Peasant traditions. Russian people: culture, traditions and customs

In the folklore version of the tale "Turnip", recorded by the researcher Afanasyev (1826-1871),
legs are involved in pulling out turnips from the ground: “A friend's leg has come; another leg by leg ... "
Image: John Atkinson (1775-1833) Hut, 1803

“For the mockery of a child over an old man or a cripple, as a rule, flogging will follow. For mimicking a drunk, a stutterer, or a person with a tic, a very strict debriefing." l_eriksson collects memories of his mother, her sisters, grandmother and her fellow villagers from a village in the Kostroma region.


On upbringing by labor from infancy:

Everyone knows that the basis for raising children in the Russian countryside was work. This work was perceived by the child not as a heavy burden, but as a demonstration of his ever-increasing status, approaching adulthood. The reward for this work has always been recognition of the importance of the work done, praise, demonstration of the results to family, friends, neighbors. The child acted not as a servant of adults, but as a junior comrade in a common cause. It was unthinkable not to praise him for the work done, to ignore him: apparently, the long experience of generations inspired people that this is an effective reinforcement of the education of diligence.

Learning new labor skills took place patiently, and the one who had time for this, grandmother, older children, did it. On the farm in my aunt's family, I saw children's tools that were in good condition, carefully made and updated as they wore out: in the set of children's rakes, for example, there were a variety of ones - both for a seven-year-old and a thirteen-year-old child. Among children's tools there were no dangerous ones - children's scythes did not exist. A shovel with a child's handle - please. Entrusting a child with an unbearable or dangerous task was considered a whim.

During training in this or that business, in the first place, of course, was an example. But they did not spare time for words either.
Once a skill was mastered, the activity almost automatically became a duty. But the children were not afraid of this, because in the family team everyone knew how to do everything, and there was always someone to insure, replace.

One more moment. The child was shown the place of his help in the system of common affairs, there was an acquaintance with related ones. For example, the collection and cleaning of mushrooms (at first - under the guidance of adults - so as not to miss the poisonous ones) was followed by the science of their preparation. I remember when I was 8 or 9 years old I used to pickle collected mushrooms in a tiny jar - not only to boast about them later, but also to remember the process.
The more complex and significant the skill mastered by the child was in the household, the more formal, ritualized signs of respect appeared.

- Girls, give Yura a towel, he mowed! Pour some milk for Yura. Sit down, Yurochka, girls, give Yura cheesecakes. Teenager Yura himself can perfectly reach everything - but no, he is shown respect, he is carefully served. Sitting next to him, smiling, is his uncle - they don’t dance like that in front of him anymore, he’s an adult, he’s used to it, but Yura needs to be taught, encouraged.

And what a clean porch today! Take off your boots, Yura! (I washed the porch - cleaning the house is a matter for older children, and the canopy, porch - for the kids).

What else? Bringing water (we didn't have running water) was also a common thing. Even the smallest child could carry a liter bucket from the river - it would come in handy. Rinsing clothes, cleaning copper dishes (basins, samovars). Washing dishes in the house. Minor cleaning - dust, rugs - adults did not do this. But at the same time, praise and recognition were the main tool for forming habits. As far as I remember, no one shouted at the children about work duties, it happened for other reasons - pranks, fights, tricks.

Garden. No matter how great were the duties of children in the garden, there was still an agricultural strategy. Therefore, the kids usually went there on a specific assignment, and adults gave instructions - when and what to water, weed. Older children could do this without being reminded - they themselves knew what to do there. Usually, the garden is the domain of grandmothers, who will no longer go to graze, mow, or carry hay. But their experience is huge - it can be passed on to children. (The traditions of the peasant garden are very different from modern summer cottages. If you follow them, there is no “sadism” in gardening, all this plastin over the beds is empty pampering that does not affect the harvest).

Animal care had age gradations. Small and not too dangerous animals were entrusted to small ones, large and strong ones - only to physically strong and reasonable teenagers. Bees - also with caution, and under the guidance of adults. Children were mainly engaged in chickens and sheep. (Feeding, corralling, collecting chicken eggs, caring for chickens are all childish things.)
But gradually there was also training in handling large cattle. They put me to milk a cow when I was 10 years old, to try. Aunt stood nearby, prompted, advised.

I got on a horse at 11. No saddle, no bridle - they let me ride, get used to the animal, with the understanding that no one can replace the experience of communication. After several hours of riding (8 kilometers in total), the horse threw me off. I was comforted, but not particularly sorry. The process of stuffing cones was not hindered, they simply had in mind which cones could be allowed to be stuffed and which not.

"Girl" work: acquaintance with the spinning process. I tried to spin late - at the age of 9. It was a mess. My grandmother “spun” my thread into her skein - I saw it and knew that there would be socks that I was involved in.

Small construction, repair - boys were attracted to this. Fix the fence, carve the handle for the tool - under the supervision of adults. But the first tool that the boy carved himself was a rod. Fishing is leisure and pleasure. In addition to fishing with a fishing rod, our young relatives were taught to catch fish in the muzzle, to install “hooks” (large rods for pike). The kids caught small fish - live bait for pike. The older guys were catching crayfish.

In general, when they laugh at the Chinese, they say, they eat everything that crawls, except for a tank, that floats, except for a boat, and everything that flies, except for an airplane - I want to object - but aren't we? Children in the village were encouraged to collect everything edible. Mom collected "pestles" - the upper sprouts of horsetails, they were fried in vegetable oil and eaten - they taste like mushrooms. Sorrel, nettle, gout, many types of berries, a huge list of mushrooms - everything that you can eat, you need to be able to find and cook deliciously. The "School of Survival" worked constantly, and most importantly, it was not cut off from everyday life. Even if there was plenty of “normal” food, a couple of times in the spring one could feast on “pestles”, and sorrel soup was cooked, even if there was also cabbage. The constant picking of mushrooms and berries in the summer is children's and old people's fun and work. We were shown how to dry mushrooms and berries, how to make jam, and salt mushrooms.

But there were things that children were not entrusted with - no matter how you beg. Even the presence of animals and birds during the slaughter was not allowed from childhood. This prohibition has also been verified by generations. If it is too early to allow a child to experience such processes, he will either get scared (treat him later, there are no neuropathologists in the village!), or cruelty will develop in him, which can later turn into terrible things. Therefore, everything that was connected with the killing of the living - only for older teenagers, and then - at first only in the role of observers, so that they get used to it.

(By the way, in the Vyatka Territory, these restrictions were also in effect. I heard that one hunter friend, who attracted his first-grader son to remove skins from dead fur animals, was condemned by his comrades - they unanimously and reasonably criticized him, advised him to help in this matter find and hire an adult or handle it yourself).

The result of peasant labor education was the formation of a personality ready for life in any conditions, actually owning several specialties at an informal level, and most importantly, not only ready for work, but not thinking of life without it. At the same time, the socialization of the child took place, the development of his ability to cooperate with others. For centuries, developed educational methods in this direction made it possible to do without violence and - in most cases - even without coercion.

Discuss on the author's blog



On respect for elders:

F. G. Solntsev. "Peasant family before dinner", 1824

One of the most frequently observed reasons for the use of punitive pedagogy in the peasant environment was the demonstration by the child of disrespect for elders. It was probably one of the biggest sins.
As soon as a parent found out that his child had been rude to an adult, an elderly person, the most stringent measures were immediately applied.

Moreover, no connection between the behavior of this adult, the old man and the reaction of the child was not taken into account. The old one could be guilty a hundred times, unfair, out of his mind - the children had no right to refuse him formal respect.
Even at school, the most absurd teacher could count on the support of his parents in any of his requirements. Another thing, I don’t remember a case when a dull student was scolded at home for deuces if he was hardworking and dexterous in daily work. Parents patiently endured the reproaches of the teacher, but did not fall into some kind of sadness because of this and did not torment the child.

It was possible to intercede for a child in front of another adult only in the form of dialogues - in persuasion, explanations. But only up to a certain limit, usually related to assault.

No matter how much was said in the Russian peasant environment about forgiveness, about the dangers of revenge, these words did not always serve as a guide to action. Hidden resentment smoldered for years, and very often found a way out, and a merciless way out - at a convenient time. The Russian peasant eats the dish of revenge not cold, but completely icy! But the one who provides the products for this dish can be sure that it is waiting in the wings.

Events, the reaction to which I sometimes observed, took place 30-40, or even 50 years before the response to them. You can say that this is bad, but it is true, and this must be borne in mind.
Older teenagers are often introduced into the course of family grievances, and willingly take over the baton of relations with this or that person or family. At the same time, there were also talks that “it is necessary to forgive” with them. But it always happens, under the influence of opposite suggestions, that which was done with greater passion and fell into the soil of a greater personal disposition to prevail.
It appeared, for example, like this. The child has committed some kind of trick against a neighbor. Shake off the apple tree in his garden. Formally, he will always be scolded. But if he heard from his parents a hundred times what he, this neighbor, is a bastard, all this will be like water off a goose, even if he is brought by the scruff of the neck to this neighbor and forced to apologize.

By the way, for just as long, from generation to generation, gratitude for the good, especially done in some extraordinary, important and difficult circumstances, is transmitted. Helping a widow, supporting an orphan is not only a charitable deed. The orphan will grow up and at the most unexpected moment will repay kindness for kindness. Children and grandchildren are taught to honor the benefactor and his family.

Tolerance

For mocking a child over an old man or a cripple, as a rule, flogging will follow.
For mimicking a drunk, a stutterer, or a person with a tic, a very strict debriefing, verbose, with examples, formidable, but without violence.
Open mockery of a foreigner, if discovered, will be condemned, but gently, in the form of exhortations. If they were rude, and their target is an adult, elderly or helpless, a beating is coming.
If this is a child of the same age, the parents will remain indifferent "until the first blood." You can't sew words into action. In the event of a fight due to “national hostility” without a clear reason, parents can punish the child, and most often they will do this, keeping in mind the rules of conduct in relation to any person.

Children's conflicts

The main rule: "Toys are not revushki".
Some parents refuse to listen to complaints, but this is an individual feature, not a tradition. Most often, such deafness is inherent in incomplete, unhappy, poor families - in short, families with a defect.

In general, any mention of the fact that in peasant families they did not talk with children is an absolutization of particulars, distortions, human damage. They did, and a lot. Firstly, families in the villages were almost always large and branched out, several generations lived in them - it would be convenient for someone to listen to the complaint of the child, to answer his question. Judging by the stories of my mother and her sisters, these conversations, conversations, suggestions - there were more than they would like. Only they were engaged, for example, by the old people. Sometimes, for patiently listening to the instructions, the child was even given encouragement - a nut, a candy, a pie, that is, adults understood that sometimes it is not easy to listen to them.
The structure of peasant work also suggests both very busy periods - from dawn to dawn, and pauses, even associated with the same seasons and weather conditions. There were no opportunities for isolation either - "our own rooms", etc., except perhaps the corner behind the stove by the old man, so that he would not be disturbed by noise and fuss. Sometimes other people's children could also wander in to listen to conversations - but no one spared this goodness - a tongue without bones!

Parsing a child's conflict or a conflict between a child and an adult is entertainment and an educational moment, parents did not shy away from this, and only in the case of incredible employment in suffering or personal unhealthy unsociableness on the verge of sociopathy did they shy away from this task.

Epics, stories, tales, and even gossip often served as one of such "informational occasions" for pedagogical conversations. The parent expressed his attitude to this or that event, the way of behavior, and the child listened, but shook his head.

Lesser gods

With these words, I decided to designate the role for a peasant child of his father and mother. Respect for parents was absolute, but, frankly, I didn’t see how it was planted? This, perhaps, is one of the mysteries of traditional education - its basis is the unquestioned authority of the elders.
I only encountered evidence, not the formation of this phenomenon. It is not at all necessary for a parent to be strong, honest, smart, successful, fair, kind, sober - it is enough for him to just be. Violence could not be the basis for this. I have seen situations where a parent was so weak, insignificant and pathetic that even his own child would not be afraid of him. But love and external reverence were always demonstrated. It was possible to “leave” your parents only with their blessing - to go to foreign lands to look for happiness. As a rule, all those who left for a long time experienced torment, “breaking”.

With such a basis for the relationship between parents and children, a very diverse and effective arsenal of pedagogical influences turned out to be in the hands of parents. This made cruelty unnecessary and even undesirable. If it is enough for a father or mother to frown so that the child realizes that he has acted badly, there is no need to flog him like a Sidorov's goat. In most of the peasant families I know, children were not spanked, much less flogged. And they didn't scold. They were just sometimes reproached, and they immediately rushed headlong to correct mistakes, so as not to upset dad and mom. Parental praise, a smile, a mean caress also meant a lot to children.
By the way, I talked a lot with the generation that called my father "tya", "dad" - it came from seminarians who studied Latin. (They didn’t hear about the French and the French in the village of F. - the master was from the Baltic Germans, the baron, and it was tight with foreigners besides him: nearby, in more or less settled places, Ivan Susanin led someone somewhere. And in the village of F there were practically no brunettes).

I have seen examples of childish devotion and faith in parents such that the same samurai legends about persistent ronin fade.

This, and not religion and not labor on earth, in my opinion, was the basis of Russian peasant education. When this pillar staggered, the whole structure went at random.

But I will talk about other features of it later.

