Traditional Veps festival ‘Elon pu’ held in Vidla

Under the symbolic tree erected in the village of Vidla (Vinnitsy) in Podporozhye district, Leningrad region on June 8, the regional Veps celebration ‘Elon pu’ 2024 took place. This year, it was dedicated to the friendship of peoples and bore the motto ‘Üks’meline kanz’ (Friendly folk). For the celebration, the holy symbol Elon pu (Tree of Life) is erected and all the cultural events of the celebration take place around it. This time, with the participation of more than 100 creative folklore groups – Veps, Izhorians (Ingrians), Votes, Karelians, Komi, Udmurts, Mari, Ingrian Finns and Russians.

The guests of honour were the Veps National Choir, a meritorious collective of the Republic of Karelia, and the Veps children’s folklore group Vesläžed, also from Karelia. The host and main organiser of the celebrations was the local Veps band Armas. There were also performances by Soikkolaiset, a folk dance group of the Kingissepp region’s Izhorian people, as well as by the Sudaruškad, a Veps ensemble from the Leningrad region, whose work is called the jewel of the Veps region. From St. Petersburg came the Udmurt ensemble Nevski Italmas, the ensemble of the Komi community Komi Song, and the vocal and dance ensemble Taivas of the Ingrian Finns of Leningrad Oblast.

Festival

Particularly enjoyable were the traditional elements of the Veps singing performances, which included Veps games with Veps riddles, a kind of kissing ritual and quirky jokes that engaged the audience. The winners were presented with souvenirs made of birch thistle and protective amulets – Veps balls.

Attendees were delighted by quilting and woven fabrics in various techniques. This year’s competition-exhibition was held under the slogan ‘Suomalaiž-ugrilaine henˈg’ (Finno-Ugric soul). More than 40 works were submitted to the competition, including both professional and amateur artists. The Veps Folklore Centre organised a sit-down dinner, where guests were treated to national pastries, and master classes in traditional Veps crafts – clay souvenir making, fabric dyeing. The lucky ones were especially lucky to fish in the Ojati River.

Elon pu and Veps

The first ‘Elon pu’ festival took place on 14 June 1987, organised by the Leningrad Oblast Department of Culture, following repeated appeals to the government by Veps activists. After the repressive measures taken against the Veps in the late 1930s – the abolition of national territorial autonomy, the abolition of the Veps school and the Veps script – the Veps and their language were almost completely excluded from public life in Leningrad and Vologda oblasts. The first ‘Elon pu’ in 1987 was an important chapter in the national revival of the Veps. Organised by the oblast authorities, the celebration of the Veps festival and the reintroduction of the Veps language after a hiatus of half century marked the official recognition of the Veps as a nation.

After the festival, a conference was held, which adopted a resolution proposing the formation of national organisations and the restoration of the written language of the Veps – it could be said that this laid the foundations for the formation of the Veps Cultural Association. In October 1988, an interdisciplinary conference was held in Petrozavodsk titled ‘The Veps: problems of economic and cultural development under perestroika’. At the meeting it was decided to establish the Veps Cultural Association under the Karelian Cultural Foundation.

In the 1926 census, there were 24,186 Veps living in Leningrad Oblast, 4,273 in 1989, 1,380 in 2010 and 951 in 2021. In 2021, the total number of Veps living in the Russian Federation was 4,534, of whom 24% considered Veps their mother tongue.