Genres of Russian folklore: the age-old wisdom of the people carried through the centuries. What is folklore and what genres does it include

Literary researchers distinguish certain varieties or types of folk art. Folklore is divided according to various criteria, but most often the following species groups are distinguished:

labor songs
This is a kind of song genre, the main feature of which is the obligatory accompaniment of labor activity. This kind of folklore is a method of organizing a collective, common work process. Its goal is to set the rhythm with the help of a simple motive and words.

Calendar folklore
The ritual traditions of the calendar year became the basis for the formation. The way of life of the peasant who works “on the ground” largely depended on weather conditions. This gave rise to a large number of different rituals designed to attract good luck, prosperity, a good harvest, etc. The most famous and important holidays were Christmas, Maslenitsa, Easter, Epiphany and Trinity. Each holiday was accompanied by songs, incantations, incantations and special rituals.

Wedding folk art
Wedding folklore implies, first of all, songs that were sung in three main ceremonies: matchmaking, farewell of parents to the bride, and at the main holiday.

non-ritual folklore
This includes all varieties of small genres of oral folk art (chastushka, chant, etc.). But this approach is ambiguous. For example, some varieties are classified as children's folk art: pestles, lullabies, riddles, nursery rhymes, teasers, etc.

oral prose
It implies such varieties of Russian folk art as legends, legends, stories - brief retelling real events, the peculiarity of which is that the narrator was not a witness to what happened.

Song epic (heroic)
This is a very ancient form of oral folk art, telling about some events that happened long ago in the form of a song. Bylina is an ancient song that needs to be told solemnly and slowly.

Artistic creativity
This block includes epic and song genres created in the style of folk, artistic creativity. The most famous of them is a fairy tale.

folklore theater
Performances on the streets were very popular among the population of old Russia. Nativity scene - a type of dramatic work intended for performances in the street puppet theater. Rayok is a kind of picture presentation, which was carried out using a device in the form of a box with illustrations replacing each other. The performance was accompanied by oral histories.
Thus, one can see how diverse folk art culture is, it includes various types (from song folklore to folk theater), as well as genres (from songs and ditties to legends, epics, fairy tales, etc.).
At the same time, the forms of folk art have always been connected with each other: the songs were accompanied by dances and round dances, and the fine arts reflected the thinking and worldview of people.

Folklore is a system of systems. Like literature, it is divided into poetic genera: epic, lyric, drama. Genera are divided into types (song, fairy tale, non-fairy tale prose, etc.), and types are divided into genres. Some genres have a combination of features of different kinds (lyric epic songs). If the classification is based on the mode of existence of works, then folklore will be divided into ritual and extra-ritual. On the basis of volume, small genres are distinguished.

Genre is the basic unit of study of folklore. Each genre is a typical structural model that has the ability to implement a certain life attitude. In the oral folk poetic tradition, genres are interconnected and interact.

Many genres are universal (for example: proverbs, riddles, fairy tales, legends, epic songs). Being perfect forms of artistic assimilation of reality, they lived for centuries in the folklore of different peoples.

Folklore developed depending on changes in everyday life, social life of the people and their consciousness. Many elements of folklore changed, processed, transformed. There was a gradual replacement of the outdated system of genres with a new artistic system.

Russian folklore has its own history. Its roots go back to the ancient Slavic period, and then to the times of a single ancient Russian people. The feudal era led to the flowering of classical folklore. Later, urban folklore appeared, the folklore of industrial workers, and so on.

Early traditional folklore, classical folklore, late traditional folklore — art systems, historically replacing one another.

Folk genres:

I. Early traditional folklore (labor songs, divination, incantations).

II. classical folklore:

1. Ritual.

2. Non-ritual:

a) Prose genres (fairy tale, legend, legend, bylichka);

b) Poetic genres (epic, historical song, ballad);

in) Children's folklore(joke, teaser, pestle, nursery rhyme, undercoat, counting rhyme, etc.);

d) Small genres (proverb, saying, omen, curse, tongue twister, etc.).

III. Late traditional folklore: (chastushki, poetry of the Great Patriotic War, working folklore).

The foundations of the artistic imagery of oral folk art were formed in the prehistoric period, when, simultaneously with the language (human speech), early traditional folklore appeared.

Early traditional folklore is a collection of ancient genera and types of folklore, an archaic system that preceded the formation of the actual artistic creativity of the people.

The question of the early stages of the development of folklore cannot be considered on the basis of the material of only one people. It is necessary to take into account the ancient kinship of close peoples (for example, the Slavs), as well as the universal, typological laws of the development of society and culture, which acted everywhere.

Researchers of early traditional folklore turn to the data of history and language. They conduct observations on the life and culture of ethnic groups delayed in their development, as well as on the remnants of primitive culture in the folklore of civilized peoples. This approach is called retrospective.

Labor songs.

Labor activity played a huge role in the origin and development of folklore.

During labor processes, which required constant rhythmic efforts, labor songs originated in ancient times. They are known among all peoples and were performed when lifting weights, driving piles, plowing a field, drawing water, manually grinding grain, dressing flax, while rowing, and so on. Such songs could be performed when working alone, but they were especially important when working together. The songs contained commands for simultaneous action. Their main element was the rhythm that organized the labor process.

In Russian folklore, echoes of ancient labor songs have been preserved and have come down to our time, which have not lost their production functions. These are the so-called "clubs" - refrains in burlak songs performed on the Kama, Don, and especially on the Volga. They were sung by barge haulers, porters, boatmen, porters. Depending on the type of labor, its rhythm, a rhythmic pattern of the refrain was created.

Divination. Conspiracies.

Signs, divination, witchcraft, conspiracies are known to all peoples. They are based on the mythical perception of the world, which gave the surroundings a special, intimate meaning. In ancient times, they were based on figurative, metaphorical thinking, assimilation by analogy. The vitality of these phenomena is striking: superstition and witchcraft, especially in a modernized guise, still exist today.

Divination- a means of recognizing the future. The fortuneteller does not try to influence the natural course of events, but only seeks to penetrate the hidden secrets. To recognize the future, it was necessary to turn to evil spirits, so fortune-telling was perceived as a sinful and dangerous occupation (for example, fortunetellers took off their crosses).

For divination, places were chosen where, according to the idea of ​​the people, it was possible to make contact with the inhabitants of the "other world" (crossroads, bathhouse, cemetery, etc.), as well as the time of day at which this contact was most likely (evening , midnight, until the first roosters). Nevertheless, Christian images also penetrated divination.

Guessing, people sought to get an answer to one or another important question for them: about health, about the harvest and offspring of livestock, about the fate of those who went to war ... The most numerous were girls' guesses about the upcoming marriage.

