Vladimir Megre’s New Year’s address for 2015

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Vladimir Megre: “Hello, my dear friends! And, first of all, hello Anastasia!

“The year 2015 is upon us. A marvelous year. A year of great accomplishments. A year of transformation for many countries and perhaps for the whole world. At the very least, a new era will begin on the planet Earth this year.

“First of all, I wish a happy new year to all my books’ readers, thanks to whose efforts more than 210 settlements of family homesteads have been established in Russia. The family homesteads Anastasia spoke of. Those marvelous little oases in which the new generation of a new, marvelous country will be – and already is being – raised.

“People have called the idea of family homesteads the ‘National Idea of Russia’. It was birthed from the bottom up, and as Solzhenitsyn says, it’s impossible for a national idea to be initiated from above, by the government; it has to be struggled for and tended from the bottom, by the people. That’s when it will be natural, genuine and great. That’s when it will be the kind of national idea that gives birth to great states, where happy people live.. That’s the way it will be. That’s the way it already is. The marvelous hermit’s dream has become the personal dream of hundreds of thousands, and perhaps already even millions of citizens. Some portion of them, without waiting for a law to be adopted, have begun building their family homesteads: each of them acquiring a hectare of land, laying down roads and electrical lines, and building houses. There’s a variety of types: some are two-storeyed, some are tiny. But the people are happier inside them than in the stone boxes in the giant cities. I thank you – you who are moving forward, you, who are showing other people the path to the marvelous future! I thank you for your understanding!

“I also want to wish a happy new year to the President of Russia, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. I want to wish that you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, will grasp the essence of this great idea with your heart and soul. I want you to grasp what it is that a significant portion of Russia’s population is striving for. Just imagine what a marvelous destiny has befallen you! The destiny to encounter and grasp the great dream of many people in Russia, and make it a reality. I wish you success in this matter!

“I’d also like to wish a happy new year to the President of Belarus, Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko, the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbaev, and the President of Ukraine, Petr Alekseevich Poroshenko. I want to wish you a happy new year because it’s in your states that readers of the ‘Ringing Cedars of Russia’ books, inspired by the marvelous dream, are coming together in groups and creating family homesteads! Just imagine, esteemed Presidents – this is where genuine patriotism actually lies. After all, any patriotism should be transformed into some kind of concrete deeds. And what could be more patriotic, than when people take a hectare of land, create a marvelous oasis on it, give birth to children and call it their small motherland? When they even bury their deceased family members on their small motherland? Now that’s what patriotism is. Those people will never betray their Motherland. And it’s not important, whether it’s warm in that region or cold, whether it rains, or it doesn’t have very good soil: just like their very own child, this little oasis is what they’re closest to – their closest relation, the one they love most. And so it follows that the whole Motherland, too, the whole country, is what they’re closest to, is their closest relation, the one they love most! I think the time will come when you’ll all get together and decide, together with the people, how best to make this idea a reality. And there is no other path! If there were another path, a more effective, more significant one, it would have been voiced. At present, aside from this idea, there is nothing. Many scientists are proving this. Many practically-oriented scientific conferences are taking place. (Text beneath the video: http://www.anastasia.ru/articles/detail/3993/, http://www.anastasia.ru/news/detail/15505, http://www.anastasia.ru/news/detail/15788http://www.anastasia.ru/news/detail/16152 ) in Altay, and in Moscow. At the Lomonosov University, Mikhail Pavlov, a university docent, has written a marvelous paper dedicated to family homesteads. At the hundredth anniversary of the Homestead Act, the American President said, ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ And he was correct. And this more powerful rising tide will lift all boats in all the countries of the CIS, and, first of all – in our native Russia.

“In addition, I’d like to thank the women. I’m aware of how the family homestead movement is developing. Many people are building their future nests – their future Motherland – as families. But there are women for whom things haven’t fallen into place with a family. They are on their own. I’ve seen these women who all the same manage to develop their hectare of land and build a house all on their own. It might not be so very large, and not so very well-equipped, but they build it. They are building the future, with the hope that that marvelous one who’s intended for them will come, will stand beside them, and that they’ll build the future together.

“I’m speaking a bit all over the place here. I’m afraid of forgetting something, because so much has happened in the past year! For example, the fabulous festival that took place in the city of Belgorod. Now this truly was an episode that showed how the government officials can act together with the people! Thank you, Evgeny Stepanovich Savchenko! Thank you to your whole team! It’s been my great pleasure to witness how the people esteem and respect the government. And I’ll repeat the words of the woman who sincerely said at the Festival, ‘We are proud of you!’ You could hear this from the mouths of many people, and they even began taking pride in themselves: ‘We are so good that the government treats us well!’ Yes, of course, you, too, are good, you respected builders of family homesteads in the Belgorod vicinity, but your government, too, is good! I think that this is what should happen in the long term in all of Russia’s regions.

“And of course, I’d also like to speak of those people who have worked scrupulously in their their time off from their main work to draft laws about family homesteads. Who endeavored to learn history and economics, and wrote and wrote their works and sent them off to the Office of the President, to the Administration, to the State Duma. Thanks to you, too, two parties of the State Duma began working to move the family homestead project forward. Now, in Belgorod, a law of this type has been adopted and is in force, but it needs to be larger in scale. It needs to be on the scale of the whole country. Then millions of settlements will rise up on Russia’s expanses, in unsettled places, millions of communities and village of a new and different type. Take a look: a settlement arose outside Vladimir, a settlement not yet supported by the State. And not one settlement – there are fourteen of them. And are you aware, that almost in every settlement there are teachers, doctors, and people from the arts? And they pay a huge amount of attention to the generation now coming of age. And I think that by doing so, they’re solving the problems facing our country’s Government. And I have to say, that agriculture will cease to be a black hole, because millions of citizens will build it up with their hearts and with their own material wealth. And if they get some help as well...! It even takes my breath away to think about what a marvelous future Russia can have! Someone might think, ‘Yes… well... this is a community being reborn… and so on and so forth…. That’s good, but we have other things to do, too…’ I’ll repeat the phrase: ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ It’s precisely there, in these settlements, that a great future science is being born. After all, there are professors and PhD’s there. Take my homestead neighbor, Victor Yakovlevich Medikov, a PhD in Economics, a professor and a three-term State Duma deputy. Of course, he could live on Rublev Street, and on the Black Sea shore. But he gets more pleasure from coming to his homestead outside Vladimir. And there’s no chic compound there – there’s a good, cozy log home. But it’s that house that his daughter and granddaughter are happier to come from Italy to visit. Victor Yakovlevich didn’t yet have a homestead when they left. Then it appeared and drew them to their Motherland. And this isn’t the only case like that. Science doesn’t arise simply on its own. And great scientific discoveries and great accomplishments don’t come about in complexes like Skolkovo. They – these complexes, I mean – should be filled with young, morally and physically healthy people who are prepared to work for the sake of their country, and not just for the sake of money, not just so that they can get to the West and earn a good salary. Many of the people building family homesteads have laid out their intentions in their declarations, in which they’ve shown what it is they want, for the sake of what, and how they want to attain a marvelous future for their family and their Motherland. They’ve sent these declarations to the Administration, to the President. I don’t know whether they reached them or not, but, esteemed Vladimir Vladimirovich, I want to give you a New Year’s gift. I want to collect all these declarations and present these people to you in a perhaps very long film following my address. This film should tell of the events that have transpired in the course of fifteen years in our country and in other CIS countries. Events, thanks to which the Slavic world can be united, the world in which people of various religious confessions will live in love and harmony, which is actually already happening. People of different social status and various nationalities. The film doesn’t need to be made by professionals – amateurs can make it.

