Russian customs and traditions briefly for children. List of used literature

Russian rituals, holidays and traditions

The synthetic form of culture is rites, customs, traditions and rituals, that is, what is called patterns of behavior. Rituals are standard and repetitive 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 strength of the rite is in its emotional and psychological impact on people. In the ritual, not only the rational assimilation of certain norms, values ​​and ideals takes place, but also the participants in the ritual action empathize with them.

Rituals are a system of rituals. Even certain managerial decisions can become organizational rituals that employees interpret as part of the organizational culture. Such rites act as organized and planned actions of great "cultural" significance.

In the daily life of an enterprise, rituals perform a dual 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 the 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.

Random photos of nature

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

A similar function is performed by the so-called initiating rituals, which are usually performed when joining a team. They must clearly demonstrate to the new member what is really valued in the firm. If a freshly minted graduate engineer who graduated from an elite university, in the very first days of his service career in the representative office of the company in South America, a broom is handed over and it is proposed to sweep the premises to begin with, then in young man this can cause frustration and confusion. At the same time, he is immediately made to understand that at this enterprise, first of all, it is not formal education that is valued, 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 sales.

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

The most typical example of this in ordinary life are negotiations on the conclusion of tariff agreements, especially when this was preceded by the speeches of the workers. Dramaturgy prohibits reaching an agreement during the working day. No, we have to fight all night, and the new tariff agreement should be signed as soon as possible before dawn, so that union representatives and employers, completely exhausted, can appear in front of the cameras in the first rays of the sun.

And at 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 installations.

Rituals occupy an important place within the culture of the enterprise. At the same time, it is necessary to check whether they really convey value orientations that are relevant for everyday life as well.

A custom is a form of social regulation of the activities and attitudes of people taken from the past, which is reproduced in a particular society or social group and is familiar to its members. The custom consists in steadfast adherence to the prescriptions received from the past. Various rituals, holidays, production skills, etc. can act as a custom. A custom is an unwritten rule of conduct.

Traditions are elements of social and cultural heritage transmitted from generation to generation and preserved in a particular community for a long time. Traditions function in all social systems and are a necessary condition for their life. A disdainful attitude to tradition leads to a violation of continuity in the development of society and culture, to the loss of the valuable achievements of mankind. Blind worship of tradition breeds conservatism and stagnation in public life.

wedding ceremonies

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

Matchmaking is a wedding ceremony in which the prior consent of the bride's relatives for the wedding was obtained.

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

Hand-beating (conspiracy, hard drinking, zaruchiny, wooing, vaults) is part of the wedding ceremony, during which a final agreement on the wedding was reached.

Vytiye is a wedding ceremony, ritual lamentation. Occurs on the half of the bride. Its purpose is to show that the girl lived well in the house of her parents, but now she has to leave. The bride said goodbye to her parents, friends, will.

Bachelorette - a wedding ceremony, the day before the wedding, or the days from the handshake to the wedding.

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

Mystery of marriage. Church marriage 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 later life.

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

holiday rituals

On Intercession Day (October 14), the girls ran early to church and lit a candle for the holiday. There was a belief: whoever puts a candle first, he will get married sooner.

Soon, girls, cover,

We'll have a party soon

Will play soon

Dear talyanochka.

You will have a fun Pokrov - you will find a friend.

In some areas, it is customary to put coins in glasses for 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 some drink on the tablecloth at dinner, this portends a drunkard husband.

In other places, the newlyweds had to sleep on rye sheaves. And these sheaves should be an odd number, say, 21. If this condition was met, then this meant that they would not need anything.

On a holiday, girls go to church and put candles in front of the icon of the Intercession of the Virgin and say: “Protection - Holy Mother of God, cover my poor head with a pearl kokoshnik, a golden cuff. And if at such a moment a bewildered guy threw a veil over the head of a girl he liked, then she unquestioningly became his wife - noted one Arab writer who visited Russia in the 12th century.

Christmas time

Christmas divination

Young people of both sexes gather for the evening, take rings, rings, cufflinks, earrings and other small things and put them under a dish along with slices of bread, and cover everything with a clean towel, napkin or fly (a piece of cloth). After that, those participating in divination sing a song dedicated to bread and salt, and then other observant (Christmas, fortune-telling) songs. At the end of each, turning away, one object is taken out from under the closed dish, which first came to hand. It's kind of like a house lottery. A song was used for this rite, from the content of which a prediction was derived. But since things taken out from under the dish do not always come across to those to whom they belong, a ransom of things is awarded on this occasion. To the last one, who has already taken out the last thing from under the dish, they usually sing a wedding song, as if foreshadowing an imminent marriage. Then the ring is rolled along the floor, watching in which direction it will roll: if to the door, then for the girl - the proximity of marriage; for the guy - departure.

New Year fortune telling

In order to find out what the bride or groom will be, big or small, you need to New Year go to the woodshed and immediately take a log. If large, then large growth, and vice versa.

If a girl cuts or pricks her finger until it bleeds on 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 - to a long life, if a hole in the ice - to death.

But this is how Bulgarian girls guessed on New Year's Eve: they gathered together somewhere at a source, at a well, scooped up in complete silence a bucket of water, to which they attributed special magical powers. In this bucket, each girl threw a handful of oats, a ring or a bouquet with her mark. The little girl took out these items in turn, 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 bit of oats from the bucket and put them under their pillows in the hope that they would dream of their betrothed.

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

Christmas

Until Christmas there was a 40-day Philippian fast. Meat was not eaten, fish were used. The whole house fasts, and the old people have Christmas Eve. The first pancake on Christmas Eve - for sheep (from pestilence)

On Christmas Eve (on the night of December 24-25) they do not eat until the first star. On the first day of Christmas, figurines of cows and sheep are 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 livestock (for offspring, for milk yield).

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

Baptism

“The Christian procedure of Baptism,” writes A.Yu. Grigorenko, - is a magical ceremony. Thrice immersion of the body in water, 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 similar to its cause."

