28.07.2026
Every year, the Library of Foreign Literature in Moscow, together with the Moscow Government and the embassies of Latin American and Caribbean countries, organizes a Festival of Latin American Culture. By tradition, RGGU professors and students take part in it. This year, throughout the entire program of the festival and until mid-September, the library exhibits creative works of folklore project (lecturer, assoc. prof. Tatiana Borisova) done by the students of the Art Design Training Center (Director, assoc. prof. G. Volkova).
On July 25, Director of the International Russian-Brazilian Center assoc. prof. Lyudmila Baturina conducted an interesting lecture "Brazilian myths, fairy tales and legends". The students of the Institute of International Relations of the Department of American Studies, who were interning at the Brazilian Center, were preparing the materials for the lecture.
The culture of the Brazilian people — both poetic, musical, and visual — is striking in its brightness, colorfulness, and amazing originality. The spiritual peculiarities of different nationalities have been preserved and are still alive in it. But this is not a mixture, but an organic alloy. The Brazilian nation was formed in special historical conditions: first, the European colonialists encountered the Indians, the indigenous inhabitants of the country; then, at the end of the 16th century, they began to import African slaves into the country - a close interaction arose between the three groups of the population, which marked the beginning of a new nation, a new culture. Naturally, the uniqueness of the Brazilian national character and culture was expressed primarily in folk art, where the interaction of three sources feeding and generalizing each other was clearly and palpably manifested.
In her lecture, Lyudmila Baturina spoke about the historical and anthropological roots of myths, fairy tales and legends of Brazilian folklore, showed what their fundamental differences and causes are, read out the most illustrative examples from each group, drew parallels with Russian folk art, and also told how folklore continues to develop nowadays. The lecture lasted almost two hours and aroused great interest among the audience.
The texts of myths, fairy tales and legends with illustrations made by RSUH students can be viewed here.
The video lectures are here: https://vkvideo.ru/video-182089731_456239544
