Moscow Blogger Falls in Love with Russian North
Moscow blogger Anna Brazhnikova shares stories about national costume, handicrafts, and trips to villages and settlements of Arkhangelsk Oblast on her social media. She has a deep love for the architecture and attire of the Russian North, traveling thousands of kilometers to the farthest corners of Pomorye (the White Sea coast) to study them. Anna told 29.RU why this region captivated her and what pieces she sews inspired by northern motifs.
“I Truly Relax in the North”
Anna Brazhnikova is originally from Voronezh Oblast (southwestern Russia) and has lived in Moscow for the last 12 years. The girl«s passion is traveling and studying the culture of different cities and countries. Initially, she was only attracted to foreign countries; Anna discovered Russia»s tourist spots later.
“Once in a hostel in Cambodia, an Italian was listing what he wanted to see in Russia, and I told him I hadn«t seen any of it, that I mostly traveled abroad. He was so surprised! I was horrified then, thought: indeed, how is that? I even felt ashamed. And the very next year I went to work as a volunteer in Kamchatka, later there was a hike to the northern Urals to the Manpupuner Plateau, winter Baikal by bike, Krasnoyarsk, diving in the Barents Sea, and much more. I realized then that I want to see and get to know Russia, even its farthest corners,” our interlocutor says.
After numerous trips around Russia, six years ago Anna first came to Arkhangelsk Oblast — and immediately fell in love with it. Now almost all her trips are dedicated to the Russian North.
“Perhaps because I feel free in the endless northern tundras and forests,” Anna muses. “I really like the culture, the daily life. And especially the people! As a resident of a metropolis where there is endless hustle, people are irritable, always in a hurry, and all attention is given to some useless things, in the North I truly relax.”
Before trips, Anna makes a travel plan, looks for unusual, ‘undiscovered’ tourist spots, and then — hits the road in her personal car together with her spouse.
The traveler has managed to visit Mezen, Pinega, Kenozerye, and the Onega Pomorye National Park:
“I adore Arkhangelsk Oblast! We«ve traveled around many ancient villages. I want to return again and again. To get to know the protected region more deeply. I don»t even know why. Maybe it«s because my ancestral village in Pribityuzhye (Voronezh Oblast) was resettled with Pomor families 300 years ago?”
According to the girl, every trip through Arkhangelsk Oblast was amazing in its own way. For example, once in winter she and her husband skied through Kenozersky Park: from Maselga to Vershinino, a distance of about 50 kilometers.
“During the hike we only met a ranger at the Porzhensky Pogost (churchyard) and a local resident in the village of Zekhnovo. That«s it! All the rest of the time we were alone with the forest and abandoned villages. In such remote places I get a feeling of unreality,” recalls Anna Brazhnikova.
Silence, broken only by the crunch of snow under skis, an overcast sky, endless forest, and a lonely wooden church in the middle of an empty village — these are the scenes, Anna admits, that stay in memory for a long time and give goosebumps.
In Mezen, Anna and her husband stayed with a Pomor hostess. She treated them to dishes from the oven and fish, poured coffee Mezen-style from a samovar.
“The weather was sunny and frosty. And that winter pink sky! Fabulous!” recalls the blogger.
The blogger dreams of having a regular feature ‘Cooking with a Pomor Hostess’, but for now she talks about dishes herself. In one of her recent videos, she showed how she makes an unusual soup in the forest — rassolnik with porcini mushrooms. In her words, it turned out a rich dish with a bright tomato-mushroom aroma — not everyone will like it, but she did.
“On the White Sea they told us that real rassolnik is made not with cucumbers but with porcini mushrooms. Well, who are we to argue,” noted Anna.
Making Subscribers Fall in Love with the North
Since childhood, Anna Brazhnikova has loved the forest, herbs, history, and archaeology. Her interests grew into a themed blog about ‘remote wilderness, mysticism, and folklore.’
“A few months ago I bought a Mezen spinning wheel and carried it home in my hands without packaging. People stopped me, asked what it was. I discovered that many don«t know what this object is or what it»s for. And then I thought: it would be great to tell people about ancient objects, clothing, and something genuine but forgotten,” she says.
In her video diary, Anna talks about life and travel, the cultural heritage of Russia and the North. One example is the village of Cherevkovo in Arkhangelsk Oblast, which is part of the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of Russia.
“The main attraction is the estate of merchant Gusev, built in 1886, which amazes with its huge number of windows — more than 60. And the masterful wooden imitation of brickwork,” says Anna.
The girl finds the village interesting because it was one of the largest craft centers of gold embroidery in Solvychegodsky Uyezd (county), and also was famous for large-scale pottery production and Rakulka painting.
