The name of the painting restates the words, ‘Our festival’, displayed on the decorative banner as part of the imagery. The work of art was given by residents of the village of Shablovo of Kologrivsky Uyezd in the Kostroma Governorate as a gift in 1968. The large canvas was in need of a rescue and quick. In order to prevent any further damage and to ensure the painting would store well, it was restored by M. M. Fundik and V. P. Kuzmin in 1974 and at the All-Russian Art Research and Restoration Center in 1977. The painting is part of the museum’s permanent collection. As a rule, it is of interest to both adults and children.

The genre painting “Our festival”, with its multiple figures, includes young boys playing musical instruments, accordions, drums, balalaikas and reed pipes, and standing right in front of the audience.

The sun is shining in
The blue sky.
Too-roo-roo is the
Tune the shepherd plays
Early in the morning.
Ta-ra-ra,
Let the cows and sheep
Out of the farmyard.
Warm up the stove women,
The roosters everywhere are crowing
And the gates are starting to creak.
The bells are ringing
While the cows are mooing
Moo-moo-moo.
Sheep are running out of the farmyard,
The women have warmed up the stoves,
And there is smoke coming out of
The chimneys of every single house.
The sheep are baaing and
Running with their flock.
Young men are walking, while
The maidens are calling out, beckoning “Calf, calf! “,
The grass is green there.
It is so warm in the field.
Stop, stop, stop
On this green grass.
Play shepherd”s horn, play! ”

The performers, surrounded by children, are urging the crowd to join the festivities. And people are rushing to see the performance.

Having embraced the essentially patriarchal peasant way of life since an early age, Yefim Chestnyakov continued to acquire new knowledge with the aim of depicting his dream of a wonderful life using new art forms. While trying to establish a Shablovo general education system for people of all ages, Yefim Chestnyakov ensured that theater played a prominent role within it. He wrote scripts for performances himself and encouraged local children to be a part of them. His goal was to have a unifying theme to such festivities so that everyone in attendance could get involved. The artist stayed true to his ideas and used paintings during festivals. He transported his rolled up works of art and hung them on walls of houses and sheds so that they served as a backdrop. Figures depicted on canvases were the characters from his performances. This explains certain features of the paintings” compositions - their subjects looked as if they had stepped onto the stage to greet the audience and to perform right in front of the art works.