Winter Palace. Russia. Saint-Petersburg.
Winter Palace. Russia. Saint-Petersburg.
Torzhok, Tver, Russia
Пусть это снег, Пусть это снег, Пусть это снег - зима в России
(Winter in Russia)
There’s more where this came from
rhaegartarqaryen-deactivated201:
Russian Fairy Tales (1/?):The Unsmiling Tsarevna
There was once a princess named Nesmeyana who never smiled or laughed. Her father promised that whoever made her smile could marry her, and many tried, but none succeeded. Across the town, an honest worker worked hard for his master. At the end of the year, the master put a sack of money before him and told him to take as much as he wanted. To avoid sinning by taking too much, he took only one coin, and when he went to drink from a well, he dropped the coin and lost it. The next year, the same thing happened to him. The third year, the worker took the same amount of coin as before, but when he drank from the well, he did not lose his coin, and the other two coins floated up to him. He decided to see the world. A mouse asked him for alms; he gave him a coin. Then he did the same for a beetle and a catfish. He came to the castle and saw princess Nesmeyana looking at him. This astounded him, and he fell in the mud. The mouse, the beetle, and the catfish came to his aid, and at their antics, the princess laughed. She pointed him out as the man, and when he was brought into the castle, he had been turned into a handsome man. The honest worker, now a handsome man, married princess Nesmeyana.
WIZARDING SCHOOLS AROUND THE WORLD: RUSSIA
The Russian Academy of Magic is a colossal onion-domed structure drifting aimlessly across the surface of Lake Baikal brought to existence using centuries of levitation charms perfected by a group of Russian witches experimenting with portable floating ice rinks. Self-heating fur scarves are all the rage amongst students and professors alike, although they have been known to overheat from time to time, leading to mild cases of heat stroke. When traditional Quidditch games become dull, players would discard their brooms for skates and duke it out on the frozen surface of the lake.
HELLA RAD, LESSER KNOWN BEINGS OF FOLKLORE AND MYTHOLOGY
Upir/Upyr/Upior, russian/ukrainian/slovakian — flesh eating, blood drinking beings with the ability to mesmerize people. Full upyr also have super strength and a healing factor which are abilities that half upyr do not obtain. Full upyr are ½ witch and ½ demon, while half upyr are ¼ human, ¼ witch, and ¼ demon. To become a full upyr, one must die at their own hand.
In other legends, Upyr are incredibly bloodthirsty vampires. They prefer to feed on children first, and then on parents. Their teeth are described to be like iron and they can gnaw on anything that’s in their way. Sunlight does not hinder these vampires and they can easily wander throughout the day. In some religions, upyr were known for devouring their victim’s hearts.
Upiors were known to rest during the night and feed on it’s victims during noon and midnight. And not only do Upiors drink blood, but they would also sleep in it. To protect yourself from an Upior, one must mix vampire blood with flour, bake it into some kind of bread and eat it.
If wishing to destroy an Upyr, one should hook thread to one of the upyr’s buttons so that it can be tracked back to it’s lair. The creature should then be drenched in holy water and staked in the heart — only once, though. If staked twice, the upyr will come back to life more stronger and faster than before. In other religions, you would have to cut off it’s head or burn it to ash.
Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche der heiligen Elisabeth in Wiesbaden/
Русский православный храм Св. Праведной Елиcаветы в Висбадене
