Victory Day as "Russian civic Easter" and as a "cosmopolitanized" commemoration (on the example of the Russian community in Prague)
Abstract
The memory of events in World War II (in the Soviet and after in the Russian tradition - The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)) covers 80 years. According to Vansina, alive memory exists for about 80-100 years.
After that period, an official memory will substitute a communicative memory. We observe that for example of the celebration of Victory Day in Russia.
The further the events of the war moved away from their contemporaries, the more intense the celebration of Victory Day in Russia becomes. The special character the celebration acquired after the annexation of Crimea (in Russian official rhetoric - the reunification with Russia).
One priest in Russia called Victory Day the ''Russian civil Easter''. If we will according to the concept of the ''civil religion'', we observe something in common between the Immortal Regiment movement and the Orthodox Processional Cross, where the portraits of the fighting ancestors resemble icons.
The ceremony of transfer of the part Eternal flame from Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to other flames reminds the transfer of Blessed fire from the Holy Sepulchre. It is noticed that people begin to be baptized in front of a monument or the Eternal Flame, as in front of an altar.
The celebration of Victory Day for most Russians and other nations, which formed SSSR, have a sacral mean from the ending of World War II till nowadays. Despite that, the celebration of Victory Day throughout all history has undergone a change.
Following Ulrich Bek, we attempt to overcome a ''methodological nationalism'' and will consider Victory Day as a ''cosmopolitanized'' commemoration. The researcher's task consists of detected how the celebration had changed and which structures participate in the celebration of Victory Day on the example of the contemporary Russian community in Prague.