To a modern person, the customs of the ancient Slavs may seem like just some kind of creepy fantasy. But this really happened. These ancient customs make you feel very uneasy. And for some today one could easily get a criminal sentence.

We have collected seven of the strangest rituals of our ancestors. It was especially hard on women and children.

Daughtership

“Father-in-law.” V. Makovsky

This neutral word was used to describe sexual intercourse between father-in-law and daughter-in-law. Not that it was approved, but it was considered a very minor sin. Often fathers married their sons at 12-13 years old to girls 16-17 years old. In the meantime, the guys were catching up with their young wives in development, dad was working off conjugal duties for them. A completely win-win option was to send my son to work for six months, or even better, to the army for twenty years. Then the daughter-in-law, remaining in her husband’s family, had practically no chance of refusing her father-in-law. If she resisted, she did the hardest and dirtiest work and put up with the constant nagging of the “starshak” (as the head of the family was called). Nowadays law enforcement agencies would talk to the elder, but then there was nowhere to complain.

Sin of the dump

“Fern blossom.” O. Gurenkov

Nowadays this can only be seen in special films, mainly made in Germany. And before this was done in Russian villages on Ivan Kupala. This holiday combines pagan and Christian traditions. So, after dancing around the fire, the couples went to look for fern flowers in the forest. Just so you understand, fern does not bloom, it reproduces by spores. This is only an excuse for young people to go into the forest and indulge in carnal pleasures. Moreover, such connections did not oblige either boys or girls to anything.

Gasky

B. Olshansky “The Manor of Princess Winter”

This custom, which can also be called a sin, is described by the Italian traveler Roccolini. All the youth of the village gathered in the big house. They sang and danced in the light of a torch. And when the torch went out, they indulged in blind lovemaking with the one who happened to be nearby. Then the torch was lit, and the fun and dancing continued again. And so on until dawn. That night when Roccolini got on the Gasky, the torch went out and came on five times. Whether the traveler himself participated in the Russian folk ritual, history is silent.

Overbaking

This ritual has nothing to do with sex, you can relax. It was customary to “over-bake” a premature or weak child in an oven. Not into kebab, of course, but rather into bread. It was believed that if the baby was not “prepared” in the womb, then it was necessary to bake it yourself. To gain strength and get stronger. The baby was wrapped in a special rye dough prepared in water. Only the nostrils were left to breathe. They tied him to a bread shovel and, saying secret words, sent him into the oven for some time. Of course, the oven was not hot, but warm. No one was going to serve the child to the table. They tried to burn away diseases with this ritual. Whether this helped, history is silent.

Scaring pregnant women

L. Plakhov. “Rest in the hayfield”

Our ancestors treated childbirth with special trepidation. It was believed that at this moment the child passes from the world of the dead to the world of the living. The process itself is already difficult for a woman, and the midwives tried to make it completely unbearable. A specially trained grandmother positioned herself between the legs of the woman in labor and persuaded the pelvic bones to move apart. If this did not help, then they began to scare the expectant mother, rattled pots, and could fire a gun near her. They also loved to induce vomiting in women in labor. It was believed that when she vomits, the child goes more willingly. To do this, they shoved her own braid into her mouth or stuck her fingers into her mouth.

Salting

This wild ritual was used not only in some regions of Rus', but also in France, Armenia and other countries. It was believed that a newborn baby needed to gain strength from salt. This was apparently an alternative to overbaking. The child was coated with fine salt, including his ears and eyes. Probably to hear and see well after that. Then they wrapped them in rags and kept them there for a couple of hours, not paying attention to the inhuman screams. Those who were richer literally buried the child in salt. Cases are described when, after such a health procedure, all the skin peeled off the baby. But that’s okay, but then he’ll be healthy.

Dead Man's Rite

V. Korolkov. “Marriage Rite”

This terrible ceremony is nothing more than a wedding. Those bride's outfits, which we now consider ceremonial, were called funeral by our ancestors. A white robe, a veil, which was used to cover the face of a dead man so that he would not accidentally open his eyes and look at someone alive. The entire ceremony of marriage was perceived as the new birth of a girl. And in order to be born, you must first die. A white doll was put on the young woman's head (a headdress like that of nuns). They were usually buried in it. From there he goes to mourn the bride, which is still practiced in some villages in the outback. But now they are crying that the girl is leaving home, but before they were crying about her “death.” The ransom ritual also arose for a reason. By doing this, the groom tries to find the bride in the world of the dead and bring her to White light. Bridesmaids in this case were perceived as guardians of the afterlife. Therefore, if you are suddenly invited to bargain with the groom on the spit-stained stairs in the entrance, remember where this tradition comes from and do not agree))

How long has it been since the last time you made dumplings with your whole house? And when did you get together with all your relatives and go... to the cemetery to visit the graves of your departed loved ones? Can you remember the last time all family members sat in the same room and took turns reading aloud? interesting books? Teacher-psychologist of the highest category Tatyana Vorobyova and priest Stefan Domuschi, head of the Department of Doctrinal Disciplines of the Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian.

TRADITION 1. JOINT FAMILY MEAL

Did you know that, according to Domostroy, the youngest was not supposed to start eating or trying this or that dish at the table before the head of the family (or the most noble of the guests) did? And what does the Apostle Paul recommend to the first Christians in his epistles: wait for each other for a joint meal, not pounce on food before everyone arrives, and not eat too much, thinking about what others will get?
It can be rightly noted: now we live in a completely different rhythm than the people of the times of Domostroy. Right. But it’s still not worth writing off the tradition of a shared meal as “irrelevant.” During a common family feast, the most important mechanisms of interaction between family members are developed and consolidated. Which?
Firstly, the ability to adapt to everyone close to you. “Sitting at a common table and sharing food with our loved ones, we overcome the selfishness that is natural for fallen man, and learn to share the most important thing: what is the basis of our life,” says priest Stefan Domuschi.

Secondly, the tradition of eating together teaches us to communicate, listen and hear each other not on the fly, meeting in a common corridor, but for at least 20 minutes. A trifle, it would seem, but worth a lot.

Thirdly, there is also an educational moment in a shared meal. Only, as psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova says, contrary to common practice, it assumes “not the teachings of a strict father and the constant beating of a child on the forehead with a spoon, but the fact that at the table the child learns good behavior, learns to care for others.”

But modern life introduces nuances: we come from work to different time, everyone is in a different state, the wife is on a diet, the husband is not in the mood. What should I do? According to Tatyana Vorobyova, a joint family meal today can be expressed in other, not entirely familiar forms. “There is a so-called “meal with everyone,” explains Tatyana Vladimirovna. “It’s less about the physical presence of all family members at the table, and more about what and how we prepared.” You need to find time to not just feed your family, but to please them, remember what they love, and take care of even the little things.

TRADITION 2. COMMON COOKING, “FAMILY” DISH

Preparing for a meal will help you find a common language and improve relationships between family members no less effectively than sharing lunch or dinner. Many people remember that 20 years ago, the general sculpting of dumplings or baking a cake was perceived as a solemn family ritual, and not boring household chores.

According to priest Stefan Domuschi, it is useful to cook together not only well-known dishes, but also something new: “An old recipe helps to feel the connection between generations, the living memory of those who prepared this dish in the same way many years ago. The new one is to unite everyone in joyful anticipation: will it work out as planned, will it be delicious?”

The main thing, according to psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova, is teamwork, when everyone makes their contribution to the common cause. It is important that, for example, the chores for the arrival of guests do not fall only on the mother and that responsibilities are distributed according to strengths. And for children this is a chance to feel significant and needed.

TRADITION 3. HOME HOLIDAYS

Home celebrations still exist today. So what have we forgotten about this tradition? A very important detail: in the old days, holidays were not limited to feasting; until the mid-twentieth century, home performances, puppet theaters, and games for both children and adults were organized (like “living pictures,” which even members of the imperial family played, or “ literary lotto"), publication of a home newspaper.

What should the whole family celebrate? Just New Year, Christmas or birthday?

Even the smallest dates or anniversaries that are significant for each individual family member need to be celebrated, says psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova. On this day my daughter went to school, on this day my son entered college, on this day he came home from the army, and on this day mom and dad met. It is not necessary to celebrate with a feast, the main thing is attention. “Family differs from friends and acquaintances in that relatives remember everything the little ones, but important milestones in a person’s life,” explains Tatyana Vladimirovna. “He is significant, his whole life has value.”
Any holiday and its preparation is a live, non-virtual and unhurried communication, which (we have to repeat) is becoming less and less in our age. “The holiday gives everyone the opportunity to test whether they can truly communicate,” says Father Stefan. — It often happens that a husband and wife see each other only a couple of times a day and exchange only news with each other, and therefore, when they have a free evening, it turns out that they have nothing to talk about heart-to-heart as close people. In addition,” the priest reminds, “Orthodox holidays give believers the opportunity to take communion with the whole family, to feel that the basis of true family unity is not only blood ties, but participation in the Body of Christ itself.”

TRADITION 4. TRIPS TO DISTANT RELATIVES

If you need to denigrate a person, then rest assured, no one will do it better than his relatives, noted William Thackeray in the novel Vanity Fair. But at the same time, the tradition of frequent visits to relatives - near and far, to strengthen family ties, is known in many cultures.

Often a difficult and boring “duty” - is there any point in maintaining such a custom?

The need to adapt to “distant neighbors” and endure the associated inconveniences can be a plus for a Christian, says priest Stefan Domuschi. “Modern people communicate more often with friends, work colleagues, and those with whom it is interesting to communicate,” he says. - And in big family- everyone is different, everyone has their own interests, their own lives. Thus, communication with distant relatives helps to overcome the consumerist attitude towards people.”

In any case, the priest believes, truly good relationships, true friendship must be learned: learn to appreciate people for what they are, and not treat them as a source of services and opportunities.

The question is ambiguous, says Tatyana Vorobyova: indeed, from time immemorial, family has been a value, but today such close ties no longer exist - the family should be kept from internal splits! “Sometimes when visiting distant relatives you can encounter envy, hostility, and discussions. Then this trail of unnecessary conversations and clarifications follows you, and this is not useful to anyone,” says the psychologist. “Remembering kinship has never stopped anyone,” she is sure, “however, first of all, you need to establish and maintain relationships in your own family: “my home is my fortress.”

TRADITION 5. LEISURE SHARES WITH CHILDREN

Tents, kayaks, large baskets for mushrooms. Today, even if such attributes of an active family vacation are preserved in homes, they often simply gather dust on the balcony for years. Meanwhile, joint leisure instills in children trust and interest in their parents. “This ultimately decides the question: are children comfortable with mom and dad or not,” says Tatyana Vorobyova.
Living examples, not edifying words, raise a child, and on vacation various situations, pleasant and difficult, more varied than at home. “Everything is visible here,” says Tatyana Vladimirovna. “Fairly or not, we decide certain issues, how we distribute responsibilities, who will take on the heavier backpack, who will go to bed last, making sure that the house is clean and everything is prepared for tomorrow. So spending time together is an important lesson that children will use in their own families.”

Unobtrusive lessons on behavior not at a school desk, but in the form of a live dialogue will be deposited in children's memory and will be fixed much more reliably!

“Recreating together also helps the child learn about the world of wildlife and learn to treat it with care,” says Father Stefan. “In addition, this is an opportunity to talk, talk about important things in private or together.”
Today it is quite fashionable to spend holidays separately and send children to camps. According to the psychologist, the desire to send a child on vacation to a children’s camp is to the detriment of family leisure may be the beginning of family separation: “It is better for the family to spend as much time together as possible. But with a caveat: there is no need to do anything by force.”

TRADITION 6. READING OUT LOUD WITH YOUR FAMILY

“In the evenings, especially in winter, when we were left alone, we read together: for the most part, she, and I listened. Here, in addition to the pleasure produced by the reading itself, it was also delivered by the fact that it aroused our thoughts and sometimes served as a reason for the most interesting judgments and conversations between us on the occasion of some thought, some incident encountered in the book.” — the poet describes reading aloud with his wife and literary critic M. A. Dmitriev (1796-1866).
We read aloud with our family, in a friendly circle, parents read to children, children to parents.

Today, perhaps, all that remains is reading aloud to children. But even on this custom, says Tatyana Vorobyova, modernity leaves its mark.

“Given our busy lives and the intensity of our lives, it is more realistic to read a book and tell a child about it, recommend it, retell its plot, and make them interested. Moreover, it is necessary to recommend a book with emotional significance, that is, with genuine interest.”

The advantages are obvious: a taste for reading and good literature is formed, books raise moral issues, which can be discussed. And besides, the psychologist claims, we ourselves must be educated and savvy in order to go one step ahead and recommend what will correspond to the child’s outlook and interests.

If we are talking about two adults - spouses or adult children - then it makes sense to read some kind of spiritual literature together. On one condition: it must be read by those who want to hear. “You have to be careful here,” explains Tatyana Vladimirovna, “you can’t impose anything.”

Children very often reject what we consider it our duty to instill in them. “Recently,” recalls Tatyana Vorobyova, “at my consultation there was a boy who shouted that his mother was forcing him to believe in God. You can't force it.

Give your child the opportunity to become interested, for example, leave a children's Bible in front of his eyes, put a bookmark, and then ask:

- Did you see that I left a page there for you? Did you look?

- I looked.

- Did you see it?

- What should you have seen there?

