What happens to trees in April. The month is April. Spring in Russian poetry

Admire: spring is coming,

The cranes are flying in a caravan,

The day is drowning in bright gold,

And the streams in the ravines are noisy.

I. Nikitin

April is the second month of spring. If it is known as the “spring of light”, then April is the “spring of water”, in common parlance it is the “month of Aquarius”.

Its Old Russian name is beautiful and sonorous - pollen; After all, this month the first greenery appears and some plants bloom. The Romans called the second month of their calendar Aprilis, from the Latin “aperire” - “to open” (in this month, as we know, the buds open). Russian folk etymology connects the word “April” with the verb “pret” (preet in April). This is the month of the snowman, the month of the opening of rivers and floods, bird songs, forest snowdrops.

According to popular wisdom: “April has never been colder than March or warmer than May.”

According to long-term data, the average air temperature is 2-4 degrees Celsius. In some years, usually in the third decade, such as in 1950, 1970, 1975 and 1977, there were hot days with temperatures of 25-30 degrees Celsius. However, in the first ten days at night, with intrusions of arctic air, there may still be a short-term drop in temperature to 20-30 degrees below zero (1957 and 1963).

The transition of the average daily temperature through 5 degrees Celsius occurs in the third ten days of April (19-24); The snow cover usually disappears in the second ten days of April (12-18). Monthly precipitation is 25-30 mm.

The snow is still white in the fields, and the waters are already noisy in spring...

Under the bright rays of the spring sun, the snow melts and darkens, the ground is gradually freed from snow cover, becoming saturated with moisture.

Just as cold matinees do not hold back the young spring at first, it takes its toll. Aprilskaya begins her “talk” while still under the snow. At noon, puddles of snow water spill on the streets, and bright streams ring on the slopes. warms up day by day warmer and warmer. The sky is turning blue. The slopes and steep slopes turn black. Gulls and ravines turn into turbulent streams that make noise day and night and become dangerous obstacles in times of mud.

People noted: “February is rich in snow, April is rich in water,” “Where there is a river in April, there is a puddle in July,” and “April streams awaken the earth.” And indeed, how much unbridled power there is in this picture! April is the spring of water.

The April weather is fickle and changeable, with seven weather conditions per day. First there is sun and frost, then suddenly the northern wind “Siverko” will blow and it will snow, at night the frost will catch the puddles with transparent blue ice. And the next day it will become warmer again and it will drizzle. Return frosts in April are common. It’s not for nothing that they say: “It’s April - don’t trust anything” and “Don’t break the stove - it’s still April.”

There is noise and commotion all day long in the rook colonies. Old rooks have occupied their former homes and are renovating them, young ones are building new ones, announcing the surroundings with loud cawing. Birds stay in pairs near nests. Fierce fights often arise between rooks for possession of nests. Rooks stride importantly in the thawed patches. Apparently, “The Rook pecked at the winter.”

Rooks begin laying eggs in the first half of April. In cold and long springs there are 3 eggs in the clutch, in favorable ones - 4 eggs.

The wonderful songbirds, the starling mockingbirds, have occupied the birdhouses, driving out uninvited guests from them - the ubiquitous sparrows, and in the forest they nest in the hollows of trees. The spring starling is beautiful: it is all black, its chest and neck have a greenish-violet tint. The tail and wings are brownish. After arrival (in early spring at the end of March), starlings sing sluggishly, without inspiration. And only when the starling begins to lay eggs, the starling’s song will sound in full force. He sings excitedly, his wings fluttering with joy. This bird does not have its own song, but it imitates many other birds well. In the whistling of the starling one can hear the clicking of nightingales and the voices of larks, thrushes and warblers.

From the height of the sky above the thawed patches in the fields comes the perky, iridescent song of a lark. Immediately upon arrival (at the end of March), this small bird in a modest motley-gray outfit begins to sing. A mound of last year's grass that has melted on the field is its first refuge.

In early April, finches usually arrive - the most numerous birds of our forests. Soon after arrival, their cheerful song can already be heard everywhere in forests, gardens and parks. Males have a brownish-red breast, a bluish head, a dark back and a white wing mirror. Females are much simpler in color: monotonous, gray. The males arrive from the wintering grounds first, they occupy the nesting areas and, singing a sonorous song, seem to warn their rivals: do not approach, the place is occupied. Ten days after arrival, the females begin building a nest. They do not sing, but only make short sounds. The nest is made on a strong support near a tree trunk, at a height of 1.3 to 15 meters. The finch can be considered one of the most skilled nest builders. The base of the nest is woven from blades of grass, dry stems, grass roots, and sometimes moss, needles, and tree leaves are added. The inner layer is made of small bird feathers, mammal hair or plant fluff. For the exterior decoration of the nest, pieces of lichens growing on the bark of trees and thin birch bark films from birch trees are used. In the first half of May you can already find nests of finches with a full clutch of 5-6 eggs. At the same time as the finches, thrushes arrive; later, small, nimble white wagtails also appear - harbingers of the flood. Since ancient times in Rus' this cute, elegant bird has been called “icebreaker”. The black-breasted bird merrily shakes its long tail, running quickly on its thin, springy legs along the roads, paths, banks of rivers and lakes, loudly pronouncing its “Tsvenk... Tsvenk.” Its arrival usually coincides with the opening of small rivers. It was believed that the white wagtail broke the ice with its long, quivering tail.

In Kazan, the average date of her arrival is April 7 (the earliest was March 30, 1975, and the latest was April 24, 1926).

In addition to the white one, there are three species of yellow wagtail, closely similar to each other; they can be found in meadows and wet pastures. Wagtails are one of the most useful birds. They destroy a large number of insects.

Hollow-nesting birds can be found everywhere; dozens of their species settle close to human habitation, even in large cities. These are sparrows, gray flycatchers, redstarts, starlings, pied flycatchers and great tits. However, hollow-nesting birds can only settle where there are hollows or something replacing them.

House and tree sparrows, starlings, and pied flycatchers are very undemanding in choosing a birdhouse, and for them even significant deviations in the shape and size of the box are not significant. You just have to remember that the inside of the birdhouse must remain unplaned and rough so that the birds can easily get out. There should be no gaps in it.

Nests of the same design, but smaller in size, are inhabited by small birds - tits, flycatchers. Such nesting sites are usually called titmouse nests. In them, the main importance is the diameter of the entrance through which the bird flies. In order to prevent the city sparrow from nesting in the titmouse, the entrance should have a diameter of 3 centimeters, although in nature the tit likes to nest in hollows with a relatively large diameter of the entrance.

The great tit is picky in choosing a nesting site. She cannot stand the cracks in the titmouse and clearly prefers those made of thick boards. For a titmouse, you need to carefully choose a place. Its height from the ground should be 3-5 meters. The nesting site is located in the crowns of trees, on thick trunks, so that the entrance is facing the dense branches of the trees, but is not covered by them. It has been noticed that tits prefer the green color of the nest box to all other colors.

It is better to hang nesting boxes in the fall, and since the size of the great tit’s nesting area is large, the tits should be located at a distance of at least 5-12 meters from each other.

