Suzdal is always crowded on Whitsunday. On the 23rd of May, 2010, a traditional Festival of Folk Crafts will take place at the Museum of Wooden Architecture. Needlewomen and potters, blacksmiths and woodcarvers – the best master-hands from neighboring regions will come to Suzdal to show their talents and love for their native land.

On the grassy lawns amidst the old wooden houses of the museum, one will see a miracle of creating a funny doll of a simple pack of straw and blossoming of a flower straight on the white linen towel.

This year, for the first time, the visitors of the museum will have a chance to learn how a traditional Russian “lubok” (simple printed picture colored by hand and often called popular print or folk engraving) is made. “Lubok” is a vivid and fascinating page in the history of Russian culture. Folk prints were known in many other countries (in the Far East as early as the 8th century and in Western Europe from the 15th); in Russia they appeared in the middle of the 17th century and survived until the beginning of the 20th. The origins of their Russian name have not been yet clearly determined. The word “lubok” may derive from “lub”, the thin layer of wood under the bark of a mature lime (linden) tree. “Lub” was only about an inch thick and could not be used for deep carving, but, pressed and dried, served in Old Russia as a popular material for light construction and for writing. Up to the 19th century, it was common in villages to use for debt contracts, and even letters. It is possible that these simple “lub” images inspired later pictures printed on paper. The guests of the festival are invited by the Suzdalian masters Constantine Romanov and Alexandra Knokova to participate in the process of making a traditional “lubok”.

In the museum, one will see performances of the musicians and dancers, who arrived to Suzdal from Vladimir and Moscow in order to glorify a birch. The folk group from the Moscow University of Culture and Arts will perform. Song and the dances popular in different regions of Russia are in the repertoire. Again, we will welcome our old friends – participants of the “Street” ensemble from Moscow – the experts of the Kursk song tradition.

Children will be especially lucky at the festival. They will have a chance to play old Russian games (including “gorodki” – a kind of skittles), to perform authentic Russian round-dances with the famous Suzdalian “Radunitsa” ensemble. Meanwhile, their parents will be able to sample a little of everything (to start with traditional Suzdalian mead and to finish with no less traditional fancy bread).

The organizers of the festival again want to recreate one of the oldest and most beautiful rites performed on Whitsunday by peasant women. During this rite, a dressed-up little girl walked over the crossed hands of women to the field, tore up a spikelet of rye or wheat, ran towards the church and threw the spike there. This procedure was a guarantee of a rich harvest. This year the museum’s staffers decided to enlarge the ritual – the round-dance will begin from the solemn process of dressing of the main heroine.

After the Holy Trinity Day, according to the Russian custom, the dressed-up beauty – a small birch – must return its force to the field – for the peoples’ happiness.



We invite you to take part in the Folk Crafts Festival.

The celebration begins at 11 a.m. on Whitsunday, May 23.