Today, a bouquet of flowers has become an integral part of our lives. But who taught Russian men to give flowers, and where did this custom come from? We give it to express our recognition, to thank for the service, to congratulate on the holiday or just to make something pleasant. close person. Where did this tradition come from, and when did people begin to use flowers for aesthetic pleasure?
Biblical version of the appearance of flowers in people's lives
There are many different versions that tell how flowers entered people's lives. One of them refers us to the stories of the Bible. According to this version, Adam and Eve lived in Paradise, surrounded by beautiful and fragrant flowers. Having committed a sin, they were expelled from this magnificent place. On earth, Eve was constantly sad, depressed, and Adam decided to please her by returning at least some of the familiar and pleasant environment. He began to look everywhere for flowers in order to surround his beloved with the beauty and fragrance of aromas. After long searches he came across a huge clearing, which was strewn with many different flowers. Adam plucked and gave Eve a huge bouquet. Since then, the custom has gone to give women bouquets and baskets of flowers.
pagan version
According to the pagan version, the appearance of flowers in people's lives is associated with the rites of sacrifice to the Mother Goddess. She was a symbol of femininity, love, family well-being and fertility. As a sign of recognition and reverence, the ancient people lined for her a kind of paths of herbs and flower plants, decorated them with a place of worship. IN different cultures similar deities wore different names, the Slavs performed the rituals of sacrifice to Lada and Lele. And over time, this pagan ritual of presenting flowers in many countries became secular.According to another version, medicinal properties flowers became the reason for their appearance in the homes of our ancestors. In ancient times, when a person was very close to nature, people watched it and noticed what properties this or that plant possesses. Our distant ancestors knew well what can be eaten, what can be poisoned, and what is great for treating various ailments.
In those days, returning from a successful hunt to the house, male miners carried not only their trophies, but also a variety of roots, herbs, and flowers. The hostesses washed and dried all these plants, making preparations for medicinal decoctions and ointments. On one of these days, it occurred to a woman not only to use flowers for processing, but also to decorate her house with them. Later, more and more representatives of the weaker sex began to do so. And over time, dried flowers became not only the first decoration in houses, but also the first women's jewelry - wreaths were woven from flowers on the head, bracelets were made on the arms and a necklace around the neck.
The meaning of flowers at the courts of European kings and emperors
One of the most popular versions of the appearance of flowers in people's lives says that all flower traditions originated at the courts of European rulers. Under the kings and emperors, there were specially trained people who were responsible for decorating all the premises of the palace. They studied the meanings of each variety of flowers, knew what different shades meant and at what moments it was necessary to present bouquets to royal persons.During the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, flower petals were an essential attribute of all celebrations. A huge number of flowers were grown on the territory of the palace, from which buds and petals were subsequently plucked and showered with them on all the guests of the emperor.
At the courts of the eastern rulers, peonies and chrysanthemums were held in special esteem. Ruling dynasties hired special gardeners and florists who planted huge fragrant gardens. Over time, not only the rulers of countries, but also simply wealthy people began to strive to have their own flower garden. This hobby has become a kind of race between representatives higher strata societies - the rich tried to outdo each other by acquiring new varieties of expensive and outlandish flowers or creating incredible compositions from them.
How flower traditions came to the Russian imperial court
In Russia long time there was no cult of flowers. All these trends came from the West. In the palaces of ruling persons, floral decoration has been used since the time of the Romanov dynasty. It was then, striving to match the best Western imperial courts, representatives royal family began to hire gardeners and set up large flower beds on the territory. fashion trends of that time, it was dictated to use flowers as decorations for celebrations, attributes of various ceremonies, or simply an everyday element in the design of palace premises.
In greenhouses Russian rulers gardeners planted roses, geraniums, tulips and carnations.
Flowers - a sign of recognition of the talent of actresses
Some of the first women to receive flower bouquets were actresses. On the stage, admiring fans of their talent handed them flowers, trying to express their delight and recognition. Interestingly, this tradition also came from the West, and in Russia it appeared thanks to French actress Maria Taglioni, who, speaking with her performances, taught the Russian public to present flowers. There is an opinion that this tradition was gradually transformed, and bouquets were given to all women, wanting to show a special attitude.