Crane triangles are crowing high in the sky, and noisy schools of geese are hurrying north. One day on April 4th we were on an ice fishing trip opposite the river port. Seventeen geese flew above us, relatively low, up the Volga; Migrating geese, around this time, can be seen in different years near the village of Shuran, in Sorochi Gory, Maslovka and in other places on the Kama. In early April, as soon as the edges of the river banks appear and there is water in the field lakes, seagulls arrive (their average arrival date is April 14), mallard ducks, somewhat later goldeneye ducks, then the smallest ducks: teal- whistlers and teal-gackers. The meadows and swamps are resounding with the drawn-out cries of lapwings, or Pigalits in the folk language: “Tiu-vi!”, “Tiu-vi!” Woodcocks and other waders, redstarts and chiffchaffs appear. The very first seagulls in our city can be found on Dalniy Kaban, where the warm waters of KazGRES flow.

The firstborn of spring are blooming in the forest. Earrings bloom on alder, hazel or hazel. The spring wind carries greenish, dry and light pollen from alder, and yellowish pollen from hazel. There are no traces of leaves yet, but the alder and hazel are in bloom. First-time bees buzz around them, collecting pollen. A previously inconspicuous fragrant shrub in the forest, the wolf's bast, has been transformed; it was one of the first to bloom its lilac-pink bells. This rare plant is now under protection. You cannot pick flowers, dig it up, or cause damage to it. The aspen is blooming, at the end of the month of April - the beginning of May - the goat willow (bredina), the buds on the trees are noticeably rounder, the tops of the birches and willows are glowing.

Late spring and deep freezing of the soil delay sap flow in trees: in birches it begins only after the average daily air temperature rises above zero. As a rule, in the vicinity of Kazan this happens on April 12; the earliest recent sap flow was observed on April 2, 1975, and the latest on May 3, 1968.

Butterflies flew out - yellow lemongrass, brown urticaria. Ladybugs also came to life in the sun. Their bright dotted color is a warning to birds: don’t take them, they’re inedible! Ladybugs bring great benefits - they destroy aphids.

On slightly thawed clay hills, along roads, on railway embankments, yellow baskets of flowers bloom on short, thick, greenish-gray stems. These are coltsfoot flowers. This plant is medicinal; the flowers and leaves are dried, and then brewed and drunk as tea. A decoction of coltsfoot is used for coughs and sore throats.

In pine forests, one of the first to bloom in late April - early May is a beautiful shaggy flower - open lumbago or, as it is also called, sleep-grass. The most suitable name for this snowdrop would, perhaps, be forest tulip. In some places we call it that. It pleases with its freshness and unusualness. This dark purple or blue flower is extremely delicate and is in danger of extinction. After all, the border of its distribution is moving further and further from Kazan, there is less and less of it in the nearest forests, and therefore it is included in the list of protected plants of the republic.

In light, dry clearings in deciduous and mixed forests, lungwort, a typical forest plant, rose from the ground and blossomed. Lungwort is a plant with small flowers sitting on one stem - pink, red, blue, blue, purple and rough leaves.

You see lungwort and rejoice, because it appears among the first flowers in the spring. The beginning of its flowering can serve as a sign of the disappearance of snow cover in the forest. Lungwort has an interesting feature - its flowers change color over the course of several days. The flower starts out pink or red and then turns purple and finally blue. On one stem you can often see all the colors at once - a multi-colored bouquet, because flowers do not bloom at the same time.

Why were these flowers called lungwort? Probably because bees love to collect nectar from these flowers in early spring. But if you carefully observe the bees, you will notice that they fly only to the purple lungwort flowers: there is no nectar in the pink and red flowers.

In the folk calendar, April 4 is the day of the sun. April 7th is winter day. “Spring overcame winter,” says the saying. At about this time, badgers and raccoons emerge from their holes, bears crawl out of their dens, ants crawl up, hedgehogs and lizards appear. Thunderstorm on this day - for a warm summer; and if the night is warm, then spring will be friendly. The winter path collapses a week before this day or a week after. At this time in Rus' the ritual of “letting the birds go free” was observed. The townspeople bought birds at the market and immediately released them into the shining spring sky. The beekeepers took the hives out of the omshanik. People say: “The gray alder is dusty - it’s time to put up the hives.” In nine days the bees will bring the first pollen. April 9 is Nastovitsa Day. On this day it is customary to meet lapwings - “nastovits”. “The lapwing flew in, bringing water on its tail.” And indeed, according to our zoological scientists, the average date of arrival of lapwings near Kazan is April 9, the earliest was March 19, 1937, the latest was April 20, 1952. Lapwings hold on after the arrival of temporary field reservoirs. As the spring waters recede, these cute and cautious Birds with a crest on their heads move to large bodies of water with adjacent meadows. At the same time they said that “the pike breaks the ice with its tail.”

April 14 is the day “light up the snow, make the ravines sparkle,” and four days later the heat blew, open the window.

The penultimate day of April is the shore break. The flood waters on the rivers have subsided - the banks are dug up, bridges are weakened.

In the month of April, the growing season of winter and fruit crops, trees and shrubs resumes after the average daily temperature passes through plus 5 degrees. Fine sunny April days and flows of melt water are favorable for the rapid renewal of nature.

In the middle of April - early May, when there is still snow in the ravines, and in some places in the forest, the first mushrooms appear: morels and strings. Snowdrop mushrooms can be found in both coniferous and deciduous forests: they are easiest to find in clearings, clearings, near forest roads, along the edges of forest swamps and burnt areas. They are meaty, tender and have a spicy smell. Morels have a yellow-brown conical cap, cellular, as if sewn from shreds. The stump is hollow inside. The stitch has a dark brown, irregularly shaped cap with deep folds. Neither give nor take some kind of “potato”. Morels and strings should be collected young, as old, flabby mushrooms acquire some toxicity. Fresh morels and strings are boiled for 10-15 minutes, the broth is drained, the mushrooms are washed, and then fried, boiled or stewed, pickled. Morels fried in sour cream are not inferior to porcini mushrooms.

April is the breeding season for game animals. At the beginning of the month you can meet the first tiny spring hares. Hares are very prolific: they give birth to cubs up to four times a year, and in a brood there are on average three to four hares. They are born sighted and covered with fur. The first spring hares, the so-called “nastoviks,” in most cases die, mainly from the cold. Around the same time, offspring appear and from three to eight squirrels appear. Baby squirrels are born naked and blind; they are completely helpless. The mother feeds them milk for almost a month. A squirrel has two or three litters per year. Young ones appear in wolves (from 3 to 12 blind puppies), in badgers (from 2 to 6 blind badgers), in muskrats and martens. The animals are in the midst of molting. Squirrels, martens, hares, and foxes shed their winter coats.

Bird fights begin in the forest at dawn. On the edges, clearings and clearings, black grouse cackle and mutter and start fierce fights. The red-browed opponents have feathers flying in all directions. Black grouse also readily display in meadows, which has been observed many times, and sometimes in fields. Capercaillie currents flare up in the pine forests. Capercaillies fly to the lekking site in the evening and begin to lek very early, as soon as it dawns. The wood grouse's song consists of clicking and grinding sounds. During the grinding, the capercaillie hears absolutely nothing. The ancient bird is chattering and uncontrollably singing its quiet witchcraft song. The flapping of the wings of males fighting on the ground can be heard in the distance. Few of these forest beauties remain in our forests. That is why hunting them is prohibited for a long time in many places.

