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From: "Allison Ryall" <>
Subject: [APG] Breakthrough In Russian Research
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 13:49:44 -0500
References: <9868DAB2CD3E5744877F626B73D92CEC04F451@pr-ex1.corp.myfamilyinc.com>


I felt the need to take a moment to extend a sincere thank you to everyone
on this list who was so kind as to make recommendations regarding books
about Russian Life and Culture. I have had some major 'breakthroughs'
thanks to the wonderful suggestions that were made.

"The Russian's World: Life and Language" by Genevra Gerhart has been a
complete life saver. Like I said before it was like pieces of a jigsaw
puzzle were missing and I believed some of those pieces were my lack of
knowledge of the Russian language, people and customs.

I would like to share with the list, something that I learned that was most
helpful in providing a breakthrough in my research. After discovering the
following, a lot of those jigsaw puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place.

Prior to the Russian Revolution the choice of names that could be given to a
child at the time of birth were limited to a list of saints' names that had
been approved by the Orthodox Church. Each saint was given a day on the
Julian calendar and those who had been named after that saint celebrated
that saint's day more commonly than they did a birthday. Suddenly the
changing dates I had been struggling with all make sense. Here's a toast to
St. Constantine and St. Melania.

Again, thank you.

Allison L. Riehl-Ryall





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