The rooster is the most popular shape for this type of lollipop so the candy itself is usually just called Rooster (Petushok/петушок) or  “Rooster on a stick” (Petushok na palochke/петушок на палочке”). Varying in colours of red, orange, and yellow. These lollipops are pretty much just heated sugar with water and a drop of vinegar (sometimes also honey) poured into metal plates with these shapes and taken out once cooled. See an example of a mould here: http://3.static.slando.com/photos/live/57/prodaetsya_gotovyy_biznes_izgotovlenie_konfet_petushek_na_palochke_28254757_1_F.jpg

Although these have been popular for more than 500 years, it had gained popularity and distributed en mass in the 70s. Some families also had their own mould figures (of popular characters such as ‘Buratino’, squirrels, bunnies, fish, etc) and made it at home. 

These can be still found in some stores in mainly Eastern Europe and in random Polish, Latvian and the like stores elsewhere in the world.

Leninade (Russian: Ленинад) is a soda based on lemonade made by Real Soda In Real Bottles, Ltd. The name is aportmanteau of “Lenin” and “lemonade.” The slogans on the bottle make fun of old Soviet propaganda slogans.^[1] In addition, the soda is colored bright red, the traditional color of Communism.^[2]

Submitted by http://archiworld.tumblr.com/ 

*Although not an object from the actual soviet times but rather a bit of branded kitsch so to speak. This type of drink would probably not even be allowed to have been created during the soviet times as not only would it seem as making fun of the regime but also wouldn’t hold much value as the humour of it is only understood today seen a retro thing*

“Kvass” or “квас” - the Coca Cola of soviet times (actually Coca Cola has launched their own Kvass brand). It was popular and still is in many of the post soviet states and some other eastern Europe countries. It is basically like a non alcoholic beer (actually it is like 1% alcohol, nonetheless children can drink it), it is made by fermenting rye bread.

It can be seen sold on the streets, vendors would pour it out into your cup as seen here: http://www.bochka.lv/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/bochka_prieksha.gif + http://farm1.static.flickr.com/28/51365430_a4777c7543.jpg

It sometimes also has a flavors added to it although those would would be in the supermarket in bottles much like soda/pop/soft drinks and also has various manufacturers. Or there’s always the option on making it in the comfort of your own home.

If you were a child in the soviet union, chances are that you most likely had a rubber toy such as this one - usually forest animals such as bears, rabbits, hedgehogs, squirrels and such. They would be the squeezing squeak kinds of toys although most were actually pretty hard rubber. Normally they would be fairly small like the size of an adult’s hand.

Somewhat what a typical School Bag looked like, although 99% of them were with buckles such as here http://www.bag24.com.ua/images/product_images/popup_images/395_1.jpg . The actual used word for “school bag” literally translates as “portfolio” which explains why it looks more like a briefcase than the some sacks of today. Some younger children might sometimes have images on theirs and look less plain. These could be carried by the handle (once again mainly older students probably would) or on their back as seen here by these young school boys from Uzbekistan (and for those who don’t know Uzbekistan was one of the Soviet states). http://www.corbisimages.com/images/67/8B51DDD7-216B-4156-9C44-39ACBB309D01/CJ008078.jpg

KVN (КВН - Клуб Весёлых и Находчивых meaning “club for the funny/happy and inventive) is a popular TV show that first aired in 1961, although some of the humor didn’t please the government and so the show was banned, but returned into existence after 14 years and is still going strong (with the same host who is also popular in the media). It’s style is somewhat like “Whose Line is it Anyways” involving impromptu sketches along with songs and dancing but on a much bigger scale. There are also judges and the points do matter. University students from post soviet states form these clubs and then compete by doing skits to entertain the audience. 

This also gives people a chance to get discovered as some students could end up in other shows or create a music group. Much like these two alumni here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GIMSUUFHnk (these particular chosen ones as there is not much talking so it is understandable to all) This one is showing who is stronger - Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. And another of a group showing how they got ready before coming on stage as an extra for their skit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ipRhes7kK0 (the one seen towards the end doing the kick is the host)

Submission :)

Sputnik CCCP Shirt by StateHood

A soviet commercial - corn operetta. (feel free to correct my translation)

“If you want to be healthy,

Live to a hundred years,

Treated with kind words,

to restaurants and canteens,

Getting lunch.