The most developed in artistic terms were the sacred fortune-telling - collective fortune-telling about the future. In them, the symbolism of special sub-songs played a paramount role.

The name "observant" comes from a type of divination. Having gathered in a hut, the participants (most often girls) took a dish (bowl), put rings or other small objects in it, taking off themselves, poured water into the dish and covered it with a scarf. (A variation of this rite without water is also known.)

Songs were sung in chorus - poetic predictions, and someone, without looking, took out objects placed there from the dish. First, they paid tribute to the bread and only then sang other songs. They could portend wealth, marriage, the continuation of girlhood, misfortune, death. Whose thing was taken out, the prediction was related to that. The number of songs depended on the number of fortunetellers.

Russians Christmas divination on chickens.1858. Lubok

CONSPIRACY(or spell) - a product of a magical nature, pronounced with the aim of influencing the world, its phenomena and objects to get the desired result. Spells are an integral part of witchcraft. The pronunciation of a conspiracy was often accompanied by actions with water, fire, various objects, etc., as well as the sign of the cross. When pronouncing healing spells (for example, in a bathhouse), the patient was given infusions of medicinal herbs, spat, massage, elements of hypnosis were used.

Conspiracies were passed from elder to younger, more often by relatives. There was a belief that sorcerers must get rid of their knowledge before death, and that they could do this by deceit (for this they had only to touch another person).

They also believed that the text of the conspiracy could not be changed, otherwise its strength would weaken. Therefore, not relying on memory, conspiracies were entered into notebooks. There was even a written form of their existence. However, despite this, conspiracies, like any folklore phenomenon, were subject to variability.

classical folklore- a rich system of developed, artistically full-fledged genres. It functioned productively for centuries, was closely connected with the feudal way of life and the patriarchal consciousness of the people.

Classical folklore works are usually divided into ritual and non-ritual.

Ritual folklore consisted of verbal-musical, dramatic, game, choreographic genres, which were part of traditional folk rituals.

Non-ritual folklore.

In oral prose, two large sections stand out: fairy tales and fairy tale prose. At the basis of their distinction lies the different attitude of the people themselves to fairy tales as fiction and "events" as truth. From the point of view of the people, fairy tales have no other purpose than to act on fantasy. They amaze, surprise, delight, are interesting for their unusual humorous situations.

Tradition is a story about the past, sometimes very distant. Tradition depicts reality in ordinary forms, although fiction is necessarily used, and sometimes even fantasy. The main purpose of legends is to preserve the memory of national history. Traditions began to be written down before many folklore genres, as they were an important source for chroniclers. AT in large numbers Traditions exist in the oral tradition even today.

Traditions are an "oral chronicle", a genre of non-fairytale prose with an emphasis on historical authenticity. The very word "pre-giving" means "to transmit, to preserve." Traditions are characterized by references to old people, ancestors. The events of legends are concentrated around historical figures who, regardless of their social status(be it the king or the leader of the peasant uprising) are most often presented in an ideal light.

Any legend is historical in its essence, because the impetus for its creation is always a genuine fact: a war with foreign invaders, a peasant revolt, large-scale construction, a crowning of the kingdom, and so on. However, tradition is not identical with reality. As a folklore genre, it has the right to fiction offers his own interpretation of history. Plot fiction arises on the basis of a historical fact (for example, after the hero of a legend stays at a given point). Fiction does not contradict historical truth, but, on the contrary, contributes to its revelation.

legends- this is prose works in which the events associated with the phenomena of inanimate nature, with the world of plants, animals, and people (tribes, peoples, individuals) are fantastically comprehended; with supernatural beings (God, saints, angels, unclean spirits ). The main functions of legends are explanatory and moralizing. Legends are associated with Christian ideas, but they also have a pagan basis. In legends, a person turns out to be immeasurably higher than evil spirits. .

Folk demonological stories- these are superstitious narratives associated with characters from the category of lower mythology.

The pagan attitude of the peasants mid-nineteenth in. captured by I. A. Goncharov. He wrote: “In Oblomovka, they believed everything: both werewolves and dead people. If they tell them that a haystack was walking around the field, they will not think and believe; will anyone miss the rumor that this is not a ram, but that something else, or that such-and-such Marfa or Stepanida is a witch, they will be afraid of both the ram and Martha: it would never occur to them to ask why the ram became not a ram, and Martha became a witch, and they will even pounce on that Whoever would dare to doubt this - the faith in the miraculous in Oblomovka is taxing!

In science, demonological stories were first called blades of grass. - those. small stories about goblin, brownies, devils and devils, half-creatures, sorcerers - in a word, about representatives of a dark, unclean force.

Demonological stories are turned to the present, what happened in them is incredible, the narrator experiences a feeling of fear. the main objective, pursued by a bylichka or a past story, to convince listeners of the truth of what is being reported, to emotionally influence them, to instill fear of a demonic being. The plots of bylicheks and bylytsin are usually not large in size, one-motif. The characters are a human and a demonic being. The devil (devil) was very popular - a universal image denoting any "evil spirit". Different characters of the bylichek could be called devils.

The time, the place of the event, the image of the demonic being (his portrait and behavior) are characteristic. Demons appear at the "unclean", borderline time of the year and day: at Christmas time, on the Kupala night, at noon, at midnight, before dawn, after sunset. Everything happens at dusk, on a hopeless night, in fog, in the light of the moon...

A person meets them where they are: as a rule, in deserted and dangerous places. These are wastelands, forest jungles, swamps; crossroads and rosstans of deserted roads; caves, pits, reservoirs, especially whirlpools (for example, near mills), whirlpools; wells, even vessels of water. Demons live on trees (birches and willows, in hazel); in undergrounds and attics, in abandoned houses, in baths, barns, barns; and even in the hut - under the stove or behind it.

epics- these are epic songs in which heroic events or individual episodes of ancient Russian history are sung. In its original form, epics took shape and developed during the period of early Russian statehood (in Kievan Rus), expressing the national consciousness of the Eastern Slavs. (about Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, Vladimir Monomakh, Dobryn, Sadko, Alexander Popovich, Ilya Muromets, etc.)

historical songs- these are folklore epic, lyrical-epic and lyrical songs, the content of which is dedicated to specific events and real persons of Russian history and expresses the national interests and ideals of the people. They arose about important events in the history of the people - those that made a deep impression on the participants and were preserved in the memory of subsequent generations. (Songs about Ivan the Terrible, about the "Time of Troubles", about Stepan Razin, about Petrovsky time, about the Pugachev uprising, about Patriotic War 1812)

Folk ballads- these are lyric-epic songs about a tragic event. Ballads are characterized by personal, family and household themes. Ideological orientation ballads is associated with folk humanistic morality. In the center of the ballads are moral problems: love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, crime and remorse.