“And, Vladimir Vladimirovich, I would also like you to note one small detail. Look at this: over the course of two years, readers of the books have organized rallies and driven by car from various regions of Russia to Moscow, to the festival that takes place in the CSKA sports complex. You’ll see the slogans they took along with them. You’ll see the songs they sang. I hope they’ll show that in the film. There were slogans like ‘For the Motherland!’, ‘For Putin!’, ‘For family homesteads!’, and ‘Family homesteads are a National idea!’ Then a song, the marvelous song ‘We’ve long lived on our family homesteads.’ And meanwhile, on the central TV station, on Channel One, people have been holding up the little book ‘Anastasia’ and saying: ‘There she is – this is a cult.’ [He laughs.] Who did that and for what reason? Well, it’s perfectly clear: to keep the people and the government from coming together, so that it won’t go the way it went in the city of Belgorod, so that the Administration and the President will busy themselves with something different. Well, so what? The people put up with this slap in the face. But after all, it isn’t just about them. Is the Office of the President really prepared to put up with such slaps in the future? Isn’t it time to figure out who’s been doing this over the course of fifteen years? Who are these people and how are they taking action? What organization have they created? After all, a great deal of material has accumulated. Of course it’s time! How can a country develop if an organization exists within it that is pure and simple misinforming the public and the Administration, and is succeeding to some degree? It’s acting not only against the ‘Ringing Cedars of Russia ‘, an informal social movement. It’s acting on a larger scale. And, if you initiate an investigation, you’ll be convinced of this and learn the details, learn these people’s names, find out the name of the organizations and who is subsidizing them.

“It seems I’ve spoken about something negative. But no, it’s not negative. It’s all very important. What’s also important is that we all need to purify ourselves and understand our mistakes so that we can purify the path for the marvelous future.

“And here’s what else is important… very important. The Governor of the Vladimir Region – the active and versatile Svetlana Orlova – is actively involved in phasing out imports. And so, at the exhibit of goods and food products, those who presented the Sudogodsky area of the Vladimir Region included people who have created family homesteads that have already been combined into settlements. It was their honey, their cucumbers and their tomatoes at the exhibit, along with all other manner of crafts. And, at the request of the Novosibirsk administration, the ‘Ringing Cedars’ company represented Russia at the exhibit in Hong Kong. It presented the unique cedar nut oil that’s produced in Siberia. This is a most valuable product. When we speak about ecologically pure products, the question immediately arises: ‘But where is it produced, in which giant city, surrounded by what kind of air?’ And you see, the ‘Ringing Cedars’ firm located its sole cedar nut oil production operation in a village. It’s produced in many places, but it’s better to produce it in the village. Turns out that the air affects its quality, and that you can’t produce it somewhere in a giant city. Not even at a factory that produces medicines. Incidentally, they shifted the production base from that spot to the village, because they learned that certain elements – and cedar nut oil contains nearly Mendeleev’s entire table – precipitate out, and the existing harmony is disrupted. I’m proud of the fact that such a production operation exists, and that it exists thanks to Anastasia, thanks to that ancient technology. I brought back this ancient technology when I traveled throughout Siberia.

“Yes, I’ve started babbling, but now that I’ve gotten started, I’ll say something about science, too. Did you know that all the rockets we launch into space today are – as paradoxical as this may sound – are absurd? A few years ago, Grandfather said that space exploration is not a technocratic path, but rather a ‘psychoteleportation’ path. As I’ve been reflecting on this and talking with scientists, I really have begun to understand. After all, we’re proud of those rockets we launch, and we say we’ll get to the Moon soon. But that’s so piddling on the galactic scale! Now, the ‘psychotelepathic’ method allows us to get to another galaxy in one instant. And it’s a reality. It’s an unusual reality. Well, for some it’s unusual.

“Concerning unusual things: you know, we’ve all heard the fairy tale ‘The Magic Tablecloth,’ ‘The Magic Carpet’ and so on and so forth. And if I tell you now that one can construct a home, a homestead and a garden in the space of several minutes, thanks to a most ancient rite, a rite of marriage, you won’t believe me, because it sounds like the ‘Magic Tablecloth’ fairy tale, but you know, this is already taking place, in reality! And maybe the people who are trying to reproduce this rite… maybe the course they follow doesn’t work out 100%, the way it used to do, but it works out in part! And in the future it will work out. Imagine: newlyweds won’t ride around town in a car and then sit in a restaurant and eat for some reason and consider this a celebration, as if they’d been hungry the whole time. Rather, they’ll create a house, a garden and their own homestead along with livestock, all – I repeat – in the space of several minutes. You can read about that in the book.

“And as far as the books go: one little chapter, a totally little one, is entitled ‘The Goddess-Wife.’ And on the internet, it’s received millions of comments. [He laughs.] Many people don’t even know where it came from, and they say, ‘Well, that’s the wisdom of the ancients’, ‘Well, that’s some kind of folk…’, ‘Well, that’s…’ Well, truth is, some say that it’s from Megre’s books.

“And I’d also like to wish a Happy New Year to all the members of the Family Party. Can you imagine what a grand event took place? The Family Party was registered in the Department of Justice. That’s what it’s called – the ‘Family Party.’ It’s the most marvelous name – ‘Family.’ From the word ‘Family line’, ‘Motherland,’ ‘Loved ones.’ And now in Belgorod a congress of the Family Party was held. And everyone works on a voluntary basis. The party has no money, but it’s running, holding congresses, holding conferences. I think we should devote special attention to it in the coming year.

“I’m probably a very happy person, because Anastasia has given me the gift of being acquainted with a lot of kind people. I’m grateful to them for appearing in my life. I still remember Talgat Tadzhutdin and my time spent with him. And Father Feodorit, the one who now lives in a hermitage. My life has turned out interesting, thanks to Anastasia. [He laughs.]

“It’s such an interesting question: ‘Does Anastasia exist or not?’ She exists. And this isn’t just the existence of a separate person, a separate identity. It’s already an entire phenomenon that exists. Many women exist, who have a particle of Anastasia’s soul in them. As she said, ‘I will give my whole soul away to people. I’ll endure within people through my soul.’ And that’s the way it’s turned out. It’s all so unusual, but it’s coming true!

“I want all marvelous things to come true for all my readers, both current and future. And I also want happy, healthy children to grow up on your family homesteads. I want apple and pear and cherry trees to bear fruit and flowers to grow. I want you to see a sweet-smelling blooming garden, when you come out onto the porch of your home of a morning. I want you to always be in a good mood, for there to be Love. Thank you for your support, for your understanding. Let’s go together into our marvelous future! Until we meet again in that future, although we’re already living in it now! Many thanks to a life such as this!”

(Words on the screen, on a white background): “The film ‘Family homesteads are a living image, a living law! Family homesteads are Russia’s National Idea’.

Next comes a series of photos of the readers of the “Ringing Cedars of Russia” book series. They are holding posters with messages in support of adopting the “Law Concerning Family Homesteads,” as well as photos of family homestead settlements.

(Words on the screen, on a white background): “A great number of films and much information is available on the internet about family homestead settlements over the past 15 years.”

(Words on the screen, on a black background): “Alimov family, ‘Sunny Glade’ Family Homestead Settlement’”

Man: “It happened seven years ago. We lived in a city, the way people do. And my wife came across Vladimir Megre’s books, ‘The Ringing Cedars of Russia.’ I began reading and read whenever I could, for days at a time. The books just astounded me so much! There was an idea there, clear and comprehensible. And the idea is that a person needs to live on the land, and needs to have his own land. And that your roots should come precisely from that land.

“I liked the very idea of it. My wife and I accepted it wholeheartedly. And then in the spring we measured out our plot. And we ended up here, on a clear field, on the land. And we had to move along very quickly with the back-filling. It’s a frame dwelling, with wood chips between the walls. We put a large metal wood stove there.

