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Paper short abstract

Folklorists believe in the village nature begins right outside the door. But for the villagers, things are quite different. Based on interviews and personal observations recorded in the Russian North, we will show where the village ends and nature begins—and how locals spend their time "in nature."

Paper long abstract

The material for our report was interviews and personal observations recorded in the Russian North. We are talking about the villages of the Vozhgorsky village сouncil, Leshukonsky district, Arkhangelsk region. Villages in this area are difficult to access. They are located along the banks of the Mezen and Pizhma rivers, surrounded by forest; it is difficult to reach them, especially in summer. Currently, the main occupations of the local residents are hunting, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms, and gardening. This means that villagers spend most of their time outdoors. However, in conversations with us, they often said that they like to spend a day off or relax “in nature.” We became interested in the practices of the local people staying “in nature,” that are not related, or not exclusively related, to seasonal agricultural work. As our materials show, rural outdoor recreation takes place either as a picnic, when locals, along with family or friends, go to a picturesque place (a “beach” on the riverbank, a special clearing in the forest or a hunting hut), or as a symbiosis of economic activities (for example, picking mushrooms or berries, hunting or fishing) and the emotional experience of being in nature (as a rule, our interlocutors talk about spiritual joy). At the same time, some outdoor recreation practices are gender-marked. For example, hunters are most often men. However, women can go to the hunting huts with their husbands, and this already turns out to be a joint marital vacation.