Traditions are factors of mutual assistance to the life of the peasantry. The importance of the peasant tradition in the formation of the culture of the noble estate
Peasants and peasant life
The peasant dwelling is described by de Custine. Most of the Russian house was occupied by the canopy. “Despite the draft,” writes the Frenchman, “the characteristic smell of onions, sauerkraut and tanned skin overwhelmed me. A low and rather cramped room adjoined the entrance hall ... Everything - walls, ceiling, floor, table, benches - are a set of boards of various lengths and shapes, very roughly finished ...
In Russia, uncleanliness is conspicuous, but it is more noticeable in dwellings and clothes than in people. Russians take care of themselves, and although their baths seem disgusting to us, this boiling mist cleanses and strengthens the body. Therefore, you often meet peasants with clean hair and a beard, which cannot be said about their clothes ... a warm dress is expensive, and you have to wear it for a long time ... ”(248).
About peasant women, watching their dances, de Stael wrote that she had not seen anything more pretty and graceful than these folk dances. In the dance of the peasant women, she found both bashfulness and passion.
De Custine argued that silence reigns at all peasant holidays. They drink a lot, talk little, do not shout, and either remain silent or sing sad songs. In their favorite pastime - swings - they show miracles of agility and balance. From four to eight guys or girls got on one swing. The poles from which the swing was hung were twenty feet high. When young people were swinging, foreigners were afraid that the swing was about to describe a full circle, and it was not clear to them how it was possible to stay on them and keep their balance.
“The Russian peasant is industrious and knows how to extricate himself from difficulties in all situations of life. He does not leave the house without an ax - an invaluable tool in the skillful hands of a resident of a country in which the forest has not yet become a rarity. With a Russian servant, you can safely get lost in the forest. In a few hours, a hut will be at your service, where you will spend the night with great comfort ”(249), - noted de Custine.
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Russian peasant culture
For a long time, the peasantry formed the basis of the population of our region. In Russian culture, elements of Slavic mythology associated with pagan memories, with faith in the forces of nature, lingered for a long time. But gradually the peasant worldview adjusts to a new religion - Christianity: Perun (the god of thunder) - Ilya the prophet, Makosh (the goddess of fertility) - the Virgin Mary ...
The Russian Orthodox Church played a significant role in this. The Christian beginning has formed a special Russian "truth-seeking", the search for the kingdom of God, mercy and compassion for the suffering. All these qualities were formed in the people through communication with the clergy, through the perception of the world in the light of Christianity. In this regard, the personality of the priest, his behavior, the level of his education, wisdom became socially significant.
Warm relations often developed between clergy and parishioners: paternal on the one hand, respectful and respectful on the other. It happened that the village priests cultivated the land with their own hands, worked in the apiary. This was consistent with their appearance outside the church, and their behavior. Peasants participated with participation in the work of priests, helped them in peasant work (more often during the harvest). Parting with a priest who was forced to leave his parish for some reason often touched parishioners to the core. Contact intensified if the priest not only became closer to the peasants due to the community of life and economy and good disposition towards his flock, but also, in his spiritual essence, became a true mentor.
But there were also conflicts between peasants and priests, not all church ministers met the necessary moral and professional requirements. The attitude of the peasantry towards the parish clergy depended on the moral level and behavior of the clergy themselves. The peasants were outraged by the unworthy behavior of the clergy and clergy in everyday life, their irresponsibility, their formal attitude to their pastoral duties, and extortion. But the manifestations of hostility were not of a fundamental, but of a personal nature: insisting on the removal of one priest, they asked to be replaced by another.
Peasant community
The cultural life of the peasantry was based on strict principles, they streamlined all life on the basis of clear rules. On the one hand, subordination to the elder in the family, on the other hand, the veneration of the elders by the younger, the subordination of a woman to a man had the character of an unwritten law. By strong ties, a person was connected with other members of his family, with neighbors and with the whole community. Family and communal solidarity, preference for collective interests over personal interests were the norm of peasant life. This was associated with the practice of mutual assistance, mutual replacement, community support for the old and the crippled.
The Russian peasant community was an integral part of the well-known "theory of official nationality" - "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality", where the people love their tsar, and he worries about his subjects as his children, the tsar and the people are Orthodox, and honor traditions. Narodnost was understood as the need to adhere to their own Russian traditions and reject foreign influence. For centuries, the communal system was the basis of the state power of Russia.
A characteristic phenomenon of peasant life is help: voluntary and disinterested help from the villagers in urgent and great work to a fellow villager (dung removal to the field, harvest, mowing, forest removal, building a house, etc.). In the evening, after the completion of work, the owner treated everyone who helped to dinner. The typical Russian "our people - let's get along" significantly increased the resilience of Russian families.
On church holidays, up to four times a year, prayers were held, called by the name of the saint, on whose memorial day the action fell. A fattened bull was slaughtered for Nikola. On the eve of Elijah - a lamb. The best part of the meat was carried to the church. From the rest, they prepared dishes for the brothers. It was the custom of a collective public treat: they brewed beer and held a public feast.
On Orthodox and folk holidays they usually went to different villages. On Maslenitsa, they definitely rode, decorated horses and sleighs, seated girls, and guys with accordions. Everyone danced and drank, had fun, but they tried not to allow a lot of drunkenness. Everyone was drunk and happy. The enthusiasm reached such an intensity that it excluded the traditional battles between the various "bushes" of the villages.
