Where, where? In Non-Moscow! The village of Good Bees
Koshki village, city Bottom, farmstead Fun Life— Russia is full of places with funny, silly, or just plain interesting names. We'll tell you about them in our "Where, Where? Outside of Moscow!" column. Let's go!
For the average person, "good bees" are as much of an oxymoron as "hot ice" and "living corpse." That's probably why the village got its name. in the Zakharovsky district of the Ryazan region one day entered Among the top five Russian settlements with the funniest names. Meanwhile, the good nature of the local bees isn't so clear-cut.
The village is ancient: the name Dobrye Pchely appears in land registers as early as 1574 as the name of a wasteland, and in the "Lists of Populated Places of the Russian Empire" for 1862, it is listed as a village in the Ryazan Governorate. Until the early 20th century, the land belonged to the Boguslavsky Monastery, and the monks collected wild honey from tree hollows. They later established their own apiary and moved the hives to a meadow for the summer. Local farmers also practiced beekeeping, offering honey to travelers and selling it as well.
Local resident Agafya Abashina, born in 1903, described those times as follows:
"And the monks brought out the bees for the spring. And there was a butka here, old woman. The men from Vysoka to Katagosha went to the market. They said: 'Where will we camp? The monks have bad bees.' And the monks answered: 'We have good bees, don't worry.' And the men always camped here.".
Everything is clear with the legend, but in what meaning Was the word "kind" used? It's unlikely to mean that the bees were kindly disposed and didn't sting beekeepers, much less guests. "Kind" in those days meant something good, high-quality, the very best. That is, those bees were honey producers, producing delicious honey.
In pre-revolutionary times the village life was goodIn 1897, the Church of St. John the Evangelist was built with funds from parishioners. A parish school was later opened nearby (it had 87 boys and 48 girls). A forge, a wool mill, and two mills also operated there. In the 1930s, collectivization began, and a collective farm was opened, also bearing the surprising name "The Third Decisive Year of the Five-Year Plan." The church was closed in 1939. Its building, along with the parish school, fell into disrepair. Funds for restoration were never found.
And beekeeping is still practiced there to this day. But the guests wonder about the character of those bees. express themselves disapprovingly:"It's a nice village, but the bees aren't kind."
