- Статьи
- Culture
- Decorate the winter: top of the most impressive activities during the cold season of 2026
Decorate the winter: top of the most impressive activities during the cold season of 2026
Winter is in full swing, and ahead is a series of tedious frosty weeks. "Winter without sleds is not winter," says folk wisdom. And it's true: when the snow is swirling outside the window and the frost stings your cheeks, free time beckons to adventures and impressions. Everything is bustling with festivities and festivities, but how do you really choose something bright and unsuspected? And then Izvestia comes to the rescue: especially for our readers, we have painstakingly selected new or, in our opinion, the most interesting mass events of this real winter.
To Ryazan, but not for big-eyed mushrooms
In 2026, Ryazan has the honorary status of "New Year's Capital of Russia" — this is the second opportunity for the city to take over the baton as part of a federal project of the Ministry of Culture (previously Ryazan was the New Year's capital in 2019-2020). The status was transferred to Ryazan from Kirov. Receiving the title is especially significant in light of the recent 930th anniversary of the city: New Year's celebrations have become a bright ending note of the jubilee year.
Art object on Lybedsky Boulevard in Ryazan
The festive program will last until January 10, 2026, Senator from the region Igor Murog told Izvestia. The main venue is Lybedsky Boulevard in the historical center, divided into thematic zones: creative, commercial, artistic, bread, family, sports and others.
Guests will enjoy an ice rink, animation and photo zones, a fair, Santa Claus Mail, a bell ringing festival, sports competitions and a gastronomic festival "Cuisine of the Ryazan Region" with regional dishes. The symbols of the holiday are the girl Snezhanushka and matryoshka dolls in costumes of the districts of the region, as well as a "Crystal snowflake", stylized as traditional Kadoma embroidery.
Christmas Carols Festival
On January 7, 2026, the legendary Kulikovo Field in the Tula Region will host the Christmas Carols Festival for the first time, a warm family holiday dedicated to folk customs and winter fun.
As the organizers told Izvestia, this event "is being held for the first time — in a museum and on a new site," in the museum and memorial complex to the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo in the village of Monastyrshchino. Guests will be introduced to the "traditions of peasant and merchant Christmas, caroling and mummification rituals," street games and theatrical performances.
Special attention is paid to interactivity and entertainment for children. The program includes mock fishing, snow bowling, drawings in the snow, sleigh rides, tea drinking at the samovar and workshops on making festive toys. The Zababa Museum of Fairy Tales will present the performances "The Journey of the Buffoon Snowmen" and "At the Behest of the Pike", and the Moscow band "Beasts, Birds, Buffoons" together with the guests will play "bear fun" and drive a "goat".
A food court and cooking classes "Pancakes on stumps" and "Gingerbread painting" are provided for guests. "We are preparing the atmosphere of a village holiday, where guests will be able not just to watch, but to participate, sing, play and bask by the samovar," the press service of the Kulikovo Field State Museum-Reserve says.
The Bell Heart of Russia
From January 17 to January 19, 2026, the XXII festival of bell art "Crystal Bells" will be held in the ancient city of Kargopol, dedicated to the great Orthodox feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. This year is special for the city: "the festival will be the first anniversary event dedicated to the 880th anniversary of Kargopol," Ekaterina Avdonina, head of the department for the promotion of museum services at the Kargopol Museum, told Izvestia. The program will include bell concerts, ice sculptures and traditional bell ringers' workshops. The theme of the year is "The Tale of the Bell", combining music, art and northern winter inspiration.
According to the organizers, "this year Kargopol is waiting for 15 masters of bell ringing and 10 masters of ice sculpture," and the festival will be opened by the ice land art "Kargopol pattern. Winter". A special event is the evening concert in the Church of the Annunciation, where the sound of bells will fill the vaults of the ancient temple. Guests will have creative meetings with bell ringers, the opportunity to try to "go to the bell tower" themselves and take part in a musical ring with rare instruments — a colochord and a theremin. "It will be a real celebration of sound, light and northern winter," the organizers promise.
Kargopol is especially cozy and hospitable during the festival. Travelers are welcomed by guest houses and cafes with the soulful atmosphere of a wonderful provincial town. You can stay "at the Pesyakovs' guest house on the banks of the Onega River" or "at the Tsentralny House, where tea with basil is served." And when hungry, guests will find a warm welcome in the Alaska cafe on the embankment or in the family-run Shelkovna. As the hosts of the festival note, "the main thing is to keep warm, listen to the bells and feel how the northern heart of Russia sounds."
Maslenitsa "Archstoyaniya"
February 21, 2026 Nikola-Lenivets (Kaluga region) He will welcome spring again with a fiery performance called "Burning Heart". As Sasha Rubtsov, the press guide of the site, noted in an interview with Izvestia, "in Nikola-Lenivets, it is customary to greet spring with burning hearts. This is the only way to find a way out of the dark forest of winter into the world of spring renewal." Maslenitsa here is not just a folk festival, but a modern ritual of renewal, in which art, flame and man combine in a single act.
