Architectural forms from bales of straw. How a cow ate a castle: life and death of straw sculptures in the fields. from copen - haystack. "
Every year, before the Dozhinki, unusual straw compositions appear on the fields in Belarus. The idea is not new: straw figures can be found in Germany, Poland, and even Japan. Belarusian agro-creativity pleases motorists. Many cannot drive past, stop cars and take pictures with straw people, cows, roosters and tractors in the background. Let's be honest, we couldn't resist either.
Straw figures of a man and a woman in national costumes near the village of Ilyanskie khutory in the Vileika district of the Minsk region.
As a rule, straw figures reach a height of several meters and can be seen from afar. The subject of compositions is usually devoted to agriculture... You can find cows, roosters, and combines with tractors. However, on the roads of the Myadel and Vileika districts, there are also national motives in straw art. Imagine a couple of giant Belarusians in national costumes in the middle of a field. However, why present, if our photo essay clearly demonstrates this.
A perky straw shepherd with cows near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel district, Minsk region.
A cheerful straw caterpillar near the village of Sosenka, Vileika district, Minsk region.
The princess and the castle near the village of Pashkovshchina, Myadel district, Minsk region.
Castles are also a favorite theme of rural designers. A couple of bales of straw, windows and a roof made of cardboard - consider that the castle is ready.
A rooster and a hen near the village of Starinki, Vileika district, Minsk region.
Composition with a tractor in Myadel, Minsk region.
What combine in the field can be without a combine? Another figure in Myadel, Minsk region.
A colorful bear near the village of Lukovets, Vileika district, Minsk region.
When you see such compositions, you regretfully think that they are short-lived and will sooner or later disappear from the field. Until the cold came and the long rains began, there is still time to capture yourself against the background, for example, of such a giant bear.
Composition near the village of Shelkovshchina, Myadel District, Minsk Region.
Hares near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel District, Minsk Region.
Composition near the agricultural town of Svatki, Myadel district, Minsk region.
A married couple made of straw on the way from Vileika to Minsk.
Every year, before the Dozhinki, unusual straw compositions appear on the fields in Belarus. The idea is not new: straw figures can be found in Germany, Poland, and even Japan. Belarusian agro-creativity pleases motorists. Many cannot drive past, stop cars and take pictures with straw people, cows, roosters and tractors in the background. Let's be honest, we couldn't resist either.
Straw figures of a man and a woman in national costumes near the village of Ilyanskie khutory in the Vileika district of the Minsk region.
As a rule, straw figures reach a height of several meters and can be seen from afar. Compositions are usually devoted to agriculture. You can meet cows, roosters, and combines with tractors. However, on the roads of the Myadel and Vileika districts, there are also national motives in straw art. Imagine a couple of giant Belarusians in national costumes in the middle of a field. However, why present, if our photo essay clearly demonstrates this.
A perky straw shepherd with cows near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel district, Minsk region. 
A cheerful straw caterpillar near the village of Sosenka, Vileika district, Minsk region. 
The princess and the castle near the village of Pashkovshchina, Myadel district, Minsk region. Castles are also a favorite theme of rural designers. A couple of bales of straw, windows and a roof made of cardboard - consider that the castle is ready.
A rooster and a hen near the village of Starinki, Vileika district, Minsk region. 
Composition with a tractor in Myadel, Minsk region. 
What combine in the field can be without a combine? Another figure in Myadel, Minsk region. 
A colorful bear near the village of Lukovets, Vileika district, Minsk region. When you see such compositions, you regretfully think that they are short-lived and will sooner or later disappear from the field. Until the cold came and the long rains began, there is still time to capture yourself against the background, for example, of such a giant bear.
Composition near the village of Shelkovshchina, Myadel district, Minsk region. 
Hares near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel District, Minsk Region. 
Composition near the agricultural town of Svatki, Myadel District, Minsk Region. 
A married couple made of straw on the road from Vileika to Minsk. 
Castle in the Minsk region. If you, like us, are not indifferent to agricultural creativity, then send photos of this year's straw figures with a note where they are located, and an indication of the authorship of the photo by e-mail [email protected] We will definitely do one more photo collection.
Every year, before the Dozhinki, unusual straw compositions appear on the fields in Belarus. The idea is not new: straw figures can be found in Germany, and in Poland, and even in Japan. Belarusian agro-creativity pleases motorists.
Many cannot drive past, stop cars and take pictures with straw people, cows, roosters and tractors in the background. Let's be honest, we couldn't resist either.
