Cathedral Choir rehearsing before the service in Salisbury, England…

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A Catholic prays during Christmas Eve Mass in Shanghai PRC…

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Wrapping Christmas gifts at the “Santa Claus Factory” in Seoul ROK, an annual charity event…

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The Romance of Christmas, Part 6

Venezuelan Waltz (guitarists: V. Kharisov, Aleksandr Lavrentv)

Pyotr Bulakhov, Тихая звездная ночь (Quiet starry night) (soloist: Yuliya Ziganshina)

Gypsy Waltz (soloist: Yuliya Ziganshina guitarist: Aleksandr Avrentiev)

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Dentist Francisco Amador, dressed as Santa Claus, visits a sick child in Escuela Hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras…

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Girls dressed as angels during Christmas Eve Mass in Valparaíso, Chile…

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Catholic believers pray during Christmas Eve Mass in Shanghai PRC…

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A man dressed as Santa Claus greeting children during Christmas celebrations in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India (note well that such a demonstration is illegal in the Islamofascist US puppet states of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but they’re legal in Iran and India… doesn’t bother the Republicans one whit, it doesn’t)…

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The Romance of Christmas, Part 7

Aleksandr Obukhov, Калитка (The Gate) (soloist: Aida Garifullina)

Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Благословляю вас, леса (Bless You, Forests)

Pyotr Tchaikovsky, aria from Iolanta

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Believers at a Christmas Eve service at the Berlin Evangelical (Lutheran) Cathedral…

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Dutch city of Gouda illuminated by numerous garlands and lights during the 54th «Kaarsjesavond» (Candle Night) on 15 December 2009. Every year,  this event is celebrated on the second Tuesday in December in the market square of Gouda in front of City Hall...

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76-year-old Romuald Madrakewicz, dressed as Santa Claus, playing with an curious boy in an elementary school in Kostowiec, Poland…

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Lit Christmas tree glows amongst a dark grove near Arosa, Graubünden/Grisons, Switzerland…

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The Romance of Christmas, Part 8

Nikolai Listov, Я помню вальса звук прелестный (I Remember the Sound of a Lovely Waltz)

Rinat Yakhin, Ышанам (I Believe) (soloists: Aida Garifullina and Farkhat Zahrutdinov pianist: Margarita Kovarskaya)

Cossack Romance Не для меня (Not For Me)

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Twins sitting on Santa’s lap for the first time on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, Norman OK USA…

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“Accordion Santas” in Seoul ROK…

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The Real Santa Claus reads children’s letters from around the world within the Arctic Circle, near the Finnish city of Rovaniemi in Lapland (that’s near the Arctic Circle)… now, don’t confuse the Real Santa Claus with the One-and-Only Legit Ded Moroz, who lives in Veliki Ustyug in the RF, or the Only One of His Kind Yamal Iri, who lives in Salekhard, also in the RF, right on the Arctic Circle itself…

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Christmas procession in Nazareth, Israel (its’ population is predominately Arab)…

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There is much bilious rot written at this time of year by ostentatiously ”religious” figures on the complete falsity of the secular Christmas holiday. I beg to differ. Today, I read a meretricious piece of rubbish by Terrence Mattingly slamming “pre-Christmas celebrations”… well, I’ll have him know that many Western people disagree with that too… but he had a cheap point to make. Look at it as the secular mid-winter holiday, and everything’s fine, trust me. We should do like the Russians do… they give gifts on New Year’s, a secular holiday, and keep Christmas as a religious feastday, as they should.

That would make good sense… it’s why the radical loudmouths will never approve of it… it’s got to be “perfect” or else, for them… as for me, I know what I think about that… what about you?

BMD

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