The parents of Mikhail Kalashnikov dreamed of having a family with many children and a robust household. Of the nineteen children his mother Alexandra Frolovna gave birth to only eight survived. The survivors were six boys — Victor, Ivan, Andrei, Mikhail, Vasiliy and Nikolai, and two girls — Agafia and Anna. The rest of the children left this world very early.
When speaking about his family Mikhail Kalashnikov mentioned that he and his brothers and sisters were growing in a special environment. In multi-children families where several generations live side by side have their own approach to bringing up children, here each knows his or her duties clearly. The older generation controls the younger and the children must obey all.
Mikhail Kalashnikov recollected that his family household was not much different from others in the village. They lived in a small house with one common room, plus the kitchen and the anteroom (seni). The room had a floor covered with wooden boards, while in the kitchen it was an earthen one. Cooking was made on the stove. Sisters told Mikhail Kalashnikov how hard it was for them to wash the earthen floor in the kitchen on Saturdays. If the family members began walking on the floor which was still wet, the earth was carried into the room and cleaning had to be done all over again.
Mikhail Kalashnikov tenderly called his sister Gasha and mentioned her hard-working nature and patience. They met when Gasha was eighty seven years old. The woman complained that it was difficult for her to walk. But when she remembered the poems by Nekrasov which were much liked in the family of the Kalashnikovs she got up and, leaning on a walking stick, recited them so long and so joyfully that Kalashnikov’s daughter and grandson listened spellbound and made themselves more comfortable. They realized that grandma Gasha would continue to recite very long.
Once Mikhail Kalashnikov asked his grandson Igor to switch on a cassette which was recorded in Kuria, in his native village, when Anna was still alive and both his sisters called themselves girls laughing. One was telling the other: “And you, girl, did your forget how you were churning butter and dropped three quarts, but said that…” Gasha remembered very well the verses that she recited to us by heart in childhood, she had to be stopped for it was difficult for her to stand and she did not want to recite while sitting.
Mikhail Kalashnikov called his elder sister Agafia his nanny. In families with many children, which was the case with the Kalashnikovs, all were responsible for the young ones. Mikhail Kalashnikov remembers with pity that poor Gasha being the eldest of the children had to take care about each of her brothers or sisters.
When speaking about his family Mikhail Kalashnikov mentioned that he and his brothers and sisters were growing in a special environment. In multi-children families where several generations live side by side have their own approach to bringing up children, here each knows his or her duties clearly. The older generation controls the younger and the children must obey all.
Mikhail Kalashnikov recollected that his family household was not much different from others in the village. They lived in a small house with one common room, plus the kitchen and the anteroom (seni). The room had a floor covered with wooden boards, while in the kitchen it was an earthen one. Cooking was made on the stove. Sisters told Mikhail Kalashnikov how hard it was for them to wash the earthen floor in the kitchen on Saturdays. If the family members began walking on the floor which was still wet, the earth was carried into the room and cleaning had to be done all over again.
Mikhail Kalashnikov tenderly called his sister Gasha and mentioned her hard-working nature and patience. They met when Gasha was eighty seven years old. The woman complained that it was difficult for her to walk. But when she remembered the poems by Nekrasov which were much liked in the family of the Kalashnikovs she got up and, leaning on a walking stick, recited them so long and so joyfully that Kalashnikov’s daughter and grandson listened spellbound and made themselves more comfortable. They realized that grandma Gasha would continue to recite very long.
Once Mikhail Kalashnikov asked his grandson Igor to switch on a cassette which was recorded in Kuria, in his native village, when Anna was still alive and both his sisters called themselves girls laughing. One was telling the other: “And you, girl, did your forget how you were churning butter and dropped three quarts, but said that…” Gasha remembered very well the verses that she recited to us by heart in childhood, she had to be stopped for it was difficult for her to stand and she did not want to recite while sitting.
Mikhail Kalashnikov called his elder sister Agafia his nanny. In families with many children, which was the case with the Kalashnikovs, all were responsible for the young ones. Mikhail Kalashnikov remembers with pity that poor Gasha being the eldest of the children had to take care about each of her brothers or sisters.
