#Vologda Oblast

[my-russia]

Batuyshkov estate, Vologda oblast | Ph: myphototravel

[ancestorsalive]

Russian women near the Sharshenga River praying to trees

Russian women near the Sharshenga River praying to trees. Kozma Prazhsky in the Czech Chronicle (XII century) reported that the Slavs prayed to trees in sacred groves. A similar observation was made by the German chronicler Helmgold (XII century), who described the life and customs of the Polabian Slavs.

One of the veneration of trees among the Eastern Slavs, it is mentioned in the "Life of Constantine of Murom", and John Chrysostom spoke about the facts of the existence of special prayers to trees among the Slavic people. [He did more than that; he persecuted people who did that, in his own region of Syira and Asia Minor.] This practice is well known even today in Christianity. People didn't throw away their praying rituals of the past…

Photo source: Matea Vuković, Slavic Rituals The Sharzhenga (Russian: Шарженга, Шарженьга) is a river in Nyuksensky, Babushkinsky, and Nikolsky Districts of Vologda Oblast in Russia.

[furordinaricvs]

Iconostasis of Troitse-Gledensky monastery in Vologda oblast, Russia.

[flagwars]

Russian Federal Subject Flag Wars: Round 1

This tournament will focus on the flags of Russia’s 83 federal subjects, which includes 21 republics, 9 krais, 46 oblasts, 2 federal cities, 1 autonomous oblast, and 4 autonomous okrugs. It will not include the flags of the land stolen from Ukraine.

The tournament will be followed by the Regional Flag Wars, a huge competition featuring the flags of regions/administrative divisions, with only one flag per country. Over the past year, I’ve released numerous polls to decide which regional flag will be included for each country. Russia is the final country on the list, and it is receiving its own tournament due to having so many administrative divisions. I hope everyone enjoys this tournament and is looking forward to the Regional Flag Wars! The Russian Federal Subject Flag Wars will begin this week.

Round 1:

1. Tver Oblast vs. Amur Oblast vs. Jewish Autonomous Oblast vs. Kamchatka Krai vs. Karelia

2. Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug vs. Bashkortostan vs. Tambov Oblast vs. Udmurtia vs. Kursk Oblast

3. Samara Oblast vs. Pskov Oblast vs. Adygea vs. Chukotka Autonomous Okrug vs. Khakassia

4. Khabarovsk Krai vs. Kalmykia vs. Altai Krai vs. Zabaykalsky Krai vs. Mordovia

5. Moscow Oblast vs. Dagestan vs. North Ossetia–Alania vs. St. Petersburg vs. Saratov Oblast

6. Primorsky Krai vs. Yaroslavl Oblast vs. Leningrad Oblast vs. Astrakhan Oblast vs. Komi Republic

7. Krasnoyarsk Krai vs. Irkutsk Oblast vs. Omsk Oblast vs. Lipetsk Oblast vs. Kabardino-Balkaria

8. Moscow vs. Ingushetia vs. Kostroma Oblast vs. Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug vs. Tomsk Oblast

9. Perm Krai vs. Orenburg Oblast vs. Stavropol Krai vs. Volgograd Oblast vs. Belgorod Oblast

10. Mari El vs. Kaliningrad Oblast vs. Sverdlovsk Oblast vs. Sakha vs. Arkhangelsk Oblast

11. Krasnodar Krai vs. Penza Oblast vs. Buryatia vs. Nizhny Novgorod Oblast vs. Kurgan Oblast

12. Chelyabinsk Oblast vs. Nenets Autonomous Okrug vs. Karachay-Cherkessia vs. Murmansk Oblast vs. Altai Republic

13. Novosibirsk Oblast vs. Tuva vs. Vologda Oblast vs. Smolensk Oblast vs. Novgorod Oblast

14. Tatarstan vs. Sakhalin Oblast vs. Ulyanovsk Oblast vs. Ryazan Oblast vs. Chechnya vs. Tyumen Oblast

15. Ivanovo Oblast vs. Chuvashia vs. Vladimir Oblast vs. Rostov Oblast vs. Magadan Oblast vs. Bryansk Oblast

16. Kaluga Oblast vs. Kemerovo Oblast vs. Oryol Oblast vs. Kirov Oblast vs. Voronezh Oblast vs. Tula Oblast

[gacougnol]

