The custom of collective aid in the Russian countryside

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

For a long time, the people had a wise custom of helping each other in various jobs: building a house, harvesting, mowing, processing flax, spinning wool, etc. Collective help was arranged on different occasions. Usually, the whole world helped widows, orphans, fire victims, the sick and the weak:

Well, some woman with small, small, fewer guys will not have time to squeeze, they will gather to help her, and the whole world will wait for the women. (Yaroslavl Regional Dictionary)

Such assistance was carried out by the decision of the rural community. The community, as you remember from history, guided the entire life of the village: economic, social, and even family and household. A peasant in need of help turned to a village gathering. But more often it happened that he himself invited ("called") people for help, turning not to the entire community, but to relatives and neighbors.

Help could have been organized differently. So, the neighbors agreed to take turns helping each other in different types of work, for example, chopping cabbage. And cabbage in the villages was fermented in large quantities, because the families were crowded. Also, manure, which accumulated in the yards during the cold season, was taken out to the fields in turn. It was a good and, as we now say, environmentally friendly fertilizer. Assistance primarily extended, of course, to heavy, labor-intensive work, where one family could not cope: construction, transportation of a hut, repairing a roof, as well as urgent ones: harvest crops, mow hay, dig up potatoes before the rains.

Thus, public assistance can be conditionally divided into three main types: 1) - peasants throughout the village worked for orphans, widows or simply low-powered farms, helped the world of fire victims; 2) - the neighbors agreed to take turns helping each other, i.e. there was an exchange of workers; 3) - the owner had to complete certain work in one day.

The custom of gratuitous collective assistance is widely known among many peoples of Europe and Asia: Ukrainians, Belarusians, Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, Hungarians, Dutch, Belgians and others. A similar custom concerning the peoples of the Caucasus is described in the well-known Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (St. Petersburg, 1901. T. XXXIII, p. 439). The fact that collective assistance is of a universal (universal) character is natural and understandable - at all times people could not live and survive without mutual assistance.

Help was usually provided on Sundays and holidays. Those who helped came with their own tools, tools, if necessary - horses and carts.

After work, the owners treated those who helped. Before the feast, everyone changed into smart clothes, which they specially took with them. So, the work is over, the time of the real holiday is coming. No wonder in many places in Russia, or (this is the name of this ancient custom in Russian dialects), "played", "celebrated." Let's remember the expressions: in the village it meant arranging a whole festive action, consisting of several obligatory parts. So it is with the help arrangement: first of all, the owner or hostess invites people to help in advance, going around every house; on the appointed day in the morning, everyone gets together, distributes responsibilities, then work directly follows, and the whole merry walk ends. As you can see, this is not an ordinary job, but labor for another, in favor of someone in dire need of help. That is why it was allowed to be held in those days when, according to church and secular rules, it was forbidden to work. People gladly accepted the invitation and eagerly worked.

Interestingly, in some villages, lunch or dinner, completing the aid, had to traditionally consist of 12 courses. This was done so that each month "received" its portion, and therefore, the whole year was "fed", appeased. The well-being of the owners themselves was seen in this. After dinner, games and dances were started, young people rode horses around the village, sang songs and ditties. Here is one of them:

Let's explain some words unusual for the literary language: - a guy with whom a girl is friends, a boyfriend; - the name of the rite in most of the Russian dialects; - there is a lingering rain; harvest - manually (sickle) harvest grain from the field; - not for long.

Depending on the nature of the work, assistance was divided into (building a house, covering the roof, installing an earthen stove), (processing flax, spinning wool, harvesting, cleaning a hut) and in which men, women, youth and even children were employed (removing manure, mowing). I must say that the custom still exists in some Russian villages. This is evidenced by the materials of dialectological expeditions, in particular, expeditions conducted annually by specialists from the Institute of the Russian Language named after V. I. V. V. Vinogradov of the Russian Academy of Sciences and expeditions of the Faculty of Humanities of the Lyceum "Vorobyovy Gory".

As a rule, the help was arranged in "everyday life", or "routine", i.e. "About one day". This means that the work began and ended within one day. The above words - "everyday life", "routine" - we find in V. I. Dahl in the dictionary entry "Ordinary". Churches are also common: the church is common. Such a church was built by the whole world in one day. A church or house built in one day, according to the ideas of our ancestors, was protected from the influence of evil spirits. Sometimes ordinary churches were built according to a vow (a promise made to God, the Mother of God, the saints) during epidemics or in gratitude for salvation after some kind of disaster. In many places there are similar temples, in Moscow, for example, there is the Church of Elijah the Obydenny (originally it was wooden, and now it is stone).