Late traditional folklore- this is a collection of works of different genres and different directions, created in a peasant, urban, soldier, working and other environment since the beginning of the development of industry, the growth of cities, the collapse of the feudal village.

Late traditional folklore is characterized by a smaller number of works and, in general, a lower artistic level compared to classical folklore - a rich, developed, centuries-old culture generated by feudal life and a patriarchal worldview.

Late traditional folklore is distinguished by a complex interweaving of the new with the old. In the village repertoire, the transformation of classical genres took place, which began to experience the influence of literary poetics. Proverbs and sayings, anecdotal tales, folk songs of literary origin, children's folklore showed their viability.

The old lingering song was strongly pressed by the city's "cruel romances", as well as the rapidly and widely spread ditty. At the same time, epics, old historical songs, old ballads and spiritual poems, fairy tales were gradually forgotten. Folk rituals and the poetry that accompanied them eventually lost their utilitarian and magical significance, especially in urban conditions.

FROM late XVIII in. in Russia, the first state-owned factories and serf manufactories appeared, which employed civilian workers from impoverished peasants, convicts, passportless vagrants, etc. In this motley environment, works arose that laid the foundation for a new phenomenon - folklore of workers. With the development of capitalism and the growth of the proletariat, the topics expanded, the number of works of oral creativity of workers increased, which was characterized by the influence of book poetry.

The emergence of the working class, a layer of artisans, led to the formation of a new branch in folklore, which over time becomes a noticeable and specific phenomenon.

From peasant folklore, this work inherited the most democratic traditions, experience, forms, and repertoire that meet the spirit of the times and the needs of "their" class.

There was a critical rethinking of them, taking into account the demands of the working class, its position, as can be seen in the example of Russian folk songs, which existed in Russia in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

At the first stage, the emerging songs of the workers were nourished by the traditions of peasant folk songs of social protest, songs of literary origin, Decembrist, populist songs. Peasant song often served as a plot-figurative basis for creating sharply social songs of workers.

The work song, the urban romance, which by that time had formed into an independent branch of creativity, began to actively spread among the peasants, in turn influencing the development of new forms of peasant folklore.

The acquisition by working folklore of its original outlines, the borrowing of various elements from other spheres of creativity and their processing are a process full of drama. It is associated with the rejection of peasant folklore, and in a certain sense with its genre reworking, renewal, and simplification.

Destruction patriarchal way of life life, which began especially rapidly with the second half of XIX in. - since the abolition of serfdom and the capitalization of Russia, has fundamentally changed the situation in traditional art. Folklore gradually moved to other positions in the cultural environment. Folklore of the 20th century is just one paradigm cultural development with all the consequent cardinal changes in the foundations of its existence.

Table "The system of genres of Russian folklore"

Folklore - This is a type of collective verbal activity, which is carried out mainly orally. The main categories of folklore are collectivity, traditionality, formulaicity, variability, the presence of a performer, and syncretism. Folklore is divided into two groups - ritual and non-ritual. Ritual folklore includes: calendar folklore (carols, carnival songs, stoneflies), family folklore (family stories, lullabies, wedding songs, lamentations), occasional (conspiracies, incantations, counting rhymes). Non-ritual folklore is divided into four groups: folklore drama, poetry, prose and folklore of speech situations. Folklore drama includes: Petrushka theatre, crib drama, religious drama. To folk poetry include: epic, historical song, spiritual verse, lyrical song, ballad, cruel romance, ditty, children's poetic songs (poetry parodies), sadistic rhymes. Folklore prose is again divided into two groups: fabulous and non-fabulous. Fairy tale prose includes: a fairy tale (which, in turn, can be of four types: fairy tale tale about animals, everyday fairy tale, a cumulative tale) and an anecdote. Non-fairytale prose includes: tradition, legend, bylichka, mythological story, dream story. The folklore of speech situations includes: proverbs, sayings, good wishes, curses, nicknames, teasers, riddles, tongue twisters and some others.

ritual

non-ritual

calendar folklore

carols, carnival songs, stoneflies,

stubble songs

folk drama

Petrushka theatre, crib drama, religious drama

family folklore

family stories, lullabies, wedding songs, lamentations

poetry

epic, historical song, spiritual verse, lyrical song, ballad, cruel romance, ditty, children's poetic songs (poetry parodies), sadistic rhymes

occasional

conspiracies, incantations, rhymes

prose

fabulous

a fairy tale (which, in turn, can be of four types: a fairy tale, a fairy tale about animals, a household fairy tale, a cumulative fairy tale) and an anecdote, a tale

unfabulous

tradition, legend, bylichka, mythological story, dream story

folklore of speech situations

proverbs, sayings, good wishes, curses, nicknames, teasers, riddles, tongue twisters

The joke is one ofgenresfolklore: a short oral story with a witty and unexpected ending. Anecdotes can rightly be called the favorite genre of our time. In Slavic folklore, the favorite character was a man playing a prank on fellow villagers.

A tale is a traditionally male oral story of a playful nature, claiming to be plausible; refers to small folklore forms. Hunting, fishing, marine, mining, theatrical and chauffeur stories are popular.

Ballad (ballad song, ballad verse) - one ofgenresRussianfolklore, which arose from a folk song with a tragic content. The most important characteristics of ballad songs are epic, family and everyday themes, psychological drama. Ballad songs are characterized by a predicted fatal outcome, recognition of the tragic, and one-conflict. As a rule, antagonistic characters act in them: the destroyer and the victim. Ballads have many features that bring them closer to others. song genres, saturated with fantastic and magical motifs common to the folk epic. The term "ballad" in folklore is relatively new. Proposed by P.V. Kireevsky in the 19th century, it took root only a century later. The people themselves, performing ballad songs, did not distinguish them from others. An example of a classical ballad is the lyrical song "Vasily and Sophia". The whole content is an eternal story about lovers, whose mutual feeling is so strong that they conquer death. Beloved ones are destroyed by jealousy and evil mother Vasily. The plots of many ballad songs are built on the relationship between the girl and the good fellow (“Dmitry and Domna”, “The girl poisoned the young man”).

