07/19/08The Cucumber Festival in Suzdal
What do we know about cucumbers? No more than about avocado or kiwi fruit. It appears that a cucumber is neither a fruit nor a vegetable, but rather a berry and not a ripe one at that. The Russian word for cucumber ("ogurets") comes from its Ancient Greek name - "agourus" - which literally means "unripe". The cucumber first took root in India.
Nobody knows when it first appeared in Russia. It is known that in the region of Vladimir it was grown 5 - 7 centuries ago - in other words, long enough ago that we may consider the cucumber inherently Russian!
Suzdal is one of the renowned centers of cucumber production in our region. Since time immemorial the residents of Suzdal have had a special passion for cucumbers. Anania Fedorov, a Suzdalian priest and the first historian of the town, was already writing about it in the 18th century.
 
Suzdalians have been practicing the art of cucumber-cultivation for centuries, nursing cucumbers like babies, and even giving them different names: "pikuli" - for smaller ones, "zelentsy" - for middle-sized cucumbers and "oklyovishy" - for flawed ones. (The market gardeners felt sorry for the latter, those not so lucky in life).
You may be asking yourself, "Why all the fuss? After all, it's just a cucumber, right?" Wrong. As one of the characters in an Ostrovsky play asked "And what is a business? What is it in comparison to eternity and a pickled cucumber?".
You will learn, see and hear a lot of interesting things during the Cucumber Festival, the seed of which grew out of the Vladimir and Suzdal Museum-Reserve. The region's most-celebrated folklore groups will perform, diverse souvenirs made of wood, clay, paper and rags (most of them yellow-green in color to emulate the hero of the day) will be on sale, and you might also take home some great snapshots - say, of yourself in a cucumber costume, for example.
There will be something for everyone at the festival: "Cucumber extreme" is for those who are really brave and strong, and the youngsters will love the performance about the adventures of Prince Cucumber and Princess Liana.
You will also be able to try a plenty of different dishes - soups, jams, rolls, etc. - all made of cucumbers.
Where and when will all this take place?
In Suzdal, in the Museum of Wooden Architecture on July 19, at 11.00 a.m.
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