A Russian Christmas & New Year’s Cultural Celebration

FARIFIELD — A Russian Christmas and New Year’s Cultural Celebration featuring folk and religious music, Russian costumes, tea from Russian samovars along with babka, a cultural display of icons and other art exhibits including balalaikas and samovars, will be held on Sunday, January 11, from 1 to 4 pm, at Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

Several Connecticut Russian Orthodox churches, the Russian Laymen’s League of Connecticut and other cultural organizations are partnering with the Quick Center to sponsor the celebration, which is free and open to the public. A committee of individuals representing the various elements of Connecticut’s Russian community has been instrumental in arranging to make this a most memorable afternoon.

The celebration will take place a few days before the Russian New Year, which will be celebrated on January 14, based on the Julian calendar.

A highlight of this year’s celebration will be a display of Russian icons, or “pictorial representations of the Eastern Orthodox Faith.” The icons have been assembled for the event by the Eastern Church Historian Robert J. Klancko, a member of numerous Russian and Eastern Church religious and lay organizations. The event is being coordinated by The Quick Center for the Arts with Mr Klancko and Tatania McKoskey, whose family was connected to Czar Nicholas the Second’s administration.

The icon exhibit, which will include more than 60, will study examples of significant Russian icons.

Featured will be study copies of Our Lady of Kazan and our Lady of Vladimir, “two of the most classic and beloved icons of Holy Russian,” according to Mr Klancko. Also on display will be a print of Our Lady of Connecticut and the actual Our Lady of Storrs, along with icons of the Holy Trinity.

According to Mr Klancko, the last time such a display of Russian artifacts was mounted in Connecticut was in 1995 at the State Museum of Natural History in Storrs in honor of the visit of Mikhail Gorbachev to Connecticut.

The celebration is part of a season-long Russian Arts and Letters Festival at the Quick Center featuring more than 20 events celebrating Russian music, art, dance, film, literature and more. Continuing through April, the festival includes performances by Moscow Festival Ballet, Salzburg Marionettes, Amadeus Trio, and Yale University Russian Chorus, as well as a series of Russian theatre readings and film screenings.

“The array of events scheduled throughout the Russian festival will provide a forum to show the impact the Russian culture has had on the global stage — artistically, culturally, historically and politically,” said Deborah Sommers, the Quick Center’s director of programming. “The goal is to bring a higher level of understanding and global significance to these important contributions to culture. This holiday event is a significant partnership with the Connecticut Russian community.”

For more information, call the Quick Center box office at 203-254-4010 or toll free at 877-ARTS-396. The Quick Center is on Fairfield University’s campus; the school’s main entrance is on North Benson Road and signs are posted to the arts center.