Turning to the characteristics of the finds of the later period of the 11th-12th centuries, we are faced with a completely different appearance of jewelry, which sharply distinguishes their new types from the jewelry of the previous period. This is a higher stage in the development of decorative art. First of all, their lightness attracts attention. Even large jewelry is made hollow, from thin silver or gold plates soldered together. This innovation is understandable. The warrior of the early period strove to have, if possible, all his treasures obtained by exchange or robbery on campaigns, always with him, i.e., on himself, in the form of an abundance of massive cast jewelry, weapon frames, horse harness. To a large extent, this trend is maintained in the early period of feudalization. With the establishment of the feudal system, the attitude towards the accumulation of values changes. The main wealth of the feudal lord is the land, the enslaved peasants, the estate. On the estate, the feudal lord keeps the treasures he has accumulated through trade and robbery. The value of personal jewelry in terms of the metal it contains loses its former meaning. In its place is the desire to make decoration a means of demonstrating the social significance of the person wearing it, a means of nationwide display of nobility, nobility, wearable rank, place occupied in society.
The privileged representatives of the new ruling class were building a new state, a new religion, a new feudal culture. Therefore, the system of decorations and signs of social distinction developed by Byzantine feudalism perfectly responded to the desire to demonstrate social significance. The Byzantine system was quickly adopted and processed in its own way by the Russian feudal lords, becoming widespread throughout the entire territory of feudal Russia.
Jewelry demonstrating social significance includes large mantles, consisting of several large large flat plaques and beads, placed one or two between them. Mantles, despite their bulkiness, are relatively light in weight, for they consist of thin gold or silver plaques and hollow beads.
Mantles are found in two different types. More rare are gold mantles of fine workmanship, with enamel images decorating the central medallion and intricate filigree patterns along the rim of the plaque. Similar, apparently, to these mantles in social significance are gold chains made of round hollow plaques with enamel images, which are known from Kyiv treasures. The flat neck gold torc of the Kamennobrod treasure (1903) is similar to them, as if giving a transitional type from the actual torc to the shoulder. Silver mantles are known from a number of excavations in various localities, for example, the Suzdal mantle of Uvarov, the Old Ryazan, Spassko-Bulgarian, Novgorod treasures. By type, they turn out to be exactly the same everywhere and, apparently, were widespread breast decorations of the feudal nobility of this period. Comparing silver mantles with gold ones from Kyiv or old Ryazan, one can notice that although they originate from them, they do not completely imitate them. Images of saints, now reproduced with a chisel and in niello, are retained, and even then not always, only on some, usually few, medallions; saints here are replaced by patterns of the so-called "flourishing cross" or simply floral ornaments.
Kolts were another decoration borrowed from Byzantine feudal attire. The kolts of the refined attire of the Byzantine feudal nobility are large gold earring pendants, hollow inside, where a piece of cotton wool soaked in spirits or a thin rag was placed, which choked the hair when the kolt swayed from walking. Many Kyiv gold kolts with enamels of the 11th-12th centuries still preserve the original character of the decoration. But, apparently, it almost completely disappears in silver colts, since the upper hole in the colt recess was usually soldered during dressing. Such silver kolts are also known from the 12th-century hoards of the southern Kyiv group, but they are mostly more characteristic of the Central Russian group of hoards. Excellent examples of them were given by the Old Ryazan and Terikhov treasures of the Oryol province.
Another, apparently eastern, origin has a decoration widespread throughout the territory of early feudal Rus' - a large earring pendant in the form of a star. In the southern Kiev-Chernigov region, the star-shaped type of earring has several options. Small gold star-shaped earrings were discovered in 1846 in Kyiv near the Church of the Tithes and are now in the collections of the Armory. Another variant of similar small earrings, but silver and filled with grain on the rays, contained the Kiev treasure, also found near the Church of the Tithes in the Leskov estate. The third version was given by the Kamennobrodsky finds (1903) of two large star-shaped silver pendants, but different in dressing than those common in the Central Russian group of treasures. Large star-shaped silver pendants, exactly reproducing gold pendants from the finds of 1846, were found in the Kiev treasure of 1903 (the estate of the Mikhailovsky Monastery).