The spiritual and moral traditions of the Smolensk peasants developed in the general mainstream of the spiritual traditions of the peasantry of the Great Russian provinces. However, a feature of the Smolensk province was its location on the western outskirts of historical Rus'. According to the population, the province was divided into counties with a predominance of the Great Russian tribe - 4 eastern counties and the Belsky county, and counties with a predominance of the Belarusian tribe. The traditions of the peasants of the Great Russian districts of the Smolensk province differed in many respects from the traditions of the peasants of the Belarusian districts. This was manifested in domestic life, and in folk costume, in folk superstitions, fairy tales, songs. Historically, the western part of the Smolensk province was more influenced by Poland and the Principality of Lithuania, the eastern part was more influenced by the Moscow principality.

The traditions and customs of the Smolensk peasants were closely connected with Christianity and church traditions. “A good beginning,” writes Y. Solovyov, “is found in piety, which seems to be stronger in the Great Russian districts than in the Belarusian ones,”112 but due to the lack of education, the Christian faith and tradition were perceived by the villagers in a distorted form. Often this was mixed with superstition, speculation, fears, incorrect conclusions that arose as a result of a lack of basic knowledge. The tradition that developed over the centuries was passed down from generation to generation only with the help of oral instruction, for the reason that most of the peasants were illiterate, which in turn prevented the penetration of information from the outside (non-peasant) world. Thus, informational isolation was mixed with estate isolation. The absence of schools in the village was an excellent breeding ground for all sorts of superstitions and false knowledge. The lack of a system of education and enlightenment in the countryside was the main reason for the backwardness of the peasants in comparison with the inhabitants of the cities.

Before the abolition of serfdom, the role of the state in the matter of enlightenment and education of the peasants was negligible, and this task was mainly entrusted to the Church everywhere and to the landowners, in privately owned villages. But very often the landlords did not see the need for the cultural development of their peasants, for the most part, the peasants were considered by the landowners as a source of prosperity and prosperity, and did not care about the general cultural level of their “baptized property”. The Church, as a structure subordinate to the state, was entirely dependent on the decisions of the Synod in this matter, and any improvements in the education and enlightenment of the peasants were private initiatives of one or another priest. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the church remained both before and after the abolition of serfdom the only "cultural center" in the countryside.

Gradually, the situation in public education begins to change. After the abolition of serfdom in the Smolensk province, schools were opened in many places for the education of peasant children. At the initiative of the zemstvo, peasant gatherings often made decisions on raising funds for the maintenance of schools in the amount of 5-20 kopecks per shower allotment.

Zemstvo in 1875 released up to 40 thousand rubles for the maintenance of gymnasiums, “educational institutions that are almost inaccessible to children of the peasant class” (GASO, office of the governor’s office (f1), op. 5.1876, file 262, l. 77-78) Sometimes schools were opened on the initiative of the peasants themselves, at their expense. Some of the literate fellow villagers undertook to teach the children of their own, and sometimes the neighboring village, for this the “teacher” received small (no more than 50 kopecks per student per academic year, which could last no more than 3-4 months) money and food, if the “teacher” was not from the locals, then the peasants also provided a hut for the school. Often such a "school" moved from one hut to another. In a lean year, the number of students, and the number of schools, dropped sharply. We can say that after the abolition of serfdom, the situation in the education of the peasants changed slightly for the better. In rural schools, children were taught reading, writing, and the four rules of arithmetic, and in many schools, only reading. Interesting are the observations of A.N. This is due, of course, to the fact that people who saw the fruits of enlightenment in the cities understood better that a literate person had more prospects in life and, apparently, less than other peasants connected the future of their children with the village.

The situation was not the best in terms of medical care. Medical care for the rural population was practically non-existent. For 10 thousand population of the Smolensk province at the beginning of the 20th century. there were 1 doctor, 1.3 paramedics and 1.4 midwives per 10 thousand female population. (stat. yearbook of Russia. 1914) It is not surprising that various epidemics raged then, about which the population is now completely unaware. Periodically repeated outbreaks of smallpox, cholera, and various typhoid fevers. The mortality rate was also high, especially among children. A.P. Ternovsky calculated on the basis of the books of the church parish that from 1815 to 1886 3923 people died in the Mstislavskaya Sloboda, including 1465 children under one year old, or 37.4%, 736 aged 1-5 years, or 19.3%. Thus, children under the age of 5 make up 56.7% of all deaths. "Very often," writes Engelhardt, "good food, a warm room, getting rid of work would be the best cure."

Peasant morality, which was formed over the centuries, was closely connected with agricultural labor, as a result of which hard work was one of the most important moral guidelines. “To run a household - do not shake your trousers, to drive a household - do not walk open your mouth,” folk sayings say. A good, right person, according to the peasant, could only be a hardworking person, a good owner.

"Industriousness was highly valued by the public opinion of the village." Even the family was considered by the peasants, first of all, as a labor cell, as a labor collective sealed by mutual obligations, where everyone was an employee. "The matrimonial union was the basis of the material well-being of the economy ... Marriage for the peasants was necessary from an economic point of view." For this reason, newborn boys were seen as more valuable workers than girls. Here it is necessary to recall the traditions associated with family and marriage.

Matchmaking or conspiracy was the conclusion of a preliminary agreement between the families of the future bride and groom. At the same time, “the choice of the bride was the lot of the parents ... the opinion of the groom was rarely asked, personal sympathies were not decisive, and marriage was, above all, an economic transaction.” This is also confirmed by the Russian historian S.V. Kuznetsov: “The main motivation for marriage is the desire to enslave a free worker, but recently love marriages have become more frequent. When choosing a bride, good health, ability to work, modesty are especially valued; in addition, they take into account what kind of relatives the bride has. When choosing a groom, everything is most valued if the groom is one son of the parents. 119 The parents of the bride were obliged to give a dowry for their daughter, which was the parents' contribution to the household of the new family. The dowry consisted of money and property. The monetary part became the property of the husband, while the property part (household items) became either the joint property or the property of the wife and then passed on to the daughters. In general, it should be noted that family life, and indeed relations between peasants, were regulated by customary law - a law that has developed over the centuries, passed down from generation to generation and, according to the deep conviction of the peasants, is the only correct one. Based on the principles of customary law, the duties of the wife and husband within the family were divided. The husband did not interfere in the sphere of women's duties, the wife should not interfere in the sphere of her husband's duties. If these unshakable rules were violated, the husband was obliged to restore order by any possible means - customary law allowed the head of the family to resort to violence and beatings in this case, this was considered a manifestation of love.

Another important moral ideal among the peasants was collectivism - the priority of the public over the personal. The principle of catholicity (common decision) was one of the basic principles of house building among the peasants. Only the decision that was made jointly was, according to the deep conviction of the peasants, correct and worthy of adoption.

The economic, social and family life of the Russian village was led by the land community. Its main purpose was to maintain justice in the use of land: arable land, forests, meadows. Hence the principles of conciliarity, collectivism, the priority of the public over the personal. In a system where one of the main values ​​was the priority of the public over the personal, where the most important was the decision (albeit wrong) of the majority, in such a system, of course, the role of individual actions, personal initiative was negligible and neglected. If personal initiative was welcomed, it was only if it was of general benefit to the entire “world”.

It is necessary to note the special role of public opinion in the life of the Russian village. Public opinion (the opinion of rural society) was an important factor in assessing certain actions of community members. All actions were considered through the prism of public benefit, and only socially useful acts were considered as good. “Outside the family, public opinion was no less significant, exerting a lasting influence on children and adults.”

As a result of the reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, the value system of the peasantry underwent serious changes. A tendency to shift the value orientation from the public to the personal begins to develop. The development of market relations influenced both the forms of activity and the consciousness of the traditional peasantry. Along with the emergence of other sources of information about the world around us besides parents, the views of the younger generation began to differ from the views of the older ones, and conditions arise for the emergence of new values. The penetration of new views and ideas into the countryside in the post-reform period was most facilitated by: 1) the departure of peasants to the cities to earn money; 2) military service; 3) the penetration of urban culture into rural life through the press and other sources of information. But the most important factor in the changes in the peasant consciousness, nevertheless, was non-agricultural waste. Peasant youth who spent a long time in large industrial cities absorbed urban culture and new traditions. All this they brought with them when they returned to the village. New traditions covered all areas of rural life, from costume and dance to religious views. Along with other changes in the traditional rural consciousness, the view of a person's personality is changing. This view is expressed in the idea that a person can exist outside the community as a separate person with his own individual needs and desires. In the 1970s, the number of family divisions began to increase. A large patriarchal family, in which several generations of relatives lived under one roof, is gradually turning into a small family consisting of a husband, wife and young children. This process intensified in the last quarter of the 19th century. At the same time, the view of a woman within a small family is changing, her economic importance and the degree of influence on the solution of family issues are increasing. This process contributed to the gradual increase in the personal freedom of the peasant woman, the expansion of her rights, incl. property rights. As the influence on peasant ideas of urban culture grew and the small family actively spread, the importance of women in the household increased, family relations were humanized.

At this time, there is a merging of urban (more secular) culture and rural culture. The traditions of the village are gradually being replaced by the traditions of the city. As the rural population leaves for the cities, there is a change in the spiritual traditions of the peasants. The changes that took place during the period of great reforms led to irreversible processes in the traditional way of rural life, in spiritual traditions and relationships within the rural community. Together with the liberation from serfdom, urban culture began to penetrate into the countryside - this process takes place gradually and slowly, but its effect becomes irreversible. The rural dweller looked at the city dweller as a more educated and mentally developed person, as a bearer of more high culture and most of all this view was inculcated among young people. The process of property stratification in the peasant environment only accelerated the destruction of peasant traditions and the penetration of urban culture into the countryside. It should be noted that the life of a city dweller was private - he was guided in making daily decisions only by his own views and beliefs, while the life of a peasant was communal - a villager was entirely dependent on the community and its opinion, personal initiative was under the constant control of the community . Along with the termination of the isolation of the village from the city and urban traditions, the process of changing traditions within the rural community begins. This is manifested both in the attitude of young people to the church and church tradition, and in an increase in the number of family divisions, and in less significant manifestations, such as wearing urban clothes (cap, boots) and borrowing urban songs and dances.

Municipal educational institution

Secondary school №3

Customs and mores in the 17th century

"Peasantry: everyday life and customs"

Work completed:

Student 7 "B" class

MOU secondary school No. 3

Chernyavskaya Alina

Checked work:

A history teacher

Stepanchenko I.M.

Kotelnikovo 2009


Introduction

Main part

1 Lifestyle of peasants

2 Peasant community; community and family; life in the world.

3 Peasant yard.

4 Feeding the peasants.

Application


Introduction

Reconstruction of the Middle Ages helped to realize that nature for the peasants was the habitat and life support, it determined the way of life, occupations, under its influence the culture and traditions of the Russian people were formed. Russian folklore, fairy tales, riddles, proverbs, sayings, songs were born in the peasant environment, which reflected various aspects of peasant life: work, leisure, family, traditions.


Main part

1. Lifestyle of peasants

Work, work ethic. Collectivism and mutual assistance, mutual responsibility, leveling principle. Rhythms of peasant life. The abundance of holidays in traditional folk culture. Combination of weekdays and holidays. Life of weekdays, life of holidays. Patriarchy of peasant life. Types of creativity in peasant life, positions of self-realization and self-service. social ideal. Folk piety, axiology of the peasant world. Ranking of life according to demographic and property characteristics. With the adoption of Christianity, especially revered days of the church calendar became official holidays: Christmas, Easter, Annunciation, Trinity and others, as well as the seventh day of the week - Sunday. According to church rules, holidays should be devoted to pious deeds and religious rites. Working on public holidays was considered a sin. However, the poor also worked on holidays.

2. Peasant community; community and family; life in the world

In the 17th century, a peasant family usually consisted of no more than 10 people.

They were parents and children. The oldest man was considered the head of the family.

Church orders forbade girls to marry under the age of 12, boys under 15, blood relatives.

Marriage could, was concluded no more than three times. But at the same time, even a second marriage was considered a great sin, for which church punishments were imposed.

Since the 17th century, marriages had to be blessed by the church without fail. Weddings are celebrated, as a rule, in autumn and winter - when there was no agricultural work.

A newborn child was to be baptized in the church on the eighth day after baptism in the name of the saint of that day. The rite of baptism was considered by the church to be the main, vital rite. The unbaptized had no rights, not even the right to burial. A child who died unbaptized was forbidden by the church to be buried in a cemetery. The next rite - "tons" - was held a year after baptism. On this day, the godfather or godfather (godparents) cut off a lock of hair from the child and gave the ruble. After the haircuts, they celebrated the name day, that is, the day of the saint in whose honor the person was named (later it became known as the "angel's day"), and the birthday. The royal name day was considered an official public holiday.

3. Peasant yard

The peasant yard usually included: a hut covered with shingles or straw, heated “in a black way”; crate for storage of property; barn for cattle, barn. In winter, the peasants kept in their hut (pigs, calves, lambs). Poultry (chickens, geese, ducks). Because of the furnace of the hut "in black", the inner walls of the houses were heavily smoked. For lighting, a torch was used, which was inserted into the furnace crevices.

The peasant hut was rather meager, and consisted of simple tables and benches, but also for lodging, fixed along the wall (they served not only for sitting, but also for lodging). In winter, the peasants slept on the stove.

Homespun canvas, sheep skins (sheepskin) and hunted animals (usually wolves and bears) served as the material for clothing. Footwear - basically served as bast shoes. Prosperous peasants wore pistons (pistons) - shoes made from one or two pieces of leather and gathered around the ankle on a strap, and sometimes boots.

