On 11 May 2024, in the museum “Bolgar tea party”, the head of the department “Museum Street” of Bolgar Museum-Reserve Sagirova G. Yu. held an interactive event “Museum sit-round gathering” on customs and traditions of the Tatar people for the pupils of grades 8-11 of Polyanskaya school.
Tatar folk traditions delight with the feeling of gratitude and reverence of people to nature, to the customs of ancestors, to each other. Unfortunately, today, due to many reasons, part of the spiritual heritage and items of material folk culture have been lost. But the absolute majority of national rituals, traditional family and folk festivals have survived to the present day. In Tatar villages, the tradition of helping – ome – is popular.
We called our program “Museum sit-round gathering”. The spindle played the role of an amulet from evil forces, was a useful family object, which was passed down the female line from mother to daughter. It was used to “cleanse” the house from evil spirits, heal and make clothes.
In XIX-XX centuries, there was a veneration of the spindle. After shearing sheep, women would gather in the largest house for a spindle feast. Wool was brought there from all over the village. Having processed it, they started spinning thread with the help of spindles. In order that the collective monotonous labor was not tiresome, it was accompanied by singing, stories, ditties, riddles and dances. Rural collective work gave birth to a whole folklore tradition.
During the event, the participants were demonstrated on ancient instruments all the stages of making homemade woolen thread. They learnt how to clean wool, use a spindle, wind up yarn spun by their hands and even knit.
Nineteen people attended the event.

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