The most common name for help is (- plural). So they say in most of the territory of the center of the European part of Russia. In the west, in the Pskov, Smolensk, Bryansk, Kursk dialects, such a custom is called, and the stress can be on different syllables: more often, less often -,. The rite is also preserved in the southern Russian dialects:. Similar names are widespread in other Slavic languages: Belarusian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Polish.

Etymologically, these names are related to the verb ‘to press’, from which the words (crowd of people) are also formed. Corresponds with them in meaning and - work in which a lot of people take part. Some villages had their own, nowhere else found names with this root: (in the Ryazan region), and (in the Tver region), (in the Nizhny Novgorod region) *. The participants in the ritual who helped in the work were named based on the name of the help, respectively, and.

In addition to the two main ones, less common naming conventions are also used: from the verb ‘help’ which is considered obsolete and colloquial. Etymologically, it goes back to the pronoun in other Slavic languages, the verb in question is known in the meaning “to act, to produce”. From him the noun is formed. In addition, other names from the verb are also known. They are not often used, only in certain Russian dialects. In the Yaroslavl village it is written: - said a native of the Altai village.

In the south of Moscow, in the Oryol, Kursk and Ryazan regions, the name 'is found, which is rare for the described rite. Most likely, it meant neighborly help and was formed from the word (variants -) ‘neighbor, comrade, member of the community’, known in the South Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian dialects, as well as in other Slavic languages.

These terms mean any kind of assistance, regardless of the nature of the work. When it was necessary to name a specific work, they used the definition: and under.

However, in many dialects there were special names for each type of work. Let's dwell on them in more detail.

1. Help in field work

Harvest: vy'zhinki, dozhi'nki, burnt-out, spogi'nki;

Threshing: ka'sha, straw, ta, beard, circle;

Weeding: grind, grind polish;

Mowing: hay houses, beard ', hovru'n;

Removal of manure on the field: na'zmy, nazmy '(formed from the word nazem - manure), otvo'z, navo'znitsa;

Tillage in Russia has always been the basis of peasant life. The well-being of the economy largely depended not only on the harvest, but also on whether the peasants had time to harvest it. It was with the aim of quickly completing the work that they were going to help. She became part of a rite dedicated to the end of the harvest. And the names were given to her - all from the root. Women and girls from all over the village came to help, with their sickles, smartly dressed, because the work itself was perceived as a holiday. She was accompanied by various magical actions. The most important moment came when it came to reap the last strip. This responsible business was entrusted either to the most beautiful girl, or to the most experienced, respectable woman. Several ears on the strip were generally left uncompressed - they were tied with a ribbon or grass, decorated with a wreath, bending to the ground, and bread and salt was placed under the ears. This rite was called "curling the beard." That is why in some villages they call help. At the same time, the reapers (women who reap) sentenced:

Or:

(Is a compartment, compartment in a barn or chest for storing grain.)

In some places, the reapers stuck their sickles into their beards, and then prayed to God or the saints:

And it was also customary to ride on the stubble (compressed field) so that women did not hurt their backs from work. And again they said, referring to the field:

As we can see, in all these actions ancient, still pagan features are intertwined - worship of the Earth as a source of life force - with Christian beliefs - prayer to God and saints.

The last sheaf compressed from the field was especially revered. In some places it was supposed to be pressed in silence. And then the birthday sheaf was decorated, in some places they dressed up in a sundress or cleaned with a scarf, then they brought them to the village with songs. The sheaf was given to the hostess, who arranged to help. She put it in the red corner next to the icons and kept it until the New Year. The grains of this sheaf were believed to have healing powers. In winter, they were fed to cattle in small portions, given to animals in case of illness.

By the time the women returned from the field, the hosts had tables set with refreshments. In the north, they always fed porridge. Therefore, the custom was called here. In some dialects, as already mentioned, they called help. This word also means porridge, but not from cereals, but porridge made from flour and similar to jelly. In addition, the hostess offered lush pies, nuts, sweets, and sweet mash. Wealthy peasants prepared a wide variety of dishes: their number ranged from 10 to 15. And in the south of Russia, during a feast, some of the guests walked around the village, glorifying, glorifying the owner, while the most beautiful girl carried a decorated sheaf, and her girlfriends rattled with sickles, rattles, jingled bells, frightening away the evil forces. Then everyone sat down at the tables again - and the celebration continued.

