The connection between folklore and literature. Genres of musical folklore
Russian folklore
Folklore, translated, means “folk wisdom, folk knowledge.” Folklore is folk art, artistic collective activity of the people, reflecting their life, views and ideals, i.e. folklore is folk historical cultural heritage any country in the world.
Works of Russian folklore (fairy tales, legends, epics, songs, ditties, dances, tales, applied arts) help to recreate character traits folk life of his time.
Creativity in ancient times was closely connected with labor activity human and reflected mythical, historical ideas, as well as the beginnings scientific knowledge. The art of words was closely connected with other types of art - music, dance, decorative arts. In science this is called "syncretism".
Folklore was an art organically inherent in folk life. The different purposes of works gave rise to genres, with their various topics, images, style. In the ancient period, most peoples had tribal traditions, work and ritual songs, mythological stories, and conspiracies. The decisive event that paved the line between mythology and folklore itself was the appearance of fairy tales, the plots of which were based on dreams, wisdom, and ethical fiction.
In ancient and medieval society there was heroic epic(Irish sagas, Russian epics and others). Legends and songs also arose reflecting various beliefs (for example, Russian spiritual poems). Later, historical songs appeared, depicting real historical events and heroes, as they remained in people's memory.
Genres in folklore also differ in the method of performance (solo, choir, choir and soloist) and different combinations of text with melody, intonation, movements (singing and dancing, storytelling and acting).
With changes in the social life of society, new genres arose in Russian folklore: soldiers', coachmen's, barge haulers' songs. The growth of industry and cities brought to life: romances, jokes, workers', and student folklore.
Now there are new Russians folk tales does not appear, but the old ones are still told and cartoons and feature films are made from them. Many old songs are also sung. But epics and historical songs are practically no longer heard live.
For thousands of years, folklore was the only form of creativity among all peoples. The folklore of every nation is unique, just like its history, customs, and culture. And some genres (not just historical songs) reflect the history of a given people.
Russian traditional musical culture
There are several points of view that interpret folklore as folk artistic culture, as oral poetic creativity and as a set of verbal, musical, gaming or artistic types folk art. With all the diversity of regional and local forms, folklore is characterized by common features, such as anonymity, collective creativity, traditionalism, close connection with work, everyday life, transmission of works from generation to generation in oral tradition.
Folk musical art originated long before the emergence of professional music in the Orthodox church. IN public life In ancient Rus', folklore played a much greater role than in subsequent times. Unlike medieval Europe, Ancient Rus' did not have a secular professional art. In its musical culture, folk art of the oral tradition developed, including various, including “semi-professional” genres (the art of storytellers, guslars, etc.).
By the time of Orthodox hymnography, Russian folklore already had a long history, an established system of genres and means of musical expression. folk music, folk art has firmly entered the everyday life of people, reflecting the most diverse facets of social, family and personal life.
Researchers believe that the pre-state period (that is, before Ancient Rus' took shape) East Slavs already had a fairly developed calendar and family household folklore, heroic epic and instrumental music.
With the adoption of Christianity, pagan (Vedic) knowledge began to be eradicated. The meaning of magical acts that gave rise to this or that type of folk activity was gradually forgotten. However, the purely external forms of ancient holidays turned out to be unusually stable, and some ritual folklore continued to live as if out of touch with the ancient paganism that gave birth to him.
The Christian Church (not only in Rus', but also in Europe) had a very negative attitude towards traditional folk songs and dances, considering them a manifestation of sinfulness and devilish seduction. This assessment is recorded in many chronicles and in canonical church decrees.
Lively, cheerful folk festivals with elements of theatrical performance and with the indispensable participation of music, the origins of which should be sought in ancient Vedic rituals, were fundamentally different from temple holidays.
The most extensive area of folk musical creativity Ancient Rus' consists of ritual folklore, testifying to the high artistic talent Russian people. He was born in the depths of the Vedic picture of the world, the deification of natural elements. Calendar-ritual songs are considered the most ancient. Their content is associated with ideas about the cycle of nature and the agricultural calendar. These songs reflect the different stages of life of the farmers. They were part of winter, spring, and summer rituals that correspond to turning points in the change of seasons. By performing this natural ritual (songs, dances), people believed that the mighty gods, the forces of Love, Family, Sun, Water, Mother Earth would hear them and healthy children would be born, a good harvest would be born, there would be offspring of livestock, life in love would develop and harmony.
In Rus', weddings have been played since ancient times. Each locality had its own custom of wedding actions, lamentations, songs, and sentences. But with all the endless variety, weddings were played according to the same laws. Poetic wedding reality transforms what is happening into a fantastic fairy-tale world. Just as in a fairy tale all the images are varied, so the ritual itself, poetically interpreted, appears as a kind of fairy tale. Wedding is one of the most significant events human life in Rus', required a festive and solemn frame. And if you feel all the rituals and songs, delving into this fantastic wedding world, you can feel the aching beauty of this ritual. What will remain behind the scenes are the colorful clothes, the wedding train rattling with bells, the polyphonic choir of “singers” and the mournful melodies of lamentations, the sounds of waxwings and buzzers, accordions and balalaikas - but the poetry of the wedding itself resurrects - the pain of leaving the parental home and the high joy of the festive state of mind - Love.
One of the most ancient Russian genres is round dance songs. In Rus', round dances were held throughout almost the entire year - on Kolovorot (New Year), Maslenitsa (farewell to winter and welcoming spring), Green Week (round dances of girls around birches), Yarilo (sacred bonfires), Ovsen (harvest festivals). Round dances-games and round dances-processions were common. Initially, round dance songs were part of agricultural rituals, but over the centuries they became independent, although images of labor were preserved in many of them:
And we sowed and sowed millet!
Oh, Did Lado, they sowed, they sowed!
Dance songs that have survived to this day accompanied men's and women's dances. Men's - personified strength, courage, courage, women's - tenderness, love, stateliness.
Over the centuries, the musical epic begins to be replenished with new themes and images. Epic epics are born telling about the struggle against the Horde, about travel to distant countries, about the emergence of the Cossacks, and popular uprisings.
People's memory has long preserved many beautiful ancient songs over the centuries. In the 18th century, during the formation of professional secular genres (opera, instrumental music) folk art for the first time becomes the subject of study and creative implementation. The educational attitude towards folklore was clearly expressed wonderful writer humanist A.N. Radishchev in the heartfelt lines of his “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”: “Whoever knows the voices of Russian folk songs admits that there is something in them that means spiritual pain... In them you will find the formation of the soul of our people.” In the 19th century, the assessment of folklore as the “education of the soul” of the Russian people became the basis of aesthetics composer school from Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, to Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Kalinikov, and folk song itself was one of the sources of the formation of Russian national thinking.
Russian folk songs of the 16th-19th centuries - “like the golden mirror of the Russian people”
Folk songs recorded in various parts of Russia are historical monument life of the people, but also a documentary source that captured the development of folk creative thought of its time.
