Celebrations day of spring and labour is traditionally marked on may 1st. on this day the workers of russia are honoured along with the coming of spring. in previous period the holiday was called may day and was celebrated with huge parades in big cities all over the country (the former soviet union). now peo-ple prefer to go out into the street and take part in all kinds of outdoor activi-ties. in fact may 9th is a special memorial day, a day to remember those who died in the second world war. victory day is the end of the soviet union's participation in world war ii in europe. parades and processions of veterans are held in big cities. people lay flowers in moscow's park pobedi and at the tomb of the unknown soldier. we celebrate russian independence day on june 12th when russia be-came an independent country, the republic of the rus¬sian federation after the break up of the soviet union in 1991. this is an official holiday. independence day was established by the 1st president of our country boris yeltsin, but nowadays president vladimir putin has made it into a big celebration. day of people's unity or national unity day was first celeb¬rated in rus-sia on november 4,2005. the holiday commemorates the popular uprising which ejected the polish occupying force from moscow in november 1612, more generally the end of time of troubles. the name of the occasion may be explained as follows: all the walks and classes of the russian society willing by united to defend and preserve their motherland, when the end of it seemed in-evitable, though there was no leader to guide the people. so, "the strength of every state is in the unity of its people," - can be like a motto to accompany the holiday. in the past the government used the festival on november 7th to commem-orate the anniversary of great october revolution which brought them to power. this day was once celebrated by military parades in red square. now it is called day of reconciliation and harmony. this day is marked by marches and demonstra¬tions. nowadays the atmosphere is less military. for many people it is just another day-off. december 12th was constitution day. this holiday celebrated the new constitution of 1993. the constitution guarantees real rights and freedoms to people in our country. these basic rights are the right to work, to rest, the right to education and the light to housing. the constitution has articles about the duties. we also celebrate lots of professional holidays and anniversa¬ries of an important past event which are not public holidays and people work.
