On May 9^th the Russian world celebrates the victory over Germany and the Great Patriotic War. They call it Victory Day and it is celebrated much as we celebrate Memorial Day. They gather at the courthouse or administration building along with the survivors and parade to the local monument to the war. Unlike America every town has such a monument or three. The small town we trained in has four monuments to the dead of the Great Patriotic War. They are all near one another and they are all well maintained. They always have a perpetual flame they can burn but only the larger cities keep it burning everyday. We arrived at the courthouse, my host family and I, to watch the gathering of the veterans, it was raining fairly hard but the turnout was very good for the parade and ceremony. The folk concert was not as well attended but I enjoyed that very much. The photos taken are just assorted shots and I have no names to give you. The first part is the gathering, then the parade, then the ceremony.
There are a few shots of the folk concert but to really view the concert look on the extra’s page and view the May 9^th concert video.