There are many abandoned villages in Russia. Our story is about the villages of the Kostroma region, which were deserted mainly in the mid-seventies of the last century. There are still settlements among them where 2-3 families remained, and after all, just some 20 years ago, life in these parts trembled more vividly.
But old age does not spare even the village. And once they used to say: "Ah, Kostroma, your comfort is tender: green - in summer, in winter - snowy…"
Kostroma-town of Moscow - a corner
So says the old proverb. Because it was built by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky together with Moscow. The distance from the capital to Kostroma is 302 kilometers. Perhaps this proximity played a cruel joke on the local settlements: people from the villages moved in search of a better life, first to Kostroma, and then it was within easy reach of the capital.
Driving along broken roads leading to the most remote corners of the Kostroma region, you can’t believe that in these abandoned villagesonce life flourished, unhurried, measured, with its own traditions and rituals.
For example, in mid-June in these places it was customary to say goodbye to spring. The rite was called the "Funeral of Kostroma", like seeing off winter on Maslenitsa. An effigy of Kostroma was made, ceremonial calls were sung, songs: "Kostromushka played out, danced … Suddenly Kostroma fell: Kostroma died …"
The old "blind" mirror with a damaged amalgam (pictured below) no longer sees the guests of the empty house, although it welcomes them as before.
Abandoned villages of the Kostroma region
Abandoned villages in Buysky district:
Big repair, Kharlamovo, Limonovo, Krutikovo, Quiet, Derevenitsino, Korovnovo, Khoroshevo.
From Rosstat information:
the village of Khoroshevo is located in the Buisky district of the Kostroma region. The tax office number (UFMS) in the village of Khoroshevo is 4437, the postal code is 157065, the KLADR code is 4400300020600.
There are numbers, even the tax office is there, but there are no people.
And here are the abandoned villages of the Kostroma region of the Soligalichsky district according to statistics:
Akulovo, Borodavitsino, Gorbovo, Ignatovo, Klepikovo, Kolopatino, Kolosovo, Levashovo, Mityanino, Noskovo, Pershino, Petrovo, Ploskovo, Pochinok, Spitsino, Terentyevo, Khoroshevo, Shunino, Yuksino, Yagodino, Yaitsovo, Yakovlevo; village Baza Zhilino.
So many of them, no one knows what the guilty ones, with empty eye sockets of windows,walls that have grown into the ground, but stubbornly waiting for the return of the owners.
About faiths and prayers
Speaking of the abandoned villages of the Kostroma region, it is impossible not to touch on the topic of former beliefs and rituals. The fact is that once in the Kostroma region there were many Old Believer villages that differed not only in a different religious and cultural, but also in their everyday way of life. Churches were built here, farms and life were distinguished by a fortress based on communal life.
There were several groups of believers in these places: Orthodox and Old Believers. So, in the village of Ovintsy, Kostroma Region, a village was formed from a skete during the period of the split. There was a prayer house here.
And, for example, in the center of the village of Vederki there was an Old Believer community of Cherepnin, and also with its prayer house. Her life was supported by a merchant from St. Petersburg.
You can see in the photo the abandoned village of the Kostroma region Falileevo with its environs.
In the village of Kunikovo, Kostroma region, in the center of the village there was a brick Old Believer church, and an Orthodox one in the settlement. And, for example, the well-known philanthropist Tretyakov and his family came to the village of Zharki to pray.
Birthdays were not celebrated, but on the day of the Angel, the mother said the following words to her son:
Dear son, Happy Angel Day.
Your angel is crowned with gold, And you - good he alth and happiness.
Unhappystatistics
The demographic situation in the region remains alarming. So, for example, according to statistical services for the period from 2008 to 2014, more than two hundred different settlements received the status of abandoned villages in the Kostroma region.
Antropovsky (the central district of the region), Soligalichsky, Susaninsky, Mezhevsky, Vokhomsky districts (in the northwest) suffer the greatest losses.
The population decline can be attributed to natural factors: a decrease in the number of marriages, a low birth rate, and natural mortality. Although in some areas there is still a slight increase in population. The maximum increase was noted in the village of Nazherovo, Kostroma region - twice; in Igolkino, Nerekhta district, from 131 to 173 people.
What will bring people back to their homes is unknown. This means that we will find out what new people will come to the abandoned villages of the Kostroma region only with time.
Unfortunately, the time has passed when one village, which collected record harvests of bread, could dictate the prices of the London Stock Exchange. Deserted villages are now more attractive to tourists and antique hunters. How can one not recall the poems of G. Zavolokin, which have become a folk song:
Let's remember the past, How the whole village walked!
I'll break my hat again, I don't cry, I love!
In recent years, new rich people have appeared who are drawn to the villages. These are entrepreneurs - they buy out the lands of entire villages, call them their homeland, trying to revive them in a new way. For example, to create a route in the style"ecotourism". Then in the villages conditions are created for the opportunity not only to admire the beauties of nature, but also to live in real village houses instead of hotels and beaches. A traveler or a guest of the village receives a master class on making something worthwhile with their own hands: bread, kvass, pies, clay toys, bast shoes. It seems that a lot of entertainment can be invented…
But how I would like to wish the Russian village a real, full-blooded, bright and joyful life; prosperity and freedom. After all, the village is the root of the state structure.
