The Unity Day has been celebrated all over the country this week. Festive events have been held everywhere. The Second Conference of Interethnic Relations of Peoples in the Vologda Region took place in the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve at the weekend. Representatives of over 10 nationalities and three denominations participated in it.
The conference traditionally consisted of several parts. First representatives of the authorities and Orthodox clergy, heads of different diasporas and public organizations addressed the meeting. S.V. Usov, head of the Kirillov district; Sergey Zhestyannikov, head of the Department of the Federal Migration Service in the Vologda region; archpriest Alexiy Mokievsky, dean of the churches in the Vashki district, author of the Complex Special-Purpose Municipal Program “For Spiritual and Moral Health”; rural dean of the Kirillov district Vladimir (Kolosov); N.K. Tikhonova, head of the Culture Department in the Vologda eparchy, greeted the people who gathered in the conference hall of the museum. All of them underlined topicality of the holiday in the modern conditions. Heads of diasporas, associations of fellow-countrymen and communities spoke about current work on the cooperation of peoples in the Vologda region, marked problems and shared plans for the future.
The lunch break that started after heated discussion of the given reports was rather unusual. Tasting of national dishes is an integral part of the event.
The conference was concluded with a festive concert that lasted for about three hours. Soloists and groups appeared on the scene performing with different numbers – songs, dances and poems. Pupils of the Children’s SOS Village (Vologda), the ensembles “Free Wind” (Vologda), “Silver Horseshoe” and “Light Chamber” (Kirillov) first joined in the concert.
Sofia Aslandy, head of the Club of Peoples’ Friendship “STEP”, noted at the end of the event: “I think that this year’s conference has been much more efficient that a year ago. Today we can speak about established intercultural dialogue in the Vologda region and it is very pleasant. I am sure that open discussion of all issues will help to solve actual problems in this sphere in future, to get mutual understanding and confidence between us and to strengthen interethnic concord in our region”.
Such events started in the museum in 2012 when the Interdistrict Festival “Peace to Your House” with participation of the peoples living in the Vologda region was held in the conference hall. The first conference with the same title took place in the museum on the Unity Day in 2013. This year’s event was organized by the Regional Public Organization “Club of Peoples’ Friendship “STEP”, the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve and the Youth Center “Alfa”.