- And I read that there! Go find it and look.

That is, you can gently nudge a person towards interested reading.”

TRADITION 7. COMPILATION OF A PEDIAL TREE, MEMORY OF THE FAMILY

Genealogy as a science appeared only in XVII-XVIII centuries, but knowing your roots has always been of great importance. To join the modern Order of Malta, you still need to show a good pedigree. What if we don’t need to join the Order of Malta?... Why today know about our ancestors beyond our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers?

“It always seems to a selfish person that there was nothing before him and nothing will happen after him. And drawing up a family tree is a way to understand the continuity of generations, understand one’s place in the world, and feel responsibility to past and future generations,” says Father Stefan.

From a psychological point of view, memory of one’s family, knowledge of one’s ancestors help a person to form himself as a person and improve his own character traits.

“The fact is that infirmities and shortcomings are passed on from generation to generation, but an uneradicated deficiency will not go away, it will grow from generation to generation,” says Tatyana Vorobyova. - Therefore, if we know that someone from our family was, say, hot-tempered, short-tempered, we must understand that this can manifest itself in our children. And we need to work on ourselves to get rid of this ardor and temper.” This is true for both negative and positive traits - there may be something hidden in a person that he is not aware of, and this can also be worked on.

And for a Christian, the memory of one’s family, knowledge of the names of one’s ancestors is, in addition, an opportunity to pray for them: a real thing that we can do for those to whom we owe our lives.

TRADITION 8. REMEMBRANCE OF THE DEAD, JOINT CAMPAIGN TO THE CEMETERY

Seven times a year, Orthodox Christians specially find time to attend services, go to the cemetery and remember their deceased relatives - these are parental Saturdays, the days when we especially remember the deceased. A tradition that came to life again in the Russian Church in the 1990s.

How and why to implement it together with your family?

Of course, this is a reason to gather everyone together for the Liturgy.

What else? Understand that members of the same family are responsible for each other, that a person is not alone both in life and after death. “Memories of the departed encourage us to be more attentive to the living,” says Father Stefan.

“Death is a difficult moment. And therefore it is important that at this moment the family is together - we unite, do not separate,” explains Tatyana Vorobyova. “However, there should be no violence, no “obligation” here - this should proceed from the needs of each family member and from the capabilities of each.”

TRADITION 9. FAMILY HEIRQUITS

“Throw it away, take it to the country, sell it to an antique shop?” - the question in relation to the things we inherited from our grandparents often stands exactly like this.

However, any such thing on a difficult day can serve as a consolation for us, says psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova. Not to mention photographs, memoirs and diaries - unique things that reveal the subtle facets of a person’s soul that are closed in everyday life. “When you read about your loved one, you learn his thoughts, his sufferings, sorrows, his joys, experiences, he comes to life and becomes much closer and clearer to you! - explains Tatyana Vladimirovna. “And, again, this allows us to understand our own character traits and reveals the reasons for many events in the family.”

It often happens that old postcards and letters shed light on details of the biography of our great-grandfathers that could not be revealed during their lifetime - for personal or political reasons! Antique things, letters are “documents” of a bygone era, which we can thus tell children about much more excitingly and vividly than a history textbook can.

And finally, antiques, especially those given as gifts, with engraving or dedication, are the door to a person’s living personality. “Holding in your hands something that belonged to your great-great-grandfather, re-reading old letters, looking at postcards, photographs - all this gives a feeling of a living connection, supports the memory of those who have been gone for a long time, but thanks to whom you exist,” says Father Stefan.

TRADITION 10. HANDWRITTEN LETTERS, CARDS

Have you noticed how difficult it is today to find a postcard with a blank spread - so that you can write something of your own? In the last century, the spread was always left blank, and the cards themselves were a work of art. The first ones appeared in Russia in 1894 - with an image of a landmark and the inscriptions: “Greetings from (such and such a city)” or “Bow from (such and such a city).” Is there any real benefit to receiving from a loved one not an mms from the city of N, but a real letter or postcard?

If you think about it, any handwritten card or letter is an opportunity to express your thoughts and feelings without the usual abbreviations, beautiful, correct language.

“Real letters, without jargon and abbreviations, without distortions of language, develop the skill of thoughtful, deep and sincere communication,” notes Father Stefan. Moreover, according to the priest, such letters do not necessarily have to be written by hand, they can also be emails - the main thing is that the letter encourages one to take a break from the rush and encourages joint reflection.

Tatyana Vorobyova believes, on the contrary, that it makes sense to write letters by hand - then it is the living voice of another person, with all the personal nuances.

TRADITION 11. KEEPING A PERSONAL DIARY

“Several times I started writing daily notes and always gave up out of laziness,” wrote Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, and in this kind of laziness, many of us “solidarity” with the great poet!..

Personal diaries have been kept in Russia since the 18th century: they could have a literary form, including the experiences and thoughts of the author, or they could be schematic, like, say, the diary of Emperor Nicholas II, containing short messages about daily activities and even menu items.

In addition, recording what happened is a way to look at your life from the outside, to see not a fragmentary, but a complete picture. Nowadays, when days are busy and fly by like seconds, this is doubly important!

“Keeping a diary is not just about recording what happened during the day, it is an opportunity to reflect on your life,” says Father Stefan. “In addition, by re-reading the diary, you can trace the evolution of your thoughts and feelings.”

Electronic diary- option?

Yes, if he is not overly frank, the priest believes. In his opinion, public personal posts on the Internet can be both an invitation to discuss one’s thoughts, and a game for the public that comes from vanity.

In a regular diary you may be ambiguous, but you know what you mean. On the Internet, almost anyone can read your blog, which means that you must learn to clearly formulate your thoughts in order to be understood correctly. People who run blogs are well aware of the heated arguments and even quarrels that discussions of misunderstood things can lead to.

TRADITION 12. WEIRD ACCEPTANCE

“We should be friendly and give due honor according to the rank and dignity of each person. With love and gratitude, with a kind word, honor each of them, talk to everyone and greet them with a kind word, and eat and drink, or put it on the table, or give it from your hands with a kind greeting, and send something to others, but everyone with something... then highlight and please everyone,” he speaks about hospitality, that is, inviting strangers into the house and family, Domostroy.

Today, most of us do not live according to Domostroy. What to do with this tradition?

There are many cases when a priest blesses a family to accept a person, and then this person, who has lived and stayed too long, becomes hated by them - and is tolerated only out of obedience. “Obedience with hatred and irritation is not good for anyone,” says psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova. - Therefore, you need to proceed from your own real possibilities, from sober reasoning. Today, hospitality is an extraordinary, unusual thing and takes other forms. If you can’t accommodate a person, help in any way you can: a piece of bread, money, prayer. The main thing is don’t push me away.”

At the same time, the psychologist believes, hospitality can only be useful when all family members agree to it. If everyone agrees to endure some inconvenience, stay in the bedroom not for 15 minutes, but for 2; wash the dishes for the guest; leave early for work, etc. - then this is possible. Otherwise, a moment will come when, say, the son says to his parents: “You let this person in, and it annoys me, it depresses me.” And the tossing and hypocrisy will begin - an attempt to please both the son and the one who was accepted. And any hypocrisy is a lie, which is not useful for the family.

Father Stefan is convinced that hospitality in spiritually is an attempt to go beyond the family, beyond corporate interests and simply help a person. How to implement it today? You can try to accept, without refusing, not strangers, but at least distant relatives and acquaintances who are in need and turn to you with such a request.

TRADITION 13. GAMES FOR THE WHOLE YARD

Today many people yearn for that friendly life, which used to reign in the courtyards. “A good experience of friendship in childhood supports a person throughout his life,” says priest Stefan Domusci. Neither parents nor grandparents can ever replace a child’s communication with peers. In the yard, a teenager can acquire those life skills that he will never learn in a greenhouse at home.

What should you pay attention to when your child goes out to play in the yard?

“What you have laid down at home will definitely manifest itself in social communication,” says Tatyana Vladimirovna. - Here you can immediately see: is the child playing honestly or dishonestly, is it scandalous or not scandalous, is he proud in these games or can he still be patient and give in? What you brought up in him, what you laid in him, is what he will go out into the yard with: is he his own general or is he a conformist and will bend to others? All the boys will smoke poplar leaves, and he will smoke? Or will he say: “No, I won’t smoke”? We need to pay attention to this."

TRADITION 14. WEARING CLOTHES ONE BY EACH OTHER

A fact that seems incredible: in the family of the last Russian emperor, the royal daughters literally wore out their clothes one after another. Researcher Igor Zimin in his book “The Adult World of Imperial Residences” writes: “When ordering each new dress, Alexandra Fedorovna was really always interested in its price and complained about its high cost. This was not penny-pinching, it was a habit absorbed from a poor childhood and reinforced at the English Puritan court of Queen Victoria. The Empress’s closest friend wrote that “raised in a small court, the Empress knew the value of money and therefore was thrifty. Dresses and shoes were passed down from senior grand duchesses to junior ones.”

Today, in many homes, wearing out clothes is a requirement of the time: there is nothing left to do if the family is large and there is no income. But is that the only thing?

“The tradition of wearing clothes will help you learn a reasonable and careful attitude towards things, and through this - towards the entire world around you,” says Father Stefan. “In addition, it develops a sense of responsibility in a person, since he must keep the clothes in good condition and pass them on to someone else.”

From the point of view of psychologist Tatyana Vorobyeva, this instills in a person modesty and the habit of caring for others. And the attitude towards such a tradition - a feeling of shame and annoyance or a feeling of kinship, closeness and gratitude - depends entirely on the parents: “It must be presented correctly - as a gift, a gift, and not as a cast-off: “What a caring brother you have, what a great fellow!” Look, he wore his shoes carefully so that you would have them when your day came. Here he is! When we give away a gold watch, it is very significant, and when we give away good shoes that we have taken care of, lined with paper, coated with paper, cleaned - isn’t that a gift? You can say, for example, like this: “Our Andryushka ran in these shoes, and now, son, you will run!” And maybe someone will get them from you - take care of them.” Then there will be no neglect, no disgust, no feeling of inferiority.”

TRADITION 15. WEDDING CUSTOMS

Young people were officially allowed to get to know each other independently, at will, only during the time of Peter I. Before that, everything related to the birth of a new family was strictly regulated and driven into the framework of dozens of customs. Today a pale likeness of them remains, but the proverb “It’s a sin to be at a wedding without being drunk”, alas, still sits deeply in the minds of many people.

Does it make sense to observe wedding traditions, if so, which ones?

“A Christian should always take seriously what he fills his life with,” says Father Stefan. “There are a lot of wedding traditions, among them there are both pagan and Christian, both decent and very bad... Respecting traditions, it is important to maintain a balance, to remember that marriage is, first of all, a Sacrament, and not a series of performed customs.” .

Perhaps, few people will regret the tradition of rolling the mother-in-law in the mud on the second day of the wedding, a thing of the past. But it would be worth thinking about the revival of such forgotten customs as engagement, betrothal (an agreement that precedes the wedding).

“At the same time, it is hardly worth reviving betrothal as just a beautiful custom - putting on rings and taking a vow of fidelity,” says Father Stefan. — The fact is that betrothal in church law is equivalent to marriage in terms of obligations. Therefore, each time the issue of engagement must be resolved individually. Today there are a lot of difficulties with weddings, and if people are also offered betrothal... The question arises: won’t this be imposing “unbearable burdens” on people?”

Tatyana Vorobyova also advises to treat wedding traditions with caution and without fanaticism: “On this day, the husband and wife take on the heavy cross of responsibility for each other, patience with each other’s weaknesses, fatigue, and sometimes misunderstandings. Therefore, the only undisputed wedding tradition, in my opinion, is parental blessing for marriage. And in this sense, the ancient custom of giving an icon to a young family - usually wedding icons of the Lord and the Virgin Mary - as a sign of blessing, of course, has a deep meaning.”

According to the psychologist, the main parting message that parents should convey to newlyweds is their parents’ acceptance of them as husband and wife. Children should know that from the moment of their wedding, their parents will not separate them, figure out who is right and who is wrong, but will make every effort to preserve their union. This approach gives the young family confidence in their parents and helps them understand themselves as a single, indivisible whole.

“The grumbling, murmur of a father or mother, such a “noble curse” on an unborn family - this is the worst thing that can happen! - says Tatyana Vorobyova. “On the contrary, young spouses should feel that their parents perceive them as a single whole. And, let’s say, if there is some kind of disagreement in the family, the mother-in-law will not condemn the daughter-in-law and say: “My son is the best, he is right!”

TRADITION 16. PARENTAL BLESSING

The future Venerable Sergius of Radonezh did not disobey his parents when they did not bless him to go to a monastery until they died. But the Monk Theodosius of Pechersk fled to the monastery against the will of his mother, who turned him back from the path and even beat him...

The latter is rather unusual. “Parental blessing does not sink in water, nor does it burn in fire,” our ancestors noted. “This is the greatest legacy that parents leave to their children. Therefore, children should take care to receive it,” explained the modern Athonite ascetic Paisiy Svyatogorets. However, the Church does not believe that the commandment “honor your father and mother” is associated for a Christian with absolute obedience to parents.