The list made shows (by no means completely) the variety of options for earring pendants of this type in Kyiv, which had a highly developed artistic craft. In the Central Russian region, the type of star-shaped pendant, for all its wide distribution, is relatively uniform in terms of the established dimensions and the nature of production. This is a large six-pointed, less often seven- and eight-pointed star, hollow inside, with smooth balls at the ends of the rays, completely strewn with grains, with a cone-shaped protrusion, also ending in a ball, on the front side. These are the earring pendants of the Terikhov (illustrations below), Vladimir and Old Ryazan treasures.
A similar fact of the well-known simplification and stabilization of the type of decoration of the Central Russian region, in comparison with the richness of options and techniques of the Kyiv workshops of the early period, can be traced from other examples. A characteristic feature of the jewelry of this period of the 11th-12th centuries, in comparison with the previous stage of the 10th century, is an abundance of women's jewelry that has not been seen before. This fact is undoubtedly connected with the change in the role of women in society and the family of the upper classes of feudal society, with the addition, apparently, already now in the main features of the position of women, which she will occupy throughout the entire further development of this society. Among women's jewelry, Kiev treasures show a wealth of types of various earrings, of which, in the Central Russian region, in addition to the kolt and star-shaped pendant, another common type of earring with three hollow solid beads mounted on a stem is common.
Decorations of the Old Ryazan treasure
Decorations of the Spassko-Bulgarian treasure
Take the various types of women's necklaces. In Central Russian hoards, only one type is preserved, consisting of oblong stamped silver blocks. In the Central Russian region, we know the decorations of the Tula and Terikhov treasures (pictures above). Finally, the same phenomenon can be traced in the type of silver agraphs, which served as clasps for ceremonial clothes. The Lgovsky treasure of the Chernihiv province gives us examples of fine workmanship of small agraphs with the most complex cutting of beads with filigree and granulation. In Central Russian hoards, for example, in Vladimir, these agraphs appear, with a few exceptions, in a larger form, more rough and stereotyped in dressing than the southern samples.
Rice. 1. Necklace, sewn-on plaques and a round mirror.
Thus, the art and craft workshops of Kyiv and the Kyiv region of the 10th-11th centuries appear before us as a kind of laboratory for the development of a wide variety of objects and decorations for the ruling class of the new feudal society. This development is based on the processing of widespread local samples, dating back in prototypes to the jewelry of the previous period, based on the ancient technique of making jewelry. But along with alterations, new models and new equipment are widely borrowed from more developed neighboring feudal societies, primarily from Byzantium, and to a greater extent from the southeastern feudal states. Technology is melted into a single and common appearance of all decorations, which diverge in other regions of early feudal Rus'. The motifs are stabilized by a certain typification, formally enriched, and create that undoubted common unity of the inventory of the treasures of these areas, which have come down to us from the period of the 11th-13th centuries.
The local decorations of the tops of the feudal society of the central regions, which do not come from the Kyiv "laboratory", apparently belong to large pendants that were part of a woman's headdress. The pendants consisted of a hollow cone-shaped top, decorated with grain, from which seven or nine chains descend, interspersed with large hollow plaques and ending with similar pendants at the bottom.
Rice. 2. Pendants of a female headdress
Such pendants were found in the Old Ryazan, Tula treasure, as well as in the Kanevsky district of the Kyiv province, one near Smela and two smaller ones from the village of Martynovka (Fig. 2). The latter, however, do not seem to be actually Kyiv products. In character, they are somewhat simpler than Central Russian samples and relatively younger (12-13 centuries). The breast decoration made of chains with round hollow plaques and pendants at the ends, known so far only in two copies, should be attributed to the same local examples of jewelry. The pendants and the whole character of the interpretation of round hollow plaques, arranged in rows on chains, are very close to the chains of the aforementioned cone-shaped pendants. Whether there is a common connection between the parts of a single dress between these two types of jewelry, which have so far been found separately in different areas, is now difficult to say, but it seems very likely.