It is not known for certain which of the versions caused such a strong entry of flowers into our lives. One thing is for sure - not a single one can do without them significant event. Flowers accompany a person from the moment of discharge from the maternity hospital until the moment he leaves for another world - birthdays, marriage proposals, congratulations on professional and thematic holidays, declarations of love, apologies for mistakes and offenses - bouquets go all their lives next to a person helping to express feelings and emotions in those moments when words alone are not enough.
Flowers are also a source of inspiration. And they can become proof of this.
Long ago, when man did not yet separate himself from nature, in the myths, legends and tales of the peoples of America, Australia, Africa, the islands of Oceania, the Hindus, the Scandinavians, the Sumerians, there was one and the same mysterious character who spun the thread of life, attached to it all people and wove them into the web of patterns of the world. He also caught dreams... Don't be scared, because it's a spider.
Why did people fear the spider and revere it at the same time? Maybe because it is one of the greatest hunter-strategists. It is he (and practically only he) who uses specially woven nets for hunting. This skill was later adopted from the spider by an observant person. What, you ask, is the connection of all of the above with the theme of dreams? The most that neither is direct. After all, you can hunt not only for the visible, but also for the invisible. Moreover, a person used to be sure of the reality of the images that appeared to him in a dream. What if you had a terrible dream?
And thanks to the spider and its web, a magical talisman arose, which is still used today. The idea to create a trap for invisible or ghostly creatures originated with the Ojibwe Indians in North America. Then other tribes began to make traps. That's only if the shape of the dream catcher was used alone - a circle inside which a magical web was woven, then the meaning and purpose of the talisman-trap different peoples North America and Siberia were and remain different.
The Ojibwe believed that only pleasant and good dreams and thoughts pass through a small hole in the center, while evil and terrible ones get entangled in a web and scatter with the first rays of the sun. Here is how the Ojibway legend tells. A long time ago, the Ojibwe lived on Turtle Island (as some Indian peoples call America). The spider grandmother Asabikashi took care of her children (people of the tribe), but when they settled in the four corners of North America, it became difficult for Asabikashi to travel to each cradle, and then she taught the women to weave a magical web.
Dreamcatchers were originally intended for babies and slightly older children and were not designed for long-term use, and this made sense. They were made from willow twigs and tendons or threads bent into a hoop. Over time, the willow dried up and the tension of the tendons broke the hoop. It symbolized the transience of youth. The hoop for adults was made from several rods woven together or from one, but strong. The round shape of the dream catcher symbolizes the daily journey of the sun across the sky. And there are eight places where the cobweb connects to the hoop - exactly as many as the legs of the Spider Grandmother. A feather was tied to the center of the dream catcher - a symbol of breath, air.
The Lakota Indians, unlike the Ojibwe, believe that the dream catcher catches good thoughts and dreams, and all negative ones go into the hole in the center of the web. And he appeared like this .. When the world was still young, the old shaman was high in the mountains, and there the spider Iktomi, the great teacher of wisdom, appeared before him, and spoke to him in a secret language. During the conversation, Iktomi picked up the willow hoop of the old man, to which feathers, ponytail, beads were tied, and began to weave a web.
He told the old shaman about the cycles of life: we start life as children, then we grow up, after which we grow old, and we again have to be looked after like children, completing the cycle.
And at every moment of life, - said Iktomi, weaving his web, - we are faced with many forces. Some harm us, some, on the contrary, can help. If you will listen to good forces open up to them, they will gladly help you. But if your choice turns out to be wrong, you can fall into a trap and suffer. When Iktomi finished his speech, he gave the shaman a hoop with cobwebs and said:
Use this to help your people reach their goal by drawing from the source of visions and dreams. If you trust the Great Spirit, the web will catch good ideas, and evil ones will leave through the hole.
