Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov (1870 -1958) "Peasant Girl"

I love to walk in the field
I love making hay.
How to see a sweetheart
Three hours to talk.

On hay. Photo. Early 20th century	B. M. Kustodiev. Haymaking. 1917. Fragment
A. I. Morozov. Rest in the hayfield. OK. I860	Women in mowing shirts harvesting hay. Photo. Early 20th century
A group of young women and girls with a rake. Photo. 1915. Yaroslavl province.	Drying hay on stakes. Photo. 1920s Leningrad region.

Haymaking began at the very end of June: "June went through the forests with a scythe", from the day of Samson Senognoy (June 27 / July 10), from Peter's Day (June 29 / July 12) or from the summer day of Kuzma and Demyan (July 1/14 ). The main work was in July - "senozornik".
Hay was harvested in water meadows located in river valleys, and in small plots of land reclaimed from the forest. The hayfields could be located both near the village and at some distance from it. The peasants went to distant meadows with the whole family: "Everyone who has grown up, hurry to hay." Only the old men and women remained at home to look after the little ones and care for the livestock. Here is how, for example, the peasants of the villages of Yamny, Vassa, Sosna, Meshchovsky district, Kaluga province, went to haymaking in the late 1890s: , with braids, rakes, pitchforks. There are three or four people on almost every cart, of course, with children. Some carry a barrel of kvass, jugs of milk. They ride dressed up: men in cotton shirts of all colors and the wildest fantasy; young people in jackets, and, moreover, vests... The women imagine from their sundresses with frills and Cossack blouses to the waist such a flower garden that dazzles before the eyes. And scarves! But it is better to keep silent about scarves: their variety and brightness is innumerable. And in addition aprons, that is, aprons. Now sailors are also found here, so meet a pretty peasant woman, and you may well think that this is a city young lady, or, what’s good, a landowner. Teenagers and children also try to dress up in their best. They go and sing songs with all their might” [Russian peasants. T. 3. S. 482).
The girls looked forward to the hay season with great impatience. The bright sun, the proximity of water, fragrant herbs - all this created an atmosphere of joy, happiness, freedom from everyday life, and the absence of the stern eye of the old men and old women - the village guardians of morality - made it possible to behave somewhat more relaxed than usual.
The inhabitants of each village, having arrived at the place, arranged a parking lot - a machine: they put up huts in which they slept, prepared firewood for a fire on which they cooked food. There were many such machines along the banks of the river - up to seven or eight per two square kilometers. Each machine usually belonged to the inhabitants of one village, who worked in the meadow all together. The cut and dried grass was divided by the machine according to the number of men in the family.
They got up early in the morning, even before sunrise, and, without having breakfast, went to mow, so as not to miss the time while the meadow was covered with dew, since wet grass is easier to mow. When the sun rose higher above the horizon and the dew began to "hide", families sat down to have breakfast. On a fast day they ate meat, bread, milk, eggs, on fast days (Wednesday and Friday) - kvass, bread and onions. After breakfast, if the dew was heavy, they continued to mow, and then laid out the grass in even thin rows in the meadow so that it dried out. Then they ate and rested. During this time, the grass withered a little, and they began to turn it with a rake so that it would dry better. In the evening, dried hay was piled into piles. In the common work of the family, everyone knew his job. Guys and young men mowed the grass. Women and girls laid it out in rows, turned it and collected it in shocks. Haystack throwing was the work of boys and girls. The guys served hay on wooden forks, and the girls laid it out in a haystack, kneaded it with their feet so that it lay down more densely. The evening for the older generation ended with beating off the braids with hammers on small anvils. This ringing was carried through all the meadows, meaning that the work was over.
“The man’s senator knocked down the peasant’s arrogance that there was no time to lie on the stove,” says the proverb about the employment of people on the kosovishche from morning to evening. However, for guys and girls, haymaking was a time when they could demonstrate to each other the ability to work well and have fun. Not without reason, on the Northern Dvina, the communication of young people at the time of haymaking was called flaunting.
Fun reigned at lunchtime, when the elders rested in huts, and the youth went for a swim. The joint bathing of boys and girls was not approved by public opinion, so the girls went away from the machine, trying to prevent the guys from tracking them down. The guys still found them, hid their clothes, causing the indignation of the girls. They usually returned together. The girls sang to their boyfriends, for example, this song:

It will rain, the senzo will get wet,
The aunt will scold -
Help me, good
My foetus to sweep.
Frequent rain pours
My dear remembers me:
- Wetting my sweetheart
At the hayfield, the poor.

