Revenge
and Russian Songs
Well, dear reader, we’re back for round two and we’re
swinging for the fences because I have a lot of ground to cover. So grab some
rye bread, a couple pickles, a bottle of vodka and we’ll get to it.
St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter the
Great and people have never really been happy with the name, believe me. In 1914, at
the outbreak of the First World War, the Imperial government called the place
Petrograd to knock out the German words “sankt” (saint) and “burg.” Ten years later,
in 1924, some guy named Vladimir Lenin died and the authorities changed the
name of the place to Leningrad. We’ll skip a little history for the sake of the
narrative and jump to 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union the name was changed
back to St. Petersburg. Even today, marking the 25th anniversary of
the name change is a little contentious.
“But Pat, names are everywhere, tell us abo”—Yeah, I
got it. The older history here is where the fun is. There are a number of crazy
Russian characters. In the West, some buzzwords might be Yuri Gagarin (first man
in space) or Grigory Rasputin (Yeah, like Anastasia). But, dear reader, allow
me to introduce you to lesser known Slavs. For the gentlemen, a name worth
googling is Svyatoslav – more or less the byproduct of hearty Slavic warriors and
Vikings. And for the ladies, there are a number of great options, but the story
I have for you today is that of Princess Olga of Kiev.
The role of a prince in medieval Russia is
essentially to go ask tribes to pay tribute or make a hit list of the guys who
forgot their wallets at the bar and don’t have the money. One day, Prince Igor,
husband to Princess Olga, is strolling about collecting money from a tribe called
the Drevlians when they decide they’d rather have Spotify Premium than keep
paying poor Prince Igor. So they kill him.
Now put your Game of Thrones cap on because Olga
doesn’t take this lightly. Newly widowed, Olga receives a delegation from the
Drevlians asking her to marry a guy named Prince Mol. She buries them alive and
sends word back to the Drevlians that they should send their noblest men and
that she will accept the marriage. The Drevlians oblige, and upon arrival, Olga
requests they take a load off and have a sauna in the bathhouse. She locks the
bathhouse behind them and burns the place to the ground, then gathers her
husband’s old army and burns the Drevlian capital to the ground. Add a little
Peter Dinklage and you’ve got HBO’s new hit fantasy drama!
Today, I have not heard of any terrible acts of
revenge. These are pictures from the Hermitage Museum and the Winter Palace.
Segway picture of Irish Pub in the middle of
downtown Petersburg.
“An Irish pub in St. Petersburg?” Absolutely
correct, dearest reader. Irish people are very much appreciated here. In
Ireland, singing in a pub is a big deal. Party pieces are not uncommon. While I
dabble in the realm of pub singing, there are a few Russian songs that I can
belt with confidence. All thanks to Vigo Mortensen in Eastern Promises – great film.
In what I thought was an empty hallway the other day, I let slip a great little
song “Dark Eyes” or Очи чёрные (Oh-chee chorniye). A professor approached me
and complimented my rendition of the old gypsy song. Pat the Russian singer.
Academically, the culture is rather interesting
here. Professors are very knowledgeable and passionate about explaining subject
matter, and are also curious to understand the perspective of young Americans
(which is also a great David Bowie song). But it has only been a week. I live
in an international dormitory at the moment. I’ve met folks from all sorts of
places. Ghana, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Japan, China, Nigeria, Chad, England to name
a few. The lingua franca here is Russian. It’s an odd dynamic to come from
America, famed country of immigrants, and jump into another melting pot with
the same ingredients, immigrants, but a different foundation, the Russian language.
Everyone is very kind, my Mandarin is terrible, and the Africans like my two
phrases in Swahili.
So that’s the current situation, dear reader. Next
time I’ll talk a bit about infrastructure and some contemporary issues. In the
meantime, the links below will give you some Russian enthusiasm. The first two
are funny commercials; the last is the song I was caught singing.
Russian Phrase of the Post: Простите меня (Prostitye
mehnya) “Forgive me/Excuse me”
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