Since then, the Indians have been hanging dream catchers over their beds to weed out the good from the bad. Good dreams and visions remain in the web of life and are kept by people, while evil ones slip through a hole in the middle of the web and cease to be a part of their lives.
Dream Catcher. History of creation
But the dream catcher of the peoples of Siberia - kytgem - is an exclusively shamanistic thing. Its purpose is to catch as many dream images (sometimes frightening content) as possible. Working with such a trap, the shaman learns to fight and win. Although everything should be approached wisely. The Mansi legend "Sleepy Man" speaks of the inept use of a dream trap. The hero of the story, wanting to get rid of drowsiness, hangs a snare at the head of the head and goes to bed. At night, a motley grouse, his soul, gets into his snare. The hero throws her into the fire, thinking that she is to blame for his illness. A friend of this man finds out about what happened and says that the grouse had to be eaten so that the soul would not leave. In extreme cases, it was necessary to drink a grouse egg so that the soul was reborn again. The hero does not find the egg and soon dies. So he pays for his ignorance.
What does kytgyem look like? This is a round wooden frame with stretched two-color threads, some of which break the circle into 36 unequal parts, and the other part forms a left-handed spiral. The center shifted upwards is indicated by a fur circle, from which a long leather cord with fur tassels at the end extends. Three more of the same laces are attached to the bottom of the frame. Various figurines of animals and spirits are placed without any order throughout the field of weaving. The round frame symbolizes the integrity and harmony of the Universe, its stronghold and at the same time infinity. The Earth and the Middle World are generally symbolized by 36 guiding threads of dark blue (black) color, and the left-hand spiral of the red thread reflects the nature of the Midnight Sun - the luminary of the land of dreams. The fur center is the bait for the spirits, the leather laces are the roads of the spirits. It is believed that during the day the spirits rise along the three lower laces, pass through the spiral and linger in the villi of the center. As night falls, the spirits thus caught descend down the central cord and become dream images. The dreamed images are subsequently imprinted on the trap in the form of small figures, which the shaman hangs in different places weaving fields. Thus, the trap also serves as a kind of notebook by which you can remember old dreams. It is extremely difficult to buy the right kytgyem in Siberia, but you can turn directly to the shamans. And remember a real cam, not when he will not take money from you for his services. It is best to offer him things or products.
Customs are historically established in any locality (or among a certain community) the rules of behavior of people in a particular life situation.
What are the customs
Depending on which event in human life they are attached to, all folk customs can be divided into the following large groups:
- wedding customs;
- funeral customs;
- customs for the baptism of a child;
- holiday customs (these include the customs of celebrating church and folk holidays- Easter, Trinity, Ivan Kupala Day, Christmas, Shrovetide, etc.);
- customs for laying a new house;
- customs associated with sowing and harvesting.
wedding customs
- A wedding in Rus' is preceded by a number of customs. Any wedding begins with the bride's bride. After the wedding, matchmakers are sent to the bride's house. After the matchmakers agree on the dowry and receive consent from the bride's parents, the wedding day is set. On the day before the wedding, a bachelorette party is arranged. During a meeting with her friends, the bride says goodbye to her former unmarried life.
- On the first day of the wedding, in the morning, the bride, to the mournful tunes of her friends, dresses in wedding attire. The groom's boyfriend comes to her house to find out if the young woman is ready for the wedding.
- After this visit, the groom drives up to the bride's house with matchmakers and the inalienable and still the most fun part of the wedding action begins - the ransom rite. The bridesmaids flatly refuse to give the groom their future spouse, ask him and the matchmakers comic riddles and demand a ransom for entering the house and for the bride herself. All this fun ends with the fact that the groom gives his girlfriends money and sweets, picks up his bride and takes her to the altar.
- From the church, the newly-made husband takes the young wife to his house, where they are met on the threshold by the groom's parents with an icon, and a loaf in their hands. After receiving parental blessing, the young married couple enters the house, they are seated in a central place at the table and presented with gifts. Then begins a plentiful and long wedding feast.
Funeral customs
- The body of the deceased person is washed immediately after his death. This is done by elderly widowed women. Ablution can only be done during daylight hours.