The custom of blowing on a baby, on water, oil, in order to give them grace and at the same time drive away Satan, spitting on Satan during Baptism also came from an ancient belief - the belief that human breath and saliva have a special witchcraft power. primitive people they believed that a breath, a spittle were ways both to communicate holiness and drive away evil. The same primitive rite is “toothing hair”. Cutting the hair of a child (or an adult) at Baptism and throwing it into the font is a vestige of the ancient belief that by laying at the feet of a deity an animated particle of his body, which has the miraculous property of growth, a person establishes a strong relationship with him. In ancient times, many peoples had a custom to donate hair to the gods. So, in the Phoenician temples of Astrata there was even a special position - galab-elim - the barber of God. Statues depicting gods in ancient temples were often covered with male and female hair from top to bottom.

And the main element of Baptism is water? Christian theologians explain Baptism with water by the fact that Jesus Christ blessed the Jordanian waters by receiving the first Baptism from John the Baptist. However, the magical rite of washing with water is actually much older than Christ and Christianity. Many centuries before the emergence 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 girls - on the eighth. The rituals of bathing a newborn in water, sprinkling it with water are known among the peoples of Ancient Mexico, China, Japan, Tibet, New Zealand, Africa, etc. Practically in all pre-Christian religions there were rites of ritual washing of a newborn, whose purpose was to purify him from 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 to be a beneficent force.

Winter meets summer at the Candlemas. In northwestern Russia, writes I.P. Kalinsky, - this holiday is known as the tombs, since there is a custom here to bring candles to church on this day for the consecration, which are called tombs. Introducing the consecration 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 tombs. The clergy claimed that “these candles smash the power of demons, so that they do not harm with thunder and lightning, torrential rains and hail, easily brought down by the permission of God, sorcerers or wizards; and therefore the faithful (believers) during a thunderstorm light these candles in order to experience the fruits of prayer; they also give the dying into the hands of a tomb to defeat and drive away Satan, the prince of darkness.

Pancake week

And we rolled Shrovetide,

And we did not see in the eye,

We thought: carnival for seven weeks,

It’s already a carnival for seven days,

Maslenitsa beckoned

Great post planted

And to hell, to the radish,

For white cabbage.

It is known, - writes R.N. Sakharov, - that since ancient times in Russia Maslenitsa has served as the most cheerful and spacious public holiday. At Shrovetide, every day in the old days had a special meaning, by which the very character was usually determined. folk amusements and entertainment. Monday, for example, is called a meeting, because then the beginning of Shrove Tuesday was celebrated; Tuesday - flirting, since from that day they began different kind entertainment, dressing up, riding; Wednesday is a gourmet, since then treats were opened for everyone with pancakes and other similar dishes; Thursday - wide, because Shrovetide revelry began with it; Friday - mother-in-law parties, when sons-in-law treated their mothers-in-law; Saturday - sister-in-law gatherings, as on this day young brides invited relatives to their feast. Saturday was also the day of seeing off Shrovetide, since the next day was the day of forgiveness.

“Our Maslenitsa,” we read from I.P. Kalinsky, - could not do without the commemoration of the dead. Our Church usually devotes the Saturday before Shrovetide week to the commemoration of the deceased forefathers, fathers and brothers, and this Saturday is popularly known as Parental or Grandfather's Saturday. On the day of forgiveness, there is a touching farewell to each other, which is a kind of request for the remission of each other's sins. And this forgiveness is accompanied by kisses and the saying: "May the sun not go down in our anger."

The kids rode on a sleigh from the mountains. There was a sign: whoever slides down the mountain further, those in the family will have longer flax.

“Winter entertainment for men and women,” writes historian N.I. Kostomarov, - it was to skate along the lew: they made wooden horseshoes with narrow iron strips that bent up in front, so that the iron cut the ice comfortably. The Russians skated with amazing ease and agility.

Winter festive evenings were held in the home circle and with friends: songs were sung, swags (storytellers) told tales, interlocutors made riddles, dressed up, made each other laugh, girls wondered.

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

Our ancestors said that the Annunciation is God's biggest holiday. On this day, as on Easter, Ivan Kupala, Christmas, Peter's day, the sun plays at its sunrise. Our ancestors considered not only a grave sin for the annunciation to undertake any business, but believed that even an unreasonable creature honors this great holiday. They said that if a bird sleeps through the Annunciation Matins and curls a nest on that day, then as a punishment for this, its wings are taken away from it for a while, and it cannot fly, but instead walks on the ground. According to ancient folk belief, on the day of the Annunciation, God himself blesses the earth, opens it for sowing. From here the custom originated on the eve of this holiday or on the very holiday to consecrate prosphora or seeds: both are then stored by our farmers until the first spring crops, as a sign of God's visible blessing, for good growth and fertility of the fields. Many signs and observations are associated with the day of the Annunciation, according to which our commoners guess about the weather and the future harvest. Between the rites and beliefs associated with the Annunciation, some have survived from pagan antiquity. Such, for example, is the custom of burning straw beds and old shoes, jumping over bonfires (he who jumps higher will have higher flax), fumigation as a preventive measure against all kinds of diseases. These rites are close in nature to the Kupala rites. They expressed faith in the cleansing and healing power of fire, which is characteristic of all ancient pagan religions, and in particular the ancient Russian one.

Among the Greeks and Romans, during solemn public purifications, as well as during the performance of cleansing rites by private individuals, the fire on the altar played, apparently, an intermediate role between the means of burning the sacrifice and the cleansing agent. Belief in the cleansing power of fire passed to its derivatives - smoke, coals, smut, ash. We have seen many examples when people explained jumping over ritual bonfires with therapeutic purposes. For the same purpose, cattle were driven through the smoke near the fires. This also includes the fumigation of houses, sheds, cattle, etc. with smoke (incense). Often, magical rites of purification 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. Hence the idea that fire can destroy all evil, protect from witchcraft, from witches, from evil spirits. Sometimes the defense against evil spirits takes very real forms. For example, in some regions of Finland on Thursday of Holy Week (3 days before Holy Easter), evil spirits were expelled from the courtyard: “... they lit a fire in a tar box or in a tar barrel, put it on a sleigh and drove around the courtyard. Old shoes, pieces of leather, rags were thrown into the fire.