The fight against the Tatars, peasant riots - all this left an imprint on folk song traditions in each specific area, starting with epics, historical songs and ballads. Like, for example, the ballad about Ilya Muromets, which is associated with the Nightingale River, which flows in the area of Yazykovo, there was a struggle between Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber, who lived in these parts.
It is known that the conquest of the Kazan Khanate by Ivan the Terrible played a role in the development of oral folk art; the campaigns of Ivan the Terrible marked the beginning of the final victory over Tatar-Mongol yoke, who freed many thousands of Russian prisoners from captivity. The songs of this time became the prototype for Lermontov’s epic “Song about Ivan Tsarevich” - a chronicle of people’s life, and A.S. Pushkin used oral folk art in his works - Russian songs and Russian fairy tales.
On the Volga, not far from the village of Undory, there is a cape called Stenka Razin; songs of that time were sung there: “On the steppe, Saratov steppe”, “We had it in holy Rus'”. Historical events of the late XVII early XVIII V. captured in the compilation about the campaigns of Peter I and his Azov campaigns, about the execution of the archers: “It’s like walking along the blue sea,” “A young Cossack is walking along the Don.”
With the military reforms of the early 18th century, new historical songs appeared, these were no longer lyrical, but epic. Historical songs are preserved ancient images historical epic, songs about the Russian-Turkish War, about recruitment and the war with Napoleon: “The French thief boasted of taking Russia,” “Don’t make noise, you green oak mother.”
At this time, epics about “Surovets Suzdalets”, about “Dobrynya and Alyosha” and a very rare fairy tale by Gorshen were preserved. Also in the works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Nekrasov, Russian epic folk songs and tales were used. The ancient traditions of folk games, mummery and the special performing culture of Russian folklore have been preserved.
Russian folk theater art
Russian folk drama and folk theatrical art in general are the most interesting and significant phenomenon of Russian national culture.
Dramatic games and performances at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 20th centuries formed an organic part of festive folk life, be it village gatherings, soldier and factory barracks, or fair booths.
The geography of distribution of folk drama is extensive. Collectors of our days have discovered unique theatrical “hearths” in the Yaroslavl and Gorky regions, Russian villages of Tataria, on Vyatka and Kama, in Siberia and the Urals.
Folk drama, contrary to the opinion of some scientists, is a natural creation folklore tradition. It compressed the creative experience accumulated by dozens of generations of the broadest strata of the Russian people.
At city and later rural fairs, carousels and booths were set up, on the stage of which performances on fairy-tale and national historical themes were performed. The performances seen at the fairs could not completely influence the aesthetic tastes of the people, but they expanded their fairy tale and song repertoire. Popular and theatrical borrowings largely determined the originality of the plots of folk drama. However, they “lay down” on the ancient gaming traditions of folk games, dressing up, i.e. on the special performing culture of Russian folklore.
Generations of creators and performers folk dramas developed certain methods of plotting, characterization and style. Developed folk dramas are characterized by strong passions and insoluble conflicts, continuity and speed of successive actions.
A special role in folk drama is played by songs performed by the heroes at different moments or sounded in chorus - as comments on ongoing events. The songs were a kind of emotional and psychological element of the performance. They were performed for the most part fragmentarily, revealing the emotional meaning of the scene or the state of the character. Songs were required at the beginning and end of the performance. Song repertoire folk dramas consist mainly of original songs popular in all strata of society XIX beginning XX centuries. These are the soldiers’ songs “The White Russian Tsar Went,” “Malbruk Left on a Campaign,” “Praise, Praise to You, Hero,” and the romances “I walked in the meadows in the evening,” “I’m heading off into the desert,” “What’s clouded, the clear dawn " and many others.
Late genres of Russian folk art - festivities
The heyday of festivities occurred in the 17th-19th centuries, although certain types and genres folk art, which formed an indispensable part of the fair and city festive square, were created and actively existed long before the designated centuries and continue, often in a transformed form, to exist to this day. This is the puppet theater, bear fun, partly the jokes of traders, many circus acts. Other genres were born out of the fairgrounds and died out when the festivities ended. These are comic monologues of booth barkers, barkers, performances of booth theaters, dialogues of parsley clowns.
Usually, during celebrations and fairs, entire entertainment towns with booths, carousels, swings, and tents were erected in traditional places, selling everything from popular prints to songbirds and sweets. In winter, ice mountains were added, access to which was completely free, and sledding from a height of 10-12 m brought incomparable pleasure.
With all the diversity and diversity, the city's folk festival was perceived as something integral. This integrity was created by the specific atmosphere of the festive square, with its free speech, familiarity, unbridled laughter, food and drinks; equality, fun, festive perception of the world.
The festive square itself amazed with its incredible combination of all kinds of details. Accordingly, outwardly it was a colorful, loud chaos. Bright, motley clothes of walkers, catchy, unusual costumes of “artists”, flashy signs of booths, swings, carousels, shops and taverns, handicrafts shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow and the simultaneous sound of barrel organs, pipes, flutes, drums, exclamations, songs, cries of merchants , loud laughter from the jokes of “boothy grandfathers” and clowns - everything merged into a single fair fireworks display, which fascinated and amused.
The large, well-known festivities “under the mountains” and “under the swings” attracted many guest performers from Europe (many of them owners of booths, panoramas) and even southern countries (magicians, animal tamers, strongmen, acrobats and others). Foreign speech and overseas curiosities were commonplace at metropolitan festivities and large fairs. It is clear why the city’s spectacular folklore often appeared as a kind of mixture of “Nizhny Novgorod and French.”
The basis, heart and soul of Russian national culture is Russian folklore, this is the treasure, this is what has filled the Russian person from the inside since ancient times, and this inner Russian folk culture ultimately gave birth in the 17th-19th centuries to a whole galaxy of great Russian writers, composers, artists, scientists, military men, philosophers, whom the whole world knows and reveres:
Zhukovsky V.A., Ryleev K.F., Tyutchev F.I., Pushkin A.S., Lermontov M.Yu., Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E., Bulgakov M.A., Tolstoy L.N., Turgenev I.S., Fonvizin D.I., Chekhov A.P., Gogol N.V., Goncharov I.A., Bunin I.A., Griboedov A.S., Karamzin N.M., Dostoevsky F. M., Kuprin A.I., Glinka M.I., Glazunov A.K., Mussorgsky M.P., Rimsky-Korsakov N.A., Tchaikovsky P.I., Borodin A.P., Balakirev M. A.A., Rachmaninov S.V., Stravinsky I.F., Prokofiev S.S., Kramskoy I.N., Vereshchagin V.V., Surikov V.I., Polenov V.D., Serov V.A. ., Aivazovsky I.K., Shishkin I.I., Vasnetsov V.N., Repin I.E., Roerich N.K., Vernadsky V.I., Lomonosov M.V., Sklifosovsky N.V., Mendeleev D.I., Sechenov I.M., Pavlov I.P., Tsiolkovsky K.E., Popov A.S., Bagration P.R., Nakhimov P.S., Suvorov A.V., Kutuzov M. I., Ushakov F.F., Kolchak A.V., Solovyov V.S., Berdyaev N.A., Chernyshevsky N.G., Dobrolyubov N.A., Pisarev D.I., Chaadaev P.E. ., there are thousands of them, which, one way or another, the whole earthly world knows. These are world pillars that grew up on Russian folk culture.