Although there were rarely fights on the festivities, because of the girls they were single, and sometimes village against village, using stakes. A special role was assigned to teenagers, who were not allowed to "fight", but if necessary, they brought stakes to peasants and older guys. Who wins, he walks. But they didn't lead to death.
The peasants paid special attention to their livestock and, above all, to the “cow”, the nurse, the “Red Belly”. Communication with livestock fixed in rituals helped to establish a subtle spiritual connection between a person and an animal. And this ensured the well-being of the cattle and the best quality of milk.
In the event of an epidemic, animals were fumigated with "healing living" juniper smoke. Early in the morning, the men gathered near someone's faith (the pillar on which the gate is held). They took a juniper stake and, resting it on the faith, spun it until the appearance of "native", "holy" fire. Often a stake was inserted between two posts and rotated with a rope. A bonfire was usually arranged in a run leading to the meadows. Juniper paws were thrown on top of the fire, giving thick smoke. People and cattle passed "through the fire" in these peculiar gates. It was believed that smoked with the smoke of a sacred tree, they would certainly be healed. And if you haven't gotten sick yet, you'll stay healthy.
Family
One of the brightest moments in the life of the peasants was the young years before marriage. This is the time of joint games of girls and boys, gatherings, round dances, caroling at Christmas time; a time when many moral restraints are loosened.
Evening parties were held in each village, sometimes they went to neighboring villages, but it was dangerous for the girls, it was possible to get cuffs from the village guys. They didn’t just sit at parties, the girls usually wove the fabric, and the guys played the accordion. They played games in the hut, danced, danced, and sometimes drank wine or brew. For any mistake or oversight, forfeits were given out: the guys were forced to do something for the received forfeits, the girls were forced to kiss, the kissers were usually covered with a scarf. The local clergy spoke with condemnation of the evenings, but in fact the priests could not do anything about it.
The parties and gatherings were divided by age into three groups: children 6-10 years old, teenagers 10-14 years old, and boys and girls over 15 years old.
The youngest played bast shoes, "priest", "bison" ...; they were chasing homemade balls stuffed with rags. In winter, they got up on skates made of aspen, played with a snowman, fiddled with a sleigh. Toys were made with their own hands from what was at hand.
For the elders, things went differently: they chose a hut where a lonely old woman lived, and agreed with her about payment. On account of her, they brought food, whoever could - potatoes, lard, cabbage. They came to gatherings or "arbors" always with work, some embroidered, some spun tow. Girls from 15 to 22 years old gathered for adult gazebos. A little later, the guys came with an accordion, treats, and the fun began. It was a time when the girl had to show that she could not only work, but also sing and dance, and say the right word. Pavilions gave young people the opportunity to get to know each other well before the wedding, to choose a groom or bride. This was helped by games at gatherings.
For example, such a game was interesting as going out to the “column”, that is, to another room or a curtained “cage”, where the couple could retire for a few minutes. If a guy called a girl several times during the evening, it means he "offers friendship." Sometimes games and laughter continued into the middle of the night, but there were also fights, the cause of which were girls who liked several guys at once. They fought in the hut, and the next morning the guys came and repaired the broken ones with the whole world.
After the gatherings, the couples went to see off, and those girls who were left without a boyfriend were supposed to spend the night in this hut and put everything in order in the morning. Each time a new hut was chosen for gatherings, they usually met once every two weeks, and only in winter, since there was a lot of work in summer.
Life expectancy was not great, in the 19th century it did not exceed 30-35 years, rarely when men reached the age of 50, women lived on average two to four years longer.
Therefore, they tried to conclude marriages earlier: boys were married at the age of 15-18 years, girls were given in marriage at 14-17 years old. It was not uncommon for a wife to be 2-3 years older than her husband, which was due to human physiology. The girl who remained in the “girls up to 20-22 years old” was considered already old. At the end of the 19th century, with the increase in life expectancy of the population, the age of those entering into marriage shifted by about a year or two.
According to Russian centuries-old traditions, families were created by sons. Moreover, the eldest son, after marriage, along with his wife and nascent children, as a rule, remained to live in his father's family. And the next sons, as their family was created, were separated from the household of the parental family and began to live independently.
If there were only daughters in the parents' family, then, as a rule, one of the daughters (most often the youngest), getting married, remained with her husband in the family of her parents. But it was not very prestigious for a man to be a “primak”, that is, accepted into another family. In any case, aging parents with living children did not find themselves outside the family.
The parents married their son early, they did not put off this far, trying to get a working daughter-in-law into the house. The initiative in the case belonged to the young man's parents, who chose a bride for their son, often without asking his wishes. Even if they married and got married of their own free will, then it was necessary with the consent of their parents and with their blessing. If the boy's parents didn't like the girl, they looked for another daughter-in-law.
Everywhere it was customary to send matchmakers (matchmakers) to the bride - sometimes secretly, and sometimes openly. In any case, matchmaking was furnished with its own rituals, which included the semi-secret nature of the mission, figurative expressions in which the proposal was formulated. If the parties agreed to the marriage, bridegrooms were arranged: some relative of the groom went to the bride to evaluate her appearance and determine what her character was. If everything was in order, a marriage agreement was drawn up with the obligations of the parties in terms of the timing of marriage, wedding expenses, and the size of the dowry from the bride's parents.