Many ritual actions associated with fire belong to the complex of fertility magic. It is known to fertilize the 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 flax would grow tall. The joint jumps of a guy and a girl through the flames of a ritual fire were supposed to secure their future marriage. In some regions 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 holiday meal.

From pagan times, rather 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 sure of the success of their enterprises for a whole year.

To be lucky, one must burn a pinch or two of salt in the oven: burnt salt is also useful in the treatment of fever or delirium.

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

If the hostess drives the chickens off the perch on this day between morning and afternoon, then by Easter they can already demolish fresh eggs for christianity.

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

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

Whatever you celebrate the Annunciation, such is the whole year.

Easter

“For the Passion Day throughout Russia, they were preparing for the meeting of Easter. Everywhere they made Easter, baked Easter cakes, painted eggs, washed, cleaned, cleaned. The youth and children tried to prepare the best and most beautiful painted eggs for the Great Day.

Colored eggs are an inevitable part of the Easter break. There are many legends among the people 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, having fallen to the ground, took the form of chicken eggs and became hard as a stone. The hot tears of the Mother of God, who sobbed at the foot of the Cross, fell on these blood-red eggs and left traces on them in the form of beautiful patterns and colored specks. When Christ was taken down from the Cross and placed in the tomb, the believers collected His tears and divided them among themselves. And when the joyful news of the Resurrection swept among them, they welcomed the tears of Christ from hand to hand. After the Resurrection, this custom was strictly observed by the first Christians, and the sign of the greatest miracle - tears-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 away and were carried away along with streams and rivers to the sea, coloring the sea waves in a bloody color ... But the most common custom of Easter eggs was preserved even after that ... "

Another legend says the following:

“Jesus Christ, as a child, loved chickens, willingly played with them and fed them. And the Mother of God, in order 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 propitiate him, brought him a gift of painted the greatest art eggs. She put them in her apron, and when she prostrated herself before Pilate, begging for the Son, the eggs rolled out of her apron and rolled all over the world ... Since then, they have served for us as a remembrance of the sufferings of Christ and of His resurrection that followed."

“The images and patterns reproduced on Easter eggs are very diverse and originated in antiquity. Both simple arabesques and stylized images of various sacred and simple items, which serve as decoration for Easter eggs, were created a long time ago and are passed down 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 among the Little Russian and South Slavic women at a very high level. A special brass handle with horsehair is made, natural colors are selected (yellow, red, green and less often black). Paints are certainly bred on “clean” water, that is, brought from a well or source that has not yet been clouded by anyone, especially an “unclean” woman or animal. The Easter egg craftswoman is very afraid of any witchcraft and the evil eye. Therefore, anyone who enters the house while painting eggs considers it his own to spit in the direction of the artist for a long time and say: “Chur, chur, do not 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 painting eggs falls on Good Thursday. Here comes the egg yolk, wax, both brushes. 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 the shell in this place. Under the wax, a white pattern will remain, and the paint (say, purple, obtained from sunflower seed husks, will cover the entire egg purple tint). The wax will rub off, 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.

And they wash themselves with red water easter egg to be ruddy...

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

“On the Easter holiday,” writes N.I. Kostomarov, - some organizers of the games made up a profitable business for themselves from this: they arranged a swing and let it swing, collecting silver money (half a penny) from their faces.

The Germans of the Rhinelands held an "auction of girls", first timed to Shrovetide, later to May 1 or Easter. The girls were played like at a real auction: which of the guys offered the maximum price for the girl, he received her as a dancing 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 was the “May King”. The guy had to protect and protect the girl in every possible way. Sometimes such comic grooming turned into a real one. (Spring holidays)

Trinity

When the magicians (they are 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 go to Jerusalem to inform the Jewish king Herod about this, and at the same time ask for help to find this baby. Herod was frightened and called on his wise scribes, who reported that, according to ancient predictions, such a messiah should be born in Bethlehem. Herod sends aliens there so that they find out the name of their future rival, the pretender to his throne.

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

A prophetic dream predicts to them that it is dangerous for them to return to Jerusalem, and the Magi go to their homeland. According to the number of gifts presented by the Magi, it was established that there were three of them. This correlated with the three persons of the Trinity, with the three ages of man and the trinity of the human race, with the Three Handed One, one of the revealed icons of the Mother of God.

The trinity of fingers puts a cross.

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

But Trinity rain - a lot of mushrooms.

Holy Trinity Day is celebrated on the 50th day after Easter. Since ancient times, “Pentecost” has been accompanied by many rituals, such as weaving wreaths, divination, swinging, boating, 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. The young birch served as its symbol. 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 soil fertility. The Lusatians (a Slavic tribe in Germany) had a custom: a girl who weeded flax, after finishing weeding, had to run around the field three times, stripped naked and uttering a conspiracy.

On the night before the Trinity, it was customary in Russia to “plow the village” so that the cattle would not fall. The girls in all white are harnessed to the plow, and the guy with the whips is escorted in complete silence. They plow a cross with a plow, put incense, bread, juniper or birch branches in the middle. The procession goes around the whole village and returns to this cross. After that, the girls begin to guess.

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

- They scatter the fragments of the old plow: in which direction the fragment fell - from there the betrothed will come.

- They burn old men's trousers - then there are more brides.

Whit Monday

Every evil spirit is afraid of the spirit of the day. People said: "From the Spirit of the day, not from one sky - from under the ground heat comes."

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

Meet the wedding on the road - the day will be unprofitable, and the funeral - on the contrary.

The lip itched - you have to kiss with a sweetheart.

Eyebrows itch - to the meeting. If the right eyebrow itches - to a date with a loved one, if the left eyebrow itches - a meeting with a deceitful and hypocritical person.

Here is how Abbot Pamphil, who lived in the 16th century in the Pskov region, describes this festival, which has come down from pagan times: splashing and dancing; wives and girls and nodding heads, and their mouths are hostile to screaming, all bad songs, and their backbone is wobbling, and their feet are jumping and stomping; there is a great fall, male, female and girlish whispering, fornication to them, and defilement to wives of men, and corruption to virgins.