Masha Ivashintsova

Belozersk, Vologda Oblast, USSR, 1979

[maria-aegyptiaca]

Church of the Nativity in Krokhino, Vologda Oblast

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

 Danilovsky Maniac

Sometimes known as the Danilovsky Maniac or the Dull-Eyed Maniac, this mysterious individual was responsible for the murders of at least seven women between 2004 and 2007. He strangled his victims with makeshift garrotes and skilfully covered his tracks, effectively evading capture despite his high body count. The killer’s sadistic activities put the local area in a constant state of fear, to the point that local authorities offered a significant reward for anyone who could help catch the Maniac. On the walls of each of his crime scenes, the Maniac left behind crude pornographic drawings. In addition to this bizarre signature, the Maniac also disposed of every victim inside abandoned buildings or construction sites around the city of Cherepovets in Vologda Oblast. All the Maniac’s victims were women between the ages of 17 and 31, and they’d all been raped prior to their slaughter. Perhaps more creepily than his signature is that, according to reports, the Maniac abducted all his victims off busy streets in broad daylight, highlighting just how reckless, competent, and skilled this killer was at plying his grisly trade.

[sovietpostcards]

Vintage maps of regions of Russia. Size is given in cm.

Kalinin oblast 85 × 69 ($6)

Vologda oblast 101 × 60 ($8)

Vladimir oblast 80 × 60 ($6)

Arkhangelsk oblast 96 × 81 ($9)

Tula oblast 47 × 50 ($6)

Kaliningrad oblast 49 × 36 ($3)

Pskov oblast 59 × 75 ($7)

Shipping of Kaliningrad oblast map is $9, all other maps $14.

Message me! I’ll send more pictures of the maps’ condition.

[themousefromfantasyland]

The Creatures of Yuletide: Grandfather Frost, the Soviet Santa Claus

Grandfather Frost, or Ded Moroz, is a very peculiar character. Even with Soviet Union authorities looking down on Christmas traditions as pure bourgeois and religious propaganda, and initially looking down on him too for the same reasons, he rose in prominence as a symbol of the New Year festivities meant to replace Christmas and is to this day a symbol of Slavic holidays.

Grandfather Frost started his life as a snow demon in Slavic folklore, however, it's worth pointing out that before Christianity arrived the term had no negative connotations.

He was also called Morozko or Ded, and in this form, he appears in Russian Fairy Tales, a collection of tales collected by Alexander Afanasyev. In the story Morozko, or Father Frost, a little girl is abandoned by her wicked stepmother to die in the woods during the winter. Father Frost finds her there, and because the girl is polite and kind to him, he gives her a chest full of beautiful jewels and fine garments. When the greedy stepmother tries to do the same with her daughter in hopes the girl can get the same reward as her stepsister, Father Frost freezes her to death at the foot of the tree and carries her body back to her grief-stricken mother.

Some tales suggest he would kidnap children, and only return them when their parents provided him with gifts.

The character is from pre-Christian times, but under the Russian Orthodox Church, he was transformed.

By the end of the 19th century, Father Frost was a very popular character, appearing in operas and plays, but after the Soviet Revolution, by 1928, Soviet authorities declared Ded Moroz was "an ally of the priest and kulak",

On December 28, 1935, Pavel Postyshev, a Communist Party publicist and member of Joseph Stalin's inner circle, published a letter in Pravda, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in which he proposed to give Soviet children a return to “the atmosphere of fairytale and magic.” While the winter festival was rehabilitated, all religious references were removed. New Year's instead of Christmas became the main holiday, and Grandfather Frost became its symbol.