Bylina is a work of a song nature, a song-poem. It is characterized by the greatness of content, grandiosity, monumentality of images, heroic pathos. The real-historical basis of epics is Russia of the X-XI centuries. About a hundred epic stories are known. There are common plots in Russian and Western European epics (epic heroes fight enemies and non-believers), but Russian epics lack the idea of ​​religious wars; neither loyalty to the leader, nor bloody revenge become the defining themes of the Russian epic. In Russian epic traditions - liberation, protection, glorification of the Russian land and its people. The discovery of the Russian epic took place relatively recently, after the publication in 1804 of Kirsha Danilov's collections, which included 60 folklore works. Subsequently, the collection of epics was supplemented by the finds of P.N. Rybnikov and A.F. Hilferding. A rare fusion of wisdom and poetry distinguishes the Russian epic. Each epic, in addition to the main idea of ​​honest service to the Fatherland, contains reflections on the painful moral and psychological quest of the main characters. So, Ilya Muromets finds himself in a situation of difficult choice: to marry or die.

Bylichka (bylichka) - mythological story which is based on events that allegedly took place in real life. The authenticity, factuality of these stories is confirmed by specific names; exact geographical names of the place of action. The world of bylichek is simple and well known. The main difference between a fairy tale and a bylichka lies in the attitude of the listeners and the narrator to the narrated. If they listen to a fairy tale, realizing that it is a fiction, then a bylichka - as if it were true.

Children's folklore is a generalized name for small genres composed and performed both by children themselves and for them. The genres of children's folklore include songs and poems that accompany the life of a child from the cradle to adolescence: drawing lots, chants, teasers, lullabies, pestles, sentences, nursery rhymes, counting rhymes.

Boring fairy tale (from bother - to bother) - a specific genre of folklore narratives, endless fairy tales in which the same cycle of events takes place. They are often in poetic form.

Spiritual verses are songs of religious content that arose as poetic transcriptions by the people of the foundations of Christian doctrine. Folk names spiritual verses: antiquities, psalms, verses. A characteristic feature of spiritual poetry is the opposition of the religious to the secular. One of the most ancient spiritual verses - "The Lament of Adam" was already known in the XII century. The mass distribution of spiritual poetry begins around the 15th century.

Zhivnaya song is a kind of autumn songs of calendar-ritual poetry. Autumn ritual poetry has not received such development as summer poetry, which sings of agile women - “daughters-winches”, “quail-daughters-in-law”, who went out to the field early and harvested the crops, “so that there was something good to do, okay.”

A riddle is a type of oral folk art, an intricate allegorical description of an object or phenomenon, offered as a test for ingenuity or an exercise (for children) for the development of logical thinking. The riddle belongs to those ancient types of folk art, which, continuing to live for centuries, gradually lose their original meaning, become a qualitatively different phenomenon. Having arisen on the basis of the secret language of the clan, the riddle was once used in military and embassy negotiations, expressed the prohibitions of family life, and served as a poetic means of conveying wisdom.

A conspiracy is a linguistic formula that, according to popular beliefs, has miraculous power. In ancient times, conspiracies were widely used in medical practice (treatment with a word, prayer). They were credited with the ability to cause the desired state of a person (inspire a sound sleep, tame the wrath of an angry mother, keep intact the one who goes to war, feel sympathy for someone, something, etc.) or the forces of nature: “grow a turnip, sweet, grow, turnip, strong" to get a good harvest.

Calendar- ritual songs(Carols, Podblyudnye songs, Shrovetide songs, Vesnyanka, Trinity-Semitsky songs, Round dance, Kupala, Zhnivnye) - songs, the performance of which was timed to coincide with strictly defined calendar dates. The most significant rituals and songs of the summer period, which began with the solstice (Peter-turn) on June 12 (25), are associated with various states of nature. The calendar and ritual poetry contains valuable ethnographic and historical information: description peasant life, mores, customs, observations of nature and even elements of the worldview.

A legend is one of the genres of folklore that tells about the miraculous, the fantastic, which determines its structure and system of images. One of the ways in which a legend arises is the transformation of a legend. Often legends are oral stories about historical figures or about events to which absolute authenticity is attributed (legends about the founding of Kiev). In these cases, the word "legend" can be replaced by the word "tradition". The narrator, stating the facts, supplements them with those created by his own imagination or combines them with fictional motives known to him. At the same time, the real basis often fades into the background. According to the subject, the legends are divided into historical (about Stepan Razin), religious (about Jesus Christ and his apostles, about saints, about the intrigues of the devil), toponymic (about Baikal), demonological (about the Serpent, evil spirits, devils, etc.), household (about sinners).

Small genres - a name that unites a group of genres that are different in nature and originRussian folklore, exceptionally small sizes (sometimes in two words: Phil-simple), which is their main value. This includes nursery rhymes, riddles, proverbs and anecdotes. Small genres not only decorate and enliven other texts, they are very well adapted to independent life. Unlike the epic epic, small genres are not forgotten, they are as relevant as thousands of years ago.

Fables - works of comic poetry, small songs, built on the principle of stringing completely absurd events: Thunder rolled across the sky: \\ A mosquito fell from a tree. It is the fables that clearly demonstrate the opposite, terrible side of the funny. A chain of distorted events, which at first seem ridiculous, gradually creates a single picture of a “shifted”, “turned over” world. Fables are no less philosophical than epic. They, like the global metaphor of laughter, are also a way of knowing life: in visual simplicity they demonstrate to us the universal connection of opposite, "wrong" phenomena of reality. AT medieval Russia the fulfillment of fables was certainly integral part"repertoire" of buffoons.

Folk songs- a genuine artistic encyclopedia of the life of the Russian people. To date, the song, the richest layerRussian folkloredescribed incompletely and inconsistently. The genre division of songs into historical and ballad, robber and soldier, lyrical and round dance is rather conditional. All of them are an example of the finest lyricism and all without exception are historical. Attractive by their purity and sincerity, the songs deeply reveal the character of a Russian person who values ​​his fatherland; who does not get tired of admiring his native land; and their children.

A saying is a widespread expression that figuratively defines any life phenomenon or gives it an assessment: Damn, it’s not a wedge, it won’t split the belly. Where is the grief of the clever, the fun of the fool.

A proverb is a short, apt, stable saying in speech. Compared with a proverb - a witty description given to a person, object or phenomenon and decorating speech, the proverb has a complete deep meaning, contains a wise generalization. The proverb, by definition of the people, is “flower”, the proverb is “berry”. The proverbs capture the life experience of the people: People quarrel, and governors feed. Altyn thief is hanged, honored with a half. Among the people that are in a cloud: in a thunderstorm everything will come out.

The famous Russian scientist and poet M.V. was the first to collect and write down proverbs. Lomonosov. Subsequently, collections containing 4-9 thousand proverbs were published: “Collection of ancient Russian proverbs” (Moscow University, 4291 proverbs), “Complete collection of Russian proverbs and sayings” (Ts.M. Knyazhevich, 5365 proverbs), “Russian folk proverbs and parables ”(I.M. Snegirev, 9623 proverbs and sayings), in the famous collection of V.I. Dal "Proverbs of the Russian people" there are more than 30 thousand of them.