“It’s sad, but for centuries this commandment was perceived in Rus' in such a way that parents were considered almost the masters of their children, and any disobedience was boldly equated with disrespect. In fact, in the New Testament there are words that make this commandment mutual: “And you fathers, do not provoke your children...”, Father Stefan argues, explaining: “The parental desire to do what seems right to them must be balanced by the desire and freedom of the children.” “We must try to listen to each other and do everything not out of selfish desires, but with reason.”
Today, it is more common to choose your own path: for example, simply inform your father and mother about your upcoming marriage. Isn’t the institution of parental blessing dead, at least for marriage?

“The blessing of parents at any time is very important. This is evidence of how significant a father and mother are for their children, says psychologist Tatyana Vorobyova. - Moreover, we are not talking about the authoritarianism of parents, but about their authority - that is, about the trust of children in their parents. And this trust is a consequence of proper upbringing.”

On the part of children, obedience to parents, according to the psychologist, indicates a person’s personal maturity.
However, Tatyana Vladimirovna notes, parents are different, their motives are different: “You can love with blind, humiliating love, for example, when a mother dares to choose a wife for her son based on her own selfish motives. Therefore, parents must remember: children are not our property, they are “loaned” to us, they must be “returned” to the Creator.”

TRADITION 17. FAMILY COUNCIL

“You may have a thousand advisers from outside, but the family must make the decision itself and together,” Tatyana Vorobyova is sure.

Firstly, everyone speaks out here - sincerely, without hypocrisy, the opinions of all family members are taken into account, which means that everyone feels important, everyone has the right to be heard.

Secondly, the skill of developing a common opinion is very important: we speak out, listen, oppose each other - and thus find the only correct solution.

“This approach does not give a reason to then blame each other: “But you decided that!” As, for example, mothers often say: “You raised your children this way!” Excuse me, where were you at that moment?..”

If it is not possible to reach a common opinion, then the final word may remain with the head of the family. “But then,” warns Tatyana Vorobyova, “this word should be so weighty, so well-reasoned or built on such high trust that it will not cause anyone the slightest doubt or dissatisfaction! And it will lead to subordination by trust to the head of the family.”

TRADITION OF THE PATRIARCH

At a time when there was no Internet and paper books were highly valued, there was a tradition of collecting family libraries. There was such a library, and an incredibly large one, in the house of the future Patriarch Kirill. This is how he remembers her: “Our father (Mikhail Vasilyevich Gundyaev - Ed.) was a book lover. We lived very modestly, in a communal apartment, but dad managed to collect an excellent library. It consisted of more than three thousand volumes. In my youth, I read something that became accessible to most of our fellow citizens only during the period of perestroika and post-Soviet times. And Berdyaev, and Bulgakov, and Frank, and the wonderful creations of our Russian religious and philosophical thought of the early 20th century. And even Parisian publications.”

By the way, few people know that on each of his visits to St. Petersburg, His Holiness always leaves time to visit the graves of his parents. Here’s how the Patriarch’s press secretary, Deacon Alexander Volkov, talks about this tradition: “The Patriarch always visits cemeteries in St. Petersburg to remember his parents<…>. Always means absolutely always, every time. And this, of course, leaves a very strong feeling - who the parents were for the Patriarch, how much he loved them, what they did for him in life and how grateful he is to them. And you always wonder how often you yourself visit the graves of your relatives (and if possible, in addition to the graves of his parents, he visits several other burial places of relatives, we just don’t tell you about it). In general, the Patriarch gives a very instructive example of how to treat deceased relatives. And the inscription on the wreath – “to dear parents from a loving son” – is completely informal.”

The synthetic form of culture are rites, customs, traditions and rituals, i.e. what are called patterns of behavior. Rituals are standard and repeated team activities held at a set time and on a special occasion to influence the behavior and understanding of employees of the organizational environment. The power of the ritual lies in its emotional and psychological impact on people. In a ritual, not only the rational assimilation of certain norms, values ​​and ideals occurs, but also empathy for them by the participants in the ritual action.

Rituals are a system of rituals. Even certain management decisions can become organizational rituals that employees interpret as part of the organizational culture. Such rituals act as organized and planned actions that have important “cultural” significance.

In the everyday life of an enterprise, rituals perform a double function: they can strengthen the structure of the enterprise, and on the other hand, by obscuring true meaning actions taken – to weaken. In positive cases, rituals are stage performances of works of fundamental importance. Rituals symbolize beliefs that play a significant role in the enterprise. In combination with outstanding events, rituals directly and indirectly highlight the image of the enterprise and the value orientations that dominate it.

Rituals of recognition, such as anniversaries, celebrations of success in foreign service, public recognition, participation in incentive trips - all these events should demonstrate what the enterprise is interested in, what is rewarded and what is celebrated.

A similar function is performed by the so-called initiation rituals, which are usually performed when joining a team. They must clearly demonstrate to the new member what the company really values. If a freshly graduated engineer who graduated from an elite university, in the very first days of his career in the company’s representative office in South America If he is given a broom and asked to start sweeping the room, this can cause disappointment and confusion in the young man. At the same time, they immediately make it clear to him that in this enterprise, what is primarily valued is not formal education, but personal participation in business. A parallel can be drawn with enterprises specializing in the production of high-quality products, where almost everyone, regardless of education, starts in the sales field.

In the negative case, the relationship between rituals and value orientations is lost. In this case, rituals turn into an unnecessary, prim and ultimately ridiculous formality, with the help of which they try to kill time, avoid making decisions, and avoid conflicts and confrontations.

The most typical example of this in everyday life is the negotiation of tariff agreements, especially when this was preceded by worker protests. Drama prohibits coming to an agreement during the working day. No, we must fight all night, and the new tariff agreement must be signed, if possible, shortly before dawn, so that the union representatives and employers, completely exhausted, can appear in front of the television cameras at first light.

And in enterprises one can often observe how rituals turn into an end in themselves, how they become ballast in the process of implementing the main active goals.

Within the culture of an enterprise, rituals occupy important place. At the same time, it is necessary to check whether, with their help, value orientations that are also relevant for everyday life are actually conveyed.

Custom is a form of social regulation of people’s activities and attitudes adopted from the past, which is reproduced in a certain society or social group and is familiar to its members. Custom consists of strict adherence to the instructions received from the past. Various rituals, holidays, production skills, etc. can act as customs. Custom is an unwritten rule of behavior.

Traditions are elements of social and cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation and persisting in a particular community for a long time. Traditions function in all social systems and are a necessary condition their life activities. Disdainful attitude to tradition leads to a disruption of continuity in the development of society and culture, to the loss of the valuable achievements of humanity. Blind worship of tradition gives rise to conservatism and stagnation in public life.

Ancient wedding rituals

Wedding ceremonies in Russia developed around the 15th century. The main components of wedding ceremonies are as follows:

Matchmaking- a wedding ceremony in which the preliminary consent of the bride’s relatives for the wedding was obtained.

Bride– a wedding ceremony in which the matchmaker/(matchmaker), the groom, and the groom’s parents could see the future bride and evaluate her strengths and weaknesses. Bridesmaids were held after the matchmaking, before the handshake.

Handcraft(conspiracy, drinking, zaruchiny, betrothal, vaults) - part of the wedding ceremony, during which a final agreement on the wedding was reached.

Vytie- wedding ceremony, ritual crying. Happens on half of the bride. Its purpose is to show that the girl lived well in her parents’ house, but now she has to leave. The bride said goodbye to her parents, friends, and freedom.

hen-party– wedding ceremony, the day before the wedding, or the days from the hand-waving to the wedding.

Ransom, scolding- a wedding ceremony in which the groom took the bride from home.

Sacrament of wedding

A church wedding or wedding is a Christian sacrament of blessing the bride and groom who have expressed a desire to live together as husband and wife during their subsequent lives.

wedding feast- a wedding ceremony in which the wedding was celebrated over food and drink with jokes and toasts.

Holiday rituals

Cover

IN Pokrov Day (October 14) The girls ran to church early in the morning and lit a candle for the holiday. There was a belief: whoever lights a candle first will get married sooner.

Soon, girls, Pokrov,

We'll have a party soon,

Will play soon

Dear little girl.

If you have fun during the Intercession, you will find a friend.

In some areas, it is customary to put coins in the glasses of the bride and groom. Newlyweds should keep these coins on their table under the tablecloth, which will always ensure prosperity in the house.

If a girl spills a drink on the tablecloth at dinner, this portends a drunkard husband.

In other parts, newlyweds were forced to sleep on sheaves of rye. And these sheaves should be an odd number, say, 21. If this condition was met, it meant that they would not need anything.

On the holiday, girls go to church and put candles in front of the icon of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary and say: “The Intercession is Holy Mother of God, cover my poor head with a pearl kokoshnik, a golden headband.” And if at such a moment the confused guy threw a blanket over the head of the girl he liked, then she unquestioningly became his wife, noted one Arab writer who visited Rus' in the 12th century.

Christmastide

Yuletide fortune telling

Young people of both sexes gather for the evening, take rings, rings, cufflinks, earrings and other small things and place them under a dish along with pieces of bread, and cover everything with a clean towel, napkin or fly (piece of cloth). After that, those participating in fortune-telling sing a song dedicated to bread and salt and then other sub-course (Yuletide, fortune-telling) songs. At the end of each, turning away, from under the closed dish they take out one object that came to hand first. This is something like a home lottery. A song was used for this ritual, from the content of which a foreshadowing was derived. But since the things taken out from under the dish are not always found by those to whom they belong, a ransom of the things is awarded on this occasion. To the last one, who has already taken the last thing out from under the dish, they usually sing a wedding song, as if foreshadowing an imminent marriage. Then they roll the ring along the floor, observing which direction it will roll: if towards the door, then for a girl - the proximity of marriage; for a guy - departure.

New Year's fortune telling

In order to find out what the bride or groom will be like, tall or small, you need to go to the woodshed on New Year’s Eve and immediately take a log. If it’s big, then it’s big, and vice versa.

If a girl cuts or pricks her finger until it bleeds New Year's Eve, she will definitely get married next year.

They freeze water in a spoon for the New Year: if the ice is convex and with bubbles, it means long life, if there is a hole in the ice, it means death.

And here’s how Bulgarian girls used to tell fortunes on New Year’s Eve: they gathered together somewhere near a spring, near a well, and in complete silence scooped up a bucket of water, which was attributed with special magical powers. Each girl threw a handful of oats, a ring or a bouquet with her mark into this bucket. The little girl took out these objects one by one, while singing special ritual songs: the words of the songs referred to the future husband of the girl, whose ring was taken out. Then the girls took a little oats from the bucket and put them under their pillows in the hope that they would dream about their betrothed.

Not all fortune-telling was only of a love nature; it happened that girls fortune-telled the weather in the coming year, and through this they made forecasts for the future harvest.

Christmas

Before Christmas was coming 40-day Filippov fast. They did not eat meat, they made do with fish. The whole house is fasting, and the old people are celebrating Christmas Eve. The first pancake on Christmas Eve is for the sheep (from pestilence)

IN Christmas Eve(on the night of December 24-25) do not eat until the first star. On the first day of Christmas, figurines of cows and sheep are always baked from wheat dough. They are kept until Epiphany, but on Epiphany, after the blessing of water, the hostess soaks these figurines in holy water and gives them to the cattle (for offspring, for milk yield).

At Christmas time, during the second half of the war, when the two-week “terrible evenings” between the New Year and Epiphany began, the girls wondered especially a lot.

Baptism

“The Christian procedure of Baptism,” writes A.Yu. Grigorenko, is a magical ceremony. Immersing the body in water three times, dressing the baby in a clean white shirt in order to preserve the purity of his soul, etc. - all this comes from homeopathic magic, based on the belief that “like produces like”, “the effect is like its cause.”

The custom of blowing on a baby, water, oil in order to give them grace and at the same time ward off Satan, spitting on Satan during Baptism also came from an ancient faith - the belief that human breath and saliva have special witchcraft powers. Primitive people believed that blowing and spitting were ways to both convey holiness and ward off evil. The same primitive rite is “tonsuring the hair.” Cutting the hair of a child (or an adult) at Baptism and throwing it into the font is a rudiment of the ancient belief that by laying an animate part of one’s body at the feet of a deity, which has the miraculous property of growth, a person establishes a strong relationship with him. In ancient times, many peoples had a custom of donating hair to the gods. Thus, in the Phoenician temples of Astrata there was even a special position - galab-elim - God's barber. Statues depicting gods in ancient temples were often covered from top to bottom with male and female hair.

And the main element of Baptism is water? Christian theologians explain Baptism by water by the fact that Jesus Christ sanctified the waters of the Jordan, having received his first Baptism from John the Baptist. However, the magical ritual of washing with water is actually much older than Christ and Christianity. Many centuries before the rise of Christianity and the birth of the Messiah himself, the ancient Egyptians dipped babies in water, the Zoroastrians (fire worshipers) of Iran carried newborns to the temple, where the priests bought them in special vessels with water, the Romans bathed the boy on the ninth day after his birth, and the girls are on the eighth level. The rituals of bathing a newborn in water and sprinkling it with water are known among the peoples of Ancient Mexico, China, Japan, Tibet, New Zealand, Africa, etc. In almost all pre-Christian religions there were rites of ritual washing of a newborn, whose purpose was to cleanse him of evil spirits. The central role in all these rituals was played by water, to which people have long attributed magical qualities. And this is understandable. Water, without which life on Earth is impossible, quite naturally seemed to people as a beneficial force.”

