No harsh words were spared in this article in the Norwegian nrk.no to describe the Sam Syit Saami village near Lovozero in the center of the Kola Peninsula. The main thrust of the angry author is that the village is as far from being authentic as one can be, and represents “a nonsensical mix of rabbits, fleece clothing, and Indian totem poles”. It is in Norwegian but auto-translates into English quite coherently.
Noticed an article on Petrozavodsk politics in today’s issue of The Moscow Times. Turns out Petrozavodsk is one of the very few Russian cities where the mayor is NOT appointed by the ruling party United Russia but is freely elected. Now the city council is trying to out this elected mayor, with lots of dirt flying.
Yesterday took the ladies from workshop Bagryanitsa Kukisvumchorr to the festival, in the area of Kirovsk .
Here are some photos from the event:
PDF version of the collection of conference “Natural and cultural heritage of the White Sea: prospects of preservation and development” in Russian and English: collection_conference>>.
The conference was held in Chupa, Karelia, July 18-20 2014. Dates Conference in 2015 determined during this month.
The Sandarmokh forest massif near Medvezhyegorsk (12km from Medvezhyegorsk towards Vologda)is the biggest shooting range and burial ground in the Russian North-West. About 10 thousand are buried here: 3500 Karelians, 4500 White to Baltic sea canal workers, and 1000+ political prisoners from Solovki, all shot in 1937-1938, at the height of purges. Now it is a memorial cemetery.
Let the team behind the project introduce themselves:
“Around Barents” is a northern countries car journey to show the interesting people of the region.
..We want to tell about the people who live in the North, about the way they live, work, love and create something new, tell you about different people beginning with the craftsmen living in remote settlements to the managers of the major international projects. And, of course, in the framework of our journey we are going to show the beauty of the northern nature which is well-known all over the world.
The first part of our project is the Kola Peninsula. Within a month we are planning to visit various places of the Murmansk region and write about our journey in the blog on the website of the project, in social networks, as well as through our media partners.
There is a one of a kind “Museum of Things That Have Come Back to Life” in the Culture House of the village of Sofporog, Loukhi district, North Karelia.
Icons, furniture, spinning wheels, pre-war photos. Old mirrors still contain images of fashion-followers from before the last century. And a collection of Christmas tree decorations is still full of bubbling spark of the holidays. There is a special program for travellers. It includes an excursion, tea-drinking session with Karelian baking, and live performance of folk songs in Russian, Karelian, and Finnish languages, Karelian games and dances. 
Each years in the first Sunday of July there is a “Fisherman’s day” holiday held in Sofporog (the Village of Sofporog, Culture House, tel. 8(81439)37656, 37633, +7(921)461-2675).
A 16 minute documentary about the village of Sofporog from Sampo TV >>
From 17 to 19 July this year
Every year, about the middle of summer, a tent village pops up near the Chupa settlement. On the Medvezhka peninsula creative people, Russian and European musicians, get together. The format is rock, ethno, and several directions of electronic music. The event lasts for three days and three nights. The aim is the development and support of the northern culture. For the participants and visitors there will be a crafts fair, a field vegetarian kitchen, and a tea shack.
Some photos of the festival in 2013 from Julia Solntseva
Considering that “calls against territorial integrity of the Russian Federation” are or every soon be illegal the very presence of such a movement is noteworthy. See roman-i-darija.livejournal.com. In their recent public action the separatists issued Karelian passports and money, more >>
Jelle Brandt Corstius talks about the construction of the Belomor Canal in the ’30s. Dutch with English subtitles.