If necessary (if the groom was a stranger), the bride's parents went to inspect his home, get to know him himself, and their groom walked back with them with a gift. Sometimes drinking and wooing was still arranged, and hand-beating was carried out separately; both were accompanied by feasts, the lamentations of the bride. According to the memoirs of the old-timers, the matchmakers ate and drank at the table, and the betrothed "howled" in the crate; “she is glad, dear, but howls.” The betrothed bride walked around with a braided braid, in a low-tied scarf, she almost did not appear on the street.
In the second half of the 19th century, although matchmaking retained its role, young people, under the influence of innovations coming from the city, received much greater freedom in choosing a companion. But the Orthodox Church unequivocally established the indissolubility of marriage. The law demanded: first marriage, then love. That is, young people had to first get married - become husband and wife, then have children.
After the completion of the church part of the ritual, the wedding train was sent to the groom's house. Here the groom's parents met the young with the icon of the Savior or St. Nicholas, bread and salt. They were showered with grain and hops, which meant fertility and wealth in the family, a rite preserved from pagan times (like many other rites). The newlyweds, after the reception and parental blessing, were seated at the table. They seated the “young” on a fur coat turned upside down with wool, which was considered a remedy for spoilage, contributed to a rich life, so that livestock was kept. A festive wedding feast began, where it was supposed not to cry, but to have fun, a musician, a gamer and a joker always became a welcome guest.
The first wedding night of the young spouses and the morning rituals of the next day were extremely ritualized, which were a kind of test for the young wife. She, in particular, had to sweep the house with a chopped off broom, and the guests interfered with her, or the basement of garbage; testing not only the housekeeping of the young wife, but also her patience. Festive festivities with songs, dances and various undertakings lasted another day or two or three, which depended on the material condition, season and parental patience.
Although the daughter remained in her husband's house, the parents of the young usually established "in-law ties." Parents helped their children whenever possible. When a young family needed help, the husband and wife asked their parents in two voices: “Daddy, help!” The two fathers of this young family sat down together and, like "in-laws," discussed how to "help their children."
The creation of any Russian family has always been aimed at the birth of children. Most Russian peasant women had their first child by the age of 18-19. During her entire childbearing period, an average of 5-6 children grew up. Moreover, the period of growing up of all children in families stretched up to 20-25 years. So it often happened when a woman gave birth to her last child, her eldest son or daughter already had a child, that is, her grandson or granddaughter. There was nothing surprising when the eldest grandson rocked his young uncle in his arms.
The frequency of births in Russian families was due to climatic conditions, the difficulties of agricultural production and rather coarse food. Therefore, Russian mothers breastfed their children for several years, until the children's body acquired the ability to independently absorb roughage. The interval between the births of children in Russian families was up to 3-4 years. Despite the cares of mothers, infant mortality was high, but the community was not satisfied with the tragedies from the death of babies. Mothers cried, and relatives and neighbors consoled: "God gave, God took."
The strongest, healthiest children survived and grew up. On average, 6-7 children grew up in a family, fewer grew up - 5-6. There were very few families with less than three children, the same with families with more than 8 children. It was these healthy children who grew up and ensured the doubling of the population of Russia in an average of 50-60 years.
In the conditions of Russia, it is very difficult for a woman to raise several children alone. Therefore, long ago, the Orthodox Church established the inviolability of marriage between the mother and father of born children. The rule was: “Create your own family. Beget and raise your children. Raise them so that they take care of your old age.
It was in the family that the child learned "what is good and what is bad." In the family, children were taught from an early age to their future role in the family - the role of husband-father, or wife-mother. As soon as the child began to walk and babble, he was given: a girl - a doll, a boy - toy tools for protection and management. Children, growing up, little by little learned future duties. The family was a school where children received skills and knowledge.
In the simplest process of generational change, the child grew up, turning into a father (mother), and when he passed into the period of an aging grandfather (grandmother), his grandson and granddaughter grew up to replace him. There was a rule: "I grow up myself - I raise children - I raise grandchildren."
Our ancestors considered themselves unfortunate people if they had few grandchildren. Being on their deathbed, grandmothers used to say: “I did not live my life in vain. Avon, my grandchildren have grown up.” And their faces shone with joy from happiness.
From time immemorial in Russia, the upbringing of a worker from a boy was the work of grandfathers, the upbringing of a future wife and mother lay with grandmothers ..
In the middle - end of the 19th century, the situation in the countryside began to change, elements of urban culture penetrated the village. New manners, dress, dances and songs, tea and tobacco, dishes, furniture and wallpaper come to the village ... Moreover, novelty is often perceived positively, so under the influence of city rules in peasant life there is more outward decency, decency enters, the guys are already talking to the girls “you”, there is more restraint in dealing with girls, there are fewer immodest jokes and songs, etc.
The harp and flute are replaced by a talyanka (harmonica), serious, sad and sublime songs are replaced by a ditty, a tabloid urban romance.
Gradually, the traditional patriarchal structure of family life began to collapse, when the younger unquestioningly obeyed the elders. In the second half of the 19th century, the authority of seniority in the community was replaced by the authority of wealth. Rich peasants are respected, they are honored, but they are also envied.
