The Family
Who makes up a traditional Russian family?
how are housing problems solved in russia?
What happens when Russians get married?
What is a religious wedding ceremony like in Russia?
A new concept “Mother’s capital”
The Russian family, by tradition, consistsofseveralgenerationsliving together in one apartment — often the mother, father, their children and grandmother. In Russia, upon coming of age children do not try to move away from their parents, but keep living with their family. This is not only the traditional way of Russian life, but is often caused by a more general lack of available housing. The price of housing in Russia, especially in big cities, is inaccessible to most families. Under socialism, families would wait their turn to receive free housing, but sometimes they had to wait for an apartment for many years. Now, there is practically no free housing left, and the idea of buying an apartment is unreal for most Russian families, even with loans. Even renting an apartment is very expensive in Russia, especially in big cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Nevertheless it should be noted that wealthy people (who make up a small portion of Russia’s population) do have big apartments, cottages and dachas within Russia as well as abroad. For example, recently over 200,000 Russians have moved to London, and in many other European countries, as well as in the USA, Russian businessmen freguently purchase real estate.
Young Russian couples get married around the age of twenty-two or twenty-four, although in big cities they freguently get married earlier. After marriage, a girl typically moves to her husband’s parents’ apartment. But, of course, sometimes the husband moves to his- wife’s apartment instead, seeing as everything depends on the housing conditions in guestion. At the wedding, the bride and bridegroom exchange rings. In contrast to tradition in many other countries, wedding rings are worn on the right hand in Russia. It should be noted that the number of couples who are wed in church and receive the church blessing for their marriage has lately increased. At the same time, in Russia as in many other developed countries, common-law marriage has spread, where two people live together without registering their marriage. Within bigger cities, the typical boyfriend-girlfriend-type relationship has also spread among younger people under western influence.
In Russia, as opposed to many western countries, it is not customary to conclude a marriage contract. Such a tradition had never existed in Russia, but recently such contracts have become more common under western influence. For the most part though, such a thing generally takes place with rich, well-to-do families only, and is most definitely the exception rather than the rule.
On average, Russian families used to have two children, but the number of families with only one child has lately increased. Thus, the demographic situation in Russia, as in many other developed countries, has been worsening. Unfortunately, the number of divorces remains rather large. In Russia, a woman who has given birth to a child receives government benefits to cover some of the expenses of the birth as well as the child’s upbringing. Nevertheless, such benefits are not very large. As of 2007 though, new mothers are given what has become known as ‘Mother’s capital’ – 250,000 rubles awarded after the birth of a second baby, with the objective of improving the country’s demographic situation. The mother receives a 250,000 ruble certificate that she can only use once her baby has reached three years of age, with the condition that the money may not be paid out in cash.
Though Russia has a well-developed system of children’s nurseries and kindergartens, many parents prefer that the grandmother stay home with their children. And Russian grandmothers, especially after retirement, quite love to spend this time with their grandchildren. It should be noted though that in big cities, working women who earn a good salary frequently hire a nurse for their child. As of yet though, this is not a widespread phenomenon in Russia.
In conclusion, we would like you to pay attention to the fact that it is not customary to ask girls and women about their age. Your question of “How old are you?” can be taken as tactless.
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