Russia Day

When it falls

12 June every year, a public holiday in Russia.

The Phala almanac gives the exact day for your own city; the lunar and solar rules above are what it computes from.

The story

On 12 June 1990 the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian republic adopted the declaration of state sovereignty, asserting Russian law over Soviet law; a year to the day later Boris Yeltsin was elected the republic's first president. The day became a holiday in 1992 as the Day of the Adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty and was renamed Russia Day in 2002.

It is the youngest of Russia's national holidays and the least ritualised: a day of concerts and fireworks rather than of parades.

How the day is kept

• The President presents the State Prizes of the Russian Federation in the Kremlin, and a reception follows.
• Concerts on Red Square and in every regional capital; fireworks at night in Moscow.
• Citizenship ceremonies for new citizens and passports presented to fourteen-year-olds on the day.

More national days