House of the Russian peasant
Our ancestors always had their own views on the place where they were to live, raise children, celebrate, love, receive guests.
First of all, the place of construction was chosen. Usually, a Russian settlement was set up on a hill on the banks of a river, lake, on springs and streams, where dams were made.
The peasant put the hut where the rays of the sun gave more heat and light, where from the windows, from the porch platform, from the territory of the yard, the widest view of the lands he cultivated opened, where there was a good approach and entrance to the house. They tried to orient the houses to the south, “to the sun”; if this was not possible, then "facing" to the east or southwest. A barn and a threshing floor were placed next to the house, a barn in front of the windows. A windmill was placed on a hill, below, near the water, a bathhouse was built.
Houses of single-row settlements were oriented only to the south. The natural lack of space on the sunny side with the growth of the settlement led to the emergence of a second row of houses, with facades facing north.
It was impossible to build housing where the road used to pass, "all good things will leave the house." It was also considered unfavorable for construction, the place where human bones were found, or someone was injured with an ax or a knife to the point of blood, or other unpleasant, unexpected events occurred that were memorable for the village. This threatened misfortune for the inhabitants of the future home. It was impossible to build a house on the site where the bathhouse stood. In the bath, a person did not just wash off dirt from himself, but, as it were, plunged into a vessel with living and dead water, was born anew each time, putting himself to the test of fire and water, steaming at a high temperature, and then dipping into an ice hole or a river, or simply doused himself ice water. The bath was both a maternity hospital and a dwelling place for the spirit of the bannik. Bath is an unconsecrated place - there are no icons there. A bathhouse is a place where a lot of things can happen if you don't follow the rules. So the rule was kept not to go to the bath after midnight and in the fourth turn, always leave hot and cold water. After people in the bath, a bannik is washed with friends and neighbors “of their own”, when a brownie or barn calls, when a goblin or a kikimora. If the rules are not followed, the bannik can punish: a person will be poisoned with carbon monoxide, or scalded, they sometimes used to say about such people “worn to death”.
Favorable for construction was considered the place where cattle lie down to rest. The people attributed to him the power of fertility, which was associated with the old pagan beliefs in Veles (Volos).
The whole process of house-building was accompanied by rituals. One of the obligatory customs is to make a sacrifice so that the house stands well. Usually a red-black rooster was sacrificed to protect it from fire, which was so dangerous for a peasant estate. "The thief will come - he will leave the walls, the fire will come - he will leave nothing."
A tree was planted next to a house under construction, it carried a secret meaning: the person who planted the tree showed that the space around the house was not wild, but cultural, mastered by him. It was forbidden to cut specially planted trees for firewood or for other household needs. Most often they planted an apple tree or mountain ash, the fruits of the mountain ash and the leaves are similar to the cross, which means they are a natural talisman of Orthodox peasants.
A peasant's hut is a wooden frame, over which a gable roof rises. The entrance to the hut was preceded by a passage, the entrance to the house - by a porch.
The porch is a few steps up, then the door leading to the hallway, the hallway, and the door leading to the hut. The doors have never been in a straight line. The flow of air and everything that it carried, as it were, swirled, weakened, and already “cleaned” fell into the hut itself, filled with the good aroma of herbs drying in the hallway.
They tried to decorate the entrances to the house - the porch and windows with carved carvings. In fact, it was a pagan rite that protected the house from everything bad.
Before going outside, the owners usually said: “God bless on a good day, save me from bad, evil people!”. Before entering someone else's house, a prayer was also read. These customs are connected with the fact that a person, on a subconscious level, distinguished between the space of the house, where nothing threatened him, and the outer space, where anything could happen.
The atmosphere of the Russian house seemed to “come to life”, participating in family rituals related to the growing up of children, weddings, receiving guests ...
The largest in the interior of the house is a Russian stove, it occupied an area of 2.5 - 3 square meters. m. The stove provided uniform heating of the hut throughout the day, allowing you to keep food and water hot for a long time, dry clothes, sleep on it in damp and cold weather.
The stove is actually a home altar. She warms the house, transforms the products brought into the house with fire. The furnace is a place near which various rituals take place. For example, if a smartly dressed woman came into the house and almost without a word comes to the stove and warms her hands by the fire, it means that the matchmaker has come to woo. And the person who spent the night on the stove becomes "his".
The point here is not in the furnace as such, but in the fire. None of the pagan holidays could do without lighting ritual bonfires. Then the fire migrated to an Orthodox church: the lights of lamps, candles lit with prayer. In the traditional culture of Russians, a room that did not have a stove was considered not residential.
Each member of the family had their own space in the house. The place of the hostess, the mother of the family, is by the stove, which is why it was called “baby kut”. The place of the owner - the father - is at the very entrance. This is the place of the guardian, the protector. The old people often lay down on the stove - a warm, comfortable place. Children, like peas, were scattered all over the hut, or sat on the floor - a flooring raised to the level of the stove, where they were not afraid of drafts during the long Russian winter.
The baby swayed in a shaky, attached to the end of a pole, which was attached to the ceiling through a ring fixed in it. This made it possible to move the unsteady to any end of the hut.
An obligatory accessory of a peasant dwelling was a goddess, which was located in the front corner above the dining table.