But in 1917, a second attempt was made in Russia to break the connection of times, to interrupt the Russian cultural heritage of ancient generations. The first attempt was made back in the years of the baptism of Rus'. But it was not a complete success, since the power of Russian folklore was based on the life of the people, on their Vedic natural worldview. But already somewhere in the sixties of the twentieth century, Russian folklore began to be gradually replaced by the popular pop genres of pop, disco and, as they say now, chanson (prison-thieve folklore) and other types of Soviet-style arts. But a special blow was dealt in the 90s. The word “Russian” was secretly forbidden even to be uttered, supposedly this word meant inciting national hatred. This situation continues to this day.
And there was no longer a single Russian people, they scattered them, they made them drunk, and they began to destroy them at the genetic level. Now in Rus' there is a non-Russian spirit of Uzbeks, Tajiks, Chechens and all other inhabitants of Asia and the Middle East, and in the Far East there are Chinese, Koreans, etc., and active, global Ukrainization of Russia is taking place everywhere.
Genres of folklore are varied. There are major genres, such as epics and fairy tales. And there are small genres: proverbs, sayings, chants. Small genres were very often intended for children, teaching them the wisdom of life. Proverbs and sayings allowed people to preserve and pass on folk wisdom from generation to generation.
The artistic feature of all small genres is that they are small in volume and easy to remember. They are often created in poetic form, which also helped them to be remembered better. Proverbs consist of one sentence. But this sentence is very deep and capacious in its content. “Chickens are counted in the fall,” our ancestors said, and we say today. The proverb is based on worldly wisdom. It doesn't matter how many chickens you have in the spring. It is important how many of them have grown before autumn. Over time, these words began to have a generalized meaning: don’t think about how much you can get from this or that business, look at the result of what you did.
Small genres of folklore intended for children have their own characteristics and value. They entered the child’s life from birth and accompanied him for many years until he grew up. Lullabies were intended primarily to protect the baby from the terrible things that surround him. Therefore, it often appears in songs Gray wolf and other monsters. Gradually, lullabies ceased to play the role of a talisman. Their purpose was to put the child to sleep.
Another genre of folklore is associated with the period of infancy. These are pestushki (from the word “to nurture”). The mother sang them to her child, confident that they were helping him grow smart, strong, and healthy. Growing up, the child himself learned to use various genres in his speech and games. Children performed chants in the spring or autumn. This is how adults taught them to take care of the natural world and carry out various agricultural work in a timely manner.
Parents used tongue twisters to develop their children's speech. The artistic feature of the tongue twister is not that it has a poetic form. Its value lies elsewhere. A tongue twister was compiled in such a way that it included words with sounds that were difficult for a child. By pronouncing the tongue twister, the children developed correct speech and achieved clarity in pronunciation.
The riddle occupies a special place among the small genres of folklore. Its artistic feature lies in its metaphorical nature. The riddles were based on the principle of similarity or difference between objects. By solving the riddle, the child learned observation skills and logical thinking. Often the children began to come up with riddles themselves. They also came up with teasers, making fun of a person's shortcomings.
Thus, the small genres of folklore, with all their diversity, served one purpose - to figuratively, accurately and accurately convey folk wisdom, to teach a growing person about life.
Folklore- artistic origin
Mythological beginning
Folkloristics
folk literature
Main features of folklore:
Epic storytellers (they were sung)
3) Variability
· Student folklore
· Army folklore
· Blatnoy folklore
· Soldier's folklore
· Burlatsky
· Political prisoners
Lamentations (text lamented)
9) Functionality
10) Inclusiveness
Ticket 2. System of genres of Russian folklore from antiquity to modernity.
The genre composition of Russian folk poetry is rich and diverse, since it has gone through a significant path of historical development and has reflected the life of the Russian people in many ways. When classifying, it is necessary to take into account that in folklore, as in literature, two forms of speech are used - poetic and prosaic, therefore, in the epic genre, poetic types should be distinguished (epic, historical song, ballad) and prosaic (fairy tale, legend, tradition). The lyrical genre of works uses only poetic form. All poetic works are distinguished by the combination of words and melody. Prose works are told, not sung.
To introduce big picture classification (distribution) of types of works of Russian folk poetry, a number of other circumstances should be taken into account, namely: firstly, the relationship of genres to the so-called rituals (special religious actions), secondly, the relationship of the verbal text to singing and action , which is typical for some types of milking folklore works. Works may be associated with ritual and singing and may not be associated with them.
I Ritual poetry:
1) Calendar (winter, spring, summer and autumn cycles)
2) Family and household (maternity, wedding, funeral)
3) Conspiracy
II Non-ritual poetry:
1) Epic prose genres
A) fairy tale
B) legend
C) legend (and bylichka as its type)
2) Epic poetic genres:
A) epics
B) historical songs (primarily older ones)
B) ballad songs
3) Lyrical poetic genres
A) songs with social content
B) love songs
B) family songs
D) small lyrical genres (ditties, choruses, etc.)
4) Small non-lyrical genres
A) proverbs
B) riddles
5) Dramatic texts and actions
A) mummers, games, round dances
B) scenes and plays.
Ticket 3. Ancient (archaic) genres of folklore (labor songs, spells, fairy tales etc.).
Folklore as a special form of art originates in ancient times. The process of its origin is difficult to reconstruct due to the lack of materials from that time. The most ancient (archaic) period in the history of human society is the period of its pre-class structure (primitive system). The folklore of the pre-class, primitive communal system among many peoples had common features due to the fact that the peoples of the world generally went through similar stages of historical development. The folklore of this social formation is distinguished by the following features:
· It still clearly retains connections with labor processes
· Traces of thinking of the ancient era appear - animism, magical views, totemism, mythology;
· Real phenomena are intertwined with fictional and fantastic ones;
· Some features of realism are developing: concrete depiction of nature and man; fidelity to reality in content and forms (the conventionality of the image appears later);
· Genus, types and genres are gradually emerging, of which the most ancient are proverbs, fairy tales, riddles, conspiracies, legends; at the last stage of formation, heroic epics and legends are born;
· The collective, choral beginning of creativity dominates, but the singer or lead singer begins to stand out;
· The works do not yet exist in a stable traditional form, as in the later stages of the development of folklore, but have the form of improvisation, i.e. text created during performance;
· The plots, imagery, means of expression, an art form that is becoming increasingly traditional.
