Russian Basike Festival
01 · Historical Records
Paskha is the greatest feast of the Orthodox Church; its name comes from the Russian word for Easter, and it falls between late April and early May in the Gregorian calendar, celebrated for about a week. It was transmitted to the Ergun region along with the settlement there of descendants of Russian emigres: within the community, old and young first arrange the pre-festival furnishings centered on the icon shrine, whitewashing the rooms anew and re-decorating the icon shrine; then they bake pastries of every kind in batch after batch; and only at the end is a large cylindrical cake topped with letters piped in cream prepared, concluding the work of honoring God and receiving guests. This sequence of pre-festival steps shows that the center of the festival lies not in the meal of the day itself, but in settling the altar, the table, and relations with neighbors one item at a time.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The most solemn and lively festival of the year for the Russians in China is 'Easter,' called 'Paskha' in Russian. Its solemnity is no less than that of the Spring Festival among the Han Chinese. Before the festival arrives, people begin to be busy: interiors are whitewashed anew, and the area before the icon shrine is carefully arranged and decorated. Large quantities of pastries of different flavors and shapes are baked in advance. Among the pastries there is a large cylindrical cake called 'kulich' in Russian, with cream flowers in the letters 'XB' on top; this cake is a premier food for offering to God and for sharing between hosts and guests. Easter is a festival established by Orthodox Christians to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus. It generally falls in the period from late April to early May of the Gregorian calendar, and the celebration usually lasts a week. During Paskha, the Russian people fully display their love of life. Most of them can sing and dance well; with a simple button accordion they can play cheerful Russian folk dance tunes, and regardless of time, place, or age, whenever a few people gather they will happily dance several dances. Paskha is even more able to display the rich Russian ethnic style.
Decorating the icon corner before the feast
The house is whitewashed and the icon corner cleaned and re-dressed before anything else, and only then does the festival properly begin.
Offering cakes with lettered icing
Many cakes are baked in advance, and the cylindrical showpiece crowned with piped letters is offered to God, then shared between hosts and guests.
The week-long observance
The observance lasts about a week of visiting, singing and feasting; in the Russian community its weight equals that of the Chinese New Year.
Song and dance with the button accordion
A button accordion is all that is needed to strike up a lively tune, and any few people of any age will dance wherever they gather.
Transmission within the family
Language, dance, cookery and etiquette pass from generation to generation under one roof, then are taught outward in training classes.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
After the Russian emigres returned and settled in China, Easter in the Ergun region stood side by side with the festivals of neighboring ethnic groups, forming several layers of transmission: within the family, songs, dances, and culinary methods are passed down orally by the elder generations; at the village level, training classes and festival performances spread them outward; and at the individual level, inheritors such as Zhao Yuling, who knows her people's language and excels in song and dance, provide the impetus. In her early years she lived with her Russian emigre father and her Chinese-Russian descendant mother, learning the language, songs and dances, cuisine, and etiquette all together; she has since brought along more than a dozen apprentices, so that this imported festival custom has taken root locally.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zhao Yuling (per the official archive record of the associated inheritor): Female, Russian ethnicity, born in March 1943, a native of Ergun City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Living together with her father Ivan (a Russian emigre) and her mother Lina (a Chinese-Russian descendant), she absorbed the traditional culture of the Russian ethnicity through constant exposure, gradually mastering the Russian language, folk song-and-dance performance technique, food preparation, and customs and etiquette. In the course of social practice, she actively studied and exchanged with her fellow ethnics, broadening her horizons. She is a representative inheritor of the Russians' Paskha, a project in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. For many years she has carefully taught her children the Russian language, folk songs and dances, culinary preparation, and folk knowledge, training more than a dozen apprentices including Wang Dongxiang and Xin Liping. She has repeatedly taught Russian folk songs, dances, and folk knowledge at training classes on Russian traditional culture, widely publicizing Russian traditional culture in the Ergun region.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhaoyuling 05-3056
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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