At the “Komi Book” Festivities in Bolshaya Pyssa

The Silver Taiga Foundation has participated in the republican “Komi book” festivities, which this time took place in the Udora village Bolshaya Pyssa.

Salmon and greyling also took part in the celebration

The hosts have met the guests of the celebration – writers, poets, painters, and artists well-known in the republic – on the bank of the Mezen. Hardly had the guests stepped off the ferry-boat when they found themselves in a festive atmosphere. Their arrival has been accompanied by songs and traditional ceremonies. It was followed by a brief acquaintance with the village and traditional lifestyle – through dramatizations of the small fragments from the works of the local authors organized directly in the yards of the villagers. After unveiling a memorial plaque on the house in which a well-known Udora journalist and writer Yevgeny Afanasyev had lived, a large “round table” presided over by the Chairman of the Writers’ Union of Komi Elena Kozlova was held in a rural school. Each of its participants could not only listen to the opinion of the authors of the works popular in Komi, but also to tell about his/her own attitude to the book, recall favorite books playing a significant role in his/her life.

Meanwhile, a colorful trade fair has been started on the main street of Bolshaya Pyssa: every village presented something it was rich in – goods of the crafts masters, traditional treats, folk souvenirs, costumes, art songs …

The presentation platforms have been prepared not only by the rural settlements. An interesting exhibition of the old photographs depicting the corners of Bolshaya Pyssa starting from the beginning of the last century was presented by the National museum of the Udora district. The old Pyssa could be also seen in the reproductions of the paintings of the famous soviet artist Vladimir Stozharov. In the early 60s of the last century he had worked on the Udora and captured the unforgettable views of this ancient village on his paintings. The writers, poets, artists, and journalists born in Pyssa and having made themselves a name in the Republic were looking at their countrymen from another stand…

The Model River Mezen project has been presented by the Udora centralized library system, the team cooperating with the Silver Taiga Foundation not the first year, on its presentation platform.

It is not a mere coincidence that this topic was covered at the book festival. The writers and poets quite often address the topic of the river and fishing, and the Komi writers are no exception. This topic is relevant, it is touching, the authors are writing about it and the audience is reading their works with pleasure. At all times, the river meant much to people, and not only as a source of resources. The river is traditions, roots, it is the life itself.

The festival participants have learned about the Model River Mezen project, its strategic objectives and results of the first stage of the project implementation from the photo- and information stands presented there. Besides, the works of the schoolchildren – participants of the posters contest on the topic “Tsar fish – Mezen salmon” have been displayed here. A meeting with a well-known writer Peter Stolpovsky, the author of the best book of the year “Perch for Vakul”, has also taken place in this presentation platform . The book includes a cycle of “Fishing stories” consisting of seventeen tales. The author was asked what had inspired him to write “Fishing stories”, what had been the most dramatic fishing-related episodes in his life, and even if he released the first fish and put it back to the river as a gift to Vakul – a water spirit.

The library staff have prepared dramatizations, competitions, quizzes, and games involving a man-sized salmon puppet, which has become a remarkable “character” of this celebration on the beach of the Mezen.

On the Mezen

Pyssa welcomes the guests

The members of the Working Group of the Model River Mezen project Albert Loginov, Alina Vaneeva, Valentina Semyashkina with the author of the “Fishing stories”, writer Peter Stolpovsky (on the very left)

During the concert

Valentina Semyashkina
The photos are made by Alexander Selivanov and Emilia Bratenkova
Translated by Irina Sokolova