Dehn Goroda – City Day – 29th May
One of the message which dropped into my mailbox last week was an Press Release from the Bishkek Meria, (the local, municipal, authority) about preparations for City Day – Dehn Goroda.
Dehn Goroda – City Day – is a traditional “holiday” in Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union.
The day is designed to instill interest and pride in the city amongst its inhabitants.
Each city will have it’s assigned day, which often celebrates the founding of the city, the date being fixed accordingly. It is usually held on a Sunday, however, events organized to commemorate the occasion may take place over an extended period and if the allocated day is a Sunday, then they will usually start on the previous day, (the Saturday), and will often conclude with a firework display.
There is usually a lot of preparation work in order to clean the city and make it presentable. Buildings will be decorated, street bunting and posters erected.
Events may include concerts, festivals and parades in which the city, (Mayor, etc.) will play a leading role, but the idea is to involve as many of the local citizens as possible, if not all of them.
This year, Dehn Goroda for Bishkek falls on April 29th – which happens to be a Thursday. However, it was decided that in the light of recent events, (The Easter Revolution of April 7th, when 85 people died and the President was overthrown and replaced by a provisional, interim government … and also other civil disturbances which also resulted in several deaths), that although the day would still be commemorated, there would be no “celebrations” as such .
the theme chosen for the day, reflects a Public Relations campaign that has been underway for some time: “We are for a pure and green city!“.
The Press Release went on to say that the authority had issued an “Order” to all rayon (local) administrations in the city and all organizations, regardless of their pattern of ownership, working in the city to carry out certain actions in order to commemorate the day.
There was a list of activities to be carried out by the local authorities, with expenses to be bet out of Public Funds, including:
- Cleaning of the roadways and open spaces;
- Painting, whitewashing of facades of buildings, cleaning of windows, updating and replacement of lanterns and advertising signboards;
- mowing lawns and grassed areas;
- Clearing of irrigational networks;
- Preparation of beds for planting of flowers;
- Planting of deciduous trees;
- Planting of a hedges and bushes;
- Whitewashing of trees, and cropping dead branches; ;
- Repair and painting of attractions, benches, displays in parks, squares, etc.;
- Clearing of channels of the rivers Alamedin, Ala Archa, and the Southern “BChK” – Grand Chui Canal;
- Garbage removal and many other things.
In particular greenery, including 500 saplings, were to be planted in one particular suburb,.
Heads of both state and commercial organisations and also private traders can also undertake additional forms of clearing and decoration of the city. All of the citizens were urged to actively support and participate in the actions to commemorate the day and its theme, and it was hoped to have some 3500 participants from 2000 enterprises in the clean up, (Subbotniki).
For the record:
Subbotnik and voskresnik are nouns taken from the words for Saturday, (subbota), and Sunday, (voskreseenye). They refer to the days of “volunteer” work in the former Soviet Union, when people would perform some acts of “community service”.
The first subbotnik was organized on April 12, 1919, at the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya railway depot of the Moscow-Kazan Railway by local bolsheviks.
The first “all-Russian” subbotnik was held on May 1, 1920, and even Lenin took part in removing building rubble in the Kremlin in Moscow. (This was recorded in a famous painting which was used on posters and in school texbooks, called Lenin at the First Subbotnik, and depicts him carrying a log.) Apparently, Lenin was particularly enthusiastic about the idea of subbotniks, regarding them as a source of free labour to undertake certain limited tasks, such as cleaning the streets of garbage, fixing public amenities, collecting recyclable material.
At first, participation in such activities was voluntary. Eventually “communist subbotniks” and “voskresniks” became obligatory political events in the Soviet Union, with annual “Lenin’s Subbotnik” being held on, or in, the week of Lenin’s birthday, 22nd April.
The idea of the subbotnik was promoted throughout the Eastern Block in the 1950s and the tradition still exists in Russia and other former Soviet Repuiblics, including Kyrgyzstan.
During the early Spring it is not uncommon to see groups of workers or school children, with plastic bags, clearing rubbish from pavements and open areas … some more entusiastically than others, it has to be admitted.
When I read the message, a few thoughts jumped immediately into my mind …
First of all I was reminded about my perplexity the first time I came across Dehn Goroda. I could understand the idea of celebrating the founding of a city … and I suppose it makes good sense in terms of tourism and public morale to have a special day dedicated to the city, it still seemed a strange idea to me. Now, of course, I am familiar with the idea, and take it in my stride.
In fact, I think it is probably a good idea, in that it helps to raise awareness, increase interest and helps to promote a sense of civic pride.
I appreciate that Dehn Goroday helps to concentrate the citizen’s mind on the city in which they live, if only for one day. On the other hand, however, because it is just one day, (or one weekend), in the year, I wonder how effective it is in encouraging civil pride throughout the rest of the year.
What I still find difficult, however, is the idea that the local authority can issue an order which basically instructs me to undertake voluntary work and pay for part of the “celebrations”. We already try to keep a clean and orderly territory, mow our lawns and prune our trees and bushes, and one of our staff sweeps the road outside our hotel in Bishkek. , but we do that because we want to do that … it makes a more pleasant environment in which to work or stay and, it’s good for our image. But, to be told that we have to do “extra”, at our expense, strikes me as odd and I am surprised that he even has the power and authority to do so. We are not talking about a matter of life and death, about health and safety, but about commemorating and celebrating the city.
Now, I can understand that the Mayor has the power and authority to instruct those who work for the municipality that they have to participate in these activities, but for others, like myself, it seems to me that the desire to do so should come from “within”, from the heart, I should want to participate and it not be the subject of compulsion.
The first time I got such an order, I thought that, perhaps, I was over reacting in this respect. especially as there seems to be a contradiction in the “order” in that all should participate, but only something like 3000 are expected to do so and he urges and asks everyone to participate. Perhaps, I thought, I had misunderstood the Russian. The original text uses the word “dolzhen”, which means “must”. This is quite a strong word and involves an obligation, for example: you must must stop at the traffic lights when they are “red” . It is sometimes, however, translated as “should”, which is less strong and involves an expectation or (strong) recommendation, for example: you should wash your hands before sitting down to eat a meal. So I asked my staff, and they told me that I was right … in this context, it is read as a case of “must”, not “should”.
I am told that its all to do with the “local mentality”. People expect to be told that they “must” do something, rather than they “should” do something . As one person explained it to me … “Ian, it’s not what the words actually say, but how they are understood when they are read.” He went on to say, “it’s a bit like the difference between the signs: “Prohibited”, “Strictly prohibited” and “Absolutely Prohibited”.”
Oh, and by the way, just in case you were wondering … yes, they do paint the trees here. When I first arrived here I was surprised to see that the lower part of the tree trunks were often painted white. Then, one day, I happened to see a soldier daubing a tree. It was outside the National Guards main base here in Bishkek, and some of his colleagues were daubing the kerbstones of the pavement. At the risk of being arrested as a spy for taking so much interest in “military activities”, I stopped and watched for a few minutes. I was amused because, although I could see a point to painting the kerbstones, I was fascinated about why they were “painting” the tree … I have heard of “painting the town red”, but “painting the trees white” was a new one on me. Wasn’t this taking the idea of decorating the town a bit too far? Anyway, I don’t think I had ever come across anything like it before – so I went home and asked some friends about it.
Apparently, so it was explained to me, the lower part of tree trunks are often whitewashed as a protection against insect pests
Bishkek