“We wintered over in this wood chip house for two winters. But then it started spreading out on us and got a big bigger, so it’d be a little more comfortable. Meantime, we were building the house. And we’re still finishing up building it now. In this time much has begun happening. I mean, we’ve gotten a great deal of information that we needed, too. Our inner world has changed. There are a lot of things I used to do that I stopped doing: I used to have a drink, and smoke. It all fell away because I didn’t need it, and I had the realization that I’d been poisoning my organism for many years in a row. As a result I had to catch my breath, because I hadn’t been moving around enough. Now I move around a lot, a great deal. I mean, of course, both physically and in terms of questions of spiritual development, a person changes. He changes on the land, for the better.

“Plants. I’d never put in plants, never thought about what a plant is. I’d never directed my attention to the fact that you really can grow a plant with love. I gave it a try and put in an apple tree. I ate an apple, just an ordinary apple. I read it in the book and didn’t think that anything like that would happen to me, too. I held the seed beneath my tongue with good thoughts, made a wish, and planted it. It began to sprout. It grew to about 60 centimeters, probably, over one season, and kept its leaves all winter. This was a discovery for me. I felt my connection with the plant. When we moved here, my wife and I planted about 4500 trees and bushes, all told. I felt it through my own hands, the way plants and man interact. And right here on the homestead, that’s where you feel some kind of protection. I mean, the fact that you’re doing this with your very own hands. And there’s a reason they say that a man needs to have a son, plant a tree and build a house. And in Megre’s books he writes that you can live happily and in a spiritually and materially rich way. I mean, all of this really exists, if a person works on it. I haven’t regretted even the tiniest bit that my circumstances have played out just this way so that at this moment I have to be in just this spot. If I had a chance to do it again, I’d follow the same path. While I was reading the books, my inner state responded. When it had settled in our hearts, then we came, and here we just can see that things really are this way in life. We’re attaining everything. Everything that’s written in the books really exists – it really all exists. You just need to take a little step in that direction.”

(Words on the screen, on a black background): “In the video you heard the song, ‘This is Where My Love Lives,’ by Oles from Lyuboistok.”

(Words on the screen, on a black background): “Alimov family, ‘Sunny Glade’ Family Homestead Settlement”

Woman: “A single idea united us all, the idea expressed in Vladimir Megre’s ‘Ringing Cedars’ books. It’s the idea of creating family homesteads for your family, for your family line. Creating a space of love. We’re all united by the idea, and that unified spirit of the settlement – it hovers here. It exists. You can feel it. And this unity creates an atmosphere in the settlement. It creates what’s called a space. This is very well laid out in the books. But it’s interesting that every person who reads the book perceives it in his own way and begins putting it into practice and bringing it to life in his own way.

“Everyone does things differently. The way an artist paints different kinds of pictures. An artist paints one and the same object in various ways. It’s the same with people: each one understood and felt the idea, but he draws it in his own way. But when you drop by each homestead, it feels full of light and warmth and ease and sparkle. Each person starts with his own heart. First he develops this in himself: love, and this space. Then it fills the interactions within the family. And after that it already spreads out further and further and further.

“When they come and begin creating their family homesteads, first of all people are searching. They slowly come back, gradually come back to themselves, to their real selves. It’s very interesting to observe the way people begin opening up here. On their homesteads, people begin to sense this genuine feeling of freedom. It’s like a child. If you create all the conditions for him to open up – he opens up. It’s the same with already grown people: they find themselves within this atmosphere, within this freedom. And they begin to open up. One person discovers unusual talents inside him. For some it’s handicrafts or an aptitude for this or that pursuit.

“When we read the books, the approach to children inspired us, of course. Anastasia devotes a great deal of attention to that. Our little son was still less than a year old – eight months. And I’ll tell you, that after reading the books, I began to look at him differently. I began to sense and see the individual behind this tiny little child. It’s a big individual. And it’s self-sustaining. It already had wisdom, great wisdom, when it came. The kids are already growing up, before our very eyes, and we can see that it really is individuals who come into our lives. And they are so wise. For example, take how the teachers in school characterize a child. They say, ‘He’s calm, balanced. And you can sense some inner core in him, a strength. He’s such a stable one, so powerful…’ That’s what the teachers say about an eight-year old child. And since they’re calm and balanced, they have no fears. Within such an atmosphere, within such a space, children grow up with a sense of protection, that this world loves them and guards them, that it leads them through life. They are very, very trusting of this world. Their eyes are very open, and not just the eyes we see light with – the eyes of their soul are very open, too. And they look at this world with those wide-open eyes.

“But for today, I feel what kind of benefit we’re bringing. I mean I really feel it directly. In my way of life, the way we live. The way we interact with the outside word, the way we establish relationships inside us. We’re offering people an alternate example, I mean, for how one can live. And it’s a positive experience, and we’re sharing this experience. People come visit us and they fill up on positive emotions. They leave and want to change something in their lives.”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “In the video you heard the song, ‘The Earth is alive!’ by Oles from Lyuboistok.”

Woman: “In 1998 I read the books of Vladimir Nikolaevich Megre.”

Man: “We.”

Woman: “We did it together: our entire family and our children. The books captured our interest really strongly. From the start we treated our garden like a family homestead. But we realized that we lacked others who shared our views, and we began to develop this idea of creating an eco-village of family homesteads, the way it’s described in the books of Vladimir Nikolaevich Megre. And like-minded people have been gradually joining us.

“I feel that Vladimir Nikolaevich Megre’s idea is so very deep! It’s not just about creating a family homestead. It about returning to the sources, going back to that past culture that there once was on our Earth.

“Giving birth to children through three planes of existence. Now, preserving the energy of love – all of that really attracted us, because we can see the problems right before us. And I, as a teacher, see them, the problems in children. I see that only this one path can create a truly new civilization. Through creating a family homestead, through giving birth to new children, through giving new life to a new culture and – and this is the main thing – through interacting with all the living things that we’re creating here. Because we’re simply making discoveries here every day.

“We have nine family cedar trees. One cedar is just like a brother. You can go to him when you’re out of sorts. I sense it myself, that it heals me. I enjoy interacting, and not just interacting, do you get it? I enjoy coming to perceive this secret of interaction. And your organism gets better because of this interaction, and various strengths appear once again. And the main thing is that the belief in such a light, marvelous future for our Earth just grows stronger in our soul.

“When a person comes in contact with the Earth, he… The Earth simply, you see… it opens up… comes alive… These little family cedar trees – they play a very big role. Really! We sense it in ourselves.

“’Homestead’ is a very significant word. And Vladimir Nikolaevich actually gives the ‘image’ a very big role in the books. The image of Anastasia, the image of the family homestead. ‘Homestead’ – here is where I place my home, my family. If you replace the word ‘homestead’ with the word ‘estate’ the whole meaning is lost and the image is lost. And after all, the image is a very great power. And it seems to me that you shouldn’t under any circumstances use the word ‘estate.’ That’s my view. A homestead – here is where I place my home, my family.”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “In the video you heard the song, ‘There Will Be Good on Earth!’ by Oles from Lyuboistok.”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “Vlasov family, ‘Sunny Glade’ Family Homestead Settlement”

Woman: “I read the books at some point. Literally right back when they’d just delivered the first one, in Tomsk. I read it in one night and understood that it really intersected with what was inside me.

“The way I perceived life, what I saw in life, what I wanted in life. It was all described there. And somehow it ended up that the events of our life very precisely and clearly led us to a decision: whether to stay in the city or leave to go out onto the land.

