Many events tend to follow the Orthodox calendar, which puts Christmas on January the second, Easter (Pashka) in March or April, and Sylvestr January 1st is the main gift giving festival of the year.
Although the days of the massive parades through Red Square to demonstrate the might of the Russian war machine are now long gone, certain anniversaries are observed including the failed coup of 1991 that precipitated the end of the Soviet Union on 19th August, and the commemoration of the October Revolution on 7th November.
