Defender of the Fatherland Day in Russia

The first celebration of February, 23 took place in 1919. Back then it was the anniversary of the Red Army. As you understand, armies don't rise in one day. Plus, the document on its formation was signed on January, 28. So the date itself is rather questionable, but the rest is history.

Defender of the Fatherland is celebrated in Russia and some other countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union. In 1992 the holiday was called “Red Army Day”. After that, starting from 1946 “Red” was replaced with “Soviet”, and the Navy joined the feast. In 1992 the holiday became even more generalised, so all motherland protectors became eligible for presents.

Fortunately or not, Unicode doesn't abound in symbols for Defender of the Fatherland Day. The consortium seem to avoid military themes as well as the designers do, because apparently many symbols don't display properly. So what do we got here?

• a couple of symbols reminding that Russian army was established in the Soviet years;
• firearms and guns for infantry;
• explosives and the consequences of their application;
• dogs working on the borders;
• more guns;
• aviation 🛦 и missiles 🙭 are barely represented;

All these symbols get unpacked for the 23d of February, and you can copy them here to paste in your messages and social media.