Very curious verbal portraits of Russian peasants in the "Notes of a Hunter" give rise to interest in this social stratum in our time. In addition to artistic works, there are also historical and scientific works devoted to the peculiarities of life of past centuries. The peasantry for a long time was a numerous layer of the society of our state, therefore it has a rich history and many interesting traditions. Let's analyze this topic in more detail.
What you sow is what you reap
From the verbal portraits of Russian peasants, our contemporaries know that this stratum of society led a subsistence economy. Such activities are inherent in the consumer nature. The production of a particular farm was the food that a person needed to survive. In the classic format, the peasant worked to feed himself.
In the rural areas, they rarely bought food, and ate quite simply. People called food rough, because the duration of cooking was reduced to the minimum possible. The economy required a lot of work, considerable effort, and took a lot of time. The woman in charge ofcooking, there was no opportunity or time to cook a variety of dishes or save food for the winter in any special way.
From the verbal portraits of Russian peasants it is known that people in those days ate monotonously. On holidays, there was usually more free time, so the table was decorated with delicious and varied products prepared with a special delicacy.
According to modern researchers, before rural women were more conservative, so they tried to use the same ingredients for cooking, standard recipes and techniques, avoiding experiments. To some extent, this approach to everyday nutrition became a household traditional feature of the society of that time. The villagers were rather indifferent to food. As a result, recipes designed to diversify the diet seemed more like an overkill than a normal part of everyday life.
About diet
In Brzhevsky's description of the Russian peasant, one can see an indication of different foodstuffs and the frequency of their use in the everyday life of the peasant stratum of society. Thus, the author of curious works noted that meat was not a constant element of the menu of a typical peasant. Both the quality and the volume of food in an ordinary peasant family did not meet the needs of the human body. It was recognized that protein-fortified food was available only on holidays. Peasants consumed milk, butter, cottage cheese in very limited quantities. Basically themserved at the table if they celebrated a wedding, a patronal event. This was the menu at the break of the fast. One of the typical problems of that time was chronic malnutrition.
From the descriptions of Russian peasants, it is clear that the peasant population was poor, so they received enough meat only on certain holidays, for example, in Zagovene. As evidenced by the notes of contemporaries, even the poorest peasants by this significant day of the calendar found meat in the bins in order to put it on the table and eat plenty. One of the important typical features of peasant life was gluttony, if such an opportunity fell out. Occasionally, pancakes made from wheat flour, greased with butter and lard, were served at the table.
Curious observations
As can be seen from the previously compiled characteristics of Russian peasants, if a typical family of that time slaughtered a ram, then the meat that she received from him was eaten by all members. It only lasted a day or two. As noted by outside observers who have studied the lifestyle, the product was enough to provide the table with meat dishes for a week, if this food is eaten in moderation. However, there was no such tradition in peasant families, so the appearance of a large amount of meat was marked by its abundant consumption.
Peasants drank water every day, and during the hot season they made kvass. It is known from the characteristics of Russian peasants that at the end of the nineteenth century there was no tradition of tea drinking in the countryside. If such a drink was prepared, then only sick people. Usually, an earthen pot was used for brewing, tea was infused in the stove. At the beginning of the next centuryonlookers noticed that the drink fell in love with the common people.
Community correspondents involved in research noted that more and more often peasants finish their lunch with a cup of tea, drink this drink during all holidays. We althy families bought samovars, supplemented household items with tea utensils. If an intelligent person came to visit, forks were served for dinner. At the same time, the peasants continued to eat meat only with their hands, without resorting to cutlery.
Everyday culture
As the picturesque portraits of Russian peasants demonstrate, as well as the works of community correspondents who were engaged in ethnography at that time, the level of culture in everyday life in the peasant environment was determined by the progress of a particular settlement and its community as a whole. The classic habitat of a peasant is a hut. For any person of that time, one of the familiar life moments was the construction of a home.
