The literary and ethnographic festival “Kruzhilinsky Toloki”

The literary and ethnographic festival “Kruzhilinsky Toloki” is held annually in the Kruzhilinsky farmstead, in the small homeland of the great Russian writer Mikhail Sholokhov.

The holiday is the winner of the Grand Prix of the National Award in the field of event tourism “Russian Event Awards” in the category “Best event for the popularization of folk traditions and crafts.” It is included in the National Calendar of Events as part of a new comprehensive strategy for promoting the Russian tourism product “Time to Relax in Russia.”

“Toloki” is when any work is done “by the whole world”, the good old custom of helping neighbors with their work. It is no coincidence that the emblem of the holiday depicts Cossack grain farmers plowing the land and a sheaf of wheat as a symbol of peaceful labor, unity, cohesion. In the friendly, cheerful, hospitable Kruzhilin, everyone gets the opportunity not only to see “living illustrations” of Sholokhov’s works, but also to take part in a unique, one-of-a-kind, reconstruction of peaceful life, immersed in the atmosphere of an ancient Cossack farm.

Guests of the holiday become active participants in ancient Cossack rituals and master land use techniques and crafts traditional for the last century. Those who wish can try themselves in the role of a plowman. Sowing by hand, reaping with a sickle and a steam mower, threshing with flails, cleaning grain on a screen, grinding it into flour on a millstone - these works will help you learn more about the life of an ordinary Cossack family of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

At the master classes, folk craftsmen will share the secrets of carpentry and pottery, wicker weaving, wood carving, teach how to cover a roof with reeds, weave wattle, knit fishing nets, weave ropes on a meadow, and paint wooden spoons and plates. Cossack craftswomen will show you how to churn butter with a hand churn, spin on an old spinning wheel, crochet and knit, bake pancakes, make dumplings, and brew herbal tea.

During the holiday, you can take a tour of the house where M.A. Sholokhov was born and the estate, hear ancient folk songs, ride horses in a carriage and on horseback, taste Cossack cuisine, buy souvenirs, take photographs as a souvenir, see and learn a lot interesting and useful.The artistic ethnographic performance based on the works by M.A. Sholokhov will transfer the viewers to the beginning of the XX century. They will learn how a conscript was equipped for military service and seen off to defend his native land, will visit a field Cossack camp as described in the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don” by M.A. Sholokhov, will see episodes of the great novel, will hear Cossack songs performed by the folklore groups.

This is an outdoor holiday, so you should have comfortable footwear and a hat on.