“When we did start looking around for where we could live, we understood that we wanted to live with people we’re close to. And in our case, it all fell into place easily and simply, very quickly. We just up and made the decision and moved into tents. And in September we’d already moved into the house. We came here, and it just so happened, that the first people we saw here were the very people we’d come for. We came out into nature with the urge to open up, come together, and love. Love and rejoice at life. Everything leads us to this. We’ll go through a healing: physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. And we’ll all come to this. When you open up to nature, to all nature – and we’re talking about the nature of trees, the nature of man himself, the nature of God – when you open up to this and take that step, then It opens up to meet you. And you can’t not feel that anymore, you can’t not change. And there’s a second point here: it’s really your very own urge. I mean, if you start off, then you’re off! You’re heading toward your own natural state. You’re returning to yourself. And that’s key – this freedom of interaction, the thing Anastasia has spoken of. We’ve begun giving each other the opportunity to be ourselves. And the side effects are health, freedom of action and relationships, children. These are all these great side effects that are destined for all who come here, if they really are fearless enough to plunge into all of this, to give themselves over to it. We become free of the fear that our children will get sick, of fear about our children’s future, and about our own future. We’re free, because we know: look, there’s land here, there’s a home here. And it doesn’t matter how things go from here on: there will always be work, there will always be something to eat, there will always be something to wear. The terror passes, and you become a different person. And we’re showing other people that you can live differently. You can live without being sick, you can live without being afraid. The principle here isn’t coming out onto the land. The principle here is to turn and face the land. And oneself. If the call has come, you go. If it hasn’t come – well, live where you are. Live! If you want to live and rejoice, you have to live and rejoice.

“When did we begin to realize that we’re living in a family homestead settlement? This year our son lived in the city for half a year. After half a year he said, ‘I’m not going to build an apartment in the city. I’m going to build a home. And I’ll build it on my own land in the settlement.’ ‘In which settlement?’ ‘I’ll build it in our settlement.’ And he took the neighboring land, next to ours. And he said, ‘After all, we have the family land. And I’ll build my Family Line alongside you, within my own Family Line.’ This was such deep happiness! And it was only then that I understood that this is precisely what we really came here for. When your very own child says, ‘I’ll live here with you. I’ll carry on my Family Line here.’”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “In the video you heard the song, ‘Dreams Will Come True’ by Oles from Lyuboistok.”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “The Ozhigov Family, ‘Family Springs’ Family Homestead Settlement, ‘Spring-water Garden’ family homestead”

Andrei: “The settlement is called ‘Family Springs.’ Our homestead is called ‘Spring-water Garden.’”

Valentina: “We’ve been living here for seven years already. Our little one, Rodoslav, was born here. He’s three years and seven months old.”

Andrei: “One day Valiusha comes up to me and says, ‘Andriusha, there are these books here. I’ve read one of them, but you haven’t read it yet. Check it out.’ Long story short, I concluded that they were of interest to me, and that I needed to read them and move ahead. When I’d read the books, I realized that something was going on in our life. We were missing something, something…”

Valentina: “Something wasn’t right.”

Andrei: “Something wasn’t right in life. They prompted me to think and analyze in that direction, so that I, as head of the family, would be able to point my family toward further action.

“We began looking for land. In 2006 we came here. When we came here in the spring, we saw a bright Sun, and around the Sun was a beautiful rainbow. A gigantic rainbow! And soaring in this rainbow were two eagles! And they weren’t just soaring, they were spinning in some kind of love dance, kind of like they were doing somersaults! And this feeling unconsciously welled up in me and Valiusha…”

Valentina: “The tears began flowing!”

Andrei: “Tears began flowing. And we knew that this was our land, that this was where we’d carry on our Family Line.”

Valentina: “And during the seven years we’ve lived here, we’ve planted a great number of trees. You can say we’ve totally planned out our family homestead. We have a family glade, a family alley of trees. Each day we thank Anastasia and Vladimir Megre for the fact that we’re here.

“Our task now is to unify: unity within the family, unity within the settlement, unity with other settlements. We feel this, that this is very necessary now.”

Andrei: “We came to this land along with our Family Line. And we also accept that Family Line that was here. They’ve unified! We feel this! And this message which originated with our distant ancestors, and has come to us, to our Family line, offers us further development and a vision of how we’ll live, of what we can create for Russia, for people, and for the whole Earth.”

Valentina: “We think that this Family Homestead law is essential, because we’re certain that this is our land. We created the image, but all the same, we still need some kind of guarantees on the part of the State that our children will inherit this land, that all the products we produce won’t be subject to taxes.

“I think that it’s hugely important to definitely use the phrase ‘family homestead.’ Because there’s some substitution going on: ‘property’, ‘estate.’ Because these words carry a huge meaning.”

Andrei: “I’ll add something else. I think that these words contain not only a meaning, but that these words have been imbued with huge energy which simply accumulates in some place. And sooner or later, it will necessarily provide this stimulus and burst out. And then, further transformation really will take place, precisely in accord with this image. Precisely the image of the ‘family homestead.’”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “The Ozhigov family is for the ‘Law Concerning Family Homesteads’!”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “In the video you heard the song, ‘About What is Eternal’ by Oles from Lyuboistok.”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “The Samokhin Family, ‘Dubrovo’ Family Homestead Settlement, ‘Sunny Stream’ family homestead”

Woman: “We learned about family homesteads from Vladimir Megre’s books. We really liked the idea. We understood that we wanted to go out to the land. When we came to this settlement, we drove in and we saw there were streets there and little signs with the name of the Family Line, the plot number and the name of the street. And we took a walk around and had a look, and we understood that we’d found our spot, our homestead. And we decided to settle here.

“The settlers do absolutely everything here with their own hands. I mean, when they got the land in 2003, there were just bare fields here, scorched and yellow. Some really short little grass there, and nothing else. But nature has an astounding capacity for regeneration: it renews itself on its own.

“We sow, we reap, we supply our own water and electricity. I mean, most of the settlers buy solar panels. Basically we do everything ourselves, without help from the government. We plant huge expanses with premium variety plants at our own expense, and we buy seedlings at our own expense or grow them ourselves. Only when you’re in small communities do you understand that the smaller the collective, then the more time you spend with people, the more interaction you have, and the more sincere it is, and the more interesting life is.

“We all know each other here. If the children are running around, say, and run off… They can go off, say, first thing in the morning and come back around 10:00 at night. And no one worries, because they know that the child will be fed, no matter which homestead he might end up at. And they’ll wash him up and feed him and give him a change of clothes if need be, and everything will be okay.

“People open up here. Even the ones who come from the city, exhausted, closed, and shy – once they’ve spent some time here, in this living space, they open up. They discover such talents and creativity: one person starts writing poetry, another – songs. Another starts doing marvelous things he’s never done before. There’s a fountain of creativity. We have programmers who work exclusively here, because they say, ‘I can’t work there! I have to work here.’

“We have to do it the way it’s described in the books, because I trust and respect Anastasia very much. And I agree that yes, they have to make the ‘Law Concerning Family Homesteads.’ And that it has to be adopted exactly in that form. So that the land will definitely be passed down from generation to generation, so it can’t be taken away.

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “The Samokhin Family is for the ‘Law Concerning Family Homesteads’!”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “In the video you heard the song, ‘The Earth is Alive!’ by Oles from Lyuboistok.”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “The Sotski Family, ‘Dubrovo’ Family Homestead Settlement”

Man: We read the books and began to think about creating family homesteads. We were deciding how to do it, where, and how to organize all this. As a result, in 2003 we came out onto this plot of land, where they offered us the chance to settle. And we’ve been settling it, from 2003 up to today.