The hoards of the most remote eastern region (two Spassko-Bulgarian), supplemented by separate finds, give a general appearance of the jewelry contained in the inventory that is strikingly different from the hoards of other regions. The Spassko-Bulgarian treasure (1868) is close in the nature of things to the local antiquities of the barbarian period of the decomposition of pre-class society, on the other hand, to the monuments of the early stage of feudalization discussed above. The treasure of 1888, the main composition of which is formed by beads and nine shoulder plates, typical for similar decorations in the central regions of the 12th-13th centuries, belongs to a later time. These mantle medallions clearly show that in the eastern region, decorations common to the entire ruling class of the early feudal society also spread, but here they are already combined with other types of jewelry, such as earrings with chains and beads and flat bracelets with animal muzzles engraved on them. Similar bracelets are also known from other individual finds near the village of Bolgari (Fig. 3).
Rice. 3. Bracelet
found near Bilyarsk, Kazan province
In the treasure of 1868, the most remarkable in terms of height and subtlety of the work of the master are gold chains with pendants, and most importantly, a gold earring with a figure of a duck, lined with fine grain and filigree. The chains and the earring are apparently the work of the same master and are parts of the same women's attire. Similar gold earrings with ducks have been found repeatedly in other places. A similar pair is in the collection of the Moscow Historical Museum from finds in the same area. Figure 5 of Table 34
Literature:
- Inventory of the Moscow Armory, part 2, p. 157.
- Report of the Archaeological Commission for 1903. pp. 184-192.
The Eastern Slavs were one of the branches of the Slavic community. They separated themselves from it at the beginning of a new era and gave the modern world three large peoples: Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. We know more about East Slavic culture than about that of the southern and western Slavs. And the material culture of the Eastern Slavs is more relevant for us, as for their immediate descendants.
The culture of any nation develops over a long period of time. It carries the traits of character and disposition of people. Therefore, the study of the characteristics of the material culture of the Eastern Slavs is a kind of bridge to the deeper and more fundamental aspects of their life.
Of great importance in the formation of the culture of the Eastern Slavs, as well as other peoples, was played by natural and geographical conditions. The place of their settlement was the East European Plain, rich in forests and rivers. In general, people have always sought to live near water bodies, which was quite reasonable and expedient. Water is always needed in the household, for drinking. Moreover, fish are often found in the rivers. And forests were a source of many benefits: wood, furs, meat of wild animals, berries, herbs.
Eastern Slavs: features of material culture
The Eastern Slavs, which is quite obvious, began to develop the lands of modern Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. And with the beginning of the development of the East European Plain, the material culture of the East Slavic tribes was born. By material culture, we mean objects created by man, tools, objects of art and life, which allow you to adapt to the natural and social conditions of life.
The main occupations of the Eastern Slavs
First, we are talking about agriculture. At first, it was the main occupation, which provided food and allowed them to survive. But, on the other hand, it also required tools, devices for cultivating land. This is how primitive inventory appeared, which was made of wood, and later metal elements were added to it. It is necessary to pay tribute to our ancestors, who were very observant and attentive to the climate and weather conditions in their territory. As you know, in central Russia it is customary to plant and sow in the spring, and harvest in the summer. This is due to the cold winter, which will not allow crops to be grown. And the Eastern Slavs very quickly caught this pattern.
Secondly, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing, beekeeping. These activities were also a means of subsistence. But they also needed certain tools. The domestication of animals has become a very important and significant stage in the development of ancient civilizations. They began to be used not only as a source of meat, but also as a labor force, and then also as a transport. Hunting for wild animals also provided people not only in terms of food. For example, skins and furs have become beautiful warm clothes for a person. A little later, fishing and fur trade contributed to the development of trade relations and the economy as a whole.
The dwelling of the Eastern Slavs
The next important element of the material culture of the Eastern Slavs is housing. Of course, a Russian hut with a stove immediately comes to mind. However, do not rush things. Huts appeared only by the eighth century. Before that, people lived in dugouts, then in semi-dugouts. After all, building a wooden house is not at all an easy task. But over time, the Slavs had the opportunity to use the forest and its gifts for their own purposes. The transitional stage from the underground dwelling to the huts was a semi-dugout, which was half in the ground. Of the trees, conifers were mainly used. 
House construction techniques were log and pillar. The entire dwelling of the Eastern Slavs was divided into two parts: the actual hut (heated part) and the cage (household part, summer housing). Both of these parts were connected to each other by means of a vestibule, which served as a filter and protection of the hut from adverse weather conditions. Of course, depending on the region of residence, the dwellings of the Eastern Slavs differed and had some features.