Woodcocks begin their cravings - evening flights in search of females; the cranes “dance” in the swamps.

In ancient Rus', the month of April was also called “berezozol”, which means evil for birch trees. This name was given because from ancient times they harvested sap - sweet birch sap - from the end of the month and often destroyed trees with this. Sap flow in birch trees begins after the ground thaws. The sap, which contains a lot of sugar, moves through the vessels of the wood from bottom to top, from the roots of the tree to the swelling buds. Nowadays, birch sap is collected only at cutting sites intended for felling in the next two to three years. Then the hole in the birch bark is covered and the flow stops. Birch sap attracts various insects (ants, urticaria butterflies, flies) and especially woodpeckers. The latter dig holes in several rows on the trunks of birches with their strong beaks. Such holes are called “woodpecker rings.” Birch sap is used both as a refreshing drink and as a remedy for stomach diseases. There is a popular saying: if a birch tree has a lot of sap in the spring, expect a rainy summer.

It's the last days of ice fishing for amateur fishermen. The end of March and the beginning of April is the most productive time for fishing. They fish with spoons, jigs, and donks. The trophies are very diverse: large silver breams, pearlescent pike perch, weighty white bream, silver bream, bream, elegant perches. The most wonderful fishing: the water in the holes doesn’t freeze, you don’t need mittens, the sun is already hot and the first spring tan appears on the faces of the ice fishermen. Clean air and passion for fishing - isn't this a good rest after a five-day work?

Fans of ice fishing should not forget about the danger: at this time the ice becomes loose, thin and fragile, gullies and holes appear, and disaster is not far away. And if, through negligence, trouble happens, the main thing is not to lose courage and presence of mind. You must immediately spread your arms wide, trying to keep them on the surface of the ice, and the best thing is to lie with your chest on the edge of the ice and throw your arms forward or turn on your back and throw your arms back. To get out of a dangerous place, you need to move while lying down to increase the area of support and shout for help. In fact, while maintaining composure, you need to get out on your own, without relying on outside help.

When the water becomes cloudy, winter fishing ends, as the fish can no longer see the bait. Pike spawning begins.

It is appropriate to recall that at the end of April, the Fishery Protection Inspectorate announced a ban on commercial and recreational fishing for a certain time on the Volga, Kama, Mesha and Sviyag rivers. During the period of the ban, recreational fishing is permitted from the shore with one fishing rod and one hook outside the fish spawning areas; At the same time, the fight against poaching is intensifying.

I remember such a case. This happened several years ago during the second five-day period of the month of April. It was still quite freezing at night, but during the day the sun was heating up with all its might, the snow was melting and it was quite warm. Then I went winter fishing near the village of Students. The narrow winter path from the oil depot initially ran along. A dirty ditch, then a bank and then turned sharply to the right towards Nizhny Uslon. From there I already made my way along the coast to Students. Close to the shore, in snags, the perch took very well with a jig. By evening my fishing box was full; The perch was mostly average. I put the box of fish in my backpack and walked briskly through the snowy water back towards Nizhny Uslon. Before reaching the main ice path (about three hundred fifty to four hundred meters), I went diagonally from the shore to this path. I walked with an ice pick, testing the strength of the ice from time to time. And after the next blow, the ice pick seemed to fall through, as if it had gone into oil. that very moment I found myself in a ravine, released an ice pick, which immediately sank to the Volga bottom. At first I was confused, finding myself in cold water, I didn’t know what to do, and then, pulling myself together, I began to grab the edge of thin ice with my hands. Ice first broke off, then went stronger and I soon got out of the dangerous place. But I managed to take only a few steps - the ice broke again, and I again found myself in the water. This time I no longer stood up when I climbed out onto the ice, but lying down, - on my hands, as they taught in the army, I crawled about three hundred meters to the path compacted by hundreds of feet. To this day, I consider my savior to be my fishing box, placed in a backpack, which did not allow me to dive deeper into the water, and I, like a float, stayed on the water. Frivolity - there is no other way to explain it, although I really wanted to reduce the distance to the trail - could have ended in irreparable disaster under other circumstances. These are the stories that happen in nature with amateur fishermen.

In the second half of April, spring hunting with permits for woodcock in the evening draft and grouse in leks is allowed in organized hunting grounds with a strict shooting norm. A few days before the start of the hunt, a hut is erected near the mating site so that the birds get used to it. On the day of hunting, the hunter, while it is still dark, before dawn, climbs into it and in the morning shoots black grouse.

Usually the first spring thunderstorms occur in May. But in 1977, strong peals of thunder were heard in Kazan on the morning of April 11th. This is one of the few cases of such an early thunderstorm in our republic.

Spring work is underway in the fields: fertilizing winter crops, harrowing plowed land and perennial grasses. The farms treat proven, high-quality seeds. It’s not for nothing that they say: “What goes around comes around.”

Old-timers say that the Volga begins to open when the length of the day according to the calendar is fourteen hours. And this is confirmed in practice: the first movement of ice always occurs at this time.

In the third ten days of April, navigation on the Volga, the “blue street of Russia,” usually opens. The small rivers Mesha, Kazanka, Svnyaga open one to two weeks earlier; Kama - somewhat later than the Volga.

I remember well the ice drift on the old Volga. This time was a real holiday for the townspeople. For about another week and a half, people were impatiently asking each other: “Haven’t you gone yet?” And as an electric current swept through the city - “I’m off!” Then everyone, both old and young, hurried to look at the great Mother Volga. Trams on route 1 were overcrowded; On the windows of the cars, catchy posters were pasted: “The ice has broken” and “There is complete ice drift on the Volga.” Even when approaching the shore, a dull hum, rustling and grinding of ice floes was heard. The river made noise, rumbled, and reared up with bizarre piles of ice. With the spring waters, small and large ice floes rushed downstream, sometimes even huge ice fields. And on them, often, and sometimes not entirely explicably, one could see either a small wooden hut or some kind of animal. And multi-ton masses of transparent blue-green ice easily washed up on the shores. The river was awakening after a long winter, and everyone wanted to see this great awakening, the power of the elements. Ice drift on the Volga was an unforgettable, majestic sight. And crowds of smartly dressed townspeople admired him for several days. And now, with the arrival of the Greater Volga, the river has slowed down its flow to the sea and the ice drift passes almost unnoticed.

Folk signs about the weather and sayings:

The crane cooes - it gives the news of warmth.

Cranes fly north - towards warmth, fly back -

to the cold.

The crane on its tail brought the ice wagtail to break.

The seagull has arrived - the ice will soon pass.

Migratory birds fly in flocks - for a friendly spring.

The early rise of bees - for the red spring.

A sandpiper flew in from overseas and brought spring out of hiding.

If the pigeons coo, it will be warm.

Excess moisture in the ground means extra bread in the bins.

Snow in April - the grandson came for his grandfather.

If hares do not shed for a long time in the spring, wait for the cold weather to continue.