- In a house where there is a dead person, all mirrors are hung with a dark cloth.
- While a dead person lies in the house, they do not sweep the floor and do not wash things.
- The deceased is carried out of the house feet first.
- When they carry him to the cemetery, in no case do they cross the road in front of the funeral procession.
- After the funeral, a feast (commemoration) is held for the rest of the soul of the deceased.
- On the evening after the funeral, the floor in the whole house must be washed.
Baptismal customs
- They try to baptize the child in a period of time, starting from the eighth and ending with the fortieth day after birth.
- Godmother and father cannot be husband and wife.
- The godfather on the day of baptism gives the baby a cross and the Holy Bible, godmother gives kryzhma - a long white shirt embroidered and trimmed with lace.
- After baptism, a festive dinner is necessarily arranged with a lot of sweets - candied nuts, sweets, cookies and buns. The main treat of such a dinner is baptismal porridge - buckwheat boiled in milk and thickly flavored butter and honey.
holiday customs
The number of holidays is so great, and the festive customs are so diverse that it is simply impossible to describe them all in detail in a small article. Therefore, we will only talk about the most famous of them.
- Easter cakes are baked, eggs are painted and curd Easter is made.
- On Easter morning people go to watch the "sun play". On a hillock, they wait for the sunrise and look at the sun disk rising from the horizon through a smoked glass. It is believed that on this festive morning the sun scatters rays that sparkle with all the colors of the rainbow.
- On Trinity in the church, green branches of trees and bouquets of wild flowers are consecrated and richly decorated with them dwellings.
- On the night of Ivan Kupala, to cleanse from evil spirits, they jump over the fire and splash in open water. On Midsummer Day, medicinal herbs are collected, which, according to folk beliefs, at this time they acquire a special healing power.
What is a custom? These are rules of conduct that have been entrenched in the minds of the people thanks to repeated repetitions. What customs are, where they come from and where they disappear, read about all this below.
What is custom
As mentioned above, the rules of conduct that have become norms for people through repeated repetition. This includes customs that are performed on holidays, as well as those that turn into a daily routine. Basically, people follow them out of habit, not really thinking about the meaning of actions. Every society has its own customs. Some of them are regulated by the state, while others are observed within the same family. How long does it take for a habit to become a habit? At least a few years, at least 3-4.
How is tradition different from custom?
Concepts are best learned by comparison. We already know what a custom is, but now let's talk about tradition. What it is? Traditions are a complex of various actions that are passed down from generation to generation in order to preserve and develop culture. And here scale plays a role. The tradition can be considered as a local phenomenon, but still more often it is created and maintained on a national scale. No one forces people to observe established traditions, this is a voluntary matter.
Now let's look at the differences. Tradition is much broader than customs, since it most often has a larger territorial scope. People perform various rituals, sets of actions, often without thinking about hidden meaning that their ancestors laid down in them. But such traditions are supported by the state, as it considers them an integral part of culture. But folk customs often change under the influence of time, government, the way of human thinking. But most people don't see big difference in these terms.
How do habits arise?
Man is a complex being. And to better understand what customs are, you need to know how people create them. Initially, such rituals, or repetitive actions, were performed by man in order to survive. It was a kind of reaction to discomfort. People started the custom of killing a mammoth once a week so as not to go hungry. The girls sewed clothes from the skins of animals once a month, so as not to die from the cold. There were many such small local customs in any society, and they still exist today. True, our contemporaries do not have to survive, so the rituals are not aimed at the biological needs of a person, but at creating spiritual comfort. If you think about it, many of the unconscious rituals that are instituted in our society have no logical basis under them. These customs are common among superstitious people. Why do students eat lucky tickets from the bus before the test?
Why do people, returning home, if they forget something, always look in the mirror? There were once explanations for these customs, but today they cannot be found. Life is too changeable. Every person has the ability to create own customs. How? Before an important event, he may develop the habit of walking for an hour on the street in order to clear his head, or introduce summing up the results of the day into his evening ritual.