As for the interior layout of the hut, everything was more or less standard here, with the exception of individual elements. One quarter of the hut was occupied by a stove - the main attribute in the dwelling of the Eastern Slavs. It was first made of clay, and later - of brick. The oven was a source of heat as well as a place to cook food. Every corner of the house had its purpose. For example, the front corner was the place where the dining table was located, and on holidays it was decorated with embroidered towels and paintings. As a seat, benches (benches) located along the perimeter of the walls were used. There were also wooden shelves that were hung above the level of the windows. In general, for a long time, built-in furniture prevailed among the Slavs, which was integral with the entire hut. There were four main types of interior decoration of the hut, depending on the place of residence. Of the adjoining buildings, the Eastern Slavs had a barn, pantries, rooms for storing and processing grain.
Clothing and footwear of the Eastern Slavs
The question of the clothes of our ancestors is always very interesting. It must be said that she was never tight and did not emphasize the silhouette. Clothing was loose-fitting. Men wore trousers, which were first attached to a rope, and then to a belt, and a shirt. By the way, pants were an exclusively male attribute in a suit. They sewed shirts from cotton and linen, they were long - up to the level of the knees. Each region had its own characteristics of shirts, which concerned the collar, additional inserts, embroidery, and the way they were worn. Of the outerwear in the tenth century, the following were known: a retinue - a jacket with sleeves, a kabat - a kind of long coat or cloak. For the winter, clothes were insulated with fur.
Women's clothing included a long shirt (shirt), as well as an apron. The latter covered the lower part of the body. And, of course, women's shirts have always been richly decorated with embroidery, ribbons, braid. The Slavs also had skirts - ponevs, as well as dresses. From outerwear, women had fur coats and capes.
Ancient Slavs made shoes from various materials: animal skins, leather, fur, tree bark. The most ancient type of shoes were wrinkled shoes, which were a piece of leather wound around the foot and fixed with a rope. Bast shoes were also woven from bast. Later, more advanced footwear such as boots began to appear.
Crafts of the Eastern Slavs
Speaking about the material culture of the Eastern Slavs, one cannot but mention crafts. A place of honor was occupied by metalworking and blacksmithing. Our ancestors knew about the existence of gold, copper, silver, tin and, of course, iron. They were used for various purposes: the manufacture of tools, weapons, jewelry. the Eastern Slavs were also engaged in the creation of ceramic dishes (mostly they were various kinds of pots). This craft flourished in the tenth century. It is also known that the Slavs were engaged in leather dressing.
Women were engaged in weaving and spinning. Threads were made from animal hair or plant materials (linen, hemp). For these activities, devices were needed: a spindle, a loom.
The dishes of the Eastern Slavs were made of clay. Its main types were all kinds of pots: for making porridge, cabbage soup, for dough, for water and others. Wooden utensils were less popular: these were spoons, ladles, cutting boards, scoops. Even less common were metal utensils made of cast iron or copper.
Food of the Eastern Slavs
It is impossible not to dwell on the nutrition of the Eastern Slavs. Of course, the king of the table has always been bread: rye or wheat, depending on the crops grown. Various flat cakes, pancakes, cheesecakes, cakes were also popular. They were eaten with sour cream, cottage cheese, porridge and other additives. Of the first courses, the palm has always belonged to soups: cabbage soup, borscht. Of the other dishes, porridges were common, among Ukrainians, for example, dumplings were popular. Eastern Slavs drank kvass, jelly, milk.
A rich table was laid on holidays. And each of them was paired with their traditional dishes. For example, it was customary to bake pancakes on Maslenitsa, and a loaf was made for a wedding. Often food was sacrificed to gods or dead ancestors.
Art of the Eastern Slavs
Art among the East Slavic peoples reached its peak with the advent of Christianity. This is especially true for architecture: temples, monuments, city buildings. Before that, as you know, the Slavs built pagan temples of wood. Now it has been replaced by stone. If we talk about painting, then this is undoubtedly icon painting and wall painting in churches. Mosaics and frescoes were also distributed. But all these elements were borrowed from Byzantium and other states. Music appeared much earlier among the Eastern Slavs. The simplest musical instruments were made of wood. Literature appeared only with the advent of writing (ninth-tenth centuries). First, chronicles appeared, and other writings related to historical written sources.
