Living history

Dmytro Anufriiev from Kyiv dedicated eight years of his life to historical re-enactment. “When my team and I had to choose what historical period we want to work with, we picked the time of Kyivan Rus’ of the 13th century, because it was the closest to us,” said Dmytro. Together with Dmytro I stand in the camp of re-enactors that was assembled in the “Kyivan Rus’” Park last weekend. For three days the festival “Kyivan Rus’ of the 13th-14th Centuries” was taking place here. Twenty teams that participated in the event came from Ukraine and Russia. There were no representatives from Belarus.

According to Anufriiev, communication is very important in re-enactment. “Because it is the ‘living history,’ our vision of the events that took place in the past. This is our joy in the midst of the everyday life,” said the young man. For a moment it seemed to me that I was standing not next to a doctor, a veterinarian from Kyiv, but to a true warrior. One cannot imagine how difficult it was for our ancestors to walk in full armor, with a shield, sword, and ax stuck behind their belt. “Chain armor weighs 7 kilograms. However, the total weight of the armor is between 15-20 kilograms and sometimes reaches 30 kilograms.”

During the festival, participants are not allowed to use “modern” items – lighters or plastic bottles, for example. It seems that they willingly abandon it all and bring clay dishes along to cook meals following the old recipes. That’s what Pavlo and Aliona Yelysieievs were doing when I found them. “The most important thing for a re-enactor is authenticity,” said Aliona while slicing carrots. “How do you achieve it?” I asked looking at the pot of soup. “We do everything by hand and use the necessary materials,” answered the young girl, who works as a hairdresser in time free from historical re-enactment. Pavlo Yelysieiev is a blacksmith by profession. “I have lots of orders! I can’t even finish them all on time. Entire armor for one person (if it reflects the armor used in Europe in the 14th century) that is pretty strong and that can be used for fighting made of tempered steel will cost about 10-15 thousand hryvnias. Armor of a soldier from the time of the Kyivan Rus’ will cost a little cheaper,” said the master. The most expensive, according to Pavlo, is making armor from the 16th century, because it requires very complex manual work – there are many segments and plates that are responsible for “mobility of an armor.” Pavlo has been engaged in this business for five years already, but the most important thing is “the ability to work with both historical and visual materials, have an access to the works of historians and archeologists.” What concerns weapons, the most popular items now are falchions. One sword of such type costs between 500-800 US dollars. It all depends on the work, form of the blade and the handle.

Meanwhile, the program of the festival launched on the arena. First, the director of the “Kyivan Rus’” Park Volodymyr Yanchenko greeted the participants of the festival and then fights, target shooting, and horseback riding program for children began. After that, the audience was invited to look at the trebuchet – siege machine that was used in the Middle Ages to destroy walls. “We love to play one computer game and my son was interested to see how everything looked in real life,” said Kostiantyn Khustochka, marketer from Kyiv. “When we watched knights fighting it was so exciting, everything looks very real and you can feel positive energy. This may become an alternative to computer games. The youth of today seems helpless to me. However, if you don’t show anything to children, they won’t get interested in anything.” There were many foreign tourists among the guests of the festival. One of them – Hans Jorgen, engineer from Germany. Despite the gray hair and venerable age, he told with youthful vigor that he has never seen anything like this before. “I liked the costumes a lot, the medieval stylization, and reproduction of the atmosphere of that time. In Germany, knight festivals take place in castles, but they are organized in totally different way,” Mr. Jorgen shared his impressions.

According to Volodymyr Yanchenko, Ukrainians are just as good in historical re-enactment as Europeans. “And in many aspects, perhaps, they are even better. This applies to both clothing and small details, not to mention the architecture of the buildings. In this park there is a number of buildings that do not have equivalents in Europe. In the near future we will introduce Mykhailivski Gates – wooden defensive gates from 9th-13th centuries, into service. The materials for the gates were entirely cut down from trees with axes. The height of the gates is 21 meters,” said Yanchenko. Speaking about how Ukrainians can be “converted” to their history, he said: “We have to start loving ourselves from the point that is considered to be the beginning of the state. The most important characters are the Prince Volodymyr, Yaroslav the Wise, Princess Olha, Kyi… The more we will promote our heroes, revive the traditions, the better it will be. Kyiv is the point of gravity of the Eastern Europe universe. Therefore, we should build the policy and ideology of our state according to this.”