If migratory birds do not chirp for a long time in the spring, it will be cold.

There would be water, and greenery would emerge.

The first spring rain will wash the roots.

Wet April is good arable land. Spring is red during the day.

The cuckoo began to crow - there would be no more frost.

The lark comes to the warmth, the finch to the cold.

The cat washes itself, licks its paw - to the bucket, climbs onto the stove, curls up, covers its face with its paw - to rain and cold weather.

Thunder in early spring - before the cold.

Geese are flying high - there will be a lot of water; they fly low - few.

Spring is coming into its own as a mistress. It is a wonderful time for the awakening of our native nature.

Incredible facts

These people are successful in almost everything!

April is the month when the grass begins to turn green and trees and bushes begin to bloom.

It is in this month that we begin to truly feel the onset of spring.

Perhaps for this reason, children born in April have a friendly and passionate character.

Read also:

The month of April is named after the ancient Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. The Romans have a nameAprilis meant "opener".

This is a month of surprises and contradictions, because in April not only many geniuses were born, but also crazy despots.

Here's a few moreinteresting facts about people born in April .

People born in April

1. They were born under the sign of Aries or Taurus

If we talk about astrology, then people who celebrate their birthday from April 1 to April 20 belong to the sign of Aries, which is under the protection of the planet and the Roman god of war Mars.

Those born from April 21 to April 30 already fall under the zodiac sign of Taurus. This earth sign is ruled by the planet and Roman goddess of love, Venus.

2. Their birthstone is diamond

The birthstone for April people is diamond, one of the hardest substances on the planet, which forms deep in the earth. It is also considered the most valuable of all stones.

Diamonds are believed to bring various benefits to their owners, increasing their inner strength and helping in relationships. They bring clarity, abundance, courage, wealth and symbolize everlasting love.

Two flowers symbolize the month of April: the daisy and the sweet pea. The daisy represents innocence, devoted love and purity.

Sweet peas are a symbol of blissful delight and are often used to say goodbye.

4. They know how to put themselves in someone else’s shoes.

People born in April always feel what is happening around them, as they are very emotional. They can always give advice to those who are disappointed, upset or do not know what to do in life. They are able to reason and inspire a person.

5. They are successful in many professions.

While people born in other months tend to choose only a few select professions, the same cannot be said for April people.

Perhaps, thanks to leadership qualities and assertiveness, those born in April become successful in many professions. You will never find them bored because they always have many hobbies or are engaged in some activity.

6. They get sick less often than others

According to medical research from Columbia University, people born this month are less likely to suffer from cardiovascular, neurological, respiratory and reproductive diseases than those born in other months of the year.

People born in April

7. They are more optimistic

According to scientific studies, people born in March, April and May score high on the hyperthymia scale. Hyperthymia is a scientific term meaning high spirits and optimism.

April children will always see the glass half full and see the positive in everything.

8. Among those born in April there are many geniuses and rulers

If you were born in April, then you share your birthday with such famous people as Queen Elizabeth II, Leonardo da Vinci, William Shakespeare, Jackie Chan, Garry Kasparov, Alla Pugacheva, Al Pacino, Barbra Streisand, Adolf Hitler and many others.

9. If you get married in April, you will have a good marriage.

Those born in April belong to the zodiac sign of Aries and most often marry Aries, succeed in life, and their marriage is filled with spontaneity. If you were born in the last 10 days of April, then you are likely to have a solid marriage where both partners share a common love for the good life and beautiful things.

10. They are brave and adventurous

One of the characteristic traits of people born in April is their dislike of routine, monotony and predictable life. These people are not looking for easy ways.

No matter how difficult the task, they always bravely and energetically take on it. These are true thrill seekers who love adrenaline rushes.

11. They are independent

People born in April prefer to do everything their own way; they need personal space and freedom. Many people get annoyed when someone tells them what to do and what not to do.

They make their own path and don’t wait for everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. They try not to depend on their family and partners.

12. They are romantic

April men and women can be called true romantics. They are able to love to the maximum if they believe that they have found a suitable partner, otherwise they become simply indifferent.

You will know whether they like you or not because they are able to make their intentions pretty clear. Sometimes love can blind them and they may quickly fall in love without realizing that this person is not right for them.

13. They are great friends

They value friendship above all else and make a ton of friends wherever they go. Their charisma, playfulness and energy are hard to resist. They attract others like a magnet.

14. They are impatient

Since they are very curious by nature, they are always trying to find answers to their questions, and want to get them here and now.

April-Snegogon. Water will flow like a stream from all the slopes. April drives the snow away and drives away winter with it, which is why it is nicknamed “Snowrunner”. The dark and damp earth is exposed, the soil is preparing for flowering, the forest wakes up to the singing of birds.

April: ringing music drops

Description of the nature of April (I - II week).
April begins its onset with abundant snowmelt. The sun is already rising high above the horizon, and during the daytime the average air temperature exceeds 0° C. The air, which is becoming warmer every day, carries the smell of spring across the natural expanses of forests and rivers with light winds. There is flooding all around. Streams sparkle in the sun in a string, happily murmuring down the slopes of roads that are finally freed from snow debris.

The alder tree is blooming, and this is a sure sign of a warm and stable spring. Gradually, the snow heated by the sun melts from the trees, freeing the bark from the winter shackles. The snow also melts from the ground, remaining only for a long time in the darkest places, hidden from the sun's rays, in the form of a dry dark crust. On rivers, ice cracks and breaks, so that many ice floes can then float down the river. On the banks of ponds, the ice becomes thin and viscous, and thawed patches form in places.

April in the folk calendar

"April - pike breaks the ice with its tail"

Well, the long-awaited pleasant days have come, when you can safely take off your thick outerwear, exposing your hands and cheeks to the rays of the sun. The merry drops started clicking, but April 4th has already passed - Vasily the Sunflower. In the morning it’s still frosty, and by day the ringing music of the drops is ringing.

From April 7th we celebrate real spring on the day of the Annunciation. It is believed that from this day on, winter, if it does not completely go away, will admit its defeat. From April 9 - the day of Matryona the Mentor - lapwings arrive. The ice on the rivers cracks, the ice floes float, the day of Marya's arrival comes - April 14, and, as they said, Marya came and brought floods.

Spring in Russian poetry

A.N. Pleshcheev devoted a considerable share of his work to spring themes. His most famous poem on this topic is “The Snow is Melting.” It leads the listener into an atmosphere of anticipation of happy moments, joyful happiness from the upcoming spring. Spring nature is depicted here very tenderly and in the right artistic manner. Such poems make you want to read them again.

The snow is already melting, the streams are flowing,
There was a breath of spring through the window...
The nightingales will soon whistle,
And the forest will be dressed in leaves!

Pure heavenly azure,
The sun became warmer and brighter,
It's time for evil blizzards and storms
It's gone for a long time again.

And my heart is so strong in my chest
He knocks as if he's waiting for something
As if happiness is ahead
And winter took away your worries!