In 1998, the town of Veliky Ustyug in Vologda Oblast, Russia was declared the home of the Russian Ded Moroz by Yury Luzhkov, then Mayor of Moscow.

Now we need to talk about Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, his granddaughter, and helper. She's inspired by a tragic character in Slavic fairy tales from the 19th century, where a snow doll comes to life and wants to experience the human world, only to end up melting as consequence.

In the play The Snow Maiden by Alexander Ostrovsky, she is the daughter of Ded Moroz and Весна-Красна, Spring Beauty. She wants to leave her parents behind and live in the human world, and her parents allow her to live as a peasant, arranging an adoption by two peasant parents. There she grows to like a shepherd named Lel, but her heart is unable to know love. Her mother takes pity and gives her this ability, but as soon as she falls in love, her heart warms and she melts.

Later this tale was adapted into an opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

And here's a Russian stop-motion adaptation of the story I found online.

In the late Russian Empire, Snegurochka was part of the Christmas celebrations, in the form of figurines to decorate the fir trees and as a character in children's pieces. When the New Year's celebration was allowed in 1935, she was included.

Usually, former members of the URSS had their variations of Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden. After the Soviet Union Collapsed in the early 1990s, people returned to their old customs. Today, Ded Moroz is mostly celebrated in Russia, having gone out of fashion in other countries. Ukraine seems to have shifted from Ded Moroz back to St. Nicholas. There were rumors that Ded Moroz imagery was discouraged by the authorities due to conflict with Russia, but the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture refuted this

@natache @ariel-seagull-wings @thealmightyemprex

[postcard-from-the-past]

Church of Christ the Saviour on the banks of the Kokshenga river, Tarnogsky District, Vologda Oblast, Russia

Russian vintage postcard, illustrated by Ivan Bilibin

[kalevalaandothers]

Vepsian man Mikhail Kirikov with dog from village of Pelkasska (does not exist now), Vytegorsky District of Vologda Oblast, 1964. Photography by N. F. Omshev, from REM archive.

[ultrajaphunter]

Mi-8 helicopter "disappeared from the radar" in the marshes According to RuZZian media, a Mi-8 helicopter has disappeared from radar over Lake Onega in Karelia.

There were 3 people on board, and the search for the aircraft is ongoing.

The aircraft belongs to the RuZZian Emergencies Ministry and was flying from Petrozavodsk to Vytegra, Vologda Oblast.

[postcards-and-postcrossing]

Veliky Ustyug

Postcard from Russia. Veliky Ustyug is a town in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the northeast of the oblast at the confluence of the Sukhona and Yug Rivers. The stamp: Russia – 2013 History of the State Courier Service of Russia 1797

[flagwars]

Russian Federal Subject Flag Wars: Round 1, Bracket 13

[anewswire]

