February 10 is a tragic date for those who truly respected and admired Pushkin’s work. The absurd death in a duel deprived the country of a truly great and talented person. About 50 thousand people from all cities gathered for his funeral in St. Petersburg. This showed the incredible significance of the writer for the ordinary people, as well as his love for him.
Since that time, the date of February 10, Pushkin's Memorial Day, was entered into the calendar of annual events for each Russian family.
Lines from the biography of the great poet
Alexander Sergeevich was born on June 6, 1799 in Moscow. His father and mother belonged to a very old family, but nevertheless they suffered poverty.
A noble ancestor on the maternal side was
Abram Hannibal, who was taken out of Ethiopia on the orders of Peter the Great. His uncle, Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, from his early childhood shone with talents and proved to be a writer as a teenager, which made him famous. It was from him that Alexander took over the love of the word.
He spent almost all his childhood at home, and he owed his diligent education to his beloved nanny Arina Rodionovna. From an early age he was very fond of reading, and soon began to write little poems.
In 1811, his uncle took up his education and sent to Petersburg to a new lyceum, located in Tsarskoye Selo. He studied there for 6 years and managed to find true and faithful friends who were famous enough at that time.
Pushkin’s first poem was published in 1814 in the journal Vestnik Evropy, but the works did not receive praise from the authorities of that time, and he was sent first to the south and then to the village of Mikhailovskoye, where the family estates were located.
Extraordinary feeling
In the winter of 1828, at one of the social events, Alexander met his first and last love - beauty Natalya Goncharova.
Probably, if it weren’t for her, Pushkin’s Memorial Day would not have been so tragic, and literary light would have seen more than one ingenious work, but fate decreed otherwise.
In 1831, a great celebration took place - Alexander Sergeyevich and Natalya Nikolaevna fastened themselves together by marriage, after which the beautiful wife gave birth to four children. But this family was, unfortunately, poor, and the courtyard in which the poet lived did not like him.
Imminent death
Many people associate Pushkin's Memorial Day with a terrible event - a duel between Alexander and Dantes.
The first alarming bell for the writer was anonymous letters, which broadcast that the faithful and beloved wife Natalya had an affair with another man.
Pushkin was not taken aback and decided to defend his happiness in a duel. The enemy initially accepted the challenge, but a week later decided to marry Natalya's sister - Ekaterina Goncharova. Alexander because of this event decided to abandon the duel.
After some time, the wife of Dantes died, the conflict flared up with renewed vigor.
The duel nevertheless took place
on February 8, 1837. The area of the Black River on the outskirts of St. Petersburg became an unfortunate place. Pistols were chosen as a weapon, in seconds the duelists chose their best friends, with whom they walked hand in hand for many years.
The result of this confrontation was a mortal wound in the stomach of the writer, and Dantes received a minor wound in his right hand. The great poet was given only two days, despite all the efforts of the doctors. Dantes was punished: he was demoted to be a soldier, after which he left the country forever.
Memory of descendants
After the tragic death of the great poet, friends and fans of creativity decided to honor the achievements of Alexander Sergeyevich every year and included in the calendar of events “Pushkin's Memorial Day”. February 10 was a significant date for every citizen who was not indifferent to the fate of this wonderful person.
His direct descendants - Maria-Madeleine Durnovo-Pushkina and Alexander Pushkin, who live far from the writer’s homeland, come to Moscow during this period and light a candle for the repose of their famous ancestor, as well as attend events held in honor of the poet.
According to Alexander Alexandrovich, one can understand that he is really struck by the diversity of people, especially the age category, who come to this event, and he was also surprised by the unusual love of citizens for their ancestor.
Indeed, today the young generation is beginning to forget about literature. But nevertheless, on Pushkin's Memorial Day, you can see a large number of teenagers who read his poems and share their impressions of the works.
Traditional events
From year to year, these memorable hours begin with people visiting the writer’s house on the Moika embankment. Both ordinary citizens and the creative intelligentsia of the country gather there. Since 1925, his apartment is considered a museum. Everything that is connected with the great writer is carefully stored there - from old dishes to unpublished manuscripts.
Events dedicated to Pushkin's memory every year have significant differences. For example, in 2014, everything went on for about 3 days:
On February 9, at 7 pm, a concert was held dedicated to the poet.
On February 10, a memorial service was held in the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands, as well as a tour of the Black River, where the ill-fated duel took place.
On February 12, a literary evening was held in memory of A.S. Pushkin. The verses of the writer were read by Alexander Gorodnitsky, and he also demonstrated excerpts from copyright films that had previously been shot about the life of the creator.
Children also remember
It would seem that only adults who already know a lot about the writer can attend with interest at such events, but this is not so.
Children also take part in memorial events taking place on Pushkin's Memorial Day. In the library of youth “Lik”, as part of the events, the guys visited a book exhibition, where they looked not only at printed works, but also saw the screen version of many poems on a slide show.
At the end of the program, children were shown cartoons based on the tales of Alexander Sergeyevich.
Also, in many educational institutions spend their special "Memorial Day of Pushkin." The script for each school or kindergarten is individual, but everyone tries to adhere to the general concept and mainly use the wealth of images from the writer's works.
Adult evening
For those who have long been a fan of the great poet’s work, they organize entire concert programs where you can listen to not only poems and works from the talented people of our time, but also watch the fascinating theatrical performance.
On Pushkin's Memorial Day, the script is built more on the life situations of Alexander Sergeyevich, rather than on his fictional characters. The organizers of this action are trying to convey all those twists of fate that have happened to the poet, especially the unfortunate love that destroyed him.
Memorial Day 2015
This year was no exception to the previous ones. Many people attended various events on Pushkin's Memorial Day in many cities of Russia.
In the State Museum "Mikhailovskoye" thematic lectures were held, which were dedicated to the duel and the death of Alexander Sergeyevich.
Also on the Memorial Day of Pushkin, February 10, in St. Petersburg, everyone could visit the Lyceum Garden, where there was already a traditional meeting of representatives of the museum of the writer and ordinary connoisseurs of the great poet.
At the place of the Black River, where the fateful duel took place, a rally-requiem took place, and verses by Alexander Sergeevich were sounded at the monument on Kolomyazhsky Avenue.
Unforgettable lines
Everything that was written by the great poet carries an extraordinary energy of love, pain and admiration for his soulmate. One of the famous works was dedicated to his "Madonna" - Natalia Goncharova. In these lines Pushkin put the centuries-old memory. The poem is permeated with those really unreal feelings that the poet had for his wife, how he would like to see her image in his modest corner in a small apartment and that he has no one more expensive and beautiful. Love really inspires and pushes to certain follies.
Do not forget about this wonderful creative person who has lived not so much, and remember him not only on February 10th. After all, he was able to leave behind a huge "chest" of literary treasures and showed people that if you achieved something significant in life, and most importantly, you fell in love, then death is not terrible, but you should fight for true happiness to the end.