Fall is a beautiful season in Russia and for a Russian is a season when kids go back to school, everyone enjoys lots of mushrooms, fruit and flowers (especially in September) and all the gardeners prepare their plots of land for winter.

Lots of great Russian poets wrote about the beauty of Russian fall: the golden leaves, the early snow, the final warmth before the cold winter begins.

Every Russian schoolchild learns many of the poems about fall and I believe we all have the ones we especially cherish. For me it has always been The Falling of the Leaves ( Листопад) by Ivan Bunin. I have beautiful childhood memories of reading it with my Dad and his then 90-ty year-old grandmother. The words seemed beautiful and ethereal to me. Even in the depth of winter they brought in the feel and beauty of the fall. This poem was one of the first poems I recited on stage and will be always etched in my memory.

Here you can find the beginning of the poem in Russian, it’s translation into English and a video performance of it.

Листопад (отрывок)

Лес, точно терем расписной,
Лиловый, золотой, багряный,
Веселой, пестрою стеной
Стоит над светлою поляной.
Березы желтою резьбой
Блестят в лазури голубой,
Как вышки, елочки темнеют,
А между кленами синеют
То там, то здесь в листве сквозной
Просветы в небо, что оконца.
Лес пахнет дубом и сосной,
За лето высох он от солнца,
И Осень тихою вдовой
Вступает в пестрый терем свой.
Сегодня на пустой поляне,
Среди широкого двора,
Воздушной паутины ткани
Блестят, как сеть из серебра.
Сегодня целый день играет
В дворе последний мотылек
И, точно белый лепесток,
На паутине замирает,
Пригретый солнечным теплом;
Сегодня так светло кругом,
Такое мертвое молчанье
В лесу и в синей вышине,
Что можно в этой тишине
Расслышать листика шуршанье.
Лес, точно терем расписной,
Лиловый, золотой, багряный,
Стоит над солнечной поляной,
Завороженный тишиной…

Falling Leaves (exerpt)

© Copyright of the translation by Амелина Светлана Юрьевна (svteamelina@gmail.com)

The forest like a chamber painted
In lilac, golden, purple, green
Stands on the edge of opening,
The wall so exquisite and dainty.

The yellow carving of birch-trees
Shines in the sparkling blue
And slight, refreshing autumn breeze
Show easily to you

In the transparent foliage
These gaps into the sky.
The forest like a house’s ridge
Smells of dried oak and pine.

And now, the quiet widow, Autumn
Comes to her coloured place.
The fallen leaves are getting rotten
And from the empty space

The threads of spider”s web hang down
And shine like silver net;
And for the last time all day round
The moth will fly to get

The last sun-beams. It”s like a petal
So innocent and white
On spider’s web of precious metal
So fragile, thin and light.

Today it”s silence everywhere:
The forest and the sky are calm.
And in this silence you can hear
How leaves fall on your palm.

The forest like a chamber painted
In lilac, golden, purple, green
Stands on the edge of opening
By some enchantress fascinated.

To me both this poem and fall first of all bring to mind the multicoloured leaves of various shapes that we gathered in the parks on the way home, put between the pages of books, so they dry out without curling and made lots of fun crafts and bouquets for our mothers from.

Get inspired by these crafts with fall leaves on Pinterest.

       Follow Russian Step By Step’s board Fall Осень on Pinterest.

And here is the essential fall vocabulary:

осень – fall
Сентябрь – September
Октябрь – October
Ноябрь – November
лист, листик, листок, листочек (листья) – leaf (leaves)
падать (Листья падают) – fall (Leaves are falling)
опадать (листья опадают) – falling off ( Leaves are falling off)
Осенью опадают листья. – Leaves are falling off in fall.
Бордовый – burgundy
Лиловый – lilac, petunia
Золотой – golden
Оранжевый – orange
Багряный – red, scarlet
Лес – forest
Поляна – glenn, clearing in the forest
Туча – storm cloud
Дождь – rain
Грибной дождик – “mushroom” rain – very light rain usually with sun rays and sometimes rainbows
Берёза – birch tree
Клен – maple tree
Осина – aspen tree
Дуб – oak tree
Рябина – rowanberry tree

And enjoy a famous pop song about fall leaves in Russian performed during a big New Year concert in 2012 in Russia.