Today, I'm seeing this banner in LJ.

[randomness]

Must be because I've turned on the group of services originally designed for Russian-speaking users of LiveJournal.

Now I'm trying to figure out what the occasion is. According to Wikipedia, the Red Army was formed on January 28th, 1918. That was my first guess, but I suppose it's something else.

Edit: Ah, there we go. From the Wikipedia article on Defender of the Fatherland Day:

The holiday marks the date in 1918 during the Russian Civil War when the first mass draft into the Red Army occurred in Petrograd and Moscow. It was originally known as Red Army Day (Russian: День Красной Армии / Dyen' Krasnoy Armii). In 1949, it was renamed Soviet Army and Navy Day (Russian: День Советской Армии и Военно-Морского флота / Dyen' Sovyetskoy Armii i Voyenno-Morskogo flota). Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the holiday was given its current name.

Officially, as the name suggests, the holiday celebrates people who are serving or were serving the Russian Armed Forces (both men and women), but unofficially, nationally it has also more recently come to include the celebration of men as a whole, and to act as a counterpart of International Women's Day on March 8.

The holiday is celebrated with parades and processions in honor of veterans, and women also give small gifts to the Russian men in their lives, especially husbands (or boyfriends), fathers and sons. As a part of the workplace culture, women often give gifts to their male co-workers. Consequently, in colloquial usage, the holiday is often referred to as Men's Day (Russian: День Мужчин, Den' Muzhchin).

Guess they're a day early?

Comments

[ex_bel786]

That's actually a really cool-looking banner. Maybe I'll turn on Cyrillic Services over there too. :)

(Commenting here instead of on LJ, where it would be more relevant, because I just happen to be here at the moment)

[harajuku-blue-b.livejournal.com]

Currently - Fartherland Defender's Day, former Red Army Day (celebrated from 1923).
The decree was signed in Januanry, but there was some kind of wide public draft on Feb 23d anticipating Kaizer army attack.

[harajuku-blue-b.livejournal.com]

*january

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Yes, I just found the Wikipedia article while you were posting this!

But I was confused because it is only the 22nd of February and the banner is already up.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Also, thank you for the helpful reply!

[harajuku-blue-b.livejournal.com]

Because tomorrow is a public holiday (day off), but today males get congratulations at work/study/...

('father'. stupid typo :)

[harajuku-blue-b.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind - military service is still obligatory for men at 18 (though a lot of boys manage to escape), so the government is boosting patriotic sentiment.
But generally Feb 23d and March 8th long turned into 'gender' holidays, with subjects of appropriate gender being congratulated en masse :)

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

It's important to remind folks early, so that women have time to buy the presents..... :-P

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. That's cool to know.