Quite recently, on 9th of May, Russia was celebrating Victory Day. It took a while for me to prepare and publish this post but I think that it’ll never be late to tell you about this one of the greatest holidays in Russia.

Victory Day - is a national holiday which remembers the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II and honors all the people who died in the war as well as those who spent days and nights in factories making guns and machines to support Soviet Army.

My grandparents were very small at those times but they have seen this War and still remember it. My grandmother told me terrible stories how she and her mother spent several years in concentration camp (death camp) in Ukraine.

Parades, festivals, flowers to the graves and eternal flame, movies, songs (see useful links below), TV programs about veterans - this is the holiday when you get goose bumps and tears just after reading, watching and imagining how it was.

 

 Victory Day: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Let’s learn some phrases which we use to congratulate each other and thank veterans:

• Дорогие ветераны! Большое вам спасибо! Dear veterans! Thank you very much!
• С Днем Победы! Happy Victory Day!
• С Праздником Победы! Happy Victory Holiday!
• Поздравляем [вас] с праздником Победы! We congratulate [you] with Victory Holiday!

Common phrases which can be said for any holiday:

• С праздником! Happy Holiday!
• Поздравляем! Congratulations! (plural, from a group of people)
• Поздравляю! Congratulations! (singular)

Useful links:

• About Victory Day - the article I’ve found, quite detailed and touching;
• you can download the famous Victory Day song (mp3) which I used in podcast from the article in Wikipedia about this song with lyrics both in Russian and English and translation.