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On a Frosty Epiphany Day…

On the eve of the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, an interactive museum class for the 5-form pupils of Kruzhilin Village secondary school was held in the Cossack Farmstead of the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov. It was devoted to the folk traditions of celebrating Christmas, New Year and Epiphany.

Seeing around the Farmstead which is a “living” illustration of the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don” by M.A.Sholokhov the young villagers learned how Cossacks managed the farm in the Upper Don region late in the XIX – early in the XX centuries, what agricultural implements they used working about their household and in the field. The children saw a hand mill with mill stones and a prosak, on which the farmers twisted ropes, and fed farm animals.

Then the museum workers invited the children for a gathering and treated them with dumplings stuffed with potato and cottage cheese with surprises, and tasty pies and vzvar. At table they talked how Cossacks celebrated holidays in old times and how they do it now. They told how the families prepare for Epiphany, remembered about old New Year signs and New Year traditions in different countries.

The class ended with a merry snow balls game around the snowman they had made together.

Valentina Abramovskaya