Subbotnik - April 27, 2013

Rakes and brooms lined up at the park administration building in our park.  

I don't know what the first line says and Google Translate didn't help :)  The second line reads _All on Saturday_

The music blasting from these speakers sounded very soviet to me, but I can barely  fit American music into the correct genre, let alone Russian music. . . The sign translates_All on Saturday_.

Subbotnik, from the Russian word Subbota meaning Saturday, is a day of unpaid labor usually on a Saturday.  Originally they were volunteer and promoted the ideas of socialism.  Later, they became mandatory and then were reduced to a day or two a year when communities came forward to spring clean their neighborhood.  Subbotniks still take place but they are purely volunteer and have lost their ideological undertones.  One Million Muscovites took part in this Subbotnik across Moscow.  It was heartwarming to see everyone working together to clean up the park from the ravages of winter.  Next year we'll be able to recognize the sign and grab a rake to help out!