Finally
The Eastern Slavs and the material culture they created left a lot to us, the descendants. This culture became the soil, the foundation for the further flourishing of the peoples that emerged from the Eastern Slavs. After all, there have been no fundamental changes: there are still houses in Russia that are similar in layout to huts. Crockery, clothes in general remained the same, they just acquired more variety due to new materials. We also eat soups and cereals, which are always the most delicious and healthy for us. And we must remember the culture of our ancestors, we owe a lot to it. After all, a nation that does not remember its roots has no future.
Fundamentals of the material well-being of the Family.
Art of the ancient Slavs.
A significant place in the early art of the ancient Slavs is occupied by ceramics of the so-called Chernyakhov culture. The question of whether it is Slavic or not has not yet been resolved, but the ornaments found here on the vessels are involuntarily associated with the well-known geometric ornamentation in Ukrainian folk art.
Jewelry craft items are already found in the early Slavic settlements of the Middle Dnieper and other places in the Zarubinets era (II-1 centuries BC). These are bronze brooches-fasteners and buckles of the so-called La Tène and Middle La Tène type, ornamented with straight or oblique notches. In the Chernyakhov era (II-IV centuries AD), jewelry was further developed. In addition to Zarubinets brooches with a triangular shield, "crossbow" brooches with a curved stem and brooches with a semicircular elongated semi-disk and decorations in the form of small round heads are made. The production of jewelry reaches a high level, apparently, by the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. Since that time, they begin to be beautifully ornamented. There are now bronze buckles with an "eye" pattern and bracelets with ends that look like snake heads. They are massive and very simple in form. Not uncommon at that time were moon-shaped earrings made of three rings strung on a silver or bronze rim, anticipating the type of famous Kyiv "three-bead" rings. There are pendants, which are two spirals, ring pendants, to which a simple triangle is attached.
Chernyakhov craftsmen knew the art of forging, made their things according to a pre-prepared wax model, used coarse grain, composing simple geometric patterns. They also knew champlevé enamel, typical of many European peoples of the early Middle Ages. Elegant, with a beautiful cut-through ornament, colored with enamel, these products represent the highest achievement of jewelry art in the 4th-5th centuries. In all these varieties of folk art, the favorite colors were red, green, yellow, white and black.
In addition to metal, items made of bone, mainly combs, have come down to us from the Chernyakhov era. They were decorated with a small "eye" pattern and spiral patterns. They also find the remains of glassware of this time, but they must have been imported. But the most significant development was ceramics. Vessels of simple and complex shapes were made of ordinary baked clay, but were often smoked during firing in the kilns, acquiring an elegant black color. They were decorated with geometric linear patterns (triangles, zigzags, rhombuses), sometimes the surface was simply shaded in some places. These ornaments are reminiscent of future Ukrainian patterns. In its forms, Chernyakhov ceramics was influenced by Greco-Roman art, but in ornamentation it strictly adhered to local designs. Along with these dishes, which often imitated imported metal jugs, there are a lot of artless, modest dishes. The first was made on a potter's wheel, the second - in a stucco way, as in the Zarubinets era, which indicates the presence at that time in the Dnieper region of centers with different levels of ceramic production.
Among the many factors that determined the peculiar features of the emerging early Slavic cultural community, two main ones should be distinguished. The first of them is the prevalence of animistic beliefs in numerous impersonal good and evil spirits that surround a person everywhere, capable of appearing in different images (“werewolves”), and cults of the “lower order” associated with the patron gods of the clan and tribe, contributing to its well-being, protecting his land and livestock, giving them fertility. The second factor is the breadth and intensity of cultural contacts that explain
that variety of motives and forms that are observed in the most perfect
monuments of the craft of the Slavic masters proper, which date back to the 6th-10th centuries. It is also associated with such a phenomenon as syncretism, that is, a combination in cult rites and decor of ritual objects of elements characteristic of different religions. Syncretism could be called one of the most noticeable features of Slavic culture throughout the pre-Christian period of its history.