April: birth of warmth

Description of the nature of the second half of April (III - IV week).
By mid-spring, the average air temperature exceeds +5° C, nature awakens. The first soft green shoots of future grass appear on open, flat surfaces, warmed by the rays of the sun. The snow is melting day by day, exposing bare ground, on which the first thin blades of grass are about to sprout. In shady places, under powerful tree trunks and in lowlands, where the rays of the spring sun hardly penetrate, there is still a lot of snow with hard edges of dark gloomy snowdrifts. Streams continue to gurgle playfully along the roads and clearings, intertwining in a string and sparkling with glare of rays in the bright April sun. At high water, seagulls and mallard ducks return from warmer climes.

The forest and slopes of the river banks are filled with the joyful voices of birds. Birds unite in pairs, the brightest time in the animal world begins - the mating season. The forest, still bare and wet, is filled with musical sounds. Life is springing up everywhere.

A series of warm days in the folk calendar

"Antip pours water on the floodplains, Vasily gives a couple to the countrymen"

The first rains wash away the remaining snow and cleanse the soil, preparing nature for the growing season. The first buds with tiny leaves reach towards the sky, closer to the gentle rays of the coming summer. The birds are busy with important work, making nests. The weather seems to be stable, the sun warms the air to 10 degrees Celsius, when suddenly the sun disappears behind the clouds and a wave of cold wind sweeps across the fields. And here Ruf and Anton-Polovod already released water throughout all spring districts on April 23 and 24. Just like that, Vasily-Pariysky - on April 25 - doused the earth with warmth, so much so that the bear came out of the den.

In April there are still no leaves, no greenery, but the first forest bouquets of flowers peek out in places where the water has receded. April prepares nature for the upcoming landscaping, which will already be done by its close brother the month of May. The bees are already beginning to hover around the first flowers. The trees are bare, the water has receded and May is already approaching. But it was not there. Winter has not completely left the gates. For a couple of days, it will take him prisoner, engulfing him in frosts and, perhaps, unexpected snow, showing that he will return. But now it’s already difficult for winter to return, because May and the warm summer ahead are ahead.

Spring in Russian painting

(Painting by Yu. S. Zhukovsky “Old Estate”)

The Russian painter Yulian Stanislavovich Zhukovsky very beautifully conveys the spring landscape in the painting “The Old Manor” (1910), which depicts a quiet forest river, and around it tender greenery has just awakened. Most of the picture is occupied by a birch grove. Slender birch trees have just begun to put on their spring outfits; they stand in anticipation of a wonderful transformation, reflected in the still water.

April is the fourth month of the modern calendar. According to the most common version, the month was named this way because of the Latin word “aperire”, which means “to open”. At this time spring was beginning in Italy. The ancient Greeks approximately also called the month, which only confirms the previous judgment. But there is another version, according to which the word April comes from the name of the pagan goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite - on the first day of April there was a holiday in her honor. Most European names come from Latin, but in Poland the month is called "kwiecień", which means "blooming", and in the Czech Republic - "duben" from the word "oak".

Before the adoption of Christianity in Rus', the official name of the month was “berezozol”, and among the people it was called primrose, caddisfly and aquarius. At this time, many herbaceous plants begin to bloom, and towards the end of April you can hear the first singing of cuckoos. For rural residents and garden owners this month is the most busy. During this period, trees and vegetables are planted and meadows are irrigated. In the middle of the month, when the soil finally thaws, sowing of spring grain crops begins. As for the weather, April is the most capricious month in this regard. Frosts rarely return, but it can rain several times in one day. In April the snow finally melts and the rivers open up.

Folk beliefs, signs, proverbs and sayings of April

In April - water, in May - grass, in July - bread.
Three rains in April replace a thousand rains in July.
If there is a lot of precipitation in April, then the summer will be mushroom.
In April there are seven weather conditions for one day.
If there is a stormy April, it means there will be a rich harvest of nuts.
The April flood means a good harvest of grain crops.
The first thunder of this month heralds the onset of warm weather.
If birds build nests high in the trees, then the summer will be dry; if it is low, a rainy and stormy summer will be expected.
If the alder leaves bloom earlier than the birch, it will be a rainy summer.
Good and dry weather on Annunciation speaks of a stormy and rainy summer.

Holidays and memorable dates in April

April 1st is World Laughter Day. On this holiday, it is customary to play kindly on each other. If a person falls for any prank in the afternoon, he is called the “fool of the day.”
April 2 is celebrated as the day of unity of the peoples of Russia and Belarus.
April 3 is the international holiday of geologist.
On the 4th, employees of the investigative bodies of the Russian Federation celebrate their professional holiday.
On April 7, 1994, the then new domain.ru was registered and entered into the international address database. In fact, this day is considered the birthday of the Internet in Russia.
The 10th is the day of military personnel of air defense units.
On April 11, 1945, a prisoner riot took place in the Buchenwald concentration camp, which was brutally suppressed. Now this day is considered a day of remembrance for the victims of concentration camps.
International Aviation and Cosmonautics Day is celebrated on the 12th.
April 19 is Snowdrop Day. The holiday was established in 1984 and came to us from Great Britain.
This month also includes many Orthodox holidays, for example, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter - the day of the resurrection of Christ.

4.04.2016

1808 Emperor Alexander I proclaimed the “eternal” annexation of Finland to Russia

In 1807, Russia, under the terms of the Peace of Tilsit, was obliged to force Sweden to join the blockade of the British Isles. Sweden refused, so at the beginning of 1808 Russian troops launched an offensive in South-Eastern Finland. On April 1, 1808, Emperor Alexander I proclaimed the “eternal” annexation of Finland to Russia. On March 15, 1809, he signed the Manifesto on the State Structure of Finland.

An unpopular process of Russification among the population began on the territory of Finland, which caused a number of protests, and at the beginning of the 20th century contributed to the intensification of the struggle for independence.

On December 18, 1917, by a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, it was proposed to “recognize the state independence of the Finnish Republic.” In winter, the Soviet-Finnish war began, after which Finland lost part of its territory. At the end of 1995, Finland joined the European Union.

1613 Feat Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin

At the beginning of 1613, a Polish detachment scoured the Kostroma region in search of Mikhail Romanov and his mother, nun Martha. They intended to capture or destroy the real Russian contender for the Moscow throne. Or maybe they wanted to capture him to demand a ransom.

Not far from Domnin, the Poles met the village head Ivan Susanin and ordered him to show the way to the village. Susanin managed to send his son-in-law, Bogdan Sabinin, to Domnino with instructions to equip Mikhail Romanov to the Ipatiev Monastery. And he himself led the Poles in the opposite direction - to the swamps. He was tortured and executed - but it was Susanin’s feat that allowed Mikhail to reach the Ipatiev Monastery unharmed.

They buried Susanin first in his native village, and a few years later they transferred the ashes to the Ipatiev Monastery - which became a symbol of the salvation of the dynasty.

The letter of grant signed by the tsar (1619) states that B. Sabinin “for the service and for the blood and patience of his father-in-law Ivan Susanin” received the land for eternal use. Susanin's feat was repeated many times by Soviet patriots during the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars. The memory of Susanin's patriotic feat was preserved in oral folk tales and traditions. His feat is reflected in fiction, literature, and M. I. Glinka’s opera “Ivan Susanin.” A monument to Susanin was unveiled in Kostroma (1967). A collective farm and a village in the Kostroma region, a park in Kostroma, a street in Moscow, a school in the village are named after Susanin. Domnino, motor ships.

