“This is the place where I grew up, spent all my childhood, this is the place of my strength, with which I have an indissoluble connection. Now I come here when I want to take a break from the city, to stay in peace and quiet” – this began our dialogue with Ekaterina, a resident of the village of Pichuga, Volgograd region. This is the place where I spent a few days last summer without Internet and far from civilization.
Katya said that the village was founded in the 18th century and the first inhabitants of Pichuga (previously it was called Krasnoglinovka) were Volga Cossacks, who participated in the early Pugachev uprising. Pichuzhinskaya village was the largest in the times of the Astrakhan Cossack Army.
Now the revival of the Cossacks in this village has become relevant. At the moment, there are 12 Cossacks in the village. They even have their own Cossack rally. All those who wanted to become Cossacks became them. When we were talking about the Cossacks, Katya told me: “Uncle Andrew sat-sat, and decided to become a Cossack. To revive the Cossacks in our village. To resurrect the old tradition. Appointed him ataman (this is the leader of the Cossacks, the older of them). And after that, the volunteers joined the Cossacks, even began to wear national costumes.”
It is a pity that I personally did not manage to get acquainted with the Cossacks and their ataman. But it will be an excuse to come back here again.
You can get to Pichuga by bus, which runs from Volgograd to the village according to the schedule. But, in winter, it happens that snow falls a lot during the night and in the morning it is impossible to go anywhere. The population is about 1000 people and everyone here knows each other. Here it is customary to greet everyone, these are the traditions. Especially these rules are honored by the older generation. But, like many people in the Soviet Union, they have a negative attitude to photography. That’s why they didn’t want me to take their picture. I think it has to do with our mentality that the Soviet people have always suspected that something was wrong, if you want to take a picture.
There are also concerts on big holidays, where the locals themselves perform with different numbers. Who can do what, he shows it.
