Volga Cruise: A Russian Village
The tiny village of Marak’ev, where the Marak’ev monastery is located. This was actually my favourite part of the trip <3
Volga Cruise: The Rained Out Town
After Chubaksary we stopped in a little town, the name of which escapes me. IT was pouring out, which was enough to deter most people from getting off the boat, especially since all of our program organizers were still napping in their rooms XP Though my friend and I braved what turned out to be a thunderstorm in not weather-appropriate clothing and went into the town. We only went to a souvenir shop before returning to the ship, but paused long enough for me to snap this picture of a statue of Ivan Groznyi. Where are his upturned pointy toed shoes!
Volga Cruise: Chubaksary
First stop on the cruise was Chubaksary, capital of the Republic of Chuvashiya. Overlooking the city with out-stretched arms is a statue of Chuvashiya, the mother of the Chuvashi people. The writing on her statue in Chuvashi and Russian translates to: “My blessed children, live in peace and love.” The Chuvashi people are a Turkic people with their own language, style of music, and dress, and are primarily Russian Orthodox.
We visited a beautiful memorial park dedicated to the heroes and soldiers of WWII, before having some free time to wander around. I found the Historical Museum of Chuvashiya and went there, which was both educational, interesting, and dry— it had started to rain ^^;
Kazan Khanate Village
This excellent little reenactment village in Kazan’ brings to life a typical village from the time of the Kazan Khanate. Sadly I seem to have lost good chunks of my pictures of the place, including the ones of the Mongol/Tatar ritual, the Sabantuy festival, etc. The group does plenty of audience interaction and participation— I took part in the Sabantuy games with the villagers, talked with Princess Syuyumbike during lunch, played a ring toss game with the khan, and got to shoot a Tatar bow~ The bow had a much heavier pound pull to it than I’m used to, I was just able to use it…
(Dear self who shoots traditional Eastern Woodland and English longbow:
Tatar bows are different. You cannot get away with not wearing an arm guard when shooting a Tatar bow.
Sincerely,
Your spectacularly bruised left forearm)
Love Locks in Yelabuga~ Most of the locks are on the bridge as is traditional— can’t imagine how many keys are in the river below— but many other locks are attached to the tree as in Kazan’. Both seem to be used equally.
Of particularly interest to me are the strips of fabric tied to the tree. This is a tradition borrowed from the Mongolians back when the Golden Horde conquered Rus’. The fabric strips are offerings tied to a sacred tree or place as the devotee makes a prayer or wish.
A unique statue in Yelabuga of a Russian woman and a Tatar man who fall in love, meant to illustrate the dual ethnicity and heritage of Tatarstan, as well as its current peace.
Yelabuga: Old Great Bulgaria
Yelabuga was originally part of the Bulgar Empire. On a hill overlooking the town is a statue of Ibragim-khan, who founded the city some thousand years ago.
Yelabuga: The Bell Tower
A small group of students visited Yelabuga’s largest church; once used at a prison during Soviet times, the church has an odd aura of devotion and decay, the murals on the wall beginning to fade and crumble, yet loving cared for, the huge doors still bearing their heavy iron bolts.
We climbed to the top of the bell tower, the tallest structure in Yelabuga. The stairs were steep, narrow, and often without handrails, making both the climb and the decent an adventure. The breath-taking views were spectacular, and were thankfully enough to distract me from pulling the bell ropes XP