“Before we came to this plot of land, we’d driven around to nearly all regions of the Nizhegorod district, and only in this place did they offer to allot us a plot of land. But in order for them to give it to us, they asked us to submit documents showing exactly what we wanted. And here’s what happened: on the day before we were leaving to go meet with the administration, a picture came to me during the night. I jumped up at five in the morning, grabbed a piece of map paper and began sketching the plots the way I envisioned them. It ended up like two wings. And I thought, ‘Wow, how great!’ And when we got here and began showing it, the person helping us, he looks at us in surprise and says, ‘Oh, so you’ve already been there?’ and I say, ‘No, not at all. That picture just came to me!’ (He laughs.)

“It’s very well put in the books which brought us together, that sometimes an image is substituted – a word or some phrase or other that seems insignificant, and which seems close in meaning to the one that should be used – but in reality, it leads people off in an entirely different direction. Currently, the “Law Concerning Family Estates” has been adopted. We feel that this is an incorrect law. “Estate” – that implies a house. It’s located somewhere, and that there – that’s your estate. But a homestead – that’s a spot where the entire space develops, where you set out trees and shrubs, where there are bodies of water. There’s enough room for livestock and for people.

“Our legal group has submitted changes, and suggestions for changing the word ‘estate’ to ‘homestead’, and our suggestions for developing this law further. And we want it to actually be signed into law. It really is the idea of creating a way for the whole family to come together in one spot.”

Woman: “All generations.”

Man: “So that all generations can be present and grow in one space. That’s the first thing.

“The second is this: In our case, in this settlement we’re able to provide for ourselves completely. Here’s the usual example we’ve given to many people: for example, if you have 10 apple trees planted on your plot, but you need a maximum of 2-3 apple trees for your family, then, naturally, the surplus of apples can both suffice for the animals, and also make it possible for you to have surplus produce and receive a certain amount of funds that you can use to move forward in your development.

“It’s always difficult for the first people, because the land isn’t developed. We’ve all gone through the various stages and done everything in accordance with the laws. Our current administration and officials have had to show that this is in the law! We just have to give it form. But you know, there’s a different path for this law, too, but we, let’s say, want to follow this one. And these proofs, plans and calculations – we presented them all.”

Woman: “And when people began to look into it, they wanted to live here, too. They hadn’t imagined that you can live differently. And when they read this, they started to help!”

Man: “There’s a national idea that’s been expressed now in the books. I feel it’s the most promising one, and that this is an idea that really is worthy of attention and of being enacted. It’s the idea of reviving family homesteads: so that each person who wants can receive a plot of land not less than one hectare in size, and develop it for himself, his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on. So that we can fully support ourselves on this plot of land, provide ourselves with all we need, and live happily.

“And then Russia, too, will be revived through the family homesteads. Our entire culture will be revived, and our State will become the strongest state in the world.”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “The Sotski Family is for the ‘Law Concerning Family Homesteads’!”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “In the video you heard the song, ‘I’ll Build a Home’ by Oles from Lyuboistok.”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “Vladimir and Svetlana, visitors to the ‘Dubrovo’ Family Homestead Settlement”

Svetlana: “We’ve already read Vladimir Megre.”

Vladimir: “A long time ago.”

Svetlana: “A long time ago, more than ten years. We read them many times (she laughs) and became firmly convinced that this really was something for us. That it didn’t simply seem to us that this way of life of ours, and which our souls need, was resonating with us.”

Vladimir: ‘We traveled around the expanses of our Motherland, looked at various settlements, and came to the Nizhegorod district.”

Svetlana: “We like it here!” (she laughs)

Vladimir: “We were looking for a general spot where it would feel good for both of us…”

Svetlana: “Where we’d feel a heart connection.”

Vladimir: “Where we could realize our potential, both in life and creatively. And we found many friends in this settlement. And so we want to create something beautiful…”

Svetlana: “…together with them.

“Many people know about this idea now. It’s just that people sometimes can’t manage to fully take it in and join in. You need a bit of time for that. It falls into place quickly, for one person, but for another, it comes more slowly.”

Vladimir: “We want it to be easy for the people who come to live on the land, in a settlement, on a homestead – we want their eyes to shine. We want them to carry warmth and light in themselves, to their loved ones.”

Svetlana: “And for everything in their soul to fall into place!”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “The Mustaev Family, ‘Cherenga’ Family Homestead Settlement”

Woman: “Nothing happens by chance. Back then there was only Vladimir Nikolaevich Megre’s first book. At some seminar or other I heard about this book. And there was a book sales stand. We went over to this book stand. (She laughs.) So I put my hand on the book stand like this, and started reading the books…”

Man: “From the top down…”

Woman: “… looking at all of them from the top down…”

Man: “… row by row.”

Woman: “Mmmhmm, row by row, reading all the book titles. And when I got to the last book, the one I touched…”

Man: “The one your hand ended up on.”

Woman: “The one my hand was lying on…”

Man: “That one turned out to be…”

Woman: “The book ‘Anastasia. The Ringing Cedars of Russia.’ You know, fate really leads us so much!

“We looked at a lot of land, and we found this blessed land here. We really liked it here.”

Man: “And other families have come now, too, and we’ve founded the Cherenga Settlement.”

Woman: “We didn’t have any water here in the village. Now we’ve drilled wells.”

Man: “And our settlers have built a road, too, and paved it. They’re irrigating fields abandoned by the collective farms. The local residents and the district residents are happy that the land is being reborn here, that the village is being reborn. They come out from the city for strawberries. They pick berries. This is a very rich region. There are lots of mushrooms and berries here. The nature is amazing – there’s forest all around and marvelous air!”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “Anfimov family, ‘Dubrovo’ Family Homestead Settlement”

Man: “I got the book and read it, and I liked the idea.”

Woman: “Well, right away, I said, ‘I’m all for it.’ I was happy to, without even thinking about it, about how much or what, or how, about whether it would be complicated or not, whether it would come to be or not. I just wanted to do it, and that’s all!”

Man: “We decided: it’s time to make our dreams a reality. We received our homestead ‘Dubrovo’ in the Nizhegorod District a year ago.”

Woman: “We’ve taken the land into our heart.”

Man: “We have two children. We want to create a family homestead, dig a little pond, get some horses. Right here there’s already room for that. And room for us to, really, create a family nest.”

Woman: “I liked the community here. These celebrations, the kind of atmosphere all its own. All your friends, all your acquaintances – it’s like they’re your relatives. Like-minded people, with a common idea.”

Man: “An idea that unites them.”

Woman: “It does unite us. We really want this idea to spread throughout all of Russia, really.”

Man: “And throughout the whole world.”

Woman: “And throughout even the whole world. Really. It would be really great!”

(Message on the screen, on a black background): “In the video you heard the song, ‘How Good It Is’ by Oles from Lyuboistok.”

Host: “And now I suggest we head over to the eco-village “Slavnoe” (“Glorious”). Glorious people live there, people who build solar houses with their own hands and grow classic fruits and berries in classic garden beds.

“This is the Yasnogorsk Region of the Tula District. There are no signs of civilization as far as the eye can see. Eight years ago, Elena and Oleg Mineev decided, ‘This is an excellent place to live,’ and here they founded one of the first eco-villages in Russia.”

Elena: “We got the idea that we needed to get a hectare of land. Not just six hundred square meters, like some little apartment there. And not twelve hundred meters, but exactly a hectare, so we’d have our own forest.”

Oleg: “A forest, and also so we’d be able to build a home and put in a garden. And raise children in a pure and proper space.”

Elena: “And dig a pond and have fish in it. And that’s such a self-supporting ecosystem.”

Host: “In her native Murmansk, Elena was a practicing psychologist, but she grew tired of digging around in others’ problems and preferred digging in her own garden beds.”

“Oleg is a successful businessman in the food service field, and after several conflicts with his partners, he got ‘fed up’ with the business. He traded in his business suit for a loose-fitting embroidered shirt.”