The main fun came in the evening, after sunset. Young people were drawn to one of the machines, where there were many "slavnits". The accordion played, dances, songs, round dances, walks in pairs began. The joy of the festivities, which lasted almost until the morning, is well conveyed by the song:

Petrovskaya night,
The night is small
And relay, okay,
Small!
And I, young
Didn't get enough sleep
And relay, okay,
Didn't get enough sleep!
Didn't get enough sleep
Didn't walk!
And relay, okay,
Didn't walk!
me with a nice friend
I didn't insist!
And relay, okay,
I didn't insist!
Didn't insist
Didn't talk
And relay, okay,
Didn't talk!

At the end of the festivities, a “collapsible” song of the girls was performed:

Let's go home girls
Dawn is doing it!
Zorka is engaged
Mommy gets pissed off!

Haymaking remained "the most pleasant of rural work" even if it took place near the village and therefore every evening it was necessary to return home. Eyewitnesses wrote: “The season, warm nights, swimming after a tiring heat, the fragrant air of the meadows - all together has something charming, gratifying effect on the soul. It is customary for women and girls to work in the meadows to put on not only clean linen, but even dress in a festive way. For the girls, the meadow is a promenade, on which, working together with a rake and accompanying the work with a common song, they draw themselves in front of the suitors ”(Selivanov V.V.S. 53).
Haymaking ended by the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (July 8/21) or by Ilyin's Day (July 20 / August 2): "Ilya the Prophet - mowing time." It was believed that "after Ilya" the hay would not be so good: "Before Ilya's day, there is a pood of honey in hay, after Ilya's day - a pood of manure."

Harvest

You already reap, you reap
My young!
Zhnei young,
Golden sickles!
You already reap, reap
Live don't be lazy!
And squeezing the cornfield,
Drink, have fun.

Following the haymaking came the harvest of "bread" - that was the name of all grain crops. In different regions, bread ripened at different times depending on climatic conditions. In the southern part of Russia, the harvest began already in mid-July - from the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, in the middle lane - from Ilyin's Day or from the day of Sts. Boris and Gleb (July 24 / August 6), and in the north - closer to mid-August. Winter rye ripened first, followed by spring bread, oats, and then buckwheat.

Sorry, I sting oats,
I switched to buckwheat.
If I see a sweetheart -
I am towards him.

Harvesting was considered the work of girls and married women. However, the main reapers were girls. Strong, strong, dexterous, they easily coped with rather difficult work.

P. Vdovichev, Harvest. 1830s	The rye is ripe. Photo by S. A. Lobovikov. 1926-1927
Reaper. Photo by S. A. Lobovikov. 1914-1916	A. G. Venetsianov. At the harvest. Summer. Before 1827

The harvest was supposed to start on the same day. Before that, the women chose from among their midst a zazhelnitsa who would make a symbolic zazhinel of the field. Most often it was a middle-aged woman, a good reaper, with a "light hand." Early in the morning, secretly from everyone, she ran to the field, reaped three small sheaves, saying, for example, like this:

Shh, polyshko, at the end,
Like a Tatar stallion!
Run and rye, die and tear
And look for the end of the field!
Run out, run out
Give us the will!
We came with sharp sickles
With white hands
With soft spines!

After that, the zazhalnitsa laid the sheaves crosswise on the edge of the field, and next to it left a piece of bread with salt for Mother Earth and the icon of the Savior to protect the crop from evil spirits.
The entire female half of the family, headed by the hostess, went out to harvest. Girls and women wore special harvest clothes - belted white linen shirts, decorated along the hem and on the sleeves with a red woven or embroidered pattern. In some villages, the upper part of the shirt was sewn from bright chintz, and the lower part was made from canvas, which was covered with a beautiful apron. Heads were tied with cotton scarves. Harvest clothes were very smart, corresponding to such an important day when Mother Earth will give birth to a harvest. At the same time, the clothes were also comfortable for work, loose, it was not hot in them under the summer sun.
The first day of the harvest began with a common prayer of the family in their lane. The reapers worked in the field in a certain order. The hostess of the house walked ahead of everyone, saying: “Bless, God, clamp the cornfield! Give, Lord, ergot and lightness, good health! (Folk traditional culture of the Pskov region. P. 65). On her right hand was the eldest daughter, after her in seniority - the other daughters, and after them the daughters-in-law. The first sheaf was supposed to be squeezed by the eldest daughter in the family, so that she would marry in the fall: "The first sheaf to reap is to make a groom." They believed that the first piece of cut rye stalks and the first sheaf collected from them possessed “spore”, “argument” - a special life-giving force, so necessary for the future hostess and mother.
The reapers went to the field after the sun had dried the dew. Bread covered with dew could not be harvested, so that the grain and straw would not rot before threshing. The girls went to the field together, sang songs that were called reaping. The main theme of the songs was unhappy love:

Sooner, our courtyard is overgrown.
Our courtyard has overgrown and bloomed with grass-ant.
That is not a grass in the field, not an ant, pink flowers.
There, flowers bloomed in the field, bloomed, and withered.
The guy loved the red girl, but left.
Leaving the girl, he laughed at her.
Don't laugh at a girl, boy, you're still single yourself.
Single, unmarried, no wife taken.

During work, girls were not supposed to sing - it was the prerogative of only married women. Married women turned in songs to God, the field, the sun, field spirits with a request for help:

Yes, take away, God, a thundercloud,
Yes, God save the labor field.

Peasant fields (bands) were located nearby. The reapers could see how the neighbors work, call to each other, cheer up the tired, reproach the lazy. The songs were interspersed with the so-called gurgles, that is, shouts, exclamations of “Oooh!”, “Hey!”, groaning, hooting. The gook was so strong that it could be heard in villages far from the fields. All this polyphonic noise was beautifully called "singing of the stubble."
In order for a certain part of the work to be completed by the evening, the lagging behind were urged on: “Pull up! Pull up! Pull! Pull your goat!” Each girl tried to press more sheaves, get ahead of her friends, and not fall behind. They laughed at the lazy, shouted: “Girl! Kila to you!" - and at night they “put a keel” on the strip for negligent girls: they stuck a stick into the ground with a bunch of straw tied to it or an old bast shoe. The quality and speed of the work determined whether the girl was “hard-working”, whether she would be a good housewife. If the reaper left an uncompressed groove behind her, then they said that she would have “a man will be a nut”; if the sheaves turned out to be large, then the peasant will be large, if even and beautiful, then he will be rich and hardworking. In order for the work to be argued, the girls said: “A strip to the edge, like a white hare, shoo, drive, shoo, drive!” (Morozov I.A., Sleptsova I.S.S. 119), and in order not to get tired, they girded themselves with a flagellum of stems with the words: “As mother rye became a year old, but she was not tired, so my back would not be tired to reap” ( Maykov L. N. S. 204).
The work ended when the sun went down and the stubble was covered with dew. It was not allowed to stay on the field after sunset: according to legend, this could prevent the dead ancestors from “walking through the fields and enjoying the harvest.” Before leaving the uncompressed strip, it was supposed to put two handfuls of stems crosswise to protect it from damage. The sickles, hidden, were usually left in the field, and not carried into the house, so as not to invite rain.
After a hard day, the girls again gathered in a flock and all together went to rest, singing about unhappy love:

She sang songs, her chest hurt,
The heart was breaking.
Tears rolled down my face -
I parted with my sweetheart.

Hearing loud singing, guys appeared who flirted with the girls, counting on their favor. The jokes of the guys were sometimes quite rude. For example, the guys frightened the girls by unexpectedly attacking them from behind the bushes, or put "gags": they tied up the tops of the grasses that grew on both sides of the path along which the girls were walking. In the dark time, the girls could not notice the traps, they fell, causing the guys to laugh joyfully.
Then they walked together, and the girls “sang” to the guys of the brides:

Our Maryushka was walking in the garden,
We have Vasilievna in green.
Ivan-well done looked at her:
“Here comes my valuable, priceless beauty.
I went through the whole village,
Better-better, I did not find Mary.
You, Maryushka, darling,
Embrace me joyfully
Kiss me on the mouth, please."