Alexei Navalny Net Worth, Biography, Age & More

  What is Alexei Navalny's Net Worth? Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is a lawyer and has a net worth of $500,000. Yet it should be emphasised that since Alexei Navalny has not made his financial information available to the public, it is challenging to precisely estimate his personal worth. Additionally, Navalny has been fined and had assets taken by the Russian government after it accused him of financial crimes. Alexei Navalny made it his life's work to combat corruption in Russia. His initiatives have included anti-government protests, mayoral and presidential campaigns, social media activity, and the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Foundation. Navalny has been arrested, poisoned, and imprisoned as a result of his activities, and he is now a political prisoner. Early Life and Education On June 4, 1976, Alexei Navalny was born in Butyn, then in the Russian Soviet Republic of the Soviet Union. His parents, Anatoly and Lyudmila, run a firm that makes baskets in Vologda Oblast. Navalny was raised in Obninsk and spent his summers in Ukraine with his grandmother. He attended the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia for his higher studies, earning a law degree there in 1998. Navalny then enrolled at the Financial University run by the Russian Federation's government, where he eventually earned his degree in 2001. Career Beginnings In 1998, Navalny started his law career. He has since served as legal counsel for numerous Russian businesses. When Navalny joined the Russian Unified Democratic Party Yabloko in 2000, he made his political debut. He was chosen for the Moscow branch of the Party's regional council a few years later, and two years after that, he was named the branch's chief of staff. Navalny founded the young people's movement DA! - Democratic Alternative in 2005. Later, in 2007, he helped co-found the National Russian Liberation Movement. Anti-Government Demonstrations Late in 2011, Navalny took part in the widespread demonstrations against election fraud in the most recent parliamentary elections. He was then taken into custody and given a 15-day jail term. Navalny asked Russians to get together in opposition to Putin's government after his release. Then, he assisted in organising a protest that drew roughly 50,000 people. Navalny assisted in organising another another protest in early 2012, following Putin's election. The opposition party's newly established People's Alliance was led by Navalny the next year. Moscow Mayoral Campaign In June of 2013, Navalny announced his candidacy for Moscow mayor. The next month, he was sentenced to five years in prison on embezzlement and fraud charges first issued in 2012. However, he was freed on bail and allowed to remain in the race. Navalny went on to mount a successful campaign marked by unprecedented fundraising activity. Despite his efforts, he lost the election to the incumbent Sergey Sobyanin. Presidential Campaign Late in 2016, Navalny declared his intention to run for president of Russia. Yet early the next year, he was once more accused of violating a five-year suspended sentence. Navalny persisted in his efforts, planning anti-corruption protests in all major cities around the nation. He was repeatedly arrested, imprisoned, and ultimately disqualified from standing for president as a result. Nonetheless, Navalny persisted in organising protests despite being repeatedly detained. Anti-Corruption Investigations Since 2010, Navalny has carried out independent investigations of Vladimir Putin's wealth as well as government and corporate wrongdoing in Russia. His research has been made public through the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a non-profit organisation he founded, as well as on his highly-liked YouTube channel and other social media platforms. Moreover, Navalny kept planning protests all throughout Russia. A gang connected to Navalny manoeuvred a boat in the Black Sea in January 2021 and released a drone over a $1.4 billion castle they assert was constructed for Vladimir Putin. Poisoning Navalny fell ill during a journey from Tomsk to Moscow in August of 2020. He was taken to the hospital in a catatonic state following the emergency landing of the aircraft. As soon as Navalny arrived in a German hospital, it was determined that he had been exposed to a nerve agent, and the Russian Federal Security Agency was later held accountable for the act. 2021 and 2022 Imprisonments Early in 2021, Navalny left for Russia once more. He was ordered to a corrective labour colony after being sentenced to jail the day after arriving for breaking his previous parole. His decision sparked enormous international criticism and large-scale demonstrations across Russia. Navalny was sentenced to an extra 10 to 15 years in jail in early 2022 on the basis of fresh fraud and contempt of court allegations. He was judged guilty after a mock trial, and a maximum security facility was assigned to him. Amnesty International views Navalny as a political prisoner. Honors and Awards Due to his political and activist efforts, Navalny has received a plethora of awards. Following his imprisonment in 2021, he received some of his most important honours, including the Sakharov Prize and the Knight of Freedom Award from the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. Moreover, Navalny was given the Geneva Conference for Human Rights and Democracy's Moral Courage Prize, which he presented to political prisoners. Personal Life With his wife, economist Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny has a daughter named Dasha and a son named Zakhar. Read the full article

[mostly-history]

Totma (Vologda Oblast, Russia).  The town is located on the left bank of the Sukhona River, where it meets the Pesya Denga.

July 26th is Russian America Day for Totma, and also for Fort Ross in California.  The two places celebrate the day by ringing bells together in the churches, with the even broadcast by a video link.  This is because Fort Ross was founded in 1812 by Totma native Ivan Kuskov, who led a sea voyage to the shores of western North America in 1808.  Since 1990, the house where Kuskov spent his last months has been part of a museum complex, where documents and artifacts relating to the exploration of California can be viewed.