The photo "A Holiday in the Rural Culture House" (1989 г.)
In this photo we can observe a holiday in the Culture House in Ostrovo village. November 7th is the day of the October Revolution. This day was considered “the red day of the calendar” in the Soviet Union, it was a day off, and mass demonstrations were held throughout the country with slogans, posters in the morning, and in the afternoon or in the evening festive concerts were held in the houses of culture. The event that we can see in the photo is organized in the format of “The Blue Light” (it was a very popular TV show at that time, when guests were sitting at the tables, talking, and singing numbers were performed during the breaks in communication).
In the upper left corner of the photo we can notice the Honor Board (it’s an indispensable attribute of the Culture House). On the Honor Board were photos of lead workers. A group of 10 people is sitting around the desk that has been turned into a dining table. We can observe that the participants in the event were not too worried about serving and decorating the table, everything was simple and without any frills. There is no tablecloth on the table; the treat consists of several dishes in simple enameled bowls and in flat plates.
Bread lies on the table. In front of the participants of the event there are ten-gram glasses, and each participant brought these glasses himself. So there are faceted glasses on the table, but there is also a crystal glass with carvings. There are also a great number of glass bottles; it seems that these are bottles of lemonade, as they have metal caps. There are three bottles under the table as well. One of the bottles is obviously empty and it’s also from lemonade.
And the other two bottles are corked (probably, these are bottles of wine). It seems that the participants in the event do not advertise too much that they have alcohol, because they hid it under the table. They didn’t know that these bottles will fall into the frame. There are handbags under the table as well.
People are sitting in simple chairs. There is little room for such a large company at the table, but obviously they deliberately moved aside to take photos. On the left there is a musician with a button accordion. It can be seen that this is a cheerful man, the soul of the company, because he is smiling. Among those people who are sitting at the table, Rushteiko Leonida Stanislavovna (my great-grandmother) is the fourth one on the right. She is 65 years old in the picture. Despite her age, she is distinguished by her appearance among all women: her lips are tinted with a very fashionable and scarce mother-of-pearl lipstick with gloss, her hair is beautifully styled. She is dressed in an elegant costume in a classic style and a flirty colorful blouse. The length of the skirt is below the knee, with fishnet tights on the legs - a very expensive and scarce thing for those times. Among those people, my grandmother looks almost like a Frenchwoman, because she is bright, elegant, stylish and beautiful. She always looked after herself. That’s why she was a good-looking and fashionable woman. She sang not only in the amateur performances in The Culture House, but also in the Catholic Church.
In the upper right corner, two switches are visible, and the wall near them is wiped and scruffy. The simplicity of the atmosphere and the modesty of the table do not affect the mood of the people captured in the photo. At that time, everyone wasn’t rich. The faces of the participants in the event show pleasure, happiness, a festive mood, and a good attitude towards each other. And the main point is not that a revolutionary holiday is being celebrated here, but people are glad that they have come together, that they have the opportunity to relax in a special spiritual atmosphere.