Every year, the celebration here turns into a "large-scale one-day performance with the burning of a monumental work of art." Viewers witness a creation born of fire, when "an art object comes to life in the process of burning, and then disappears forever." Gorenje According to the organizers, this is a "unique experience of touching a live act of art, where the flame becomes a full-fledged collaborator of the artist." In 2026, the heart will become the central image — a symbol of inner fire, love and strength, capable of "awakening a person and encouraging them to act for others," said Sasha Rubtsov.
The author of the Maslenitsa art object this year is the founder of the park, architect Nikolai Polisky. His sculpture "is a composition of 16 towers of different sizes up to 20 m high," which "symbolize trees — a dark forest, inside which there is a heart on an elongated pedestal, as if in Danko's hand raised to the sky." This image refers to the legend of a selfless hero, whose heart lights the way for people, and reminds them that to create is to burn in the name of light and others.
In the Nikola-Lenivets Art Park, houses and living spaces built during the Archstoyanie festivals are available for living - they are open all year round. The rent usually includes breakfast and an entrance ticket, and some houses themselves are art objects, such as a mezzanine house or an air duct house. Nature lovers can stay at tent campsites. It is convenient to have a snack and relax at the Ugra cafe, located next to the tent camp and open all year round: it serves breakfast, hot dishes, grilled food and vegetarian options. You can also visit the Farm Cafe next to the Mausoleum of Dreams, where pizza is prepared and coffee with pancakes is served.
Bogatyrskaya Maslenitsa
A month later, on February 22, Kulikovo Field will once again become the center of folk festivals. For the first time, the Bogatyr Maslenitsa, a celebration combining ancient customs, theatrical performances and traditional treats, will be held at the Equestrian Yard in the village of Monastyrshchino. As the organizers told Izvestia, "the event is being held for the first time on this site" and is designed for a family audience.
Guests will be greeted with "pancakes according to recipes of the housewives of Kulikov Field", sleigh rides, round dances, folk games and "a performance of the Petrushka Theater with scenes from the life of ordinary people". The day will end with the traditional burning of an effigy, a symbol of the departure of winter and the meeting of spring.
"We want the guests to feel like they are in an ancient village at Maslenitsa: with pancakes on stumps, laughter, Russian songs and the smell of bonfires," the museum notes. There will be food courts on the grounds, and nearby you can stay at the Kulikovo Pole recreation center, just a 10-minute walk from the stages and workshops. Guests of the holiday can relax in the guest houses of the ethnographic village of Mokhovoe, located right on the territory of the Kulikovo Pole Museum complex. There are five cozy houses here, each with its own history and the name of former residents of Mokhovoye. Russian Russian cuisine and "historical dinners of Russian, Horde and Genoese warriors", as well as fresh pastries and takeaway dishes, are served in the museum complex's cafe within a minute's walk.
Bakshevskaya Oil Mill – 2026
Last warm winter greatly soured the mood of fans of storming snow fortresses. However, this year everything will be different. By the way, the organizers themselves avoid calling themselves the official word — "event". "It's more like an action or just a national holiday," they told Izvestia. The event has been taking place for four decades in the Moscow region, and each time the location changes (the exact location is found out at the very last moment from the VK community).
Usually, the "action" develops in specially selected forest clearings. "Maslostroi" begins in autumn. New objects appear in the clearing inspired by their creators. Families come to the forest on weekends, build a snow town, rehearse Carnival dances, and learn to play folk games. By the way, anyone can take part in the construction of a traditional giant fortress and a number of interesting objects made of ice "building materials".
Bakshevskaya Maslenitsa (written strictly using the "I" in accordance with the old tradition) takes place on the last Sunday of Shrovetide week, on Forgiven Sunday. In fact, this is a kind of "end" of winter. In 2026, the holiday will fall on February 22.
According to the organizers, the toilets are forest toilets, food, drink, warm clothes, travel mats, suits — everything is with you. There is no trade in the clearing. Highways are not suitable for the place. You can heat or fry pancakes on mangalas, boil water in a pot. You should also take drinking water with you.
"Mummers meet the guests at the snow gate," the organizers of the national holiday told Izvestia. — Buffoons will traditionally require a fee for admission — a ditto, a song, a dance, a steering wheel... There is a snow town in the clearing.
Folk Carnival songs will be played all day (real ones, not the concert "cranberry"). The spring buffoonery march gathers participants at the "den".
— Everyone insistently "wakes up the bear" who is guarding the Carnival doll — a comic performance, — the creators of the action continue. — They dance around the dolls. The bear (unhappy that he has been woken up and is going to greet spring) kidnaps the doll and hides it on a snow fortress.
Next, the Spring Governor calls the "army of spring" to recapture the doll. And the storming of the snow fortress begins... Everyone is participating.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