How habits disappear
Time goes by, everything changes. Human life very fickle. Today one job, tomorrow another, today one love, and tomorrow you can meet a new one. That is why habits have to be changed. An example of such changes is the disappearance of witnesses at weddings.
These people used to play the same important role like a bride and groom. But over time, the custom of inviting witnesses lost its relevance. Today, newlyweds do fine without them, which means there is no need to appoint friends to this role.
Another example is baptismal divination. Used to be girls did this every year. Today, this custom has fallen out of favor. Young ladies do not want to spend time in a dark bath in the company of candles and mirrors. They have more fun things to do. It turns out that customs know how to die due to a change in public interests.
- vital;
- lifestyle;
- imposed from outside;
- rituals and ceremonies.
Why do we need customs
Today there is an American globalization of all countries. Most of goods and services that we are accustomed to consume every day - this is not a product of our culture. Customs and customs must be known and observed in order not to lose one's roots and nationality. After all, Russia is a country with its own original culture, speech and art. Of course, it is necessary to modernize the country by updating customs and traditions, but this does not mean that it is necessary to borrow them from other countries. Why is it so bad to borrow a foreign culture, because before it was the norm of life and when one country was captured by another, culture was imposed against the will of citizens. But today it seems terrible, because, forgetting their history, people restructure their thinking. And as a result, such an option may turn out when one person will rule the society, imposing the only possible way of life on everyone. It is worth reading at least one dystopia to understand how bad it will be to live in this situation.
Examples of customs
Today there are many rituals that people perform automatically, without even thinking about their essence. The sources of custom are folk traditions transmitted in writing or by word of mouth. There are many examples.
When meeting on the street, men take off their gloves for a handshake. It seems to be a sign of courtesy and attention, but this custom has long roots. Previously, men took off their gloves to show that they did not hide weapons there, and as a result, their intentions are pure.
Another example of a custom is Maslenitsa. More precisely, the rituals associated with this holiday. For example, burning a scarecrow. This custom also has long roots going back to ancient times. Burning scarecrows, people see off winter and welcome spring.
Jumping over a fire counts as another Russian custom. True, in Lately few people do it. But before this fun was popular. The guy and the girl jumped over the fire, holding hands. If they did not disengage their hands and successfully overcame an obstacle, it was believed that their living together will be long and happy. But if young people moved away from each other during the jump, this meant that they were not destined to be together.
unusual customs
It doesn’t seem strange to us Russians to burn an effigy for Maslenitsa or decorate a Christmas tree for New Year. But for Thais, it’s completely normal to lower boats down the river, in which people put flowers, light candles and light incense. It all happens at the beginning of November on the day dedicated to the spirits of water.
The norms of customs are determined by the society in which we live. And in other countries things are the same. In Turkey, for example, there is a custom: before a man takes a second wife, he must give his first darling jewelry worth 10 thousand dollars. This is to prove to the woman that her husband - wealthy man and will be able to feed both her and the second woman.
In Kenya, there is a custom according to which the young spouse must do all the work of the wife for a month. It is believed that after this acquired experience, he will not reproach a woman all her life for doing nothing while doing housework.
Once upon a time, during the childhood of all mankind, our great-great-great-great-grandmothers and great-great-great-grandmothers lived in the rhythm of nature.
They saw, they knew: everything in the world has its own rhythm and order.
A wave is rhythmic, when it runs and runs away, they go in a secret rhythm - summer - autumn - winter - and spring, day and night, sunrises - sunsets alternate ... Everything is sequential, everything is in order, rhythmically.
Our ancient ancestors - they did not adapt to these rhythms, they lived in them. And they brought the harmony of rhythms into their daily lives.
Ritual is an act of creation, the creation of order.
From obscurity - to certainty, to predictability - a person is drawn to this.
Instability, unreliability, fragility of what we do for the first time - and vice versa, ritual, well-defined actions that seem to say: here is the order, you will go after one to another.
