Let those of us interested in the Revolution go back over to the thread on Revolution. We can continue this debate over there. There I'll explain Kulak and what it meant to my own family.
Since this is a thread about Land of the Firebird, I'd like to mention the part about the gypies and their music and the vivid colors they wore p. 294.
One of my grandmothers was always fasinated by the gypies who traveled through the village every summer. She must have been about ten. Her brother about eight. Anyway, she wanted to know more about these people. So she talked her brother into going with her to the gypsy camp. She never forgot that night as the gypies sang and dance. At some point, she and her brother had fallen asleep. In the morning, the woke as camp was breaking. She and her brother climbed onto a wagon and rode with the gypies to their next camp.
Since the gypies had so many children, two more children just blended into the mix.
It was my great grandfather who figured out where the two children may have gone.
The gypies soon discovered my grandmother and her brother and left them at a village and word was sent to my great grandfather who was already on his way as he followed the pathwy of the gypies.
Until my grandmother's death at the age of 96, she continued to talk about that particular adventure. She knew the gypies were different from her family and the people in her village. The married village women all wore black but the gypsy women [young, unmarried and married] wore bright colors.... The material of the clothes varied from silk of all colors to muslim with embroidery as colorful as a rainbow... Most of them had great singing voices and when the men danced they left off the ground higher than she was tall... The musical instruments varied as did the tempo. Some of the songs would start off slow and then go faster and faster.... Some melodies sounded so sad that it brought tears even to her young eyes.... Oh, and the jewerly... The earings on women and men.... The chains around the necks and bracelets caught the light as they danced and sounded as if they were musical instruments....
There were some "good old times" even by two peasant kids who ventured off for several days with the gypies.
AGRBear
