Ludics are an ethnolinguistic group of Karelians, living in the Kondopoga, Prionezhye and Olonets Districts of the republic. During their first field trip, the participants visited communities in the Kondopoga District.
The ethnology team consisted of Yulia Litvin, Alexey Konkka, and Sergey Minvaleev, who specializes in the study of Ludic Karelian traditional culture. He mentioned that during the trip to Vlg. Gallezero, the scientists managed to employ the method of involved observation.
Sergey Minvaleev, Researcher of Ethnology Section ILLH KarRC RAS
– We observed the origin of the Gallozero village holiday: locals celebrated its 100th anniversary. The village is in fact much older – several centuries old, and its patronal festival was St. George’s Day. At the beginning of the 20th century however, a major fire occurred, ruining much of the settlement. In 1925, many houses were rebuilt, so this year is considered the baseline for the new holiday. The date was aligned with our arrival, too, – shared Sergey Minvaleev.
Traditionally, the first point on the celebration agenda was visiting the old cemetery, commemorating the ancestors, and laying flowers on graves.
During the expedition, scientists managed to visit the place where the house of Stepan Godarev (St’opan Hodariine in Ludic, 1884–1962), one of the main informants for prominent Finnish scholar Pertti Virtaranta, who compiled the “Ludic Texts” volume, used to stand. Sergey Minvaleev told the participants of the festival about the contribution their fellow villager made to the science of ethnography.
– I have been to Pertti Virtaranta’s personal archives in Helsinki and saw the drafts of “Ludic Texts”, sketches written about Gallezero. Some copies were with me on this trip, such as the plan view of the village and the house of Stepan Godarev. There are no structures in this place nowadays, just fireweed growing. Locals however still remember that the Godarevs used to live there, – said Sergey Minvaleev.
The scientist praised the locals’ initiative to celebrate the village day: “The origin of this festival has been video- and photo-recorded within the project, which is good for both future researchers and for local people. We hope this will become an established tradition, celebrated every year”.
Senior Researcher of Ethnology Section ILLH KarRC RAS Yulia Litvin together with students and volunteers visited the Village of Tivdiia. “Since one of the project tasks is popularization, this trip was very useful for students, especially considering two of them are learning Balto-Finnic languages. It was their first practical training in interviewing, where they learned about the different approaches to respondents, the topics and mandatory questions, and actually took part in the conversations. One of the students, a native speaker of Livvi Karelian, talked to a woman speaking Ludic Karelian, and they perfectly understood each other”, – noted Yulia Litvin.
Project participants welcomed in a home in Tivdiia. Photo: «Ludic Karelians: History, Culture, Traditions»
The next point on the expedition itinerary was the Village of Belaya Gora and the “White Mount, Tivdiia Marble” Park, where the participants were welcomed by its directors Ilya and Galina Shvetsov.
The culture of Ludic Karelians cannot be studied separately from the historical context, especially because they predominantly lived in the countryside, in the peasant environment. The wellbeing of peasants in Karelia is the research focus for Alexander Krivonozhenko, Researcher of History Section ILLH KarRC RAS.
– Villages still contain plenty of evidence of the peasant history. Even the very layout of Gallezero is typical of the Karelian village – the arrangement of houses is not orderly. Here and there in the village one can see piles of stones formed as peasants were clearing areas for arable land. Importantly, people in the village remember their history, including its tragic turns. This is an important factor of both personal and collective identity, – the historian remarked.
The scientist related the story of agricultural infrastructure while standing where a peasant watermill used to operate in Palaya Lamba locality. The settlement is long abandoned, but when implementing the project «The watermill – a symbol of the Karelian countryside» in 2024, scientists discovered and explored well-preserved remains of a watermill. They vividly demonstrate how thoroughly designed and sophisticated our ancestor’s break-making process was.
Debris of a mill dam in Palaya Lamba locality. Photo by Alexander Krivonozhenko / KarRC RAS
The project «Ludic Karelians: History, Culture, Traditions» is supported by a grant from the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs (Leader – Alyona Milgevich, Specialist of the Social Innovations Center, My Business Centre in Republic of Karelia). Two more expeditions to areas with Ludic Karelian population in the Olonets and Pryazha Districts are forthcoming. One of the outputs will be a series of short films about Ludic Karelian material and spiritual culture.
