Epiphany

I almost forgot: it is Epiphany per the Russian Orthodox Calendar. We were in a furniture store (looking for lamps) and a gentleman came up to us and asked if we were "khristyanin". It took Jason and I a second- The word means both "peasant" and "christian". Then we saw the branches in his hand. We nodded and said "yes", and the guy sprinkled us with holy water from his birch branches and blessed us. Probably better than the alternative tradition- jumping through a hole into a frozen lake.