Between 5 and 12 July, students of the Faculty of Philology together with their research advisers studied cultural phenomena in the Pavlovsk District of the Voronezh Region. As part of their internships, students gathered information about the life of various settlements, including war memories, legends, stories about famous dynasties and their representatives, traditions, dialects, festivals, customs, tales, crafts, and stories of common people. The students visited ten villages, where they talked to the natives, as well as to the employees of schools, local museums, and recreation centres.
The internship had two stages. Once the students settled in, they had a tour of the local museum or the town, and then talked to local people.
Russkaya Builovka was the first village visited by the students. Here they met new people, learned about the life of the village during previous centuries, talked a lot to the elderly, learned about ancient customs, sang songs, and tried on folk costumes.
“We could actually feel the atmosphere of ancient customs, so vivid were the stories told by the locals”, said Daria Pronkina, one of the students.
The group then visited other villages including Vorontsovka, Eryshevka, and Livenka. They managed to make reports about the local festivals, wedding customs, witches and house elves, and toponymic legends.
“We immersed so deeply in the atmosphere of folklore and all these villages that we even adopted local dialects and started using proverbs and sayings we heard from local elderly women in our own speech”, said Yulia Artamonova.
Other villages visited by the group included Bolshaya Kazinka, Nikolaevka, Elizavetovka, Petrovka, and Mikhailovka. The students saw the River Don, took part in a master class, learned about herb doctors and conjurations, as well as about the specific features of the local culture and traditions (for example, parents of single boys and girls hang a long on the wall; people burn a straw figure on Maslenitsa in Miklhailovka).
The last village visited by the students was Alexandrovka-Donskaya. There they gathered valuable information about the time of war, the history of the village, and the local legends. The trip ended with a party, and all the students participated actively in it.
“We sang the songs that we had learned during our trip, danced, and played traditional games. We liked the trip very much and are looking forward to our dialectological practice next year”, said the students.
“We woke up at 9 a.m., talked to the locals, had lunch, talked to the locals again. We returned at 4 p.m. and had dinner at 6, after which we were to review our records made during the day. We did not always have enough time, but on the whole it was great”, said Daria Pronkina.
“We had some difficulties at first, as we didn’t know exactly what to ask about and how to record everything. But then we figured it out and everything went well”, said Inna Gladskikh.
The group was assisted by the Department of Culture of the Pavlovsk District and heads of the local recreation centres. They organised meetings with the local people and music groups, and organised various events for the students.
Text by: Angelina Beshentseva
