“Russian Response to Halloween” Was Held at SUSU

A theme-based event “Russian Response to Halloween” has been held at South Ural State University. Students of the Institute of Linguistics and International Communication and pupils of the Chelyabinsk schools took part in it.

The event was opened by a colourful gala show with participation of the witch Baba Yaga and Russian folk performers from the SUSU Creativity Center. The organizers greeted the celebration’s guests with dancing and humorous folk rhymes accompanied by accordion music.

The interactive lecture “The World of the Russian Folk Art” was delivered by the Associate Professor of the SUSU’s Department of Russian Language and Literature, Candidate of Sciences (Philology) Elvira Voronina.

“For my narrative I tried to choose characters which are similar to the characters of this Western culture holiday. The audience was especially fascinated by the stories about lords of various natural habitats. My lecture was followed by a quiz on the “Characters of the Russian Folklore Fairytales” whom I had told about earlier. I was happy to see that the audience was actively participating in it.”

After the quiz the audience took part in the master class “Hear the Call of Your Ancestors: Slavic Hand-made Talisman Dolls”. Using patches of various colours, threads and laces, students created miniature dolls which people of the ancient Russia would have considered magical. 

“I enjoyed making a do-it-yourself doll. It turned out to be an easy task: all you need to do is wrap around some rags, and a doll is almost ready. I think I did pretty well!” shares a 10th grade pupil Andrei Lapin.

Once the event was over, students could watch Russian cartoons, which are bright examples of the Russian creativity. Some of the foreign students noted that it was not their first time watching such fairy tales.

“I already watched Russian cartoons back in China. I have already seen the one they have shown us today, and I can say that I like them all very much. Actually, I really quite enjoyed the today’s event. I learned many new words which I would have never come across in everyday life,” says a 3rd year student of the Institute of Linguistics and International Communication.

This event gave its participants an opportunity to plunge into the world of the Russian folk arts and learn many new things about the Russian customs and traditions. At the celebration all those willing were able to take bright pictures of themselves in front of a topical banner with the characters of the Russian folklore fairytales.