Only by erecting his own hut, a person turned into a homeowner, a householder. In order to determine where the hut would be built, they gathered a rural gathering, jointly made a decision for land acquisition. Logs were harvested with the help of neighbors or all the inhabitants of the village, they also worked on a log house. In many regions, they were built mainly of wood. A typical material for creating a hut is round logs. They were not cut off. The exception was the steppe regions, the provinces of Voronezh, Kursk. Here, more often, smeared huts, characteristic of Little Russia, were erected.
As can be concluded from the stories of contemporaries and picturesque portraitsRussian peasants, the state of housing gave an accurate idea of how we althy the family was. Mordvinov, who arrived in the early 1880s in the province near Voronezh in order to organize an audit here, later sent reports to high ranks in which he mentioned the decline of the huts. He admitted that the houses in which the peasants live are striking in how miserable they look. In those days, the peasants had not yet built houses of stone. Only landowners and other rich people had such buildings.
House and life
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, stone buildings began to appear more frequently. We althy peasant families could afford them. The roofs of most houses in the villages in those days were formed from straw. Rarely used shingles. Russian peasants of the 19th century, as the researchers noted, did not yet know how to build brick centuries, but by the beginning of the next century, huts built of brick appeared.
In the works of researchers of that time, one can see references to buildings under the "tin". They replaced log houses, which were covered with straw on a clay layer. Zheleznov, who studied the life of the inhabitants of the Voronezh Territory in the 1920s, analyzed how and from what people build their houses. About 87% were buildings made of brick, about 40% were built of wood, and the remaining 3% were cases of mixed construction. About 45% of all the houses he came across were dilapidated, he counted 52% in mediocre condition, and only 7% of the buildings were new.
Everyone will agree that the life of Russian peasants can be very well imagined by studying the external and internal appearance of their dwellings. Not onlythe condition of the house, but also of the additional buildings in the yard was indicative. Assessing the interior of the dwelling, you can immediately identify how well-off its inhabitants are. The ethnographic societies that existed in Russia at that time paid attention to the homes of people who had a good income.
However, the members of these organizations were engaged in the study of the dwellings of people who were much worse provided, compared, drew up conclusions in written works. From them, the modern reader can learn that the poor man lived in a dilapidated dwelling, one might say, in a shack. In his barn there was only one cow (not all of them), a few sheep. Such a peasant had neither a barn nor a barn, as well as his own bathhouse.
Prosperous representatives of the rural community kept several cows, calves, about two dozen sheep. Their farm had chickens, pigs, a horse (sometimes two - for travel and for work). A person who lived in such conditions had his own bathhouse, there was a barn in the yard.
Clothes
From portraits and verbal descriptions we know how Russian peasants dressed in the 17th century. These manners did not change much in the eighteenth, and in the nineteenth. According to the notes of researchers of that time, the provincial peasants were quite conservative, so their outfits were distinguished by stability and adherence to traditions. Some even called it an archaic appearance, since the clothes contained elements that appeared decades ago.
However, as progress progressed, new trends also penetrated the countryside,therefore, one could see specific details that reflected the existence of a capitalist society. For example, men's outfits throughout the province usually struck with their uniformity and similarity. There were differences from region to region, but relatively small. But women's clothing was noticeably more interesting due to the abundance of jewelry that peasant women created with their own hands. As is known from the works of researchers of the Black Earth region, women in this region wore outfits reminiscent of South Russian and Mordovian models.
The Russian peasant of the 30-40s of the 20th century, like a hundred years before, had at his disposal clothes for every day and for the holiday. More often used homespun outfits. We althy families could occasionally purchase factory-made materials for tailoring. Observations of the inhabitants of the Kursk province at the end of the nineteenth century showed that the representatives of the stronger sex mainly used linen of the linen type prepared at home (from hemp).
