HARVEST DAY" IN THE SOVIET COUNTRYSIDE OF 1920-S.: MOTIVES OF CREATION AND THE ORDER OF CELEBRATING (ON THE MATERIALS OF THE DON, KUBAN, STAVROPOL)

Abstract

The article highlights the process of Sovietization of festive culture in a Russian village in the times of prekolkhoz villages, when the New Economic Policy (NEP) was being implemented. The author used as an example the most important holiday — “The Harvest Day”, which had a profound cultural and historical background and stemmed from pagan times traditions. The article describes the peculiarities of the ceremonial rituals introduced by the Soviet power and emphasizes the politicization of such festive events. The author discloses the revolutionary peasants’ degree of recognition of the holidays and states that urban workers took part of such holidays in villages. The article analyses the purposefulness of Bolshevik’s tactics to involve peasants into the Soviet orbit by organizing exhibitions, fairs and contests. However, the author considers the villagers’ conservative to impede the process of Sovietization of peasant festivals in 1920-s.