About an hour into ""Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,"" Harry (more often referred to as Mr. Potter or the Famous Harry Potter) discovers, much to his amazement, that he can speak the slithery, sibilant language of snakes, which is called Parseltongue.

Toward the end of the 16th century, Siberia fell to the Russians as an unexpected prize. When this conquest and occupation began, European Russia stood deep in its own ashes after a half-century of war, famine, plague and despotic rule under Ivan the Terrible.

'Menton, c'est trop bourgeois,'' ""Menton is too bourgeois.'' Too sedate, said the wasp-waisted Russian nobleman to Marie Bashkirtseff, the young and beautiful and wan diarist, racked by tuberculosis, who was thinking of retreating to the French Riviera in search of sun and warmth.

The Bolshoi Theater is restoring to its repertoire the ballets produced there by Yuri Grigorovich during 31 years as the theater's balletmaster and discarded following his dismissal in 1995.

Theater can be made in any way and of anything, but it is the acting, in the end, that makes it or breaks it. This simple truth can be seen in two vastly different productions now playing around town.

It's easy to play the part of a generous St. Nick with the perfect gifts this holiday season with the help of a few well-stocked gift shops and fairs.

Much has been made in recent years about the Western influence on Russia's Christmas and New Year's holidays, but indictements that Ded Moroz is doomed to die at the hands of Santa Claus are apparently more than a little off base.

In Russia, the precursors to the country's first holiday trees appeared in 1699, when Peter the Great decreed that the residents of Moscow light bonfires on New Year's Eve, exchange ""Happy Holiday!"" greetings when appropriate and adorn their homes with spruce tree branches.

Evgeny Kissin is a rare example of an artist who has managed to make the transition from a wunderkind to a mature performer.

Anyone who wants to get into the Scandinavian holiday spirit -- and tuck into all the good food they can eat -- is well advised to make a trip to the Scandinavia restaurant for its Christmas smorgasbord.

Here's another traditional American-style broccoli recipe, guaranteed to please even the most vegetable-wary guest you may have.

What about the likely scenario that short-cuts to mass destruction will be supplied not by outlaw regimes, but by ""lawful"" states instead?

Entire families should not dress in Santa sweaters. They should not gather in front of the hearth for a family portrait and such a portrait should under no circumstances find its way into a greeting card. Santa sweaters are not cute, and the long ones that fit over the hips -- the ones that Mother invariably pairs with black leggings -- make your butt look big.