MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th September, 2020) � In this digest, we will discuss a long-awaited day off, bats in parks, and a new exhibition.
The Labor Ministry is considering letting Russia take a day off on New Year's Eve, which falls on Friday in 2020.
For several years now, Russia has had nearly a week off after the New Year. The official holidays usually extend to include Christmas, which is celebrated on January 7 in the Russian Orthodox tradition.
The secular New Year's Eve is one of the biggest and most beloved holidays in Russia. According to a 2018 survey, it tops the list of Russians' favorite holidays � 96 percent chose New Year's Eve, 95 percent the Victory Day celebrated in May, 77 percent Christmas.
Despite universal love, December 31 is not officially part of the holiday week. It may change next year, but this will only be a temporary solution. What the ministry suggests is to have December 31 and November 5 off as a replacement for January 2 and January 3, which fall on Saturday and Sunday. As a result, Russians will have holidays from November 4-7 in 2021. The New Year holidays will likely begin on December 31, but the decision on their continuation in 2022 will be made later.
The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) prepared a draft law last year, suggesting that December 31 should always be used as a stand-in for holidays that coincide with the weekend.
"In December 2021, two years later, this will finally happen. This shows that we can come to reasonable solutions, albeit slowly," an LDPR lawmaker, Yaroslav Nilov, who heads a Duma labor committee, said.
Moscow will put little wooden homes for bats in its urban forests and forest parks.
Bats' reputation took a blow amid this year amid reports that the coronavirus may have originated with them. But these winged mammals can be helpful, too � they eat insects, thus helping out farmers.
Moscow is home to parti-colored bat, common noctule, brown long-eared bat, Nathusius's pipistrelle, Daubenton's bat, and Brandt's bat.
The Hermitage Museum will host an exhibition of Chinese artist Zhang Huan. The expo, which opens Wednesday, will address the COVID-19 pandemic among other things. The exhibition was initially scheduled to open on May 15 but had to be delayed because of the coronavirus.
"Zhang Huan made several artworks about the pandemic. Like any person, he felt it deeply, he studied the life in Wuhan during the pandemic. He painted a message for us, the series is called 'Love,' and it is about heartache," the head of the museum, Mikail Piotrovsky, told reporters.
The Chinese artists speak about religion, family, politics, culture, poverty in his works. He sometimes uses incense ashes to paint.
"The exhibition is made for the Hermitage, it was made for these rooms. There are works here that were inspired by the Hermitage," Piotrovsky added.
A seven-tonne Buddha sculpture was put in the museum's courtyard ahead of the opening of the exhibition. The copper sculpture will turn green over time, matching the color of the museum's walls, the exhibition curator, Dmitry Ozerkov, said.
