MOSCOW -- With the winter holidays upon us, Russians are looking forward to the longest drinking binge of the year. It started with "Western" Christmas, which Russians began celebrating after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Then come New Year's Eve, Russian Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 7 and the old New Year, commemorated according to the Julian calendar, on Jan. 13. Even Chinese New Year offers an excuse to throw down a shot of vodka.
Most Russians will watch a movie whose title might be loosely translated as "Fate's Irony, or Have a Nice Sauna," which portrays the adventures of a man who gets drunk after a sauna on New Year's Eve and is put on a plane by his similarly inebriated pals. He ends up in the wrong city and falls in love with woman who finds him, staggeringly drunk, in her apartment. The movie is a tradition as beloved in Russia as "It's a Wonderful Life" in America.
It is amazing how alcoholism is celebrated in Russian culture. Even the intellectuals, who should sound the alarm when there is a danger to the country, find alcoholism funny and make the evil appear attractive. Nearly two weeks ago, for example, Yury Simonov-Vyazemsky, anchor for the popular children's TV program "Smart Girls and Smart Boys," told the intellectual newspaper Literaturnaya Gazeta: "The tradition of drinking proves the Russian national character. In my opinion, a person who doesn't drink at all is either under treatment or not Russian in his spirit."