A holiday of unity. National Unity Day or Day of Accord and Reconciliation

Until now, many do not understand what kind of holiday is celebrated in Russia on November 4. Yes, not just a holiday, but a full day off. With such fanfare, only a very important and big date has the right to exist.

What a holiday November 4: biography of National Unity Day in Russia

The regime has changed in Russia, but the old favorite holidays remain, for example, November 7 - the red day of the calendar. For 70 years, Soviet people have been celebrating the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

With the disappearance of the USSR and a change in course, the holiday was removed, but the reflex remained. It was necessary for the people to replace this holiday with something. Historians and politicians dug in the past, and found an excellent date - November 4, 1612 - the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow. The new date perfectly fits the old revolutionary tracing paper, and since 2005 Russia has again received November holiday- Day national unity.

What is National Unity Day: a prelude to the holiday

The holiday of national unity of Russia is associated with Minin and Pozharsky, it was under their leadership that it was possible to save Moscow from the invaders. At the same period in the life of Russia, there was an era of turmoil: neither spiritual bonds for you, nor a national idea - sheer drunkenness, debauchery, impostors in power, and as a result - the disintegration of the country into separate principalities.

As stated in historical references At that time, the ruin of the Moscow kingdom took place in the country, the seven-boyars were established, which allowed the Polish invaders to reach the Kremlin. The Poles wanted to put King Vladislav on the throne.

Minin and Pozharsky call for national unity

Most of the inhabitants of the Muscovite kingdom were not going to put up with such a fate and in 1611 staged, as they would say now, an uncoordinated meeting with riots. True, that "Moscow Maidan" was quickly extinguished. In the same year, Kuzma Minin turned to the townspeople. In his fiery speech, he called for the creation of resistance, it was then that he uttered his famous: "We will not spare our bellies" and, in addition to the army, collected a decent amount of money for its maintenance.

Minin proposed to appoint the Novgorod prince Pozharsky at the head of the militia. However, the prince himself did not immediately agree to lead the resistance and put forward a condition that a person who would be chosen by the inhabitants themselves would be given to him as his assistants. Minin was unanimously chosen as such a person. Coincidence, subtle calculation, or the only one correct strategy? Both are possible. But it doesn't matter at all. The main thing is the result: the Poles have been expelled, the land has been reclaimed.

National Unity Day holiday: modern Russia

This political message with the expulsion of enemies from Russia may well be adopted by some popular party, for example, the Liberal Democratic Party. Vladimir Volfovich will gather a meeting of many thousands somewhere in the center of Moscow and proclaim the next - 402th anniversary of the expulsion of Poles from Moscow and will be greeted with deafening applause from the patriotic masses.

When is National Unity Day in Russia?

Annually, on November 4, Russia celebrates a large Public Holiday- Day of National Unity, a tribute to the ancestors who liberated the country from the Polish invaders. Unite and congratulate everyone on this great holiday! Now you will be able to answer the question "What holiday is celebrated in Russia on November 4?"

On November 4, all of Russia will celebrate the National Unity Day holiday. Despite the fact that this is a relatively young holiday, its roots go back to the 17th century. Together with we figure out what kind of day it is and why it is confused from November 7.

What happened that day?

It was on November 4 (October 22, old style) in 1612 that the people's militia led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky stormed Kitay-Gorod, thereby freeing Moscow from the Polish invaders.

The expulsion of the Poles from Moscow ended the long period of the Time of Troubles in Russia. After the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow, a new tsar was elected in Russia - a representative of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich.

Troubles are usually called events from the death of Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1584) to the election of the first sovereign from the Romanov dynasty - Mikhail Fedorovich (1613). After the death of Ivan the Terrible, his son Fyodor I Ioannovich ascended the throne. However, he had no descendants, and the Rurik dynasty ended. However, everyone remembered about the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry, who died under mysterious circumstances during Fyodor's lifetime. People began to say that he might be alive. It was from that moment in Russia that the Time of Troubles began, the impostors of False Dmitry began to claim the throne.

When did National Unity Day become a public holiday?

