Less than 70 miles from Moscow, a centuries-old craft continues. Passed down through generations and fashioned in backyards, wood carvings play an important role in Bogorodskoye village life. But the handcraft may be fading.
For 400 years, villagers in Bogorodskoye, Russia, have whittled figures from the area’s plentiful linden trees. The toy-making tradition began in what may seem an unlikely spot: a monastery.
In the 1500s and 1600s, Bogorodskoye belonged to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius—the most important Russian Orthodox monastery. Villagers were monastic serfs—peasant-servants of the church. They produced toys as a source of income. By the mid-1700s, the craft became independent of the church.
Valentina Degteryova offers tours of Bogorodskoye’s toy museum. “Since the middle of the [1700s], toys were carved in every garden of our village,” she says. “But they were carved by families.” Children learned to craft figures from wood at an early age, and skills passed from generation to generation.
Each family specialized in one type of toy—birds, animals, or people. Carvers used a “Bogorodsk knife” to finesse the wood for a distinctly smooth surface.
Eventually, local artisans opened a woodcarving school. From 1917 until the late 1980s, the village was a major center for wooden toys.
The most popular carvings were “motion” toys and those reflecting Russian stories or everyday village life.
Many toys feature bears, an important image in Russian fairy tales, folk songs, and legends. Bears might appear cutting firewood, typing at a keyboard, playing chess, or strumming the balalaika, a Russian stringed instrument.
One motion toy known as “The Blacksmiths” has become a symbol for Bogorodsk carving and the village of Bogorodskoye. It features a person and a bear alternately striking an anvil with a mallet.
Some motion toys are more involved. In one, six people drink tea at a table, each one raising a cup. In another, farmers feed chickens, split wood, and play music all at once. The movement comes from counterbalances, hidden springs, strings, or other simple devices.
Degteryova says the village once supported more than 250 carvers. Today, that number has dwindled to 18.
At 38 years old, Kirill Sapelov is the youngest Bogorodsk carver. He still uses the traditional Bogorodskoye carving style and movement mechanisms.
“My dad is from Bogorodskoye, so he carved wood,” Sapelov explains. “It sort of happened to me too, so I had to carve it.”
In God’s “workshop,” our Maker fashions each human individually and perfectly. (Psalm 139:13) He has a divinely appointed purpose for everyone—including you! (Jeremiah 29:11)
Why? Experience and background—including family heritage—can provide valuable insight into where a person’s strengths and gifts may lie.
