Penza, 21 September 2015. PenzaNews. The first open interregional Russian ethnic culture festival “Zhar-Ptitsa” took place in the Penza region.

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It was accompanied by a plenary meeting held in the lecture hall of the Penza State University building No. 5 on Monday, September 21.

The Penza State University principal Alexander Gulyakov pointed out that Europe tries to impose its cultural values on Russian citizens in the mingling of cultures.

“If we do respect ourselves, if we indeed consider ourselves a nation, if we are proud patriots, we must claim our place to stand. It is my firm belief that we need to respect ourselves on the international level, or otherwise no one will respect us,” he stressed.

The Russian culture is rife with traditions, and thus Russia must adhere to its own cultural approach, Alexander Gulyakov said.

“We must create our own system of moral norms, our system of values that is adapted to us as people born in Russia, adapted to the thousand years of laws, cultural customs and traditions of our country. We must follow them,” said the principal.

Meanwhile, the park of the university campus became a place of open air festivities, workshops on Russian ethnic customs, rites and crafts, while the square before the PSU building No. 8 housed a scene with performances of members and guests for the event.

The festival also featured a workshop on bell ringing in the Spassky Cathedral by Dr. Alexander Yareshko, head of the Ethnic Song and Ethnic Music Studies department of the Saratov Sobinov State Conservatory.