“From these rites of the Kupala holiday,” writes I.P. Kalinsky, one cannot fail to see that for our ancestors it was some 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. In order to prove that it was the ancient Russian Kupala that was a cleansing holiday, it is enough to recall that in general among many peoples of antiquity (we have already talked about this above), fire was revered as the highest cleansing element. It is known, for example, that our princes could appear before the face of the Tatar khans only after passing through fiery bonfires. In the same way, washing with water was constantly recognized among almost all ancient peoples as an act of purification.

In the Rumyantsev collection of 1754 we read: “On Ivanovo night, treasures are guarded, and baths are steamed on the grasses, and the grasses are torn, and the roots are dug, birch trees are also tied up, branches are woven, so that a person will live that summer.” In Little Russia, the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist is simply called Ivan Gulyashchiy, apparently because this day has been celebrated from time immemorial with all sorts of folk pleasures, amusements, and entertainment.

Grass Nechuy-wind

Along with fern and other herbs endowed with magic power, in our people the immortelle is also revered. It is called so because it does not fade for a long time, but dries up and retains its color and shape well. Ancient people endowed it with supernatural properties, believing that the soul of the deceased moves into this flower so that through it it can communicate with friends and relatives. It is also popularly called in a special way - nechui-wind. This nechuy-wind, according to legends and legends, helps the blind to open treasures. On the night of Ivan Kupala with a nechu-wind, a catchment area and a flowering fern in your hands, you had to pick a tear-grass flower and walk around the lawn until a pain appeared in your eyes. And as soon as she appears, pick up a spade and quickly tear the ground: the cursed treasure should be under your feet.

This grass, according to the sorcerers, grows in winter along the banks of rivers and lakes. The common people think that the one who possesses this grass can always stop the wind on the water, save himself and the ship from drowning, and finally catch fish without nets. Nechuy-wind should be collected on January 1st, under Vasiliev evening, at the dead of midnight. The villagers think that at this time, the evil spirits, walking along the lakes and rivers, throw the Nechuy-wind grass to destroy the storm. Only blind people can find it, and even then they should take it not with their hands, but with their mouths. Then they begin to wield her power.

Grass Adam's head is in great respect among the villagers. The sorcerers, like the fern, collect it on Midsummer's Day and keep it secretly until Maundy Thursday. According to the popular concept, the magical power of Adam's head extends only to wild ducks. Hunters who received this herb from the hands of a sorcerer's note, fumigate all the shells they use when catching ducks on Maundy Thursday, not otherwise.

Midsummer night is starry - there will be a lot of mushrooms!

Midsummer Day came, he went to collect grass.

On Midsummer's Day, as on the eve of it, they lay out bonfires, light them, jump over them, and also bathe in water and dew, dance around a tree. On this day, brownies, mermen, mermaids and goblin commit pranks. The fern blooms at midnight on Ivan Kupala, and with its help they open treasures. Kupala dew is sprinkled on the walls of the house, beds and furniture to drive away bedbugs and cockroaches.

On this day, everyone pours water on each other, laughs, and has fun. In the evening, the bath is heated. 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: the herbs collected that night were considered the best medicine, just like the dew of that night. In European countries, girls tell fortunes by throwing wreaths on the water on Midsummer Night. On this night, the girls ride naked in the dew. Everything is done in silence. Silence is a sign of belonging to world of the dead. Silently they collect and bring water for magical actions, and it is called "silent water."

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

Polish girls guessed at Ivan Kupala on flowers: they pour water taken from a spring or a fast-flowing stream into a basin and throw into it two flowers without stems, say, two daisies; if they parted ways, then the lovers will part, if, while floating, the flowers converge, then they will be married this year.

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

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

The month of August is rich - just enough.

August and fish have a full time.

During the harvest, the reapers tried to find the largest number of grains on one stalk. Such an ear is called a "vital uterus" or "ergot". They are cherished all year until a new sowing, sowing begins with these grains, with the hope of getting a big harvest from them.

These days, one should stock up the plakun-grass, which protects from all misfortune and human malice. “Weapon grass,” writes I.P. Sakharov, - grows into an arrow; the color of her crimson, 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 keep you from every calamity."

“Healers,” writes Zabylin, “use the root of Plakun to expel brownies, witches and evil spirits guarding the treasure. This herb is credited with making unclean spirits weep, hence the name."

Apple Spas

The Second Savior is an hour for everything (fruits ripen).

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

And an increase in hay. Otava - autumn hay, summer hay will save.

love apples

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

The first farewell of summer and the meeting of autumn, autumn; people went to the field with songs to see off the sunset.

Nativity of the Virgin

On this day, women meet autumn by the water. Osenins, the second meeting of autumn. Relatives are visiting the newlyweds. And after three days of Fedor - soak the tails. It is believed that on this day autumn rides on a bay mare. “Autumn Fyodors tuck in their hem,” says the proverb. And I remember the summer, when the girls, during festivities and games with the guys, did not really hold their skirts, flying on a rope swing over the heads of astonished men. A.M. Gorky wrote about how the guys liked to “bare the hemlines for the girls, pulling them right over their heads ...” The girls perceived this quite peacefully, and were not even in a hurry to hide their naked bodies, but deliberately fiddled with the hem stretched over their heads for a long time. "Not every Indian summer will reach Fedora." Ripe rowan. It is collected directly with tassels and hung under the roof. Rowan is used for rowan kvass or strong tincture. Mature viburnum is also hung out. In the cold, the berries become sweet. These days, a peasant's house is filled with all sorts of vegetables: mountains of carrots, turnips and rutabaga, from which they prepare "boys" (boiled and dried in a Russian oven). The bow is tied and hung on the walls. Cabbage is chopped and sour in tubs. Sunflowers peel, bite seeds, having gathered with the whole house. There is a thick layer of husk on the floor - this is done on purpose so that the day of harvest celebration will be remembered. The smell of apples and vegetables, currant leaves, oak, dill reigns in the house.

September smells like apples, October - cabbages.

In October (dirty) neither on wheels nor on sledges.

“These days, Kapustin's parties begin,” writes I.P. Kalinsky, for two weeks. Bread moved from the field to Vozdvizhenie (the last hay from the field), the bird moved away, snakes and snakes hid. "Wheel road!" - they shout to the cranes to turn them back. On Astafyev's day, they guess the weather from the winds: north to cold, south to heat, west to bad weather, and east to a bucket. Among the steppes, the south winds are called "sweet" and promise fertility.

