A family picture

On September 11-14 Moscow will welcome the International festival of dynasties "Faith, Hope, Love". Irina Bogacheva, President of "Revival and Hope"Foundation and Festival Director, told VK that “the festival is organized every four years and unites families from different nationalities. Our geographical coverage also became much broader, which is also very inspiring, there are families from the North Caucasus, CIS countries, all different cultures that attach special meaning to the words "family", "family traditions", "family culture", "national culture". This year there will be 33 different family delegations in the festival from Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Chechnya. From Chechnya we have even two delegations - one dynasty and one young family. Azerbaijan will be represented by the Nabiyev family. The most interesting will be a family from Tajikistan that will reunite in Moscow, they will bring together all their family members from the different corners of our country. They are also very grateful to one Ukrainian family and together with it they will sing a song in the Ukrainian and Tajik languages. This will be a special performance. Arshalui, a famous singer, will represent the Armenian delegation. He will sing the wonderful mountain music. We will discuss a very important topic - family traditions and family culture. I am very glad that Caucasian and Muslim families are so well-represented.”

According to Bogacheva, the festival has 11 competition programs. These programs allow to show the whole creative, economic, sporting or intellectual potential of the family. “We have a competition of the best social project of a small family business and the best regional project to give them the possibility of a better start, so that local authorities noticed them and realized that they can serve as an example for the better development of the region. The delegations represent several countries – Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, China, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Tajikistan, and in Russia from Moscow, Kalmykia, Buryatia, the regions of Penza, Nizhny Novgorod, Amur, Yaroslavl, Arkhangelsk, Tyumen, Irkutsk, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya and Ingushetia.

We have a wonderful competition “Songs of my Grandma” that allows the generations to unite. It is no secret that we sometimes do not pay enough attention to our old relatives, because time goes so fast now. But it turns out that our grandmas have their own world, with their traditions and culture that is now in demand, so our families sing the favourite songs of their grandmas. Creative workshops – families make fantastic things! The main competition is “Genealogical Tree”. I am very envious of the families that bring here their trees that go deep to the historical roots of Russia.

Boris Grachevky, President of the Festival, says that “there is nothing more important than family. Family is the main basis. Large families are even more important and more needed. Therefore we need to take our hats off to large families. People who were brave enough to have many children in today’s world, in our country that is constantly losing its population, and nobody can do anything with this Everything that we invented for this festival is connected to our deep respect to the large families from all our countries and even from abroad. When we see the eyes of these parents and these children, we understand that they will remember it for their entire life.”

Alexandr Zhukov, Deputy Head of the Russian Government, explained that “this festival realizes a wonderful idea that allows us to bring together families from different ends of our country who tell their stories, sharing their rich spiritual life. It is very good that this festival gives an example to the young families in our country, showing how wonderful and intense the life of every Russian family can be.”

Yulia Grimalskaya, Head of Moscow Department for Family and Youth policy, added: “We look for the projects that are useful for our families and require support, because it is easier to do it with some help and support and understanding of certain state tasks, because now NGOs have become the realizers of the state family policy. Only through social action and associations that unite our families and allow them to keep floating in our difficult economic situation, through these foundations we can realize our family policy.”

Oleg Kozhikov, HR Department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry: “The aims of this international festival are close to the aims of our Ministry and include the strengthening of the family in Russia and respect for national cultural traditions, family dynasties, social and cultural adaptation of disabled children and orphans. I can say the Russian Emergencies Ministry works with 285 orphanages that are home to 25,000 children. As for the festival, we have supported it for several years already; make special movable kitchens, while our creative groups participate in the concerts. This year the creative collective of the Academy of the Fire-fighting Service will participate there with a special dancing performance.”

Dmitry Dunayev, Honoured Artist of Russia: “Very often children do not understand their parents and parents do not understand their children. And often when children have any problems they go not to their parents but to their older friends to tell them something important. I noticed that large families have this tradition, probably because they support each other and understand that the older ones are responsible for the younger. These families stick together for their whole life. When there are many children, they have a mutual exchange of information and emotions. Let there be more large families – it will make our Russia more stable.”

Rushan Abbyasov, Mufti Council of Russia, noted: “Even the name starts with the name “faith”. This is a basis for every family. We, the Mufti Council, follow these principles in our activity. It is very important that families have many children and are spiritually and culturally rich. It is no secret that Muslim families have many children. Maybe it is easier for Muslim families in this respect. We once went to an orphanage and talked to its director who said that she is very envious of us. She meant the strong family traditions of Muslims. We have something to be proud of but still something to aspire to.”

Anastasia Kudrina, Press-secretary of the Main Rabbi of Russia: “The relevance of this festival raises no doubts, because family problems are among the most important for the state. There is a tendency of losing our spiritual and ethical traditions, and the role of the family is decisive in fighting the negative consequences of this. A family is a union of people united by love, mutual respect and help. If a child is raised by his parents and not by the street, he has good future, if not then there is a high chance that you cannot expect anything good. If families are in trouble, one cannot expect a healthy society. I would like to stress how important it is to have many children in the family. In large families children get used to love, understanding, respect for their elders, and this experience is a good ticket to the future. The revival of traditional family values and the happiness of society depends on our firmness and persistence.”