[EBR] Seminar and Holiday of Summer Solstice in the Big Stone ecovillage (Russia)
Hi, participants of ecovillage Big Stone and others!
This information is for foreigners. Please spread it among those who can be
interested .
Best regards,
Ivan Kulyasov
Kulyasov Ivan Pavlovich & Kulyasova Antonina Alekseevna
Center for Independent Social Research (CISR)
e-mail: ku@i*****.ru
Seminar and Holiday of Summer Solstice in the Big Stone ecovillage (Russia)
(June 14-26, 2006)
We invite you to participate in one of 4 annual seminars dedicated to
ancient traditional Russian (Slavic) holidays organized in the ecovillage
Big Stone, located in a very beautiful place at the River Kubena curve
surrounded by a pinery, Sokol region, Vologda oblast, Russia.
The program includes:
Preparing for the Holiday of Summer Solstice, that means:
a.. Discussions on traditional culture and meaning of Sun Holidays,
talks on traditional costumes; preparing traditional costumes by
participants (tailoring Russian shirt and weaving belts); daily studying
Russian traditional songs, dances, games, preparing the place for conducting
holiday: haying herbs and making bonfire, weaving wreaths, making dolls of
straw, cooking traditional ritual food: bread, pies, porridge, salads,
drinks, eggs.
Conducting the Holiday of Summer Solstice:
a.. Greeting Sun; conducting rituals dedicated to fertility of the land,
named Birchen, Mermaid and Spikelet; making holiday fire; conducting ritual
of seeing-off Young Sun, singing, dancing, playing in traditional manner all
night long, meeting and greeting Sun.
Besides, everyday activities will include:
a.. Discussions: on history and concept of ecovillages, including Big
Stone one, on ecovillages and ecogroups movement, on wild eatable herbs,
environment friendly technologies in ethnic traditions;
b.. Socially useful works: according to the choice of participants -
ecovillage land improvement, chopping firewood, rebuilding fences, haying,
cooking;
c.. Creative works: making things, toys and decorations with clay;
d.. Instruction in healthy life in villages: participants will learn how
to collect, store and use wild herbs and roots, make soap with ash, make
bread and kvass on hops ferment, they will collect black flint for making
fire and cleaning water, and will also taste Russian bath with besom and
kvass.
e.. At the end of the program the most courageous participants will take
part in the foot eco-tour to the lake Glukhoe.
To come and participate in the seminar you have to contact one of the
contact persons. If you do not speak Russian, please contact:
Mirzagitova Laysan - laysa***@y*****.com, folklore_proje***@m*****.ru, (best way
for communication), home (812) 351 65 62, cell 8-921-319 61 55 (Russia,
English, French)
Kulyasova Antonina - ku@i*****.ru (Russia, English)
Organizational fee for participants - 400 rubles for a Russian participant
and euro or $ 50 for a foreign participant. Children under 7 and residents
from Russian ecovillages participate for free.
The meal during the program is vegetarian. The fee for food is 500 rubles.
If you want you can buy all foodstuff yourself, bring with you and give it
to organizers (flour - 250 grammes, buckwheat - 500 g, rice - 500 g, bee
honey - 250 g, raisins - 100 g, dried apricots - 100 g, dates - 300 g,
cookies - 1000 g, bread - 4, onion - 250 g, carrot - 300 g, beet - 200 g,
cucumber - 200 g, oil (olive, sunflower) - 250 g, pea - 200g, beans
(haricot) - 200 g, millet - 200g, oat - 200 g, porridge - 200g, jam - 300g,
cabbage - 300 g, tea - 100 g.
You have also take with you: tourist blanket, plastic tourist rug, pen and
notebook, mug plate and spoon, linen stuff (white, gray or red) 1,5 x 2or3
m, 2 pieces of red and color printed cotton of 0,7- 1x 0,5 m, scissors and
needles, 2 reels of thread, color wool thread, gauntlets for work.
About the Big Stone ecovillage
The name 'Big Stone ecovillage' appeared not long ago but this initiative
project has been existing for more than 12 years. It started in 1992 when
Kulyasov's family ( Tonya is economist and Ivan is medical doctor) decided
to live in their family (grandmother's) house in Shilikovo village. They
became vegetarians and used simple environmental friendly technologies for
life. They had one hectare of land for organic garden and hayfield.
Shilikovo pine forest, Lebyaj'e Marsh, river Kubena, flood plains provided
them with eatable and medicine herbs, berries and mushrooms.
In 1993-1994 they lived in Shilikovo without quitting the place and tried to
involve their friends from St.Petersburg in their project, inviting them to
live in the village with them, but nobody came. They were then facing the
problems common for all first ecovillagers: no jobs for living, no
possibility to organize self-sufficient economy, no like-minded persons and
enough communication, no school for growing children. So, in 1995 they
decided to live in the village half of the year. So, now they live half a
year in Shilikovo and another half a year, they live and work in
St.Petersburg, where their three daughters study at secondary school.
In 1996-1997 together with a few new friends from Vologda and Cherepovetc
city they organized a family summer camp and started to organize community
in Shilikovo village. At the same time they worked as environmental
sociologists in St. Petersburg Nongovernmental Sociological Center
(www.cisr.ru; www.ecocisr.spb.ru). They made several research projects
connected with Ecovillages in Russia and the US, Environmental Ethic NGO's,
Environmental policy.
Since 1998 the Kulyasovs and their associates started summer and winter
environmental-healthy lifestyle programs in the village, since the year
2000 - international environmental seminars and environmental cultural
meetings 4 times a year, connected with solstice and equinox.
Now they call their project in Shilikovo " The Big Stone Ecovillage ". The
Big Stone ecovillage represents a trial of a new conception of ecovillage, a
kind of a transition step from city to country life, where there are no
permanent residents. Instead there are for now 19 people of 'season
residents' who love country life, share environmental ideas, and regularly
take part in the Shilikovo programs/seminars. The Big Stone ecovillage has
recently become part of the Russian ecovillage network and the member of GEN
(Global Ecovillage Network). It gets informational support by
www.greenlab.ru and www.eco-rus.com and develops its activities in three
main directions:
1. Environmental: we investigate relations between environmental friendly
lifestyle and Russian traditional culture, rebirth traditional technologies,
which our ancestors used in there everyday life. We taste these technologies
and make recipes useful in ecovillages, villages and some of them also in
the cities. We share these technologies on our seminars.
2. Ethnographical: We investigate the connection of environment and
traditional holidays, celebrate solstice and equinox in traditional manner.
These holidays include not only traditional rituals, songs, dances, games
special for seasons, but also minimum one-week preparation - making
traditional holiday dresses, food, other things for holiday rituals. On our
seminars we teach people how to conduct traditional holidays, give lessons
of traditional singing and dancing.
3. Educational: We share our experience with those who come to our programs.
In 2005-2006 the initiative group take part in seminars in the Grishino
ecivillage as co-organizers, sharing their experience and their
understanding of ecovillage life concept (www.grishino.ecology.net.ru).
Our meetings-seminars embrace all these directions of our activity.
Kulyasov Ivan Pavlovich & Kulyasova Antonina Alekseevna
Center for Independent Social Research (CISR)
e-mail: ku@i*****.ru