The shirts worn by the peasants had a slanting collar. The traditional length of the product is up to the knee. The men wore trousers. There was a belt to the shirt. It was knotted or woven. On holidays they wore a linen shirt. People from we althy families used clothes made from red chintz. Outerwear was suites, zipuns (caftans without a collar). At the festival, one could wear a hoodie woven at home. We althier people had fine-clothed caftans in their stocks. In summer, women wore sundresses, and men wore shirts with or without a belt.
The traditional shoes of the peasants were bast shoes. They were woven separately for the winter and summer periods, for weekdays andfor holidays. Even in the 30s of the 20th century, in many villages, the peasants remained true to this tradition.
Heart of life
Since the life of a Russian peasant in the 17th century, 18th or 19th centuries was concentrated around his own home, the hut deserves special attention. Housing was not called a specific building, but a small courtyard, bounded by a fence. Residential facilities and buildings intended for management were erected here. The hut was for the villagers a place of protection from the incomprehensible and even terrible forces of nature, evil spirits and other evil. At first, only the part of the house that was heated by the stove was called a hut.
Usually in the village it was immediately clear who was in a very bad situation, who lived well. The main differences were in the quality factor, in the number of components, in design. In this case, the key objects were the same. Some additional buildings afforded only we althy people. This is a mshanik, a bathhouse, a barn, a barn and others. In total, there were more than a dozen such buildings. Mostly in the old days, all buildings were cut down with an ax at each stage of construction. From the works of researchers of that time, it is known that earlier masters used different types of saws.
Yard and construction
The life of a Russian peasant in the 17th century was inextricably linked with his court. This term denoted a land plot on which all the buildings were at the disposal of a person. There was a garden in the yard, but here there was a threshing floor, and if a person had a garden, then he was included in the peasantyard. Almost all the objects erected by the owner were made of wood. Spruce and pine were considered the most suitable for construction. The second was at a higher price.
Oak was considered a difficult tree to work with. In addition, its wood weighs a lot. During the construction of buildings, oak was used when working on the lower crowns, in the construction of a cellar or an object from which super-strength was expected. It is known that oak wood was used to build mills and wells. Deciduous tree species were used to create outbuildings.
Observation of the life of Russian peasants allowed researchers of past centuries to understand that people selected wood wisely, taking into account important features. For example, when creating a log house, they settled on a particularly warm, moss-covered tree with a straight trunk. But straightness was not a mandatory factor. To make a roof, the peasant used straight straight-layered trunks. The log house was usually prepared in the yard or nearby. A suitable place was carefully chosen for each building.
As you know, an ax as a tool of labor for a Russian peasant when building a house is both a convenient item to use and a product that imposes certain restrictions. However, there were many such during construction due to the imperfection of technology. When creating buildings, they usually did not put a foundation, even if it was planned to build something big. Supports were placed in the corners. Their role was played by large stones or oak stumps. Occasionally (if the length of the wall was significantly more than the norm), the support was placed in the center. The log house in its geometry is as follows,that four reference points are sufficient. This is due to the integral type of construction.
Stove and home
The image of the Russian peasant is inextricably linked with the center of his house - the stove. She was considered the soul of the house. The wind oven, which many call Russian, is a very ancient invention, characteristic of our area. It is known that such a heating system was already installed in Trypillia houses. Of course, over the past thousands of years, the design of the furnace has changed somewhat. Over time, fuel began to be used more rationally. Everyone knows that building a quality furnace is a difficult task.
First, on the ground, they put opechek, which was the foundation. Then they laid logs, which played the role of the bottom. Under made as even as possible, in no case inclined. A vault was placed over the hearth. Several holes were made on the side for drying small items. In ancient times, the huts were built massive, but without a chimney. A small window was provided for the removal of smoke in the house. Soon the ceiling and walls turned black with soot, but there was nowhere to go. A stove heating system with a pipe was expensive, it was difficult to build such a system. In addition, the absence of a pipe allowed saving firewood.