Bread is dried in barns by making a fire in it. On the fire, the boys bake potatoes, they say different stories associated with a barn or bean goose - the owner of a barn, who can shove in the side so that he takes his breath away if you don’t please him with something. It can also throw fire on sheaves and burn the crop. So you can’t sleep, but you have to guard the fire day and night.

Weekly tour, one-day hiking trips and excursions combined with comfort (trekking) in the mountain resort of Khadzhokh (Adygea, Krasnodar Territory). Tourists live at the camp site and visit numerous natural monuments. Rufabgo Waterfalls, Lago-Naki Plateau, Meshoko Gorge, Big Azish Cave, Belaya River Canyon, Guam Gorge.

Russia is a country with a long history. Moreover, this history is reflected not only in official annals and chronicles, but also in folk culture - in the traditions of Russia, which took shape and took root over a long time. Each feature of the Russian character, each custom or ritual is a new page in history, which can be read by both tourists who come to Russia for a short time, and the natives of the country.

The traditions of Russia, which the country is now famous for and proud of, are of mixed origin. Some of them came from ancient pagan times, when the inhabitants of Russia worshiped the forces of nature and believed in their unity with their native land, the other part originated from Christian rituals and customs, and the third became a kind of "alloy" of pagan and Christian cultures.

The traditions of Russia, which came from pre-Christian times, include the Maslenitsa holiday, and the Christian ones - Easter. But Christmas in Russia gradually lost its truly religious meaning, because typical pagan fun “mixed” with it - carols on the night of January 6-7, when young people go home, sing ritual songs and begging for refreshments from the owners.

Unfortunately (or maybe, on the contrary, fortunately), not all the customs and rituals that our ancestors used were preserved until today. Some traditions of modern Russia do not fit at all, so they remained only in historical chronicles and memoirs of old-timers. However, some of the customs and traditions of Russia have passed through the centuries and are popular even now.

The story about the customs and traditions of Russia can be carried on for a very long time. Some of the customs of Russia have already sunk into oblivion and can be restored only from descriptions in the literature or the memoirs of old-timers, others are still in effect, so you can admire them “live”.

Perhaps one of the most striking and popular customs of Russia, which came to us from pagan times, is Shrovetide. Seeing off winter and meeting spring in Russia since ancient times took place on a grand scale. Both in the villages and in the cities, festive treats were prepared all week, ruddy and fragrant pancakes were baked. Sleigh rides from the mountains, fisticuffs were arranged for the amusement of the public. The apotheosis of the festive week came on Sunday, when the people burned the effigy of Maslenitsa, thus driving away the evil winter and calling for spring as soon as possible.

AT modern world Maslenitsa is not celebrated as widely as it used to be. However, the traditions of this holiday preceding Great Lent are still observed. It is difficult to find such a house in which pancakes would not be baked on Maslenitsa, and a straw effigy is still burned in cities during festivities. In a word, Maslenitsa has remained one of those Russian customs that are not afraid of either years or historical changes.

Culture and traditions of Russia. Russian character

Undoubtedly, the culture and traditions of Russia have a huge impact and on the nature of the people living in the country. Russians, like any other nation, have their own special features, known throughout the world.

In particular, one of the main national characteristics character is Russian hospitality. Since ancient times, meeting guests has been considered one of the main cultural traditions Russia. And although meetings with bread and salt are a thing of the past, Russians, as before, show great hospitality and friendliness towards guests.

Another character trait that very clearly characterizes the culture and traditions of Russia is love for one's homeland. Moreover, the homeland for Russians is not an abstract concept, but a specific place where a person was born and raised. If in Europe moving from one country to another is considered a common occurrence, then in Russia it is almost equivalent to treason, even if the reason for changing the place of residence was quite valid.

Various traditions of the peoples of Russia

Russia is a multinational state with about 200 different ethnic groups. And it is natural that each such group has its own cultural “baggage”, its own traditions, customs and rituals.

The traditions of the peoples of Russia can be studied for a very long time. Tourists who are interested in this issue should go on a special ethnographic tour to get to know how multinational Russia. And every nation that a traveler-researcher encounters will surely reveal to him a lot of new and interesting things.

It is worth saying that the formation of traditions is a continuous process. Some of the historical traditions of Russia are becoming a thing of the past or are changing under the onslaught of modern realities. But the new traditions in Russia, on the contrary, are gaining a “place under the sun” for themselves and are entering the life of the Russian people. In addition, some national traditions in Russia are gradually gaining popularity and are gradually becoming nationwide and ubiquitous. Perhaps only specialists can track all these processes, but everyone can see their result - the totality of modern Russian traditions.

As in the old days they saw off to the soldier's service.

In the old days, men in soldiers served for 25 years. Since there was no railway at that time, the conscripted soldiers had to walk to and fro. To do this, they had to go for long weeks. Moreover, who went to the soldiers, they were soon forgotten in the village, upon their return they were not given land. Therefore, at that time there were also deserters who evaded drafts, who hid and lived in the forests located close to the village. Such people were called "tarkans". FROM long time ago persons drafted into the army were escorted with all honors. They were invited to visit, gave scarves, etc. The future soldier sang a song before leaving for the soldier's service with his friends and peers, waving a bunch of numerous scarves and walked through all the streets of the village. Relatives and neighbors invited the future soldier and his friends to their house and seated them at a table prepared in advance with gifts. The hosts treated everyone to beer, and an embroidered towel was hung on the soldier's shoulder. At the same time, everyone read a prayer, turning to God with the words: “May God protect you and bring you home safe and sound!”. Those leaving home for 25 years were escorted to the soldiers as if he was going to his death. Relatives on the road prepared food and supplies in a special bag. Somewhat later, in some places the soldiers who had already returned home began to be recognized as respected people. If such people started families and had children, then in the church during registration and baptism they indicated "Father-soldier Ivan." Many of these customs of seeing off to the army are still preserved in the countryside. For example, a man leaving for the army sings a farewell song with his friends while walking through the streets of the village and waving a bunch of handkerchiefs. Relatives and acquaintances invite him to their house and bless him for military service, and at the same time they hang an embroidered towel on his shoulder.