Tradition is an artistic and narrative genre of folklore with elements of fiction. The plot of the legend is usually based on a real event. A vivid example of oral narratives of this type are the legends about the son of the Tula blacksmith Demid Antufiev, Nikita Demidov, the founder of the largest factories in the Urals in the first decades of the 18th century.

A tale is an oral folk story that tells about the past without fiction: Cossack and Siberian tales, “working” prose of gold miners, artisans, miners, etc. In terms of narrative style and structure, tales are similar to legends and legends.

A fairy tale is one of the main prose folklore genres of an artistic and fantastic nature.

Skomoroshins are diverse songs of the mischievous art of buffoons: jester old "rins (epics - parodies), parodic ballads, songs-novellas of comic content, fables. They are united by one thing - laughter. If in the classical genres of Russian folklore laughter is only an element of content, then for buffoons it serves as an organizing artistic principle.

Tongue twisters are a comic genre of folk art, belonging to the category of small ones, a phrase built on a combination of sounds that make it difficult to quickly pronounce words. Patter tongue twisters were used among the people as a teaching tool in the formation of children's speech, its development and subsequent formation, as well as for entertainment purposes.

Chastushka (from frequent) is a short, usually rhymed song of humorous or satirical content. Chastushkas are performed at a cheerful, fervent pace, accompanied by an accordion.

2. Calendar-ritual poetry

Vesnyanka is a song calling for spring and warmth. Vesnyanka sounded in Russian villages after the carnival songs. They reminded that the time for field work was approaching, birds were flying and “bringing spring”. The main dates of the spring call: March 4 - the day of Gerasim Grachevnik (rooks arrive); March 9 - the day of the Forty Martyrs (forty forty birds arrive); March 25 - April 7, according to a new style - the Annunciation (the day when the birds are released from the cages).

Zhivnnaya song is a kind of autumn songs in calendar-ritual poetry. Autumn ritual poetry has not received such development as summer. Only stubble songs are known, filled with gratitude and glorifying nimble women - “daughters-winches”, “quail daughters-in-law”, who “early” went out to the field and harvested, “so that it was, why burn it kindly, okay.”

A game song is a kind of spring-summer songs in the calendar-ritual folk poetry. Already in the names of this type of songs a cheerful mood is reflected, due to the onset of the long-awaited warmth, hopes for a generous harvest (this is in the dirt, you will be a prince!) The opportunity to throw off heavy clothes, show off and look at the future bride or groom. The game songs talked about sowing and growing the future harvest, here was the main theme of the sun - the source and continuation of life, light and heat, the theme of cereals and other plants, the game songs were called: “Poppy”, “Pea”, “Cabbage ”, “Linen”, “Turnip”, “Millet”. Game songs can be divided as follows: - round dance, when the audience moved in a circle or in the same circle depicted various scenes provided for by the content of the song (“There was a birch in the field”); - songs-games performed by participants lined up in two lines one against the other ("And we sowed millet"); - “ghoul” songs, when the players, singing a song, walk one after another around the hut, braid their hands, round off the line, “curl” into a ball (“Braid, wattle”, “Curl, cabbage”). Echoes of both ancient magic and traces of ancient forms of marriage have been preserved in play poetry.

A carol song (carol) is a kind of winter (New Year's Eve) songs in calendar and ritual poetry. The onset of the new year was popularly associated with the increase in the day “by a chicken step” after the winter solstice on December 22. This observation formed the basis of popular ideas about the boundary that separates the end of the old year from the beginning of the new one. The arrival of the new year was celebrated by invoking Kolyada and Avsenya. The word "kolyada" goes back to the Latin name of the first day of the month - calendae (cf. calendar). In Russia, caroling was one of the main rituals performed under New Year. It was accompanied by a walk around the neighbors and carol songs (Avsen), among which one can single out praise songs and request songs:

Kupala songs - a cycle of songs performed on the feast of Ivan Kupala (the night of July 6-7 - according to a new style). They contained elements of ancient magical formulas aimed at protecting the harvest from the machinations of evil spirits and so that bread would be generously harvested.

The Shrovetide song is an invocation of the wide and generous Maslenitsa (it is sometimes called Avdotya Izotievna).

Podblyuchnye songs - songs performed during the game that accompanied fortune-telling. Each player put his own object (ring) in the dish, then the songs were sung. The presenter, without looking, took out the first ring that came across from the dish. The content of the song was attributed to the one whose ring was taken out. The sub-song contained an allegory by which the future was judged.

Trinity-Semitskaya song is a kind of summer songs in calendar-ritual poetry. The most significant groups of rituals and songs of the summer period, which began with the summer solstice (Peter-turn) - June 12 (25), are associated with various states of the sun and the plant world. Summer (Semitsky) rites, later combined with the Christian Trinity, are otherwise called green Christmas time. In the Trinity-Semitsky songs, the central place is given to the birch - the cult tree of the Slavs, the ancestor tree, a symbol of warmth and life.

3. Songs

Burlak songs - songs of barge haulers and about barge haulers. Bargaining originated in Russia at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, when the state was especially interested in the development of water trade relations and the attitude towards fugitive peasants or recruits who were hired as barge haulers was the most condescending. The barge haulers left both family adversity and the cruelties of serfdom. Usually they went downstream in ships and returned, leading ships loaded with goods towed, in addition, they were both loaders and porters.

Historical songs - songs, the occurrence of which is associated with a particular historical event or person. At the same time, individual nuances of the event (“I am from the Kama from the river, Stenka Razin’s son”) or the characterological details of the artistic and poetic portrait of a historical person could be fictional, embellished or turned upside down, sometimes creating an image distorted to the point of its opposite. Unlike epics, with their unchanging poetic structure, historical songs, while possessing the same informative content, no longer have strict compositional rules and obey the laws of other genres. Over time, the epic leaves the developing new genre. Songs of the 17th-18th centuries. become more diverse, acquire social coloring. The heroes of the new songs are real characters - Stepan Razin, Emelyan Pugachev, Ivan the Terrible, Yermak. With outward simplicity, historical songs have a wide folklore context, folklore symbolism actively “works” here: death is perceived as a crossing over a river, heroes are likened to eagles and falcons, symbolic images of trees are widely used - birches, oaks, mountain ash, etc.