Animism manifested itself in the spiritualization of forces and natural phenomena, for example the sun and the month, in songs about their marriage, in the spiritualization of the earth (“the mother of the earth is cheese”), water, plants, in the images of the waterman and the goblin, in the personification of Frost, Spring, Maslenitsa, Kolyada . In conspiracies, there is usually an appeal to the dawn. Fairy tales feature the Sea King, the Moon, the Wind, and the Frost. Magic was reflected in spells and incantations, in fortune-telling about the weather and harvest, in stories about sorcerers, in the transformation of a comb into a forest, and a towel into a river, in such wonderful objects as a self-assembled tablecloth and a flying carpet. Totemism was expressed in the cult of the bear and in the image of the helper bear. In fairy tales and epics there are stories about the miraculous origin of heroes from animals, from a serpent. Ballad-type songs contain stories about talking plants growing on people's graves. In fairy tales (especially in fairy tales about animals, but not only in them) there are often images of animals speaking and acting like people. The mythology of ancient Russian tribes has already taken the form of a certain system of ideas. It included two types of beings: gods and spirits. For example, Svarog is the god of the sun, Dazhdbog is the god of life, Perun is the god of thunder, Stribog is the god of wind, Yarilo is the god of light and heat, Veles is the patron god of livestock. The spiritualizations of the forces and phenomena of nature were the water goblin, the goblin, and the field weed. Among the ancient Russian tribes, the cult of ancestors was widely developed, associated with the clan system. It was reflected in the personification of the clan and the women in labor to whom sacrifices were made, in funeral rites and remembrances of ancestors (radnitsa, rusalia, semik).
Slavic mythology was not as complete a system as the Greek one. This is explained by the fact that the Slavs in their historical development passed the slave system, the reasons for which were the earlier development of agriculture and settled life, as well as frequent clashes with southern nomads, which required the creation of a feudal-type state. Therefore, in the mythology of the Slavs there are only the beginnings of the division of gods into elders and younger ones, according to the social system of the state. It is clear that in ancient Russian folklore there were not only genres that reflected animism, totemism, magic and mythology, but also genres of a family and everyday nature, since there were personal relationships within the clan, paired marriage. Finally, work and life experience accumulated, which was imprinted in proverbs.
Classification
I By result
1) White - aimed at getting rid of illnesses and troubles and containing elements of prayer (witchcraft)
2) Black - aimed at causing damage, harm, used without prayer words (witchcraft associated with evil spirits)
II By topic
1) Medical (from illness and painful condition of people and domestic animals, as well as from damage.)
2) Household. (Agricultural, pastoral, commercial - from drought, weeds, for taming domestic animals, hunting, fishing.)
3) Love spells: a) love spells (dry spells); b) lapels (drying)
4) Social (with the goal of regulating social and relationships between people; to attract honor or favor, to go to a judge, for example)
III According to form
1) Epic
Expanded, large
1.1 epic picture
1.2 a conspiracy based on colloquial formulas
1.3 setting (Amen = “so be it”)
2) formulaic
short conspiracies consisting of 1-2 sentences; they don't have bright images- order or request
3) conspiracies-dialogues
4) abracadabra
This is 99 percent women's tradition(because no normal man would do this). The conspiracy mafia is a secretive business.
Characters:
1) human world
1.1 neutral (red maiden)
1.2 Christian: a) real (Jesus, Mother of God), b) fictional (Virgin's daughters, Herod's sons), c) historical characters (Nicholas the Pleasant), d) Christian evil spirits (devils)
1.3 fictional
2) animal world
2.1 recognizable
2.2 fantastic
Typical artistic techniques of conspiracy:
1) at the lexical, morphological and even sound levels (????????)
2) an abundance of epithets
3) comparison
4) stepwise narrowing of images or unfolding (gradation)
Classic legends.
1.1. Cosmogonic
For example, about a duck that sank to the bottom of a reservoir, grabbed some water in its beak - spat it out - the earth appeared (or mountains - I can’t figure it out)
1.2. Etiological
Legends about the creation of the animal world. For example, there was a legend about the appearance of lice. God often acts as a punitive force
Legends have always been believed.
A legend is an independent view of the world around you. Most likely they used to be myths. Indian myths also have ideas about the origin of animals (for example, the kangaroo's pouch), but there are no religious motives, as in our legends.
1.3. Anthropological myths.
Here is some example of a legend about a sick person, but with God’s soul (???). and about a dog that guarded a person and for this God gave her a fur coat or not
1.4. Hagiographical legends
Hagiographical legends
Hagiographic legends (about saints); for example, Nicholas of Myra (Wonder Worker)
· Pan-Orthodox saints
· Locally revered saints
· General Christian
· Orthodox
Saint Yegoriy (George the Victorious)
Warrior/Saint
Patron of livestock and wolves
1.5. Eschatology.
One of the sections of church philosophy. Legends about the end of the world.
Peculiarities classic legends:
1. The artistic time of classical legends is a time of the distant, uncertain, abstract past.
2. Artistic space is also abstract
3. These legends talk about global changes (the emergence of the sea, mountains, animals)
4. All stories are told from the 3rd person. The narrator is not the hero of the legend.
Legend about the local region.
Heroes: local sacred (saints) natural objects. For example, holy springs, trees, stones, groves, or local icons, as well as locally revered elders and blessed ones.
! partly reminiscent of legends, but have a religious character.
For example, about Dunechka, who was shot by the Red Army. She is a fortune teller.
I sent a man to work in Arzamas, and not in Samara (he made money, but those who went to Samara did not), that is, the predictions are mostly everyday
Pigeons hovered over the carriage in which Dounia was being led to execution, protecting her from lashes.
Halo above your head during execution
Afterwards, houses in that village started burning - they decided to hold funeral services twice a year - but they stopped burning
Holy fools.
Blessed = holy fool who figuratively communicates with people.
Pasha Sarovskaya gave a piece of red fabric to Nicholas I and said “for my son’s pants”
about the time of glorification (Venerable Seraphim - comp.) She lived in Diveyevo, famous throughout Russia. The Emperor with all the Grand Dukes and three metropolitans proceeded from Sarov to Diveevo. She predicted his death (9 soldiers, jacket potatoes). She took a piece of red material from the bed and said: “This is for your little son’s pants.” - predicted the appearance of a son.
Legend about a man.
The legend of man is based on a man's encounter with miraculous power. A typical example: a saint tells a man how to find his way in the forest.
The saint appears to people in a dream “the call of the saint”
Pilgrims and immigrants - the saint appears and invites them to his monastery.
Ticket 8. Artistic space and time in a fairy tale. Types of heroes and composition.
Artistic space and time in fairy tales are conditional, as if another world is shown there. The real world and the world of fairy tales can be compared with paintings, for example, by Vasnetsov and Bilibin.
In a fairy tale, there are 7 types of characters (Propp):
1 . the hero is the one who performs all the actions and gets married at the end.
2 . antagonist, or antipode - the one with whom the hero fights and defeats.
3 . a wonderful helper.
4 . a wonderful giver is one who gives the hero a wonderful helper or a wonderful object.
5. princess - the one whom the hero usually marries and who lives, as a rule, in another country, very far away.
6 . king - appears at the end of the fairy tale, the hero marries his daughter or at the beginning of the fairy tale, as a rule, he sends his son somewhere.
7. false hero– assigns the merits of a real hero.
