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Colours of This Fair

Autumn has scattered golden leaves in the streets and alleys of Stanitsa Karghinskaya. October is imperiously coming into power. That means it is time for the annual literary ethnographic holiday “Karghin Fair on Intercession Days”!

On Sunday morning, October 7, smartly dressed people moved to the mill yard of Timofey Karghin. The site welcomed the guests with brightly coloured flags and Fair posters; holiday music and shopping booths attracted the people.

The event took place on the right bank of the River Chir, where the old roller mill, one of the interesting sites of the National M.A.Sholokhov Museum-Reserve was situated. There came good news: a new bridge over the River Chir has connected the two banks. In the morning, writers and poets, who came to Stanitsa Karghinskaya from Moscow, Tambov, Grozny, Syktyvkar, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Rostov, and other cultural centres of Russia, moved along the bridge to the left bank of the river to lay out the Garden of Russian Writers named after M.A.Sholokhov. They were actively joined by the Museum workers and local young people.

They planted 60 apple-trees and 35 pear-trees under the guidance of N.F.Ivanov, Chairman of the Union of Russian Writers. The seedlings were brought by the Federal I.Michurin Research Centre.

Meanwhile, at the mill yard there began a competition and tasting “Porridge is Our Strength”. It turns out there are so many porridge recipes!

The first shopping went on. The visitors bought articles of Cossack outfit, souvenirs, toys, Tula Gingerbread, Semikarakory tableware, knitted and cotton things…, seedlings of flowers and trees, fruit and vegetables, and many other things.

Workshops on needlework and crafts, competitions and tasting began. The children playing the game “Secrets of the Old Mill” were moving from one site to another trying to give the right answers on Sholokhov’s work, ethnography, history and nature of the Don country.

The visitors were attracted with the cinema exhibition “Magic World of Cinematograph” which included fragments of silent films. It was shown in the old cinema “Ideal”.

Other excursions about the sites told the guests about the old mill, the Sholokhovs’ house, the parish school, where the future writer began his studies.

The first shown exhibition “Visiting the Karghin Masters” told about the tools and instruments used in old times by carpenters, joiners, saddlers and tailors… It appeared that not everyone knew the names of those instruments, how they were handled and what years they were used.

The best works by the young artists on the theme of Sholokhov were demonstrated at the exhibition “Vernissage in the Garden”. Actually, the works were shown on the left bank of the river, near the garden named after M.A.Sholokhov.

Those who were tired of shopping and boating along the River Chir could enjoy the performance of the local and invited ensembles. The public appreciated the songs and dances performed by the groups “Ataman” (Rostov-on-Don), “Pravoslavny Don” (Stanitsa Bokovskaya), “Zhemchuzhina Dona” (Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya) and other groups and soloists.

The guests of the holiday were greeted by O.A.Anistratenko, Director of the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov, and Y.A.Pyatikov, Head of the Bokovsky District Administration. They called for keeping and increasing the best traditions of the Quiet Don Cossacks.

O.A.Anistratenko announced the results of the traditional contest “For the Best Cossack Farmstead” among the residents of Stanitsa Karghinskaya and handed the present to the winner.

The residents and guests of Stanitsa Karghinskaya met with the writers and actors who came from Moscow and other cities. The head of the Union of Russian Writers N.Ivanov noted that they had long been going to visit Sholokhov country, because it is here that the literary heart of Russia beats. A poetess N.Miroshnichenko recited her poetry, L.Maltseva, the People’s Actress of Russia, performed a fragment of the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don”, and the People’s Actor of Russia Y.Nazarov recited a poem by the Don poet B.Kulikov.

An auction “Buy a Ram” was held with humour and aroused approving jokes from the public. The auction leader V.Antipov did his best, and three Edilbayev rams from the Museum “flock” were successfully sold.

A special attraction was the performance of a strongman from Donetsk the Rostov Region, Dmitry Nagorny, a multiple winner of international extreme force competitions. Three years ago, he, in that very place, was able to move alone a

KamAZ motor lorry to the distance of 20 metres. This time, Dmitry bent iron rods with a support on the head, neck, forearm, twisted nails into a “pigtail”, rolled a frying-pan into a tube, broke in halves a galvanized bucket. Then the Museum tractor “Fordzon-Putilovets” weighing 2.5 tons drove over the strongman on a special wooden flooring. Then, putting two belts on his forearms the bogatyr held off “to break” two, then four skidding cars!

As usual, very popular was the old photo studio, where one, dressed in a stylized Cossack costume, could have a photo taken against the old setting.

O.A.Anistratenko and Y.A.Pyatikov inaugurated the new bridge named “Bridge of Wishes”. After their greetings the young residents released colourful balloons bearing the words of their wishes into the sky.

The holiday ended in a horsemen show “Don Cossacks”: the horsemen of the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov showed elements of trick horse riding. They were encouraged with exclamations “Bravo!” and applauded stormily.

The Fair held in Stanitsa Karghinskaya for the fifth time was bustling and busy, glowing with bright colours and was impressive again. It is not for nothing that it is entered in the event calendar “Time to Rest in Russia”!

Alexey Kochetov