"The House is Rich in Children": Childhood in the Culture of the Peoples of Russia"

The unique inter-museum exhibition project is dedicated to the world of childhood - a special period in the life of every person. Folk pedagogy contained centuries-old experience of previous generations and was formed on the basis of economic activity, as well as the peculiarities of the ethnos' worldview. However, many aspects of upbringing in different nations were universal. 

The period of infancy, associated with the appearance of a new member of society, was filled with the concerns of elders about its physical and mental health. The cradle, hygiene products, feeding devices, and the baby's first clothes were comfortable and practical. 

At each stage of growing up, the child was assigned special toys. At the earliest age, these were rattles, noisy pendants, which often served as amulets. For kids of 2-5 years old they made wolves, balls, ratchets - those objects that contributed to the development of basic motor skills of the child. From about 4-6 years of age, boys and girls received special toys corresponding to their belonging to the male or female community. Ethnic peculiarities were reflected in various materials, forms, and ways of making objects.  

From an early age, the child was actively included in the circle of household activities of the family or clan collective. The example of parents was the basis for the formation of diligence and necessary skills in work, understanding of the interrelation of surrounding things, awareness of the main human values.

The exhibition presents about 250 authentic ethnographic monuments of the XIX-XXI centuries, used in the culture of different peoples of Russia and neighboring countries, as well as historical photographs. Cradles, utensils, amulets, toys, children's clothes reveal to the viewer the subject world of a child at early age stages.

Exhibitions of the traveling project "Home is Rich in Children: Childhood in the Culture of the Peoples of Russia", initiated by the Russian Ethnographic Museum, will be held at the venues of the N.I. Grodekov Khabarovsk Krai Museum (Khabarovsk), which was a partner of the project, the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts (Komsomolsk-on-Amur). N.I. Grodekov Khabarovsk Krai Museum (Khabarovsk), which was a partner of the project, the Museum of Fine Arts (Komsomolsk-on-Amur), the N.K. Boshnyak District Museum of Local Lore (Sovetskaya Gavan).

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