In 1613, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich instituted a holiday - the day of the cleansing of Moscow from Polish invaders. It was celebrated on November 4th.

In 1649, this day was declared an Orthodox-state holiday of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. According to legend, the icon was sent from Kazan to Dmitry Pozharsky. With her, the militia entered Moscow. Many believe that it was thanks to the icon that the Poles were driven out.

After the 1917 revolution, the tradition of celebrating the liberation of Moscow from the Polish invaders ceased.

In September 2004, the Interreligious Council of Russia proposed making November 4 a holiday and celebrating it as the Day of National Unity. The initiative was supported in the State Duma, and this day became a day off instead of November 7.

Why was the holiday called National Unity Day?

The explanatory note to the draft law on the introduction of a new holiday states the following:

"On November 4, 1612, the war of the people's militia led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharvsky took Kitay-Gorod by storm, liberating Moscow from the Polish invaders and demonstrating an example of heroism and solidarity of the entire people, regardless of origin, religion and position in society."

How is National Unity Day celebrated?

The Ecuadorian authorities have stripped Julian Assange of asylum at the London embassy. The founder of WikiLeaks was detained by the British police, and it has already been called the biggest betrayal in the history of Ecuador. Why are Assange avenged and what awaits him?

Julian Assange, a programmer and journalist from Australia, became widely known after the website WikiLeaks, which he founded, published classified documents of the US Department of State, as well as materials related to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010.

But it was rather difficult to find out who the policemen, supporting by the arms, were taking out of the building. Assange dropped his beard and did not at all look like the energetic man, which he still appeared in the photographs.

According to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, Assange was denied asylum due to repeated violations of international conventions.

He is expected to remain at a police station in central London until he appears at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Why the President of Ecuador is accused of treason

Former President of Ecuador Rafael Correa called the decision of the current government the biggest betrayal in the history of the country. "What he (Moreno. - Ed.) Has done is a crime that humanity will never forget," said Correa.

London, on the other hand, thanked Moreno. The British Foreign Office believes that justice has been done. Representative of the Russian diplomatic department Maria Zakharova has a different opinion. “The hand of“ democracy ”squeezes the throat of freedom,” she said. The Kremlin expressed the hope that the rights of the arrested person would be respected.

Ecuador harbored Assange because ex-president held center-left views, criticized US policies, and welcomed the publication by WikiLeaks of classified documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even before the internet activist needed asylum, he managed to get to know Correa personally: he interviewed him for the Russia Today channel.

However, in 2017, the power in Ecuador changed, the country headed for rapprochement with the United States. New president called Assange "a stone in a boot" and immediately made it clear that his stay at the embassy would not be prolonged.

According to Correa, the moment of truth came at the end of June last year, when US Vice President Michael Pence arrived in Ecuador. Then everything was decided. “You can be sure that Lenin is just a hypocrite. He has already agreed with the Americans about Assange's fate. And now he is trying to make us swallow the pill, saying that Ecuador is allegedly continuing the dialogue,” Correa said in an interview with Russia Today.

How Assange made new enemies

The day before the arrest, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Christine Hrafnsson said that Assange was under total surveillance. "WikiLeaks has uncovered a large-scale espionage operation against Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy," he said. According to him, cameras and voice recorders were placed around Assange, and the information received was transmitted to the Donald Trump administration.

Hrafnsson clarified that Assange was going to be expelled from the embassy a week earlier. This did not happen only because WikiLeaks released this information. A high-ranking source told the portal about the plans of the Ecuadorian authorities, but the head of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, Jose Valencia, denied the rumors.

The expulsion of Assange was preceded by a corruption scandal around Moreno. In February, WikiLeaks published a package of INA Papers, which traced the operations of the offshore company INA Investment, founded by the brother of the Ecuadorian leader. Quito said that this is Assange's conspiracy with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and former head of Ecuador Rafael Correa to overthrow Moreno.

In early April, Moreno complained about Assange's behavior in the London mission of Ecuador. “We must protect the life of Mr. Assange, but he has already crossed all boundaries in the sense of violating the agreement that we came to with him, - said the president. - This does not mean that he cannot speak freely, but he cannot lie and engage in hacking ". At the same time, back in February last year, it became known that Assange was deprived of the opportunity to interact with the outside world at the embassy, in particular, his access to the Internet was turned off.

