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Unity Day, Feast Day for Our Lady of Kazan

Празднование в честь Казанской иконы Божией Матери День народного единства 22 октября / 4 ноября

Pozharsky and Minin monument (1804-16)
 in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral

Unity Day (День народного единства Den narodnogo edinstva) was first celebrated on November 4, 2005, commemorates the popular uprising led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky which ejected the Polish invaders from Moscow in November of 1612, and more generally the end of the Time of Troubles and foreign intervention in Russia. The event was marked by a public holiday which was held in Russia on October 22 (Old Style) from 1649 till 1917. Its name alludes to the idea that all the classes of Russian society willingly united to preserve Russian statehood when its demise seemed inevitable, even though there was neither Tsar nor Patriarch to guide them. 
National Unity Day is also known as Consolidation Day (as an alternative translation), which people in Russia celebrate on November 4. The holiday was abandoned in 1917 and reestablished in 2005. 


November 4 is also the feast day for Our Lady of Kazan, the holy icon which the Russian Orthodox Church probably venerates most. Our Lady of Kazan is an icon of the Theotokos popular in Russia since the 16th century. A close-up variant of the Hodegetria (Directress) style, it is noted mainly for the Child standing, with the Virgin chest-length. The Kazan icon of the Virgin remains popular, especially as a wedding gift.

Our Lady of Kazan

History

Our Lady of Kazan is an icon of the Theotokos popular in Russia since the 16th century. A close-up variant of the Hodegetria (Directress) style, it is noted mainly for the Child standing, with the Virgin chest-length. The Kazan icons are traditionally small, following the original (9×11 inches). The Kazan icon of the Virgin remains popular, especially as a wedding gift, and is sometimes associated with Russian nationalism.

The image of Our Lady of Kazan is said to have come to Russia from Constantinople in the 13th century. After the Tatars besieged Kazan and made it the capital of their khanate in 1438, the icon disappeared, and it is not mentioned again until the 16th century, some years after the liberation of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible in 1552.