Elena: “And then, too, we’d learned about city life. All the burdens and difficulties of city life, all the worries and illnesses, and all those stresses there – we’d experienced all this, and we wanted something different. And that ‘something different’ – it’s life on the land. And that’s why we’re here.”

Host: “Out in the fresh air, all the sickness and worries passed, and the Mineevs set about building their homestead. They started with the home, of course. In the eco-village Slavnoe, unlike the way it’s done in usual villages of ‘cottages’, the homes are built literally from whatever happens to be lying around. Oleg and Elena’s home is made of adobe – a building material made of clay, sand, and straw. In Slavnoe, they took a liking to adobe because it’s absolutely natural and relatively durable. And it’s just as interesting to build with it as it was for us to model with clay when we were kids.”

Oleg: “I mean we molded this house, as if it were made of plasticine. The walls here were put together like this… oh, and our friends, 55 people, they helped. This home was built in a month and a half.

“The feelings you get from the house are fantastic, actually! We’d lived in various city apartments our whole lives. But a home you’ve built with your own hands – that really is like your home and castle. We go in there, and we feel calm.”

Host: “The main engineering principle of the ‘glorious eco-villagers’ is to use the benefits of manmade civilization as little use as possible. For this reason, you won’t see any pipes or ditches, or electrical lines or poles. The main rule is complete autonomy. Electricity is provided by solar panels and wind generators, and heat by wood stoves.

“And Oleg and Lena’s neighbors went even further and build an entire solar home.”

Sergei: “This is a variation on a solar home. Why do we call it that? Because it’s heated by the Sun. In any case, that’s the way we want it to be. We’ve made this system here to do that. Look at this: here you have nothing but glass – good glass, by the way, glass that lets the sunlight through. But it doesn’t let the warmth back out. But if it’s going to be able to heat the home, it has to accumulate somewhere. And it accumulates in this huge, super thick adobe wall. We figure that this will allow us to save a great deal on heating, and maybe even get by without it entirely.”

Host: “A Muscovite born and bred, Sergei Terentev spent many years in that city saving lives: he worked as a cancer surgeon. His wife Irina is also a doctor. They moved to Slavnoe seven years ago. Now they’re saving nature. The first thing the physicians did was to begin restoring the forest. They’ve already planted more than 300 trees on their plot. Now you can even get lost amongst these low pine and oak trees.”

Sergei: “It’s a rare thing when you have the chance to do something like this, something you know will exist for many, many years. And most likely, it will begin to continue existing all on its own. Because the big trees will start sowing the seeds for little trees. I mean, you’re setting in motion a whole process, whose end point you can’t see. And now we can make a nursery there for some totally rare plants. It’s already protected from the wind and from freezing. We really could plant those sequoias there, some beeches. Everything we have here is really rare.

“Here, take a look: our cedar here is growing just beautifully, and it feels marvelous. It’s produced giant shoots.”

Host: “Cedars, sequoias and beeches aren’t the only rarity in the settlement. You’ll find a genuine oasis in the Mineevs’ domed greenhouse. Here tropical fruits and berries ripen here each year without any particular effort: cantaloupes, persimmons, grapes, peaches and watermelons. The whole key is in the right type of raised bed.”

Oleg: “Inside you have logs, and then hay, then there’s a little bit of manure, then ashes, then sand, and fertile soil on top – and there you have your layered pie.

“It’s hot there on the inside, the roots like it, and the plants grow up fast and strong. The main idea is to create moisture, warmth and comfortable conditions for the plants. And if you make this dome even a little bit bigger, you can grow trees and shrubs in it right here, along with plants and flowers and vegetable cultures like tomatoes and cucumbers.”

Elena: “I basically have nothing to say about grocery store tomatoes. We’ve totally rejected that option. We grow and eat only our own fruits and vegetables.”

Host: “For dessert the settlers have homegrown honey. They assure us that it’s particularly sweet and delicious. After all, the beekeeping here is also unique and natural. The person doesn’t interfere in the bees’ business.”

Oleg: “The bees have built up this thing here the way they like – without any honeycomb frames, without anything. That is, they figure out the air circulation themselves, however it’s comfortable and convenient for them, and so on. Our task boils down to doing what any beekeepers engaged in natural beekeeping should do: we provide the bees with living conditions that are as comfortable as possible, just the way we do for any other animals.

“Hey, there! Piglet! Hi, buddy, hi! Hi, you worker, you. Hup, two, three, four!”

Host: “Piglet’s already several months old, and a full-fledged homestead laborer. He takes the place of a rototiller for his owners. No one uses agricultural machinery here, and why should they? After all, this little piglet turned out to be much more effective than a huge machine.”

Oleg: “And look, you can have a look at the result. If you look over here, well, then after he’s cultivated it, you end up with this practically pulverized, loose soil. He gnaws out the roots and eats up all the grubs. He breaks up the soil up to a depth of, probably, about twenty centimeters. It’s unlikely you’d be able to do that with a rototiller, because a rototiller cuts things up small, cuts the roots up small. And then weeds start to grow.”

Host: “Now 150 families own their own hectare of land here. Neighbors know each other by name. They make decisions that affect the settlement’s development only as a group, and only decisions that will allow each separate person to live in harmony with nature and breathe clean air, breathe freely.”

(In the background you can hear Alyona Irina’s song “A Little Drop”.)

Sergei: “Now life feels much more full, more creative and more meaningful, for example, in terms of nature. But the most important thing is that we’ve stopped being particularly dependent on anyone. We organize our time ourselves. Well, and naturally, we bear the responsibility for that.”

(Words on the flag: “For our Motherland! For Putin! Car rally in support of Family Homesteads!”)

Correspondent Anastasia Zhuvaga, city of Tyumen: “The twelve-day rally in support of the rural way of life started in the city of Novosibirsk.

“The route taken by participants in the movement passes through a series of large cities, such as Tyumen, Kazan, Ufa, and Chelyabinsk. And it’s all going on so that, at the end of it all, Moscow, the capital of Russia, will hear them. After all, the main goal of this car rally is for the “Law Concerning Family Homesteads’ to be adopted.”

They sing:

“Our friendly teams heads off to Putin,

With greetings from all upright folks.

So many years now he’s taken care of our Homeland,

(Message on the screen: “Ksenia Chemeris: Hymn of the Car Rally: For our Motherland! For Putin!’”)

Of the beauty of the forests, meadows, lakes and seas.

“And we have a great and cherished dream:

For the planet to be a garden in bloom.

We’re pitching in to help the President with this,

We’ll put our shoulders to the wheel, as the common folk say.

“Long have we lived on our family homesteads.

We’re building a living Motherland for the centuries ahead!

And we’ll strengthen our government with our deeds.

Blooming and happy will the whole Earth be!

“And we have a great and cherished dream:

For happiness to settle in each loving family.

We’re pitching in to help the President with this,

Bringing the draft of a law about our native land!

(Message on the screen: “Family homesteads of the Vyatsky land”)

Our beloved city saw us off on our happy journey

With the smiles of its dwellers and its kind support.

Friends of our huge country meet us on our journey:

Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Ufa, Tyumen and Moscow.

“And we have a great and cherished dream:

For the whole country in creation to unite!

We’re pitching in to help the President with this

And we’ll fire up ardent hearts with light!

“And we have a great and cherished dream:

For the whole country in creation to unite!

We’re pitching in to help the President with this

And we’ll fire up ardent hearts with light!

(On the screen: “100.9 FM, Radio World of Belogorye”)

Newscaster: “This is a special report on Radio World of Belogorye.”

Host, Tatiana Lot: “The proposed law regarding reviving family homesteads in Russia is moving forward in the State Duma, as a national idea. It’s entirely feasible to create one’s own family nest right now.