At Candlemas, winter and summer met. In northwestern Rus', writes I.P. Kalinsky, - this holiday is known as gromnitsy, since there is a custom here to carry candles to church on this day for blessing, which are called gromnitsy. Introducing the blessing of candles into the Christian Church instead of pagan torches, the Romans tried to give them a special meaning in the eyes of the people and called them tombstones. The clergy claimed that “these candles destroy the power of demons, so that they do not harm with thunder and lightning, torrential rains and hail, which are easily brought down by God’s permission by sorcerers or wizards; and therefore the faithful (believers) light these candles during a thunderstorm in order to experience the fruits of prayer; They also give a thunderbolt into the hands of the dying to defeat and drive away Satan, the prince of darkness.

Maslenitsa

And we took Maslenitsa for a drive,

But we didn’t even see it in our eyes,

We thought: Maslenitsa is seven weeks,

It's already seven days after Maslenitsa,

Maslenitsa beckoned,

Lent planted

And to hell with the radishes,

For white cabbage.

It is known, writes R.N. Sakharov, - that since ancient times in Rus', Maslenitsa has served as the most cheerful and freeing national holiday. On Maslenitsa, every day in the old days had a special meaning, by which the character itself was usually determined. folk entertainment and entertainment. Monday, for example, is called meeting, because then the beginning of Maslenitsa was celebrated; Tuesday - flirting, since from this day all sorts of entertainment, dressing up, and skating began; Wednesday is a delicious day, since then everyone was treated to pancakes and other similar dishes; Thursday - wide, because it began Maslenitsa revelry; Friday - mother-in-law's party, when sons-in-law treated their mothers-in-law; Saturday - sister-in-law's gatherings, as on this day young brides invited their relatives to their feast. Saturday was also the day of farewell to Maslenitsa, since the next day was the day of forgiveness.

“Our Maslenitsa,” we read from I.P. Kalinsky, - could not do without commemorating the dead. Our Church usually devotes the Saturday before Maslenaya Week to the commemoration of departed forefathers, fathers and brothers, and this Saturday is popularly known as Parental or Grandfather Saturday. On the day of forgiveness, there is a tender farewell to each other, which is a kind of request for the forgiveness of each other’s sins. And this forgiveness is accompanied by kisses and the sentence: “let not the sun set on our anger.”

The kids were sledding down the mountains. There was a sign: whoever slides further down the mountain, those in the family will have longer flax.

“Winter entertainment for men and women,” writes historian N.I. Kostomarov, - it was skating on the ice: they made wooden horseshoes with narrow iron strips, which were bent upward in front, so that the iron could conveniently cut the ice. The Russians skated with amazing ease and agility.

Winter holiday evenings were spent in the family circle and with friends: songs were sung, khabars (storytellers) told fairy tales, interlocutors asked riddles, dressed up, made each other laugh, girls told fortunes.”

The first pancake was dedicated to the memory of the souls of our parents “our honest parents, here is a pancake for your darling!” – with these words the pancake is placed on the dormer window of the house.

Our ancestors said that the Annunciation is God’s greatest holiday. On this day, as on Easter, Ivan Kupala, the Nativity of Christ, Peter's Day, the sun plays as it rises. Our ancestors not only considered it a grave sin to take on any task at the Annunciation, but they believed that even an unreasonable creature honors this great holiday. They said that if a bird sleeps through the Annunciation Matins and makes a nest on that day, then as punishment for this, its wings are taken away for a while, and it cannot fly, but instead walks on the ground. According to ancient popular belief, on the day of the Annunciation, God himself blesses the earth and opens it for sowing. This is where the custom began on the eve of this holiday or on the holiday itself to consecrate prosphora or seeds: both are then kept by our rural owners until the first spring sowings, as a sign of God’s visible blessing for good growth and fertility of the fields. The Day of the Annunciation is associated with many signs and observations by which our common people guess about the weather and the future harvest. Among the rituals and beliefs associated with the Annunciation, some have been preserved from pagan antiquity. Such, for example, is the custom of burning straw beds and old shoes, jumping over fires (whoever jumps higher, his flax will grow taller), fumigation as a preventive remedy against all kinds of diseases. These rituals are close in nature to the Kupala rituals. They expressed faith in the cleansing and healing power of fire, characteristic of all ancient pagan religions and in particular the ancient Russian one.

Among the Greeks and Romans, during solemn public cleansings, as well as when performing cleansing rites by private individuals, the fire on the altar apparently played an intermediate role between the means of burning the sacrifice and the cleansing agent. Belief in the cleansing power of fire transferred to its derivatives - smoke, coals, brands, ash. We have seen many examples where people explained jumping over ritual fires specifically for medicinal purposes. For the same purpose, cattle were driven through the smoke near the fires. This also includes fumigation of houses, barns, livestock, etc. with smoke (incense). magical rituals purifications dealt not with one element of fire, but with various combinations: fire was combined with water, iron, garlic and other amulets. The neutralizing properties of fire and smoke, noticed in practice, are transferred to the realm of the supernatural. This is where the idea comes from that fire can destroy all evil, protect from witchcraft, from witches, from evil spirits. Sometimes defense against evil spirits takes very real forms. For example, in some areas of Finland on Thursday Holy Week(3 days before Holy Easter) they drove out evil spirits from the yard: “... they lit a fire in a tar box or in a tar barrel, put it on a sleigh and drove it around the yard. They threw old shoes, pieces of leather, and rags into the fire.”

Many ritual actions associated with fire belong to the complex of fertility magic. It is known to fertilize soil with ash. Scattering firebrands or scattering sparks across fields and gardens is already a magical technique. The Poles tried to put straw with long stems in ritual fires so that the flax would grow tall. The joint jumping of a guy and a girl through the flames of a ritual fire was supposed to cement their future marriage. In some areas of Switzerland, in ancient times, bread baked on the coals of Ivan the Fire (Ivan Kupala) served as a sacrifice to the elements; later it became one of the elements of the daily meal.

Since pagan times, quite rude and ignorant signs have been preserved on the day of the Annunciation: thieves on this day try to steal something in the hope that if they fail to do this now, then they can be confident in the success of their enterprises on whole year.

To be lucky, you need to burn a pinch or two of salt in the stove: burnt salt is also useful in treating fever or fever.

Whoever happily played toss on the Annunciation will win money in this game all year.

If the housewife on this day, between matins and mass, drives the chickens from their roost with a broom, then by Easter they can already lay fresh eggs for the Rebirth of Christ.

If the day on Annunciation is rainy, then in the summer and autumn there will be a lot of mushrooms, and fishermen can count on good catches.

If swallows did not arrive at the Annunciation, then spring is expected to be cold.

As you spend the Annunciation, so will the whole year.

Easter

“During Holy Day, all over Rus' were preparing to celebrate Easter. Everywhere they did Easter, baked Easter cakes, painted eggs, washed, cleaned, cleaned. Young people and children tried to prepare the best and most beautifully painted eggs for the Great Day.

Painted eggs are an inevitable part of the Easter breaking of the fast. There are many legends about the origin of Easter eggs and, in particular, about the origin of Easter eggs. According to one of them, drops of the blood of the Crucified Christ, falling to the ground, took the form of chicken eggs and became hard as stone. The hot tears of the Mother of God, sobbing at the foot of the Cross, fell on these blood-red eggs and left marks on them in the form of beautiful patterns and colored specks. When Christ was taken down from the Cross and laid in the tomb, believers collected His tears and divided them among themselves. And when the joyful news of the Resurrection spread among them, they greeted the tears of Christ from hand to hand. After the Resurrection, this custom was strictly observed among the first Christians, and the sign of the greatest miracle - tear-eggs - were strictly kept by them and served as the subject of a joyful gift on the day of the Bright Resurrection. Later, when people began to sin more, Christ’s tears melted and were carried away along with streams and rivers into the sea, turning the sea waves bloody... But the most common custom of Easter eggs was preserved even after that..."

Another legend goes as follows:

“Jesus Christ, as a child, loved chickens, willingly played with them and fed them. And the Mother of God, to please Him, painted chicken eggs and gave them to Him as toys. When the trial of Christ began, the Mother of God went to Pilate and, in order to appease him, brought him as a gift eggs painted with the greatest art. She put them in her apron and, when she fell on her face before Pilate, begging for the Son, the eggs rolled out of the apron and rolled all over the world... Since then, they have served for us as a memory of the suffering of Christ and of His subsequent resurrection.”

“The images and patterns reproduced on Easter eggs are very diverse and arose in ancient times. Both simple arabesques and stylized images of various sacred and simple objects that serve as decoration for Easter eggs were created a long time ago and are passed on from generation to generation by inheritance and tradition. The technique of making Easter eggs and the art of their tradition. The technique of making Easter eggs and the art of painting them are at a very high level among Little Russian and South Slavic women. A special brass handle with horsehair is made, natural colors are selected (yellow, red, green and, less often, black). Paints must be diluted with “clean” water, that is, brought from a well or source that has not yet been contaminated by anyone, especially an “unclean” woman or animal. The Easter egg craftswoman is very wary of any witchcraft and the evil eye. Therefore, anyone who enters the house while painting eggs considers it their duty to spit in the artist’s direction for a long time and say: “Cheers, mind you, don’t jinx it!” And she, in turn, takes a pinch of salt, sprinkles it on paints, eggs, a writing pen and wax and says: “Salt in your eyes.” The culmination of egg painting occurs on Holy Thursday. This is where egg yolk, wax, and both brushes come into play. The artist heats the eggs on the stove and begins to paint them with wax. Wax applied to a warm egg does not allow the paint to soak into the shell in this area. A white pattern will remain under the wax, and paint (say, purple, obtained from sunflower seed husks) will cover the entire egg with a purple tint. The wax will be erased, but the pattern will remain. The process then continues with other colors – in a word, a whole art.”

On Easter days, girls do not take salt in their hands so that their palms do not sweat.

They also wash their faces with red water easter egg to be rosy...

“The entire Easter week is one day; for when Christ was resurrected, then the sun did not set all that week.”

“On Easter,” writes N.I. Kostomarov, “some game organizers made a profit out of this: they set up swings and let them swing, collecting silver money (half a penny) from each person.”

The Germans of the Rhineland held an “auction of girls”, first timed to coincide with Maslenitsa, later on May 1 or Easter. The girls were played like at a real auction: whichever guy offered the highest price for the girl got her as a dance partner for a month or the whole year. The girl for whom the highest price was paid was considered the “May Queen”, and the guy the “May King”. The guy had to protect and protect the girl in every possible way. Sometimes such comic grooming turned into real. (Spring holidays)

Trinity

When the Magi (also magicians and astrologers) who lived east of Palestine saw the appearance of a wonderful star, they realized that the Messiah, the “King of the Jews,” was born. They head to Jerusalem to inform the Jewish king Herod about this, and at the same time ask for help in finding this baby. Herod was frightened and called his wise scribes, who reported that, according to ancient predictions, such a messiah should be born in Bethlehem. Herod sends the aliens there so that they find out the name of his future rival, the contender for his throne.

The star accurately indicates to the Magi the place where the baby Christ could be located. The Magi bow before him as a future king, offering him gifts of gold, incense and fragrant resin - myrrh.

Prophetic dream predicts to them that returning to Jerusalem is dangerous for them, and the Magi set off for their homeland. Based on the number of gifts presented by the Magi, it was established that there were three of them. This correlated with the three faces of the Trinity, with the three ages of man and the triplicity of the human race, with the Three-Handed Lady - one of the revealed icons of the Mother of God.

The Trinity of fingers makes a cross.

Trinity is Trinity, but three candles are not placed on the table.

But it rains on Trinity Sunday - there are a lot of mushrooms.

Trinity Day is celebrated on the 50th day after Easter. Since ancient times, “Pentecost” has been accompanied by many rituals, such as weaving wreaths, fortune telling, swing rides, boat rides, decorating the house with flowers and birch branches inserted behind the images.

The holiday was associated with the ancient Slavic cult of commemoration and veneration of ancestors, as well as the glorification of blossoming nature. Its symbol was a young birch tree. On Trinity Saturday, families went to the cemetery. The graves were carefully decorated with wreaths and birch branches.

People have long believed in magical powers naked human body, which can serve as a factor in the fertility of the earth. Lusatians ( Slavic tribe in Germany) there was a custom: a girl who was weeding flax had to, having finished weeding, run around the field three times, stripping naked and pronouncing a spell.

On the night of Trinity, it was customary in Rus' to “plow the village” so that the livestock would not die. Girls dressed all in white are harnessed to the plow, and the guy with whips is accompanied in complete silence. They plow the cross with a plow and place incense, bread, juniper or birch branches in the middle. The procession goes around the entire village and returns to this cross. After this, the girls begin to guess.

- They spin around, and whoever falls in which direction, wait for the groom from there.

“They scatter the fragments of an old plow: in which direction the fragment fell, that’s where the betrothed one will come from.”

– They burn the old ones men's trousers– then there are more brides.

Whit Monday

Every evil spirit fears the spirit of the day. People said: “Since Spiritual Day, not only from the sky, but from under the ground, warmth comes.”

Before the sun rises on Spirits day, the mother of cheese, the earth, reveals her secrets. That is why on this day, after praying to the Holy Spirit, treasure hunters go to “listen for treasures.”

Meeting a wedding on the road means the day will be unprofitable, but a funeral will do the opposite.

Your lip itches - you have to kiss your sweetheart.