You can try to classify it differently, but the essence will remain the same. First of all, there are two groups of characters: negative and positive. The central place is the positive heroes, as it were, “characters of the first row.” They can be divided into 2 groups: heroic heroes and “ironic” ones, who are favored by luck. Examples: Ivan the Tsarevich and Ivan the Fool. “Second-row characters” are the hero’s assistants, animate and not (magic horse, magic sword). "Third row" is the antagonist. An important place is occupied by female heroines, the ideals of beauty, wisdom, kindness - Vasilisa the Beautiful or the Wise, Elena the Beautiful or the Wise. Antagonists often include Baba Yaga, the snake and Koschey the immortal. The hero's victory over them is a triumph of justice.
Composition – structure, construction of a fairy tale.
1.) Some fairy tales begin with sayings - humorous jokes that are not related to the plot. They are usually rhythmic and rhyming.
2.) The opening, which seems to transport the listener into a fairy-tale world, shows the time, place of action, and setting. Represents an exposition. A popular opening is “Once upon a time” (hereinafter – who, and what circumstances) or “In a certain kingdom, a certain state.”
3.) Action. Some fairy tales begin immediately with action, for example, “The prince decided to marry...”
4.) A fairy tale has an ending, but not always; sometimes with the completion of the action the fairy tale ends. The ending shifts attention from fairy world to the real.
5.) In addition to the ending, there may also be a saying, which is sometimes connected to the ending - “They played a wedding, they feasted for a long time, and I was there, I drank honey, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth.”
The narrative in fairy tales develops sequentially, the action is dynamic, situations are tense, terrible events can occur, and three-fold repetition is common (three brothers go to catch the Firebird three times). The unreliability of the story is emphasized.
Connection with the initiation rite.
Hood space is abstract; there is a border/transitional space; spatial movements are not shown. Hud time is also abstract, closed, and has no outlet into reality; develops from episode to episode, retardation.
The fairy tale is the most archaic - it was not originally intended for children, and in its origin goes back to rituals. Rite of initiation. You can see superstitious ideas about the next world. For example, Baba Yaga: “the nose has grown into the ceiling”, “the knee has rested against the wall”, a bone leg – i.e. without meat - she lies on the stove as if in a coffin
Those. she is a borderline character between the world of the dead and the living - between the world and the distant kingdom.
Spring cycle.
Maslenitsa and Maslenitsa rituals. In the center of the Maslenitsa holiday stands symbolic image Maslenitsa
The holiday itself consists of three parts: a meeting on Monday, a revelry or turning point on the so-called Broad Thursday, and farewell.
Songs for Maslenitsa can be divided into two groups. The first - meeting and honoring, has the appearance of grandeur. They glorify the wide, honest Maslenitsa, its dishes, and entertainment. She is called in full - Avdotya Izotyevna. The character of the songs is cheerful and playful. The songs accompanying the farewell are somewhat different - they talk about the upcoming fast. The singers regret the ending of the holiday. Here Maslenitsa is already a dethroned idol, she is no longer magnified, but is called disrespectfully “a deceiver.” Maslenitsa was usually interpreted primarily as a celebration of the victory of spring over winter, life over death.
Spring post - clean monday- the beginning of the spring calendar ritual. We washed ourselves in the bathhouse, washed the house, washed all the dishes, played funny games with pancakes - hung them on a tree, gave them to the cattle.
The week of the cross/middle of the cross is the fourth after Lent; the fasting breaks - they baked Lenten cookies; fortune telling - a coin - a coin in a cookie, several crosses - a coin, a sliver, a ring, they gave crosses to the cattle.
March 30 is the day of the forty martyrs (lark-shaped cookies); meeting of spring, arrival of the first birds; On March 17, the day of Gregory Grachevnik, rooks were baked. Signs: many birds - good luck, snowdrifts - harvest, icicles - flax harvest. The first spring holiday - welcoming spring - falls in March. These days, in the villages they baked figurines of birds from dough and distributed them to girls or children. Vesnyankas are ritual lyrical songs of the incantatory genre. The ritual of “spell” spring was imbued with the desire to influence nature in order to obtain a good harvest. Imitating the flight of birds (throwing larks from dough) was supposed to cause the arrival of real birds, the friendly onset of spring. Stoneflies are characterized by a form of dialogue or address in the imperative mood. Unlike a conspiracy, stoneflies are like carols. performed collectively.
Annunciation - April 7: “birds don’t curl their nests, girls don’t braid their hair”; you cannot turn on the light or work with the birthday soil; The sledge was broken - they removed the sleigh and took out the cart.
Palm Sunday(last Sunday before Easter) - “entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.” They brought willow into the house and kept it near the icons all year, and blessed children; they put willow and icons on the water.
Holy Week is the week before Easter. Maundy Thursday (in religion - Friday) is the most terrible day; whitewashing the hut, ridding the hut of cockroaches by freezing, clipping the wings of poultry, all water is holy.
Easter - dyeing eggs (no Easter cake, no Easter); do not go to the cemetery, only on the next red/Fomina week - Tuesday and Saturday-Rainbow); The first egg was kept near the icon for a year.
Vyunishnye songs are songs that congratulated the newlyweds on Saturday or Sunday of the first week after Easter. Song content: wishing the young people happy family life.
May 6 - St. George's Day (St. George the Victorious); Yegory is a bestial god; took the cattle out into the field for the first time
Ascension (40 days after Easter)
Semitsky ritual songs - the 7th week after Easter was called Semitsky. Thursday of this week was called Semik, and its last day (Sunday) was called Trinity. Special rituals were performed, which were accompanied by songs. The main ritual is “curling” the wreath. Having dressed in festive outfits, the girls went into the forest, looked for a young birch tree, bent the birch branches and wove them with grass, after a few days they cut down the birch tree, carried it around the village, then drowned it in the river or threw it into the rye. The girls wove an arch from the tops of two birch trees and walked under it. Then there was a fortune-telling ceremony with a wreath. The theme of marriage and family relationships occupies an increasing place in Semitic songs.
Spiritual day - you can’t work with the earth.
Summer cycle.
Calendar rituals were accompanied by special songs.
Trinity-Semitic Week: Semik - the seventh Thursday after Easter, Trinity - the seventh Sunday. The girls, dressed smartly and taking treats with them, went to “curl” the birch trees - weaving them with grass. The girl's holiday was also accompanied by fortune telling. The girls wove wreaths and threw them into the river. Fortune telling by wreaths was widely reflected in songs performed both during fortune telling and without regard to it.
Feast of Ivan Kupala (John the Baptist/Baptist) - the night of June 23-24. During the Kupala holidays they do not help the earth, but, on the contrary, they try to take everything from it. On this night, medicinal herbs are collected. Whoever finds the fern, it was believed, will be able to find the treasure. The girls put handkerchiefs on the dew and then washed themselves with them; they broke birch brooms for the bath; young people swam at night, purified themselves, jumped over fires.
