What could a 10-year-old girl do a century ago in Russia?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Our people have long said: "a small business is better than a big idleness." This principle was strictly adhered to in the upbringing of children. By the age of ten, both boys and girls in peasant families had already become an independent "economic unit" and had many responsibilities.

Girls were taught very early to do feasible work, even earlier than boys. So, from the age of 5-6, they already had to be able to spin, help around the house and in the garden, in caring for their younger brothers and sisters, looking after poultry and cattle.

By the age of 10, thanks to the "science" of mothers, grandmothers and other older women in the family, they were moving to a new level of responsibility.

A ten-year-old daughter was considered already a completely adult girl with all the ensuing requirements for her. If acquaintances and neighbors gave a teenage girl a derogatory definition of "naughty", this was a very bad characterization, and later she could not even count on a good groom.

How was the learning process organized?

Exclusively by personal example: usually the mother, in the process of domestic or field chores, showed and explained to her daughter how and what she was doing, then entrusted her to do the simpler part of the work. As she mastered the necessary skills, the functionality performed by the girl became more complicated. If at 5-6 years old the little housewife had to look after the chickens, then at 10-12 she had to drive the cow out to the pasture and milk it. This progress and continuity of the process guaranteed high learning outcomes.

Did the teenagers rebel against this way of life? Of course no. On the one hand, the labor skills, imparted from early childhood, allowed them to survive in rather difficult social realities, it is not for nothing that the people have developed a saying “You will pass the whole world with a craft - you will not be lost”. On the other hand, the Christian tradition was very strong among ordinary people, and it was precisely in that part of it that concerns the harsh Old Testament. According to him, serving the father and mother was like serving God, and insulting parents and disobedience was equated with insulting higher powers. Children from infancy were instilled such concepts as filial / daughter duty, respect for old age, and the realization that the family is the most important thing in life, and any work for its benefit was respected.

Driving a household - walking without opening your mouth

What exactly should a village girl be able to do by her tenth birthday? Her tasks were very diverse, despite the seeming simplicity of the peasant life.

"Babi Kut". This is the "female kingdom" at the stove. Usually it was separated from the rest of the hut by a curtain, and the stronger floor, unless absolutely necessary, tried not to enter there. Moreover, the appearance of a stranger in the "woman's corner" was equated with an insult. Here the hostess spent most of her time: she cooked food, kept order in the “dishware” (the cupboard where the kitchen utensils were kept), on the shelves along the walls, where there were milk pots, clay and wooden bowls, salt shakers, cast iron, in wooden supplies with lids and in birch bark tues, where bulk products were stored. A ten-year-old girl actively helped her mother in all these troubles: she washed the dishes, cleaned, she could cook simple, but healthy peasant food herself.

Cleaning the house. It was also the responsibility of the teenage girl to keep the house clean. She had to sweep the floor, wash and clean the benches nailed to the walls and / or portable benches; shake out and clean rugs; make the bed, shake it, change a torch, candles, clean kerosene lamps. Often ten-year-old girls themselves coped with one more duty - they washed and rinsed linen on the river, and then hung it up to dry. And if in the warm season it was rather entertainment, then washing in an ice hole in winter turned into a rather severe test.

Pestunism. In large families, “looking after” the older children for the younger was a stern necessity, because the parents worked a lot and hard in the field. Therefore, a teenage girl could often be seen at the cradle, which was attached by a ring to the central beam of the ceiling (“matitse”). The older sister, sitting on the bench, put her leg into the loop, rocked the cradle, and she herself was doing needlework.

In addition to the motion sickness of the baby, by the age of 10, the little nanny could swaddle him herself, make a nipple from chewed bread, feed him from a horn. And, of course, to calm down the crying baby, to entertain him with songs, "little dogs" and jokes. If there was such a need, then at the age of 10-12 the girl could be given to a nanny - "pestuni". During the summer period, she earned from three to five rubles - a considerable amount for a teenager. Sometimes, by agreement with the parents, the nanny was paid with “natural products”: flour, potatoes, apples, other vegetables and fruits, and fabric cuts.

Weaving. A very important element of peasant culture. After all, all the fabric for clothes, towels, tablecloths and other household items was made by the peasants themselves, which is why they called it homespun. First, the girl was taught to wind threads on tarsus (birch bark tubes-spools), then to ruffle flax, and spin tows (threads) from it. In the southern provinces, they also combed wool. Usually all this was done in a long winter in a big "woman's" company.

Already at the age of 5-7, the girl was mastering primary skills, and her father made her a personal spinning wheel or spindle - smaller than that of adults. By the way, it was believed that your own instrument is very important. You couldn't give your spinning wheel to your girlfriends - they were “sporting”, and it was also impossible to use other people's spinning wheels, because “a good master works only with his own instrument”. Then the girl was taught to work at the weaving mill, and by the age of 10, many could already create a belt or towel by themselves. The first "hand-made" was necessarily left to the little craftswoman, and at the next stage she began to prepare her dowry.

In addition to the above, a 10-year-old girl helped adults in the field: she knitted sheaves, collected spikelets, stirred up hay. She also worked in the garden, could graze a cow, a goat, geese, ducks; removed the manure and cleaned the cattle. In general, the teenage crisis flew by unnoticed, because the growing up girl simply did not have time for this. But the hardworking assistant always received support and praise from the elders, who lived according to the principle "Not that daughter who runs away from business, but that daughter is native, which is visible at every job."

However, one should not think that peasant children in Russia were completely deprived of the usual childhood joys. Younger girls played at “mothers and daughters” with rag dolls, weaved braids for them, sewed outfits and came up with jewelry. By the way, it was believed that if a girl willingly plays with dolls, then she would be an excellent housewife and mother. Older girls gathered for gatherings, chatting, singing, knitting, embroidering and sewing. All children, young and old, were often sent into the forest to pick berries, mushrooms, herbs, brushwood, or to the river to fish. And it was also a fun adventure that, at the same time, adapted them to adult responsibilities.

Also read about what a boy could do in a Russian village a century ago.