09-25-2011, 10:37 PM
I was 17 when Russian Americans (some immigrants, some born here) let me drink with them and I saw kids as young as 10 drinking. But it might've been a "special occasion" as it was the end of Pascha, a Russian Orthodox celebration that lasts weeks with fasts and ends with a feast and lots of drinking.
It blew my mind that they mixed Christianity with alcohol, and not only that but the fasting before (so no food in the stomach) and lack of sleep (it was like 4 AM when we started and had been standing all night chanting amidst heavy incense and other shamanic elements) and then as the alcohol flowed the priest ran down the stairs (we were at the bottom) and shouted over & over (IIRC) "Christos Voskrese!" ("Christ is Risen!") and we (me included) raised up glasses of vodka and shouted "Voistinu Voskrese!" ("Indeed He is risen!"). I got wasted pretty fast. It was quite the contrast to growing up in the East Texas Bible Belt where so many counties are dry because the churches are against alcohol.
But I currently only have one Russian American friend (and former lover). Since living an openly lesbian lifestyle I've just avoided the Russian Orthodox (who make up most Russian Americans I know) as I'd rather keep my memories of them as pretty good. And because of that I probably won't try to learn Russian again.
But then again, I might...I just have no reason to at this time.
It blew my mind that they mixed Christianity with alcohol, and not only that but the fasting before (so no food in the stomach) and lack of sleep (it was like 4 AM when we started and had been standing all night chanting amidst heavy incense and other shamanic elements) and then as the alcohol flowed the priest ran down the stairs (we were at the bottom) and shouted over & over (IIRC) "Christos Voskrese!" ("Christ is Risen!") and we (me included) raised up glasses of vodka and shouted "Voistinu Voskrese!" ("Indeed He is risen!"). I got wasted pretty fast. It was quite the contrast to growing up in the East Texas Bible Belt where so many counties are dry because the churches are against alcohol.
But I currently only have one Russian American friend (and former lover). Since living an openly lesbian lifestyle I've just avoided the Russian Orthodox (who make up most Russian Americans I know) as I'd rather keep my memories of them as pretty good. And because of that I probably won't try to learn Russian again.
But then again, I might...I just have no reason to at this time.
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