|
|
|
One of those traditions here in Bashkortostan is a display of native creativity that appears in city squares every year in the weeks leading up to January 1st. The Russians say that they are a culture that has “dushnost’,” which is akin to saying that they are a people that have soul. And this soul is much in evidence in the arena of the arts. Russian artistic talent and creativity is world renown whether it manifests itself in ballet, symphony orchestra, poetry, or, at New Year’s time, in some fairly spectacular ice sculpture. On a decidedly cold New Year’s Eve, we spent a few hours in Soviet Square, here in Ufa, agape at the intricate design of dozens of ghostly ice carvings which practically filled the square. The fine detail in the frozen figures, must have taken some time to fashion. |
 Josie has always said that she would
never want a castle because it would be too big to clean. But in the
square we found a Josie sized castle that would be a perfect domicile…
were it not made of ice. Oh well, we still have a mansion made of gold
awaiting us in Heaven. There were peacocks, bears, and even angels, all made of frozen water. And on the fringes of the square, they had erected a half dozen slides, which were also partially made of ice. A small army of children were gleefully hurtling down the huge slippery ramps a top miniature plastic saucers which carried them a good 20 meters beyond the ends of the slides. Every once in a while they would take out an unsuspecting adult and get scolded by the militiamen on duty in the square. When our faces were sufficiently raw from the cold, we proceeded to our colleagues’ apartment for an evening of fun, food, games, and fellowship. We were rather tired and awaited only the coming of 2004 before lying down to sleep. |
 But
in the initial moments of the New Year, the unexpected happened. The words
“s noviim godom (Happy New Year!)” had just rolled off our tongues when
suddenly, the Carr’s neighborhood erupted! Running to a balcony, we could
see that from the roofs and windows of practically every Dom, city
residents were pumping hundreds of firecrackers, bottle rockets, roman
candles, and various homemade pyrotechnical devices into the night sky.
In the distance, to the north, we could see the glow of Ufa’s official
fireworks display, but in the Television Center district,
the unofficial display raged on for over an hour. Explosions and flashes
of light were everywhere. Into the wee hours, the Carr's Dom was in the
middle of a war zone. Apparently, the locals had stockpiled mini-arsenals
in their homes in preparation for this very moment. The city fire marshals
in the States would go nuts! It was nigh on impossible to sleep until 2AM
when the Russians finally ran out of ammunition. It reminded us once again
that we are indeed living in a war zone… only not of the physical variety. |
 Pray for our safety and resolve in 2004 in the spiritual war zone known as Ufa. Pray for a fruitful year of planting churches and accelerating hope amongst the peoples of Bashkortostan. Pray that we will be as creative as the locals in our ministry here in Ufa. |
If
the passion with which a society observes a holiday reflects the
occasion’s cultural significance, then the coming of the New Year is, in
Russian culture, beyond huge.