At the Iron Forest of Court Yag lies the Iron Lake of Court. The Cort-vis – river is an iron channel, carrying its heavy waters. And on Iron Mountain stands the village of Kortkeros; Kört Aika, the iron man –, the world's first blacksmith and terrible sorcerer, once lived here.
It is here, in the village of Kortkeros in the Komi Republic, that, starting in 2014, the Interregional festival of blacksmithing art «Kört Aika», established by the administration of the municipal district «Kortkeros» in honor of the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Kortkeros region, has been held.
Every year in the first half of July, blacksmiths from all over Russia and abroad come here, delegations from the Union of Blacksmiths of Russia and other blacksmith associations come here.
Every year, blacksmiths work on creating an art object. In the first year of the event, the «Tron Aiki» Court was forged and installed in the park. During the second festival, an international art residency was held in 2015. The holiday was attended by representatives of blacksmith communities from Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, France and Slovakia. The blacksmiths made the owner of the – Iron Man holiday, its size was more than three meters.
Every year, blacksmiths work on creating an art object (Photo: Festival of Blacksmithing «Court Ika»)
The festival attracts a large number of spectators, because it is a truly unforgettable spectacle – to see how a real work of blacksmithing art is born before your eyes.
In addition, an entertainment program is being prepared for the audience, each of them can try themselves as a blacksmith, watch a master class, become the owner of a lucky coin «One Kuy» and hear an amazing legend about the first blacksmith to whom the elements obeyed.
Kört-Aika (Iron Beetroot) – Upper Vychegodsky mighty sorcerer, hero of the Komi-Zyryan legend about Stefan of Perm.
Everyone can become the owner of a lucky coin «One Kuy» (Photo: Festival of Blacksmithing «Court Ika»)
M.N. Lebedev, the famous poet Komi, wrote a legend about «Kört-Ike». A sorcerer lived by Iron Mountain, Cortkeros, wore iron clothes and a hat, arrows flying away from his iron body. He had an iron house, an iron boat and an iron bow. And he was the first person to subjugate iron; no one knew how to forge before him.
Kört-Ayka was a powerful sorcerer, he knew how to turn day into night, extinguish the sun and moon and turn the river back.
But his main occupation is – robbery, he blocked Vychegda with an iron chain and stopped ships. So he stopped Stephen of Perm, who prayerfully hit the chain with a cross, causing it to tear and drown. With prayer, Stefan landed on the shore, then the sorcerer rushed at him with an ax. Stefan of Perm knew about the invulnerability of the iron giant, but prayer worked a miracle: one blow from Stefan caused Kört-Aik to fall dead. And where the village of Kortkeros fell.
In addition, an entertainment program is being prepared for spectators (Photo: Festival of Blacksmithing «Court Ika»)
Interregional festival of blacksmithing «Kört-Ika» became the winner of the All-Russian project competition «Best of the best», the All-Russian project competition «Cultural mosaic of small towns and villages», the republican competition for a grant from the Head of the Komi Republic in the field of cultural and leisure activities in the category «Living tradition and modern society».