How they greeted each other when they met.

This custom in handwritten book described as follows: “previously decent people respected each other, when they met each other they bowed, exchanged good words. Poor people and rich people were equal in this regard: they bowed in public or without strangers. People were somewhat intoxicated when they walked down the street, reaching the courtyard of some Ivan or Peter, shouting, for example, hello to Ivan or Peter, or bread and salt to Ivan, Peter. These words were like respect for these people. The younger ones were the first to say hello. Nowadays, these customs are observed mainly by the elderly. When they meet each other, they shake hands, bow, taking off their headdress, wishing each other good health.

Religious rituals.

Before the adoption of the Orthodox faith in our village, the villagers did not pray to God, but observed religious rituals similar to the Old Believers. For example, in the book of Andrei Mikhailovich, the rituals of the Old Believers in our village are described as follows: “The rituals of the Old Believers were performed in the place where the water mill was located. At that time, and even now, there is the so-called "Ivan-mountain". People gathered here certain time and prayed, and after that they dined from the common big cauldron. Each brought cups and spoons for himself. In addition, the peasants prayed every day, leaving the house, in the yard, bowing towards the barn to an unknown god. Such rituals were called "Kiremet". After the adoption of Orthodoxy, all the villagers regularly attended churches and prayed. At the same time, all Orthodox rites, baptized newborns and got married only in churches. There was no church in our village, and there is none now. Therefore, the villagers went to the church of the village of Vysokovka, which still exists today. The village of Vysokovka is located in the northwest of our village.

How young people got married and got married.

In winter, women and young girls were engaged in spinning wool on homemade wooden looms. Such classes were held not only in huts, but also in black warm baths after washing the family. Despite the beggarly lifestyle, young girls got married. At the same time, the rite of marriage was always observed. For courtship in the house of the bride, the groom invited the closest relatives. The groom's parents took an embroidered towel, a loaf of bread, a keg of beer and a circle homemade cheese. They were symbols of abundance and prosperity. future family. During the courtship, the parents agreed on the timing of the wedding, what ransom the groom had to pay for the bride, which of the relatives to be the planted father. Grooms, as a rule, rode for the bride on good horses, like real cavalrymen on saddles. At the moment when the bride was leaving her father's house, the groom "treated" her with a whip 3 times. From that moment on, she was allegedly the wife of the groom. It also meant that from that moment on, the bride's father hands her over to the groom. Often there were cases when brides were abducted by force, and then the parents locked the bride and groom for the night in the barn. After that, they already went to the church for the wedding. After the wedding took place, as Andrei Mikhailovich writes in his book, according to custom, they did not have the right to divorce. Whether they loved each other or not, they had to live their lives only together. At present, some customs have been preserved: the rite of matchmaking, weddings.

How thieves were punished.

In his book Reflections Alone, Andrei Mikhailovich writes how thieves were punished in our village in the old days: it was for the crooks and bandits was on hand. Come, take, kill - no one hears. The royal gendarmes were then too far from the village. For this reason, barns were built with doors facing the hut, and richer people built two-story barns. Moreover, less valuable things were stored on the lower floor, and more valuable things were stored on the upper floor. Only 1-2 families were richer in our village. Such families covered the roofs of houses and barns with wooden boards, and later even with sheet iron. At the beginning of the construction of the village in our places there were many crooks who stole not only agricultural products, but even women and animals. However, when houses began to be built at close range, each from a friend, according to the principle of "street", it became more difficult for crooks to openly engage in the theft of agricultural products, small animals. Therefore, they began to steal horses not only while they were on the pasture, but also in the conditions of keeping them in the yards of the peasants. In 1910, the cost of one working horse reached 30-40 rubles, which was 70-80 pounds of rye, which was very beneficial for robbers and thieves. At that time, if a peasant is left without a horse, it meant almost the death of the family. There is nowhere to work, there are no enterprises around where you can earn money, the peasant has nothing to sell in order to support his family. Even if there was a good dressing, a barn for keeping a horse, the crooks managed to kidnap horses, dragging them through the storehouse, using logs, thick boards and ropes for this. However, if the locals caught such thieves, there was no mercy for them. In 1913, an unknown, previously convicted, was going to steal a horse from the peasant Zinoviev Kirill. However, the locals noticed the thief. Local residents said that he had been escorted somewhere. And where and in what country - no one knows. Previously, local residents had the right to take measures against the guilty, such as working somewhere in the construction of houses, cellars, sheds, etc. And with regard to murderers, major robbers had the right to send them into exile in Siberia for up to 25 years. In our village, a peasant named Terenty, after exile, returned from Siberia and lived in the village until 1913 and died here in old age. In 1890, in our village, a man named Unichem was sent to Siberia for 25 years for systematic hooligan acts by the decision of the people of the village. He returned from there after the 1917 revolution. After that he worked on the railroad until old age. In old age, no one cared for him. In general, at that time, the peasants did not respect thieves and crooks, and openly hated them. There were cases when a petty swindler was caught, such people were punished in public with rods or they were led around the village and forced to shout: “I am a thief, a swindler, so that no one will ever steal.” horse, and suspicion fell on fellow villager Vasley. For this, allegedly by mistake, he was beaten half to death. Another case was when a peasant named Dmitry stole two carts of unthreshed sheaves and brought them home. For this, the locals beat him on the soles of his feet. This man then became blind and soon died untimely. Even in 1921, for stealing potatoes, taking a crook by the hand, they took him around the village and made him shout that he was a crook. Residents did not communicate with crooks and thieves at all, they did not even sit down to dine with them. There were two cases when stealing horses were beaten to death. In general, those who returned from exile to the village were looked upon as predatory animals. According to the author's notes, royal power the guilty were not sent to prison. They were simply punished on the spot at the discretion of the locals. The author gives an example of how one was stabbed to death with a sickle during harvesting, another was killed with a knife in the office of the volost executive committee. At present, thieves are not punished like that, this is done by the relevant police and prosecutor's offices.

Holidays.