Wait, sit for a while, don’t be in a hurry ..wait have your lunch

Where are you from?

We are from the Kuban

We grew up in Azerbaijan 

In the southern warm side.

On the Kazakh powder.

I see, what do you want?

We want to get on the menu!

No, my friends, I’m sorry, I do not rush you! 

But the menu does not change!

And the salads, and soups made from corn grits,

a sort of porridge made from sugar puddings and cakes,

and snack, and garnish, in short, a feast for the whole world!

What kind of food - a miracle!

Every day I will prepare it.

And I’ll tell you without reserve,

These meals without effort

will be for any housewife

obtained always - wherever it may be.

Чебурашка / Cheburashka (also known as “Topple”) What the heck is this..animal? Actually it’s a he. Nobody really knows actually. He is basically the Russian version of Hello Kitty. He is often seen with his friend Crocodile Gena. The story written about him was in 1966 (and even that didn’t explain anything about his genetic material), film made in 1969 followed by a whole bunch of other shows and various merchandise to this day. He also fulfilled his role as Russia’s mascot for several Olympic games.

He is popular in Japan as well, if anything maybe more than in Russia. Japan seems to be in control of all cute things so hey why not add him to the collection. They had bought the rights to him and released newer series and apparently intend to also to make a movie. 

Some Chebu fandom:

http://chottomatte.net/2010/09/03/behold-hello-kitty-cheburashka-is-coming/

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1054/1263588197_2d64cb53c6_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3156/2660468206_b5aa425f97.jpg

http://www.cheburashkas.com

Watch the original here (with English subtitles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxx3hhTq5Ts

Wooden pencil cases. Surely they existed elsewhere around the world as well but I think these definitely deserve an honorable mention here. These kinds of pencil cases were the norm, like a part of uniform for school kids. Personally I think they are pretty awesome, it’s natural (no plastic or lame zipper that break easily) the top cover part is multi-use as a ruler and it usually came with pencil and a sharpener too. It’s so simple but it just works, I wonder why they’re not as popular anymore. They’re hard to find nowadays and usually expensive. I actually found a cute one that i bought recently in “Mastermind Toys”.

A секретик (секрет=secret, the “ик” part just makes it cute sounding like saying kitty instead of cat) is I guess what you can call a game. Similar to a time capsule, children would collect some random things like flower petals, shiny wrappers from candy, whatever and make a composition out of it. This ‘collage’ would be buried in soil, not too deep though because the point is so that it can be seen. It would then be covered by a piece of broken glass on top. It seems like pointless activity but it’s fun, especially for strangers who find someone’s else секретик and get to enjoy this surprise of a small piece of art by an unknown artist. It’s much like the idea of having something be preserved when the thin ice comes and you can still see grass under it.

Here’s another http://i.piccy.info/i3/b1/50/5f0718f8092f6f500b8993470608.jpeg

This is the old version of those expensive toy cars they still have now with Barbie and whatnot except these one were all the kind that you would pedal to get moving and made from metal rather than plastic. These were still expensive and the kid that had one made everyone else in the neighborhood jealous. Every kid wanted them, I mean who wouldn’t? These were actually manufactured at car factories as most were models after real cars. This particular image is of a fancy car, most didn’t have this much detail and would fit only one child, whereas this one can fit two.

As mentioned before, Christmas was banned so pretty much all christmassy festivities were pushed back and disguised as a New Year celebration. The Christmas tree or rather the ‘New Year’s tree’ called the “Ёлка/Yolka” (directly translated as “spruce tree”) was set up for new years and usually stayed around till way after. Again the post-soviet people living in the west get to save money as the trees cost less after Dec 25th.

This tree might stick around till ‘Old New Years’, just like Christmas being on Jan 7th, the new year according to the old calendar was on Jan 14th. There isn’t really any significance to it now except it gives a reason for post-soviet states to party more.

If you would like to look more into the history of the Yolka http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year_tree

“Снеговик-почтовик / the snowman postman” is basically the soviet ‘frosty the snowman”. He is usually seen with Ded Moroz/Santa in stories (refer to other post). Some children build him so that he could deliver a letter from them to Ded Moroz/Santa. How does the western version of Santa get his letters?

Watch the cartoon here (unfortunately no subtitles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX2g7zIi0Dg