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Sholokhov Spring Days

The All-Russian literary folklore holiday “Sholokhov Spring-2019” started on Friday, May 24, the birthday of the writer. That and the following days were full of bright events.

All the memorial and natural sites of the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov in Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya, Stanitsa Karghinskaya, Kruzhilin Village welcomed the visitors for tours from early morning till late at night.

A holiday for children called “Vyoshenskiye Vesnushki” began on May 24, with bright, colourful performances of the preschool and school amateur groups.

At noon, the People’s House of the Museum-Reserve showed the children a performance “Magic Lantern” of the Taganrog Folk Theatre. The house was full.

In the afternoon the festival program began on the River Chir in Stanitsa Karghinskaya, where the writer spent his childhood and youth. The festival was called “Children Sholokhov Spring”, it lasted over five hours! The children performed at the Farmstead of T.A.Karghin, at the improvised stage by the Karghinsky House of Culture. At the stadium of the secondary school there was held a children football tournament “Hopes of May” dedicated to the birthday of M.A.Sholokhov. The winners were future champions from Stanitsa Bokovskaya.

As usual, on Friday, the Palace of Culture “Vyoshensky” held a literary artistic and journalistic recital “Mikhail Sholokhov: “…There will Come Talents!” devoted to the stage versions of the writer’s works beginning with the first experiments performed on the stage of the Karghin cinema “Ideal” and foundation under his assistance in the mid-1930s of a theatre of Cossack peasant youth in Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya. From the stage there was sounded a greeting telegram from V.R.Medinsky, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation. The event was continued by the performances of ensembles and soloists.

On the next day, Saturday morning of May 25, the central street was busy with the festival procession of singing and dancing local and guest ensembles which moved from the Palace of Culture to the centre of Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya. There, in the open areas they following each other entertained the public with their best concert performances. The residents and guests applauded and joined the singers and dancers.

In Kruzhilin Village, the homeland of the writer, the guests were shown a program “My Dear, Bright Motherland” including the guest groups, which came for “Sholokhov Spring”.

In the district library, and later in the People’s House, there was a meeting of local writers and poets, who remembered M.A.Sholokhov, talked and read aloud fragments of their works. Taking advantage of the presence of the secretaries of the Union of Russian writers O.A.Etlukhov and A.S.Truba they suggested thinking about erection of an artistic monument to Sholokhov in the stanitsa, to strengthen a “literary component” of “Sholokhov Spring” and give a broader coverage of the feats of the Upper Don Cossacks during the Great Patriotic War.

O.A.Etlukhov personally suggested changing the order of awarding the Sholokhov Prize, which for it is necessary to include the writer’s countrymen, relatives, the Museum director, etc., in the special awarding commission. It is here, in Vyoshenskaya, that the awarding ceremony must take place.

During the whole day the visitors were welcomed in two interactive Museum areas: “Entertaining Hamlet”, where an old Cossack photo studio was recreated, and “Martial Cossack Arts”, where one could try himself in showing his skills of the old Cossack battle arts.

Children and adults enjoyed ice cream, competed for accuracy in shooting galleries, joined attractions, had horse rides and took photos by the reconstructed fountain of Vyoshenskaya.

In the central park the folk craftsmen displayed a wide range of their bright, useful and funny articles and souvenirs which attracted the visitors – from a children’s whistle to a Cossack sabre. If there is demand – there is supply.

There you could see frequenters from the Volgograd Region. They displayed unusual “goods”– authentic items of ancient Cossack life: spoons, buckles, coins, cockades, horse nails and braces, counters, horseshoes, big bottles, samovars, spent cartridge cases, and even obsolete banknotes… The people came up showing their interest, discussed, viewed the past life subjects and bought what they liked.

The central square was encircled with stylized makeshift Cossack houses (kurens) brought from the neighbouring districts to take part in the competition-game program “Merry Kuren”. The guests could visit them, appreciate the interior, taste old Cossack dishes, sing and dance together with the hosts. The winners in the competition “Merry Kuren” are usually all – the hosts, the guests and the viewers. Good mood is worth a lot!

The People’s House showed a performance for children “Little Friends of Belosnezhka” of the folk puppet theatre “Teremok” from Zimovniki. In the afternoon, besides the meetings with the writers, there were shown feature films, journalistic films and author’s films based on Sholokhov theme. A lot of people wanted to see them.

The official delegation headed by I.A.Guskov, Deputy Head of the Rostov Region Administration, who came to Vyoshenskaya, laid flowers at the tomb of the writer, visited the interactive Museum areas and the improvised Cossack kurens (Cossack houses).

The Saturday, main day of the holiday, was ended with a gala concert called by the organizers “Along the Quiet Don”. Before the concert began the audience was greeted by I.A.Guskov and A.M.Sholokhov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Culture of the Russian Federation. The concert on the “floating stage” was bright and impressive for thousands of viewers. Many skillful performers from the Rostov, Volgograd, Voronezh and Belgorod regions, Mordovia, North Ossetia and the Donetsk People’s Republic showed their art.

Following the concert a powerful firework dedicated to the birthday of M.A.Sholokhov flashed brightly in the sky to cause a universal admiration and rapture.

On May 26, the guests of “Sholokhov Spring” visited the Museum Stables, joined interactive tours, workshops, horse riding and photo sessions.

Thus, the hosts and guests of Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya, Stanitsa Karghinskaya and Kruzhilin Village warmly celebrated the birthday of Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov, a classic of the Russian and world literature.

Alexey Kochetov