If you do this, you will not miss anything - and you know what you will get later. The fire burns out - you collect coals - you store it carefully, not letting it go out - it means that you will make a new fire, and in right time. If you don’t guard it, the coals will go out, they will become firebrands, which means there will be no fire, no heat.
Consequences - from causes. One leads to the other, one follows from the other, follows. Consistently everything goes, in the footsteps.
What gives it?
Feeling of repeatability and reliability.
And even though we are from those distant ancestors, far, far away, and we are separated by centuries and centuries, but we also need it. We are still children of nature. Despite the technical age, despite progress and everything else, we are children of nature, and we simply need a sense of rhythm, rhythm, it is inherent in us from the very beginning.
The son of David, King Ecclesiastes, said: “The generation passes and the generation comes, but the earth remains forever. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new about which they say: “Look, this is new”; but that was already in the ages before us.” (“The Old Testament. The Book of Ecclesiastes or the Preacher. Chapter 1). And these are not sad words. Vice versa. They say that everything is life, that life goes on. And how we keep a good "yesterday" depends on what "tomorrow" will be.
At that moment, when we perform some kind of good ritual, we seem to be stretching a thread from the past to the future. Through today. And we help to believe in ourselves and believe those close to us that it depends on us, our “now”. If we do it with love.
"Homemade" rituals
Somehow one contacted us good mom: « I am concerned about my child. I noticed that when I ask about the lessons, my daughter always knocks herself on the pocket, like this, three times. Asked why? He doesn't speak, he shrugs. The diary, for me to sign, gives me my left hand. Some stupidity. In the corridor, our floor is tiled, the pattern is like this, so she always walks along the pattern, along the lines. If he stumbles, he will return and go first. “What is it, mania and it’s time to take me to a neurologist?».
If you noticed something similar with your child, we hasten to reassure you.
Children often come up with some rituals themselves (and / or pick up from someone and repeat). “I’ll walk on the asphalt and not step on a single crack, which means they’ll buy ice cream ... / ... we’ll go to the circus ... / ... I’ll write a test for the “five”, ... / ... my mother will not swear ... "etc. and so on.
Children often come up with some tricks themselves (and / or pick up from someone and repeat). “I’ll walk along the asphalt and not step on a single crack, which means they’ll buy ice cream ... (“we’ll go to the circus / I’ll write a test for“ five ” / we’ll make up with Mishka / my mother won’t swear if I do this and that ...”) .
Oh, how much we all once thought of, oh, what signs we came up with!
And what is it in essence? A ritual where a clear sequence of actions is indicated. Find out, guess, fulfill ... And what is surprising: it helps! "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done..."
Actions that make no sense actually make sense. This is also a way to calm oneself down, and / or set oneself up for something good, and / or convince oneself: it will turn out the way I want, and fate is favorable to me.
And we do not think especially, and our children do not think. It's from the past, it's like genetic memory.
Just thinking and performing such a strange action, we seem to go to the origins; that “rituality” in us is from the times when people still remembered: all nature is alive, and they worshiped it. And he considered himself as a part of it. And they turned (and we turn again) to the gods.
Then - they made a sacrifice, and we make efforts, doing this and that.
Then they received a reward, a blessing. And we get: “it turns out the way I thought of it!”
Senseless things like actions actually have meaning, allegorical, and maybe even sacred.
At that moment, when we act as expected, according to the envisioned - conceived, traditionally, we seem to be stretching a thread from the past to the future. Through today. And we help to believe in ourselves and believe those close to us that it depends on us, our “now”.
"What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done..."
A person simultaneously belongs to two worlds: "the world of the valley" and "the world above". And both of these worlds - heavenly and earthly - are combined in us.
The material and the spiritual are within us.
So maybe, by creating rituals and following rituals, we restore (create, maintain!) the harmony of these worlds?! We hear and follow the rules, rhythms, laws by which our world was created. Traditions and rituals link man to man, and the past to the future. And everything becomes one and whole. Like a planet - a single whole together with mountains, rivers, atmosphere, together with people on it. Everything, everything Earth.
So the family is a single whole, one organism.
Little planet.