Why Sweden stopped persecuting Assange

At the end of last year, Western media, citing sources, reported that Assange would be charged in the United States. This was never officially confirmed, but it was because of Washington's position that Assange had to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy six years ago.

Sweden, in May 2017, stopped investigating two cases of rape, in which the founder of the portal was accused. Assange demanded from the government of the country compensation for legal costs in the amount of 900 thousand euros.

Earlier, in 2015, the Swedish prosecutor's office also dropped three charges against him due to the statute of limitations.

Where did the rape investigation lead?

Assange arrived in Sweden in the summer of 2010, hoping to get protection from the American authorities. But he came under investigation in the rape case. In November 2010, a warrant for his arrest was issued in Stockholm, Assange was put on the international wanted list. He was detained in London, but was soon released on bail of 240 thousand pounds.

In February 2011, a British court ruled to extradite Assange to Sweden, followed by a series of successful appeals for the founder of WikiLeaks.

The British authorities placed him under house arrest before deciding to extradite him to Sweden. Breaking his promise to the authorities, Assange asked for asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy, which was granted to him. Since then, the UK has had its own claims against the founder of WikiLeaks.

What now awaits Assange

According to police, the man was re-arrested at the request of the United States for extradition for publishing classified documents. At the same time, Deputy Foreign Minister Alan Duncan said that Assange would not be sent to the United States if he faced the death penalty there.

In the UK, Assange is likely to stand trial on the afternoon of April 11. This is stated on the WikiLeaks Twitter page. Probably, the British authorities will seek a maximum sentence of 12 months, said the man's mother, citing his lawyer.

At the same time, the Swedish prosecutor's office is considering the possibility of reopening the investigation into the rape charge. Lawyer Elizabeth Massy Fritz, who represented the interests of the victim, will seek this.

The Ecuadorian authorities have stripped Julian Assange of asylum at the London embassy. The founder of WikiLeaks was detained by the British police, and it has already been called the biggest betrayal in the history of Ecuador. Why are Assange avenged and what awaits him?

According to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, Assange was denied asylum due to repeated violations of international conventions.

He is expected to remain at a police station in central London until he appears at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Why the President of Ecuador is accused of treason

Ecuador harbored Assange because the former president was center-left, criticized US policies, and welcomed WikiLeaks' publication of classified documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even before the internet activist needed asylum, he managed to get to know Correa personally: he interviewed him for the Russia Today channel.

However, in 2017, the power in Ecuador changed, the country headed for rapprochement with the United States. The new president called Assange "a stone in his boot" and immediately made it clear that his stay at the embassy would not be prolonged.

How Assange made new enemies

Why Sweden stopped persecuting Assange

Earlier, in 2015, the Swedish prosecutor's office also dropped three charges against him due to the statute of limitations.

Where did the rape investigation lead?

In February 2011, a British court ruled to extradite Assange to Sweden, followed by a series of successful appeals for the founder of WikiLeaks.

What now awaits Assange

The holiday was established in December 2004 at the initiative of the Interreligious Council of Russia, consisting of leaders of the country's traditional confessions, as a national holiday uniting all the peoples of Russia.

For the first time, this new national holiday was celebrated on November 4, 2005, but its history begins much earlier - several centuries ago.

History

The date of the holiday was not chosen by chance - historically, National Unity Day is associated with distant events at the beginning of the 17th century, when in 1612 Moscow was finally liberated from the Polish invaders.

At the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries, a string of tragic circumstances occurred in Russia, and this era went down in history under the name of the Time of Troubles. Historians believe that the immediate cause of the Troubles was the end of the Rurik dynasty. The situation was also complicated by the extremely unfavorable domestic economic situation and foreign invasion.

At the call of His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes, who died at the hands of the Poles for his loyalty to Orthodoxy and canonized, the Russian people rose to defend their homeland.

The first militia was led by the Ryazan governor Prokopiy Lyapunov. But because of the strife between the nobles and the Cossacks, who, on false accusations, killed the voivode, the militia broke up.

