When you go to the 4-season countries, you will have the experience of enjoying four different kinds of weather. In general, it is divided into two types of weather, cold and warm. Many people from those 4-season countries like warm or hot weather. That is why during winter, they usually will “move” to another place where they can get some sunshine on their skin. They usually complain about not being able to resist the biting freeze of the weather that makes it uneasy for them to survive their everyday’s life. Yes, they can stay inside the warmth of their house, lighting up the fireplace, and covering themselves with the blanket. But, they would miss going outside and do some outdoor activities.
We all know how cold the winter is in Russia. Most of the parts of the countries have long and cold winters while the summer is brief. The temperature between summer and winter is so widely different. In January, it can reach a temperature of 6 C while in May-September it can be around 23-25 C. In general, we can say that it is never really warm in Russia. In spite of that, if we ask Russians about their opinion of winter, they will have the same answer. They all love it! They have worse winter conditions in comparison with the other parts of the world but it is still their favorite time. Why? Here are the unique things of winter season philosophy according to the Russian view.
Russian’s Love Towards The Winter Season
While many people are struggling to enjoy winter, Russians are loving it! The unique things of winter season philosophy according to the Russian view will help us to understand their love of winter. We might also be inspired by it that it can help us to also love winter
- The Joy Brought By The Snowflakes
You can go to any part of Russia during winter and feel the biting freeze of the weather on your skin. For example, go to Moscow and the bitterly cold winter accompanied by its quite dry temperature will make you realize that this is a unique experience of winter. Wearing your warmest, longest coat is a must, as well as your boots and hats.
Imagine that above condition and how Russians love it! For them, especially when the snow starts to fall, the snowflakes bring joy all over Russia. They state that even joy can bring life to the ground. They will happily climb mountains covered in snow just to visit their families and friends. For them, snow and winter are two beautiful things that they can enjoy and are happy to be around with. They cannot give you a specific reason. You will hear the same explanation that they love the winter because it is beautiful and that period is the most joyous time of the year.
- The Historical Reason
Russians’ love towards winter also has a historical story in it. Allen F. Chew, an author that studies winter warfare in Russia, states that winter contributed significantly to the military invasion of Napoleon’s and Hitler’s army in Russia.
Winter warfare is the condition where snow, ice, or thawing conditions of both combinations affects military operations. This condition, after being studied more, is proved to be the decisive factor of the failure of some invasions. Some of the failures happened are the French Invasion of Russia in 1812, the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939, and the German Invasion of the Soviet Union on World War II.
Chew noted that even before winter, Napoleon’s armies were already suffering from attrition. This got worse because of their supplies were getting short. They also got some diseases that caused more casualties during the war. You can only imagine how the condition got worse during the winter.
The same condition happened to Hitler’s united armed forces (Wehrmacht). Even before the winter was coming, they were short of 734.000 armies and running low of supplies. The cold weather caused them to get even shorter members of the army. The aftermath shows that the winter played a significant factor in making the failure of the invasion.
- The Beautiful Sight
Walking around the city during winter will give you different kind of beautiful than the one you see in summer. If you are in Kazan, you can walk around from one historical building to others, such as the Kremlin Kazan and the church. This is one of the unique things of winter season philosophy according to the Russian view. They love it because what are the other perfect combinations besides enjoying the view of the historical and architectural buildings besides sightseeing during winter?