The mystery of the Russian smile

It does not matter what mood I am in I always catch myself smiling at everyone I see in shops, museums or at the beach and etc. If I accidently meet somebody`s gaze I almost feel guilty if I don`t smile at them. Oh yes, I do smile at strangers! They do smile back or sometimes they initiate it. I am programmed to smile this way as it feels polite. Although this hasn`t always been the case. 

I learned this habit of smiling to be nice in the UK and now living it every day in Australia.

When I moved to England to live and study the people seemed friendlier and happier. And every time I went back home I felt offended as people almost never smiled around me. I concluded "ah people may be actually rude or sad in my home country!"

So I kind of adopted a custom of smiling as a social responsibility and I loved it. I know that not all of those smiles are genuine but who cares - the world seems happier this way! This is what living abroad gives you, I guess, - the opportunity to try on new habits - like new style in clothing. 

The point of this post is to share that a couple of weeks ago I came across one brilliant article about the particularities of the Russian smile. The article made me look differently at my own culture again. I think it is useful to reassess your old and new behaviours as sometimes you get confused due to the exposure to a new culture while trying to adapt and fit in.

So the article summarises some investigations about possible reasons for the "unsmilingness" of Russians. In a nutshell, the smile in Russia has a different function in comparison to the Western countries. It serves to demonstrate a positive attitude or a good mood. Courtesy smile or a smile-to-be-nice is not common. People in Russia do not smile at strangers hence smile is not common in services area or at work - so you rarely or almost never get a smile from a cashier or a bus driver!

But there is much more to it. Some thinkers were seeking reasons for the "unsmiling nation" in the mystery of the Russian soul which is defined by the infinity of the country`s land and its breadth (what a romantic and beautiful thought!): 

"The Russian soul is suppressed by the immense Russian fields and immense Russian snows. It drowns and disperses in this immensity. And Russians almost never know the happiness of shape. The Russian soul is hit by the breadth and it doesn`t see the limits; and this infinity doesn`t liberate it but enslaves it..."

I found a few short summaries of the article on the internet, but I felt they didn`t transmit all the messages which I thought were curious and relevant. That`s why I translated the article for people who could be interested. (I am not a professional translator so I don`t pretend I did a good job, but I truly enjoyed the process!). The translation can be found here:  http://notrussianenough.blogspot.com/2015/12/deeper-reasons-for-unsmiling-russia-or.html

And here is the link to the original http://www.livemaster.ru/topic/1105471-glubinnye-prichiny-russkoj-neulybchivosti

Also the article is about the Russian smile but I believe that the reasons for less smiling people could be also be applicable to some neighbour countries, like Latvia where I was born.

My mother tongue is Russian and I feel close to the Russian culture. However, my history is a bit more complicated so if interested check my post about being Not-Russian-Enough and national identity. 

http://notrussianenough.blogspot.com/2015/12/not-russian-enough.html