AT summer time before the start of harvesting grain in the field, young boys and girls gathered in the late afternoon at a predetermined place, where they sang songs, danced, played all kinds of games. All this was heard from afar. The impression is that the whole village is celebrating. Such funny companies they dispersed only at nightfall. Young people, in order to meet each other more often, visited churches, markets, and fairs. The closest bazaar at that time was the village of Vysokovka. This is a village 4 kilometers from us and there was also a church where both young and old gathered on Mondays. Here in the bazaar they sold almost everything that a peasant needed: cheap manufactory, scarves (called red goods), shoes, shirts, trousers, etc. Here, almost nearby, there is a church where everyone went after visiting the bazaar. The most acceptable place of entertainment for young people was the village of Malye Kibechi. Such holidays were called carnival in honor of the king's coronation day. Here, on this day, young and old rejoiced, drank, noble people were rewarded by raising them on their hands and up, so several times. Holidays, the so-called "Trinity holidays" were also fun days. Such holidays were held after the end of the sowing campaign on the outskirts of the forest called "Pekat". On the day appointed for the holiday, young and old residents of the villages of Small Kibechi, Middle Kibechi, Lower Kibechi, Upper Divlizerovo, Chelkumaga-Kibechi gathered here. All kinds of performances were shown here, amateur art groups participated, dances and dances were organized, as well as sport competitions. Old men and women went there with the aim of possible selection of brides for their sons. Even in winter, people, especially young people, found time for entertainment. For this purpose, they gathered for parties somewhere in a freer room (hut, bathhouse). Such parties in Chuvash were called "ulakh". Here the girls spun, embroidered, and the guys chose their brides. Boys and girls met here using all sorts of religious dates. For example, baptism, New Year, Shrovetide, Christmas, Christmas, Easter.

How Easter was celebrated (monkun).

Easter was celebrated for a whole week. Guys and girls in the ravine sledding, dancing right on the street without music. In the old days for such purposes in the village they used musical instruments gusli and shybyr (bagpipe). Easter is a celebration of the meeting of the spring new year according to the ancient Chuvash calendar. The name monkun is translated into Russian as "great day". Adults in this festive week went to relatives. They certainly invited the named fathers and mothers of newborn children, new sons-in-law and matchmakers, as well as other relatives. We visited with a large number of gifts, and each brought his own beer. There were always colored eggs on the table. Guests and hosts picked up one egg each and knocked them in turn. The last unbroken egg was placed next to the icons, believing that it would bring good luck to the house. A large number of gifts were supposed to contribute to the wealth and well-being of the owners. In turn, the hosts also tried to richly present guests. Fathers and mothers - godparents of children brought them shirts each. Children, on the other hand, were supposed to be gifted with shirts at their wedding. It was believed that children bring happiness, health and prosperity to the house. Therefore, if a boy came to the house on the first day of Easter, it was believed that cows would bring bulls, sheep - rams. But heifers and yarovka were more desirable. Therefore, the boys tried to let the girls go ahead of them. The one who entered first was carried in his arms to the front corner and seated, putting a pillow on a chair in front of the table, they treated him as best as possible. At the same time, the children had to sit still, otherwise, allegedly, the birds would not hatch the chicks. Some of these customs have survived to this day: dyeing eggs, going to relatives with gifts, the first person who comes to visit is put on a pillow, treated as best as possible.

Customs are historically established in any locality (or among a certain community) the rules of behavior of people in a particular life situation.

What are the customs

Depending on which event in human life they are all tied folk customs can be divided into the following large groups:

• wedding customs;
• funeral customs;
• customs for the baptism of a child;
• holiday customs (these include the customs of celebrating church and folk holidays- Easter, Trinity, Ivan Kupala Day, Christmas, Shrovetide, etc.);
• customs for laying a new house;
• customs associated with sowing and harvesting.

wedding customs

• A wedding in Russia is preceded by a number of customs. Any wedding begins with the bride's bride. After the wedding, matchmakers are sent to the bride's house. After the matchmakers agree on the dowry and receive consent from the bride's parents, the wedding day is set. On the day before the wedding, a bachelorette party is arranged. During a meeting with her friends, the bride says goodbye to her former unmarried life.
• On the first day of the wedding, in the morning, the bride puts on her wedding dress to the plaintive tunes of her friends. The groom's boyfriend comes to her house to find out if the young woman is ready for the wedding.
• After this visit, the groom drives up to the bride's house with matchmakers and the inalienable and still the most fun part of the wedding action begins - the ransom rite. The bridesmaids flatly refuse to give the groom their future spouse, ask him and the matchmakers comic riddles and demand a ransom for entering the house and for the bride herself. All this fun ends with the fact that the groom gives his girlfriends money and sweets, picks up his bride and takes her to the altar.
• From the church, the newly-made husband takes the young wife to his house, where they are met on the threshold by the groom's parents with an icon and a loaf in their hands. After receiving parental blessing, the young married couple enters the house, they are seated in a central place at the table and presented with gifts. Then begins a plentiful and long wedding feast.

Funeral customs

• The body of the deceased person is washed immediately after his death. This is done by elderly widowed women. Wudu can only be done in daylight hours days.
• In a house where there is a dead person, all mirrors are hung with a dark cloth.
• While a dead person lies in the house, they do not sweep the floor and do not wash things.
• The deceased is carried out of the house feet first.
• When they carry him to the cemetery, in no case do they cross the road in front of the funeral procession.
• After the funeral, a feast (commemoration) is held for the rest of the soul of the deceased.
• On the evening after the funeral, the floor in the whole house must be washed.

Baptismal customs

• They try to baptize the child in a period of time, starting from the eighth and ending with the fortieth day after birth.
• Godmother and father cannot be husband and wife.
• The godfather on the day of baptism gives the baby a cross and the Holy Bible, godmother gives kryzhma - a long white shirt embroidered and trimmed with lace.
• After baptism, a festive dinner is always arranged with a lot of sweets - candied nuts, sweets, cookies and buns. The main treat of such a dinner is baptismal porridge - buckwheat boiled in milk and thickly flavored butter and honey.

holiday customs

The number of holidays is so great, and the festive customs are so diverse that it is simply impossible to describe them all in detail in a small article. Therefore, we will only talk about the most famous of them.

