Men's Day

Today is the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Russia - or "Men's day" as it's sometimes called.  The day's origin goes back to October Revolution when it celebrated the first mass draft into the Red Army in 1918.

Officially, 23 February celebrates men and women serving or having served in the Russian Armed Forces.  Unofficially, it has also come to celebrate men as a whole.

To paraphrase Wikipedia (and reality) "women give small gifts to men in their lives, especially husbands, boyfriends, fathers, sons and brothers .. and often give small gifts to their male co-workers".

In the hope, maybe, of receiving much bigger gifts when their turn, International Women's Day, comes around a few weeks later, on 8 March.