Eyebrows itch - for a meeting. If the right eyebrow itches, it’s a sign of a date with your loved one, if left eyebrow itches - a meeting with a deceitful and hypocritical person.

This is how Abbot Pamphilus, who lived in the 16th century in the Pskov region, describes this festival, which has come down from pagan times: “When the holiday comes, on that holy night not all of the city will be in turmoil, and in the villages they will go wild with tambourines and sniffles and the hum of strings, splashing and dancing; wives and girls are nodding their heads, and their lips are hostile to shouting, all nasty songs, and wobbling with their spines, and jumping and stamping with their feet; that is, the great fall of man and boy, the whispering of men, women and girls, their fornication, the defilement of married women, and the corruption of virgins.”

“Of these rituals of the Kupala holiday,” writes I.P. Kalinsky, - one cannot help but see that for our ancestors it was some kind of great day of purification by fire and water and at the same time served as the holiday of the summer solstice, when nature acts with a special all-revitalizing and all-exciting force. To prove that it was the ancient Russian Kupala that was a cleansing holiday, it is enough to remember that in general among many peoples of antiquity (we have already talked about this above) fire was considered the highest cleansing element. It is known, for example, that our princes could appear before the Tatar khans only after first passing through fiery bonfires. In the same way, washing with water was constantly recognized by almost all ancient peoples as an action of purification.

In the Rumyantsev collection of 1754 we read: “On Midsummer night they guard treasures, and steam in baths on herbs, and tear herbs, and dig roots, and also tie up birch trees, weave branches, so that the man will live that summer.” In Little Russia, the holiday of the Nativity of John the Baptist is simply called Ivan the Walking, as can be seen from the fact that this day has been celebrated since ancient times with various kinds of folk pleasures, amusements, and entertainments.”

Grass Nechui-wind

Along with fern and other herbs endowed with magical powers, our people also reverence immortelle. It is called so because it does not wither for a long time, but dries out and retains its color and shape well. Ancient people endowed it with supernatural properties, believing that the soul of the deceased moved into this flower so that through it it could communicate with friends and relatives. It is also popularly called by a special name - I can't feel the wind. This intangible wind, according to legends and traditions, helps the blind open treasures. On the night of Ivan Kupala, with a wind, a columbine and a blooming fern in your hands, you had to pick a flower-grass and walk along the lawn until the pain in your eyes appeared. And as soon as it appears, take a spade in your hands and quickly tear up the ground: the sworn treasure must be under your feet.

This grass, according to the legend of sorcerers, grows in winter along the banks of rivers and lakes. Common people think that those who possess this herb can always stop the wind on the water, save themselves and their ships from drowning, and finally, catch fish without nets. The unfeeling wind should be collected on January 1st, on Vasiliev's evening, in the dead of midnight. The villagers think that at this time evil spirits, walking along lakes and rivers, throw the grass Nechui-wind to destroy the storm. Only blind people can find it, and even then they must take it not with their hands, but with their mouths. Then they begin to possess its power.

Adam's head grass is highly respected by the villagers. Sorcerers, like ferns, collect it on Midsummer Day and store it secretly until Maundy Thursday. By popular concept The magical power of Adam's head extends only to wild ducks. Hunters who received this herb from the hands of a registered sorcerer fumigate all the shells they use when catching ducks on Maundy Thursday, no less.

It's a starry night on Midsummer - there will be a lot of mushrooms!

Midsummer Day came, I went to collect grass.

On Midsummer's Day, as on the eve of it, bonfires are laid out, lit, jumped over them, and also bathed in water and dew, and danced around the tree. On this day, brownies, mermen, mermaids and goblins commit mischief. The fern blooms at midnight on Ivan Kupala, and with its help treasures are discovered. Kupala dew is sprinkled on the walls of the house, beds and furniture to ward off bedbugs and cockroaches.

On this day, everyone pours water on each other, laughs, and has fun. In the evening the bathhouse is heated. The girls from the roofs of the baths throw a broom and find out which side to wait for the groom.

The night of Ivan Kupala or Kupala night is the time of the highest power of nature: herbs collected on this night were considered the best medicine, just like the dew of this night. In European countries, girls tell fortunes by floating wreaths on water on Midsummer night. That night the girls roll around naked in the dew. It is customary to do everything silently. Dumbness is a sign of belonging to world of the dead. They silently collect and bring water for magical actions, and it is called “silent water.”

The girl silently picks and brings flowers home to put them under her pillow and see her betrothed in a dream.

Polish girls used flowers to tell fortunes on Ivan Kupala: they pour water taken from a spring or a fast-flowing stream into a basin and throw two flowers without stems into it, say, two daisies; if they go their separate ways, then the lovers will separate; if, while floating, the flowers come together, then they will get married this year.

To bewitch the groom, you need to feed the rooster from the stove damper, saying: “As if this damper would stick to its mouth, so would the rooster stick to its home.”

“Fun and laughter,” writes A.Ya. Gurevich, - are not ordered for a Christian, we see that the preachers themselves often strive to make their listeners smile. But excessive laughter is sinful. Jacques of Vitry tells about a person who saw the Most Holy Mary with many virgins and wished to be with them. The Mother of God told her: “Don’t laugh for thirty days, and you will be with us.” She did just that, did not laugh for a whole month, after which she died and found the promised glory. Undoubtedly, Jacques de Vitry concludes, that if she had not refrained from laughter, songs and round dances, the Virgin would never have accepted her into her host.

Wet Honey saved

On the first day of the Savior, holy the wells.

On the First Spas the last bathing of horses and other livestock.

Bees stop carrying honey bribes.

Beekeepers break (cut) the honeycombs.

Picking raspberries, bird cherry, stocking medicinal herbs.

If, when raspberries ripen, the first berries are large, then winter rye should be sown earlier.

Poppies are collected in Macabea.

The poppy is not born, we will stay like this.

Wild poppies were also collected as a remedy for witches. It was taken for granted that all you had to do was sprinkle the house with this poppy, and all the intrigues would disappear.

From this day on you are allowed to eat honey.

On the first Spas, peas are pinched.

In the Urals and Siberia, the coning of cedars began.

Cold dew since the first Savior.

In August, the sickles are warm and the water is cold.

The month of August is rich - there is plenty of everything.

It’s August and it’s a good time for fish.

During the harvest, the reapers tried to find the most a large number of grains Such a spike is called a “wheat uterus” or “ergot”. They are preserved all year until the new sowing; sowing begins with these grains, with the hope of receiving a large harvest from them.

These days you should stock up weeping grass, which protects from all misfortune and human malice. “The grass is a crybaby,” writes I.P. Sakharov - grows like an arrow; the color of her crimson, the horned root. It is good to make a cross from such a root and wear it on yourself - then do not be afraid of the enemy and adversary. God will protect you from every calamity.”

“Healers,” writes Zabylin, “use the root of Plakun to expel brownies, witches and evil spirits guarding treasures. This herb is credited with making unclean spirits cry, which is why it got its name.”

Apple saved

The Second Savior – everything is an hour (the fruits are ripening).

On the second Savior, fruits and honey are blessed, apples are eaten (and before that, only cucumbers).

And there is an increase in hay. Otava - autumn hay, summer hay will be saved.

love apples

“These are the apples through which you can gain the attention and love of the desired person. This is done very simply: you just have to cut the apple in half, put a note in the middle with the name of your loved one and put it out in the sun. As if, as the apple dries, your beloved person will also suffer for you.”

The first farewell to summer and the meeting of autumn, autumn; people walked into the field singing to see off the sunset.

Nativity of the Virgin Mary

On this day, women welcome autumn by the water. Autumn, the second meeting of autumn. Relatives come to visit the newlyweds. And three days later Fedora - wet your tails. It is believed that on this day autumn rides a bay mare. “Autumn Fedoras tuck up the hem,” says the proverb. And I remember the summer, when girls, while hanging out and playing with guys, didn’t really hold their hems up, flying on rope swings over the heads of amazed men. A.M. Gorky wrote about how guys loved to “reveal the girls’ hems, pulling them right up to their heads...” The girls perceived this quite peacefully, and were not even in a hurry to hide their naked body, but deliberately fiddled with the hem pulled over their heads for a long time. “Not every Indian summer can live up to Fedora.” Rowan ripens. It is collected directly with tassels and hung under the roof. Rowan is used for rowan kvass or strong tincture. Mature viburnum is also displayed. The frost makes the berries sweet. These days, the peasant house is filled with all kinds of vegetables: mountains of carrots, turnips and rutabaga, from which “parenki” are prepared (boiled and dried in a Russian oven). The onions are tied and hung on the walls. Cabbage is chopped and fermented in tubs. Sunflowers are peeling, biting seeds, the whole house has gathered. There is a thick layer of husk on the floor - this is done on purpose to make the day of the harvest celebration memorable. The house smells of apples and vegetables, currant leaves, oak, and dill.

September smells like apples, October smells like cabbage.

In October (in muddy conditions) neither on wheels nor on a sleigh.

“Kapustin’s parties begin these days,” writes I.P. Kalinsky - for two weeks. On Vozdvizhene the grain moved from the field (the last shock from the field), the birds began to fly away, the snakes and grass snakes hid. “The road is by wheel!” - they shout to the cranes to turn them away. IN Astafiev day They use the winds to tell the weather: northern means cold, southern means warm, western means bad weather, and eastern means bucket. Among the steppe people, the southern winds are called “sweet” and promise fertility.

Bread is dried in barns by lighting a fire in it. The boys bake potatoes on the fire, they tell different stories, associated with the barn or bean barn - the owner of the barn, who can shove you in the side so that you will take your breath away if you do not please him in some way. It may throw fire onto the sheaves and burn the crop. So you can’t sleep, but you have to guard the fire day and night.”

The owner gets a shovel of bread, and the threshers a pot of porridge.

You cannot thresh a sheaf with folded hands.

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In area, but twice as small in population. A country with an incredibly rich culture, history and traditions. Many peoples, religions, and customs are intertwined here. But now I would like to talk about the largest ethnic group in Russia – the Russian people.

Russians are perhaps the most controversial people in the world. The Russian person has always been a mystery to any foreigner. They are loved and hated, admired and feared. The people are paradoxical to the core. You may ask, what is the paradox? Yes, in almost everything. Completely illogical actions - this strange tendency to daring recklessness, ostentatious, inexplicable generosity, reaching the point of wastefulness, love for luxurious expensive things, even for one day, even without a penny in your pocket, as if this is the last day - no, this is impossible to understand. Terrible, brutal crime, total corruption and thieves' laws that are respected better than the criminal code - what kind of people live in this country?

Russians are very proud of the military power of the country and their powerful army, but no one wants to join the army, and excuses themselves from it under any pretext. Russians madly want to be rich, but no one wants to do anything or somehow earn their wealth. Russians are proud of their rich culture and huge country - but every second person dreams of going abroad in search of better life. Russians scold the government of the country among themselves and call them corrupt, but, given not the most prosperous life, no one will ever seriously even organize a demonstration - and they will find an excellent excuse - supposedly they lived even worse before. Russians make excellent military equipment and the weapons are one of the best in the world, but when their hands reach the domestic automobile industry, it’s simply hard to imagine worse cars. And finally, tell me, how is it that the most beautiful women on the planet ended up with some of the scariest men in the world (as assessed by international fashion publications)?

Who are the Russians and how to understand them, what is the problem of the whole people, and is it so scary to be Russian - let's figure it out.

Russian mentality

Russian people are amazing. They always hope for the best, and always prepare for the worst. In general, the average Russian person is melancholic. Russians are always dissatisfied with something, but humbly bear their burden, only occasionally snorting at life. They will definitely complain about life and say that they are the most unlucky and unlucky people in the world, that before, under the communists, everything was much better, before the revolution even better than under the communists, and even during the Kievan Rus and absolutely magnificent. That Russia is not needed by anyone in the world, that it is the stupidest and most backward country, the outskirts of the civilized world! And how Russians scold the authorities! This people's government cannot be good by definition, no matter what it does. And “they” (the leadership at any level) is the enemy of the people, the eternal enemy, whom one must fear and avoid meeting in every possible way.

Russians don't like many people. All their foreign neighbors, without exception, are treacherous, vile, greedy and vicious, and they all owe their well-being to the ruthless exploitation of poor Russians, their brains and their resources. Russians do not hesitate to show dislike for people from other countries, and even, on the contrary, in every possible way emphasize their superiority over other nations in conversations. It is customary to point fingers at African Americans on the street and call them blacks, residents from Uzbekistan , Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan - chocks, people from Georgia , Armenia , Azerbaijan - Khachami, people of any nationality with slightly narrowed eyes - Chinese. And the Russians don’t understand much - that the “Chinese” can be Kazakhs or Buryats (citizens of Russia, by the way), in principle, it doesn’t matter to them. There can be no talk of any political correctness; Russians are not familiar with this word! At the same time, the Russians themselves thoroughly believe that they are the most benevolent, most hospitable and most friendly people in the world!