This place was called "red corner". It was a home altar. A person began his day with a prayer, and prayer, with a look turned into a red corner, at the icons, accompanied his whole life in the house.
It was in front of the hut that there was a red bench, a table, food was being prepared in front of the stove. The guest entering the house immediately saw the icons of the red corner and was baptized, greeting the hosts, but stopped at the threshold, not daring to go further without an invitation, into this habitable space, protected by God and Fire.
From mobile furniture we can name only a table and one or two benches. The space of the hut did not imply excesses, and they were not possible in peasant life.
A fully rebuilt house is not yet a living space. It had to be properly populated and settled. A house was considered inhabited by a family if any event important for the household took place in it: the birth of a child, a wedding, etc.
To this day, even in cities, the custom has been preserved to let the cat in front of you. In the villages, sometimes, in addition to the cat, the house was “settled in” by a rooster and a hen left for the night. The transition to a new residence was preceded by rituals associated with the “relocation” of the brownie (they swept the garbage on a scoop from four corners and under the stoves of the old house, then they transferred it all to a new house).
The brownie in the villages was revered as the owner of the dwelling, and, settling in a new house, they ask him for permission: "House of the brownie, let us live." It was believed that the brownie is invisible, reveals himself only by sounds, although under certain conditions you can meet him. For example, it was said that he rarely takes the form of domestic animals - the deceased owner of the house. He usually lives under the stove, and not because it is warm there. The stove in the picture of the world of a pagan is a home altar. The brownie, as a homely good spirit, the guardian of the house, is connected to the central sacred place - the stove - a living blazing fire. Brownie is considered the patron of the family. He is also a home oracle: he “warns” about events with various sounds - groans, groans, crying, laughter. Crying - to grief, laughter - to the guests.
The brownie was a kind of guardian of morality in the house. This or that could not be done, as "He" might get angry. For example, it was strictly forbidden for a woman to walk with a simple hair, without a scarf, and it was the brownie who “followed” this. The spirit could interfere with the secret sins of the spouses, punishing the culprit in various ways.
When moving to a new house, the first items that the owner brought into it were also important. It could be a fire in the form of a pot of coals, an icon, bread and salt, a bowl of porridge or dough. These things symbolized wealth, fertility, abundance and carried the idea of exploring a new space. We see that in addition to the icon, the secret meaning of what is introduced is determined by the pagan picture of the world.
Peasant furniture
An integral part of Russian culture was the decoration of the peasant hut, the main forms of which evolved over the centuries. Handicraft village furniture was made by the peasants themselves, and the secrets of craftsmanship were passed down from father to son. Peasant furniture was made from local inexpensive woods. It was made from pine, spruce, aspen, birch, linden, oak and larch. It was from larch that amazing chests were made, in which moth never started.
The development of the basic forms of peasant furniture is inextricably linked with the changes that took place in urban housing. Furniture forms that existed in cities, whether tables, benches, chests, supplies or cabinets, gradually spilled over to the village.
Favorite forms of furniture were: chests, tables, supplies, later sideboards and cupboards (cupboards).
The chest stood in almost every Russian house and was a kind of keeper of family life. Two types of chests were common - with a flat hinged lid and a convex one. They also differed in size: from small, close to caskets, intended for storing valuable jewelry, household trifles, money, as well as towers, chests for dowry, to huge, intended for clothing or food. For strength, the chest was bound with iron strips, sometimes smooth, sometimes with a cut pattern. Big locks were hung on big chests. Often the walls were covered with paintings. Usually these were fairy tales - heroes, herbs, "firebirds" .... Items decorated in this way brought a sense of celebration to a poor dwelling. The chest became the prototype of many folk furniture forms.
Firmly entered the interior of the Russian peasant dwelling and the table. In Russian peasant life, several variants of tables were in circulation.
There were small kitchen tables on four legs, with one or two drawers, and side tables. Dining tables were large, mounted on four legs with powerful balusters. As a rule, they were placed in the center of the room.
A kind of hiding place, which, however, was never hidden, but, on the contrary, was used as an ornament, was a supply.
The supplier of a peasant house is a low cabinet, which was installed on a bench in a hut. It has become ubiquitous. Folk craftsmen painted their upper and lower “blind” doors with ornaments, panels were decorated with various ornaments. Behind these doors they kept the most valuable, without which they could not imagine their lives - most often, objects of religious worship. Purchased ceramic and metal utensils were also placed there.
The buffet became a continuation and development of the delivery form, although only wealthy peasants could afford it. Buffets were both single-tier and two-tier. In the peasant environment, this piece of furniture became widespread only at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the villages, there were low horizontally elongated sideboards, corner sideboards, which received the name of slides, sideboards-dressers. The most common was a high bunk buffet.
With typical unity, sideboards differed in proportions, alternation and ratio of deaf and glazed parts, the presence and size of the middle and upper cornices, decorative elements, plinth or supporting legs, drawers, the nature of the panels, corrugation, painting. The lower part of the sideboard usually had a heavy plinth, less often - legs, two "blind" doors with a variety of panels. Above the lower doors there could be a drawer - one or two, much less often - three. Then followed the profile middle cornice, above which rose the second tier, deaf or glazed. If full or partial glazing was used, then often resorted to binding. A simple binding visually broke the glass into rectangles, while a complex, ornamental one resembled Dutch windows or stained glass. Sometimes raised cylindrical lids, reminiscent of those made for the bureau, were placed above the lower pedestal of the cupboard. The facade of buffets was often decorated with overlaid carved elements. Sideboards were painted with dark and bright oil paints, sometimes lighter shades were used.