1879 Sofia is declared the capital of Bulgaria

Sofia is a city with a long history. It was founded seven thousand years ago and is the second oldest city in Europe. Sofia is located at one of the oldest and busiest crossroads in Europe, connecting the West with the East. Over the course of history, the city changed its name several times. At the beginning of the 9th century, the city became part of the Bulgarian state and was considered one of the large federal cities. Even then, being a significant military-political and cultural center of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, the city was renamed Sredets. The city received its modern name Sofia in honor of the Basilica of Hagia Sophia, which translated from Greek means “wisdom”. In official documents under the name Sophia it appears at the end of the 14th century. From the late 14th century to the 1870s, the city, like the entire country, was under Ottoman rule. During the years of Ottoman rule, the city became an important administrative center of the empire. Here was the residence of the beylerbey of Rumelia, who ruled the European territory of the Ottoman Empire, and thus the city became the second, after Constantinople, Ottoman city in Europe. At the same time, Sofia also became the center of the liberation movement.

As a result of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78, Bulgaria was liberated from the Turkish yoke. The state needed a capital. Among the most convincing candidates was Sofia. The strategic advantages of the city's location became decisive in the choice of the capital of the state. On April 3, 1879, the Great People's Assembly (the first national state assembly), which met in the city of Tarnovo, adopted an act by which Sofia was determined to be the main administrative, political and social center of Bulgaria. Thus, this decision made Sofia the capital of the newly liberated Bulgarian state. A period of fairly rapid construction and development of the city and the state as a whole began. In 1900, the city leadership proclaimed the emblem and motto of Sofia:"She grows, but does not age" . Today Sofia is a major economic, academic, historical and cultural center of Bulgaria.

1797 Coronation of Russian Emperor Paul I . Manifesto prohibiting landowners from forcing peasants to work on Sundays. A Manifesto on Succession to the Throne was also published (more details in the next article)

Emperor Paul I, son of Catherine II and Peter III, ascended the throne on November 6, 1796 at the age of 42. On April 5, 1797, on the first day of Easter, the coronation of the new sovereign took place. For the first time in history, the emperor and empress were crowned together.

On the day of his coronation, the emperor signed a Manifesto on a three-day corvee. This document, for the first time since the advent of serfdom in Russia, legally limited the use of peasant labor in favor of the court, the state and landowners to three days each week and prohibited forcing peasants to work on Sundays.

On the same day, Paul I publicly read out the adopted new law on succession to the throne, which drew a line under a century of palace coups and female rule in Russia. From now on, women were actually excluded from inheriting the Russian throne. For the first time, the rules of the regency were established.

1920 The Far Eastern Republic (FER) was formed

On April 6, 1920, the Far Eastern Republic (FER) was formed, which existed until November 1922. The Far Eastern Republic was proclaimed by the Constituent Congress of the Workers of the Baikal Region on April 6, 1920. At first, the government of the Far Eastern Republic controlled only the Amur region and the Baikal region. In October 1920, representatives of the Verkhneudinsk, Amur and Primorsky governments, Eastern and Central Transbaikalia, as well as Kamchatka legally formalized the unification of the region at a specially convened conference. It was then that a full-fledged Far Eastern Republic appeared on the political map. It also included the Chinese Eastern Railway along with the “exclusion strip” - the Chinese territory adjacent to the railway, where the Russian population lived. For this, the Chinese are still offended by the Far Eastern Republic, claiming that it illegally annexed the lands of the Celestial Empire.

The capital of the Far Eastern Republic was first Verkhneudinsk (present-day Ulan-Ude), and then Chita.

Soviet Russia officially recognized the republic on May 14, 1920, from the very beginning providing it with financial, diplomatic, personnel, economic and military assistance.

In January 1921, elections were held to the Constituent Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic, which adopted the Constitution. It stated that the republic is an independent democratic state in which the supreme state power belongs to the people. The government of the Far Eastern Republic was headed by Alexander Mikhailovich Krasnoshchekov.

The Far Eastern Republic did not last long - only 2.5 years. But it completed its tasks, preventing a military clash between the RSFSR and Japan. And not only - in the Far Eastern Republic, even in such a short, almost insignificant, by historical standards, period, a lot of things were created that would not have hurt Soviet Russia at all. For example, in contrast to Soviet Russia, the Higher Court of Cassation was created in the Far Eastern Republic and prosecutorial supervision appeared several years earlier. Border troops in the Far Eastern Republic, to a greater extent than in the RSFSR, carried out control and customs functions...

On October 25, 1922, the People's Revolutionary Army occupied Vladivostok. The Far Eastern Republic remained in existence for less than a month. On November 14, 1922, the People's Assembly of the Far Eastern Republic announced its self-dissolution and the establishment of Soviet power throughout the Russian Far East. On November 15, 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree on the inclusion of the Far Eastern Republic into the RSFSR.

Thus ended the history of the most unusual state formation in the Russian Far East.

1946 The Königsberg region was formed as part of the RSFSR, now the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation

After the end of World War II, at the Potsdam Conference of the three victorious powers (USSR, USA and Great Britain), held from July 17 to August 2, 1945, it was decided to liquidate East Prussia. One third of its territory - the northern part together with the city of Königsberg - was transferred to the USSR, and the remaining two thirds to the Polish People's Republic.

On April 7, 1946, a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On the formation of the Koenigsberg region as part of the RSFSR” was issued.

On July 4, 1946, in honor of the Soviet statesman M.I. Kalinin, the city of Koenigsberg was renamed Kaliningrad, and the Koenigsberg region was renamed Kaliningrad.

In July 1946, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted two documents - “On measures for the economic organization of the Koenigsberg region” and “On priority measures for the settlement of areas and the development of agriculture in the Kaliningrad region”, defining the main direction of activity of the regional authorities, outlining a program for the revival of the city and regions. In the summer of 1946, an almost complete renaming of settlements, streets and natural objects was carried out.

Since August 1946, a massive arrival of migrants from 27 regions of Russia, 8 regions of Belarus, and 4 autonomous republics was organized in the region.

1158 Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky founded the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir

The Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir - the main temple of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality was founded on April 8, 1158 by Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the son of Yuri Dolgoruky. Located on a high bank of the river, built of white limestone, the Temple became the largest building of the new capital, the center of its architectural ensemble. Prince Andrei conceived it not only as the main temple of his principality, its cultural, political and religious center, but also as the main temple of all Rus', a metropolis independent of Kyiv.

Historically, before the rise of Moscow, the Assumption Cathedral was the main shrine - the cathedral church of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus'. Even in height it surpassed the St. Sophia Cathedrals of Kyiv and Novgorod. Important state ceremonies took place there. At the altar of the cathedral, legendary commanders were erected to reign - Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy and other Vladimir and Moscow princes before Ivan III.

At the same time, five external gates were erected in Vladimir, which were used as combat and travel towers. Only the most important of the five have survived to this day - the Golden Gate, used for the ceremonial entry into the city.

