Muscovy and Its Mythologies: Pre-Petrine History in the Past Decade‪.‬

In their search for an "authentic" Russian identity that is not beholden to communism or to the "West," the leaders in Moscow have settled upon--the 17th century. The holiday of the Great October Socialist Revolution on 7 November has been replaced by the Day of National Unity on 4 November, commemorating the date in 1612 when the Polish army was expelled from Moscow. "Vladimir Putin and his handlers," the modern Russian historian Elizabeth Wood has written, "have gone to surprising lengths to marshal symbolism straight from the pages of history." (1) Why the 17th century? Most important, Putin and his circle have tried to cast themselves as the leaders who brought to a close Russia's modern "Time of Troubles." The Russia that emerged from political chaos, then and now, is presented as comfortable in its centralized, authoritarian government and proud of its Russianness. Vera Shevzov, also a historian of modern Russia, sees no coincidence in the timing of the new holiday, which coincides not only with Russia's victory over foreigners in the Time of Troubles but also with the celebration of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God--a cult that came to prominence in the 17th century. (2) The fascination with premodern Russia extends beyond the propagandizing of the current Russian government. Many of the new churches constructed in the past decade sport architectural features drawn from Muscovite models. Pseudo-17th-century lettering abounds on placards. (Genuine 17th-century lettering would be virtually indecipherable to contemporary Russians.)