«Erzyan Lismapryа» ("Erzya Spring") — an interregional festival of Mordva national culture held since 2011 in Lukoyanovskiy District: usually on the last Saturday of July, in a meadow by the Kelmelismaleyen Lismapryа spring near the selo of Novosyolki, where an Erzya Ethnopark has grown up.[1][2] In 2026 the festival was held for the sixteenth time — on 18 July, now in Lukoyanov itself, at the venue of the Center for Cultural Development.[3][4] The founders of the celebration were Nikolay Anoshkin and Tatyana Fedoseyeva.[5]
How it is organized
The festival's founders are the Ministry of Culture of Nizhny Novgorod Region and the Regional Administration for Cultural and Educational Projects; local organizers are the district administration, the culture department, the district house of culture, and the public organization "Local National and Cultural Autonomy of the Mordva of Lukoyanovskiy District 'Lismapryа'" headed by Marina Golodova.[2][3]
The day's program has long been established: the raising of flags and the anthem, welcoming of guests, a re-enactment of the ancient Ozks ritual — a prayer ceremony during which ancestors are remembered and well-being for the people is sought — a communal round dance around the burial mound (maar), a gala concert, a crafts exhibition and fair, master classes, traditional games, and a large spread of Mordva cuisine.[2][6][7]
The festival is hosted year after year by Galina Aleksandrova and Yuri Volodin, while the Ozks ceremony is conducted by the chairman of the council of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples, Mikhail Bezayev.[6][7]
Year by year
The first festival, in 2011, began with the ceremony of symbolically laying the foundation of a kurgan maar, which subsequently became the site of all ritual reconstructions; that same year, visitors were treated to a masterclass in playing a reed flute, and the oldest amateur performer from the selo of Ivantsevo, Lidiya Stepanovna Eryamkina, gave a vocal performance.[5] The following year, the ethnopark was officially opened at the festival.ethnopark.[5]
At the third festival, the ensemble "Lamzur" from Mordovia performed a wedding ceremony dating back many centuries. In 2014, twenty-three ensembles took part in the gala concert — more than three hundred people from various regions — and for the first time a competition of park sculpture carvers, "The Traditions of Our Ancestors in Wood Carving — Into Modern Life," was held.[5]
The tenth festival, a jubilee edition, fell in 2020 and, owing to the epidemiological situation, was held online on 26 July.[5][8] The thirteenth, on 29 July 2023, brought together more than fifteen hundred people and 21 ensembles from Nizhny Novgorod Region, Mordovia, and Chuvashia.[7] The fourteenth was held on 20 July 2024, the fifteenth on 19 July 2025, and both took place at the familiar site near Novosyolki.[6][9]
The sixteenth festival, on 18 July 2026, was held in the city for the first time — at the Lukoyanov Center for Cultural Development, in the Year of the Unity of the Peoples of Russia. Fourteen ensembles and soloists from Bolshoe Boldino, Gagino, Shatki, Pervomaysk, Arzamas, and Lukoyanov itself performed in the gala concert, and guests came from Nizhny Novgorod Region, Mordovia, and Saratov Region.[3][4]
| Year | Number | Notable Events |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | I | laying of the kurgan-maar, reed flute |
| 2012 | II | official opening of the ethno-park |
| 2013 | III | wedding ritual performed by "Lamzuri" from Mordovia |
| 2014 | IV | 23 ensembles, first competition of park sculpture carvers |
| 2015 | V | children's craftsmen's town from Podlesnaya Tavla, monument to Purgaz |
| 2016 | VI | memorial to modern heroes of the ethnic group, monument to Stepan Erza |
| 2017 | VII | monument "Nightingales of Russia" |
| 2018 | VIII | first okroshka competition among settlements of the district |
| 2019 | IX | sculptural composition "12 Months" |
