8. There are 143.5 million people living in Russia by 2010

9. Christmas is celebrated normally on the January 7 th. A lot of people celebrate it on the 25th of December.

12. In Slavic countries where mushroom hunting and preserving them by drying is a national pastime, it makes sense that mushroom soup would be a Christmas Eve staple. In keeping with strict fasting rules, it is made with oil instead of butter. Some families prefer sauerkraut soup or vegetarian borshch or vegetarian solyanka served with a mini version of pelmeni only filled with cabbage, potatoes or mushrooms instead of meat. The dough for these dumplings is also made with just a tad of oil but no butter.mushroom soup borshchsolyankapelmeni