Taking snow town

First described by the ethnographer I. G. Gmelin .

"Town" was built on the river, or on the area of ​​the settlement (city, town, village, and so on). Usually the "town" consisted of two walls with gates between them. Walls of snow poured over with water. The gates could be double in the form of arches - one opposite the other, with upper crossbars. On the gates of snow set different figures: most often it was a rooster , a bottle and a glass . F. Zobin reported that before the storming of the town, "In the past, a literate peasant near this town read some tale about Maslyanitsa, a gluttonous creature who destroyed a lot of pancakes, butter and fish."

Men and young boys participated in the game. Participants were divided into two teams - besieged and besieged. They defended the gates on foot, attacked the horsemen. Take the "town" - meant to destroy it. The besieged defended themselves with branches, brooms, shovels covered the attackers with snow, showered snowballs . Horses frightened off with single shots from rifles. The game ended with the obligatory destruction of the town. The first who broke through the gate, was considered the winner. After the game, the winner was “washed” in the snow. The game often ended with fractures and other injuries, which was the reason for administrative prohibitions.

In some villages the order of the battle during the capture of the “town” was followed by the “mayor”, he also gave a sign to the beginning of the battle. In other places, a “king” smeared with soot, who read a speech (sometimes naked), drove up to the gate, at the end of which he signaled to the beginning of the capture of the town.

In a simplified version of the game, instead of building a snow fort, a vertical pole was installed, which was also called the “town”. A bottle of wine, a handkerchief, a rooster rooster or a piglet was tied to the top of the pillar. The post was smeared with pork fat. The winner had to climb to the top of the pillar, and withdraw the prize.

In the village of Ladey, Yeniseysk province, the game "Taking of the Snow Town" in the traditional form lasted until 1922 .

Nowadays, the storming of the snow town is a common Shrovetide fun , but it occurs in a more humane form than in the pre-revolutionary years. Today, the essence of the game lies in the fact that a snow fort is being built on Shrovetide. Participants of the game are divided into two teams. One team defends the snow town, the other - rushes to his assault. The game continues until the fortress is taken and completely destroyed. For more than 10 years, the traditional “Siberian Maslenitsa” has been held in a large scale in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the village of Sukhobuzimskoye , the birthplace of the artist Vasily Surikov. At one of the funniest and most ancient holidays, the guests try Shrovetide treats, buy souvenirs, participate in the youthful games: climb on the Poteshny pole and fight wall to wall , fight in fist fights and ride on the Russian troika . By tradition, the Cossacks of the Yenisei Cossack Military Society take part in the theatrical show “Taking of the Snow Town”. The culmination of the holiday is the burning of the stuffed winter and the big Siberian round dance .

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• Taking the snow town // Russian Museum of Ethnography