International Women's Day - Soviet Postcards

Growing up in the Soviet Union meant that every year we religiously celebrated the International Women's Day. By 1980s the holiday evolved beyond its political importance and has become more of an equivalent to Mothering Sunday in Britain. Except that we continue celebrating it on 8th of March.

Like New Year, this is one of the holidays that you are expected to celebrate; and, fair enough, 8th of March is the day off in Russia. We would usually buy flowers and postcards to women whom we held dear or respected. Incidentally, it is not only women who love this festival; a few men openly said that International Women's Day was their favourite holiday.

International Women's Day annually publishes events and articles commemorating this important date; there are a few free events happening across the world, and it is not too late to attend any of them even if you have only just heard about the website. And from me here are a few Soviet postcards that we either bought on occasion or have received from the family and friends. I send them to all of you who are celebrating and love this holiday, and especially to my grandmother, mother, and a special someone who loves this festival.

Flowers in St Johns Gardens

I know from a comment that some of you wanted to see the flowers at St John's Gardens in Manchester. It's great to know that my review on Qype has sparked some interest. I did actually upload photos of autumnal roses to Qype, but the photos don't get posted to the blog, alas. So, by way of compensating for it, here are the photos taken at St John's Gardens.