• Easter cakes are baked, eggs are painted and curd Easter is made.
• On Easter morning people go to watch the "sun play". On a hillock, they wait for the sunrise and look at the sun disk rising from the horizon through a smoked glass. It is believed that on this festive morning the sun scatters rays that sparkle with all the colors of the rainbow.
• On Trinity in the church, green branches of trees and bouquets of wild flowers are consecrated and richly decorated with them dwellings.
• On the night of Ivan Kupala, to cleanse from evil spirits, they jump over the fire and splash in open water. On Midsummer Day, medicinal herbs are collected, which, according to folk beliefs, at this time they acquire a special healing power.

The history and culture of the Russian people goes back many centuries. All these years it was constantly enriched with new phenomena and traditions, but continued to keep the memory of the experience and customs of their ancestors. Often, Russian national rites form a rather bizarre combination of actions due to ancient pagan beliefs, which, nevertheless, harmoniously correlate with Christian Orthodox canons.

Most of the rituals in Russia, one way or another, are connected with religion, and more ancient, pre-Christian traditions with the mythological personification of the elements and natural phenomena.

The most famous and important pagan rites that have survived after the baptism of Russia include:

1. Maslenitsa.
2. Ivan Kupala Day.
3. Caroling.
4. Yarilin day.

All of them, one way or another, were associated with the archaic ideas of the Slavs about the forces of nature and were most often tied to some events, calendar or seasons.

Pancake week

From ancient times, the event that occurred on the day of the vernal equinox was celebrated widely and on a grand scale. People rejoiced at the arrival of spring: it is no coincidence that the symbol of this holiday was a pancake - a miniature symbolic sun. Maslenitsa itself symbolized winter. It was believed that after the rite of burning, she would transfer all her powerful energy to the earth, thereby ensuring a rich harvest and protecting her from natural disasters.

Ivan Kupala Day

Initially, the holiday was tied to the day of the summer solstice, but the name itself, which has come down to our days, received already in the Christian era by the name of John the Baptist. This epithet in Greek sounds like a “bather”, “immerser”, which is quite consistent with the essence of the celebration - ritual bathing in an open reservoir. This holiday very clearly demonstrates the bizarre combination of Christian religious traditions with pagan, archaic beliefs and rituals.

One of the main traditions on Ivan Kupala is jumping over the fire. It was believed that this promotes purification, protects against ailments and allows you to protect yourself from evil spirits. It was very important to swim in a river or lake on the night of Ivan Kupala, since the water was considered purified from all evil spirits and acquiring some magical properties.

Yarilin day

Again, in the beginning pagan holiday, dedicated to the god of the sun - Yarila, with the adoption of Christianity, some motives were added about the struggle of saints with a pagan deity.

On this day, the ancient Slavs turned to Yarila for help to ensure the crops. sunlight and protected from flooding. An important ceremony that took place on this day was called “Opening the Earth”. By all means it was necessary to swim in the dew, because. It was believed that on this day it has healing and miraculous properties.

caroling

This rite, as a rule, was timed to coincide with Christmas time and was a round of everyone in the house in the village by a group of young people and girls who sang comic songs or good wishes to the owners, receiving a ritual reward for this. The ancient Russian tillers were sure that participation in Christmastide rites doubled the energy of fertility and contributed to an increase in crop yields, livestock offspring and ensured general well-being in the courtyard.

With the adoption of Orthodoxy, a significant number of religious rites appeared associated with the onset of certain important stages in a person’s life. Among the main ones are:

1. Baptism.
2. Wedding ceremonies.
3. Funeral rites.

Baptism

The rite of baptism meant the spiritual birth of a person and his belonging to the Christian religion. The child had to be baptized in the first year of life. For each baby were assigned God-parents who presented the child with an icon of his patron and an Orthodox pectoral cross. They called the newborn in accordance with the name of the saint mentioned in the calendar.

The choice of godparents was treated very responsibly: it was believed that they were responsible for the child and should set a worthy example for him to the same extent as biological parents. After the ceremony in the church, a festive and generous feast was arranged with the presence of all people close to the newly baptized baby.

wedding ceremonies

For weddings in Russia, they tried to set aside certain periods in the calendar year. It was impossible to marry during big posts. In addition, weddings were rarely played during the period of the most intensive agricultural work.
The main wedding ceremonies included:

• Matchmaking.
• Look and look.
• Collusion.
• Wedding train.
• Wedding.

Not a single wedding was complete without matchmaking. This was milestone, on which the groom's family made a decision on whether it was worth persuading the girl they liked to marry their son. Moreover, very often at this stage, they were not even interested in the opinion of the potential newlyweds themselves, and the bride and groom could only see each other only on the bride.

If everything suited both parties, a wedding conspiracy took place, during which, the heads of families, in literally, hit each other on the hands, symbolically denoting the achievement of principled consent to marriage between their children. During the agreement, the wedding date, invited guests, as well as other organizational issues were discussed.

Refusing to marry after conspiracy meant dishonoring yourself and your potential spouse. In case of refusal, the “injured” party had the right to demand compensation for all losses associated with this action.

On the day of the wedding, a wedding train was assembled, which was an elegant britzka, wagon or sleigh, at the head of which was the groom's friend who ordered the route.

Finally, the most important wedding ceremony was the wedding. After the completion of the sacrament, the parents were waiting for the young in the groom's house, met them with bread and salt and rolled up a generous and cheerful wedding feast.

Funeral rites

The main meaning of all the rites associated with the burial of the deceased was the desire to facilitate his transition from this world to the kingdom of God. The funeral service could not be performed if the person was not baptized, committed the sin of suicide, or did not confess or receive communion within a year before death. The deceased was dressed with a pectoral cross, dressed in clean clothes and covered with a funeral veil. Music was considered inappropriate, as were flowers.

It was believed that the main thing on this day is a prayer for the forgiveness of the sins of the deceased. After the burial of the deceased, the relatives organized a memorial meal, which was accompanied by appropriate prayers. Bringing food to the churchyard was considered unacceptable. According to tradition, food was brought to the church and treated to parishioners. On the 3rd, 9th and 40th day, a memorial service was ordered in the church. All this time, relatives mourned for the deceased, dressed in dresses of dark shades.