National Unity Day: the essence and history of the holiday November 4

On November 4, Russia celebrates National Unity Day. It was established in 2004 and was first celebrated in 2005. From that moment on, the day is a day off. What Russians celebrate is in the Kommersant information.

What happened on this day

National Unity Day was established in memory of the events of 1612, when the people’s militia, led by the zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, liberated Moscow from Polish invaders. It is believed that it was they who were able to unite and unite the population in order to free Russia from the invading Poles.

Historically, the holiday is associated with the end of the Time of Troubles in Russia in the 17th century. The Time of Troubles – the period from the death of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1584 until 1613, when the first of the Romanov dynasty reigned on the Russian throne – was an era of deep crisis in the Moscow state caused by the suppression of the royal Rurik dynasty.

How the holiday appeared

In 1613, in memory of the liberation of Moscow from the Poles, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich established October 22 (old style) as a church and state holiday in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. It was with this image that the militia fought under the walls of the Novodevichy Convent, and then liberated the Kremlin.

In 1649, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich decided to “celebrate the Most Pure Mother of God, the appearance of the miraculous icon of Kazan, in all cities, throughout the years.” In 1818, by decree of Emperor Alexander I, a monument to “Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky” by sculptor Ivan Martos was erected on Red Square.

In Russia, the date of the liberation of Moscow from the interventionists was officially celebrated before the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917. Later, until 2005, the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was an exclusively Orthodox church holiday.

How November 4th became a day off

In the modern history of Russia, National Unity Day was established as an alternative to the Day of Reconciliation and Accord on November 7, which until 1996 was celebrated as the Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

In September 2004, the Interreligious Council of Russia proposed making November 4 a public holiday and celebrating it as National Unity Day. This initiative was supported by the Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy. On November 23 of the same year, a bill on amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation was submitted to the State Duma. The document provided for the abolition of the holiday on November 7 and the establishment of a new date – November 4.

The law was adopted and signed by President Vladimir Putin on December 29, 2004. November 4 became the Day of National Unity, November 7 received the status of a memorable date – the Day of the October Revolution of 1917.