Since Soviet times, Russians have been told that America is Russia's No. 1 enemy. This was encouraged in every possible way by the government, supposedly, if not for America, all Russians would now live like people. After all, everyone knows that America is fabulously rich, people live in large private houses and drive good foreign cars. This is already a good reason to hate the country. Oh, if only it were possible to work like the Russians and live like the Americans! Unfortunately, in the mentality of the Russian people it was originally laid down that Russia is always right, everyone offends its poor people, and in general, these poor long-suffering Russian people who help everyone, but no one loves them. All foreign neighbors, without exception, are insidious, vile, greedy and vicious; they all owe their well-being to the ruthless exploitation of poor Russians, their brains and their resources. The media and the press are actively adding fuel to the fire - various fables are written about how barbaric everyone is, but in Russia there are supposedly still decent people left.

Everyone who is richer and more successful is a potential enemy for Russians; they simply don’t understand how someone can be better than them? Take, for example, the Japanese. They - eastern people, and, therefore, their quality of life should be like that of the Indians or the Chinese, or at least like the Russians. The fact that they have reached the level of European prosperity is confusing, annoying and downright infuriating! Well, how is this possible? Something is clearly wrong with the Japanese! There is some kind of mistake of nature here. What about the Turks, who are massively hired as builders in Russian cities? It turned out that they work better and faster than Russians, and often cost employers less (!) than slow Russian builders. But how can this be? They are Turks! – absolutely any average Russian would say. The fact that someone does something better than them often hurts and offends.

The Russians have their own “whipping boy” - the Chukchi. It is not clear what this small people of the Far North has done to annoy them. Moreover, Russians practically don’t really know anything about the Chukchi, and in general, very few Russians have seen a living Chukchi at least once in their lives. But the very name “chuk-cha” sounds sonorous and funny, and isn’t this a reason to laugh and make fun of them? How often, in response to some request, we hear: “Why me? Am I a Chukchi?” . And how many jokes the Russians have written about the Chukchi! Moreover, no matter what the joke is, the Chukchi are always described as gullible, simple-minded and incredibly stupid people. Oh yes, and also Americans! They are rather the first in popularity in Russian jokes. No matter what the jokes are about, and no matter what nationalities are present, the outcome always ends with the same thing - it was the Russians who killed everyone! They are incredibly pleased to rise in this way - even if only in their own eyes, and even if only in jokes...

Many Russians, regardless of the year, believe that they live in difficult times, and their fate is not easy. Completely melancholic people with a deep sigh will submit to their difficult fate and say: “You can’t escape fate” and reach for a bottle, and then turn into a pathetic, whiny figure, sobbing over a glass and tormented by questions about the meaning of life. Mourning their fate helps them remember that they are living in difficult times, that times have always been difficult and that they can only get harder.

At the same time, Russians are incredibly patient people. Truly, Russian patience is inexhaustible: they are able to wait and hope for the best in conditions that would seem intolerable to almost any other nation. “Oh, did you increase our working hours?” - the French shout, organizing rallies in the streets and destroying everything in their path. “It’s time for us to pay more, we demand an increase in wages,” the prim Germans are indignant and cancel all flights of German airlines. “Do you want to cut our pensions?” - the Greeks are indignant, refusing to go to their workplaces. And only Russians endure all the sorrows and hardships in silence for years. “Are rents and public transport getting more expensive? Well, it’s bad, but it doesn’t matter, it’s not fatal.” “Was there a new tax for small businesses? Well, sometimes the country doesn’t have enough money, it’s a crisis.” “Education will no longer be free? Well, yes, in fact, everything was heading towards this. Well, we’ll get through it, we’ll save more.” “Inflation for the year was 6%? These bastards are stealing and stealing.” That's all. That's all! The Russians continue to live as if nothing had happened and nothing had happened, patiently bearing their burden, while any other people, in Europe, for example, would have rebelled long ago. One can only guess where such obedience and humility come from among a people who have won more than one war.

Another interesting feature of this people is superstition. Russians are very superstitious people. A black cat crossing your path cannot be ignored, under no circumstances should you spill salt, much less break mirrors, from a grandmother coming towards you with empty buckets, it is better to run away, and if you are going to an exam, do not forget put a nickel under your heel...And that's not all. Russians have a lot of superstitions, some of them quite ridiculous, there is no point or space to list them all - one fact remains: Russians are a superstitious people. They also believe in horoscopes. Even a completely reasonable lady can seriously declare that since she was born in the year of the Rat, she cannot marry this man, because his year of birth is incompatible with hers.

Russian character

The main features of the Russian character include breadth of soul, perseverance, compassion, humility, the desire for justice, community spirit, the ability to achieve heroism, the ability not to give up, and painful self-criticism is very common.

Russians, as a rule, often experience emotional ups and downs (this is facilitated by the change of seasons). Most of the time, Russians save or save energy, try not to stress too much, show low interest in what is happening, and are prone to mild depression, searching for the meaning of life, and reasoning. However, there come periods when Russians go into “feat mode.” The reason for active action can be war, revolution, industrialization, the construction of communism, the development of new territories, and so on. The reason for a small “feat” can be a holiday: birthday, New Year, wedding. During such periods, Russians show their best features: mass heroism, self-sacrifice, sense of community, hard work, incredible perseverance, leadership qualities. Russians often create difficulties for themselves and then heroically overcome them, for example, by completing a monthly plan in the last week. There is even a proverb: “Russians take a long time to harness, but they drive fast.”

In many European countries, and in America too, people are always friendly and often smile, even if you simply ask them: “How are you?” Among peoples for whom a smile is a kind of protective wall, Russians are considered gloomy and stern people, or insensitive and boring, because they do not smile as often as they do. Walking along Russian streets or riding in the subway or bus, you will quickly notice that no one, absolutely no one, smiles, and there is no hint of it. And in fact, Russians smile extremely rarely, which is something specific Europeans simply cannot understand. And all only because Russians are sure that “laughter for no reason is a sign of foolishness.” Why pretend to be happy if you're not having fun?!

Russians generally have no European manners at all. A quiet voice, calm gestures and European “indifference” are not for Russians. They will not hesitate to express their feelings in a public place. If a Russian person doesn’t like how he is served in a store or restaurant, he can easily tell the seller or waiter everything he thinks about him, about his relatives, close and distant, about his habits and sexual preferences. The average European would never do that (for goodness sake, they are cultured people), he would remain dissatisfied, but he would culturally restrain all his emotions, and next time he would simply culturally walk around this store and restaurant 10 km away. The Russian, after a thrashing, will definitely come in after a while, so to speak, to check whether the service personnel have internalized his dissatisfaction and whether something has changed for the better.

Instead of “You,” Russians most often use “you.” They “poke” at a lot of people: parents, close relatives, good friends (and sometimes enemies - to show how much they are despised). There are no addresses like “sir” or “madam” in Russia, which causes a lot of inconvenience for Russians. Before October revolution In 1917, the normal form of address was “sir” or “madam.” These words sounded very “bourgeois” and were rejected by the Bolsheviks, who suggested “citizen” or “comrade”. But now, more and more often, the word “citizen” is associated with a trial or being brought to the police station. Desperate to find anything suitable, Russians use simple “Man!” and “Woman!” The rather unceremonious-sounding “Grandfather!” is becoming increasingly common. to a person with a beard of any age. But “Old Man!”, as an address to a young peer, sounds quite friendly. The ways of the Russian language are inscrutable!

Russians love to talk, and they are able to endlessly talk about anything: about politics, about family matters, about health. youngest daughter Your second cousin or the concept of the Holy Trinity. However, there is one topic they try to avoid. They are very embarrassed to talk about sexual problems - even in the doctor's office, and even more so with friends, in front of their children or parents. Of course, with the advent of erotic films, magazines and even sex shops, the attitude towards sex is becoming more relaxed, but the topic of sex is still very sensitive for Russians. Now you can hear such previously taboo words as condom, intercourse or group sex. But, for example, homosexual relations are still considered vile and shameful, although they are no longer criminally punished. No one is engaged in sex education for children - neither schools, nor parents - it remains a complete taboo.

At the same time, most Russian curses are related to sex - this is where Russians really excel! They are also proud that their swearing is known to residents of other countries. Among the most common curse words are: profanity, related to the topic of sex and family relationships, as well as such relatively harmless words as “whore” and “ Son of a bitch" Also, a very harsh word is popular - “goat”.

Yes, Russians drink. And they drink a lot. In Russia, it is customary to drink for any reason, be it a happy occasion or a sad one: you can drink about birth and death, wedding and divorce, joining and returning from the army, graduating from school and university, getting rid of an illness and defending a dissertation. Drinking without a reason is not good, but finding a good reason for a Russian is not difficult.

Russian language

The “great and powerful” Russian language has all the advantages of other languages ​​and none of their disadvantages. The Russian language is melodic, commanding, precise and... well, very difficult to study. There are various variations and infinite number suffixes. For example, “horse” is a horse, while “horse” is a small, cheerful, charming creature, and “little horse” is a tired workhorse, very old and bent under the burden of work. Affectionately “horse”, and if you designate a large and clumsy animal, it will be “horse”. And Russians can perform such tricks with most words. Of course, it is incredibly difficult for a foreigner to understand all this, because there are no similar analogies in other languages ​​of the world.

Russian language is very difficult to learn. Nobody knows how to speak it correctly, including the Russians themselves. It's even more difficult to write on it. But the whole point is that in the Russian language there are more exceptions than rules, and every exception has to be learned by heart by all the unfortunate people who are involved in the educational process. For example, the word “fried(n)y” should be written with one “n” if it is an adjective, and with two if it is a passive participle and in addition accompanied by an adverb, but, in this case, we also need to add the prefix -za and we get: "well-roasted goose."

There is no logic at all in Russian punctuation. You just need to remember that there must be a comma before the subordinate clause. Whether there is a pause or not, the comma must not be forgotten. Scientists have long been trying to reform and update the rules of spelling and punctuation. However, most of the country's population has a negative attitude towards this idea, because people have spent years learning to write correctly, why will others be allowed to escape this torture?

In addition, every year there is an “infusion” of new foreign words into the Russian language. Here the leader is the English language - Russians grab many words from it and transfer them to life. Taking into account the creativity of Russian people, they remake any English word in their own way, so much so that the British themselves are then at a loss. For example, a young fashionista may say: “I bought myself new shoes.”He means boots, but not just any boots. A distorted English word means luxury shoes, most often imported.

Russian attitude towards money

Russians are an extraordinary people. Everyone dreams that they will soon suddenly become rich. At the same time, you don’t actually need to do anything – you just need to wait and believe. And what do we want from the people who read such fairy tales to their children as, for example, “Emelya the Fool?” This tale is about how Emelya the fool lived and he didn’t do anything in his life, he just lay on the stove, and then he accidentally caught a pike, which fulfilled all his wishes. "By pike command, according to my wishes! " - Emelya shouts, and, without even lifting a finger, he gets everything he wants: from buckets that go into the house on their own, to marriage to a princess and a self-assembled tablecloth that ladens itself with dishes. Russians raise their children on such tales, therefore, it is not surprising that entire generations of Russians grow up to be quitters who do not want to do anything, but really want to have big money.

How to be? How can you get a lot of “money” without actually even getting up from the stove? And this is where the Russian people become extremely popular among scammers. All kinds of lotteries that invite you to try your luck, get rich in a couple of minutes and suddenly become a “new Russian”, numerous financial pyramids that promise sky-high incomes, and much, much more. The older generation probably still remembers the financial pyramid of the 90s – MMM and the famous Lenya Golubky. Perhaps only the lazy did not invest money in MMM at that time. Millions of people have already been fooled, pyramid after pyramid is collapsing, scammers are being arrested and jailed, and new crowds of Russians are enthusiastically lining up for the next one. bright dream. And no one will be able to bring them to their senses, because the favorite Russian word is “freebie”...

But money is not the greatest value for Russians. Of course, when you have money, it’s good; when you don’t, it’s not scary. Why? Because the policy of absolutely all Russian people is this: honest people cannot have a lot of money - at least if they are not pop stars or tennis champions. If you are neither one nor the other, it means you have stolen, or earned money dishonestly. If you have enough finances and you don’t borrow salt from your neighbor, never, hear, never tell the Russians about it. They will misunderstand, and sometimes they will sympathize (like, the poor guy stole, he doesn’t have much time left, he’ll soon go to jail). But if you pretend to be poor and tell how hard your life is, that you are up to your ears in loans, and ex-wife chopped off the car - you will become a favorite and a favorite. Russians are ready to help their neighbor, even if they know for certain that the one they are helping is capable of taking care of himself.

If you earn little, there is nothing wrong with that. By complaining that you are underpaid, you are showing that your employer underestimates you and does not understand you. Earning little is not humiliating - the shame falls on the one who exploits you. And Russians will definitely support you, and not the employer. And it doesn’t matter that you are late for your work every day, don’t have time to submit reports, and in general, you don’t work very well. In fact, no one will understand this. The main thing here is to unite, to unite against a common enemy - and the enemy here is the leadership, and the enemy for two reasons at once: because it is just the leadership, and because the leadership simply lives better and more prosperously. Aren't there enough reasons to hate management already?

To put it mildly, the rich are not liked in Russia. This goes back to the 90s, when there was complete chaos on the streets, and those who “robbed and squeezed out” lived just fine. Since then, the so-called “new Russians” have come - people to whom wealth fell like a flower pot from a balcony. It is probably impossible to count how many ridicule the new Russians have been subjected to, how many jokes have been written about them as people of short-sightedness, even the Chukchi are “resting.”

