Russian hut windows

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

The Russian "window" comes from the word "eye". That is, the window is a kind of sensory organ of the home. The origin of the English window, which is not difficult to determine, is somehow connected with the wind (wind). To be more scrupulous in translation, the window can be interpreted as a device for creating drafts. That is, there is no question of any visuality.

If we translate the “English window” in accordance with the “house” system of the senses, then the window is undoubtedly the respiratory organ (nose or mouth).

Traditional window of a puritan house

So, the British lived with built-in "noses" for several centuries, until in the middle of the 17th century the Puritans - the Protestant sect - became active on the island. And here they are, as they say, "pulled their eyes over their nose." The organic function of the English window has changed. From now on, windows also became eyes, however, not at home, but in society. As you know, the Puritans advocated complete transparency of the private life of community members, so it was strictly forbidden to curtain windows. Any honest Christian, in a fit of suspicion, should have been able to check whether his brother is living right.

With difficulty, the British fought off the Puritans - they left to "supervise" overseas, and the curtains returned to the windows of some of the British. True, the habit still remained: in some towns in Scotland, the curtain on the windows is still considered bad form. And in "fraternal" Protestant Amsterdam and Lutheran Stockholm, until recently, there was a strict ban on curtains.

Now about the Russian "window" tradition. As already mentioned, our window played the role of an eye. The space of the Russian house symbolized the inner world of a person. An uninvited intrusion into a home from the outside was considered a great blasphemy. As, in fact, and peeping into the windows.

At the same time, the door of the Russian hut was always open for guests.

Russian windows did not serve to look from the street into the house, as in the case of Protestants, but, on the contrary, to look out of the hut at the created world. In other words, windows in the Russian tradition are the “eyes” of the inhabitants of the house. In Protestant culture, windows serve as the eyes of society. The puritanical spirit of overseeing people has carried over to modern Anglo-Saxon political tradition. The roots of liberal ideology - the transparency of citizens, an open society, all these countless election observers, control over "rogue states" - lie precisely in the habit of looking into other people's windows.

The windows in the Russian hut, like the eyes of a house, were decorated with trims and shutters.

The window connected the world of home life with the outside world, and therefore the decor of the windows is so decorated. But windows are not only an exit to the outside, but also an opportunity to get inside. Each owner tried to protect his home, to provide the family with satiety and warmth, safety and health. How could he do this? One way to protect yourself is to surround yourself with security signs. And the platbands not only closed the cracks in the window opening from drafts and cold, they protected the house.

A large collection of Russian platbands can be seen in our photo album:

Here are some photos from this wonderful collection:

See also the film: