Kostroma

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Kostromas festivals and traditions
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Foreword

• Kostroma a Russian ancient city - is rich
  in many traditions
• and festivals that date back to the ancient
  times. There are even
• some pagan long-standing holidays and traditions
  which are still
• observed. And some of them make our city unique.
  First of all Id
• like to tell you about the Christmas holiday
  season thats called
• Svyatki.

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Svyatki

• The Christmas holiday season (December 25
  January 6) in
• Russia was called Svyatki. There was no any other
  holiday
• celebrated in compliance with so many specific
  traditions, customs
• and ceremonies. The period of Svyatki includes
  both pagan and
• orthodox traditions such as fortunetelling,
  games, mummery,
• singing, dancing and worshiping.
• On December 24 Russian pagans praised Kolyada,
  the god of
• peace and feast. People, especially children,
  would put on costumes
• and go from house to house, singing their wishes
  for wealth and a
• good harvest. They expected small gifts of food,
  sweets or money in
• return for their efforts.

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• Fortunetelling is a part of Svyatki
  celebration. In the times of
• paganism fortunetelling was a way of worshiping
  to gods.
• Ceremonies of fortunetelling took place at night
  time. There were
• used eggs, mirrors and cards.
• Svyatki and New Years Eve have always been
  family holidays.
• There were baked traditional cakes with an image
  of a fir-tree cone.
• All the preparations for the holiday were begun
  beforehand, in
• November. People wrapped and decorated their
  presents to each
• other they organized home concerts, prepared
  games and lotteries.
• People of all ages were engaged in merry skating
  and different
• competitions.

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New Year and winter holidays

• The Russians celebrate it in the night on the
  31-st of December
• the 1-st of January. Today the majority of
  families have New Year
• trees at home. They decorate them with tinsels,
  toys and colorful
• lights. They put presents under a New Year tree.
  Russian people used
• to have a tradition to dress fancy costumes and
  go from house to
• house, sing Kolyadki and wish
• good luck to everyone. Listeners
• could give them small presents.
• As for my town Kostroma, its a
• home town of Maiden.

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On the New Year eve Father Frost goes from
Great Ustyug to Moscow and on his way to the
Russian capital he usually visits Kostroma to
meet Maiden. Arrived in our city he and
his granddaughter Maiden are involved in many
different activities which take place in the
center of Kostroma near the Fire Tower. A lot of
citizens gather together there and have much fun.
Father Frost and Maiden are very actual. They
make presents for kids and kids love them.
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Christmastide

• Christmas is celebrated on the 7-th of
  January. The days from
• Christmas to the Epiphany are called
  Christmastide. The Russian
• used to get together and have a carnival, tell
  fortunes, make a
• snowman, build a townlet, play snowballs, climb a
  pole for a gift,
• wear fancy costumes, sing songs. Telling fortunes
  were very
• popular with young girls. And the most gallant
  people even swam
• in an ice hole. The day after Christmastide is
  called Epiphany. The
• Russian celebrate it on the 19-th of January.

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The Epiphany is a Christian holy day in memory
of the coming of three kings to see baby Jesus.
Its the very old celebration in Russia. But
traditions connected with these holidays have
sunk in oblivion and today its just the good
excuse to have a lot of fun, to drink and eat
delicious food and make fireworks light up the
sky.
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Shrovetide

• The festival like Shrovetide is always
  observed and remembered
• about, though it has deep roots. When its
  Shrovetide people say
• farewell to winter and welcome to spring. Typical
  symbols of this
• festival are pancakes and a stuffed effigy thats
  always burnt. It
• includes Russian and foreign, pagan and orthodox
  traditions. For
• instance burning a stuffed effigy and playing
  games relate to pagan
• traditions. The Russians used to dance, sing
  songs and jump across a
• bonfire. Thats how they had fun!
• But I want to mention that Kostroma
• citizens still have fun on this festival
• like in the past. Shrovetide is
• celebrated late February early
• March.

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Spring holidays Willow week

• Willow Week precedes Easter week it is the
  sixth week of Lent.
• Willow week symbolizes the coming of spring. On
  Willow Week in
• ancient times there were organized markets where
  people could buy
• toys, flowers, sweets and willow branches. On
  Willow Sunday
• (Palm Sunday) the willow was first consecrated in
  church, and then
• kept at home in front of the icons. It was a
  custom to tap each other
• with a sprig of willow, chanting The willow is
  beating you to
• tears. Its not me beating you its the willow.
  The willow beats and
• makes you cry. White willow beats and it knows
  why. This was
• thought to bring good luck.
• Consecrated willow was kept at home during the
  whole year.
• Sometimes it was used in folk medicine.

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Easter

• Another spring long-standing beloved in
  Kostroma festival is
• Easter. On this day people dye eggs in bright
  colors. Eggs are
• considered to be a symbol of new life and
  resurrection. By the
• legend, its prohibited to do any work on Easter
  and if you do it in
• spite of the legend, you wont get any positive
  results. The festival
• used to begin with the so called egg-fight. It
  was played by two
• people holding eggs who would bang them into one
  another, the one
• holding the unbroken egg would win. Sharing food
  on Easter has
• been a long tradition in Russia and in Kostroma
  too.
• Thats why after breakfast people usually visit
  their
• friends and neighbors and exchange eggs and small
  
• Easter breads. Strangely enough the weather on
  the
• Easter Day is usually very nice and sunny. "The
  sun
• plays", say the Russians. It is an old custom to
  open the cages and
• let birds go free on Easter.

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Ivan Kupalo (John the Baptists Day)

• Ivan Kupalo was actually a rather thin veneer
  of Christian ritual
• overlaying the pagan holiday of the summer
  solstice. John the
• Baptist became connected with this pagan festival
  because of his
• association with water. Pagan Slavs praised
  Kupalo the god of
• fertility. This holiday was celebrated from the
  24th till the 29th of
• July. In the past young people used to swim in
  rivers till late at
• night, they burned fires and, holding each-others
  hands, jumped
• over the fires. If after the jump they still held
  their hands, it was a
• good sign it meant that the wedding was close.

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• On John the Baptists Day people would go to
  the fields and
• gather herbs. They had to pick 12 different kinds
  including thistle,
• fern, plantain and coltsfoot. On that day people
  washed their faces
• with dew, swam in rivers and lakes. That was done
  to be healthy.
• Even nowadays on John the Baptists Day people
  pick herbs and
• flowers.

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And finally

• Id like to add that we all should celebrate
  and observe the
• holidays and traditions of our city. Because they
  connect us with
• the past, with our forefathers who celebrated
  them from time
• immemorial.