Lyrical songs are songs that reflect the world of personal feelings. lyric song helped the people to endure in any situation, absorbed the sadness and pain of loss, resentment and disappointment, was the only way to preserve their own dignity in a state of humiliation and powerlessness. “A song is a friend, a joke is a sister,” says a Russian proverb. Through the spiritual grief, the sad "mournfulness" of the lyrical song, the greatness and moral beauty of the people clearly show through.

Dance (comic) songs - the name of this group of songs speaks for itself. A good, cheerful mood is not alien to Russian songwriting, in which there is a place for laughter, and joke, and mockery. Many Russian dancers have entered the golden treasury of world culture: Kalinka is known in almost every country. The songs “The month is shining”, “You are my canopy, canopy”, “There was a birch in the field” are widely known.

Robber songs - songs of robbers or about robbers. The robber (and prison) song as a genre was formed during peasant uprisings, mass escapes of peasants and soldiers from cruel forced life (XVII-XVIII centuries). The main theme of robber and prison songs is the dream of the triumph of justice. Heroes of robber songs - daring, bold " good fellows"with its code of honor, the desire to comprehend what is happening ("the thought of thinking"), a courageous readiness to accept all the vicissitudes of fate.

Wedding songs - songs that accompanied the entire wedding action from matchmaking to the "prince's table", that is, the banquet table in the groom's house: conspiracy, bachelorette party, wedding, arrival and departure of the wedding train to the church. bride and groom, married couple in lyrical songs they symbolize the inseparable Duck and Drake, or the swan with a swan, especially beloved in Russia. Duck and swan are symbols of eternal femininity, each of which reflects the complex vicissitudes of women's fate. A Russian wedding is a complex complex of almost theatrical ritual actions, including many songs: sentences, eulogies, songs-dialogues and songs-lamentations, reproaches. 1. Wedding verdicts were pronounced mostly by the boyfriend, who played the most important role at the wedding: he was her "director" and the defender of the bride and groom from evil forces. Sometimes sentences were pronounced by a matchmaker, matchmaker or parents. When the friend addressed one of the participants in the ritual, dialogue songs were formed, giving the wedding ceremony the character of a performance in which almost everyone was a participant. After the verdict was pronounced, the parents put bread and salt on the tray, occasionally money; then the guests made offerings. Dialogue songs were extremely popular at weddings. A typical example of girls' songs (performed at a bachelorette party) is a conversation between a daughter and her mother. Magnifications are song praises of the bride and groom, originally associated with incantation magic: the well-being, happiness of the bride and groom seemed real, almost arrived. In later forms, incantatory magnification magic was supplanted by the expression of the ideal type of moral behavior, beauty, prosperity.

Lamentations are lyrical songs that directly convey the feelings and thoughts of the bride, girlfriends, wedding participants. Initially, the function of lamentation was determined by the rite, where the bride presented her departure from the house as undesirable, as an action performed against her will in order to avoid the revenge of the patrons of the hearth. But it cannot be argued that the bride's crying has always been insincere. Swearing songs are joke songs, often parodies of greatness. The function of swearing songs is entertaining, they are colored with humor. They were performed after the completion of all the main actions of the wedding rite.

Soldiers' songs (their name speaks for itself) began to take shape after the decree of Peter I on recruitment kits (1699). The indefinite service, established by decree, forever tore the soldier away from his family, from his home. Soldier and recruit songs are permeated with doom (“the great adversity is the service of the sovereign”), describe the difficult moments of parting with relatives (“From your young eyes, tears roll like a river flowing”), the hardships of barracks life (“What is day or night for us , soldiers, there is no calm: The dark night comes - to be on guard, Bel day comes - to stand in the ranks ") and often inevitable death in battle.

Lamentations stand out as a special group among soldier and recruit songs.

Round dance songs are game songs, the name of which goes back to the name of the ancient solar Slavic deity Khors (cf. good, mansions, round dance). Those gathered moved in a circle, depicting the movement of the luminary across the sky, thereby glorifying, invoking and propitiating the sun, which is so necessary for the harvest. In the same circle, various scenes provided for by the content of the song were depicted. The most popular round dance songs have survived to our time: “There was a birch in the field”, “I go for a walk and along the round dance”, “Along and along the river, along and along the Kazanka”, etc.

Coachmen's songs - songs of coachmen or about coachmen. The life of the coachmen, whose main occupation was the "pit chase", was significantly different from the life of the peasants. They were exempted from taxes, but their situation was still extremely difficult. Often, "service people" did not pay running money, and when the coachmen refused to carry for free, they were beaten, or even shackled. Coaches who tried to return back to the village were forcibly returned to the outpost. Their songs tell of a bleak fate. Motifs about love for the “red maiden”, who “broke her heart without frost”, and about the death of the driver in the steppe, in an alien side, are especially common in the coachmen’s songs.

Children's folklore

A teaser is a mocking joke of a rhyming nature aimed at demoralizing the enemy.

Draw is one of the most widespread genres of children's folklore. Like counting rhymes, draws are designed to distribute game roles. The child chooses one thing, getting a player on his team, or something else.

The invocation is a children's song appeal to the sun, rainbow, rain, birds.

Lullabies are the oldest lyrical songs accompanying the motion sickness of a child. The lullaby is distinguished by unusual tenderness, regularity and calmness.

Pestle is a song or rhyme that accompanies the first conscious movements of the child.

A nursery rhyme is a short song that accompanies the first games of a child with fingers, arms and legs, for example, "Forty-White-sided", when each finger of the child feeds on porridge, and the little finger is not given anything, because it is too small and has not worked out anything. The most popular nursery rhyme since ancient times is "Ladushki".

A rhyming rhyme is a rhyming rhyme with which playing children distribute roles and set the order for starting the game.

Bibliography

Anikin V.P. Theory of folklore: a course of lectures. – M.: University, 2004.

Anikin V.P. Russian oral folk art: a textbook for university students, obuch. according to special "Russian language and literature". – M.: Higher school, 2009.

Afanasiev A.N. Poetic views of the Slavs on nature: In 3 vols. M., 1994 (reprint).

Gudziy N.K., Dylevsky N.M., Dmitriev L.A., Nazarevsky A.A., Pozdneev A.V., Alshits D.N., Robinson A.N. Igor"? Question number 7. - In the book: Sat. answers to questions on literary criticism. M., 1958, p. 25-45.

Demin A.S. Artistic worlds ancient Russian literature. - M .: Heritage, 1993.

Dmitriev L. A. The most important problems of the study "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". - TODRL, M.; L., 1964, v. 20, p. 120-138.

Old Russian Literature in Research: A Reader. - M .: Higher School, 1986.

Ancient Russian literature. Reader. /Comp. N.I. Prokofiev. – M.: Enlightenment, 1988.