Straw figures of a man and a woman in national costumes near the village of Ilyanskie khutory in the Vileika district of the Minsk region.
As a rule, straw figures reach a height of several meters and can be seen from afar. Compositions are usually devoted to agriculture. You can meet cows, roosters, and combines with tractors. However, on the roads of the Myadel and Vileika districts, there are also national motives in straw art. Imagine a couple of giant Belarusians in national costumes in the middle of a field. However, why present, if our photo essay clearly demonstrates this.
A perky straw shepherd with cows near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel district, Minsk region. 
A cheerful straw caterpillar near the village of Sosenka, Vileika district, Minsk region. 
The princess and the castle near the village of Pashkovshchina, Myadel district, Minsk region. Castles are also a favorite theme of rural designers. A couple of bales of straw, windows and a roof made of cardboard - consider that the castle is ready.
A rooster and a hen near the village of Starinki, Vileika district, Minsk region. 
Composition with a tractor in Myadel, Minsk region. 
What combine in the field can be without a combine? Another figure in Myadel, Minsk region. 
A colorful bear near the village of Lukovets, Vileika district, Minsk region. When you see such compositions, you regretfully think that they are short-lived and will sooner or later disappear from the field. Until the cold came and the long rains began, there is still time to capture yourself against the background, for example, of such a giant bear.
Composition near the village of Shelkovshchina, Myadel District, Minsk Region. 
Hares near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel District, Minsk Region. 
Composition near the agricultural town of Svatki, Myadel district, Minsk region. 
A married couple made of straw on the way from Vileika to Minsk. 
Castle in the Minsk region. If you, like us, are not indifferent to agricultural creativity, then send photos of this year's straw figures with a note where they are located and an indication of the authorship of the photo by e-mail [email protected] We will definitely do one more photo collection.
"A sheaf of straws,
by a sheaf - a dump,
from copen - haystack. "
In the everyday life of a rural worker, nothing was wasted, and only from straw, a unique natural material, what they just did not make: bast shoes, dishes, utensils, and even hats made of straw are known among all peoples who grow cereals.
For a long time, in different parts of the world, there were customs to make human figures out of straw.
and animals.
Such figures were often used in folk rituals and holidays.
The ancient Slavs celebrated the end of the harvest by installing a female figure of the Mother of Bread on the field,
made from the latest compressed sheaves.
On Maslenitsa, an ancient Slavic pagan celebration of the meeting New Year,
which began on the day of the vernal equinox, a straw effigy of Winter was burned at the stake.
Small straw dolls were considered the talisman of the house,
reliable keepers of the hearth.
Even now, the straw does not leave indifferent human imagination.
IN different countries celebrate happy holidays with contests for making funny straw figures.
In the south of England, at the end of summer, there is a straw bear festival.
For the holiday, men dress up in straw costumes
and, dancing, walk the streets, begging people for alms.
In the Czech Republic, "straw" celebrations are called "Slamak",
they are held in the Czech city of Cesky Rai.
There are statues in the vicinity of the city,
sculptures,
made of straw
and for children, a funny maze is made from large bales of straw.
Every year, the Latvian city of Salaspils hosts a straw figure festival.
Funny straw animals
fairy tale characters
and cartoon characters
are waiting for guests in the National Botanical Garden
salaspils city (Latvia)
from February to April.
The organizers of each event want to amaze their guests,
will be remembered for something unusual and hitherto unseen.
And this is not easy to achieve.
And 56-year-old British farmer Chris Sadler, from Cheshire, UK,
the owner of a local ice cream company has even created a kind of tradition. Every year he creates a giant sculpture from bales of straw.
Chris and his wife Cheryl have been creating monumental straw statues since 1998.
For fun, Chris Sadler built an obscure sculpture for the upcoming millennium, piling 350 bales of hay. The result was a hemisphere with a diameter of 100 and a height of 15 meters. Beams sticking out in all directions from this hemisphere in different directions. Even the author himself found it difficult to say what the Millennium Dome personifies (as everyone called him).
The one meter (36 feet) meerkat monument cheers up a huge number of people,
who came to look at the straw statue of the animal.
The rocket he created "" Snugnick "" rises above the field by 15 meters,
and surprised tourists are greeted by a huge straw dinosaur
Photos of the British farmer's creations have been around the world.
Here is a figure called "Angel of the North".
