New Year tree of the Belgorod region: toys with riddles and cereal snowflakes
Cute dolls in folk costumes and huge snowflakes made of cereals and wood became the main elements of the decoration of the region’s New Year fir tree at VDNH.
The decoration of the spruce features original Old Oskol clay toys, a folk art craft that originated in the Belgorod region in the 15th century. The toy is unique in its semantics — it is painted with signs telling about the earth, water and the sun.
Toys were molded mainly by wives and children of potters. It was a trade that allowed them to earn extra money in their spare time or exchange toys for food. In those days a toy was worth one hen’s egg at the market, but if it was a "Cossack on a horse" toy, two eggs were given for it.
In the late 1920s — early 1930s pottery craft was almost lost, but thanks to the persistence of Moscow art historian and collector M. A. Nikitin in 1987, the Old Oskol toy of the Goncharov sisters appeared at the exposition "Folk Pottery of Russia". Now the toy is molded by more than a dozen craftsmen, usually students of hereditary masters.
On the Main Alley of VDNH visitors are greeted by New Year fir trees, each representing a region of the country. The RUSSIA EXPO is open from Tuesday to Sunday, Monday is a technical day. The most convenient time to visit is in the mornings and weekdays, but the exposition is open to everyone on weekends as well. All expositions and events are free of charge.
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