Less often, collective help - - was collected during grain threshing. Earlier, grain was threshed by hand with the help of flails, later the simplest mechanical devices for threshing appeared, and only then electric threshers. In many regions, for example, Yaroslavl, the end of threshing was accompanied by a big holiday with refreshments: (Yaroslavl Regional Dictionary).

An important and very widespread type of assistance was the removal of manure to the fields, helping everyone in turn. At first, everyone gathered at the same owner and removed the manure from his farmyard, then passed on to a neighbor. If the village was small, they could do this work in one day, if it was a big one, then in a few Sundays., or, spent at the beginning of summer. Everyone was busy: men loaded manure with pitchforks onto carts, children became charioteers, women and youth threw manure from carts and scattered across the field. Although the work was not very pleasant and difficult enough, it went on amicably and cheerfully: the horses were decorated with bells, ribbons, many jokes were accompanied by the last cart, the participants sang songs and ditties:

In the Tver province, they made two straw stuffed animals - a peasant and a woman, who were taken to the village with the last cart, the peasants met them with a pitchfork and threw them off the cart, which symbolized the completion of the work. After that, a feast was arranged, for him they necessarily cooked porridge, mash. A large number of proverbs are associated with: (ground is the dialectal name for manure).

2. Help with construction work

Installation of a log house on a foundation: vd s'mki, sd s'mki;

Furnace construction: furnace andthie

The name is derived from the verb 'to raise'. This action involves lifting the log house and installing it on the foundation. -men rolled out a previously prepared log house, standing on the ground, and then they assembled it on the foundation. The most important stage in construction is the lifting of the mat, that is, the central ceiling beam. It was supposed to tie a pot of porridge wrapped in a sheepskin coat, as well as bread, a pie or a bottle of mash, beer to the mother. Along the last crown was one of the help participants, who scattered (sowed) grain and hops with wishes of prosperity and well-being to the owners, then cut the rope with food. After that, all those who helped sat down for a treat called.

could be both male and youth help. Usually, to make the work more successful, the owner himself made the guardians - the base for the stove and the form in the form of a plank box, into which the clay was stuffed. The stove, as a rule, was installed in a new, not yet completed house. Only clay ovens were “beaten”, and brick ovens were usually placed. Young people, at the request of the owner, brought clay, kneaded it, and then hammered the clay into the mold with their feet, wooden hammers, worked to the beat of the songs. It was run in one Sunday evening. The work ended, as always, with a treat called stove, the youth sang ditties, danced on the remains of clay.

3. Help for working at home

Flax and hemp processing: dented at'shki, rubbed at'' shki, soot and'ha, har and'know, car and'know;

Spinning of wool and linen: with at'' strands, popr I am'darlings, strand and'' flax, popr I am'' the spirit, at a stretch at'Ha;

Chopping and salting cabbage: cap at'stacks, drip at'stnitsa;

Washing and cleaning the hut: the hut s'tie more s'tie;

Stocking of firewood: woodman and'tsy;

All of these types of assistance, except for wood-burning, are female. Sheaves of flax and hemp were dried in barn before processing. So that flax and hemp did not have time to dampen after this, they had to be quickly processed. Therefore, the hostess gathered neighbors, girls and young women, to help at the end of September. They kneaded the stalks of flax or hemp with crushers, a special hand tool, then ruffled them with ruffles, combed with brushes and combs, getting long fibers of the best grade. According to these processes, joint work began to be called, which were arranged not in huts, but in a barn or a bathhouse, since there was a lot of dust and dirt during work. In many places, there was a norm - each assistant had to have time to process up to a hundred sheaves per night. Of course, the girls sang songs to make the work go well. In Dahl's dictionary, the not often found name is mentioned ‘help women and girls for kneading and shaping flax’, and in the Yaroslavl region. the names and are singly marked.

The fiber prepared for further processing could now lie and wait in the wings. As a rule, women were engaged in spinning on long autumn evenings, from Pokrova (October 14, New Style) to Christmas (January 7, New Style), again arranging help. The titles for such works are derived from the root.

The name is widespread in the northwest and north - in the Pskov, Vladimir, Vologda, Kirov, Arkhangelsk regions. In the southern regions, other names are known: they are found in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Here is how one of the housewives told about in the Ryazan region: (Deulinsky dictionary).

differ from other types of assistance in that the work lasts not one evening, but several evenings in a row in the house of the mistress, at the end of all the work she invites women to dinner. There is another option: the hostess distributes the raw materials to their homes and sets the completion date, and it is on this day that the party is organized. (the so-called helpers), smart, with the work done, going to the hostess. In some villages, a brother, husband, or boyfriend could come to the holiday together with a participant in help. During the meal, the man stood behind the woman's back, therefore he was called, he was given wine and snacks from the table. It is interesting that in some areas they name both the help itself and the day for which the meal is scheduled. This name still existed in the Old Russian language, as evidenced by the monuments of writing.