And to this day, all politicians, businessmen, leaders, all rich or well-off people are not in favor with the Russians. Partly the reason for this is the very corrupt officials of Russia, partly the Russian mentality and character itself - Russians simply need to dislike someone. Indeed, in this dislike for anyone, Russians unite in the best possible way; the unity of this people is manifested. They even have this saying: “Who are we fighting against today?”

To achieve success in Russia as a politician or businessman, you need to find the right person who can help you. Ideally, this is your relative or someone whom you helped at one time. After such a person is found, everything becomes simpler - after all, he also has friends whom he once helped and who can now help him (that is, you). Thus, such a chain can be very long and often consist of more than a dozen people. With this scheme, you can achieve very impressive results in life. The scheme works like a clock, at all times and generations. And it’s called – blat!

Blat - the most powerful weapon that Russia has ever owned, it is a master key that opens any door. In no case should you confuse cronyism with bribes - there is no talk of money here, not a single ruble moves from pocket to pocket. They will help you simply, with the expectation that one day your help may be needed. For example: “I’ll bring you a car of building materials to your dacha, and you’ll make sure that next Wednesday my idiot passes the entrance exam to your university.” Blat is everywhere in Russia and permeates all layers of society, and at the same time, it always works flawlessly. Through connections they get the best plots of land, get good jobs, enter prestigious universities, and so on. And those people who have achieved any success through cronyism are called “criminals.”

Those who have managed to achieve something in life usually clearly demonstrate this. In Russia it is customary to show off wealth and luxury - to show off a new A-class car, a chic expensive suit, or a Rolex watch for $35,000. Well, if you earn good money, then know how to spend it well, they say in Russia. Here it is not customary for wealthy people to save money in their accounts, dress discreetly and ride the subway. In general, being well dressed in Russia is very prestigious, and a young person of any gender is judged primarily by his clothes. Since you earn good money, show everyone around you that you have succeeded in this life. Let them envy... And they envy... ordinary people of small or average income, who are less fortunate in life. They look and envy...and hate. And every year the gap between rich and poor widens. Although, in this regard, Russia is still very far from India.

Russian house

As a rule, Russians live in small, cramped apartments. It’s a paradox, but in the largest country in the world, some of the smallest apartments are being built. Take, for example, these houses built under Khrushchev - “Khrushchev buildings”, which are not large in size or have a competent layout. Such Khrushchev buildings were erected all over the country. They still live in them to this day. Perhaps this is the reason for good relations with neighbors - a Russian wants to get out of his tiny apartment and communicate with someone. Most often, these will be flatmates. However, this tradition is fading into oblivion in large cities - there very often neighbors do not know each other at all.

There are still many villages and towns left in Russia where people live in their own houses. A traditional Russian house is wooden hut, usually with a real oven inside. In such a house, perhaps, apart from electricity and often gas, there are no other communications. Toilet outside, water from a well. In a word, it would not be easy for the average European, accustomed to the benefits of civilization, to spend the winter in such a house. And again a paradox - it lies in the fact that despite global urbanization and the relocation of numerous villages and hamlets into apartments where there are all communications - and hot water at any time of the day, and a toilet nearby, the majority of Russians categorically do not want to leave their homes . They, you see, are used to them, they like it that way. Well, and the benefits of civilization... yes, simple pampering...

This is some kind of national desire to have your own home. Those who live in apartments dream of buying a dacha. So that, at least in the summer, on weekends, you can live in your own home. Those who have a dacha stuff it with all sorts of benefits of civilization. They install gas and electricity, remove sewerage, install a shower and toilet in the house. As a rule, they fence their dacha with a solid fence so that no one can see what is happening behind it. This is supposedly private property, and the Russians are free to do whatever they want on it. The attitude towards fencing is paradoxical - it is customary to fence off everything that belongs to you. This extends to many aspects - they fence off anything: their own plot, a piece of land where a car is parked, the graves of relatives in a cemetery. The last tradition still remains a mystery. Dead people do not escape from their graves. Who is the fence for? For the living - you say. But these fences are purely symbolic, they are not high and they will not stop people, and anyone can easily get to the grave and do whatever they want there. Russians, who are you putting up these fences for?

Religion of Russia

There are a lot of holy places in Russia. In pre-revolutionary times, Russia was a God-fearing country, and crowds of thousands of pilgrims marched from one monastery to another in a kind of endless tourist trek.

Now the situation has changed. There are not so many true believers anymore. There are not many people who fast, not many who regularly attend church. Basically, this is the older generation - young people do not have such a craving for religion. At the same time, everyone you ask believes in God. A very strange approach.

The fact is that the Russian Orthodox Church, with its thousand-year history, stands in opposition to all other branches of Christianity, but, above all, to Catholicism and Protestantism. Orthodox Christians are confident that they are the only true believers, and that no one except them has a chance of salvation. Oddly enough, with all the religious differences towards the Tatars and Mongols (who, as they teach in school, once brutally oppressed the Russians), the attitude is rather friendly or indifferent, while Western Christians are looked at with distrust and suspicion.

In many Orthodox churches, there are ancient frescoes depicting the Last Judgment, where sinners in oriental turbans and hats like those worn by the American Pilgrim Fathers are obediently sent to suffer in the fires of hell, and the righteous dressed in Russian national clothes, favorably welcomes you to paradise. Such frescoes clearly show Christian believers that everyone except Orthodox Christians is destined to burn in hell.

But a new generation is growing up in Russia, which sees and understands perhaps much more. Now young people travel freely to other countries of the world, experiencing new traditions and religions, and pictures and comparisons involuntarily appear in their heads. Comparisons, for example, of the traditional Catholic Church with the Orthodox. Why is she worse? And why should Orthodoxy be better (traditionally, like everything else among Russians)? More and more young people do not accept the orders and demands of the Russian Orthodox Church, considering many of them a simple whim. Russian Orthodoxy is rapidly losing believers. And what will happen next? And here the famous quote can be said to the point: “A bad slave. I've seen too much of the world."

Russian wedding

Just a few hundred years ago, a Russian wedding was a set of rituals that were performed in strict sequence according to a script defined by tradition. The most important wedding rituals in Rus' were matchmaking, collusion, bachelorette party, wedding, wedding night, and wedding feast. Each of them had a certain semantic meaning. Matchmaking, for example, was expressed in negotiations between two families about the possibility of marriage between a young man and a girl. The bride's farewell to girlhood was a mandatory stage characterizing the transition of a young girl into the category of married women. The wedding acted as a religious and legal formalization of the marriage, and the wedding night acted as its physical consolidation. Well, the wedding feast expressed public approval of the marriage.

Today, many Russian wedding traditions have turned out to be irretrievably lost, and the few remaining exist in a very modified version. Rituals such as matchmaking and collusion are no longer used today, as young people themselves meet and decide to get married, also on their own. Nowadays only a few girls marry as virgins, and many even live together even before the wedding. Before the wedding, it is customary to organize a bachelorette party for the bride, and a bachelor party for the groom. The bride's friends gather at the bachelorette party; men are not allowed. As a rule, girls drink, party and have fun until the morning; this can happen both at home and in any entertainment establishment. The same thing happens with the groom - and only men are present at the bachelor party. Very often, friends order a striptease for the groom - supposedly to say goodbye to his bachelor life. There are other more frank forms of farewell. One fact remains - at hen and stag parties it is customary to drink, party, have fun, misbehave and say goodbye to free life. Some people prefer to abandon these events altogether in order to save the family budget.

The wedding day begins with the bride's hair, makeup and dressing in her home, or her parents' home. Bride's wedding dress, traditionally, white. The white dress of the bride, which now symbolizes purity and purity, came from the Ancient Greece – there he was a symbol of joy and prosperity. Until the time of Catherine II, the bride's outfit in Russia was red. Catherine got married in a white dress and thereby changed Russian tradition forever.

The groom needs significantly less time and effort to prepare. But sometimes other challenges fall on him (decorating a car, getting a wedding bouquet, and so on). Once everyone is ready, the groom and his close friends get ready and go to the bride's house. Next, the first ancient Russian ritual takes place - ransom. The procedure takes place in the entrance of the bride's house. The bridesmaids need to torture the groom as cheerfully as possible, ask him a bunch of stupid tasks and riddles and, at the same time, receive a ransom from him - it could be money or some goodies that he doesn’t mind giving for the bride. In the end, the groom gives the ransom and is allowed into the house, where he still needs to find a bride. Because here they are trying to deceive him. When the groom finds the bride, everyone drinks champagne on this occasion and goes to the registry office.

The ceremonial part takes place in the registry office, the bride and groom officially agree in front of the official aunties (the registry office workers) that they “get married” of their own free will, exchange rings, kiss, and leave the registry office as husband and wife! This is followed by a walk in some beautiful place, usually with your closest friends and with a professional photographer who tries to capture every moment of this important day.

In the end, the tired newlyweds and their friends go to a cafe (some are celebrating at home), where relatives and friends who did not participate in the walk are already waiting for them. The newlyweds are greeted in a cafe and sprinkled with cereals and coins, which symbolizes wealth and prosperity. The parents of the young people present them with a loaf of bread. This is also an old Russian tradition - the newly-made husband and wife take a bite out of a loaf of bread at the same time - whoever has the larger piece will supposedly dominate the life together. After this, the feast begins.

The wedding table traditionally contains a lot of food and pickles, but even more alcohol. From time to time, guests shout to the newlyweds “Bitter!” and they must put down their spoons and forks, stand up and kiss. Practically, a wedding is always led by a toastmaster. This is the kind of person who monitors the observance of all rituals and maintains fun among the guests. He also organizes various competitions in which the bride and groom and all invited guests participate. The toastmaster clearly distributes the time for raising toasts and shouting “Bitter” - most often, this happens once every 5 - 10 minutes. Between the toasts, there is also a strictly distributed giving of gifts by the toastmaster, interspersed with the reading of wishes written, most often, in poetic form on postcards specially purchased for this purpose.

The fun lasts until the night, after which the tired newlyweds go home (sometimes to a hotel), where their first wedding night awaits them. Previously, this was really exciting, but now, when many people live a full sex life even before marriage, the sacrament of the wedding night has ceased to be relevant.

Previously, a Russian wedding lasted three days. The second day took place at the parents' house, and on the third the guests came to the newlyweds' house. Nowadays, most Russian weddings are celebrated for one day, some celebrate the wedding for 2 days. This is largely due to issues of economy, since such a celebration costs a pretty penny. On the second day of the wedding, the bride puts on some beautiful outfit (but not a wedding dress), and the fun and revelry continues. All guests drink, walk, have fun and organize competitions!

Some couples, in addition to getting married in the registry office, also get married in a church. The wedding can take place either the next day or after some time - often several months or even years. But, in our time, very few couples get married; for many, the wedding is limited only to a trip to the registry office.

Russian family

In Russia, many areas are still dominated by men, but among teachers, doctors, engineers, not to mention service personnel, as well as in the family, women reign supreme. It is no coincidence that according to the laws of Russian grammar, “Russia” is feminine. “Mother Russia” - and no one would think of calling Russia “father”.

In the average Russian family, the husband is the head of the family, and the wife is its neck, dictating where the head should turn. Defeated men obediently, and sometimes, it seems, even almost willingly bow down to the “weaker” sex. Russian women did not even need to declare war on men, because men voluntarily surrendered to the more educated, more cultured, more intelligent, more hard-working and less drinking sex.

In the past, Russians had fairly large families, they had many children, and maintained close relationships with all their relatives. Since ancient times, Russians have had an extensive system of names for family relationships: brother-in-law, brother-in-law, matchmaker, son-in-law, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and so on. But now, Russians’ large families, consisting of several generations of relatives, have disappeared forever.

By European standards, Russians have children quite early. Most girls give birth to their first child a child under the age of 25, and if, God forbid, you decide to give birth after 25, you will contemptuously bear the title “old-born.” Moreover, not so long ago, Americans, according to their research, proved that it is generally better for women to give birth after 30 years of age, supposedly psychologically, morally and financially, a woman is more prepared for the birth of a child after 30 years of age. And it is at this time that she is able to give a quality education to the child. Well, these are Americans, what can we take from them? Russians stubbornly refuse to see or hear any scientific facts from their “enemies.” Therefore, all generations of women in the family, from young to old, frighten the young girl - “they say, give birth, otherwise it will be too late.” It is under the fear of “too late” that most children in Russia are born, to very young girls who often do not yet have a profession, education, money, in fact, to put the child on his feet, or brains. - to raise a child normally. And in general, the young spouse was drafted into the army, or even worse, he didn’t have enough time and left the family. As a result of such early marriages, the number of divorces increases, because young people who were forced to tie the knot with each other “on the fly” are simply not ready to be with each other for the rest of their lives.

Nowadays, a family with one child, or no children at all, is more typical than a family with two or three children. A family of three children is already classified as having many children and even has the right to some tiny benefits. Children have become too expensive a pleasure, because your child cannot be worse dressed than his friends, and giving him an education is a sheer ruin: after all, even Public School is engaged in constant collections (for repairs, for security, for textbooks).

In Russia, it is customary to treat old people with respect, especially if they are relatives. Every generation is taught that elders must be respected, and every child knows that older people are supposed to give up their seats on the bus (there are special seats for the disabled and passengers with children). The most shameful thing a Russian can do is send a helpless father or mother to a nursing home. In Russia, the relevant institutions enjoy the worst reputation, and this reputation is well deserved.