| 2020 | X | anniversary edition, held remotely on July 26 |
| 2023 | XIII | more than 1,500 guests, 21 ensembles, new figures of Vedyava and Viryava |
| 2024 | XIV | July 20, guests from Mordovia and Penza Region |
| 2025 | XV | July 19, the Ozks ritual and okroshka competition |
| 2026 | XVI | July 18, for the first time in Lukoyanov, at the Center for Cultural Development |
The Table
The festival kitchen is run by the hostesses of the district's rural administrations, and the table is no mere decoration — it is a program in its own right. Over the years, guests have been fed yam meat soup, millet porridge with clarified butter from the oven, alzhakshket flatbreads, panzhakai and potmopryaka pies, vatushkas of every kind — the celebrated potato vatushka is given pride of place — lightly salted cucumbers, roasted eggs, omelette, and giblet porridge from the oven.[5][6][7]
Among drinks: homemade kvass, chapamo lovso (a fermented milk drink reminiscent of ryazhenka), and herbal teas with thyme, mint, lemon balm, and blackcurrant leaf.[5] On hot summer days, okroshka is served: since 2018 a competition for the best okroshka has been held among the district's settlements.[5][6]
The yam meat broth is cooked right at the festival, in cauldrons over an open fire, and anyone may try it.[6] For more on this cuisine, see the article Erzya Cuisine.[5]
Welcome, dear guests! Shumbachi, vechkeviks yalgat!
Who Comes
Regular participants include ensembles from the Lukoyanov villages: the Ivantsevskoye "Rodniki," the Atingeyevo "Nezhnost," the Pichingush "Erzyanochka," the Shandrovskoye "Umarina" and "Istoki," where elderly village women sing ancient ritual songs — laureates of the Governor's prize "Soul of Russia."[5] Performers also come from across the Volga Region — from Mordovia, Chuvashia, and Penza, Ulyanovsk, and Saratov Regions.[3][6][7]
Larina — chairwoman of the executive committee of the inter-regional public organization of the Mordva people, head of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of Erzya Ethnocultural Heritage, and editor-in-chief of the newspaper Erzyan Mastor — attends the festival every year.[4][7] Among the festival's friends is also Tatyana Abramova, chairwoman of the Moksha-Erzya society of Estonia "Syatko".[5]
The costumes of the participants at the festival attract no less attention than the songs themselves: every element and ornament carries meaning, as discussed in the article about the Erzya costume.[4] A distinctive feature of recent years has been the knitted dolls — "Mordovochki" in national dress — made by Lukoyanov craftswoman Natalya Derzhavina, which visitors order directly at the exhibition.[4]
Thank you for the celebration — wonderful organization, very hospitable people, we are delighted and will come back next year
Sources
- autotravel-nn.ru — Erzya ethnopark in Lukoyanovskiy District: an open-air museum-ethnopark (archive)
- komanda-k.ru — Mari Forest Walkers — Erzyan Mastor Ethnopark, January 27, 2019 (archive)
- lukgazeta.ru — "Lukoyanovskaya Pravda" — The XVI Interregional Festival of Mordva Culture "Erzyan Lismapryа" to be held in Nizhny Novgorod Region, July 2026
- lukgazeta.ru — "Lukoyanovskaya Pravda" — Tatyana Katkova. "Erzyan Lismapryа": a wellspring of folk traditions, July 2026
- lukgazeta.ru — "Lukoyanovskaya Pravda" — Larisa Steshina. Ten eventful years: the history of the "Erzyan Lismapryа" festival, July 2020 (archive)
- lukgazeta.ru — "Lukoyanovskaya Pravda" — Shumbrat, festival! XV Interregional Festival "Erzyan Lismapryа", July 19, 2025
- lukgazeta.ru — "Lukoyanovskaya Pravda" — Larisa Steshina. "Lismapryа" gathers friends again: the XIII festival, July 29, 2023
- lukgazeta.ru — "Lukoyanovskaya Pravda" — The "Erzyan Lismapryа" festival to be held online, July 2020 (archive)
- lukgazeta.ru — "Lukoyanovskaya Pravda" — A new gathering at the wellspring: the XIV "Erzyan Lismapryа" festival, July 20, 2024