Then in September 1611 in Nizhny Novgorod, the zemstvo head Kuzma Minin appealed to people with an appeal to raise funds and create a militia to liberate the country. The population of the city was charged with a special tax for organizing the militia. At the suggestion of Minin, Prince of Novgorod Dmitry Pozharsky was invited to the post of chief governor.

Monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow

Letters were sent from Novgorod to other cities calling for the collection of the militia. In addition to the townspeople and peasants, there were also small and middle nobles. The main forces of the militia were formed in the cities and districts of the Volga region.

The program of the people's militia consisted in the liberation of Moscow from the interventionists, the refusal to recognize the sovereigns of foreign origin on the Russian throne (which the boyar nobility aspired to, who invited the Polish prince Vladislav to the kingdom), as well as the creation of a new government.

Under the banner of Minin and Pozharsky, a huge army gathered for that time, which in March 1612 set out from Nizhny Novgorod and went to Yaroslavl, where a temporary "Council of the Whole Earth" was created - a government body in which the townspeople and representatives of the small serving nobility played the main role ...

Representatives of all classes and all peoples that make up the Russian state took part in the national militia to liberate the Russian land from foreign invaders.

With a list of the miraculous icon of the Kazan Mother of God, revealed in 1579, the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo militia managed to take Kitay-Gorod by storm on November 4, 1612 and expel the Poles from Moscow.

This victory served as a powerful impetus for the revival of the Russian state. And the icon has become a subject of special reverence.

At the end of February 1613, the Zemsky Sobor, which included representatives of all estates of the country - the nobility, boyars, clergy, Cossacks, archers, black-haired peasants and delegates from many Russian cities, elected Mikhail Romanov, the first Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty, as tsar.

The Zemsky Sobor in 1613 became the final victory over the Troubles, the triumph of Orthodoxy and national unity.

The confidence that it was thanks to the icon of the Kazan Mother of God that the victory was won was so deep that Prince Pozharsky, with his own money, specially built the Kazan Cathedral on the edge of Red Square.

In 1649, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the obligatory celebration of November 4 was established as a day of gratitude to the Most Holy Theotokos for her help in liberating Russia from the Poles. The holiday was celebrated in Russia until the Revolution of 1917.

This day entered the church calendar as the Celebration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in memory of the deliverance of Moscow and Russia from the Poles in 1612.

Thus, National Unity Day is essentially not at all new holiday rather a return to the old tradition.

The essence of the holiday

This holiday more symbolizes not victory, but the rallying of the people, which made it possible to defeat the invaders.

The holiday encourages people not only to remember the most important historical events but also to remind the citizens of a multinational country of the importance of cohesion. It also serves as a reminder that only together can you cope with difficulties and overcome obstacles.

Representatives of 195 peoples and nationalities live on the territory of Russia, which belong to dozens of religious movements.

The main task of the holiday, both pre-revolutionary and now, is reduced to the unity of people of different religions, origin and status to achieve a common goal - a stable civil peace, as well as respect for patriotism and courage that was shown by the liberators of Moscow.

National Unity Day is an occasion for all citizens of the country to realize and feel that they are one people.

How they celebrate

The first Day of National Unity was solemnly celebrated in 2005 - Nizhny Novgorod became the main center of the festive events. The main event of the holiday was the opening of the monument to Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky.

National Unity Day this year is planned to be celebrated as magnificently as in previous years. The most ambitious events are planned in Moscow and in Nizhny Novgorod, where the militia of Minin and Pozharsky came from.

A large, multimillion-dollar march through the city and the laying of flowers at the memorial to Minin and Pozharsky are planned.

On National Unity Day, festive events patriotic orientation, processions, festivities, fairs, exhibitions and so on. All major parks in Moscow have prepared a large entertainment program to the Day of National Unity.

The Kremlin will host the ceremony of presenting the President's Prize for Strengthening the Unity of the Russian Nation and the "We are United" concert.

All over the country there will be gala concerts, fireworks, and mass festivities.

The material was prepared on the basis of open sources.