The bulk of the finds are items made of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, ceramic vessels. Nevertheless, all objects found by archaeologists in Slavic settlements, settlements, burial places, have pronounced features that speak of their function and "social status" - belonging to certain sections of society: tribal nobility, elders and heads of the tribe, who simultaneously performed priestly functions, soldiers, farmers. These signs include forms, material, manufacturing technology, ornamentation. dishes. The measure of handicraft perfection of the bulk of things created by local craftsmen was determined by their everyday functions. Elements of artistry, the accuracy of rendering an abstract three-dimensional form, the measure of overcoming the roughness and inertness of natural material, the thoroughness of surface treatment, the nature and abundance of ornamentation are noticeably enhanced in objects that, as one might assume, had a ritual purpose. Thus, the fine patterns that covered the walls of clay vessels may represent symbols of fertility, the sun, water and fire.
Judging by the nature of the adornments found by archaeologists in vast territories, the art of the Eastern Slavs inhabited by Slavic tribes, in the art of the 8th-10th centuries, makes itself felt the process of separating from the mass of products of artistic craft works of the highest quality associated with the life of the tribal nobility.
Olga's grandson, Prince Vladimir, repeating around 980 the official nationwide cult of Perun, Khors, Stribog, Simargl and Mokosh. Only two of them - Perun and Mokosh - can be attributed to the Slavic (more precisely, Balto-Slavic and Finno-Ugric) pantheon, while others bore obvious signs of cults of Sarmatian-Iranian origin. Their sculptures are placed on a hill in Kyiv. Due to the scarcity of written information and the complete absence of archaeological data, it is difficult to get an idea of
character of these monumental sculptures. The chronicler specifically noted that Perun
had a silver head, "and a golden mustache." It is possible that partly the images of some of the listed deities of the state pantheon of Vladimir are depicted in the already mentioned Zbruch idol, conditionally dated to the 10th century. Pillar-shaped, four-faced, originally painted, it stood on the border of the lands of the Slavic tribes of Buzhans, Volhynians, Tivertsy and White Croats. In it, anthropomorphic features manifested themselves with greater certainty. The faces of the deities are made in low stone relief, their images, oriented to all parts of the world, are arranged vertically in a strict hierarchical sequence. Below - underground deities holding the world, in a small middle register - people, above - heavenly gods. They were given various attributes: a hat resembling a princely one, a horse, a sword, a horn. According to Academician Rybakov, each facet of the Zbruch sculpture represents one of the Slavic gods.
pantheon: Peruna, Mokosh, Lada, Veles1. It is especially interesting that despite the barbaric nature of this primitive sculpture, the author of which was not concerned with any artistic problems proper, the principle of compositional construction he took as a basis, which is rooted in the traditions of the cult pillars-menhirs of the Bronze Age and Celtic stone stelae. There is also a connection with ancient herms - pillars with images of Hermes, placed at the crossroads. In any case, the iconography of the kneeling underground gods also goes back to the Hellenistic and Roman models, where they were depicted holding on their shoulders the figures of geniuses, Victory, the patron gods of cities, the personification of the world's elements. The very idea of linking such primitive barbarian sculptures with works of late antique art is not far-fetched. Slavic tribes, especially those that lived in the Danube region, were included in the field of influence of classical Hellenistic culture, the centers of which never lost their attractiveness for them.
But not statues of gods, but items made of precious metals such as horn-coverings from the Black Grave most fully characterize the main trends in the art of the “pre-Christian” era. Openness, sensitivity to multi-ethnic cultures, characteristic of the work of the Middle Dnieper masters of the 10th century, their ability to create an organic synthesis of pictorial and ornamental themes borrowed from ancient, proper Slavic, Norman and Turkic-Iranian sources, is the best indicator of the readiness of the young Slavic state with a center in Kiev to the natural and rapid acceptance and development of Christianity. However, it must be borne in mind that we are talking primarily about the culture of the upper layer of the East Slavic tribes, which has always been characterized by a situation of some sort of "bilingualism". One of these languages - it can be called "home" - was intended for internal daily use, the other - "official", common to all countries of Central and Eastern Europe of that time, used in various variations in state ceremonies. In turn, the official language is increasingly influenced by images of Christian art and the Hellenized culture of the Mediterranean world that nourishes it. This process is accompanied by a noticeable increase in the role of the pictorial principle, and the active symbolic function of ornamental motifs is clearly weakening, despite the fact that their repertoire is even enriched. The active involvement of Rus' in the orbit of attraction of Byzantine artistic and spiritual culture began long before 988, the time of its official christening. In the art cultivated at the Kiev princely court, along with traditional ornamental and emblematic compositions, under the influence of Byzantine models, “realistic” images, in the center of which are human figures, are becoming more widespread. They represent hunting scenes, struggles of mythological heroes, circus games. A bone comb of the 10th century (State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) from Belaya Vezha (Sarkela) on the Don, a Khazar city captured by Prince Svyatoslav in 965, belongs to such works.
