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Literary and Ethnographic Festival “Karghin Fair on Pokrov Days”

On October, 11, the National M.A.Sholokhov Museum-Reserve jointly with the Bokovsky District Administration (the Rostov Region) is going to hold a literary and ethnographic festival “Karghin Fair on Pokrov Days”. The festival begins at 10.00.

Fairs were very popular in the Cossack Don region in the XIX – early XX centuries, when rich stanitsas timed them for the patronal feasts or military holidays. One of the most popular was Karghin Fair, which was held on Pokrov Days, when the Army holiday and the holiday of the 12^th Don Cossack regiment, which was formed of the Cossacks from Migulinskaya, Vyoshenskaya and Kazanskaya stanitsas, were celebrated. An autumn fair was also an occasion to meet with neighbours-countrymen, fellow veterans, to recall the former service, to buy necessary household things or to sell surpluses of farm products. Agricultural machinery, wheat, cattle, food products had been traded for a week or longer. The people gathered not only for shopping and selling, but also to show themselves and see others, to entertain children and to have fun for themselves.

Rollicking, noisy and cheerful, with circus shows, swing and carousel, horse riding and dainty treats traditional for the Don region – that what Karghin fair used to be.

Last year (2014), the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov for the first time held the literary and ethnographic festival thus reviving the fair on Pokrov Days after nearly a century break and preserving as far as possible its former look. The festival takes place in the farmstead of Cossack Timofey Karghin, well-known in those times, the owner of the roller mill and one of the organizers of the fair in the XX century.

This year, Karghin Fair will take place on Sunday, October, 11, and as usual, will be rich in entertaining events. The guests will learn about the traditions of old fairs, peculiarities of trade early in the XX century, will take part in competitions and master-classes of crafts and trades, weightlifting competitions, enjoy circus and puppet shows, theatrical and folk groups performances. The guests will have traditional swing and carousel ride, will play games and have a boat trip on the Chir River.

Each Fair participant will be able to take part in purchasing and selling goods, relax and have fun. The festival will offer tours about the old roller mill of Timofey Karghin, which was depicted in the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don” by M.A.Sholokhov.

The Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov invites all on the second Sunday of the second autumn month to “Karghin Fair on Pokrov Days”, which is going to be   held for the second time.

The Festival Program:

10.00 – 13.00  Fair trading;

Master-classes of the Upper Don crafts and trades;

Competitions and games for children;

Old swings and carousel rides;

Weightlifting competitions;

Puppet and circus show;

Boating trip on the Chir River.

11.00 – 11.20 Welcoming the festival public by the official delegation and honoured guests of the festival.

11.20 – 13.00 Theatrical performance “How Kruzhilin Villagers Went to Karghin Fair…”