Kegri Day

On November 8, third-year students of the Department of Baltic-Finnish Philology took part in an event dedicated to Kegri Day.

Kegri is an ancient Karelian holiday, celebrated on November 1–2, which marked the end of the old and the beginning of the new economic year.

It was a celebration of the harvest and the end of the grazing season. By this time, the summer cycle ended and the winter began, the period of women’s work began: processing flax and wool, spinning and knitting. The central character of this holiday was a certain deity Kegri.

Students got acquainted with the traditions and rituals of this holiday. The guys learned who Kegri was, why a ball of thread was placed on the windowsill on a holiday, what people dressed up for the Kegri holiday, why the mummers had to be well fed, what kind of food was on the festive table and why it was customary to remember the dead on this day.

As part of the event, students enjoyed taking part in a master class on making a Kegri mask.