Wardrobes appear rather late, at the beginning of the 20th century. This mobile furniture form, which was a wardrobe for bed and table linen and clothes, also came to the village from urban life. This furniture form had two full-height doors, below, on the plinth, there were often one or two drawers. The furniture was covered with red or brick paint, imitating mahogany or walnut furniture from the capital.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, only the icon in the red corner remains of the former peasant situation. Wealthy residents order furniture from the city, or local craftsmen make furniture according to urban patterns. In the interior of a peasant house, beds and couches, coasters and sideboards, mirrors appear, a simple roughly knocked together table is replaced by a table on balusters or carved legs with drawers inside the table. In wealthy families, wallpaper appears on the walls, carpets on the floor, and even never-before-seen bookcases. Gradually, the torch will be replaced by stearin candles and a kerosene lamp, and a samovar will appear on the table.
In the second half of the XIX century. Significant changes took place in the life of the Russian peasantry. The penetration of capitalist relations into the countryside, the intensification of migration processes, the departure of peasants to work in cities and other provinces significantly changed the peasant outlook, the control of the behavior of the villagers by the family, community and church became weaker. The long absence of peasants tore them away from the daily life of the family and community, thus excluding them from active social life and breaking their unity with their native community. While working, the peasant did not participate in the life of the Orthodox Church and did not take part in cultural activities, and therefore in the ritual actions that accompanied the daily activities of the villagers.
Influence of the Russian Orthodox Church
For centuries, the Orthodox Church has played a significant role in the political and social life of the Russian state, although at different stages of history the status of the church has repeatedly changed.
The state assigned great functions to the church: fixing acts of civil status (birth, baptism, marriage, death), education, control and ideological work (“For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland”).
Under Peter I, the church becomes part of the state apparatus, in fact, one of the ministries. The clergy were considered as officials, their positions corresponded to the table of ranks, they, as military officials and civilians, were given orders, apartments, land, and paid salaries.
Decrees of Peter the Great introduced: a three-year exemption from taxes, duties and the return of recruits to all baptized Gentiles. However, the sermons of individual priests among the pagan population almost did not find a response. The few Mari who were baptized because of benefits still continued to adhere to traditional pagan beliefs, but the policy of the authorities remained the same - reducing taxes and taxes for a short period, while shifting taxes to those who were not baptized.
In the settlements of the newly baptized, the village elders were chosen local residents, "who are smarter." They received the right to preside over small cases. A large construction of churches began, for every 250 courtyards it was ordered to build one wooden church.
The mass Christianization of the middle of the 18th century almost did not affect the inhabitants of the Armachinsk (Romachinsk) volost. Formally, they were Orthodox since the beginning of the century. The nearest churches were 60-80 miles away in Yaransk and on Kaksha, so the priests rarely visited our places. But at the end of the 18th century, the issue of building a church in the Armachinsk volost was raised, but the situation was complicated by the transfer of the volost to the Kostroma province, since church administration remained in Vyatka. After long negotiations between the dioceses, at the beginning of the 19th century, the construction of a church began in Tonshaevo, and not in the administrative center of the Romachi volost. In 1807, the church of St. Nicholas in the village of Tonshaevo was already listed as active. Gradually, the influx of the Russian population increased, so the Kostroma diocese decided to build another church. In 1851, the construction of the stone church of Michael the Archangel began in Oshminsky.
More objects of worship were needed to serve the ever-increasing number of parishioners. In 1861, two prayer houses of St. Nicholas Church were already in operation - in Bolshiye Ashkaty and Odoshnur. A year later, the prayer house in Ashkaty was closed, probably in connection with the start of construction of the church in Pismener. The prayer house at Odoshnur closed in 1866, most likely for the same reason. There were no more prayer houses in the parish, but in 1866 the first chapel of St. Nicholas Church was opened in the village of Sukhoi Ravine. In 1969, the Vasilevsky Church was built in the village of Odoshnur.
Later, chapels were opened in Bereziaty, Bolshoi Lomu, Romachi, Mukhachi, and Oshara. In 1895-1901, the stone building of St. Nicholas Church in Tonshaev was reconstructed, it was rebuilt and expanded. New churches were opened: in 1896 Alexandrovskaya in Shcherbazh, in 1903 Troitskaya in St. Petersburg (the village of Kuverba in the documents of the Kostroma diocese, the modern village of Kuverba became known as Kuverba on the mountain), in 1914 John Chrysostomskaya in Big Selki.
How did Russian peasants treat family and marriage? You can learn about this from notes about life in the Spassky and Laishevsky districts of the Kazan province, collected 100 years ago and published recently by the Russian Ethnographic Museum and the Ministry of Culture of Tatarstan. "AiF-Kazan" chose the most interesting excerpts from this work.
Agility and innocence
This is how people's correspondents described the family traditions of peasants (they were zemstvo officials and teachers): “Although a guy does not remain chaste for long - usually up to 15 years old and rarely remains chaste until marriage - up to 18 and 19 years old, neighbors look at those who have lost their chastity with some contempt . They say that such a sucker, but became a libertine - "an unlucky person."
