My Day at Fort Ross State Historic Park

Jan Huss

Reprinted with kind permission of the California Wheat Weavers Guild

And to think, it all started with straw work.

One of the people who attended our California Wheat Weavers Guild Convention in February was a gal named Sarah Gould who is the historical interpreter for Fort Ross on the northern California Coast.

I had met Sarah at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco late last year when a group of us representing the American Museum of Straw Arts demonstrated and/or talked about straw designs from various parts of the world as part of their anthropology program.  She and I hit it off and I suggested she come to our Convention in February to see the collection of straw work that another gal and I were going to be mounting for display.

While at our Convention, Sarah invited us to bring the straw collection to display at Fort Ross for one of their annual Russian cultural events held at the State Park.  We also talked about some make-it-take-it ideas for the volunteers to share with visitors.  After playing around with a few ideas, Sarah and I decided on two designs that would easily work and made a date when I would come up and teach the volunteers. Unfortunately, my friend was unable to go that weekend so the display would have to wait until a later date and I went on my own.

The day was March 11, the morning after it had snowed in San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge was shut down for hours.  Once past Sausalito, the sun did poke through the clouds and the 2 ½ drive from San Francisco to Fort Ross was a beautiful one!

Upon arriving I was met by Sarah and some of the fantastic volunteers at the State Park who proceeded to unload my car and carried trays and straw up to the second floor of the Kuskov House.  It was there that I would be conducting my class for the volunteers. 

At the appointed time, people began arriving and soon the makeshift classroom had approximately 12 students, ready and willing to learn.  To my surprise, half of the class were Russian visitors, dressed in old styled ethnic costumes and not volunteers with the Park at all!   

Picture this; there I am, teaching Russian straw designs to Russians!

Why were the Russian families in costume there?  It was for a Russian celebration called Maslenitsa. “Well, what is that?” asked the girl from Belmont. 

I was told that, as is the case with many holidays, the Maslenitsa celebration has a dual ancestry; pagan and Christian.

On the pagan side, Maslenitsa is a sun-festival -- the sun is shining longer and warmer each day, and winter is clearly on its way out--surely a cause for celebration!

On the Christian side, Maslenitsa marks the last week before the onset of Lent (the period of fasting which precedes Easter). Already, as a sort of warming up exercise, Orthodox Christians are abstaining from meat. Once Lent itself begins, a strictly kept fast excludes meat, fish, dairy products and eggs. Even vegetable oil is doled out sparingly.

 

Furthermore, a strictly kept Lent excludes parties, secular music, dancing and other distractions from the spiritual life. So Maslenitsa represents the last chance for a good fling with worldly delights -- another good cause for celebration!

An essential element of Maslenitsa is the bliny (or blini). These buttery pancakes are as round and golden as the sun, and are made from the rich foods still allowed before Lent begins--butter, eggs, and milk. Besides making and eating quantities of bliny, a Russian old-time Maslenitsa might include masquerades, snowball fights, sledding, swinging on swings and plenty of sleigh rides -- the sleighs tracing a semi-circular path across the snow, like the sun's path across the sky.

 

Work would come to a halt, as people threw themselves into partying, visiting, eating and drinking. In some regions of Russia, each day of the week of the  Maslenitsa celebration had its special activity: one day for sleigh-riding, another for sons-in-law to visit mothers-in-law, another day for godparents and godchildren to visit each other. On Friday the young people might take a gaily- dressed straw effigy of "Lady Maslenitsa" to the sledding hill for a day of sliding, and on Saturday all would escort her through the village streets with songs and drinking, "to make the flax grow tall".

Fire provides the final glorious moment at the end of the Sun Festival. On Sunday evening, Lady Maslenitsa is paraded to the edge of the village, stripped of her finery, and consigned to the flames of a bonfire. Any bliny, which have escaped thus far, are also thrown on the fire, for once Lady Maslenitsa is reduced to ashes, and the ashes buried in the snow, Lent has begun.

So now I knew.  It was time for class.

The class went on wonderfully; even the most skeptical “Americans” were surprised by their results.  All with varying results achieved the elements of the design.  To prove the point that each person’s “project” was terrific, I had all the students take their straw piece into an adjoining sleeping room and place their work on a bed.  I asked them to survey the pieces and tell me which one was “wrong”.  They could not.  Point made.  They were all “right”!

At the end of the class, the Russian ladies and gents went back down to a main building close to the entrance to the Fort. There they tended to pots of food that had been cooking over firewood most of the day.  Sarah invited me to join her down at the building, but first some cannons were to be fired.  I was invited to fire one of the cannons (!) and after seeing the preparation and teamwork involved in safely firing a cannon, I lit the wick.  It was really loud and quite a thrill.  But then it began rain and hail and I hurried to my car to grab my jacket, and returned to the main building, the Official’s Barracks (for the Company’s Officials or visiting Officials from trade ships) to join the others.

The interior of the rectangular, narrow building is that of a house with a dining area, fireplace, cooking area and sleeping areas.  The building was buzzing with activity and I realized I had entered another world; a Russian world of song, dance, community, customs and foods.   The hail was now pelting down on the roof and two of them women locked arms and went out the front door and began loudly singing in harmony to the sky.  “Why?” I asked.  “They are singing a song to drive the rain away”.  Moments later, the rain and hail did stop.  Quite satisfied with their accomplishment, the women returned and the celebration of Maslenitsa officially began.  Singing and dancing commenced which I was included in, and then, it was time to eat.   

A wonderful spread of food appeared, including a mushroom and barley soup that had been on the fire cooking all day and, of course, baskets of bliny with sour cream and jams and meats and cheeses to accompany the “little suns”.

The festivities went well into the night and when I retired to the Kuskov House, the families were in still in celebration. 

As I crawled onto my cot and covered myself with horsehair and woolen blankets for the night I felt it had been quite a privilege to be part of their celebration, to have met so many of the Park’s wonderful volunteers and knowing I would look forward to other events at the Fort.   

And to think, it all started with straw work.