So many foreigners who had visited Russia were amazed with gloomy faces of the locals.

“They are too serious, do Russians ever smile at all?” 

The answer is yes. Yes, they do! Russians love smiling, laughing, joking, fooling around. The only thing they are not fond of is smiling to strangers. It’s very typical for the folk, particularly in big cities, to wear masks on faces. And if in other countries the mask is smiling, in Russia the disguise is straight. If you have ever experienced metro, buses or trains in Russia, you know what I’m talking about: everyone seems to be wicked, mean and rude. An attempt to smile can be considered as mocking or even mental problems.


In Russian language there is a proverb, which can be translated as:

Laughing with no reason gives away a fool. 

And all the kids know this one since childhood. They believe that this is the only right way to live. And very often Russians abroad are confused with all the smiling around them. Although expatriates get used to it rapidly.

So why then is Russian smile so rare and so hard to achieve for strangers? The major reason, as I see it, is that Russian smile should be sincere. How many people are you really glad to see? I don’t think that it’s every Tom, Dick and Harry. I guess it’s pretty narrow circle of people. In Russia one doesn’t need to smile because it’s polite, on the contrary, it’s not! Well the rule number one is: smile only when you really want to.

The rule number two that Russians like to follow is smiling only when you have a reason, otherwise you can be considered as mad or may be a Lovelace (if you are a man).

However, it’s worth to mention that a great number of young people, the new generation, is breaking this national habit. Those who experienced international trips and plunged into another cultures noticed that fixed smile is a useful tool in communication and life, that it also makes everything look not so gloomy. So, this generation decided to introduce “foreign smile” to the “market” of Russian national character. I am not sure if it has already become stuff Russians like, but in the majority of hotels, restaurants and other services fixed smile is something that is taught during a probation period. Nevertheless I can certainly state that it has already become one of the musts in hospitality field.

And a bit of self-irony in conclusion. The answer for the question “why Russians don’t smile” in pictures :).