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Poll shows Easter as third most popular holiday among Russians

According to a survey, Easter is the third most popular holiday (31%) among Russians after Victory Day (71%) and New Year’s (60%)

Easter cakes Sergei Malgavko/TASS

Easter cakes

© Sergei Malgavko/TASS

MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. According to a survey published on Friday by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, Easter is the third most popular holiday (31%) among Russians after Victory Day (71%) and New Year’s (60%).

In 2014, the majority of Russians listed the New Year (69%) as the most important holiday, with Victory Day taking second place (53%) and Easter coming in third (31%).

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Only 12% of Russians do not plan on celebrating Easter (compared to 13% in 2017), while 2% of the people surveyed were undecided. Others tend to follow some Easter traditions - 59% of those polled will prepare the traditional Easter cake and paint Easter eggs (compared to 52% in 2017), 24% will bless Easter food in churches (26% in 2017). Seven percent of people surveyed are planning to attend the Easter service (9% in 2017). Eighteen percent of those polled intend to visit cemeteries, compared to 23% last year.

However, only 16% of people consider Easter a sacred religious holiday, which is lower than in 2011 (21%). The majority of people surveyed considers Easter a cultural and historical tradition (30%) or a family tradition (25%). In 2011, the numbers were 22% and 24% accordingly.

The survey suggests that 20% of Russians fully or partially fasted (among regular churchgoers - 40%), and 3% of Russians only fasted during the Holy Week. "The majority of our citizens (80%) think that nothing can come in the way of those truly wanting to keep a fast," the pollsters reported. In 2017, 26% of those surveyed fasted.

The national survey by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center was held April 1-2 through interviewing 2,000 people older than 18 years via phone. The error margin does not surpass 2.2% with 95% probability.

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