Trinity - 7th Sunday after Easter. Cult of the birch tree. Formation of a new wedding cycle. Formation of a layer of brides. Songs, round dances (choice of the bride and groom), singing songs only on Trinity. The meaning is duplicated on several levels - in action, in words, in music, in an object. The following Sunday after Toitsa we celebrated the farewell to winter.
Autumn cycle. ( just in case )
Autumn rites the Russian people were not as rich as winter and spring-summer ones. They accompany the harvest. Zazhinki (the beginning of the harvest), dozhinki or obzhinki (the end of the harvest) were accompanied by songs. But these songs do not have a magical character. They are directly related to the labor process. More diverse in subject matter and artistic techniques pre-zhin songs. They tell about the harvest and the custom of refreshments. In pre-harvest songs there are elements of glorification of rich hosts who have treated the reapers well.
It was believed that the harvest should be protected, because... devilry might take him away. They placed sheaves in the form of a cross, made of wormwood and nettles. Striga/Perezhinakha - the spirit of the field who took the harvest.
Celebrating the first sheaf, they cooked the first new porridge and sprinkled it on the cattle and chickens. The last sheaf/last ears of corn were left on the field, not reaped, tied into a bundle and called a beard. Having finished the harvest, the women rolled on the ground: “Reaper, reaper, give up your snare.”
Afterwards, many calendar rituals turned into holidays, which, in addition to the ritual function, also have a very important social function - uniting people, the rhythm of life.
Ticket 14. Epics of the ancient period. (Volkh Vseslavsky, Sadko, Danube, Svyatogor, Volga and Mikola)
Among Russian epics there is a group of works that almost all folklorists classify as more ancient. The main difference between these epics is that they contain significant features of mythological ideas.
1.) “Volkh Vseslavyevich.” The epic about Volkh consists of 2 parts. In the first, he is depicted as a wonderful hunter with the ability to transform into an animal, bird, or fish. While hunting, he obtains food for the squad. In the second, Volkh is the leader of a campaign in the Indian kingdom, which he conquers and destroys. The second part almost went out of existence, since its theme did not correspond to the ideological essence of the Russian epic. But the first part was popular among the people for a long time. Researchers attribute the image of a wonderful hunter to ancient times, but this image was layered with historical features, linking the epic with the Kyiv cycle, which is why Likhachev and other scientists compared Volkh, for example, with Prophetic Oleg. The image of India is fabulous, not historical.
2.) Epics about Sadko. The epics are based on 3 plots: Sadko receives wealth, Sadko competes with Novgorod, Sadko visits the sea king. These three plots exist separately and in combination. The first plot has 2 different versions. First: Sadko walked along the Volga for 12 years; having decided to go to Novgorod, he thanks the Volga, lowering bread and salt into it; The Volga gave him orders to boast about the “glorious Lake Ilmen”; Ilmen, in turn, rewarded him with wealth, advising him to fish, and the caught fish turned into coins. Another version: Sadko, a poor guslar, goes to the shore of Ilmen, plays, and the sea king comes out to him and rewards him with wealth. This expresses the popular opinion about the value of art; utopianism: the poor man became rich. The second plot: having received wealth, Sadko became proud and decided to measure his wealth with Novgorod itself, but was defeated. In a rare version there is a plot with Sadko's victory. Third story: Sadko got into underwater kingdom, fell in love sea game on the harp, and the king decided to keep him and marry him to the girl Chernava; but Sadko deceived the tsar with the help of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk, and saved himself, built a church in honor of the saint and stopped traveling on the blue sea. The epics about Sadko are distinguished by the completeness of each of the three parts and the dramatic intensity of the action. Propp classified “Epics about Sadko” as epics about matchmaking, and considered the main plot to be “Sadko at the Sea King”. Belinsky saw the main social conflict between Sadko and Novgorod. Fabulousness is characteristic of the first and third epics.
3.) Epics about Svyatogor have a special form - prosaic. Some scientists consider this proof of their antiquity, others – of their novelty. They contain a number of episodes: about the meeting of Ilya Muromets and Svyatogor, about Svyatogor’s unfaithful wife, about a bag with earthly cravings. These epics are ancient, as is the type of hero Svyatogor itself, which contains many mythical traces. Scientists view this image as the embodiment of the old order, which must disappear, because the death of Svyatogore is inevitable. In the epic about Svyatogor and the coffin, first Ilya tries on the coffin, but it is too big for him, and Svyatogor is just the right size. When Ilya covered the coffin with a lid, it was no longer possible to remove it, and he received part of Svyatogor’s power. Propp said that there is a change of two eras here, and the epic hero Svyatogor was replaced by Ilya Muromets. Svyatogor is a hero of unprecedented strength, but in the episode with the earthly pull that Svyatogor cannot lift, the existence of an even more powerful force is shown.
The epic "Volga and Mikula" is the most significant of the group of social epics. Its main idea is to contrast the peasant plowman and the prince. The social antithesis made it possible for some scientists to attribute the composition of the epic to later times, when social conflicts intensified; in addition, it was attributed to the Novgorod epics. But ridicule of the prince is not very typical for Novgorod epics, and the conflict is placed in the setting of early feudal times. Volga goes to collect tribute, he has a brave squad; Mikula is not a warrior, but a hero, he is powerful and superior to the entire Volga squad, which cannot pull his bipod out of the furrow; The prince and his squad cannot catch up with Mikula. But Mikula is opposed to Volga not only as mighty hero, but also as a working man, he lives not by exactions from the peasants, but by his own labor. Everything comes easy to Mikula, he reaps a rich harvest. The scientist Sokolov saw in this the dream of the peasantry, tired of the unbearable physical labor. The epic poetizes peasant labor, the image of Mikula is the embodiment of strength working people.
Ticket 1. Main features of folklore.
Folklore- artistic origin
Mythological beginning
Folkloristics
Folklore was called folk poetry, but it's not (not everything is poetry)
At the end of the 19th century the term appeared folk literature(emphasis on the word - again not the correct definition, for example, the ritual of making rain - killing a frog - without words)
In the 20th century - Russian folk art.
Main features of folklore:
1) Orality (oral system, culture, phenomenon) only in oral form
2) Sacred letters do not have a written record - an exception
Written conspiracies, questionnaires, diaries (girl's album) demobilization album
Epic storytellers (they were sung)
3) Variability
Those. modification of one text
The downside is that we don't know which option came before
4) Locality (all texts and genres of folklore are local)
Thus, Russian folklore is a set of genres and each locality has its own.
5) Folklore - folk culture; people are the lower strata of the population (peasants)
· Student folklore
· Army folklore
· Youth/informal groups
· Blatnoy folklore
· Soldier's folklore
· Burlatsky
· Political prisoners
6) Folklore is a collective creativity. The creator of folklore is not one person.
7) Typification; Most works and genres of folklore contain typical motifs, plots, verbal forms, types of heroes
For example, the number 3, a beautiful maiden, heroes: all strong, beautiful, winners
8) Syncretism – (“combining in itself”) connection different arts in one art.