4. Feeding the peasants

Food was cooked in a Russian oven in earthenware. The basis of nutrition was cereals - rye, wheat, oats, millet. Bread and pies were baked from rye (sowing) and wheat (on holidays) flour. Kissels, beer and kvass were prepared from oats. A lot was eaten - cabbage, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, turnips. On holidays, meat dishes were prepared in small quantities. Fish has become a more frequent product on the table. Wealthy peasants had garden trees that gave them apples, plums, cherries, and pears. In the northern regions of the country, peasants gathered cranberries, lingonberries, blueberries; in the central regions - strawberries. Also used in food and hazelnuts.


Conclusion:

Thus, despite the preservation of the main features of traditional life, customs and mores, in the 17th century significant changes took place in the life and everyday life of all classes, which were based on both eastern and western influence.


Application

Peasant in traditional dress

Peasant costume.

Municipal educational institution Secondary school No. 3 Abstract Customs and mores in the 17th century "Peasantry: everyday life and customs" The work was completed by: Student 7 "B"

Chapter 1. Prerequisites, conditions and origins of the formation of traditional foundations of rural life in the Stavropol Territory

1.1. The economic factor in the emergence of economic traditions among the Stavropol peasants.

1.2. Traditions of public self-government: features and tendencies of strengthening in the Stavropol villages.

Chapter 2. Formation and specifics of the development of regional rural material and everyday culture.

2.1. Creation of economic infrastructure, organization and arrangement of villages, yards and dwellings.

2.2. The regulating role of cult representations and will take in the economy and everyday life, clothes and food of the peasants of Stavropol.

Chapter 3

3.1. Seasonal holiday cycles, general and special features of calendar rituals.

3.2. The meaning of the family, intra-family relations and rituals, rituals of solemn events.

Recommended list of dissertations

  • Social integration of the rural population of Stavropol in the conditions of the establishment of capitalist relations 2006, candidate of historical sciences Sklyar, Lidia Nikolaevna

  • Socio-economic support for the integration of Ciscaucasia into the system of agrarian capitalism in Russia: the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries: on the example of Stavropol and Kuban 2012, Doctor of Historical Sciences Bondar, Irina Alekseevna

  • Cultural and household traditions of peasants in the second half of the 19th century: based on materials from the Moscow province 2011, candidate of historical sciences Boyarchuk, Anna Vladimirovna

  • The peasantry of the Voronezh province at the beginning of the 20th century: spiritual and psychological appearance 2008, candidate of historical sciences Koreneva, Anna Vladimirovna

  • Everyday life of the Russian village in the 20s of the XX century: traditions and changes: Based on the materials of the Penza province 2006, candidate of historical sciences Lebedeva, Larisa Vitalievna

Introduction to the thesis (part of the abstract) on the topic "Traditions, customs and rituals of the Stavropol peasants at the beginning of the 20th century: origins, state and significance"

Relevance of the research topic. Agricultural topics in research work have never lost their relevance, regardless of the nature and intensity of the processes in the field of state development at various stages of national history. This can be fully explained by the close relationship between agrarian relations and politics. In this context, the traditions of rural everyday life, economic and household rituals, without which it is impossible to imagine the functioning of the entire rural organism and which not only reflect in themselves, but are themselves at the same time a reflection of the production activities of the peasant population, become important.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the peasants were assigned a primary role in the revival of the state power of Russia, despite the fact that the agrarian sector itself, due to the protracted crisis, required recovery and stabilization. The spread of capitalist relations in the countryside has made its own adjustments to the integral elements of rural life that meet the requirements of that time, therefore, modern reforms are also able to change the external appearance and inner world of farmers, to influence their mentality, although stable pragmatism has developed in them a traditionally cautious perception of transformative impulses from side of power. Today, this factor has led to a scientific interest in the study of the peasantry in a historical retrospective, an appeal to the rich experience of household everyday traditionalism and rituals accumulated by many previous generations. They are an important part of the culture and expression of one of the major groups Russian society- manufacturers of agricultural products. Traditions, customs and rituals are associated with the continuity of generations, they consist of many rituals and actions, include many components that make it possible to judge the features of the social and economic development rural population. The practical significance of the relevance of the topic is supported by an appeal to the everyday life of the peasants of a particular Stavropol province, into which elements of everyday life and economic traditions from other Russian regions were introduced and adapted in the process of colonization of the Ciscaucasia. In addition, traditions, customs and rituals are a fairly conservative phenomenon that does not have increased dynamism, but retains its origins and motives in the field of ideas about the world around us, the formation of a people's worldview and worldview.

The study of rural traditions and rituals seems important and relevant due to the fact that many of their elements have now been lost or are in a latent state due to the lack of proper conditions for manifestation and actualization. In this regard, there is a need to restore and preserve their form and content in the form in which they existed at the beginning of the last century, i.e. exactly one hundred years ago. Their qualitative characteristics will make it possible to judge the effectiveness and methods of functioning of all household and cultural mechanisms in the countryside.

Consideration of the agricultural problems of the southern Russian regions, including Stavropol, is devoted to a sufficient number of works, but most of them are focused on solving production, economic and management issues. In our opinion, not enough attention is paid to the inner world of the peasant, formed over thousands of years on the basis of traditions, customs and rituals. The time and level of social development require filling these gaps through the prism of analyzing the general trends in the formation of the identity of the peasants, in particular, at the regional level. The beginning of the 20th century was chosen as the period of study, because it was at this time that fundamental changes were noted in economic, everyday and worldview values ​​among the peasant population of the main grain-producing regions of the country.

The degree of scientific development of the problem. The historical stages in the development of various aspects of the economic and everyday life of the rural population are traditionally among the most popular trends in historical science. We have traditionally divided the bibliographic literature on the problem under study into three main periods: pre-Soviet, Soviet and post-Soviet. Within each of them, the works are distributed according to the problem-chronological principle. It should be noted that familiarity with publications of a general historical nature by K.N. Tarnovsky, A.A. Nikonova, V.O. Klyuchevsky,1 as well as with the works of historians, which summarize all the components of rural life, including in the region of interest to us.2

The first period includes works written the day before, during or immediately after the end of the period under consideration. As a rule, they do not differ in deep analysis, but contain valuable factual material that was directly perceived by their authors and reflected real events from everyday rural life. In the second period, the works of Soviet researchers were published, a characteristic feature of which was the desire to show the unproblematic progressive development of agriculture, the equal position of collective farmers in the social structure of the state, the complete eradication of any outdated traditions, superstitions and other views not characteristic of Soviet people. Research, articles and publications of the third period,

1 Tarnovsky K.N. Socio-economic history of Russia. Beginning of XX century. - M., 1990.; Nikonov A.A. The spiral of a centuries-old drama. Agrarian science and politics of Russia (XVIII-XX centuries). - M., 1995.; Klyuchevsky V.O. Russian history. Full course of lectures. - Minsk-Moscow, 2000.; The population of Russia in the XX century. - M.: ROSSPEN, 2000.

2 Picturesque Russia. T. IX. - St. Petersburg, 1893.; Culture and life of the peoples of the North Caucasus. - M., 1968.; to political, economic and cultural development peoples of the North Caucasus. - Stavropol, 1969.; Our land: documents, materials (1777-1917). - Stavropol, 1977.; History of the mountain and nomadic peoples of the North Caucasus in the 19th - early 20th centuries. - Stavropol, 1980.; History of the peoples of the North Caucasus (late XVIII - 1917). - M., 1988.; Materials for the study of the Stavropol Territory. - Stavropol, 1988.; The peasantry of the North Caucasus and the Don in the period of capitalism. - Rostov-on-Don, 1990.; New pages in the history of the fatherland. Based on the materials of the North Caucasus//Interuniversity collection of scientific articles. -Stavropol, 1996.; History of the Stavropol Territory from ancient times to 1917. - Stavropol: SKIPKRO, 1996.; Our Stavropol Territory: Essays on History / Scientific ed. A.A. Kudryavtsev, D.V. Kochura, V.P. Neva. - Stavropol: Shat-gora, 1999, which lasts from the beginning of the 1990s to the present, clearly marked a critical and deeper approach to the problem of peasant everyday life. They made important conclusions, in particular, that rural tradition and rituals are an integral part of rural life and are directly related to the socio-political conditions of the existence of the peasant population.

In the first period, the natural interest of scientists concentrated on the problems of developing a new type of relationship in the countryside. It is noteworthy that the main attention was paid specifically to the peasant type of farms and the issues of organizing production in the conditions of traditional communal land use were covered mainly. This is confirmed by the works of V. Prugavin, A.A. Karelina and others. With time and the development of the agricultural sector, the spectrum of scientific interest has also changed. Researchers paid attention not only to the characteristics and specific elements of the era, but also compared established and new forms, as well as types of activities of peasants. On this basis, they summed up and determined the level of their economic evolution,4 singled out the obvious impact of the reforms being carried out on the behavior of peasants in everyday life and society. This is clearly demonstrated in the work of B.R. Frommett.5 It is important to recognize the fact that the rural way of life and the traditions of managing were certainly associated with the disclosure of the directions of the activity of the rural community. They are described in sufficient detail in the publications of K. Golovin, N.N. Zvorykina, P. Veniaminova.6 However, at the beginning of the new century, the need arose to revise the peasant question in relation to the changed conditions of its development. Characteristics of the components

3 Prugavin V. Russian land community. - M.: Typolitography, 1888.; Karelin A.A. Communal ownership in Russia. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house A.S. Suvorina, 1893.; Land ownership and agriculture. - M.: Tipolitography, 1896.

4 Chernenkov N.N. To the characteristics of the peasant economy. Issue. I. - M .: Typolitography, 1905 .; Khalyutin P.V. Peasant farming in Russia. T. III. - St. Petersburg: Printing house of AO, 1915.

5 Frommetg B.R. Peasant cooperation and public life. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House "Thought", 1917.

6 Golovin K. Rural community. - St. Petersburg: Printing house of M.M. Stasyulevich, 1887.; Zworykin N.N. rural community. - M.: Typolitography, 1902.; Veniaminov P. Peasant community. - St. Petersburg: A. Benke Printing House, 1908. At first, G.A. Evreinov, and after him V.D. Kuzmin-Karavaev, N.P. Druzhinin and M. Oshanin filled them with concrete content. general about the Russian people, the factors of its socio-economic evolution, demographic, national and cultural characteristics which are convincingly and objectively shown by A. Corinthsky. Adler, Ya.V. Abramova, N.V. Chekhov.10

In terms of considering this topic, the works of regional researchers turned out to be very useful, who tried to analyze the most diverse aspects of the agrarian development of the North Caucasian region and its individual territories during the formation of capitalist relations and show peasant everyday life against this background within the framework of established household traditions. N.N. Zabudsky, V.E. Postnikova, G.N. Prozritelev.11 The contribution of the latter to the development of problems historical development region, the denominator is that he paid great attention to the Stavropol province, various aspects of the life of the Stavropol

1 h peasants, including their way of life and customs. The Stavropol region also attracted other researchers: K. Zapasnik, M. Smirnov, I.N. Kokshaisky, but they

7 Evreinov G.A. The peasant question in its modern formulation. - St. Petersburg: Printing house A. Benke, 1903.

8 Kuzmin-Karavaev V.D. Land and village. - St. Petersburg: Public Benefit, 1904 .; Druzhinin N.P. Essays on a peasant public life. - St. Petersburg: Typolitography, 1905.; Oshanin M. A book for a peasant. - St. Petersburg: Printing house of the "Rural Bulletin", 1910.

9 Corinthian A. People's Rus'. - M.: Publishing house M.V. Klyukina, 1901.

10 Russian folk holidays and superstitious rites. Issue. I. - M .: University Printing House, 1837 .; Adler B.F. The emergence of clothing. - St. Petersburg: Typolitography, 1903.; Abramov Ya.V. Our Sunday Schools. - St. Petersburg: Printing house of M. Merkushev, 1900.; Chekhov N.V. Public education in Russia. - M.: Typolitography, 1912.

11 Zabudsky N.N. Review of the Caucasian region. Ch.Sh. - Stavropol, 1851.; Postnikov V.E. South Russian peasant economy. - M.: Typolitography, 1891.; Prozritelev G.N. From the past of the North Caucasus. - Stavropol: Printing house of the Provincial Board, 1886.

12 Prozritelev G.N. Stavropol province in historical, economic and domestic terms. 4.II. - Stavropol, 1920. covered mainly issues of the economic and financial sphere. Unfortunately, the problem of research in these works is not presented so expressively, but it has found a deeper reflection in the works of A. Tvalchrelidze and E. Yakhontov,14 as well as in the works of A. Semilutsky, P. Ternovsky, I. Borodin, A. Bubnov, S. Velsky, N. Ryabykh, who described not only everyday work and traditional activities, but also the social and living conditions of the Stavropol peasants in specific settlements. characteristic of the entire Russian population of the study period.16

IN Soviet period interest in issues related to the topic of research has not decreased, however, approaches to considering the problem of organizing the economic and everyday life of peasants have become different. At an early stage of socialist transformations, scientists such as Yu. Larin and V.G. Tan-Bogoraz, made attempts to compare the state of peasant farms with the pre-revolutionary period, highlight

17 the emergence of new elements in the life of rural residents. V.A. Murin, trying to cover a wide range of issues of peasant life, special attention

13 Reserve K. Farm. - Stavropol, 1909 .; Smirnov M. Essay on the economic activity of the Stavropol province by the end of the 19th century. - Stavropol: Printing house of Guber of a certain Board, 1913 .; Kokshaisky I.N. The evolution of the economic life of the Stavropol province during 1880-1913. -Saratov: Printing house of the Society of Printers, 1915.