Since the work of the Russian peasant is regulated not only by public ideas about morality, but also by a number of rules, it is predictable that sooner or later the rules regarding stoves were adopted. The legislators decided that it is mandatory to remove pipes from the stove above the hut. Such demands applied to all state peasants and were accepted for the sake of improving the village.
Day after day
During the period of enslavement of Russian peasants, people developed certain habits and rules that made it possible to make a rational way of life, so that work was relatively efficient, and the family prosperous. One such rule of that era was the early rise of the woman in charge of the house. Traditionally, the master's wife woke up first. If the woman was too old for this, the responsibility passed to the daughter-in-law.
When she woke up, she immediately began to heat the stove, opened the smoker, opened the windows. Cold air and smoke woke the rest of the family. The kids were seated on a pole so as not to get cold. Smoke spread throughout the room, moving up, hovering under the ceiling.
As age-old observations have shown, if a tree is thoroughly smoked, it will rot less. The Russian peasant knew this secret well, so chicken huts were popular due to their durability. On average, a quarter of the house was devoted to the stove. They only heated it for a couple of hours, because it remained warm for a long time and provided heating for the entire dwelling during the day.
The oven was an object that heated the house, allowing food to be cooked. They lay on it. Without an oven, it was impossible to cook bread or cook porridge; meat was stewed in it and mushrooms and berries collected in the forest were dried. The stove was used instead of a bath in order to bathe. During the hot season, it was stoked once a week to make a week's supply of bread. Since such a structure kept heat well, food was cooked once a day. The cauldrons were left inside the oven, and hot food was taken out at the right time. In manyFamilies decorated this household helper with what they could. Flowers, ears of corn, bright autumn leaves, paints (if they could be obtained) were used. It was believed that a beautiful stove brings joy to the house and scares away evil spirits.
Traditions
Dishes common among Russian peasants appeared for a reason. All of them were explained by the design features of the furnace. If today we turn to the observations of that era, we can find out that the dishes were stewed, stewed, boiled. This extended not only to the life of ordinary people, but also to the life of small landowners, since their habits and everyday life hardly differed from those inherent in the peasant stratum.
The stove in the house was the warmest place, so they made a stove bench for old and young people on it. To be able to climb up, they made steps - up to three small steps.
Interior
It is impossible to imagine the house of a Russian peasant without beds. Such an element was considered one of the main ones for any living space. Polati is a flooring made of wood, starting from the side of the stove and lasting to the opposite wall of the house. Polati was used for sleeping, rising here through the furnace. Here they dried flax and a torch, and during the day they kept accessories for sleeping, clothes that were not used. Usually the beds were quite high. Balusters were placed along their edge to prevent falling objects. Traditionally, children loved polati, because here they could sleep, play, watch the festivities.
In the house of a Russian peasant, the arrangement of objects was determined by the settingovens. More often she stood in the right corner or to the left of the door to the street. The corner opposite the furnace mouth was considered the main place of the housewife's work. Here were placed the devices used for cooking. There was a poker near the stove. A pomelo, a shovel made of wood, a tong were also kept here. Nearby usually stood a mortar, pestle, sourdough. Ashes were removed with a poker, pots were moved with a fork, wheat was processed in a mortar, then millstones turned it into flour.
Red Corner
Almost everyone who has ever looked into books with fairy tales or descriptions of life of that time has heard about this part of the Russian peasant hut. This part of the house was kept clean and decorated. For decoration used embroidery, pictures, postcards. When wallpaper appeared, it was here that they began to be used especially often. The task of the owner was to highlight the red corner from the rest of the room. Beautiful objects were placed on a shelf nearby. This is where valuables were kept. Every event important for the family was celebrated in the red corner.
The main piece of furniture here was a table with skids. It was made quite large so that there was enough space for all family members. For him on weekdays they ate, on holidays they organized a feast. If they came to woo the bride, ritual ceremonies were held strictly in the red corner. From here the woman was taken to the wedding. Starting the harvest, the first and last sheaves were taken to the red corner. They did it as solemnly as possible.