And this is a copy of the "London Eye" Ferris wheel
A windmill that was illuminated at night
A copy of the Jodrell Bank telescope, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the space age. Weighing six tons
The 21m (71ft) replica of the famous Big Ben tower is 4 times smaller than the real one in London. It took more than 500 bales of hay, with a total weight of 20 tons.
Real working hours are built into the top of the hay tower, albeit as a saving
there are only 2 dials installed, on the sides that look at the road.
There are also magnificent straw sculptures in Russia
In the city of Bobruisk, residents erected a huge monument to the well-fed Beaver from straw.
The frame of the beaver is wooden. Height about 5 meters
A giant sculpture of an eagle is installed at the railway station in the city of Oryol
and is made of straw attached to a wire frame.
Straw figures are also constantly presented in landscape design exhibitions at the All-Russian Exhibition Center (VDNKh).
They are made on a timber frame and trimmed with straw.
Well, and finally:
In China, they built a 90-meter penis from straw.
The sculpture located in the Shaman amusement park was named the Heavenly Column. More than 1,800 meters of straw was used to erect the structure, which was wrapped around a steel rod. The sculpture is located on a platform at the top of Mount Oinlong. Park President Chen Weian said the sculpture is a totem for the city. A Chinese legend says that a shaman named Evenki gave the cruel ruler a totem in the shape of a penis so that she would respect men and not kill them at will. After that, the ruler set up a totem on Mount Oinlong, according to East Asia Economic and Trade News.
The director of the China Cultural Association claims that the totem symbolizes the happiness and prosperity of the ancestors.
Some tourists, meanwhile, say that the statue gives them discomfort. However, not everyone. For example, a mother who visited the park with her child said that it was just a statue and it could become a symbol of the park.
How!
Original post and comments on
The story of how a farmer became a sculptor began with Mikhalkov's film. “I looked and wanted to rehabilitate the village,” says the founder of the straw museum, a resident of the Grachevsky district in the Stavropol region, Roman Ponomarev. His melon is now surrounded not by stuffed animals, but by real art objects. The bear was built first. According to Roman, it was done in 40 minutes.The sketch was an ordinary picture from the Internet, and the materials were straw, pegs, ropes and a can of paint.
The bear became the first straw figure Photo: AiF / Olga Oblogina
On the contrary, there is another installation: boots sticking out of a straw massif. A rural response to police officers, Roman jokes. And he explains: this is a walled-up thief who climbed onto the melon for watermelons.
The next exhibit is a straw bull. The chief architect, as the 17-year-old future programmer Alexei Kharin is now called on the farm, made him, like other figures, with his own hands. It is more interesting than doing watermelons, only that the work does not become less.
The young man made the bull for two days. It didn't work right away. In the process of creativity, either an elephant or a camel came out. As a result, the straw figure was still brought to the condition of a bull.
By the way, there is a real zoo next to the straw one. There is an open-air cage with ostriches that can be fed with grass.
There are also decorative birds: Hamburg and Chinese roosters, hens, guinea fowls and pheasants.
Another attraction is already in the product line: triangular watermelons. They are grown in special forms made of plexiglass.
“I did each one myself,” says Roman. The glass is eight millimeters thick, otherwise it will not stand - the watermelon is stronger. Each such box on the melon is carefully covered with straw so as not to burn out. It is necessary to turn such watermelons every day, which, of course, affects the price. A triangular watermelon costs 5,000 rubles.
“We throw away about 50 watermelons to get one! Therefore, the cost of one such watermelon came out at us 3800 rubles, - says Roman. - They are very difficult to grow, most of them rot. In total, we are counting on about fifty successful such watermelons during the season ”.
Expensive souvenir - they call these watermelons on the farm. And they immediately say: this is not for food. You can use it as a decor, give it to someone for a wedding, but in terms of taste, such watermelons are clearly worse than ordinary round ones.
All these field wonders quickly find a viewer: on a weekend, the melon workers say, they counted a thousand visitors near the sights. Yes, and felt the revenue: sales of watermelons and melons increased by 15%. Only now the buyer loses to these collective farmers in culture, say the workers on the melon. First, they don't appreciate it. Secondly, they spoil it.
“Some people come up - they just pull, tear! Yesterday the head of one figure was torn off. We screwed it on, of course, but it's unpleasant, I don't like this attitude, ”says Alexey.
However, they will continue not only to cultivate, but also to domesticate, on the melon. There are plans to build something monumental. To make the word "collective farmer" sound like a compliment.