The museum complex “Tsypino” became a meeting place for amateurs of Russian folk holidays for the fourth time last Saturday. The “Ilyinsky Festival” was opened with a traditional salvo from the gun. Trade rows, a craft quarter and interactive grounds were already open by this time.
The Elijah’s Day - the feast tracing its roots back to the ancient times – used to be celebrated with all honours. At the beginning of the event, Elena Vyazigina sang several songs about the native region to the accompaniment of Gennady Golubev. While master-of-ceremonies Svetlana Chekushina and Yevgeny Kivelev, head of the Excursion and Instruction Department in the Museum of Dionisy’s Frescoes, were greeting the guests, a newly-baked loaf and a sheaf of ears of oat were brought to the scene.
The trio “Cocktail” from Cherepovets familiar thanks to “Illusions of Old Village” amused people during the whole festival. Their good old songs were performed in a new way and sometimes were so lovely that some spectators broke into a dance. Everybody could certainly find something to his or her liking on that day. Interactive grounds attracted both adults and children. To walk on stilts, to paint a picture in water-colours, to attend various master-classes or the music and poetry salon “Harmony” – everybody could do it. However, some guests preferred just to walk along the museum complex and to visit the wooden Church of St. Prophet Elijah (built in 1755). Besides, two exhibitions were open in the open air: one of them presented ancient photos about the life of the residents of Tsypino in the early 20th century and another one titled “Native Antiquities” gave a chance not only to learn about the history of some unique household articles, but also to touch them.
The most curious guests gathered on the shore of Ilyinsky Lake where boatman Sergey Tokarev was willingly sharing his knowledge and skills assembling a boat in the presence of spectators. Then the boat was solemnly floated out to the accompaniment of a cannon shot, drumming and coin tossing. Sergey Tokarev himself and his young assistant Alexander (chosen among the guests) were on board.
Those people who came to the “Ilyinsky Festival” on August 1, had an opportunity to see some elements of ancient hunting with hounds for the second year running. By the way, it was not by chance. They believed in the old days, “If you hunt down an animal on the Elijah’s Day, your hunting will be successful during the whole year”. The Russian sighthounds demonstrated their skills of greyhound racing chasing along the field. They were so quick that spectators couldn’t take pictures of them. However, they could have their pictures taken with the dogs both before and after the performance.
One more highlight of the “Ilyinsky Festival” was an auction that was held for the first time. It was unusual because each lot was hidden in a large wooden chest. Those who guessed a riddle received it as a prize. Demonstrating their mother wit, the guests could bring home a water-melon or a melon. Winners of two contests announced by the museum beforehand didn’t leave the festival empty-handed. All men and boys named Ilya (Elijah) were in the limelight on that day as well. There were three of them at the festival. They appeared on the scene and were given presents. One of them – the young button accordion player from Belozersk – executed several melodies for the audience.
The “Ilyinsky Festival” lasted for about three hours. Coming up to the maps placed on the grounds of the museum complex, everybody was amazed with the geography of the participants of the event. They marked their cities using small coloured flags. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Pskov; the Komi Republic, the Moscow, the Archangelsk, the Murmansk, the Volgograd, the Rostov, the Tambov, the Sverdlovsk and certainly the Vologda regions. But there is more to come: it turned out that “Ilyinsky Festival” is the holiday without borders as there were residents of Ukraine, Serbia, Denmark, Armenia and Iran among the guests.