The people have developed a very serious attitude towards the marriage union. Marriage is a contract, a law and a promise before the holy cross and the gospel, which a person was supposed to follow.
If a person got married, he usually changed, and most often for the better, the peasants believed. Marriage was necessary for every decent person. “It is much better and quieter for a married man to live,” the correspondent cites people's arguments. - Legitimate children feed their parents in old age, in case of illness there is someone to look after the sick. Married life has a definite goal - to live for yourself, and more for children and family, and a celibate life is aimless and restless. Marriage is considered possible for a man from 17.5 to 60 years old, and for a woman from 16.5 to 70 years old.
It was believed that it was necessary to prepare for marriage, especially for girls. There was even a custom - not to give the girl in marriage until she had been in the house for several years in the position of a worker. Having thus learned to run a household, she will no longer meet ridicule in a strange family, and parents will not be ashamed of their daughter.According to the correspondent's observations, the bride was especially valued for corpulence, dexterity and ability to work, purity, health, obedience, and also if her family was good in all respects. When choosing a groom, the first thing they paid attention to was wealth, sobriety, diligence, and health. They also tried to find out if the family was quiet, especially the mother-in-law. There were sayings on this subject: “A good wife is the head of the whole house”, “Choose a cow by horns, and a girl by birth”.
Girls had to be strong and healthy in order to master housekeeping. A photo:
If the bride agreed to get married, after the matchmaking she had to give the groom's matchmakers her best headscarf as a pawn. In addition, during the bachelorette party, the bride had to give the groom a new embroidered handkerchief, and the groom in return presented her with a piece of fragrant soap. The family's wedding expenses were divided equally.
To mother-in-law - on a new road
It was believed that after the wedding, the young should not return home the same way that the bride and groom went to church. “On the old road, something fancy may be laid imperceptibly, or they will cross this road with divination, so that the young will not live in harmony,” the correspondent writes. He also gives another explanation: a new road is chosen so that those entering into marriage, going to church with dubious thoughts about each other, with uncertainty in mutual love, discard these thoughts from themselves once and for all.
If in our time a bride is kidnapped at a wedding, then in those days the groom disappeared from the wedding feast, or rather, went with several close relatives to his mother-in-law for blinks. Treating her newly-made son-in-law, she smeared his head with oil. Then he returned home and hid in the yard in the straw. Druzhka (representative of the groom), noticing that the newlywed was not with the guests, announced this to the newlywed, handed the whip to his wife and ordered to look for her husband. The young woman, going out into the yard, whipped each guest who came with a whip, demanding the newlywed. As a result, she found him in the straw, and they asked her who it was. The wife had to call her husband by name and patronymic, after which they kissed and returned to the hut.The whole future life of the young was determined by the first days of their life together. At this time, the husband of the newlywed, his parents followed her, noticed all her tricks, dexterity, quickness, sharpness, conversations. This allowed him to understand how to behave with her. Smart husbands reprimanded their wives secretly, in private, so that the family would not know about it.
Peasants also had divorces, and then one of the spouses left home. In a divorce, the wife's dowry went to her. If all the children were boys, then half of them stayed with the husband, the other half with the wife. And if there were daughters and sons, then the husband had to take the girls, and the wife had to take the boys.
Watermelon in the bath for a woman in labor
“The birth of a child is met as a blessing from God,” the correspondent writes. - When a woman gives birth, no one is allowed into the house. Everyone at home is severely punished not to tell anyone about this moment. It was a good omen if during the birth of the wife, the husband also had something hurt, for example, in the stomach. Immediately after giving birth, a woman in labor with a newborn was taken on a horse to a hotly heated bathhouse, covering her with a sheepskin coat from head to toe, so that she would not catch a cold and so that no one would jinx her. We drove very quietly. In the bath, the young mother lay for a week on the floor covered with straw. There, she and the newborn were washed daily, bathed and fed much better than at home.
“Neighbors and relatives bring various pies, kalachi, honey, scrambled eggs, fish, beer, red wine, watermelons, pickles,” the correspondent notes. “And the woman in labor notices what kind of cake, what, how much and who brought it, in order to repay them herself“ in their homelands ”with the same.” The child was baptized two or three days after birth. He was carried to church in clean white clothes. The task of the godmother was to buy clothes for the baby, and the godfather had to buy a cross and pay for the christening.
About raising children
From an early age, there were punishments and prayers in the lives of children. According to the correspondent's observations, the guys were punished very often - "for intolerable pranks and liberties." The instrument of punishment - a whip, hung in every house in the most prominent place. Children learned to pray in their first year of life. “When a child began to understand objects and sound, they already inspire him and show him where God is,” the notes say. “From the age of three, they start taking people to church.”
From the age of two, children were taught to work. Photo: Russian Ethnographic Museum
From the age of two, children began to babysit their younger brothers and sisters, rock their cradles. From the same age, they learned to look after pets and help with the housework. From the age of seven, peasant children begin to graze horses. From the age of six they are taught to reap, from the age of 10 to plow, from the age of 15 - to mow. In general, everything that a peasant can do, teenagers should be taught from 15 to 18-20 years old.
