Question about work prohibitions on holidays

[edhopper]

(for the record, I am a non believer brought up Jewish)
Growing up in our conservative jewish home and temple, the sabbath was the day you could not do work or ride or "light fires".
When a holiday fell on Saturday, those rules applied (I think it was also observed for Yom Kipper)
The congregation was free to follow or not, many drove to Sabbath services.

The reason I bring this up is we have Russian Orthodox neighbors (not Hasidim) who follow this every holiday.
They ask my wife (a gentile) to turn on their oven and lights on Rosh Hashannah, Simchat Torah and today for Shuvuos.
Even the Orthodox neighbors I grew up with didn't adhere to this on every holiday. Where did this come from?

Is this something that others here are familiar with? Is it widespread and I was just unaware?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

[MosheFeingold]

1. It's pretty standard

The work prohibitions depend on which holiday it is and vary slightly depending on the holiday.

Pretty standard Conservative/Orthodox stuff, so, yes, it is widespread.

The request of a Shabbos Goy (your wife) to turn on the oven is a little unusual. I've always understood the rule to be you can't ask a non-Jew to do something that you can't do, unless it was part of his or her normal duties. I guess being neighborly is a duty, though.

[edhopper]

2. Thanks

I've asked others, it is more widespread than i thought.