To female types of assistance belonged. The huts were washed before the big holidays: Christmas, Trinity, but most often before Easter. Usually they whitewashed the stove, if it was earthenware, scraped the walls, benches, floors to whiteness, and also washed homespun rugs and embroidered towels that decorated the icons.

In addition to construction, male help included the preparation of firewood, which was called. We have long, cold winters, to keep the hut warm, to cook food, it was necessary to heat the stove every day, and therefore, a lot of firewood was needed.

In the autumn, when the difficult time of harvesting was already behind and the main field work was completed, it was time for harvesting. The farms began to salt mushrooms and cucumbers. A special place was given to sauerkraut. Girls were invited to harvest cabbage, they were called, and such help was given. As a rule, guys gathered with the girls to entertain them: they played the accordion, joked around. In some villages, the guys took part in the work. Usually, the season of the autumn-winter youth gatherings opened -. As it has been said many times, after the help, the hosts treated all those present, and then the young people had fun until the morning.

Thus, in the Russian countryside, the help of relatives and neighbors in various types of work is a necessary thing. The life of a peasant is not easy; it largely depends on natural conditions. That is why the ceremony was of such great importance. Every villager considered it his duty to take part in the help. Although she was voluntary. It was immoral to refuse to work according to the village ethical standards; society condemned such an act. And life experience suggested that sooner or later every householder needed help. Particularly important in the opinion of the rural community was considered assistance to widows, orphans, the sick, and fire victims. Although in the villages there are differences in the conduct of the ceremony, but everywhere, in all regions, its main features were the same. This custom is also interesting because it combines two main aspects of life - work and holiday. Moreover, in the popular mind, joint work was perceived primarily as a holiday. It was not for nothing that the peasants worked so cheerfully and quickly, joked a lot, sang songs, joked about. The festive ritual meal was the culmination of the action. Recall that lunch or dinner often consisted of several changes to keep you full throughout the year. Porridge (sometimes several) was necessarily served on the table, and from time immemorial among the Slavs, porridge was considered a symbol of fertility. The tradition of a joint feast, treating those who came to the house, and even more so helped in something, is also accepted in urban culture, but its roots are most likely rooted in the peasant festive element of the rite of collective assistance.

We often find mention of this custom, which is important for peasant life, in literature.

Traveler and naturalist, academician I. I. Lepekhin left such impressions in his "Daytime Notes of a Travel … to Different Provinces of the Russian State" (end of the 18th century): who is called an orphan or a widow. " (Italics hereinafter - I. B., O. K.)

And here is how S. V. Maksimov - 19th century writer-ethnographer: “However, the work is over: this is visible, and especially very audible. Hanging sickles on their shoulders, the reapers go to supper from the field to the village, there is porridge with every appendage and delicious seasoning, with purchased wine and homemade brew. The most beautiful girl is ahead; her whole head is in blue cornflowers, and the last sheaf from the field is decorated with cornflowers. This girl is called that."

Here is another example from the work of S. T. Aksakov, writer of the 19th century, author of the fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower": "Of course, the matter did not go without the help of neighbors, who, despite the long distance, willingly came to the new intelligent and gentle landowner - to drink, eat and work together with ringing songs" …

20th century writers this wonderful custom was also not ignored. So, V. I. Belov, a native of the Vologda region, speaking about the construction of a mill in the village, mentions and help (“Eves. Chronicle of the 20s”): “We decided to immediately collect it to start a new, unprecedented for Shibanikha business. were scheduled for Sunday. Two days before that, Paul himself went from house to house throughout the village, no one refused to come. They decided to arrange dinner at Evgraf's house."

A. I. Pristavkin in his novel "Gorodok": "To help is a collective matter, not a commanding one!.. - is a voluntary matter, here everyone is into the vein, and to reject a person is the same as to dishonor him."

And here is how the hero of the story V. G. Rasputin's "The Last Term": "Whenever they put up a house, when they knocked down the stove, that's what it was called:. The owner had a moonshine - he did it, he didn't have it - well, you don’t need to, next time you’ll come to me on”.

Here's what we know about help.

If you visit or live in a village, try to ask its old residents if they know such a custom, whether it existed in your village, what it was called and what types of work it covered.

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* It should be noted that the word toloka in many dialects is used in a completely different sense: "cornfield left to rest", "fallow land", "rural common pasture".