On March 21, 2015 the 1st year Indian students (from the group 35) visited the Volgograd Music and Drama Cossack Theatre for the first time. The main purpose of visiting this theater was the desire of foreign students studying the Russian history and culture, to get to know better our country and especially our Volgograd region. Cossack culture is the integral part of the unified Russian culture and possesses all national characteristics of the Russian traditional culture development. The Volgograd region has rich history and no less rich culture; and as visitors Indian students had a great chance to plunge into national color of the Don Cossacks.

In the anticipation of watching the musical comedy "Once in Malinovka" foreign students were told the history of the Cossack theater creation. The guys managed to hear the legends associated with the Cossack theater building. One of the legends says that the merchant Shlykov built this theater in memory of his daughter.

During the performance, the Indian students had the opportunity to see traditional costumes and elements of Cossacks’ everyday life, to hear Russian folk songs, which greatly impressed students, besides they tried to understand sadness and joy of the heroes. Indian students handed theater actors flowers in gratitude for their creative work and enthusiasm.

After the end of the play Indian students visited the unique Cossack theater museum, presenting symbols and banners of the Don Cossacks. Students were able to make a short excursion into the historical and cultural past of the Russian people, whose traditions and cultural heritage have not been forgotten and are revered by many nowadays, but also are revived by the modern generation, revealing the core values of the Cossacks (and of the Russian society as a whole), such as family, love, continuity of traditions and the link between different generations.

Olga Vystropova, Natalya Goncharenko, Denis Kovrizhnykh