Russian women

Russian women are amazing. She will “stop a galloping horse and enter a burning hut.” Perhaps this is the one catchphrase Nekrasova, as well as possible, describes Russian women better. The Russian woman is so independent, she has such a strong spirit that she can easily get out of any troubles in life. Raise one child - please! Work two jobs – please! Nothing scares such a woman.
And also, after work, you need to feed your husband and children and clean the house. There is no peace for a Russian woman - and everything is on her shoulders. Perhaps this is how most Russian women live. Being a woman in Russia is a great responsibility, they demand much more from her than from a man, they do not forgive her mistakes, and society condemns any mistake of a woman.

With all her independence, it seems that she doesn’t need a man either: well, why does she need this fat, lazy, often drinking and low-earning man on the couch? She can do everything herself, and no one will get on her nerves. But it is not so. Russian women, due to their traditional upbringing, all want to have a family. Many are very unhappy in marriage, but continue to support their dream, they say, if you have a husband, you have a family. Often they take on all the household chores and problems, and even begin to earn more than their husband. A man, seeing his wife’s success, stops doing anything altogether and becomes a lazy couch potato.

The stronger sex turns into the weaker, against the backdrop of strong women. The men themselves began to lose leadership positions for which they had fought for centuries. You can’t blame only men for this – women too are largely to blame for the current situation. Perhaps such a trick would not have worked in civilized European countries, where women have long ceased to be a workhorse. But in Russia it still flourishes. Russian women are not feminists, no, so their conscience or feeling of pity does not allow them to get up and leave their pathetic poor husband. After all, if a woman gets divorced (even if she is unhappy in her marriage, her husband is a drunk, he beats her or cheats on her), she will immediately be assigned the status of “divorcee,” and the older generation will sarcastically discuss behind her back, saying that she was not successful as a woman, The husband left, probably the housewife is a bad housewife, lazy. And all because not so long ago, divorce was considered a shameful act in Russia; divorces were extremely rare and only for special reasons; no one else would marry a divorced woman, especially with children. Now the situation, of course, is changing, but echoes of the past are still haunting.

Russian women are rightly considered one of the most beautiful in the world. Typical Slavic appearance, blond or brown hair, regular facial features, fair skin, huge blue eyes, full of love and some kind of distant sadness - they have long been driving millions of men crazy around the globe. There is no emancipation or feminism in them - these diseases of the 21st century that are shaking the world and causing the hair to stand on end for most men. They are not infected with this plague. Russian women are instilled with respect for men from a young age. And if you add to these qualities thriftiness, care and understanding, then foreigners simply begin to shake, and many thousands of foreign suitors, humiliated and insulted by emancipated women, go to Russia in the hope of finding a caring wife and a worthy housewife here. And many Russian beauties agree to connect their lives with an overseas prince. Moreover, Russian women, to put it mildly, with "domestic producers" not very lucky.

But, a Russian woman is not only the one who always stands in the kitchen and wipes the snot of children. The modern Russian woman also has business qualities. In big cities, many women try to build a career first and then get married. And they are not bad at it. Oddly enough, the weaker sex has more advantages over the stronger: ladies are more diligent and responsible when making decisions, they act effectively and at the same time diplomatically. Now women are hired for many leadership positions. After all, even in the ability to wear trousers, a woman has far surpassed a man...

Russian men

Unlike Russian women, Russian men are among the three most ugliest on the entire globe (with them the British and Poles). The source is not very authoritative - this is the dating site Beautiful People, which is also called the Club of Beautiful People. They have their own assessment and selection system, according to which Russian men are practically not popular and are not liked by foreign ladies.

You will ask why? But the answer is obvious. Take a look at the average Russian man, about 30 - 45 years old. What do you see? Yes, of course, people are different, but most of them will look something like this: a gloomy, overweight man who looks 50 - 55 years old, with a huge protruding belly, with a bad hairstyle (if it even exists), casually dressed, and he will be demanding, arrogant, difficult even in primitive everyday communication. But main characteristic the Russian man as an international “product” is neglect. And inhospitability.

Moreover, if you look at everyone carefully and imagine what will happen if he loses 10 kilograms, takes care of his appearance and clothes, then you will get completely normal men. Almost all Europeans run, jump, swim, go to the gym, and steam in the sauna. And the Russians are probably very busy - they don’t have time for all this nonsense. Well, who will do this? All these pomaded, perfumed boys with inflated bodies, in the same Europe, are completely gay! A Russian man is neither a metrosexual nor a hipster. Thinking about the beauty of nails and jackets is shameful. Yes, and let him gain 20 kilograms at the age of 35 excess weight, and forgot to change my wardrobe, and now my shirts are bursting at the seams... so what? Is he really appreciated for this?

The worst thing is that a Russian man is sure that anyone in Russia will agree to be with him, even if he looks bad. The main thing is that he perform certain functions - for example, provide financial support. Therefore, the idea that they should also be liked, and should be sexy, and somehow keep in shape - it shocks them. “Here, in Russia, there are more women than men, and among the men there are more drunks and all sorts of trash than adequate men - so it will do, without any of these tricks, and there will be a woman who will love me just like that.” But no one likes men who are soft, shaggy, with leaking jowls, or with puffy bellies. Even those women who still sleep with them.

After alcoholism, unemployment, and a tendency to domestic violence, we can safely add categorical nonsexuality to the list of Russian male shortcomings. The vast majority of Russian men do not understand that taking care of themselves, caring for their face and body is normal. That the prehistoric concept of “man” (that is, a certain shaggy creature in wrinkled clothes) is no longer in this world, it is, after all, just an anthropological object, but not at all sexual.

Unfriendly Russian men have another not very pleasant trait. Even the most charming and sweet Russian men are very uptight. Now, if a person comes up to you and just like that, without any sexual connotation, says that you have a very Nice dress– it will most likely be a foreigner. In addition to being uptight, Russian men are reputed to be quite cold (some compare them to herrings). These are not those who will whisper all sorts of sexy words into a woman’s ear, compliment her endlessly while looking at her stunning dress, or sing serenades under the window. No, leave all these passionate romantic things to others, for example, to the Italians, with the Russians everything is calm, and without words, as they say, “no noise, no dust.” After all, why tell a woman something, waste your imagination and energy on it, if she was already chosen, and she should already be infinitely happy that she was chosen, because in Russia there are fewer men than women, and she might not have remained at all allotment Moreover, even if Russian men drink a little (for courage, to loosen up), inside they will still be restrained. It’s hard to imagine how they still manage to have sex sometimes.

Russian women see all this and understand it perfectly. Many Russian men do not arouse any interest among Russian women (and even more so among foreign women!). They don't want those dense barbarians that even dating sites reject - they want cool, sweet, stylish and modern men who care what a woman thinks of them and who don't just treat her like a corrupt whore who will agree to anything, if you offer her guardianship and this mythological “male shoulder.” Gone are the days when women grabbed what they gave. Nowadays there are not many people who are ready to tolerate any man just because he is a man.

Yes, and this is the harsh truth - in Russia there are very beautiful women, about whom Karl Lagerfeld said that it would be better if they were lesbians (with such and such men).

Golden Ring tours - special offers of the day

National culture is the national memory of a people, what distinguishes a given people from others, protects a person from depersonalization, allows him to feel the connection of times and generations, receive spiritual support and support in life.

Both the calendar and human life are associated with folk customs, as well as church sacraments, rituals and holidays. In Rus', the calendar was called a monthly calendar. The month book covered the entire year of peasant life, “describing” day by day, month after month, where each day had its own holidays or weekdays, customs and superstitions, traditions and rituals, natural signs and phenomena.

Folk calendar was an agricultural calendar, which was reflected in the names of the months, folk signs, rituals and customs. Even the determination of the timing and duration of the seasons is associated with real climatic conditions. Hence the discrepancy in the names of the months in different areas. For example, both October and November can be called leaf fall. The folk calendar is a kind of encyclopedia of peasant life with its holidays and everyday life. It includes knowledge of nature, agricultural experience, rituals, and norms of social life.

The folk calendar is a fusion of pagan and Christian principles, folk Orthodoxy. With the establishment of Christianity, pagan holidays were prohibited, received a new interpretation, or were moved from their time. In addition to those assigned to certain dates in the calendar, movable holidays of the Easter cycle appeared.

Rituals dedicated to major holidays included a large number of different works of folk art: songs, sentences, round dances, games, dances, dramatic scenes, masks, folk costumes, and unique props.

Calendar and ritual holidays of Russians

Russian people knew how to work, and they knew how to relax. Following the principle: “There is time for work, an hour for fun,” the peasants rested mainly on holidays. What is a holiday? Russian word“holiday” comes from the ancient Slavic “prazd”, meaning “rest, idleness.” What holidays were revered in Rus'? For a long time, villages lived by three calendars. The first is natural, agricultural, associated with the change of seasons. The second - pagan, pre-Christian times, just like agricultural, was correlated with natural phenomena. The third, latest calendar is the Christian, Orthodox, in which there are only twelve great holidays, not counting Easter.

In ancient times the main thing winter holiday It was considered Christmas. The holiday of Christmas came to Rus' along with Christianity in the 10th century. and merged with the ancient Slavic winter holiday - Christmastide, or carol.

Maslenitsa

What did you do on Maslenitsa? A significant part of the customs for Maslenitsa, one way or another, was connected with the theme of family and marriage relations: newlyweds who got married during the past year were honored at Maslenitsa. The young people were given a kind of viewing party in the village: they were placed at the gate posts and forced to kiss in front of everyone, they were “buried” in the snow or they were showered with snow on Maslenitsa. They were also subjected to other tests: when the young people were riding in a sleigh through the village, they were stopped and thrown with old bast shoes or straw, and sometimes they were given a “kissing party” or “kissing party” - when fellow villagers could come to the house of the young people and kiss the young woman. The newlyweds were driven around the village, but if they received

A bad treat; they could have given the newlyweds a ride not in a sleigh, but on a harrow.

Maslenitsa week also took place in mutual visits of two recently intermarried families.

Easter Christian

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the most important holiday in the Christian calendar. Easter Sunday does not fall on the same date every year, but always occurs between March 22 and April 25. It falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following March 21, the vernal equinox. The date of Easter Sunday was approved by the church council in Nika in 325 AD. The name "Easter" is a direct transfer of the name of the Jewish holiday, celebrated annually during the week starting from the 14th day

Happy spring month Nissan. The name "Passover" itself is a Greek modification of the Hebrew word "pesah", which was interpreted as "passing"; it was borrowed from the more ancient pastoral custom of celebrating the transition from winter to summer pastures.

Nativity

Christmas is not only a bright holiday of Orthodoxy. Christmas is a holiday returned, reborn. The traditions of this holiday, full of genuine humanity and kindness, high moral ideals, are being discovered and comprehended again these days.

Agraphens Bathing suit and Ivan Kupala

The summer solstice is one of the significant turning points of the year. Since ancient times, all the peoples of the Earth celebrated the peak of summer at the end of June. In our country, such a holiday is Ivan Kupala. However, this holiday was inherent not only to the Russian people. In Lithuania it is known as Lado, in Poland - as Sobotki, in Ukraine - Kupalo or Kupaylo. Our ancient ancestors had a deity named Kupala, personifying summer fertility. In his honor, in the evenings they sang songs and jumped over the fire. This ritual action turned into an annual celebration of the summer solstice, mixing pagan and Christian traditions. The deity Kupala began to be called Ivan after the baptism of Rus', when he was replaced by none other than John the Baptist (more precisely, his popular image), whose Christmas was celebrated on June 24.

Wedding in Russia

In the life of all peoples, a wedding is one of the most important and colorful events. Every person should have his own family and children. And so that it does not happen that someone stays for a long time “in the girls” or “in the grooms,” matchmakers came to the rescue. The matchmakers were lively, talkative women who knew wedding traditions. When the matchmaker came to match the bride, she, after praying, sat down or stood in a place that, it was believed, could bring good luck in matchmaking. She began the conversation with the allegorical phrases customary in this case, by which the bride’s parents immediately guessed what kind of guests had come to them. For example, the matchmaker said: “You have a product (bride), and we have a merchant (groom)” or “You have a bright woman (bride), and we have a shepherd (groom).” If both parties were satisfied with the conditions of marriage, then they agreed on a wedding.

Russian bath

What Russian doesn't like baths? Nestor the chronicler also wrote about the bathhouse in his works. Initially, cleansing rituals were carried out in the bathhouse: washing the bride and groom before the wedding, a woman in labor and a newborn, and exorcising “evil spirits” from the mentally ill. Using medicinal herbs and bath steam, healers healed those suffering from ailments. The youth arranged in the baths Christmas fortune telling, and the farmers made predictions about the future harvest and weather. The proverb “Everyone is equal in the bathhouse” testifies that both old and young, commoners and princes have been here. Russian bathhouse

The bathhouse turned out to be one of the most persistent Russian traditions. It is impossible to imagine that there is a Russian person who has never tasted thick bath steam or a birch or oak broom. The bathhouse heals many diseases; in the bathhouse you can relieve accumulated fatigue and stress, cleanse not only the body, but also the soul. The technology of taking a bath has not changed much in ancient times. Having warmed up the body on each shelf in turn, they whip themselves heartily with a well-steamed broom, then wash themselves with soap and a washcloth, and rinse their hair with bread and herbal infusions. Russian tradition requires, after the steam room, to jump into the cool water of a pond, or into a snowdrift, or an ice hole.