“The law was first adopted in Russia four years ago, in the Belgorod district. The initiative is aimed at reviving traditional Russian homesteads. And for this reason, it was no coincidence that the fourth annual ‘Ringing Cedars’ International Festival of Family Homesteads took place precisely in the environs of Belgorod. Participants of the large-scale event, who are united by the single idea of creating homesteads, came to Belgorod not only from Russia, but also from Belarus, Ukraine, Abkhazia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Korea. We decided to find out what it is about living on the land that attracts people.

“This is Tatiana Lot, with our latest edition of special reports. Hello!

“It used to be in the past, that many people from a village would try their best to leave and go to the city. Now a growing number of people feel that city life is becoming uncomfortable and even hazardous to one’s health. And that’s why they’re leaving today’s giant cities and becoming rural dwellers, to be closer to the land.

“Now, about a hundred homesteads are being established in the Kalinovets homestead settlement in the Nizhegorod district. But for now only ten families have finished building their homes and are living there full time. Two years ago, the newlywed Nesterov couple began building their homestead, too.”

Woman: “This is the only path for my husband and me, and for our neighbors – the only path to a happy way of life, to a blossoming planet Earth! That is to say, it’s the way out of the dead-end path of development, of the technocratic and ecological crisis, the economic crisis, and the political crisis. And – and here’s what we really want – we want the entire planet Earth to come into bloom, and blossom. We want all people to be happy, and traditional families to live on family homesteads!”

Host: “Just like their like-minded neighbors, the young married couple – former city-dwellers – doesn’t regret that they decided to live according to the laws of the ancient Russian way of life.”

Woman: “It’s already nearly two years since our wedding. We invited all our friends, neighbors and relatives. Everyone came, and they planted a living fence and garden for us! They put it all in in just one day! The next day, we built our home! A round, straw home. What else do we have? We dream of having a little pond. Right now we’re growing herbs and baking bread. The girls here embroider and sew. We want to get our homestead set up, and then the settlement. We want to extend the roads ourselves and build a school, so that everyone will feel good here! We want the Earth to feel good, so that God’s dream will be fulfilled.”

Host: “Eating ecologically pure and beneficial produce, breathing clean air, creating large and friendly families and raising their children in love and harmony with nature; in time, creating workplaces and developing and reviving folk crafts and eco-tourism. Growing healthy plants, including fruit trees, in a natural way – from non-hybridized, non-GMO seeds. That’s how those who support the family homestead movement want to live.

“But for now, the lack of legislation about family homesteads on the federal level is preventing many of these cherished dreams from becoming a reality, in the majority of homestead settlements. Now State Duma reviews the ‘Law Concerning Family Homesteads’ project. I’ll remind you that in our region, a similar document has already been adopted, four years ago. According to the law, those who want to work and live on the land receive a plot of land one hectare in size, free of charge, for lifetime use. You must build a home on this plot. And it can be your official residence. You aren’t allowed to buy or sell family homesteads. They can only be passed along through inheritance. For example, people in the Karachansk region decided to revive the hamlet called Zarechye. Vladimir Shvets has already built his family nest there.”

Vladimir: “At the present time, we simply don’t have any problems. We solve all questions that come as we go along. What I mean is, the electricity feed and questions about the road. I mean, any questions: organizational, or concerning acquiring land – they all get solved very quickly. I mean, as they say, like one-stop shopping. At present there are already nine families living there. Actually two families built last year. Mine was one of them. We live there. And two other families are building. And I think that within three years, we’ll have built these homes of ours, the way it was stipulated, according to the agreement, and we’ll all be living there.”

Host: “’We hope that officials in these spots will also lend us an ear and support the movement for creating family homesteads,’ says Tatiana Rus, who participated in the ‘Ringing Cedars’ festival.”

Tatiana: “I want to express my great gratitude to Evgeny Stepanovich Savchenko for organizing this great holiday for our souls, for our aspirations! We’ve been to the ‘Silver Pines’ settlement and were amazed at how much support they’ve been given! Roads have been put in, and electricity, they’ve run gas lines in, and there’s water. Things we can only dream of! Now, we’re from the Nizhegorod district, from the ‘Kalinovets’ settlement, and we’d very much like to have this kind of support, because you can’t always do what you want to do quickly by working on your own. Great thanks and kudos to this person! I think that many governors and our deputies will take a look at this example, and something will stir in their consciousness, and they’ll come to the aid of what is such a beautiful deed on Earth – the creation of family homesteads. We’re hugely grateful!”

Host: “I’m Tatiana Lot. Take good care of yourself and your loved ones! I wish you all the very best!”

(On the screen: “100.9 FM, RADIO WORLD OF BELGORYE”)

Evgeny Stepanovich Savchenko, Governor, Belgorod district: “Before other people did this, you heeded your soul, which prompted you to live in peace and harmony with nature. And the law of harmony is the most important universal law. You are laying down a new path for the new Russia. And not just a new Russia, but, I’d go so far as to say, a New Civilization, as well. “

Sergey Andreevich Bozhenov, Mayor of Belgorod: “Within just the last few years, more than fifteen thousand city dwellers have begun living in their own homes. This movement continues to grow, and we’re already concerned about what it will be like for everyone who keeps on living in the city. In connection with this, we’re striving to create the necessary conditions to bring man closer to nature within the city, too, and to create harmony.”

Newscaster: “A huge event has taken place in the city of Belgorod: the Fourth International ‘Ringing Cedars’ Festival. On the eve of the festival, a no less important even took place – a convention of members of the ‘Family Party,’ which brings together those who share the philosophy of living on one’s own land. Many important questions were decided at this gathering. Vladimir Nikolaevich Megre, the well-known author of the ‘Ringing Cedars of Russia’ book series, was chosen as the party’s leader. After all, it’s his books that have served as the starting point of the new philosophy, the starting point of a new way of life. People realized they could live differently: they could live in unity with nature, create a space of love on their own family homestead, and give their children a bright future. The hearts of thousands of people have responded to the books. And today, the idea laid out in the books has become Russia’s national idea.

“More than 210 settlements made up of family homesteads have already been established across the whole country. It’s very important to people for the ‘Law Concerning Family Homesteads’ to be adopted on the federal level.”

Evgeny Stepanovich Savchenko: “It’s important for a law to be adopted on the federal level that will allot a plot of land one hectare in size (or of whatever size one wishes) to all who wish to live on the land, which they will own for lifetime use and can pass down via inheritance, without the right of sale or resale.”

Newscaster: “The Belgorod District became the first district to adopt this law. In eleven regions of this district, nearly 200 hectares of land have already been formally set aside for family homesteads. And this is precisely why the city of Belgorod was chosen as the site for the Fourth International ‘Ringing Cedars’ Festival. The residents of Belgorod are known for their warmth and hospitality. They welcomed guests from various corners of Russia, the former Soviet Union and further abroad, with open arms.

“Official guests included Vladimir Nikolaevich Megre; Evgeny Stepanovich Savchenko, Governor of the Belgorod District; Valery Aleksandrovich Sergachov, Vice-Governor of the Belgorod District; Sergei Andreevich Bazhenov, Mayor of the city; and Yuri Vladimirovich Shalun, Head of the Administration of the Belgorod Region. And it was, in fact, the Administration of Belgorod that organized the Fourth International ‘Ringing Cedars’ Festival.

“Evgeny Stepanovich Savchenko, District Governor, opened the festivities. Vladimir Nikolaevich Megre also offered words of greeting.”

Vladimir Megre: “Thank you for existing! You are those little shoots that push their way up – which push their way up through the streams of negative information, push their way up in their own beautiful, new time.”

