Main Room

The layout of the main room is typical. Opposite the door into the room is the icon corner. This is the focal point of the room and the house.

In the past, prior to the Soviet era, a person walking into the room would bow to the icon corner and cross him or herself. Guests are welcomed in the icon corner and offered food. A table stands under the icon corner today and most ceremonial meals, whether it is for rituals such as the wedding, or to fete honored guests, are served at the table that stands in the icon corner.

The icon corner is associated with the male members of the household and it is the responsibility of the eldest male, or household head, to keep the flame in the icon lamp which hangs under the icons lit at all times. The flame is no longer kept lit except during holidays.

Opposite the icon corner is the stove or pich. The stove is enormous. It takes up a large percentage of the house and, like the icon corner, is a center of activity.

As the icon corner is male and as it is the food consumption area, so the stove is food preparation area and associated with the women of the household; it is their responsibility to care for the fire in the stove.