The festival begins at 15:00 local time
12 July – Peter and Paul Day, Petrov Day, Petrovki, Peter the Fisherman's Day!
In olden times, after the folk festivities, upon greeting the sun at the sunrise of July 12, peasants began the haymaking season.
As the saying goes: "Hay in the stack — a well-fed winter for the livestock"
Every year, at the museum homestead in Koptelovo, fellow villagers and guests from different corners of our vast country (and beyond...) gather to take part in the calendar festival "Peter and Paul Day"!
On the museum grounds village homesteads unfold, stalls offer ukha (fish soup), okroshka, fluffy pies, and cooling drinks. The district's craftswomen display their applied-art works.
Each attendee can spin on village carousels and swing on swings. After all, swinging on the swings is the most important sign and omen of this holiday. This pastime served not only for entertainment but also for magic — during it many powerful rituals were performed. If you laugh heartily on the swings, it is said to prolong life. But if you burst into tears at that moment, life may be shortened by several years.
To the songs of folk ensembles, young girls braid brooms from herbs, by which they can later predict their fate. It has long been believed that herbs lose part of their healing properties after Peter's Day, so they had to be gathered before the holiday.
There was another beautiful ritual. Young girls on Peter and Paul's Day, as on Trinity, would also 'wreathe the birch'. Folk belief holds that the birch on these days grants any wish. You only need to make a wish and weave a ribbon into the branches. And don't tell your wish to anyone.
A highlight of the festival is the folk games and circle dances — in short, the most cheerful revelry!
#KoptelovoMuseumOfHistoryAgricultureAndPeasantLife
