About the end of September the field labour is finished, and on the first day of October the harvest festival begins--a joyous season, during which the parish fetes are commonly celebrated.
To celebrate a parish fete in true orthodox fashion it is necessary to prepare beforehand a large quantity of braga--a kind of home-brewed small beer--and to bake a plentiful supply of piroghi or meat pies.

Oil, too, has to be procured, and vodka (rye spirit) in goodly quantity.
At the same time the big room of the izba, as the peasant's house is called, has to be cleared, the floor washed, and the table and benches scrubbed.

The evening before the fete, while the piroghi are being baked, a little lamp burns before the Icon in the corner of the room, and perhaps one or two guests from a distance arrive in order that they may have on the morrow a full day's enjoyment.
On the morning of the fete the proceedings begin by a long service in the church, at which all the inhabitants are present in their best holiday costumes, except those matrons and young women who remain at home to prepare the dinner.

About mid-day dinner is served in each izba for the family and their friends.

In general the Russian peasant's fare is of the simplest kind, and rarely comprises animal food of any sort--not from any vegetarian proclivities, but merely because beef, mutton, and pork are too expensive; but on a holiday, such as a parish fete, there is always on the dinner table a considerable variety of dishes.