14 Tvalchrelidze A. Stavropol province in statistical, geographical, historical and agricultural relations. - Stavropol: Caucasian Library, 1897.; Yakhontov E. Native land. Stavropol province. - Stavropol: Printing house of the Provincial Board, 1911.

15 Semilutsky A. Safe Village//Collection of materials for the description of localities and tribes of the Caucasus. Issue. 23. - Tiflis: Printing house of the Main Directorate of the Viceroy of the Caucasus, 1881 .; Semilutsky A. The village of the Pokoinoye//Collection of materials for describing the localities and tribes of the Caucasus. Issue. 23. - Tiflis, 1897.; Ternovsky P. The village of Chernolesskoye//Collection of materials for the description of localities and tribes of the Caucasus. Issue. 1. - Tiflis, 1881.; Borodin I. Historical and statistical description p. Hope. - Stavropol: Printing house of the Provincial Board, 1885 .; Bubnov A. The village of Raguli//Collection of materials for the description of localities and tribes of the Caucasus. Issue. 16. - Tiflis, 1893.; Belsky S. The village of Novo-Pavlovka//Collection of materials for the description of localities and tribes of the Caucasus. Issue. 23. - Tiflis, 1897.; Ryabykh N. The village of Novogeorgievskoye//Collection of materials for the description of localities and tribes of the Caucasus. Issue. 23. - Tiflis: Printing house K.P. Kozlovsky, 1897.

16 Russian superstitions. - M., 1876.; Mysterious charms. - M., 1876.; Maksimov S.V. Unclean, unknown and cross power. - St. Petersburg, 1903.

1 Larin Yu. Issues of the peasant economy. - Moscow, 1923.; Tan-Bogoraz V.G. Old and new life. - Leningrad, 1924.

1 8 devoted to the life and customs of rural youth, and Ya. Yakovlev and M. Phenomenov made a detailed picture of rural life, evenly distributing their attention to the economic activities of the peasants and their daily needs. Both spheres of rural life are reflected by them not separately, but in close connection with each other.19

Later, when the vast majority of the peasant population became collective farmers and was elevated to the rank of social support of power in the countryside, in accordance with the doctrine of state development, it could not have vestiges of the past, which included traditions, customs of ancestors and rituals of rural holidays and everyday life. They were replaced by the politicized values ​​of socialist culture. All information about the countryside and the rural population was based mainly around the advantages of managing under socialism, which were highlighted against the backdrop of unsuccessful attempts to capitalize the agrarian sector before the revolution. which reflects the traditional foundations of social structure and communal land use, as well as issues related to changes in rural life under the influence of external socio-political conditions.

In this regard, the works of A. Posnikov, A.M.

Anfimova, P.N. Zyryanov. As already noted, in the Soviet period, the characterization of the peasantry was based mainly on the laws of the class struggle, but to avoid the need to resort to

18 Murin V.A. Life and customs of rural youth. - Moscow, 1926.

19 Yakovlev Ya. Our village. New in old and old in new. Ed. 3rd. - M.-L., 1925.; Phenomenov M.Ya. Modern village. In 2 volumes - M., 1925.

20 Khromov P.A. Economic development of Russia. - M.: Nauka, 1967.; Features of the agrarian system in Russia during the period of imperialism. - M., 1962.; Essays on the history of the USSR 1861-1904. - M .: State educational and pedagogical publishing house, I960 .; Anfimov A.M. Land lease in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. - M., 1961.; Dubrovsky S.M. Agriculture and the peasantry of Russia in the period of imperialism. - M.: Nauka, 1975.; Kovalchenko ID Socio-economic structure of the peasant economy of European Russia in the era of capitalism. - M.: MGU, 1988.

21 Economy and life of Russian peasants. - M.: Soviet Russia, 1959.; Posnikov A. Communal land tenure. - Odessa: Ulrich and Schulze Printing House, 1978.; Anfimov A.M., Zyryanov P.N. Some features of the evolution of the Russian peasant community in the post-reform period / / History of the USSR. - 1980. - No. 4.; Anfimov A.M. Peasant economy of European Russia. (1881-1904) - M .: Nauka, 1980 .; Anfimov A.M. The economic situation and the class struggle of the peasants of European Russia. (1881-1904) - M., 1984. Scientists still did not succeed in originality of its historical development, which is a confirmation of the interconnection and interdependence of all aspects of rural life. In this regard, some typical problems for her were revealed in the plane of real everyday life. Rural traditions, rituals, customs, norms of behavior and forms of communication, the culture of the Russian peasantry became the subject of research by S.M. Dubrovsky, M.M. Gromyko and T.A. Bernshtam.22 It is noteworthy that in the scientific works of the regional level in relation to the selected period, the theme of the economic evolution of the region and its population also dominated at first. For confirmation, it is enough to refer to the works of A.V. Fadeeva, V.P. Krikunova, A.I. Kozlova, Ya.A. Fedorova, V.N. Ratushniak and others. At the same time, these authors, in the framework of the analysis of agrarian relations in the North Caucasus, tried not to lose sight of the features of economic tradition and everyday life among local peasants, accumulated by generations and reflecting the problems of its social and cultural development.23 The same assessment deserves the disclosure of the main directions of transformations in agrarian sector and the position of the peasantry in the Stavropol region before the revolution S. Kuznitsky, JI. Mordovin, S.G. Ledenev, K.M. Kovalev, P.A. Shatsky,24 but still more valuable for

22 Dubrovsky S. M. Agriculture and peasantry in Russia during the period of imperialism. - M.: Nauka, 1975.; Gromyko M.M. Traditional norms of behavior and forms of communication of Russian peasants of the 19th century. - M.: Nauka, 1986.; Gromyko M.M. The culture of the Russian peasantry of the 18th - 19th centuries as a subject of historical research // History of the USSR. - 1987. - No. 3.; Gromyko M.M. Family and community in the traditional spiritual culture of Russian peasants of the 18th - 19th centuries // Russians: family and social life. - M.: Nauka, 1989.; Gromyko M.M. The world of the Russian village. - M., 1991.; Bernshtam T.A. Youth in the ritual life of the Russian community in the 19th - early 20th centuries. - L .: Nauka, 1988.

23 Fadeev A.V. Essays on the economic development of the steppe Ciscaucasia in the pre-revolutionary period. - M.: Nauka, 1957.; Fadeev A.V. Involvement of the North Caucasus in the economic system of post-reform Russia / History of the USSR. - 1959. - No. 6.; Krikunov V.P. Some questions of studying the economy of the highlanders, peasants and Cossacks / / Proceedings of the North Caucasian Scientific Center of the Higher School of Economics ( social Sciences). - 1976. - No. 3.; Kozlov A.I. At a historic turn. - Rostov-on-Don: RSU Publishing House, 1977.; Fedorov Ya.A. Historical ethnography of the North Caucasus. - M.: MSU, 1983.; Ratushnyak V.N. Agrarian relations in the North Caucasus in the late XIX - early XX century. - Krasnodar: Publishing House of the Kuban University, 1982 .; Ratushnyak V.N. Agricultural production of the North Caucasus in the late XIX - early XX century. - Rostov-on-Don, 1989.; Ratushnyak V.N. The development of capitalism in the agricultural production of the North Caucasus in the late XIX - early XX century. - Rostov-on-Don, 1989.

24 Kuznitsky S. Agrarian issue in the Stavropol province. - Stavropol: Publishing house of the Stavropol Provincial Land Department, 1920 .; Mordovia L. Communal land use and field farming in the Stavropol province//Collection of information about the North Caucasus. T. 12. - Stavropol: Provincial Printing House, 1920 .; Ledenev S.G. Economic review of the Stavropol province. - Stavropol: Gubizdat Printing House, 1924 .; Kovalev K.M. Past and present of the peasants of Stavropol. - Stavropol: this study should be recognized as a work with an analysis of the social components of the life of the North Caucasian peasants. The authors of these works focused on the traditions of social and family life of peasants, clothing, ritual complexes of holidays, annual and seasonal production cycles. With regard to the East Slavic population as a whole, N.I. Lebedeva, V.I. Chicherov, V.K. Sokolova, G.S. Maslova, T.A. Listova. Festive and family rituals and customs of the North Caucasian and Stavropol peasantry were studied by L.V. Berestovskaya, V.V. l/

Sapronenko, T.A. Nevskaya, M.P. Ruban, Ya.S. Smirnova and others.

The works of the authors of the third period, which highlight the issues of changes in the economic and everyday life of peasants in the era of capitalism, are distinguished by the concretization of facts and events that give an objective idea of ​​the processes that took place in the rural environment, the prerequisites and factors for the formation of views and inner convictions. As when considering the first two periods in the development of historiography, it is first necessary to single out the general historical publications of V.A. Fedorova, E.N. Zakharova, M.N. Zueva, A.N. Sakharov and others with a description of the era, population and agrarian development of the country.27 Along with the economic regional book publishing house, 1947.; Shatsky P.A. The development of commercial animal husbandry in the Stavropol province in the 70-90s of the XIX century // Collection of works of the Pedagogical Institute. Issue. IX. - Stavropol: Stavropol book publishing house, 1955.

25 Lebedeva N.I. Russian peasant clothing XIX - early XX century.//Soviet ethnography. - 1956. - No. 4.; Lebedeva N.I. Peasant clothing of the population of European Russia. - M.: Soviet Russia, 1971.; Chicherov V.I. winter period Russian folk agricultural calendar of the 16th - 19th centuries. - M.: AN SSSR, 1957.; Holidays in the countryside. - M.: Soviet Russia, 1958.; Russian folk wedding ceremony. - L .: Nauka, 1978 .; Sokolova B.K. Spring-summer calendar rites of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. - M.: Nauka, 1979.; Sokolova B.K. Calendar holidays and ceremonies Yutnography of the Eastern Slavs. - M., 1987.; Maslova G.S. Folk clothes in East Slavic traditional customs and rituals of the 19th - early 20th centuries. - M.: Nauka, 1984.; Russians: family and social life. - M.: Nauka, 1989.; Listova T.A. Russian rituals, customs and beliefs associated with the midwife / / Russians: family and social life. -M., 1989.

26 Berestovskaya L.V. On holidays and weekdays. - Stavropol: Stavropol book publishing house, 1968.; Sapronenko V.V. To the question of the state of Orthodox beliefs of the peasants of Stavropol in pre-revolutionary times / / Scientific notes. Some issues of Caucasian studies. Issue. I. - Stavropol, 1971.; Nevskaya T.A. Traditional and modern wedding of the rural population of Stavropol / / Soviet ethnography. - 1982. - No. 1.; Ruban M.P. Problems of rural life//Izvestiya SKNTsVSH. - 1979. - No. 2.; Smirnova Ya.S. Family and family life of the peoples of the North Caucasus. - M.: Nauka, 1983.; Problems of social life and life of the peoples of the North Caucasus in the pre-revolutionary period. - Stavropol: SGPI, 1985.

27 History of Russia XIX - early XX century / Ed. V.A. Fedorova. - M.: Zertsalo, 1998.; Zakharova E.N. History of Russia XIX - early XX century. - M.: Mnemozina, 1998.; History of Russia / Ed. M.N. Zueva. - M.: Higher economic aspects of rural history, researchers began to pay more attention to the direct producers of agricultural products - the peasants, the traditional forms of their interaction within the community. At the same time, in the field of view of K. Kavelin, L.I. Kuchumova, V.P. Danilova, P.S. Kabytov also got into the sphere of everyday life of peasants, since communal farming over time developed in them many stereotypes of behavior in everyday life, communication with people around them, perception of various events and phenomena. I.A. Yakimova singled out mercy as a traditional feature of the peasantry and, with actual examples, confirmed its readiness to help those who need it. reviewed by A.V. Markovsky in relation to the farms of southern Russia.31 While studying the history of the peasantry and the agricultural development of the country, scientists did not lose sight of the problems of rural tradition, cultural, domestic and spiritual aspects of the development of the Russian peasantry, customs, rituals and rituals associated with the family, holidays and other significant events. Their detailed description is given in the works and articles of M.Ya. Zadorozhnoy, I.O. Bondarenko, V.I. Dahl, I.P. Sakharova, Yu.S. Ryabtseva, V.N. Laushina, S.I. Dmitrieva, N.S. Polishchuk, L.A. Tultseva, L.N. Chizhikova, V. Chetverikov, V. Propp, V. Vardugin, N.V. Zorina, M. school, 2000.; The mentality and agrarian development of Russia (XIX-XX centuries) - M .: ROSSPEN, 1996 .; History of Russia from the beginning of the 18th to the end of the 19th century / Ed. A.N. Sakharov. - M.: ACT, 2001.

28 Kavelin K. A look at the Russian rural community//Dialogue. -1991. - No. 11.; Kuchumova L.I. Rural community in Russia. - M.: Significance, 1992.; Danilova V.P. Peasant mentality and community//Mentality and agrarian development of Russia (XIX-XX). Materials of the international conference. - M., 1996.; Kabytov P.S. Russian peasantry. - M.: Thought, 1998.

