People came to Anufrievo from miles, even hundreds of miles away in to honor Troitsa. They came in 1995 and 1996 (when I was living there) -- as they came all through the Soviet period -- to their rodina and to their ancient graveyards. you wander from grave to grave, beckoned by families: "Come! remember my husband! Come, remember my son!" Stories are told of life and death: "you never knew my babushka! She was a good woman!" Sometimes you cry at untimely deaths.

The oldest people in Anufrievo had lived through revolutions, wars, famines, political upheaval, and the physical and psychic ills that followed in the wake of these events. They came not to sing any particular song or light any particular candle, but to remember their dead, converse with their dead, drink and dance to them until they could drink and dance no more.   Villagers honor the dead with food, drink, and impromptu dancing on Troitsa, or Trinity, a Russian Orthodox holiday that was observed in rural russia even during Soviet times. At top, a man at the Anufrievo cemetary mourns the recent death of his father. On the left, a woman prepares to pour drinks to honor the dead, Below, the The Gromov family pay thier respects.

Galia and Tolya Pavlovy frolic in the pasture after spending the day celebrating Troitsa.