Ivanov Vyach. Vs., Toporov VN Slavic language modeling semiotic systems. M., 1965.

History of Russian literature X-XVII centuries. / Ed. D.S. Likhachev. –M.: Enlightenment, 1979.

Karpukhin I.E. Russian oral folk art: educational method. allowance. - M .: Higher school, 2005.

Kravtsov N. I. The system of genres of Russian folklore; Folklore and mythology // Kravtsov N. I. Problems of Slavic folklore. M., 1972. S. 83-103; 113-143.

Kuskov V.V. History of ancient Russian literature. - M .: Higher school, 2003.

Likhachev D.S. Poetics of Old Russian Literature. – M.: Nauka, 1979.

Likhachev D. S. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" - the heroic prologue of Russian literature. L., 1967. 120 p.

Meletinsky E. M. Poetics of myth. M., 1976.

Propp V. Ya. Folklore and reality. Selected articles. M., 1976.

Putilov B. N. Folklore and folk culture. SPb., 1994.

Smirnov I. P. The system of folklore genres // Lotman collection. T. 2. M., 1997. S. 14-39.

The specifics of folklore genres / Ed. ed. B. V. Kirdan. M., 1973.

Trubachev O. N. Ethnogenesis and culture of the most ancient Slavs. Linguistic research. M., 1991.

Folklore. Poetic system / Resp. ed. A. I. Balandin, V. M. Gatsak. M., 1977.

Works. Such folk art enter a person's life very early, long before mastering speech.

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✪ Riddles - small genres of oral folk art

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Types of small genres of folklore

Lullaby

Lullaby- one of the oldest genres of folklore, as evidenced by the fact that it retained elements of a conspiracy-amulet. People believed that a person is surrounded by mysterious hostile forces, and if a child sees something bad, terrible in a dream, then in reality this will not happen again. That is why in the lullaby you can find the "gray top" and other frightening characters. Later, lullabies lost their magical elements, gained meaning good wishes for the future. So, a lullaby is a song with which a child is lulled to sleep. Since the song was accompanied by the rhythmic swaying of the child, the rhythm is very important in it.

cockle

cockle(from the word to nurture, that is, to nurse, groom) - a short poetic chant of nannies and mothers, with which they accompany the actions of the child, which he performs at the very beginning of his life. For example, when the child wakes up, the mother strokes, caresses him, saying:

Stretches, stretchers,
Across the plump
And grabbers in the hands,
And in the mouth of talkers,
And in the head of the mind.

When a child begins to learn to walk, they say:

Big feet
We walked along the road:
Top, top, top
Top, top, top.
small feet
Run along the path:
Top, top, top, top
Top, top, top, top!

nursery rhyme

nursery rhyme- an element of pedagogy, a sentence song that accompanies the game with the fingers, arms and legs of the child. Nursery rhymes, like pestles, accompany the development of children. Small rhymes and songs allow in a playful way to encourage the child to act, while doing massage, physical exercises, stimulating motor reflexes. In this genre of children's folklore, incentives are laid for playing the plot with the help of fingers (finger games or Ladushki), hands, and facial expressions. Nursery rhymes help to instill in the child the skills of hygiene, order, develop fine motor skills and emotional sphere.

Examples

joke

joke(from play, that is, to tell) - poetic short a funny story that a mother tells her child, for example:

Owl, owl, owl,
Big head,
I sat on a stake
looked to the side,
Turned her head.

Proverbs and sayings

They teach something.

• Road spoon to dinner.
• To be afraid of a wolf, do not go into the forest.
• Birds of a feather flock together.
• You can't even pull a fish out of a pond without difficulty.
• Fear has big eyes.
• The eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing.
• A rolling stone gathers no moss.
• A treasure is not needed if the family is in harmony.
• Don't have 100 rubles, but have 100 friends.
• An old friend is better than two new ones.
• A friend in need is a friend indeed.
• If I knew where you would fall, I would lay straws.
• You lay softly, but sleep hard.
• Motherland is a mother, know how to stand up for her.
• Seven do not wait for one.
• If you chase two hares, you won't catch one.
• The bee is small, but it works.
• Bread is the head of everything.
• Being a guest is good, but being at home is better.
• Feet feed the wolf.
• The work of the master is afraid.

Games

There were special songs for the games. Games could be:

• kissing. As a rule, these games were played at parties and gatherings (usually ended with a kiss between a young guy and a girl);
• ritual. Such games were characteristic of some kind of ritual, holiday. For example, carnival festivities (characteristic fun: removing a prize from the top of a pillar, tug of war, competitions for agility, strength);
• seasonal. Especially common among children, especially in winter. They played the so-called "Warmers": the leader shows any movements, and everyone else repeats. Or traditional "gates" and "brook".

Kissing game example:

Drake

Drake drove the duck,
Young sulfur drove
Go, Duck, go home,
Go home gray
Duck seven children
And the eighth Drake,
And the ninth herself,
Kiss me once!

In this game, "Duck" became in the center of the circle, and "Drake" outside, and played like a game "cat and mouse". At the same time, those standing in a round dance tried not to let the “drake” into the circle.

invocations

invocations- one of the types of exclamatory songs of pagan origin. They reflect the interests and ideas of the peasants about the economy and the family. For example, a rich harvest spell runs through all calendar songs; for themselves, children and adults asked for health, happiness, wealth.

The invocations are an appeal to the sun, rainbow, rain and other natural phenomena, as well as to animals and especially often to birds, which were considered the messengers of spring. Moreover, the forces of nature were revered as living: they turn to spring with requests, wish it to come soon, complain about the winter, complain.

Larks, larks!
Fly to us
Bring us a warm summer
Take the cold winter away from us.
We are tired of the cold winter
Hands, feet frostbitten.

Rhythm

Rhythm- a small rhyme, a form of drawing of lots, with the help of which it is determined who drives in the game. The counting room is an element of the game that helps to establish agreement and respect for the accepted rules. In organizing a counting rhyme, rhythm is very important. He sees a Greek: there is cancer in the river,
He put his Greek hand into the river -
Cancer by the hand of the Greek - DAC!

The bull is stupid, the bull is stupid, the bull's lip was white and dull.

From the clatter of hooves, dust flies across the field.

Mystery

Mystery, like a proverb, is a brief figurative definition of an object or phenomenon, but unlike a proverb, it gives this definition in an allegorical, deliberately obscure form. As a rule, in a riddle one object is described through another based on similar features: “A pear is hanging - you can’t eat it” (lamp). The riddle can also be a simple description of the object, for example: “Two ends, two rings, and in the middle there are carnations” (scissors). This is both folk fun and a test of ingenuity and ingenuity.