29 Yakimova I.A. Mutual help and mercy traditional features communal mentality of the Russian peasantry in the XIX - early XX centuries.//Mercy and charity in the Russian provinces. - Yekaterinburg, 2002.

30 Kazaresov V. Formation of the peasant economy//Questions of Economics. -1991. - No. 6.; Vinogradsky V. Russian peasant yard // Volga. - 1995. - No. 2, 3,4,7,10.

31 Markovsky A.V. Peasant economy of southern Russia. - St. Petersburg: Typography of the City Administration, 1990. t

Zabylina, F.S. Kapitsa, A. Bobrov. The above-named authors highlighted those aspects of peasant everyday life that clearly demonstrated its evolutionary nature, stability, pointed to the existence of the same type of worldview in rural areas.

The most valuable for the present work were studies devoted to the agricultural development of the North Caucasian region and Stavropol, in particular, in the period of interest to us. First of all, attention was drawn to the works of T.A. Nevsky, S.A. Chekmenev, V.P.

Nevsky, V.M. Kabuzan, in which historical plots unfold around the economic, everyday and spiritual traditions of the peasant population. Interesting information about the daily worries of the village is presented in the publications of A.E. Bogachkova, A.I. Krugova, I.M. Zubenko and others on the history of the Stavropol Territory, its districts and individual settlements.34 Interest in rural everyday life and rituals is confirmed by the fact that some aspects of the problem of interest to us are contained in dissertations defended recently.35 Analysis of the historiographic literature testifies

32 Zadorozhnaya M.Ya. Folk and Orthodox-Christian holidays. -M.: Knowledge, 1991.; Bondarenko I.O. Holidays of Christian Rus'. - Kaliningrad, 1993.; Dal V.I. About beliefs, superstitions and prejudices of the Russian people. - SPb., 1994.; Sakharov I.P. Tales of the Russian people. People's Diary. Holidays and customs // Encyclopedia of superstitions. - M., 1995.; Ryabtsev Yu.S. Family life of peasants//Teaching history at school. - 1996. - No. 8.; Laushin V.N. Ah, this wedding. - St. Petersburg: Lan, 1997.; Traditional dwelling of the peoples of Russia: XIX - early XX century. - M.: Nauka, 1997.; Dmitrieva S.I. Folk beliefs//Russian. - M., 1997.; Polishchuk N.S. The development of Russian holidays / URussian. - M.: Nauka, 1997.; Tultseva L.A. Calendar holidays and rituals//Russian. - M.: Nauka, 1997.; Chizhikova L.N. Russian-Ukrainian border. - M.: Nauka, 1998.; Chetverikov V. Word about the Russian hut//Far East. - 1998. - No. 7.; Our traditions. Baptism, wedding, burial, fasting. - M.: Bookman, 1999.; Propp V. Russian agricultural holidays. - M.: Labyrinth, 2000.; Vardugin V. Russian clothes. - Saratov: Children's Book Publishing House, 2001.; Zorin N.V. Russian wedding ritual. - M.: Nauka, 2001.; Zabylin M. Russian people: its customs, traditions, rituals. -M.: EKSMO Publishing House, 2003.; Kapitsa F.S. Slavic traditional beliefs, holidays and rituals.

M.: Nauka, 2003.; Bobrov A. Russian calendar for all times. Memorable dates, holidays, rituals, name days. - M.: Veche, 2004.

33 Nevskaya T.A. Chekmenev S.A. Stavropol peasants. Essays on economy, culture and life. - Min-Water: Publishing House "Caucasian health resort", 1994 .; Nevskaya V.P. Spiritual life and enlightenment of the peoples of Stavropol in the XIX - early XX centuries. - Stavropol: SGPI, 1995.; Kabuzan V.M. The population of the North Caucasus in the XIX-XX centuries.

St. Petersburg: Publishing house "BLITZ", 1996.

34 Bogachkova A.E. History of the Izobilnensky district. - Stavropol: Stavropol book publishing house, 1994.; Krugov A.I. Stavropol Territory in the history of Russia. - Stavropol: Stavropolservisshkola, 2001.; History of cities and villages of Stavropol. - Stavropol: Stavropol book publishing house, 2002.; Stavropol village: in people, figures and facts / Ed. THEM. Zubenko. - Stavropol: Stavropol book publishing house, 2003.

35 Kaznacheev A.V. Development of the North Caucasian outskirts of Russia (1864-1904)//Avtoref. diss. doc. ist. Sciences. - Pyatigorsk, 2005.; Kornienko T.A. The social everyday life of the population of the North Caucasus in years I shows that the problem of household traditions, holiday and calendar customs, rites and rituals is really relevant and attracts the attention of researchers. At the same time, there are still many unresolved issues in this area that need to be considered in order to create an objective and, if possible, complete picture of rural everyday life in the Stavropol Territory at the beginning of the 20th century.

The object of the study is the household, religious and family traditions, customs and rituals of rural everyday life and holiday cycles in the Stavropol Territory at the beginning of the 20th century.

The subject of the study is the features, prerequisites and factors of the formation of traditions in the sphere of management and material culture, sustainable habits of behavior in everyday life, related religious, family and holiday rites and customs; the meaning, conditions and procedure for performing ritual actions during family celebrations. The subject also includes the seasonal rituals of rural residents, timed to coincide with religious and folk holidays, its origins, common and special features, connection and interdependence with the socio-economic factors of peasant everyday life.

Purpose and objectives of the study. The purpose of this work is to present, on the basis of an analysis of documentary sources, archival and field materials, statistical data, a holistic description of the origins and state of rural everyday traditionalism, festive and calendar rituals, to identify their dynamics, regional characteristics, conditionality and dependence on trends in the development of worldviews. ideas, social relations and public sentiments among the peasant population of Stavropol at the beginning of the 20th century. Based on the goal and taking into account the degree of scientific world war / / Diss. cand. ist. Sciences. - Armavir, 2001.; Salny A.M. Stavropol village: the experience of historical and agricultural research (XIX - XX centuries) / / Diss. cand. ist. Sciences. - Stavropol, 2003.; Khachaturyan I.V. Stavropol peasants in the second half of the 19th - early 20th century: the experience of socio-cultural transformation (on the example of Primanychie) / / Avtoref. diss. cand. ist. Sciences. - Pyatigorsk, 2005. The development of the problem, its scientific and social significance, the following tasks were set for the study: to analyze and summarize the existing historiographical complex of literature, to determine the contribution and significance of the experience of regional developments, including those related to the subject of this study, for accounting and use in comprehensive study of the problem; to consider the state and influence of the economic policy of the tsarist government on the change in economic traditions in the Stavropol villages during the period under study; using archival materials, highlight the mechanisms and features of the implementation of the functions of self-government in the countryside in line with the problem under consideration; on the basis of documentary sources, trace the specifics, dynamics and trends in the development of the material and everyday culture of peasants, identify the originality of the conditions of their life; show the results of the influence of worldview stereotypes on the development of typical ideas about the world around us, the use of the experience of centuries-old observations in the economy and everyday life; substantiate the impact of spiritual traditions on the daily life of the rural population, its economic activity, determine the place and significance of church rituals and religious prejudices for the organization and management of the economy; to characterize and evaluate the arrangement of the family and everyday life of peasants, to highlight the content and purpose of festive rites, customs and rituals associated with family celebrations and significant events.

The chronological scope of the study is limited to the first decade of the 20th century, during which the formation of the structure of the rural population of Stavropol was essentially completed, where capitalist relations were actively spreading at that time. They gave a new impetus to the development of agricultural production, made changes to the economic traditions of the peasants, but did not affect the state and content of everyday life and the festive and calendar rituals accumulated by many generations.

The territorial scope of the study is limited to the Stavropol province within the boundaries as of the study period, when the majority of the population lived in rural areas and, despite belonging to people from different regions of the country, was a fairly organized social community with common views and beliefs, in a special way life and specific form self-expression.

The methodological and theoretical basis of the dissertation research was a retrospective analysis of the formation in the peasant environment of stereotypical ideas about the world around us and its impact on people, as a result of which the peasants developed stable traditions in the economic sphere, customs of life and leisure activities, expressed in various rites and rituals. The results of such an analysis made it possible to establish the interdependence of all spheres of life of the rural population, the conditionality of the subject of research by regional characteristics and the socio-economic situation of the peasants.

On the basis of the work plan and in accordance with its purpose, the solution of the tasks set for the study was achieved by applying generally accepted principles scientific knowledge: historicism, objectivity and comprehensiveness, which form the most acceptable and effective model for a retrospective analysis of historical events and phenomena, allowing you to take into account the subjective factor, the psychological atmosphere in the countryside, and evaluate the processes under study in real conditions. In addition, they made it possible to use not only general scientific, but also special methods of historical knowledge.

When developing and covering the topic, problem-chronological, causal, structural-functional general scientific methods were actively used. With their help, the origins of rural tradition and rituals were revealed, their adaptation in the conditions of Stavropol in the context of its historical development was traced. If we talk about the benefits of special historical methods, then with the help of the historical-comparative method, a comparison was made of the characteristics of the subject of research in various settlements of the province. The historical-systemic method, the methods of diachronic and synchronous analysis, classification and periodization made it possible to trace the mechanisms for the implementation of traditional skills by peasants in production, to identify regional features of the formation of worldview attitudes, to classify rituals, to establish the order and sequence of performance by rural residents of household and religious rituals.

The source base of the study includes various types of written sources and field material. The most important group is archival sources that carry valuable historical information about the life of peasants in the region under study, the features of their management in the Stavropol Territory, production interaction within the rural community, specific features of everyday life and family relations, behavior at home, during festive events and significant events. . A comprehensive analysis of archival documentation made it possible to trace the prerequisites and conditions for the formation of typical views on rural everyday life among Stavropol peasants, to recreate a complete picture of economic, household, family and festive rituals, to highlight its regional features. Among the analyzed documentary funds of the central archival institutions is the fund 102 (Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior. 2nd record keeping) of the State Archives Russian Federation(GARF); fund 391 (Resettlement Administration), fund 1268 (Caucasian Committee) of the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA).

In the State Archives of the Stavropol Territory (GASK), the following funds turned out to be the most saturated with the necessary materials: 3 (Kruglolessky stanitsa administration. Stanitsa Kruglolesskaya. 1847-1916), 46 (Stavropol district marshal of the nobility), 49 (Caucasian Chamber of Criminal and Civil Court), 58 (Stavropol provincial presence for peasant affairs), 68 (Stavropol provincial government), 80 (Stavropol provincial statistical committee), 101 (Office of the Stavropol civil governor), 102 (Stavropol provincial land management commission), 135 (Stavropol spiritual consistory), 188 (Stavropol Police Department), 398 (Stavropol District Court), 459 (Stavropol State Chamber), 806 (Volost Boards of the Stavropol Governorate).

The next group of sources included collections containing important documents on the period under study: legislative acts, decrees and government resolutions,36 as well as various notes, reports and

47 surveys of provincial officials. The same group of sources includes statistical publications, memorable books, collections of materials and information about the North Caucasus, issues of Caucasian calendars.38

Valuable sources were materials collected during conversations with residents of the villages of Serafimovskoye and Sadovoe, Arzgir district and the village

36 Russian legislation of the X-XX centuries. In 9 volumes - Moscow, 1988.; Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire. Documents and materials. - L., 1990.

37 The Most Submissive Note on the Administration of the Caucasus Region by Count Vorontsov-Dashkov. - St. Petersburg, 1907.; Reviews of the Stavropol province for 1900-1910. - Stavropol: Printing house of the Provincial Board, 19011911 .; Reports of the Stavropol Governor for 1900-1910. - Stavropol: Printing house of the Provincial Board, 1901-1911.

38 Collection of statistical information about the Stavropol province. - Stavropol, 1900-1910 .; Commemorative book of the Stavropol province for 1900. (1901-1909) - Stavropol: Printing house of the Provincial Board, 1900 (1901-1909).; Collection of materials for the description of localities and tribes of the Caucasus. Issue. 1, 16, 23, 36. - Tiflis: Printing house of the Main Directorate of the Viceroy of the Caucasus, 1880, 1893, 1897, 1906 .; The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire. 1897 Stavropol province. T. 67. - Stavropol: Edition of the Central Statistical Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 1905 .; Collection of information about the North Caucasus. T. 1, 3, 5, 12. - Stavropol: Provincial Printing House, 1906, 1909, 1911, 1920 .; Statistical information about the state of secondary educational institutions of the Caucasian educational district for 1905. - Tiflis, 1905.; Statistical and economic studies of the resettlement management in 1893 - 1909. - SPb., 1910.; Lists of populated places in the Stavropol province. Collection of information about the North Caucasus. T. V. - Stavropol, 1911.

Zhuravsky, Novoselitsky district, Stavropol Territory. Regional periodicals published during the period under study were also used as sources. Among them are "Northern Caucasus", "Stavropol Provincial Gazette", "Stavropol Diocesan Gazette". These sources have largely contributed to the achievement of the goal and the solution of the tasks.

