A funny thing about brand-spanking-new nations is that they usually come along with an outdated calendar of holidays, celebrating the historical milestones of the past regimes. The Russian Federation has been no exception to the trend, and oftentimes creative efforts have to be extended by the authorities to reinvent and rebrand past Soviet holidays to something that might be consistent with the ideals of the new country. Such is the case with today’s celebration of People’s Unity Day, a new holiday invented by Vladimir Putin three years ago to replace the traditional Nov. 7th celebration of the Bolshevik Revolution. Although the official reason for celebration is to commemorate the ousting of Polish and Cossack invaders from Moscow 1612, only 4% of the population is aware of this fact, and some Russians at various ends of the political spectrum simply take it as an excuse to express their sometimes virulent nationalism with violent protests in the streets.