News
The Spring is Sholokhov’s!
29.05.2017
The end of May in the Upper Don region is marked with the All-Russian literary folklore holiday “Sholokhov Spring” which is dedicated to the birthday of the great writer and is held under the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
According to the new tradition the holiday begins in Stanitsa Karghinskaya, where on May 26, afternoon, the holiday of “Children Sholokhov Spring” began. Recently, the children’s holiday has been held in the streets and central square of the stanitsa, where Mikhail Sholokhov spent his childhood and youth. The residents did their best for the event, attracted the most popular performers including the Cossack song group “Pravoslavny Don” to take part in the holiday.
The people – young and old – again gathered to see and to listen to the young performers who came from different districts of the Rostov Region.
On the same day, at 18.00, a journalistic social “The Don is Sacred for Me” devoted to the work of M.A.Sholokhov took place in the Palace of Culture in Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya. There was heard Sholokhov’s word about the environment protection and the writer’s answers to the topical environmental problems. The second part of the social was given to the performers from Rostov-on-Don, Stanitsa Bokovskaya, Donetsk of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Ryazan State Academic Russian Folk Choir named after E.Popov.
On the next day, Saturday, from the morning, the Museum buses took the visitors sightseeing to Lebyazhy Yar, Stanitsa Yelanskaya (to “The Quiet Don” filming locations) and to Kruzhilin Village, the writer’s homeland.
Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya lived with the holiday. Local and guest folk groups singing their Cossack songs moved to the centre of the stanitsa. The theatrical reveille invited the residents and guests to join the festive procession moving to the stage areas in the centre of Vyoshenskaya. Here the concerts began and lasted the whole day. The public enjoyed the performance of the singers and dancers.
The concerts in the two stage areas included the folklore performance of the actors from many parts of the country: the Volgograd, Rostov, Voronezh regions, the Sholokhov District and many other places. The amateur groups performed both traditional folklore and modern songs composed by the members themselves.
A folklore holiday “Dear, Bright Motherland…” took place in Kruzhilin Village. The writer found those words for the places, where he was born, and his countrymen dedicated the holiday to his 112nd birthday.
The central library of Vyoshenskaya held a literary meeting of the association of writers and poets of the Rostov and Volgograd regions “The Upper Don” which they called “Sholokhov is Dear to Us and He Lives in Our Hearts”. Here was a presentation of the new edition of the “Literaturnaya Gazeta Verkhnego Dona” (The Upper Don Literary Newspaper).
On those days all the Museum structures worked intensively. There is still a great interest for Sholokhov’s works, and the queues lined up to the exhibitions.
A new Museum structure was opened on that day in 62, Sholokhov Street. There are workshops for children, a big fly swing and “a field kitchen” for everyone to taste the famous Cossack dishes. The most popular was an interactive exhibition “The Upper Don Photography in the XX Century”. Its visitors could see unique photographs from the Museum collection and take part in the reconstruction of the work of “an old photo studio”. All the guests liked to dress up in Cossack clothes of the early XX century and have a photo taken for memory. The desire of so many people to receive their photos in the style of the great-grandfathers’ time tells about the living memory of the past…
In the park, a colourful “Fair of Masters” was laid out. The people were attracted by the exhibition sale of products of arts and crafts from different regions of Russia. There were many things on sale – from books to a Cossack papakha, from a funny toy to a sword with a shoulderbelt.
In the afternoon, on the stage by the fountain, a competition-game program began. Amateur groups of performers in turn “defended” their stylized kurens (Cossack houses) put up in the square to represent the northern districts of the Rostov Region: Millerovo, Bokovsky, Oblivsky, Kashary and others.
In the evening a gala concert of the best performers and soloists was held on the floating stage. The Don embankment was overcrowded with thousands of residents and guests. They were greeted by I.A.Guskov, the First Deputy Head of the Rostov Region Administration, and A.M.Sholokhov, Deputy Head of the Committee for Culture of the RF State Duma, ICOM President of Russia. The concert was bright and colourful. It was followed by a powerful firework in honour of the Writer’s birthday.
The 32nd “Sholokhov Spring” ended with a youth pop program.
Alexey Kochetov