There was also an unofficial reason for the construction of the gate. With their help, Andrei Bogolyubsky intended to once again show that the capital of North-Eastern Rus' is not inferior to Kyiv either in wealth or influence. However, the gate also coped well with its main purpose and in 1238 managed to hold back the onslaught of the Tatar-Mongol horde. The Tatars eventually entered the city through a hole in the wooden wall, but the Golden Gate, despite all their efforts, remained impregnable.

A new fortress was also founded, and Vladimir had its own Church of the Tithes. Having built the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, the chronicler says, Prince Andrei granted the temple “tithes of his herds and a tenth trade” (a tenth of trade income).

1782 Decree of Catherine II on the creation of “public schools” in all cities of Russia - the first public free schools

The Empress took her first serious steps towards creating a school system back in the 1760s: in 1764, the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens and the Educational Society for Noble Maidens were opened. In 1766, it adopted a new charter of the Land Noble Corps. Developing in 1775 the decree “Institutions for the management of the provinces of the All-Russian Empire,” she assigned the responsibility of opening schools at the provincial and district levels to the orders of public charity.

In 1781, the Empress founded an educational institution at St. Isaac's Cathedral, which laid the foundation for a whole network of schools, the development of which was legislated in a decree of February 27 of the same year. A year later, on April 8, the system was developed throughout Russia.

According to the “Charter of Public Schools in the Russian Empire,” published in 1786, it was prescribed that “there should be one main public school in each provincial city.” These institutions accepted children of all classes, with the exception of serfs. At the head of the school was a director or caretaker, who obeyed the provincial order of public charity. Small schools with a two-year period of study were created in district towns, and “main schools” were opened along with them in provincial towns.

After the school reform of 1804, the main public schools were transformed into gymnasiums.

1966 Election of Leonid Brezhnev as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee

The course pursued by N. S. Khrushchev, his style and methods of leadership caused growing dissatisfaction among the party and state apparatus, as well as economic managers and the corps of directors. Finally, career officers and generals, as well as many authoritative employees of state security agencies, were in opposition to Khrushchev, as a result of thoughtless and numerous reorganizations and reductions in law enforcement agencies.

In the absence of a clear legislative mechanism for changing the country's leadership, the removal of Khrushchev was secretly prepared by a group of the party and state elite from the very beginning of 1964. The most active role in organizing the conspiracy against the party leader was played by the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee A. N. Shelepin, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR N. G. Ignatov, first secretary of the Kharkov regional committee of the CPSU N. V. Podgorny and head of the KGB V. E. Semichastny. L. I. Brezhnev, who became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1960, and was also the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, took a wait-and-see attitude and was directly involved in the preparation of the conspiracy at the final stage.

On October 12, 1964, at a time when N.S. Khrushchev was on vacation in the Crimea, an extended meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee took place in the Kremlin, where Suslov and Shelepin raised the issue of removing the country’s leader from all lowered posts. Khrushchev, who urgently arrived in Moscow for a meeting of the Presidium, was harshly accused of departing from the principles of collective leadership, voluntarism and rough administration. Almost all members of the Presidium, except A.I. Mikoyan, spoke out against Khrushchev. On October 14, a plenum of the CPSU Central Committee was held, at which Khrushchev was relieved of his duties as First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, member of the Presidium of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “due to his advanced age and deteriorating health.” At the October (1964) plenum of the Central Committee, it was recognized as inappropriate to further combine the duties of the party leader and the head of the government. L. I. Brezhnev became the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and A. N. Kosygin became the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

1961 The world's first human flight into space, carried out by Yuri Gagarin on the Soviet spacecraft Vostok

On April 12, 1961, at 9:07 am Moscow time, the Vostok spacecraft with Yuri Gagarin on board was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The flight lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes. "Vostok" circled the globe and landed safely in the Saratov region.

19 young fighter pilots were preparing to fly into space. When preparations began, no one could even guess which of them would open the way to the stars.

Four months before the flight, it became clear to almost everyone that Gagarin would be the one to fly. None of the leaders of the Soviet space program ever said that Yuri Alekseevich was better prepared than others. The choice of the first was determined by many factors, and physiological indicators and knowledge of technology were not dominant. Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, who closely monitored the preparations, and the leaders of the Defense Department of the CPSU Central Committee, who oversaw space developments, and the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N. S. Khrushchev understood perfectly well that the first cosmonaut should become the face of our state, worthily representing the Motherland in the international arena. Probably, it was precisely these reasons that forced him to make a choice in favor of Gagarin, whose charm conquered everyone with whom he had to communicate.

The first flight lasted only 108 minutes, but these minutes were destined to become stellar. When the good news spread around the Earth in a matter of hours, Yuri Gagarin was already a Citizen of the World. The courage and fearlessness of a simple Russian guy with a wide smile conquered all of humanity. Soon the whole world saw the newsreel footage, which became history. Preparing for the flight, the calm and concentrated face of Yuri Gagarin before stepping into the unknown, his famous “Let's go!”

1242 The army of the Russian prince Alexander Nevsky defeated the German knights on Lake Peipsi (Battle of the Ice).

The Battle of the Ice or the Battle of Peipus is the battle between the Novgorod-Pskov troops of Prince Alexander Nevsky and the troops of the Livonian knights on the ice of Lake Peipus. In 1240, the knights of the Livonian Order captured Pskov and advanced their conquests to Vodskaya Pyatina; their travels approached 30 versts to Novgorod, where at that time there was no prince, because Alexander Nevsky, having quarreled with the veche, retired to Vladimir. Constrained by the knights and Lithuania, which had raided the southern regions, the Novgorodians sent envoys to ask Alexander to return. Arriving at the beginning of 1241, Alexander cleared the Vodskaya Pyatina of the enemy, but decided to liberate Pskov only after combining the Novgorod detachments with the grassroots troops that arrived in 1242 under the command of his brother, Prince Andrei Yaroslavich. The Germans did not have time to send reinforcements to their small garrison, and Pskov was taken by storm.

However, the campaign could not be ended with this success, since it became known that the knights were preparing for the fight and that they were concentrated in the Dorpat (Tartu) bishopric. Instead of the usual waiting for the enemy in the fortress, Alexander decided to meet the enemy halfway and inflict a decisive blow on him with a surprise attack. Having set out along the well-worn path to Izborsk, Alexander sent a network of advanced reconnaissance detachments. Soon one of them, probably the most significant, under the leadership of the mayor's brother Domash Tverdislavich, came across the Germans and Chud, was defeated and forced to retreat. Further reconnaissance discovered that the enemy, having sent a small part of his forces to the Izborsk road, moved with his main forces straight to the ice-covered Lake Peipsi in order to cut off the Russians from Pskov.

Alexander decided to take the battle near Lake Peipsi on the Uzmen tract, at the “Voroneya Kameni”. At dawn, the knightly army, together with the contingents of the Estonians (Chudi), formed a kind of closed phalanx, known as the “wedge” or “iron pig”. In this battle formation, the knights moved across the ice towards the Russians and, crashing into them, broke through the center. Carried away by their success, the knights did not even notice that both flanks were being encircled by the Russians, who, holding the enemy in pincers, defeated him. The pursuit after the Battle of the Ice was carried out to the opposite Sobolitsky shore of the lake, and the ice began to break under the crowded fugitives. 400 knights fell, 50 were captured, and the bodies of the lightly armed miracle lay 7 miles away. The astonished master of the order waited with trepidation for Alexander under the walls of Riga and asked the Danish king for help against “cruel Rus'.”

