First, what is a Dacha?
The word “дача” translated into
English means “summer house”.
While it is true that Russians often visit their dachas in the
summertime, I find the English translation is misleading. Dachas are generally small houses in
the countryside on a small plot of land where Russians grow vegetables, fruits,
herbs and sometimes keep small animals. However, my friend Polina has a very
unique dacha. Some might even call
it a dacha village since there are a about 5 houses.
I arrived to the
dacha around midnight Friday night but the white nights made it feel like it
was only 7 or 8pm. Once we arrived
we set out stuff down in the main house and immediately were told to go to the
bonfire. Friday was summer
solstice and in Russia there are quite a few traditions that must be done. First, jumping over the fire. While a couple people played the drums
everyone took turns jumping over the fire. I sat this one out since I had no confidence I could actually
jump high enough and make it out alive.
Second, girls make верноки which are flower weaths you wear on your
head. After silently making a wish
each girl is to place her wreath and a small candle in the river. Then (still in silence) you watch the
wreaths float down the river (or sink). The last wreath that sinks the closest
to where they were originally placed is the first girl to get married. So, if your wreath floats the farthest
away you are the last to get married.
Most dachas also have a banya. Бани are
kind of like saunas but a dry heat.
There are different levels benches are placed at and the higher up you
go the hotter it gets. You stay in
the banya for as long as you can take then rinse off with cold water before
going back in. Also, for who knows
what reason you hit yourself with dried birch branches. The banya is loved by most all Russians
and is a common practice when celebrating something. According to the Russians I “banya-ed” well for an American.
The next started
off with blini (similar to crepes) and tea. It may be over 30 degrees C but you can never have enough
tea. The blini were also very good since the ingredients were all very
fresh. After some breakfast we
headed out for a swim. The widest
part of the river was a little farther than where we went the night before so
we drove instead of walking. I
have no idea how Russians drive their day-to-day cars on these country roads
but they did. Swimming in the
river was so refreshing and I probably could have stayed in the water all day
(if nothing else to avoid the mosquitoes). I ended up going swimming twice that day and I think all the
Russians were surprised how long I could stay in the water.
After some
tanning, resting and pizza eating it was time to go “fishing”. I don’t know about you but when someone
tells me we are going fishing I picture hold a pole and waiting for a fish to
bite. WRONG. Dacha fishing means guys holding nets
held between two poles and everyone else running downstream towards the nets
whacking the water with wooden poles.
If this is also a new concept to you, the idea is to scare/wake up the
fish and lead them into the nets.
We caught one big fish and the rest they identified as мелочь (the Russian word for coins/change) aka
tiny, useless fish. After hours of
fishing and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes I was exhausted.
Despite my
exhaustion the night was just beginning.
Polina’s birthday was Sunday so Saturday was the birthday feast and
party. Earlier in the day we cut
up vegetable, potatoes and meat.
Then we cooked all the ingredients on a grill covered in cabbage
leaves. The dinner consisted of
about 6 different Russian salads, the meat vegetable combo, wine, and 30 hungry
teenagers. It didn’t take long for
all the food to disappear. After
the feast we took turns sweating in the banya. While we sweated Polina’s mother and babushka cut and set
out all the pirogi (Russian pie) they spent all day preparing. There were two kinds of pie; творог (a special Russian sweet cheese) and berry. Both were delicious. At around 3 or 4 in the morning (I have
a hard time keeping track of time in the summer nights here) I could no longer
stand I was so tired. All the Russians
kept telling me I had to stay awake in order to go swimming but I insisted they
at least let me take a quick nap.
Lets just say my nap turned into sleep since I didn’t wake up until
about 9 only to find people were still awake from the previous night. Some of us just need our sleep what can
I say.
Nothing all to
exciting happened on Sunday, mostly sleeping and relaxing. Myself and another girl were the last
to leave so we enjoyed teatime with Polina and her family in the evening before
taking a walk to the old church.
The abandoned church was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in
Russia. All the green surrounding
the church made the red brick look like wet clay in the light. I’m afraid my pictures don’t quite do
it justice. Our ride (Polina’s
aunt and uncle) picked us up from the church since we were cutting it close to
making it back to Piter before the metro closed. I was sure I wasn’t going to make the metro since it took us
around 3 hours to get there on Friday and it was was already 10:30. Going 120 mph and almost throwing up in
the nicest car I have ever been in I made it back before the metro closed (I
have no idea how).
My first
experience at a dacha was a great one but I must admit I was exhausted! Not to
mention I came home with more bug bites than I think anyone has ever seen.
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