Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004308, Wed, 28 Jul 1999 09:55:16 -0700

Subject
VN's "Name Day"
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. For the non-Slavists among you, Russians traditionally
celebrated "name days" more prominently than "birthdays." Since most
Russians were named after saints and each saint had his/her day, the
custom had the advantage of consolidating observances.
------------------------------

From: barabtarlog@missouri.edu

Today is St Vladimir's, VN's nameday. It used to be the day of much
festivity at Vyra, with the two *imeninniki* on hand. The date (July 15th
by the Church calendar) serves as an important mnemonic peg in more than
one of his books. And I wonder whether the choice of the name "Vasili" for
the Shishkov clone had anything to do with the fact that Prince Vladimir
received that name upon his baptism, something that VN knew well.