For example wedding ceremony(songs, lamentations, carrying a Christmas tree (they decorated a small Christmas tree and carried it around the village - kind of like a bride’s Christmas tree))
Round dance (dance, song, costume + game)
People's Theatre: Petrushka Theater
Lamentations (text lamented)
9) Functionality
Each genre performs a specific function. For example, a lullaby served to rhythmize movements while rocking a child; lamentations - to mourn.
10) Inclusiveness
· Folklore includes the historical, family, labor, sound memory of the people
· Folklore itself is organically included in the working and economic life of the people.
The oral poetry of the people is of great social value, consisting in its cognitive, ideological, educational and aesthetic meanings, which are inextricably linked. The cognitive significance of folklore is manifested primarily in the fact that it reflects the characteristics of phenomena real life and provides extensive knowledge about the history of social relations, work and life, as well as an idea of the worldview and psychology of the people, and the nature of the country. The cognitive significance of folklore is increased by the fact that the plots and images of its works usually contain broad typification and contain generalizations of life phenomena and people’s characters. Thus, the images of Ilya Muromets and Mikula Selyaninovich in Russian epics give an idea of the Russian peasantry in general; one image characterizes an entire social stratum of people. The educational significance of folklore is also increased by the fact that its works not only present, but also explain pictures of life, historical events and images of heroes. Thus, epics and historical songs explain why the Russian people withstood the Mongol-Tatar yoke and emerged victorious in the struggle, explain the meaning of the heroic deeds and activities historical figures. M. Gorky said: “The true history of the working people cannot be known without knowing oral folk art.” Gorky M. Collection. cit., vol. 27, p. 311. The ideological and educational significance of folklore lies in the fact that its best works are inspired by high progressive ideas, love for the motherland, and the desire for peace. Folklore depicts heroes as defenders of the homeland and evokes a feeling of pride in them. He poetizes Russian nature - and the mighty rivers (Mother Volga, wide Dnieper, quiet Don), and wide steppes, and wide fields - and this fosters love for her. The image of the Russian land is recreated in works of folklore. Folk art expresses the life aspirations and social views of the people, and often revolutionary sentiments. It played an important role in the people’s struggle for national and social liberation, for their socio-political and cultural development. Modern folk art contributes to the communist education of the masses. In all this, the ideological and educational significance of folk poetry is manifested. The aesthetic significance of folklore works lies in the fact that they are a wonderful art of words and are distinguished by great poetic skill, which is reflected in their construction, in the creation of images, and in language. Folklore skillfully uses fiction, fantasy, and symbolism, i.e. allegorical transfer and characterization of phenomena and their poeticization. Folklore expresses the artistic tastes of the people. The form of his works has been polished over the centuries by the work of excellent masters. Therefore, folklore develops an aesthetic sense, a sense of beauty, a sense of form, rhythm and language. Because of this, it is of great importance for the development of all types of professional art: literature, music, theater. The work of many great writers and composers is closely connected with folk poetry.
Folklore is characterized by the revelation of beauty in nature and man, the unity of aesthetic and moral principles, the combination of reality and fiction, vivid imagery and expressiveness. All this serves as an explanation why the best works of folklore provide great aesthetic pleasure. The science of folklore. The science of folklore - folkloristics - studies oral folk art, the verbal art of the masses. It poses and resolves a significant range of important questions: about the characteristics of folklore - its vital content, social nature, ideological essence, artistic originality; about its origin, development, originality at different stages of existence; about his attitude to literature and other forms of art; about the features creative process in it and the forms of existence of individual works; about the specifics of genres: epics, fairy tales, songs, proverbs, etc. Folklore is a complex, synthetic art; Often his works combine elements of various types of art - verbal, musical, theatrical. It is closely connected with folk life and rituals, and reflects the characteristics of various periods of history. That is why various sciences are interested in it and study it: linguistics, literary criticism, art history, ethnography, history. Each of them explores folklore in various aspects: linguistics - the verbal side, reflecting in it the history of the language and connections with dialects; literary criticism - general features of folklore and literature and their differences; art history - musical and theatrical elements; ethnography - the role of folklore in folk life and its connection with rituals; history is an expression of popular understanding historical events. Due to the uniqueness of folklore as an art, the term “folklore” in different countries different types are included. content, and therefore the subject of folkloristics is understood differently. In some foreign countries folkloristics deals not only with the study of the poetic, but also the musical and choreographic aspects of folk poetic works, i.e., elements of all types of arts. In our country, folkloristics is understood as the science of folk poetic creativity.
Folkloristics has its own subject of study, its own special tasks, and has developed its own research methods and techniques. However, the study of the verbal side of oral folk art is not separated from the study of its other aspects: the cooperation of the sciences of folklore, linguistics, literary criticism, art criticism, ethnography and history is very fruitful. Genera, genres and genre varieties. Folklore, like literature, is the art of words. This gives grounds for folkloristics to use concepts and terms that were developed by literary criticism, naturally applying them to the features of oral folk art. Such concepts and terms are genus, type, genre and genre variety. Both in literary criticism and in folkloristics there is still no unambiguous idea about them; researchers disagree and argue. We will adopt a working definition that we will use. Those phenomena of literature and folklore, which are called genera, genres and genre varieties, are groups of works that are similar to each other in structure, ideological and artistic principles and functions. They have developed historically and are relatively stable, changing only to a small extent and rather slowly. The difference between genera, genres and genre varieties is important for performers of works, and for their listeners, and for researchers studying folk art, since these phenomena represent meaningful forms, the emergence, development, change and death of which - important process in the history of literature and folklore.
In literary and folkloristic terminology in our time, the concept and term “species” have almost gone out of use; most often they are replaced by the concept and term “genre”, although they were previously distinguished. We will also accept as a working concept “genre” - a narrower group of works than genus. In this case, by genus we will mean a way of depicting reality (epic, lyrical, dramatic), and by genre - a type of artistic form (fairy tale, song, proverb). But we have to introduce an even narrower concept - “genre variety”, which is a thematic group of works (fairy tales about animals, fairy tales, fairy tales, social and everyday tales, love songs, family songs, etc.). Even smaller groups of works can be identified. Thus, in social fairy tales there is a special group of works - satirical tales. However, in order to present a general picture of the classification (distribution) of types of works of Russian folk poetry, a number of other circumstances should be taken into account: firstly, the relationship of genres to the so-called rituals (special cult actions), secondly, the relationship of the verbal text to singing and action, which is typical for some types of folklore works. Works may be associated with ritual and singing and may not be associated with them.
Immense oral folk art. It has been created for centuries, there are many varieties of it. Translated from English, “folklore” is “folk meaning, wisdom.” That is, oral folk art is everything that is created by the spiritual culture of the population over the centuries of its historical life.
Features of Russian folklore
If you carefully read the works of Russian folklore, you will notice that it actually reflects a lot: the play of the imagination of the people, the history of the country, laughter, and serious thoughts about human life. Listening to the songs and tales of their ancestors, people thought about many difficult questions their family, social and work life, they thought about how to fight for happiness, improve their lives, what a person should be, what should be ridiculed and condemned.