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 self-expression of one of the main groups of Russian society - agricultural producers. 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. 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.; On the issues of political, economic and cultural development of the 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.8 Some issues of interest to us are also raised in general publications about the Russian people, the factors of its socio-economic evolution, demographic, national and cultural characteristics, which are convincingly and objectively shown by A. Korinfsky.9 Not rural traditions, customs, rituals, mores, issues of material and everyday culture, the state of enlightenment were ignored, as evidenced by the works of B.F. 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 the problems of the historical development of the region is denominated by the fact 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 peasant social 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 Russia. - 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
During the Soviet period, interest in issues related to the topic of research did not decrease, however, approaches to considering the problem of organizing the economic and everyday life of peasants became 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 agricultural sector before the revolution.20 Nevertheless, during this period, a number of researchers still turned their attention to peasant everyday life and left rich material which reflects the traditional foundations of social structure and communal land use, as well as reveals 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 peculiarities of economic tradition and everyday life among local peasants, accumulated by generations and reflecting the problems of its social and cultural development.23 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 mountaineers, peasants and Cossacks//News of the North Caucasian Scientific Center of the Higher School (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. The winter period of the 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 assistance and mercy as traditional features of the communal mentality of the Russian peasantry in the 19th - early 20th 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, and 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
32 Zadorozhnaya M.Ya. Folk and Orthodox-Christian holidays. -M.: Knowledge, 1991.; Bondarenko I.O. Holidays of Christian Russia. - 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 the years I 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 economic management and material culture among the Stavropol peasants, stable habits of behavior in everyday life, religious, family and festive rites and customs associated with them; the meaning, conditions and procedure for performing ritual actions during family celebrations. The subject also includes seasonal rituals of rural residents, dedicated to 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, based on the analysis of documentary sources, archival and field materials, and 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 before 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, to be taken into account and used 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 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, a special way of life and a specific form of 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 study 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 the generally accepted principles of scientific knowledge: historicism, objectivity and comprehensiveness, which form the most acceptable and effective model for a retrospective analysis of historical events and phenomena, allowing to take into account the subjective factor, the psychological atmosphere in the countryside, 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, 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 peculiarities 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 central archival institutions - fund 102 (Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 2nd record keeping) of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (SARF); 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 Administration), 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 has been established that traditions in the field of organizing and managing 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; the assumption is made 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 made 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 planning 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 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 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.
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. Harvests on the black earth 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 both 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 in the neighborhood with 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 building.
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 manifested themselves and were 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 fusion 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 rituals, which also included the collection of juniper and tartar, endowed with supposedly protective properties. According to the church calendar, Easter itself is celebrated no earlier than April 4 and no later than May 8, but always on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring 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, on certain days the peasants 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 mostly 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 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 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 the 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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To civilized people, many of the rites of Russian peasants may seem like episodes from horror films. However, our ancestors did not see anything terrible in such rituals. Voluntary self-immolation or human sacrifice, under certain circumstances, even seemed natural to them: such were the customs.
For a husband to the next world
In the old days, the death of her husband foreshadowed the Russian peasant woman and her own death. The fact is that in some regions the ritual of burning the wife along with her deceased husband was adopted. Moreover, women went to the fire absolutely voluntarily. Historians suggest that there were at least 2 reasons for such actions. Firstly, according to beliefs, a female representative who died alone would never have been able to find her way to the realm of the dead. It was the privilege of men. And, secondly, the fate of the widow in those days often became unenviable, because after the death of her husband, the woman was limited in many rights. In connection with the death of the breadwinner, she was deprived of a permanent income and for her relatives became a burden, an extra mouth in the family.
Salting children
The youngest members of the family were also subjected to numerous rituals. In addition to the so-called “baking” ritual, when the baby was placed in the oven so that he would be “born again”, without ailments and troubles, salting was also practiced in Russia. The child's naked body was thickly rubbed with salt from head to toe, including the face, and then swaddled. In this position, the baby was left for a while. Sometimes the delicate children's skin could not stand such torture and simply peeled off. However, parents were not at all embarrassed by this circumstance. It was believed that with the help of salting a child can be protected from diseases and the evil eye.
Killing old people
Infirm elderly people were not only a burden and absolutely useless members of their families. It was believed that the elderly, especially the centenarians, exist only because they suck energy from young fellow tribesmen. Therefore, the Slavs carried relatives of advanced age to the mountain or took them to the forest, where the old people died from cold, hunger, or from the teeth of wild predators. Sometimes, for fidelity, the elderly were tied to trees or simply beaten on the head. By the way, most often it was the old people who turned out to be the victims during the sacrifices. For example, weak people were drowned in water in order to bring rain during a drought.
"Undressing" the spouse
The ceremony of "unshoeing" the spouse was usually performed immediately after the wedding. The young wife had to take off her husband's shoes. It is worth noting that the Slavs from ancient times endowed the legs, and, accordingly, the trace that it leaves, with a variety of magical properties. For example, boots were often used by unmarried girls for divination, and deadly damage could be put on a human trace. Therefore, it is not surprising that shoes were a kind of protection for their owner. By allowing his wife to undress himself, the man showed her his trust. However, after that, the husband usually hit the woman several times with a whip. Thus, the man showed the woman that from now on she is obliged to obey him in everything. Presumably, it was then that the saying "Beats means loves" appeared.
