Ecomuseum of the family dynasty of Yuliy and Galina Seledkin

The love for the museum and family traditions was instilled by parents in a large family through rural labor. Instead of a kindergarten, there was a school museum, a spacious school yard, where spreading trees grew around, and snow-white flower beds with asters stood. There were apple trees, acacia, vegetables, and strawberries in the school garden. The love of a beautiful and rich history was remembered for a lifetime.

At every stage of my life and by the will of fate, museum affairs have always accompanied me. I wrote the faculty chronicle at the university, in the labor collective I had to organize excursions, and help volunteers create museums. Then, I was working as the local lore museum director in Sovetsliy village named after E.M. Ivanov. Over 12 years, there have been many expeditions, conferences, work of local history clubs, meetings with creative people, opportunities to work with children, and lessons at the museum. There have been interesting visitors and new creative finds, and I always lacked colleagues in the area of the small eco-museum that the visitor requested, because financial condition did not allow development. We bought a garden with the money given to us for the wedding, and there we planted apple trees in honor of the birth of a son and a daughter. Then, these seedlings were transferred closer to the house. Then, the children each planted an apple tree as newlyweds at their weddings at home, during the ceremony. When the grandchildren were born, the trees were planted again. This tradition is now in our family, passed down from generation to generation. I tried to bring flower cultures from sightseeing trips. Lack of finances forced to go to the ends of the earth – Dixon – it was a real journey into the Arctic, into the space of the polar nights. There I had to work in the northernmost art gallery and get acquainted with the peoples of the north. Upon arriving home, being on a well-deserved rest, I gradually realized my dream. The passers-by said: “how beautiful, what a moose”, etc. The administration commission awarded a diploma as The Best Homestead.

Description of the activity: the preservation of family traditions, customs, family tree, the roots of the Mari people, the continuity of the working generation. Keeping animals and getting environmentally friendly food is also one of the pages of our parents’ lives. Thanks to them, we live and continue their work. Our house is, as they say, a Little Drop of Russia. A museum is a living organism that preserves memory and keeps pace with the times, the memory of generations, cultural and moral values, customs and rituals, and labor skills!