Varieties of folklore
Varieties of folklore include fairy tales, epics, songs, proverbs, riddles, calendar refrains, magnification, sayings - everything that was repeated passed from generation to generation. At the same time, the performers often introduced something of their own into the text they liked, changing individual details, images, expressions, imperceptibly improving and honing the work.
Oral folk art for the most part exists in a poetic (verse) form, since it was this that made it possible to memorize and pass on these works from mouth to mouth for centuries.
Songs
A song is a special verbal and musical genre. It is a small lyrical-narrative or lyrical work, which was created specifically for singing. Their types are as follows: lyrical, dance, ritual, historical. Folk songs express the feelings of one person, but at the same time of many people. They reflected love experiences, events of social and family life, reflections on difficult fate. In folk songs, the so-called technique of parallelism is often used, when the mood of a given lyrical character is transferred to nature.
Historical songs are dedicated to various famous personalities and events: the conquest of Siberia by Ermak, the uprising of Stepan Razin, the peasant war led by Emelyan Pugachev, the battle of Poltava with the Swedes, etc. The narration in historical folk songs about some events is combined with the emotional sound of these works.
Epics
The term "epic" was introduced by I.P. Sakharov in the 19th century. It represents oral folk art in the form of a song of a heroic, epic nature. The epic arose in the 9th century; it was an expression of the historical consciousness of the people of our country. Bogatyrs are the main characters of this type of folklore. They embody the people's ideal of courage, strength, and patriotism. Examples of heroes who were depicted in works of oral folk art: Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets, Mikula Selyaninovich, Alyosha Popovich, as well as the merchant Sadko, the giant Svyatogor, Vasily Buslaev and others. Life basis, at the same time enriched with some fantastic fiction, constitutes the plot of these works. In them, heroes single-handedly defeat entire hordes of enemies, fight monsters, overcome instantly huge distances. This oral folk art is very interesting.
Fairy tales
Epics must be distinguished from fairy tales. These works of oral folk art are based on invented events. Fairy tales can be magical (in which fantastic forces are involved), as well as everyday ones, where people are depicted - soldiers, peasants, kings, workers, princesses and princes - in everyday settings. This type of folklore differs from other works in its optimistic plot: in it, good always triumphs over evil, and the latter either suffers defeat or is ridiculed.
Legends
We continue to describe the genres of oral folk art. A legend, unlike a fairy tale, is a folk oral story. Its basis is an incredible event, a fantastic image, a miracle, which is perceived by the listener or storyteller as reliable. There are legends about the origin of peoples, countries, seas, about the sufferings and exploits of fictional or real-life heroes.
Puzzles
Oral folk art is represented by many riddles. They are an allegorical image of a certain object, usually based on a metaphorical rapprochement with it. The riddles are very small in volume and have a certain rhythmic structure, often emphasized by the presence of rhyme. They are created in order to develop intelligence and ingenuity. The riddles are varied in content and theme. There may be several versions of them about the same phenomenon, animal, object, each of which characterizes it from a certain aspect.
Proverbs and sayings
Genres of oral folk art also include sayings and proverbs. A proverb is a rhythmically organized, short, figurative saying, an aphoristic folk saying. It usually has a two-part structure, which is supported by rhyme, rhythm, alliteration and assonance.
A proverb is a figurative expression that evaluates some phenomenon of life. It, unlike a proverb, is not a whole sentence, but only a part of a statement included in oral folk art.
Proverbs, sayings and riddles are included in the so-called small genres of folklore. What is it? In addition to the above types, these include other oral folk art. The types of small genres are complemented by the following: lullabies, nurseries, nursery rhymes, jokes, game choruses, chants, sentences, riddles. Let's take a closer look at each of them.
Lullabies
Small genres of oral folk art include lullabies. People call them bikes. This name comes from the verb "bait" ("bayat") - "to speak." This word has the following ancient meaning: "to speak, to whisper." It is no coincidence that lullabies received this name: the oldest of them are directly related to spell poetry. Struggling with sleep, for example, the peasants said: “Dreamushka, get away from me.”
Pestushki and nursery rhymes
Russian oral folk art is also represented by pestushki and nursery rhymes. At their center is the image of a growing child. The name “pestushki” comes from the word “to nurture”, that is, “to follow someone, raise, nurse, carry in one’s arms, educate.” They are short sentences with which in the first months of a baby’s life they comment on his movements.
Imperceptibly, the pestles turn into nursery rhymes - songs that accompany the baby's games with his toes and hands. This oral folk art is very diverse. Examples of nursery rhymes: “Magpie”, “Ladushki”. They often already contain a “lesson”, an instruction. For example, in “Soroka” the white-sided woman fed everyone porridge, except for one lazy person, although he was the smallest one (his little finger corresponds to him).
Jokes
In the first years of children's lives, nannies and mothers sang songs of more complex content to them, not related to play. All of them can be designated by the single term “jokes.” Their content is reminiscent of short fairy tales in verse. For example, about a cockerel - a golden comb, flying to the Kulikovo field for oats; about the rowan hen, which “winnowed peas” and “sowed millet.”
A joke, as a rule, gives a picture of some bright event, or it depicts some rapid action that corresponds to the active nature of the baby. They are characterized by a plot, but the child is not capable of long-term attention, so they are limited to only one episode.
Sentences, calls
We continue to consider oral folk art. Its types are complemented by slogans and sentences. Children on the street very early learn from their peers a variety of calls, which represent an appeal to birds, rain, rainbows, and the sun. Children, on occasion, shout out words in chorus. In addition to nicknames, in a peasant family any child knew the sentences. They are most often pronounced one by one. Sentences - appeal to a mouse, small bugs, a snail. This may be imitation of various bird voices. Verbal sentences and song calls are filled with faith in the powers of water, sky, earth (sometimes beneficial, sometimes destructive). Their utterance introduced adult peasant children to the work and life. Sentences and calls are combined into a special department called “calendar” children's folklore"This term emphasizes the existing connection between them and the time of year, holiday, weather, the whole way of life and the way of life of the village.
Game sentences and refrains
Genres of oral folk art include game verdicts and choruses. They are no less ancient than calls and sentences. They either connect parts of a game or start it. They can also serve as endings and determine the consequences that exist when conditions are violated.
The games are striking in their resemblance to serious peasant activities: reaping, hunting, sowing flax. Reproducing these cases in strict sequence with the help of repeated repetition made it possible to instill in the child from an early age respect for customs and the existing order, to teach the rules of behavior accepted in society. The names of the games - "Bear in the Forest", "Wolf and Geese", "Kite", "Wolf and Sheep" - speak of a connection with the life and way of life of the rural population.
Conclusion
Folk epics, fairy tales, legends, and songs contain no less exciting colorful images than in the works of art of classical authors. Original and surprisingly accurate rhymes and sounds, bizarre, beautiful poetic rhythms - like lace are woven into the texts of ditties, nursery rhymes, jokes, riddles. And what vivid poetic comparisons can we find in lyrical songs! All this could only be created by the people - Great master words.