Last Birthday in Moscow, Russia

by Lev
(Moscow)

Russians make a big to-do about birthdays, they can be fun but very exhausting. I remember in school, the teacher would always give me a little something and my friends too.

Then I'd come home and we'd eat a big meal, finished off with birthday pie (Russians have birthday pie more often than birthday cake). My relatives and a few friends would come and join. Our apartment was always packed on a birthday!

Birthdays didn’t get less exciting the older I got. My last birthday in Russia before coming to America was especially big. My uncle owns a bar, and he closed it to the public for the night so my friends and family could celebrate my last Russian birthday.

Everyone ate little appetizer salads at first, then the main meal. Throughout, I kept receiving toasts. I think everyone there said something at some point, and we had to keep refilling our champagne glasses.

I made it a point to save room for the birthday pies. My uncle got a caterer to make a variety of flavors. Each pie had a message carved into the crust, which is common is Russia, like how Americans put messages on cakes with frosting.

Everyone was very generous with their gifts. I don’t know if this was because I was about to leave for a long time, or if they all had an especially good year.

I'm not sure how we managed to have the energy (oh right, the champagne), but we danced after the meal and presents. People might have expected us to dance to traditional folk music, but instead we danced to contemporary American and especially British music.

I’ve noticed that in America, only certain special birthdays are made a big deal of, like when someone turns sixteen or fifty. But in Russia, everyone’s birthday, every year, receives a great deal of attention.

Our birthdays and our friends' birthdays give us a good reason to have fun!