Soviet Holiday Culture in the Province

Holiday culture of the first Soviet decade was an important component of the social construction of reality in the process of which a dialogue of power and people was carried out. The creation of Soviet holiday culture was a counter-movement: under the influence of the authorities the traditional popular holiday culture changed. But the ideal image of the revolutionary holiday which was constructed a priori by its ideologists was also subject to transformation under the pressure of firmly rooted cultural practices. Based on archival documents and published sources the monograph examines the formation of a new festive culture in the center and in the province the formation during the celebrations of the Soviet historical mythology and symbols their transmission to the mass consciousness and the collective memory of the inhabitants of Russia. These phenomena have been studied primarily on the example of a multinational and multiconfessional Central Volga region with a rich and complex history and an intertwining of cultural traditions. The study will be of interest to experts in the field of humanities as well as to readers interested in the history and culture of Russia.