The Slavic arts and crafts embodies the immense, ever-living soul of the people, their rich life experience and aesthetic taste.
Made according to the laws of beauty, the products of folk craftsmen do not leave anyone indifferent, and contact with them causes a feeling of pride in their people, who gave the world wonderful craftsmen who create real works of art from a variety of materials - wood, clay, vines, straw, flax, etc.
wood painting
Folk decorative painting in the pre-revolutionary period developed in the form of paintings of round wooden sculptures, furniture, wooden household items, wall paintings of dwellings and outbuildings.
Paintings with oil paints of dwellings (especially doors and shutters) and furniture were widely used in peasant life. These paintings were usually ornamental and decorative.
Straw products
This is a traditional Belarusian art, the roots of which come from the ancient pagan cult of bread.
Straw products were intended for the preservation of bakery products.
In the everyday life of the Slavs, baskets, baskets, baskets of various types made of straw, vines, and birch bark were most widely used.
In addition to weaving, straw found application in the appliqué technique, which was used to decorate wooden chests, caskets, frames, wall carpets.
Pysanky
This is one of the brightest pages of decorative art. The history of their origin goes back to the distant past of the people and is connected with the pagan ritual of praising the eternal law of the spring revival of life on earth.
Different in technique and subject matter, the decorative painting of pysanka vividly reflects the high level of art of the people, their ability to generalize the perception of the nature of their region, to talented forms of its stylization and the creation of wonderful geometric, plant and animal ornaments.
Towels
One of the most common types of folk art is weaving. Many ancient folk rituals and traditions are associated with it. The craftsmanship and artistic taste of the weavers were fully manifested in the decoration of the towels, because the towel (towel) was perceived not just as a piece of material for household needs.
The towel was an integral part of the traditional rituals of the Slavs. A newborn was wrapped in it, they brought bread and salt on it, they decorated a red corner in the house, it was used in wedding ceremonies, treats were laid out on it, commemorating relatives who had gone to another world.
In Rus', the future bride had to embroider about forty towels for the wedding. After all, in addition to those that are used directly in rituals, you will also need to give gifts to future relatives and decorate a new house.
The towel was given to the groom as a sign of consent during the matchmaking. Towels were presented to the parents and relatives of the groom. The wedding train was decorated with towels. But the most important towels – for the wedding ceremony itself:
- towel under the feet of the young - the most important at the wedding. In the Kuban, in particular, the expression "stand on a towel" is still equivalent to "get married." Standing on a towel, young people receive a blessing from above. It is this towel that affects how the future life of the newlyweds will turn out. A pair of birds, symbolizing the bride and groom, a wish for happiness, flowers or rings cannot be embroidered on it. When young people stand on such a towel, they will trample on everything that could be good in their life. The best option for embroidery is a geometric ornament. This towel must be embroidered by the bride herself. When embroidering, you need to make 10 differences at the ends of the towel (on the male and female sides). The side that is embroidered first should be considered male. If a girl started to embroider a towel, her mother or sister should not help her.
- towel under the loaf, bread and salt- the most unlimited in the choice of pattern. It is on this towel that a couple of birds, wishes, trees of the family and a sea of flowers are embroidered so that the life of the young is strewn with happiness, joy and flowers.
- towel tie hands. Previously, they used pure white (you can embroidered in white) so that life was cloudless, or embroidered only with red threads - for joy.
- towel in the red corner. Usually it was decorated with embroidery with weaves of viburnum and oak.
