Author Topic: OTMA - smoking, make up and clothes  (Read 130304 times)

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anna11

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #120 on: September 17, 2007, 06:04:57 AM »
They smoked because they just did, people smoked back then. The dangers of smoking once in a while are greatly overstated anyway.

Offline clockworkgirl21

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #121 on: September 18, 2007, 09:08:46 PM »
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and that Rasputin's prophetic note to the Romanovs was a forgery.

I never got the whole story on that. Was the note forged before or after NAOTMAA was killed, and if before, did Alexandra ever even see it?

Offline Sarushka

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #122 on: September 18, 2007, 09:35:59 PM »
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and that Rasputin's prophetic note to the Romanovs was a forgery.

I never got the whole story on that. Was the note forged before or after NAOTMAA was killed, and if before, did Alexandra ever even see it?

After. It was part of one of the early biographies of Rasputin, printed in the 1920's, I think.
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dolgoruky18

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #123 on: September 19, 2007, 04:51:10 PM »
Queen Victoria detested the smell of tobacco and forbade anyone to smoke in her presence. This caused agonies to many in her household and family  -  including the future Queen Mary, who was a complete cigarette addict. However, the Queen changed her mind in her old age. She occasionally had a cigarette out of doors  -  to keep the insects away. There is, I believe, a photograph in existence showing her doing just that. I must admit I've never seen it, though.

Many of the younger generation of women in the 1890s took up smoking  -  but never in public. It was all about the 'New Woman' image and a sure sign of 'fin de siecle' rebellion. Women who smoked openly were considered 'fast'. Never were women seen smoking in the street if they valued their reputatons. But in private...

In a remarkable series of short films discovered in the last few years, taken by two entrepreneurial photographers at the turn of the last century, there are any number of Edwardian street scenes shown. Men are seen smoking  -  but never women. But open almost any novel of the time and you will find women smoking.

I am not at all shocked that one, if not all, of the Grand Duchesses enjoyed a cigarette on the quiet. They probably begged them from courtiers. Some of their expenditures have survived from pre-revolutionary years (strict accounts had to be kept) and nowhere can there be found purchases from tobacconists.

Nowadays, it seems, some people would rather they had snorted cocaine than having an occasional cigarette. We live, I fear, in strangely eco-facistic times.

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #124 on: December 15, 2007, 08:28:49 PM »
I have heard from many different resources that OTMA might have smoked. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this ids true or not? (It was a COMPLETE shock to hear this)

Offline Holly

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #125 on: December 15, 2007, 08:47:25 PM »
Of course they did!
There's tons of pictures of them smoking and letters from OTMA thanking their dad for sending them cigarettes. Remember that Nicholas was a chain smoker and Alexandra smoked occasionally to calm her nerves.
"Господь им дал дар по молитвам их размягчать окаменелые наши сердца за их страдания..Мне думается, что если люди будут молиться Царской Cемье, оттают сердца с Божией помощью."

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #126 on: December 15, 2007, 09:00:06 PM »
That is a MAJOR shock, I would NEVER have thought of them as smokers!!

I am_Tatianochka

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #127 on: December 15, 2007, 09:04:22 PM »

Offline Holly

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #128 on: December 15, 2007, 09:05:55 PM »
That is a MAJOR shock, I would NEVER have thought of them as smokers!!
Why is it such a shock? They weren't complete angels! Plus, they didn't really know about the risks in it back then. It was pretty normal. Not a huge deal.
"Господь им дал дар по молитвам их размягчать окаменелые наши сердца за их страдания..Мне думается, что если люди будут молиться Царской Cемье, оттают сердца с Божией помощью."

http://www.otmaa.org -- Coming Soon.

~Aura Angel~

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #129 on: December 15, 2007, 09:18:26 PM »
I live in a little village out side Toronto . . I am really isolated, so to me smoking is a big deal, considering half of my HUGE family has died from it, so. . I guess back then it wasnt such a bug deal, jsut used for relaxational purposes, but now, to me thats a shock!

Janet_W.

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #130 on: December 15, 2007, 09:35:28 PM »
I don't think it had to do with them being angels or not being angels . . . in those days and in that culture an adolescent being allowed by a parent or parents to smoke might be roughly comparable to adolescents in more recent times being allowed to drink coffee. In other words, a bit of a reach, but accorded in recognition of their growing maturity. And from what is available it appears the girls were allowed to smoke in part because it was thought that doing so helped keep Tsarkoe Selo's pesky bugs away . . . just as we might apply repellant or burn a specially formulated candle in more current times. The dangers of smoking--unless one was clearly excessive, as in drinking too much (alcoholism) or eating too much (obesity)--were not recognized in those times.

Offline Holly

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #131 on: December 15, 2007, 09:42:33 PM »
Yes, that's right. I remember Tatiana saying she didn't have a cigarette with her so the misquitos were "litteraly eating her".
"Господь им дал дар по молитвам их размягчать окаменелые наши сердца за их страдания..Мне думается, что если люди будут молиться Царской Cемье, оттают сердца с Божией помощью."

http://www.otmaa.org -- Coming Soon.

anna11

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #132 on: December 17, 2007, 04:09:52 PM »
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I don't think it had to do with them being angels or not being angels . . . in those days and in that culture an adolescent being allowed by a parent or parents to smoke might be roughly comparable to adolescents in more recent times being allowed to drink coffee. In other words, a bit of a reach, but accorded in recognition of their growing maturity. And from what is available it appears the girls were allowed to smoke in part because it was thought that doing so helped keep Tsarkoe Selo's pesky bugs away . . . just as we might apply repellant or burn a specially formulated candle in more current times. The dangers of smoking--unless one was clearly excessive, as in drinking too much (alcoholism) or eating too much (obesity)--were not recognized in those times.

Exactly. Smoking was just something everyone did back then. You shouldn't compare it so the tabooness (is that a word  :D) of smoking today, or think any less of OTMA for doing it. Who knows, in 100 years people might look back on you and get a huge shock from the fact that you ate mashed potato.

And lets face it, many, many  people these days enjoy still a cigarette. I'm in France atm, and the culture is totally different. Legal age is 16, and teachers join the kids outside for a smoke at lunch time.

Also, Nicholas says something like 'My nose hurts, so i'm thinking of spraying it with cocaine' in one of his letters, and Alexandra mentions opium in hers. I guess showing that such drugs were just a part of life.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2007, 04:17:55 PM by anna11 »

I am_Tatianochka

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #133 on: December 18, 2007, 10:19:19 AM »
Also, Nicholas says something like 'My nose hurts, so i'm thinking of spraying it with cocaine' in one of his letters, and Alexandra mentions opium in hers. I guess showing that such drugs were just a part of life.

Really?
Now that shocks me! :o

Cambria_Coheed

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Re: OTMA - smoking and make up ?
« Reply #134 on: December 18, 2007, 11:53:38 AM »
woah! i never heard of the Cocaine thing before,
then again i know they used a lot of drugs back then for like painkillers because they didnt know about the effects that it had on the brain and body.