After the Battle of the Ice, the Pskov clergy greeted Alexander Nevsky with crosses, the people called him father and savior.

1547 Moscow was burned by a major fire

In 1547, a terrible fire that broke out from the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Monastery destroyed the Kremlin, Kitay-Gorod and Posads and led to the Moscow Uprising: the chronicle reports that first “the Church of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross caught fire behind Neglinnaya on Arbatskaya Street,” and legends say that it was predicted by St. Basil the Blessed.

Karamzin passionately described the disaster that raged in 1547: “All of Moscow presented the spectacle of a huge blazing fire under clouds of thick smoke. The wooden buildings disappeared, the stone ones fell apart, the iron glowed as if in an upper room, the copper flowed... People with singed hair and black faces wandered like shadows among the horrors of the vast ashes.” On that day, 1,700 people died and a third of the city burned down. This fire was far from the first since the beginning of the year. And the fire was followed by a popular uprising against the relatives of the seventeen-year-old Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the Glinsky princes. Young Ivan the Terrible perceived the entire chain of events as God's punishment sent to him for all his unrighteous deeds.

1755 Moscow University opened in the building of the Apothecary House at the Resurrection Gate on Red Square

Moscow University could have ended up on the Sparrow Hills back in the 18th century, but in the end it moved into the Apothecary House, which served as a bank, and later became the Historical Museum. The University moved to the famous building of Moscow State University on Mokhovaya much later.

In 1754, the search began for buildings needed for Moscow University. In his conversations with Count Shuvalov, Mikhailo Vasilyevich Lomonosov considered Vorobyovy Gory, as well as the Red Gate area, as one of the possible construction sites for the university building. But Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, by her decree, determined that the new educational institution would be located in the Apothecary House on Red Square. The Moscow State University building on Red Square is now the Historical Museum.

Nowadays it is the Historical Museum, but then there was a branch of the State College, which stored in its basements about 80 pounds of copper money - taxes collected from Muscovites. For this reason, the building was completely unsuitable for conducting classes, since it was guarded by a huge number of gendarmes stationed in rooms and halls on the floors. The interior had to be rebuilt, and the first students arrived there only six months later.

1986 Accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Chernobyl disaster)

For almost eight centuries, Chernobyl was just a small Ukrainian town, but after April 26, 1986, this name began to mean the worst man-made disaster in the history of mankind.

On April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the consequence of which was the complete destruction of the station’s nuclear reactor. 2 people died during the disaster, 31 people died in the following months, about 80 in the next 15 years. 134 people developed radiation sickness, which led to death in 28 cases. About 60,000 people (mostly liquidators) received high doses of radiation.

The accident at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred so quickly that until the last seconds all control devices remained operational, thanks to which the entire course of the disaster is known literally to a fraction of a second.

In the first months after the accident, the main blame for it was placed on the operators, who made a lot of mistakes that led to the explosion. But since 1991, the situation has changed, and almost all charges against the nuclear power plant personnel were dropped. Yes, people made several mistakes, but all of them complied with the reactor operating regulations in force at that time, and none of them were fatal. So the low quality of regulations and safety requirements was recognized as one of the causes of the accident.

The explosion of the reactor led to radiation contamination of the area on a monstrous scale. At the time of the accident, the reactor contained about 180 tons of nuclear fuel, of which from 9 to 60 tons were released into the atmosphere in the form of aerosols - a huge radioactive cloud rose above the nuclear power plant and settled over a large area. As a result, large areas of Ukraine, Belarus and some regions of Russia were contaminated.

To this day, the exact number of people evacuated is unknown, but according to rough estimates, about 115,000 people were evacuated from more than a hundred settlements throughout 1986, and in subsequent years, more than 220,000 people were resettled.

Subsequently, around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in a 30-kilometer zone, a so-called “exclusion zone” was created, in which a ban on all economic activities was introduced, and in order to prevent the return of people, almost all settlements were literally destroyed.

311 Galerius signed an edict allowing the open practice of Christianity

Galerius, whose full name is Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximian, who has been the sovereign ruler of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire since 305, signed an edict on April 30, 311, which for the first time allowed the population to openly profess Christianity and promote the spread of this creed. By the way, Galerius was for a long time one of the most convinced and consistent opponents of Christianity in Roman history. He took part in the persecution of Christians, which began in 303 (the first edict against Christians was February 23, 303). According to some sources, the initiator of the persecution was Diocletian himself, according to others, the zealous pagan Galerius personally convinced Diocletian to begin the persecution. One way or another, Galerius took an active part in them and continued them during his own reign. Galerius “changed” his beliefs due to illness, probably hoping for “reciprocal gratitude” from the God of Christians. But his hopes were not justified: a few days after signing the edict, Galerius died.

1881 Manifesto of Alexander III on the inviolability of autocracy

The Manifesto on the Inviolability of Autocracy is the name adopted in historiography for the Supreme Manifesto, given on April 29, 1881 by Emperor Alexander III. In the original, it had the following heading: “On the call of all loyal subjects to serve with faith and truth His Imperial Majesty and the State, to the eradication of vile sedition, to the establishment of faith and morality, the good upbringing of children, to the extermination of untruth and theft, to the establishment of order and truth in the action of Russian institutions."

Upon his accession to the All-Russian throne on March 1, 1881, after the assassination of his parent Alexander II, Alexander III showed some hesitation in choosing the political orientation of his reign. He soon chose a conservative course, which was defended by his advisers Konstantin Pobedonostsev and Count Sergei Stroganov.

In a letter from St. Petersburg dated May 4, 1881, K. P. Pobedonostsev, who was the author of the draft manifesto, wrote to the emperor: “Among the local bureaucrats, the manifesto was met with despondency and some kind of irritation: I could not expect such insane blindness. But all sensible and simple people are incredibly happy. There is rejoicing in Moscow - yesterday they read it in the cathedrals and there was a thanksgiving service with triumph. News is coming from the cities about general joy at the appearance of the manifesto.”

1472 The Assumption Cathedral was founded in the Moscow Kremlin

The Patriarchal Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin is one of the greatest shrines in all of Russia.

At the end of the 15th century. Grand Duke Ivan III, who united all Russian principalities under the rule of Moscow, began the creation of his new residence with the reconstruction of the Assumption Cathedral. The temple was dismantled in 1472 to its very foundations, and the relics of St. Petra. Pskov masters Krivtsov and Myshkin erected a new cathedral, but it unexpectedly collapsed. Then Ivan III invited the architect Aristotle Fioravanti from Italy, under whose leadership the building was built (1475-1479), which still adorns the Moscow Kremlin. Fioravanti was instructed to take the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral as a model - thereby emphasizing the continuity of Moscow in relation to one of the ancient centers of Holy Rus'.

On August 20, 1479, Metropolitan Gerontius consecrated the temple. The relics of the saint, which were located in the Church of St. John the Evangelist during construction, were transferred to the cathedral.