Victory Day

Today is May 9, which means it's the anniversary of the capitulation (I had to look up this word - it's a special kind of treaty) of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in World War 2, commonly referred to by the Soviets as the Great Patriotic War. Wikipedia tells me that the Baltic states, which claim that the Soviet Union used its victory over Nazi Germany as an opportunity to occupy them for next 40 years, celebrate the victory day on May 8. I will have to confirm this with a Balticonian.

Anyway, on my walk to the bus station this morning, I noticed scores of people holding red flowers in their hands, mostly carnations and tulips, and walking in the same direction. I passed a group of children speaking Russian on their way back to school walking away from the direction everyone went, and was wondering what was going on. Lucky for me, I met Natalija at LCC and asked her what the occasion for the flowers was and she explained briefly about Victory Day and suggested I go to the memorial monument later in the day to see all the flowers. I did just that - and followed the people with the flowers to the WWII Soviet Memorial that I had seen before in the sculpture park, but never like this. There were hundreds and hundreds of flowers stacked on and near the monument. Most of them were red, and people were standing around with their families. It was beautiful, and I kind of felt bad taking photographs, but I thought I was being respectful and not taking photos of people and staying out of everyone's way.

Natalija also told me that her grandfather was in the war and that he was in a group of soldiers who met the Americans as they closed in on the Nazis. He received a high honor for doing so, and she said that most everyone of Russian descent has someone in their family who fought in the war, so the day is a big deal. It made me think of our memorial days...do we even have a holiday for the world wars? Or do Veterans and Memorial days take care of it?