The first documentary mention of Cherevkovo Volost dates back to 1519.
Anna showed viewers Pirogov«s storehouse — an architectural heritage and a unique example of a wooden farm building of a local merchant peasant. She talked about the northern granary and the Trinity-St. Nicholas Church of the 18th century: it was built on the site of a burned Nicholas Church where St. Peter Cherevkovsky served.
To the ‘land of tuesas’ (birch bark boxes) — the village of Verkhnyaya Uftyuga — Anna and her husband went to see the majestic tent-roofed church, birch bark products, and learn painting. The travelers crossed the Northern Dvina by ferry and drove another 40 kilometers by car.
“Uftyug painting is bright, smooth, with a lot of air. I love it. We went to a master class there and painted koniks (decorative horse figures),” Anna shared in a video.
In Permogorye, Anna noticed the wooden Church of St. George the Victorious. It was built in 1665 and, in her words, stands out for its unusual dome construction.
Anna and her husband reached Soezersk Hermitage by the only means — train on a narrow-gauge railway. The reason for the trip was the Trinity Church built in 1748.
“Such surviving wooden ensembles in Russia can be counted on one hand. Apart from Soezersk, no monastic wooden ensembles survive anywhere at all. It is unique,” emphasized the blogger.
Viewers of Anna Brazhnikova admire the filmed views under her posts, ask how to get to the location, and invite her to visit. According to Anna, travel sketches are the favorite format of online users.
“I myself love such content and watch guys who run pages with this focus. It«s great to take note of an interesting place for a future trip or learn something unexpected. I think that»s how I found out about authentic traditions,” says Anna Brazhnikova.
‘Russian Costume Is Not a Satin Sarafan and a Cardboard Kokoshnik’
Anna stands out in the recommendation feed with her unusual looks: old-style sarafans (traditional long dress), kokoshniks (traditional headdress), corsets, amber beads. She shows how traditional can be combined with modern — and stylishly so.
“A few years ago I learned that the traditional Russian costume is not a satin sarafan and a cardboard kokoshnik,” shares the girl. “I was deeply surprised at what haute couture girls and women wore before the revolution, and I began to study the peasant costume of different provinces. And gradually things with references to traditional elements began to seep into my wardrobe.”
Now the blogger has almost completely switched to clothing made with a nod to tradition.
“And you know, for the first time I felt that I found my style, I felt at home.
Mass-market never gave me the feeling that I look truly beautiful and comfortable,” she says.
Such a style is not understandable to everyone, but it certainly attracts attention, Anna noted. Some stop her on the street and ask where to buy such clothes, happy to finally see something traditional. Others think the girl just performed somewhere and didn«t change.
In Anna«s hands, traditions of Russian decorative and applied art come alive: the craftswoman creates exquisite jewelry and headdresses, carefully preserving ancient techniques. Her collection includes earrings, necklaces, northern zaboroshniks (necklaces from the Summer Coast), and perlyshki (pearl-like beads).
Anna«s signature is pearl and gold embroidery, and her favorite technique of three-dimensional embroidery is sazheniye po nastilu (sewing on padding), or as they used to say, sazheniye po beli (sewing on white). She draws inspiration from ethnographic samples in museums and from nature.
“My favorite items that came from my hands are the Vologda Koruna (a crown-shaped headdress) and the Novgorod Venets-Chelka (a fringe crown). These are very lengthy projects, made in the technique of cutwork embroidery, which took so much time. I can«t believe I sewed them,” admits the blogger.
Creating large-scale items from scratch is a difficult path, full of nuances: many subtleties become apparent only during the work process. Overcoming difficulties and finding solutions become part of the creative search — and that makes the final result especially valuable, says Anna. In her words, the finished item seems to turn into a unique relic, a genuine artifact existing in a single copy.
“I embroidered zaboroshniki — authentic neck jewelry of the Summer Coast, such decorations were worn nowhere else, only on the Onega Peninsula. I wear them with pleasure now; they fit perfectly into modern life. Of course, I will definitely embroider a wedding crown with little towns that existed in Pinezhye,” says Anna.
Now she is embroidering a maiden«s headband that was worn by wealthy Pomor girls of marriageable age.
“Unfortunately, we don«t know Russian culture at all, only clichés like matryoshkas and balalaikas,” notes the interlocutor of 29.RU. “But our culture is very deep and multifaceted, amazing and unique. When I started to delve into the topic, a wondrous world opened up to me, which I very much want to share.”
Pomorye is increasingly attracting bloggers from big cities with its local color. Another Muscovite, Natalia, author of the blog natashaisrussia, visited Arkhangelsk Oblast and talked about this trip in a couple of her videos. 29.RU asked Natalia to tell what she liked most about the region during this trip.