The role of riddles and jokes was also played by fables-shifters, which for adults appear as absurdities, for children - funny stories about things that don't happen, for example:

Because of the forest, because of the mountains
Grandpa Egor is coming.
He is on a gray wagon,
On a creaky horse
Belted with an ax
The belt is tucked into the waist
Boots wide open
Zipun on bare feet.

General history

Oral folk art (folklore) existed in the preliterate era. Folklore works (riddles, tongue twisters, fables, etc.) were transmitted orally. They memorized by ear. This contributed to the emergence different options the same piece of folklore.

Oral folk art is a reflection of the life, life, beliefs of ancient people. Works of folk art accompany a person from birth. They contribute to the formation and development of the child.

Folklore - folk art, which reflects the views of people, their moral principles, features of life. It appeared before the advent of written language. People have been writing songs and fairy tales since ancient times. Legends about gods, heroes, campaigns and various natural phenomena are retold from generation to generation. For all time accumulated great amount various works. Over time, all examples of the activities of poets and writers began to be called oral folk art. Scientists systematized, determined the composition of each direction, gave the works a scientific name.

Folklore forms

There are two large groups: small and large genres. Small ones include:

• Lullaby. Always used to lull and calm the baby.
• Joke. A short story in the form of a verse that a mother tells a child.
• Proverb. Concise saying that carries a generalized thought, conclusion, allegory. It differs from a proverb in that it consists of a sentence containing a moral.
• Proverb. Displays any phenomenon in life. Its meaning can always be expressed in another phrase. It is not a complete offer.
• Counting. An element of the game that helps establish agreement to accepted rules.
• Patter. A phrase built on a combination various sounds in such a way as to make it difficult to pronounce quickly.

Small forms include invocations, riddles, pestles. They involve a small amount of folklore works, are often elements of pedagogy. Many of them allow in a playful way to encourage the child to action. For example, nursery rhymes suggest doing massage and physical exercises simultaneously with the spoken speech. The most familiar are "Magpie-Crow", "Ladushki".

Songs were also invented for games, which are divided into three large groups: ritual, kissing, seasonal. The first relate to a holiday, for example, Maslenitsa festivities. Kissers were played at parties, they assumed at the end a kiss of a guy and a girl. Seasonal ones are common among children, for example, "Warmers", "Brook".

Children's folklore

One of the most voluminous is children's folklore. It includes works created by adults for children, as well as those composed by children themselves. The structure of children's literature does not differ from that of adults. Many genres reflect the life and work of the elders, therefore, in this direction, the moral attitudes of the people, their national traits are most fully voiced.

Examples include nurturing poetry or mother poetry. It includes fairy tales, songs, jokes created for kids. The second part - works for older and middle-aged children. It:

• teasers;
• comic or game songs;
• puzzles;
• horror stories;
• mirilki.

Almost all of them are distinguished by their rhythm. A feature of many works is the combination artistic text with the game, the presence of a didactic function. One can recognize cognitive, aesthetic and ethical functions in them.

Children's folklore is part of folk pedagogy. Its genres are based on the physical and mental characteristics of children of different age groups. The artistic form is also special: the direction has its own specific figurative system, an inclination towards rhythmic speech or play.

It is not always possible to draw a line between children's and maternal folklore, because from the age of 4-5, children begin to actively imitate adults, repeating their texts. Children's folklore can be found in the children's poetry of such authors as K. I. Chukovsky, S. Ya. Marshak, S. V. Mikhalkov.

Major genres of folklore

This type includes:

• story;
• epic;
• giving;
• legend.

Story

The tale is an entertaining oral story with an instructive focus. A distinctive feature of this genre is the presence of a miracle, fiction. Fairy tales are magical, everyday, about animals. Examples include "The Frog Princess", "Porridge and an Axe".

Truth and good triumph in fairy tales. You can always find the right solutions in them or life paths. The secrets of the ancient world outlook are also revealed. A fairy tale makes a child a participant in a fantasy world, makes him empathize with the characters.

Bylina

Epics are ancient songs in which all aspects of the historical and everyday life of the Russian people are most fully displayed. They amaze with the richness of plots and motives, the power of artistic images.

There are about a hundred epic stories in the Russian epic. There are more than 2,000 entries. Many of them belong to ancient times. Epics always tell about the struggle of two principles. The most famous heroes include Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich. These characters are collective images that capture the features of real people. The leading device in epic narration is hyperbole.

Tradition

For example, "The Legend of the Conquest of Siberia by Yermak" is one of them. This is a story about real people and events of the past, which had to be passed on to future generations. Tradition shows reality in ordinary forms, but fiction or fantasy is used. The direction is characterized by references to ancestors, old people. Events always take place around historical figures who are presented in a good light.

The basis may be such facts as a war with foreign invaders, a peasant revolt, large-scale construction, a crowning of the kingdom. There are two ways to create legends: generalization of memories, generalization and design using ready-made plot forms. The second variety is more popular, since common motifs pass from century to century, but are associated with different events and persons.

Legends are:

• historical;
• ethnographic;
• cultural;
• toponymic and others.

Legend

Refers to non-fabulous prose folklore. This is a poetic legend about a historical event. Heroes are the main characters. Often there are gods and other supernatural forces in the legend. Events are often exaggerated, fiction is added to them. Therefore, scholars do not consider the legends to be completely reliable historical evidence.

Russians folk legends heterogeneous in plot and theme. They are divided into several groups:

• About the creation of the world. Often associated with biblical stories, there may be linguistic elements;
• About animals. Such a narrative tells not only about the origin of a certain species, but also about their features.
• About Christ, saints. They talk about hell and heaven, helping people.
• About the punishment of the evil and the forgiveness of sinners. In them you can learn about how a bad person refused to help a good one, for which he was punished. Good people are always rewarded.
• About family values. In them, the narrative is built on the relationship between spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters.

Examples include: "Miracle at the Mill", "Poor Widow", "Golden Stirrup" and others.

Calendar and ritual songs

These are songs that were sung during various ceremonies: “There was a birch in the field”, “Kolyada-kolyada!”, “Serve the pie”. Such works are associated with the labor of peasants, natural phenomena and holidays. All calendar rituals are associated with solstices and equinoxes.

Rites were always aimed at achieving a specific goal: curing diseases, giving birth to a child. The vast majority of such actions were accompanied by calendar songs. Sometimes they were combined with other forms: lamentations, lamentations. The most common genre of ritual folklore was incantations and incantations. These are magical texts that accompany any ritual.

In conclusion, we note that all works can be divided into lyrical and dramatic. The former include lullabies, ditties, love and ritual songs. Dramatic include works of folklore that contain stage elements of performance.