concept
Philip's Fast
also: Филиппов пост, Philippovka, Nativity Fast
The Russian Orthodox Nativity Fast (Advent), a forty-day period of abstinence from meat beginning in mid-November; its onset drives down demand -- and price -- for beef, the market shift that costs Malakhin fourteen rubles a head on the oxen he arrived to sell too late.
Reading notes
- Cold Blood §135 Philip's Fast
The onset of the Nativity (Advent) fast, during which observant Orthodox Christians abstain from meat, directly depresses market demand for beef -- explaining, in purely commercial terms, why Malakhin's delayed arrival costs him fourteen rubles a head. His running tally in the same breath -- transport tariff, plus bribes, "treats," and shady dealing, six rubles a head -- makes explicit that bribery has become, for him, simply another routine cost of doing business, on the same ledger line as freight tariffs.