Newscaster: “The holiday hosted a full program. A musical competition was held, and representatives of family homestead settlements from various regions of Russia participated in a fair.

“The ‘Ringing Cedars’ festival was a large-scale and significant event. Local and regional press showcased the event. A press conference was held, at which Vladimir Megre and government representatives answered all questions that interested those present.”

Journalist: “Why the Belgorod district in particular? What new things do you want to see, hear and discover here?”

Vladimir Megre: “The Belgorod district was the first to adopt the ‘Law Concerning Family Homesteads’ and for that reason, I’m most interested in seeing what kind of atmosphere is developing here. There’s a very cordial atmosphere between people and the authorities here. They interact on equal footing. I like that very much.”

Newscaster: “At the end of the day, Vladimir Nikolaevich was able to spend some time getting to know his readers.”

Woman, holding out a gift to Vladimir Megre: “May this, perhaps, inspire you to write new books.”

Newscaster: “The second day of the festival took place at the ‘Silver Pines’ family homestead settlement in the village of Ustinka in the Belgorod Region.

“Family homestead settlements are unique spots on our Earth. After all, people return to their roots here and live in harmony with themselves and nature.”

Little girl: “I have my own children’s glade. I have garden beds there, and plants.”

Resident: “The main thing is, we’re offering the family homestead’s healthy way of life. That’s the main thing!”

Newscaster: “Guests had the opportunity to get to know a bit more about the everyday life of the settlement’s residents and how they live. An exhibit of decorative arts and handicrafts ran throughout the whole holiday, as well as master classes on lace-making using spindles, hand-loom weaving and decorative quilting. The best folk and folklore groups performed on the main square. Anyone who wished to do so could share his or her creative work – poetry or songs – by participating in the ‘open mic’.”

Song:

“On the Earth there lives beauty. Beauty!

Created by people in love!”

Newscaster: “This was a very high quality festival. The guests thanked the organizers.”

Polina Megre: “We’ve brought gifts for the organizers of this marvelous festival from our bountiful Siberian land. We are very happy for you, happy that everything is so beautiful here! And what a wonderful city you have! You have a good governor! He’s a very light-filled person, and you’re all smiling here. We will take a little portion of your warmth back home with us. Thank you very much!

“And we’ve brought Siberian cedar seedlings so the cedars can be revived here.” (Applause)

Newscaster: “What’s very important is that the representatives of the Belgorod government understand how valuable and necessary family homestead settlements are. After all, this is a new philosophy of how to live. This means a nation returned to health, and strong and stable families living in love and harmony, and that means a strong and stable future for the entire state.”

Evgeny Stepanovich Savchenko: “Today we are witnessing a great beginning! The great beginning of the building of a new space, a new civilization, where there are no rich and no poor. Where there’s more love! We’ve walked around here, and we’ve seen for ourselves how many shining people there are here. And a deep bow to you, Vladimir Nikolaevich, the person who has altered our consciousness and continues to alter it. You deserve to be remembered for all time.”

Newscaster: “The International “Ringing Cedars’ Festival is always a holiday! After all, it brings together thousands of people, people united by a single idea, people who love their land and revere their roots and family traditions. The festival brought us a great many positive feelings, and gave us the chance to spend time with like-minded people, share our creative work, tell about ourselves and learn about the life of other family homestead settlements.

“Good bye, friends, until we meet again at the next festival!”

Mikhail Zadornov: “Vladimir, congratulations. Do you know what for? For having so many people who think the way you do! By the way, I think the way you do, too. You’ve done something great: you’ve instilled in people a love for their Family line, a desire to get to know their Family line! And you’ve led a multitude of people away from the bustle of city life. You’ve shown them that a different way of life exists, and they’ve come to share your ideas, forever more. Volodya, big kudos to you for this noble deed! And in my opinion, the name of the festival – ‘Ringing Cedars’ – it’s a good one. You know, the cedar has always been my favorite tree.

“When I hear the word ‘cedar’, my mood improves. And so, kudos to you for bringing people back to – and I want to say it right, now – to an understanding of life that ‘conforms to natural laws’. Big kudos to you and Anastasia for that!”

(Words on the screen: “Aliya Nazarbaeva on the topic of Family homesteads. Author of the film ‘Awakening’.”)

Aliya Nazarbaeva: “I feel that people nowadays are thinking more and more about how they should be living going forward, about what kind of values they need, about what will be most important for their future children, and about the kind of surroundings our children will grow up in. What kind of air will they breathe, what kind of water will they drink, and and what main values will they exemplify? For this reason, probably the most important thing is what we will leave those who come after us. I myself, as the mother of two children, am concerned about the future.

“This is more like the family homesteads that parents are creating for their descendants, for their children. I mean it’s something everlasting their children can inherit from them. A home, sure, it’s fine today, but it will go out of fashion tomorrow. If you don’t take care of it, then in ten years, it simply won’t exist any more. But if you plant trees and gardens and a forest, now that’s something everlasting. That’s something that you can pass down from generation to generation. It’s a place where your children сan get and draw in power. The power of the land, the power of that very love that was put into that plot by their parents.”

Patriarch Kirill: “Everything that the Church does is directed toward forming a values system. After all, the Church can’t take the place of the police. And the Church can’t engage in a technological war with corruption. But the formation of national ideals, especially among young people… Now, you asked a question about how young people should be building and so on. If I were the boss – there used to be that column in the Literary Gazette, remember? – I’d basically give every young man a piece of land. We have a ton of land! (Applause.) And what’s more, I’d give it away for free, but on the condition that he do something on that land. If he doesn’t – we take it away. There’s your primary capital! Our country has the primary capital!”

Press Conference of the President of Russia, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev:

Host: “We have a rather mysterious question here about family homesteads. The most… one of the most popular questions. Five thousand internet users have posed it in one form or another. Perhaps they have some clever way to do this. But, even so, this question received a great many votes, and we on the editorial board chose Alexander from Rostov: ‘The housing problem will grow, as we say. There is an alternative: a single-storey Russia and a law allowing for the allocation of a hectare of land to each family for them to live and build on. Are you familiar with such projects, and how do you feel about this?’ I know that you’re familiar with them.”

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev: “Well, of course, I’m familiar with them. Overall, the idea of family homesteads, in the form in which it’s formulated here is totally positive. It’s obvious that given the large scale of a land such as ours, with such large land reserves, it doesn’t make sense for everyone to be concentrated only on small pieces of land, even in giant cities, say. It’s much more beneficial – for both one’s health and for the State, for the country – to spread out across the entire territory of our very large State. It’s beneficial for the country, too, and also, it’s much nicer to live in rural conditions, in out-of-town conditions, than in giant cities.”

Host: “And one’s psychology changes. A person lives differently.”

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev: “And one’s psychology changes, and a person has a different sense of himself. The thing is that it’s entirely obvious: No matter how comfortable or even big an apartment might be, the living space out in the country is still much bigger than in the city. We’ll work on it.”

(On the screen: “Family homesteads are Russia’s national idea”)

(On the screen: “Conclusions

“The phrase ‘family estate’ means ‘a dwelling and other household or leisure structures or outbuildings, which represent a separate household, and which are handed down from generation to generation through inheritance.’ The phrase ‘family homestead’ means ‘a land holding, usually with dwellings, leisure structures or outbuildings, including a home.’ Thus, a homestead can include an estate. If an estate is basically the dwelling and outbuildings, then a homestead is a land holding on which a dwelling and outbuildings can be located. The terms ‘family estate’ and ‘family homestead’ are not mutually exclusive synonyms. The term ‘family homestead’ is broader than the term ‘family estate.’”)

(On the screen: “FOR THE LAW CONCERNING FAMILY HOMESTEADS”)

Subtitles prepared by Yury Laikov and translated by Susan Downing