Bread and circuses: entertainment for the people from noble persons

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

In the old days, many wealthy people periodically spent a lot of money on entertainment and treats for the common people. Someone did it just from a bitch, someone flattered their vanity, and someone hoped in this way to earn people's love and devotion.

Royal custom

The tradition of distributing treats to the common people was established by the royal people, who turned the day of their coronation into a general holiday. Back in the eighteenth century, wine fountains and roasting of lamb carcasses on spits were organized right on the territory of the Kremlin, so that everyone could eat and drink to the health of the priest-sovereign.

In the nineteenth century, folk celebrations with royal treats were held on Maiden or Khodynskoye Pole. At the same time, in addition to food and drink, the commoners had a chance to get one of the gold coins thrown into the crowd in honor of the coronation of the new ruler.

Sometimes people managed to drink and eat well at the expense of noble persons. So, in history there is a grandiose reception organized by Count Potemkin in the Tauride Palace. The official reason for him was the capture of Ishmael, but there were rumors that, in fact, in this way he intended to regain the lost favor of the queen. Of course, no one allowed the commoners into the palace itself, since the nobles were having fun there, however, tables with wine and food were set up for the people near the palace, so that almost everyone could get drunk and eat their fill.

Lord's quirks

In the past centuries, the nobles who settled on their estates did not have much entertainment, therefore, in order not to die of boredom, many of them periodically organized unscheduled holidays, treating their serfs with all sorts of goodies and alcoholic beverages.

For example, one of the retired generals named Stepan Apraksin, who lived at the beginning of the nineteenth century, gained the fame of a very hospitable host who gladly received guests. However, he did not limit himself to the methods of the nobility alone. On any day when the master was in the appropriate mood, the peasants could hear the loud sounds of the drum, calling them to join the sudden celebration. Whatever the commoners were doing at that time, they were obliged to drop everything and join the general festivities, during which beer and wine were obtained from the master's cellars. The master did not like objections, and there weren't any particular ones.

The first Russian amusement park

While some rich people entertained the people with episodes, depending on the mood, others strove to create places where everyone could come at any time, relax and enjoy the beauty.

So, at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, among the ordinary inhabitants of St. Petersburg, the garden of the merchant Ganin was in special honor, which could be strolled both during holidays and on ordinary days. Its founder, on a rather vast territory, collected a huge number of all kinds of sculptures and other objects that could usually be found in the estates of wealthy contemporaries. At the same time, most of the elements of the park looked somewhat caricatured.

There were majestic temples and chic pavilions, impressive fortresses and powerful bastions with cannons and soldiers' figures, mesmerizing fountains, mystical waterfalls and even ponds with ships. Biblical stories were interspersed with episodes from ancient Greek myths and pagan traditions. In the depths of the garden, visitors could admire a variety of exotic animals, though carved out of cardboard.

There was a sign at the entrance to the garden, notifying who was allowed into the territory: "kind, honest, truthful and without dogs."

Sheremetev festivities

At the end of the eighteenth century, Count Pyotr Sheremetev, from May to August, every Thursday and Sunday, organized public festivities on his estate Kuskovo, for which both nobles and peasants gathered. The only condition for entry was more or less decent attire and decent behavior. An orchestra played incessantly in the garden, and a boat with guests, decorated in the style of Venetian gondolas, floated across the huge pond. A swing with a carousel was built in the garden, on which the ladies especially liked to have fun. Noble persons could join the beauty by attending a performance organized by one of the serf theaters of Sheremetev. In addition to entertainment, guests were offered all kinds of treats, including exotic fruits grown in the count's greenhouses. Everyone in the estate had fun until they drop, rarely limited to one day.

Entertainment on the banks of the Yauza

Count Razumovsky was also able to entertain the people, in whose park, laid out on the banks of the Yauza, everyone could rest all round the summer. Razumovsky Park smoothly flowed into the adjacent Demidov Park, where you could also go without any restrictions. Visitors walked for hours along the shady alleys, admiring the surrounding beauty, inhaling the aromas of exotic flowers brought from abroad and listening to the music of talented musicians from the orchestra. From time to time, guests were offered a variety of free meals.

In July, Razumovsky organized a stylized haymaking festival. Peasant lads, dressed in embroidered shirts, competed with each other in the ability to mow the grass, and the action ended with traditional Russian round dances and chants.

Festivities in the Oryol estate

Count Alexey Orlov has always been considered a gambling, cheerful and broad-minded person. He did not change at all even after he retired and settled on his own estate. For example, right in front of his house, he organized a public hippodrome, and personally took part in the races on the famous Oryol trotters. The count also adored the fistfights that took place on the ice of the Moskva River. In addition, it was Orlov who introduced the fashion for inviting a gypsy choir for entertainment during holidays and festivities.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the count gathered in his estate everyone who wanted to have fun every Sunday during the summer. Anyone who could get decent clothes was allowed to attend such events. Only frankly poor people were not allowed, which, however, Orlov also did not deprive of attention, generously showering with silver during his trips.

The guests of the festivities organized by the count were offered entertainment for every taste: bright fireworks, the play of a talented orchestra, equestrian competitions, original performances on the stage of the Green Theater and, of course, the songs and dances of the gypsy camp.

May Day traditions

The celebration of May Day turned into a national holiday on the initiative of Prince Dmitry Golitsin, who served as the Moscow vice-governor. Thanks to him, the territory on the border between Shiryaev Field and Sokolnicheskaya Grove turned into a platform for public festivities every year at the beginning of May.

On this day, classes in schools and universities stopped, factories stopped and merchant shops were locked - everyone went to the May Day celebration. Representatives of all classes had fun together, not paying attention to ranks and positions.

Before the holiday, traditional for that time attributes of folk festivities were set up on the field: booths, stalls with treats and all kinds of carousels. Many commoners came here not only for entertainment, but also in order to see the representatives of the nobility live. Usually the nobles went home after the fireworks, and the people continued to walk and have fun for some time.

In Sokolnicheskaya Roshcha, people were having tea, bringing samovars with them and organizing impromptu picnics right on the lawn. In later times, residents of nearby areas began to make money on this tradition, offering their samovars for rent, as well as preparing tea for those who were too lazy to do it on their own.