The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that it summarizes the experience of the life of the peasant population of a particular region - the Stavropol province, which includes not only the definition of established traditions in the economic sphere and in the field of social relations, but also a description of the way of life, worldview and worldview of the peasants, expressed in everyday and festive customs, ceremonies and rituals. This makes it possible to introduce new criteria for characterizing the peasantry of Stavropol: the creation of a multi-level structure of rural tradition by layering the experience of immigrants on local economic conditions; orientation in everyday life and in the industrial sphere to the perception and implementation of innovations dictated by the time; preservation of the features of nationality and identity in the material and spiritual culture and adherence to the ingrained norms of behavior in everyday life and in society. In addition to the introduction of previously unused source materials into circulation, the following provisions of the dissertation research have elements of novelty: it was established that traditions in the field of organization and management of the economy were based on the unity of peasant and state interests, and their strengthening in the conditions of Stavropol occurred due to the desire of rural residents to improve their living standards. level and well-being; It was suggested that the preservation of the role of the community in the Stavropol villages, despite the expansion of individualistic tendencies in the peasant environment, was facilitated by its multifunctionality. Unlike similar structures in other regions, the rural community on

Stavropol actively participated in solving not only economic, but also social, legal, moral and religious issues; the origins of worldview ideas among rural residents are revealed, the change in traditional household and spiritual values, which were created not only on the experience of generations, but also depended on the impact of external socio-political conditions, was traced. On this basis, a conclusion was drawn about the evolutionary nature of traditions, customs and rituals, their susceptibility to classification according to the signs of correspondence to various spheres of the life of the peasant population; the opinion was expressed that such an element of material culture as the organization of settlements was formed directly at the places of new residence of settlers, depending on the surrounding natural and climatic conditions, which led to the emergence of the traditions of the external design of villages, their layout and structure, characteristic of the Stavropol Territory. As for the arrangement of peasant dwellings and yards, in this matter there was a combination of customs established in the minds with local opportunities, as well as the economic, domestic and spiritual needs of the peasants; the whole process of agricultural production was closely connected with religion and cult representations in the countryside; together with the adherence of the peasants to centuries-old traditions, they formed their special attitude to the observance of seasonal calendar rituals. To a certain extent, this circumstance was a deterrent to economic evolution; the relationship of everyday, festive and family rituals and rituals with the mentality and moods of the peasants, their constant expectation and readiness to perceive the best changes in life is determined. Rituals and customs helped to preserve the moral attitudes that were passed down from generation to generation, to accumulate spiritual resources of life.

Defense provisions. Taking into account the results of solving the tasks set, the following provisions are put forward for defense: a distinctive feature of rural everyday life in the Stavropol Territory was the fact that the peasants who moved to the North Caucasus had practical experience of living in other socio-economic conditions, which in the new place was transformed into specific traditions of managing and organizing life ; stable traditions in production activities, in turn, contributed to the evolution of peasants' worldview ideas about the surrounding reality; household, spiritual and cultural traditions in the rural environment of Stavropol reflected the purpose of the rural community, relied on its strength and the desire for comprehensive participation in the daily life of peasants based on the principles of equality in organizing the activities of all rural mechanisms; the traditions of everyday life and material culture were formed in the Stavropol Territory through the adaptation of the peasant population to the conditions and environment. Their approval and preservation was largely facilitated by the increased degree of isolation of the Stavropol village in the economic and social structure of the state; rural tradition and everyday life, economic and everyday rituals, are an important factor in the functioning of the entire rural organism, they not only reflect in themselves, but at the same time are themselves a reflection of the production activities of the peasants; traditions, customs and rituals are associated with the continuity of generations, they consist of many rituals and actions, include many components that make it possible to judge the features of the social and economic development of the rural population; peasant traditions and rituals associated with them should be classified as fairly conservative phenomena that do not have increased dynamism, but retain their origins and motives in the field of ideas about the world around them, the formation of a popular worldview and worldview; the beginning of the 20th century refers to the period when not only well-established traditions and rituals were clearly manifested, but there were also changes in economic, everyday and worldview values ​​among the peasant population of the main grain-producing regions of the country.

The theoretical and practical significance of the work is determined by the social significance of the research problem, which consists in the fact that in the course of the analysis, elements of regional historical experience were used, which have the ability to adapt to the current situation. It also lies in the fact that the conclusions made in the dissertation are based on reliable data and the available achievements of domestic historical science in the development of the presented topic. The results obtained can serve as a basis for expanding and deepening interest in the field of everyday rural traditions and rituals, become an integral part of general training courses on the history of Russia and Stavropol, as well as special manuals on local history.

Testing and implementation of research results. The results of the study are presented in five scientific publications with a total volume of 2.4 p.l. The main provisions and conclusions of the dissertation were reported at regional, interuniversity and university conferences and seminars. The work was discussed and recommended for defense at a meeting of the Department of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Pyatigorsk State Technological University.

Dissertation structure. The subject, purpose and objectives of the study determined the structure of the dissertation. It consists of an introduction, three chapters, including two paragraphs each, a conclusion, notes, a list of sources and references.

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Dissertation conclusion on the topic "Patriotic history", Kireeva, Yulia Nikolaevna

CONCLUSION

The emergence and development of rural traditions in the Stavropol Territory had their own specific features, since here the domestic and economic aspects of life mutually acted on each other, and any change in one of them was necessarily reflected in the other. The soil and climatic conditions of the province determined the distribution of the peasant population between two main areas of activity: agriculture and animal husbandry. The list of economic crops traditional for the Stavropol region was formed on the basis of trial and error, through practical experience, which ultimately led to the expansion of sown areas at the beginning of the 20th century by almost 40% compared to the past century. Yields on black soil were higher than in central Russia, after harvesting, threshing began, which was most often carried out using livestock. Gradually, the peasants came to the conclusion that this method is suitable only for harvest years, when there was no need to conserve straw. In all other cases, threshing was done with flails or stone rollers. Peasants stored grain in barns with bins, which was much more convenient and practical than storage in earthen pits. The monotony in the use of the farming system had a downside. There was a more rapid depletion of arable land, especially since the fields were not fertilized. Grain stocks were created by the peasants solely through the expansion of "plowing". Transport communications in the province were poorly developed, as a result of which the price of bread was at a low level. Over time, agriculture in the Stavropol Territory became firmly established as a traditional occupation of the peasants; the whole life of the province was built on its development. The rural population was not engaged in gardening or horticulture. It preferred to buy vegetables and fruits or exchange them for wheat from the Kuban Cossacks. True, it is necessary to single out viticulture, which in the southeastern part of the province was a significant branch of horticulture in terms of development.

Along with agriculture, a significant role in the agricultural development of the Stavropol province was played by animal husbandry, without which the field economy itself could not be conducted normally. It was less dependent on weather conditions, therefore, it more reliably ensured the profitability of the peasant economy. Animal husbandry also contributed to the development of the sectors providing it, which had a positive effect on the overall dynamics of the economic development of the province and created conditions for the emergence and strengthening of new economic traditions. However, like agriculture, cattle breeding in the province has taken the path of extensive development. Its adaptation in the Stavropol Territory was facilitated by rich natural expanses with fodder grasses, which made it possible to produce working cattle and fatten meat breeds at the same time. But animal husbandry did not have the same pace of development everywhere. It spread most intensively in the farms of Novogrigorevsky and Aleksandrovsky districts, including the breeding of ordinary sheep.

Economic traditions in the province were largely determined by socio-economic reasons. At the beginning of the 20th century, under the influence of internal and external demand, the structure of crops underwent a restructuring towards an increase in market crops. The disadvantage of the prevailing grain system of field farming was their monotony, which caused more rapid depletion of land. Most of the rural population of the province in the period under review were immigrants, they brought with them the accumulated experience of land use, but not all of this experience was acceptable in completely different conditions. This circumstance became a factor in the creation of specific features of management in the Stavropol Territory, which, taking into account regular practical application, were transformed into stable traditions.

An equally significant source of traditions in the peasant environment was the social form of self-government, which in itself belongs to the traditional forms of existence of the rural population in Russia. It is noteworthy that in Russian conditions, the tradition in the field of social organization of the village was supplemented by the traditional characterization of the peasantry as the main bearer and custodian of the specific features of the Slavic cultural and historical type. In the Stavropol region, the long practice of communal land use has formed a stable tradition of constant readiness of peasants for mutual assistance. The essence of this tradition was that mutual assistance in the countryside at the level of public opinion was elevated to the rank of an honorable duty. No one, regardless of position and condition, had the right to refuse assistance to the peasants who needed it.

The main condition for the creation of a community in the province was not the number of owners, but their desire for the collective use of land and their readiness to give up privileges in matters of land use. It is known that, in addition to issues of taxation and regulation of land relations, the community at the legislative level was empowered to solve certain legal problems. At the same time, with the advent of the new century in Stavropol, the community began to play a prominent role in the administrative management of the village. Most often, in the rural communities of the Stavropol province, issues put on the agenda of gatherings were decided by a majority of votes. All decisions taken as a result of voting were recorded in order in the register of decisions. This became the basis on which traditional forms of relations between peasants and self-government bodies in the countryside were gradually formed.

The functions of the community in the Stavropol Territory extended not only to production activities, but also to all spheres of everyday life, the solution of social, cultural and spiritual issues. The peasant population did not have such needs that would not fall under the jurisdiction of the community. The traditional and at the same time socially significant area of ​​activity of the rural community was public education. As of the beginning of the 20th century, the main part of the Stavropol villages had schools for teaching children, the type of which was determined by the peasants themselves at the gathering. Judiciary was also one of the main functions of the rural community. It is noteworthy that the traditional powers of rural! communities in the Stavropol Territory also extended to the sphere of family relations.

In this sense, it performed an educational function, taking care of the moral state of its members.

Children, especially orphans and the disabled, have traditionally been the focus of community attention. Society allocated the required funds for their maintenance and strictly controlled their intended use. Thanks to the activities of the community, those rural traditions in economic, social, spiritual and everyday life were born and strengthened in the Stavropol Territory, which contributed to the preservation of the peasantry of their identity in the new conditions of life and activity. The functions of the Stavropol community were much broader than the powers of similar structures in other Russian regions. In our opinion, this is due to the specific position of the province and the special ethno-social environment. Being located next to representatives of the mountain and steppe peoples, the peasantry of Stavropol, having adopted * the positive foundations of their life, was nevertheless more oriented towards strengthening their own rural tradition. In addition, the Stavropol rural community, as a cumulative historical phenomenon, most often organized together with settlements and initially included people from various regions of Russia, who did not always have the same potential for economic and cultural and everyday experience. Nevertheless, thanks to the community, they all became representatives of a single social community of the Stavropol peasantry, which formed its own traditions that fully corresponded to the conditions of management and life.

Settlers from various Russian regions contributed their elements not only to the economic originality of the villages of Stavropol, but also to the settlement culture, which, in combination with local conditions, gave individual features to the peasant settlements in the province. However, with all the variety of the same type of elements, they still differed in the quantity and quality of economic structures, enterprises for the processing of raw materials. By the beginning of the 20th century, steam mills appeared here, but "windmills" for a long time remained the most convenient and affordable type of grain processing. At the same time, artesian wells became traditional objects of the rural landscape as a result of an acute shortage of water sources. Farms, which in local conditions were both a form of organization of production and a peculiar type of settlements, should also be attributed to the special features of the agrarian sphere of the Stavropol Territory. Particularly stable traditions among the peasants of Stavropol were observed in the field of village development, street planning and the location of houses, their equipment with various devices, for example, identical chimneys, regardless of the material of the entire structure.

The peasants gave priority to the construction of temples. The specificity of the external appearance of the Stavropol villages was that adobe construction prevailed here, accounting for over 80% of the total housing stock in rural areas. Front gardens, flower beds, flowerbeds in front of courtyards and a slender row of trees along their entire length should also be attributed to the distinctive features of rural streets.

Housing occupies a special place in the structure of traditional features of rural everyday life. It reveals the long-term functioning of traditions that were formed in various historical periods. One of the main types of dwellings of the rural population in the Stavropol province were huts: rectangular or oblong in shape, consisting of one, two or three rooms with an earthen floor. In Stavropol, the entrance to the house was usually made from the street, through the canopy. In each room, as a rule, it was planned to have two windows to the courtyard and to the street. Inside and outside the house in the Stavropol Territory was necessarily whitewashed. An indispensable attribute of a residential building was a room with icons in the front corner. The interior in the houses of the peasants did not differ in variety, but everything had its place and purpose. The rooms of a rural house were traditionally decorated on the walls with embroidered towels, and at the beginning of the 20th century, carpets appeared on the walls in wealthy families. Outbuildings in most cases consisted of premises for livestock, stocks of bread, hay and food. The barn was always in a prominent place in the yard , opposite the house. The floor in it was made of boards, barns were covered with reeds, and from the beginning of the 20th century - with iron. In the same period, peasants began to use wood, stone chips and tiles more widely in construction.

Traditional for the Stavropol region were not only the layout, location and arrangement, but also the type of settlements. Here, large villages were mainly created. As evidenced by the analysis of materials on the settlements of the Stavropol province, at the beginning of the 20th century they differed from each other in size, ethnic composition, size of allotment plots, profitability of agricultural production, etc. But in the way of life and way of life of the Stavropol villages there were also elements characteristic of the entire region, uniting all of them into one whole with | administrative, social, spiritual and other points of view.

The formed structure of the population and economic specialization became the basis of tradition, on which folk habits, customs, and mores were built, manifested in various rites and rituals. In the Stavropol region at the beginning of the 20th century, peasant farms dominated in the field of agrarian development. This was certainly reflected in the traditions and customs, which absorbed both the experience of previous generations and the innovations of the new era. The desire of the peasants for knowledge of the world developed in them a special susceptibility to various signs of the times, which took their place in a number of everyday needs. The people were imbued with the belief that depending on the will of higher powers, which left an imprint of religiosity on the entire complex of rural traditions. At the same time, outside the temple, there was another world with its own laws of real life. The difficult conditions of this world formed among the peasants a stable immunity to difficulties and a readiness to overcome them, which was reflected in the desire j to have patronage from above. It is no coincidence, therefore, that all production was associated with the hopes for the success of any undertaking. Before sowing, the seeds were consecrated, sometimes this was done at a special prayer service, after which religious processions were arranged on the fields. Livestock also became the object of cult influence. Traditionally, on the eve of the Epiphany, the peasants sprinkled it with "holy water". These and other examples testify to the fact that rural residents at the beginning of the 20th century tirelessly cared about the fulfillment of church traditions, but the nature of their beliefs was largely determined by the predominant type of economic activity. In this sense, common Slavic and local traditions are intricately intertwined in the Stavropol Territory. Among the farmers here, mother earth, the God of rain and Volos were revered. Rural rituals more reflected pre-Christian beliefs and gave their own flavor to everyday life. Belief in supernatural forces, omens and omens in most cases was based on the conditions of existence, although, of course, it was a reflection of primitive i ideas about the surrounding world. With its help, the weather was determined, the onset of rainy or happy times.

Rural everyday life obeyed religious canons only externally, from the inside it was free from them, which is confirmed by peasant clothing. Along with traditional bast shoes, ports and shirts, at the beginning of the 20th century, shirts with a yoke and blouses appeared under the influence of urban fashion. On their feet, the villagers began to wear chobots - half boots with pointed socks. But sundresses, which were previously worn at home by both sexes, have disappeared. Men replaced them with zipuns and caftans, women with summer coats. In other words, in the new century, the process of unifying the clothes of the peasants began. National traditions changed forms that arose under the influence of the image and conditions of household life, but they nevertheless appeared and strengthened in various decorations, ornaments, lace, and some elements of the peasant dress have survived to this day.

Speaking about the household everyday life of peasants, one cannot fail to note the peculiarities of their nutrition. In the kitchen, no less than in clothes, people's preferences, tastes and opportunities are reflected. Not only the menu was traditional, but the norms of behavior at the table, passed down from generation to generation. The basis of the food reserves of the peasants was bread and flour products: pies, buns, rolls, noodles, etc. Broths made from poultry meat are widely used in the Stavropol Territory. In autumn, the peasants often ate meat and prepared it for the winter: dried, salted. Thus, the traditions of the economic and everyday life of the Stavropol peasants absorbed the centuries-old experience of previous generations and changed on the basis of everyday experience in housing, clothing and food.

According to experts, the solemnity of festive rituals was significantly enhanced by the merger of popular mood and religious morality. In preparation, and even on the holiday itself, a person, as it were, was cleansed of all filth and fuss. He gave an assessment of his deeds and behavior, set up his inner world for further connection with the surrounding reality. At the beginning of the 20th century, noticeable changes were made in all areas of the life of the Russian people, including holidays closely associated with the winter and summer solstice, autumn and spring equinoxes. In the Slavic calendar, there are twelve great and big holidays a year, which have a pronounced cult character, but certainly include folk traditions. All holidays are cycles according to the seasons. So, after the New Year, the Slavic population celebrates Christmas and Epiphany. Christmas Eve - Christmas Eve - was accompanied by many signs and beliefs. All of them, one way or another, were connected with the main occupation of the peasants. This, in our opinion, is the essence of folk tradition, reflected in the festive rituals. Christmas time, or holy evenings that followed Christmas Eve, were perceived by the people as a period of anomalous phenomena with a mystical character. Divination was a constant companion of Christmas time. The Baptism of the Lord was primarily associated with cleansing from sins. Maslenitsa was the last winter holiday. Its meaning came entirely from the pagan era and consisted in seeing off the winter and waiting for the warmth of spring. Maslenitsa was celebrated for a week, and every day is filled with its own meaning. It precedes Great Lent and begins 56 days before Easter. In general, the winter holidays were held in the village more cheerfully than all the others. This was also explained by the fact that the peasants were not busy with economic work in winter and could devote themselves entirely to popular rejoicing. The Easter holiday cycle was entirely filled with Christian meaning about the atonement of human sins, so Easter rightfully belongs to the main Christian holidays. However, the peasants did not forget their farms either. On the first day of Easter, peasants poured grain bread into their bins with the hope of a rich harvest. On the third day of Easter, they gathered with several families, went to the steppe to their arable land. Even before Easter, during Lent, in addition to Palm Sunday, the Annunciation and Great Thursday were celebrated. This day was full of various ceremonies, which also included the collection of juniper and tatar, endowed with supposedly protective properties. Easter itself church calendar celebrated not earlier than April 4 and not later than May 8, but always on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. Many folk signs are associated with its symbols. Miraculous properties were attributed not only to eggs, but also to the leaves of birch, onion and other plants, with which the peasants dyed them. On the tenth day after Easter, Radonitsa falls, when Orthodox people remembered the dead, visited their graves. No less significant church holiday was the Trinity - the birthday of the church. It marked the end of spring and was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter. In rural areas, the feast of the Trinity was invariably associated with hopes for a prosperous year. On Thursday, on the eve of the Trinity, the peasants celebrated i Semik - the veneration of water sources, which make it possible to grow a rich harvest. In the summer, a noteworthy holiday was the honoring of Ivan Kupala, and after him - the Intercession of the Most Holy Lady of the Virgin Mary. He completed the general holiday calendar.

In addition to traditional religious and folk holidays, the peasants on certain days especially revered the saints, who contributed to the successful completion of agricultural work. There were many such days, especially in spring and summer. Holidays were the cultural self-expression of the people, they united everyone, regardless of position and rank, contributed to the formation of common stereotypes, forms of behavior in everyday life, economic and everyday traditions.

The family has traditionally been the main economic unit, therefore, everyday traditions in the sphere of distribution of intra-family labor responsibilities serve as an important aspect of its characteristics. I Naturally, the role of men in their implementation exceeded women's participation, since the main criterion for evaluation was the share of work in the main agricultural occupations. The degree of employment of women was higher among married women, girls in the family of their parents performed auxiliary work. The peasant's wife was not his heiress and, in the event of her husband's death, acted as a guardian until the children came of age. However, unmarried men did not have equal status with independent owners; they were at the court of their father. Being an integral part of the rural community, the peasant family in the Stavropol Territory independently provided for its livelihoods. She was distinguished by the fact that she could consist of several married couples, but at the same time only her father was in charge of the household. An analysis of the way of life of a family of rural residents indicates that each of its elements was based on the beginning of labor, all family members performed household chores for family needs. The exception was needlework, which belonged to the female prerogative, j The process of raising children also took place in the course of work, at first they learned the main features of the peasant worldview: thrift, love of work. They were taught the rules of behavior on the street, at the table, in church. The head of the family took only his sons as his assistants, the girls helped their mother. The strict daily routine created ideal conditions for the establishment of stable customs and rituals within the framework of everyday life, the meaning of which was clearly manifested in the context of socio-economic relations. Therefore, the rite in most cases determined both the external forms and the internal content of peasant life. The most important due to the prevalence should be recognized as a complex of rites, ritual actions and beliefs associated with marriage and the increase in families due to natural fertility.

The farmer understood marriage as a moral duty, a guarantee of well-being and social prestige. Wedding rituals affected many aspects of life, were closely connected with the conditions of life and the peculiarities of the social i structure of society. The conclusion of marriage consisted of three stages: pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding, which were accompanied by certain customs and rituals. Various amulets were used in the marriage ritual: onions, garlic, fishing net, woolen threads, needles, bells. It was customary for the Stavropol peasants to lay an egg under the feather bed for young people so that they would have children, for the same purposes they were fed chicken at the wedding. In order for a son to be born, the bride was put on the knees of boys at the wedding, and during childbirth, her husband's hat was placed on her head. The appearance of a child in a woman significantly strengthened her position. Not being a mother, she was considered punished by God for sins. Despite the solemnity of the birth, for forty days both the mother and the child were isolated for "cleansing". This attitude towards motherhood was associated with the belief that a woman during childbirth was balancing on the verge of life and death and was perceived as a person who had been in the next world. The peasant family and marriage in the Stavropol Territory acquired specific features characteristic only for this region. The family combined the properties of a social and economic structure, and the rituals associated with its activities were mainly rational and based on empirical knowledge, abounded in magical techniques and actions aimed at ensuring well-being and a happy future.

The analysis carried out makes it possible to say that a distinctive feature of rural everyday life in the Stavropol Territory was the fact that the peasants who moved to the North Caucasus had practical experience of living in other socio-economic conditions, which in a new place was transformed into specific traditions of managing and organizing life. Sustainable traditions in production activities, in turn, contributed to the evolution of peasants' worldview ideas about the surrounding reality.

Household, spiritual and cultural traditions in the rural environment of Stavropol reflected the purpose of the rural community, relied on its strength and the desire for comprehensive participation in the daily life of peasants based on the principles of equality in the organization of the activities of all rural mechanisms. The traditions of everyday life and material culture were formed in the Stavropol Territory through the adaptation of the peasant population to the conditions and environment. Their approval and preservation was largely facilitated by the increased degree of isolation of the Stavropol village in the economic and social structure of the state.

Rural tradition and everyday life, economic and household rituals, are an important factor in the functioning of the entire rural organism, they not only reflect in themselves, but at the same time are themselves a reflection of the production activities of the peasants. Traditions, customs and rituals are connected with the continuity of generations, they consist of many rituals and actions, include many components that make it possible to judge the features of the social and economic development of the rural population. Peasant traditions and rituals associated with them should be classified as fairly conservative phenomena that do not have increased dynamism, but retain their origins and motives in the field of ideas about the world around them, the formation of the people's worldview and worldview. The beginning of the 20th century refers to the period when not only well-established traditions and rituals were clearly manifested, but there were also changes in economic, everyday and worldview values ​​among the peasant population of the main grain-producing regions of the country.

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A Russian dwelling is not a separate house, but a fenced yard in which several buildings, both residential and utility, were built. Izba was the general name of a residential building. The word "hut" comes from the ancient "istba", "stove". Initially, this was the name of the main heated residential part of the house with a stove.

As a rule, the dwellings of rich and poor peasants in the villages practically differed in quality factor and the number of buildings, the quality of decoration, but consisted of the same elements. The presence of such outbuildings as a barn, a barn, a shed, a bathhouse, a cellar, a barn, an exit, a barn, etc., depended on the level of development of the economy. All buildings in the literal sense of the word were chopped with an ax from the beginning to the end of construction, although longitudinal and transverse saws were known and used. The concept of "peasant yard" included not only buildings, but also the plot of land on which they were located, including a vegetable garden, a garden, a threshing floor, etc.

The main building material was wood. The number of forests with excellent "business" forests far exceeded what is now preserved in the vicinity of Saitovka. Pine and spruce were considered the best types of wood for buildings, but pine was always preferred. Oak was valued for the strength of the wood, but it was heavy and difficult to work. It was used only in the lower crowns of log cabins, for the construction of cellars or in structures where special strength was needed (mills, wells, salt pits). Other tree species, especially deciduous (birch, alder, aspen), were used in the construction, as a rule, of outbuildings.

For each need, trees were selected according to special characteristics. So, for the walls of the log house, they tried to pick up special "warm" trees, overgrown with moss, straight, but not necessarily straight-layered. At the same time, not just straight, but straight-layered trees were necessarily chosen for the roof board. More often, log cabins were collected already in the yard or near the yard. Carefully chose the place for the future home

For the construction of even the largest log-type buildings, they usually did not build a special foundation along the perimeter of the walls, but supports were laid at the corners of the huts - large boulders or the so-called "chairs" from oak stumps. In rare cases, if the length of the walls was much longer than usual, supports were also placed in the middle of such walls. The very nature of the log construction of the buildings made it possible to confine ourselves to relying on four main points, since the log house was a seamless structure.


The vast majority of buildings were based on a "cage", "crown", a bunch of four logs, the ends of which were chopped into a tie. The methods of such felling could be different according to the execution technique.

The main constructive types of logged peasant residential buildings were "cross", "five-wall", a house with a cut. For insulation between the crowns of logs, moss was interspersed with tow.

but the purpose of the connection was always the same - to fasten the logs together into a square with strong knots without any additional connection elements (staples, nails, wooden pins or knitting needles, etc.). Each log had a strictly defined place in the structure. Having cut down the first wreath, they cut the second one on it, the third one on the second, etc., until the log house reached a predetermined height.

The roofs of the huts were mostly covered with straw, which, especially in lean years, often served as fodder for livestock. Sometimes more prosperous peasants erected roofs made of plank or batten. Tes was made by hand. To do this, two workers used high goats and a long longitudinal saw.

Everywhere, like all Russians, the peasants of Saitovka, according to a common custom, when laying a house, put money under the lower crown in all corners, and a larger coin was supposed to be in the red corner. And where the stove was placed, they did not put anything, since this corner, according to popular beliefs, was intended for a brownie.

In the upper part of the frame, across the hut, there was a uterus - a tetrahedral wooden beam that served as a support for the ceilings. The uterus was cut into the upper crowns of the frame and was often used to hang objects from the ceiling. So, a ring was nailed to it, through which an ochep (flexible pole) of the cradle (unsteadiness) passed. A lantern with a candle was hung in the middle to illuminate the hut, and later a kerosene lamp with a lampshade.

