It is not even the oldest city in Russia, as some are well over a thousand years old, but since it is the largest, it gets the largest party and parade. All of downtown is blocked off, and it is truly remarkable how many people were in the area. It was only my third day, so I thought it was completely normal! We even got little hats that said "с днём рождения Москва" or "s gneome rozhdenie moskva," which means "Happy Birthday, Moscow". That means if you want to say happy birthday, all you have to say is "с днём рождения," which literally means "with day of birth".
The community uses this tradition to honor the foundation of Moscow. Even if it is not known exactly when Moscow was founded, it has been an important city in the are for a very long time. Before Russia was a country, it was known as Muscovy because it has always been centralized around Moscow. All the train systems in the country and in the former Soviet Union lead straight to Moscow. It has its own version of the White House while also being the largest city in all of Russia and the second largest in Europe. Many people from nearby cities visit Moscow for the holiday as it is on the weekend, and billboards displaying the date can be seen all over the city. That's actually how I learned about it,which is just another reason why learning a foreign language is important and leads to cool adventures in day-to-day life in other countries!
