Return to Taman', and the Festival of Legends

This past Sunday, the Institute hosted a trip to the Taman’ Festival of Legends. They had, if I understood correctly, a competition to see which departments could go (they obviously could not bring the entire Institute), and though Foreign Literatures was not one of them (though Philology was), I was able to tag along anyway. That is to say, I didn’t exactly tag along; rather, I was at the head of the convoy—meaning that instead of riding in the buses with the rest of the students, I rode with A.A. in the police car that headed up our mini motorcade. While I would have preferred to ride with the rest of the students, who very thoughtfully made it clear that I was welcome to go around with them, it was very interesting to ride in a Russian police car without having to worry about where they were taking me.

Our first stop was at a WWII monument, where we picked up our tour guide. Here is a picture of the monument:

And here is a picture of the police car I rode in:

Our next stop was in Taman’ proper. We visited a church, the oldest in Krasnodar Krai, built in the Greek style because of the former Greek presence in the area. Outside the church, there was a bazaar featuring representatives from many churches and monasteries in the area and abroad selling their products. They had everything from healing herbs, to crafts, to CDs, and more. I didn’t buy anything, but it was interesting to wander the aisles and see what was available.

This is the church we visited:

Finally, we made it to the festival. The festival was actually a sort of combination between an open-air museum and a Renaissance Faire. Here is a view from the top of the hill:

There were mock villages set up, representing various regions in the area, historical reenactments, and people walking around in various costumes (Cossacks, Chechen dancers, etc.). We spent several hours there wandering around and seeing what was there to be seen (pictured below).

In the evening, I went by the main stage, where they had performances by pop artists as well as traditional musicians and dancers—both immensely enjoyable. A huge firework display signaled the end of the night, and we all piled in our respective vehicles to head home. I think I fell asleep on the way (we didn’t leave until after 10 and it’s a 2.5 hour drive back), and the policemen were kind enough to drop me off right at my dorm, after which I promptly went to bed.


The next day (Monday) was the start of my first full week of classes. They’re going pretty well, I think. My vocabulary list grows exponentially every day, which is good insofar as I’m being exposed to many new words, but not so great insofar as I can’t possibly memorize them all as quickly as I write them down. It seems I need to just buckle down and spend a few hours every day studying. At least, thanks to the U of C, constant study is nothing new to me… (and I thought I had escaped!).