In the rituals associated with the completion of the construction of the house, there was an obligatory treat, which was called "matic". In addition, the laying of the uterus itself, after which there was still a fairly large amount of construction work, was considered as a special stage in the construction of the house and furnished with its own rituals.

In the wedding ceremony for a successful matchmaking, the matchmakers never entered the house for the uterus without a special invitation from the owners of the house. In the folk language, the expression "to sit under the uterus" meant "to be a matchmaker." The idea of ​​the father's house, luck, happiness was associated with the uterus. So, leaving the house, it was necessary to hold on to the uterus.

For insulation around the entire perimeter, the lower crowns of the hut were covered with earth, forming a mound in front of which a bench was installed. In the summer, old people spent the evening on a mound and a bench. Fallen leaves with dry earth were usually laid on top of the ceiling. The space between the ceiling and the roof - the attic in Saitovka was also called the istka. On it, things, utensils, utensils, furniture, brooms, bunches of grass, etc., were usually stored. The children arranged their simple hiding places on it.

A porch and a canopy were necessarily attached to a residential hut - a small room that protected the hut from the cold. The role of the canopy was varied. This is a protective vestibule in front of the entrance, and additional living quarters in the summer, and a utility room where part of the food supplies were kept.

The soul of the whole house was the oven. It should be noted that the so-called "Russian", or, more correctly, an oven, is a purely local invention and quite ancient. It traces its history back to the Trypillia dwellings. But in the design of the oven itself during the second millennium of our era, very significant changes took place, which made it possible to use fuel much more fully.

Putting together a good stove is not an easy task. At first, a small wooden frame (oven) was installed right on the ground, which served as the foundation of the furnace. Small logs split in half were laid on it and the bottom of the oven was laid out on them - under, even, without tilt, otherwise the baked bread would turn out to be lopsided. Above the hearth of stone and clay, a furnace vault was built. The side of the oven had several shallow holes called stoves, in which mittens, mittens, socks, etc. were dried. In the old days, the huts (smoky ones) were heated in a black way - the stove did not have a chimney. The smoke escaped through a small portage window. Although the walls and ceiling became sooty, this had to be put up with: a stove without a chimney was cheaper to build and required less wood. Subsequently, in accordance with the rules of rural improvement, mandatory for state peasants, chimneys began to be removed above the huts.

First of all, the "big woman" stood up - the owner's wife, if she was not yet old, or one of the daughters-in-law. She flooded the stove, opened wide the door and the smoker. Smoke and cold lifted everyone. Small children were put on a pole to warm themselves. Acrid smoke filled the entire hut, crawled up, hung under the ceiling above human height. In an ancient Russian proverb, known since the 13th century, it says: "I could not bear the smoky sorrows, I did not see the heat." Smoked logs of houses rotted less, so chicken huts were more durable.

The stove occupied almost a quarter of the dwelling area. It was heated for several hours, but, having warmed up, kept warm and heated the room during the day. The stove served not only for heating and cooking, but also as a stove bench. Bread and pies were baked in the oven, porridge, cabbage soup were cooked, meat and vegetables were stewed. In addition, mushrooms, berries, grain, and malt were also dried in it. Often in the oven, replacing the bath, steamed.

In all cases of life, the stove came to the aid of the peasant. And it was necessary to heat the stove not only in winter, but throughout the year. Even in summer, it was necessary to heat the oven well at least once a week in order to bake a sufficient supply of bread. Using the ability of the oven to accumulate, accumulate heat, the peasants cooked food once a day, in the morning, left the cooked food inside the ovens until dinner - and the food remained hot. Only at a late summer supper did the food have to be warmed up. This feature of the oven had a decisive influence on Russian cooking, which is dominated by the processes of languishing, boiling, stewing, and not only peasant, since the lifestyle of many small estate nobles did not differ much from peasant life.

The oven served as a lair for the whole family. On the stove, the warmest place in the hut, old people slept, who climbed there by steps - a device in the form of 2-3 steps. One of the obligatory elements of the interior was the floor - wooden flooring from the side wall of the furnace to the opposite side of the hut. They slept on the floorboards, climbing from the stove, dried flax, hemp, and a splinter. For the day, bedding and unnecessary clothes were thrown there. The shelves were made high, at the level of the height of the furnace. The free edge of the boards was often fenced with low railings, balusters, so that nothing would fall from the boards. Polati were a favorite place for children: both as a place to sleep and as the most convenient observation point during peasant holidays and weddings.

The location of the stove determined the layout of the entire living room. Usually the stove was placed in the corner to the right or left of the front door. The corner opposite the mouth of the furnace was the working place of the hostess. Everything here was adapted for cooking. There was a poker, a tong, a pomelo, a wooden shovel by the stove. Nearby is a mortar with a pestle, hand millstones and a sourdough tub for sourdough dough. They raked the ashes out of the furnace with a poker. With a grip, the cook caught pot-bellied clay or cast-iron pots (cast iron), and sent them to the heat. In a mortar, she crushed the grain, peeling it from the husk, And with the help of a mill, she ground it into flour. A pomelo and a shovel were necessary for baking bread: with a broom, a peasant woman swept under the stoves, and with a shovel she planted a future loaf on it.

A washcloth hung next to the stove, i.e. towel and washbasin. Beneath it was a wooden tub for dirty water. In the oven corner there was also a ship bench (vessel) or a counter with shelves inside, which was used as a kitchen table. On the walls were observers - lockers, shelves for simple tableware: pots, ladles, cups, bowls, spoons. They were made from wood by the owner of the house himself. In the kitchen, one could often see earthenware in "clothing" made of birch bark - economical owners did not throw away cracked pots, pots, bowls, but braided them with strips of birch bark for strength. Above was a stove beam (pole), on which kitchen utensils were placed and a variety of household items were stacked. The sovereign mistress of the stove corner was the eldest woman in the house.


The stove corner was considered a dirty place, unlike the rest of the clean space of the hut. Therefore, the peasants always sought to separate it from the rest of the room with a curtain made of colorful chintz or colored homespun, a tall wardrobe or a wooden bulkhead. Closed, thus, the stove corner formed a small room, which had the name "closet". The stove corner was considered exclusively female space in the hut. During the holiday, when many guests gathered in the house, a second table for women was placed near the stove, where they feasted separately from the men who sat at the table in the red corner. Men, even of their own families, could not enter the women's quarters without special need. The appearance of an outsider there was generally considered unacceptable.

During the matchmaking, the future bride had to be all the time in the oven corner, being able to hear the whole conversation. From the stove corner she came out smartly dressed during the bridegroom - the rite of acquaintance of the groom and his parents with the bride. In the same place, the bride was waiting for the groom on the day of departure down the aisle. In old wedding songs, the stove corner was interpreted as a place associated with the father's house, family, and happiness. The exit of the bride from the stove corner to the red corner was perceived as leaving the house, saying goodbye to him.

At the same time, the stove corner, from where there is an exit to the underground, was perceived at the mythological level as a place where people could meet with representatives of the "other" world. Through the chimney, according to legend, a fiery serpent-devil can fly to a widow yearning for her dead husband. It was generally accepted that on especially solemn days for the family: during the christening of children, birthdays, weddings, deceased parents - "ancestors" come to the stove to take part in an important event in the life of their descendants.

The place of honor in the hut - the red corner - was located obliquely from the stove between the side and front wall. It, like the stove, is an important landmark of the interior space of the hut, well lit, since both of its constituent walls had windows. The main decoration of the red corner was a goddess with icons, in front of which a lamp was burning, suspended from the ceiling, so it was also called "holy".


They tried to keep the red corner clean and smartly decorated. It was cleaned with embroidered towels, popular prints, postcards. With the advent of wallpaper, the red corner was often pasted over or separated from the rest of the hut space. The most beautiful household utensils were placed on the shelves near the red corner, the most valuable papers and items were stored.

All significant events of family life were marked in the red corner. Here, as the main piece of furniture, there was a table on massive legs, on which runners were installed. The runners made it easy to move the table around the hut. It was placed next to the oven when bread was baked, and moved while washing the floor and walls.

Behind him were both everyday meals and festive feasts. Every day at lunchtime, the whole peasant family gathered at the table. The table was big enough for everyone to sit. In the wedding ceremony, the matchmaking of the bride, her ransom from her girlfriends and brother took place in the red corner; from the red corner of her father's house she was taken to the church for the wedding, brought to the groom's house and also led to the red corner. During the harvest, the first and last harvested sheaf was solemnly carried from the field and placed in the red corner.

“The first compressed sheaf was called the birthday man. Autumn threshing began with it, sick cattle were fed with straw, the grains of the first sheaf were considered healing for people and birds. in the red corner under the icons. The preservation of the first and last ears of the harvest, endowed, according to popular beliefs, with magical powers, promised well-being to the family, home, and entire economy.

Everyone who entered the hut first of all took off his hat, crossed himself and bowed to the images in the red corner, saying: "Peace be to this house." Peasant etiquette ordered the guest, who entered the hut, to stay in half of the hut at the door, without going behind the uterus. Unauthorized, uninvited intrusion into the "red half", where the table was placed, was considered extremely indecent and could be perceived as an insult. A person who came to the hut could go there only at the special invitation of the owners. The most dear guests were put in the red corner, and during the wedding - the young ones. On ordinary days, the head of the family sat at the dinner table here.

The last of the remaining corners of the hut, to the left or right of the door, was the workplace of the owner of the house. There was a bench where he slept. Under it, a tool was stored in a box. IN free time the peasant in his corner was engaged in various crafts and minor repairs: weaving bast shoes, baskets and ropes, cutting spoons, gouging cups, etc.

Although most of the peasant huts consisted of only one room, not divided by partitions, an unspoken tradition prescribed certain rules for the placement of members of the peasant hut. If the stove corner was the female half, then in one of the corners of the house a place was specially allotted for sleeping the older married couple. This place was considered honorable.


Shop


Most of the "furniture" was part of the construction of the hut and was motionless. Along all the walls not occupied by the stove, wide benches stretched, hewn from the largest trees. They were intended not so much for sitting as for sleeping. The benches were firmly attached to the wall. Other important pieces of furniture were benches and stools that could be moved freely from place to place when guests arrived. Above the benches, along all the walls, shelves were arranged - "slaves", on which household items, small tools, etc. were stored. Special wooden pegs for clothes were also driven into the wall.

An integral attribute of almost every Saitovka hut was a pole - a bar built into the opposite walls of the hut under the ceiling, which in the middle, opposite the wall, was supported by two plows. The second pole with one end rested against the first pole, and with the other - against the wall. The aforementioned structure in winter served as a support for the mill for weaving matting and other auxiliary operations associated with this fishery.


spinning wheel


The housewives were especially proud of chiseled, carved and painted spinning wheels, which were usually put in a prominent place: they served not only as a tool of labor, but also as a decoration for the home. Usually, with elegant spinning wheels, peasant girls went to "gatherings" - cheerful rural gatherings. The "white" hut was cleaned with home weaving items. The beds and the couch were covered with colored curtains made of linen checkered. At the windows - curtains made of homespun muslin, window sills were decorated with geraniums, dear to the peasant's heart. The hut was especially carefully cleaned for the holidays: the women washed with sand and scraped white with large knives - "mowers" - the ceiling, walls, benches, shelves, beds.

Peasants kept their clothes in chests. The more wealth in the family, the more chests in the hut. They were made of wood, upholstered with iron strips for strength. Often the chests had ingenious mortise locks. If a girl grew up in a peasant family, then from an early age, a dowry was collected for her in a separate chest.

A poor Russian peasant lived in this space. Often in the winter cold, domestic animals were kept in the hut: calves, lambs, kids, pigs, and sometimes poultry.

The decoration of the hut reflected the artistic taste and skill of the Russian peasant. The silhouette of the hut crowned carved

ridge (ohlupen) and roof of the porch; The pediment was decorated with carved lintels and towels, the planes of the walls - window frames, often reflecting the influence of the city's architecture (baroque, classicism, etc.). The ceiling, door, walls, oven, less often the outer pediment were painted.


Non-residential peasant buildings made up the household yard. Often they were gathered together and placed under the same roof with a hut. They built an economic yard in two tiers: in the lower one there were barns for cattle, a stable, and in the upper one there was a huge sennik filled with fragrant hay. A significant part of the household yard was occupied by a shed for storing working equipment - plows, harrows, as well as carts and sledges. The more prosperous the peasant, the larger was his economic yard.

Separately from the house, they usually put a bathhouse, a well, and a barn. It is unlikely that the then baths were very different from those that can still be found now - a small log house,

sometimes without a vestibule. In one corner there is a stove-heater, next to it are shelves or beds on which they steamed. In the other corner is a barrel for water, which was heated by throwing red-hot stones into it. Later, cast-iron boilers began to be built in to heat water in stoves. To soften the water, wood ash was added to the barrel, thus preparing lye. All the decoration of the bath was illuminated by a small window, the light from which was drowned in the blackness of the sooty walls and ceilings, since in order to save firewood the baths were heated "in black" and the smoke came out through the half-open door. From above, such a structure often had an almost flat pitched roof, covered with straw, birch bark and turf.

The barn, and often the cellar under it, was placed in plain sight against the windows and at a distance from the dwelling, so that in the event of a fire in the hut, the annual supply of grain would be preserved. A lock was hung on the door of the barn - perhaps the only one in the entire household. In the barn, in huge boxes (bottom boxes), the main wealth of the farmer was stored: rye, wheat, oats, barley. No wonder the village used to say: "What is in the barn, such is in the pocket."

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