A towel is the road of life, so its cloth must be whole and continuous, like life. Pairs of such birds as falcon, turkey, peacock, rooster and chicken are embroidered on wedding towels. They do not embroider cuckoos - a widow's symbol, nightingales - a symbol of unmarried guys. All dimensions of the towel (width, length) must be divided by seven. Each half of the towel should be filled with embroidery. The center of the towel must remain empty, without embroidery: this is God's place. After the wedding, the towels are kept in the family of the young, as a symbol of a happy family life, rolled into a tube. Wedding towels, especially under the feet, are used only once. In the case of a very happy family life, only the pattern is inherited, and a new towel is embroidered.
Traditional folk toys
Russian doll
Now the matryoshka is not just a folk toy, it is the keeper of Russian culture. A round-faced and plump cheerful girl in a scarf and a Russian folk dress won the hearts of lovers of folk toys and beautiful souvenirs around the world.
The Moscow district is the birthplace of the famous Russian matryoshka. At the end of the nineteenth century. Alexandra Mamontova brought to the Moscow factory "Children's Education" a figurine of the Japanese old sage Fukuruma.
The toy was interesting in that it had several figures that were nested one into the other, smaller and smaller in size, until the very last one turned out to be quite small. So the local craftsmen decided to repeat this fun for their children.
Vasily Zvezdochkin carved a toy, which consisted of eight figures, and the artist Sergey Malyutin painted the figures. But the first toy did not consist of only Russian beauties. It alternated images of a Russian beauty, dressed in a sundress, an apron and a scarf, with images of stately fellows, and the smallest was a baby - a baby.
They called the doll "Matryoshka", since then the female name - Matryona (Matrona) was very popular. In 1900, production moved to the county town of Sergiev Posad. Sergievsky uyezd, named so under Catherine II, was located in dense forests, and the craft of wooden toys has long flourished in all villages.
Matryoshka dolls were cut out of aspen, birch, linden, alder, their outfits were painted with bright colors: cheap dolls - with glue paints, and expensive ones - with enamels, watercolors. The people loved these bright beauties and bought them not only for children, but also for their collections.
Ukrainian motanka doll
A motanka doll has been a talisman in a Ukrainian family since time immemorial. Its main purpose is to protect the soul of its owner from evil and unclean thoughts. In ancient times, such dolls were used as ritual, ritual, and then collectible.
Motanka dolls are made from natural fabrics, natural materials, fragments of lace and embroidery. The needle is not used in this case - the doll is not sewn, but is made using fabric, thread, ribbons by winding.
The Ukrainian motanka doll is based on a cruciform figure (the cross is a Christian symbol), the only voluminous detail of which is the head. A spiral is wound up - a symbol of eternity and infinity. And the cross is a talisman - a symbol of life, new beginnings, as well as a symbol of the person himself, the harmony of the physical (horizontal) and spiritual (vertical) world.
The motanka doll should be faceless, and the one that serves as a talisman should have a cross instead of a face. You can’t make a doll’s face, because it can turn out to look like someone and harm that person.
Dress up the doll depending on what role it should play. If the doll should bring prosperity and health, it is dressed in red-green colors, for happiness in love and married life - in red and pink colors, for success in creativity - in blue.
Of great importance is embroidery, which carries the ancient symbolism and positive energy of many generations.
Usually the doll was dressed in a light shirt, an underskirt and a spare tire. The skirt symbolizes the earth, the shirt serves as a designation of three times - past, present and future. Be sure to have a headdress on the doll, which symbolizes the connection with the sky.
Belarusian doll Rattle (Gromnitsa)
Doll Rattle has Belarusian roots. Ethen the image of a girl or woman. Made of textile materials, small jars or cases with peas, covered with fabric, are used as the head. Sometimes large poppy heads, empty walnuts, and other spherical objects are used.
The history of these toys, like many others, is very ancient and is inextricably linked with the cultural development of mankind. rattles were objects of worship, ritual and musical instruments. They have passed through the centuries, gradually changing names, shape, materials from which they are made, and purpose. Today, these dolls have become common children's toys or musical instruments.
Traditionally, this doll was made on the feast of the Tomb (Candlemas): February 2 - Catholics / February 15 - Orthodox.
National clothes
