We don't know about you but we here at Londonist have always preferred the Tsarist calendar to the stuffy old Gregorian version.
Not that we have any idea how the Tsarist calendar operates you understand, we just love it becasue it means we get to celebrate the Russian 'Old New Year', and that means borsch, vodka and...erm, the Russian hard rock scene.
The second Russian Winter Festival takes place this Saturday in Trafalgar Square (where else?) and will be (according to Ken) "a Russian winter wonderland of balalaikas, traditional folk ensembles, genuine Russian food and even the Kremlin Guard (pictured)."
We were kind of hoping that the Kremlin Guard would go up against our very own Household Division in a kind of 'Battle of the Guards' but no such luck (maybe Ken could consider that for Winter Festival 2007). The Kremlins' finest will "make a ceremonial display for the first time outside Russia" though, so it's still worth seeing.
The full programme of events can be found here although they neglect to mention the precise location of the two Baltika bars which will be serving the "refreshing premium lager" along with some traditional Russian grub. So let's clear that up right away and tell you that the St Petersburg Bar will be located on the West side of the Square, and the Baltika Moscow Bar will be located on the East.
A word of warning: Londonist attended the festival last year and it was absolutely heaving in the square, so either turn up early or prepare to claim your spot and defend it with your life.
Za vashe zdarovye!