They tried to complete the harvest in one day. If someone did not cope on time, the neighbors hurried to help him. This was caused by a natural desire to help a neighbor, and also by the fact that uncompressed strips interfered with the removal of sheaves from the fields to the threshing floor and the grazing of livestock, which was released for harvest.
The end of hard suffering work was celebrated very festively. Girls and women sang dozhinal songs in which they glorified the field and God:

And thank God
Until the new year
God bless,
They shook the field
Suffered!
God bless
Until the new year!

On the last day of the harvest, many rites were performed. Their essence was to thank the field for the harvest, ask it to bear fruit for the next year and take health from the field for yourself and your loved ones. In some villages, girls and women stood in a circle, took sickles, raised them up and asked: “Freak, Lord! next year, so that the rye is a wall. In others, a sickle was thanked for the work, winding stalks of rye on it: “Thank you, seryapok, that you took care of me, now I will take care of you, feed you with wheat.”
Almost all over Russia, the custom of “curling the beard” was widespread, that is, the ears specially left uncompressed on the field were tied with ribbons or braided, and under them a piece of bread with salt was placed on the ground. The “beard” was tied up by the mistress of the house in the presence of all the reapers of the family. Before the beginning of the ceremony, the girls were allowed to squeeze a few little balls left by Ilya on the beard of the ears. If a girl reaped a pair of ears, this meant that matchmakers would come to her on Pokrov, if it was odd, she would have to wait for matchmakers until the winter meat-eater. After that, the girls went off to have fun with their flock, and the women, holding hands, began to dance around their beards, saying the spell:

We are already weaving, we are weaving a beard
Gavrila on the field
Curling a beard
Vasilyevich has it on a wide,
Vasilievich has yes on a wide one.
On the great fields
On wide stripes
Yes, to the mountains on high,
On the black-arable land,
On the arable land.

After harvesting all the bread in the village, a collective meal was arranged with beer, boiled meat, “squeeze” pies, and scrambled eggs. Girls and guys, after sitting with everyone, went for a walk and had fun until the morning.

The whole life of the peasants passed in constant labor and care. Day after day, year after year, the peasant worked from morning until late at night.

The plowing of his own and master's land took away from him most of all his time and energy. Plowing was followed by sowing, and sowing was followed by harvest.

Harvested by hand with a sickle. The ears were tied into sheaves and threshed with flails to extract the grain.

After that, it was still necessary to winnow and separate the wheat from the chaff.

No less work had to be spent on processing agricultural products into bread, butter, cheese, sausage, and on preparing food for the winter.

He took a lot of time from the peasant's garden, where they grew beans, peas, cucumbers, radishes, pumpkins, and cabbages. Almost all peasants kept livestock, and in swampy and mountainous areas, livestock raising played an even greater role than agriculture.

Every household had poultry.

A great help for the peasants was the forest, where they gathered mushrooms, berries and nuts, chopped firewood and collected brushwood. The forest gave wood, which was used to make furniture, barrels and utensils.

Long winter evenings were devoted to this home craft.

Peasant women did not do arable work, but they had no less worries. All household work was on their shoulders, they fed livestock and poultry, milked cows and goats.

Especially a lot of time and effort was taken by the production of yarn and home linen, from which they sewed clothes for the whole family.

Medieval village peasant labor

The lesson on the course "Origins" was:

Topic: "Peasant labor"

1. Acquaintance with the socio-cultural category "Peasant labor"

2. The accumulation of positive experience when working in a circle, a pair, the ability to listen to each other, to pay attention to the words of the interlocutor.

3. fostering a respectful attitude towards working people.

Course progress.

CONNECTION,

Classes begin with students in national costumes. The girl has a loaf of bread in her hands. Children read poetry. 1(slide)

1. If we want someone

Meet with honor and respect.

Meet generously from the heart,

With great respect,

We meet such guests

Lush round loaf.

He is on a painted platter

With white sleeves.

2. Loaf of earth and sky

On your table

Nothing is stronger than bread

Not in all the earth.

In every little piece - grain fields

And on each spikelet rests the earth.

TEACHER: Thank you for the hospitality, for the bread and salt, dear hosts. We accept your invitation.

Guys, why in Rus' dear guests were greeted with bread and salt?

Today we will visit the peasant fields, hear sayings about labor and bread, songs about peasant labor, we will feel how important it is to take care of bread, native land - the breadwinner,

The topic of today's lesson is "Peasant Labor" (Slide)

Read the words on the board: plowman, farmer, grain grower, peasant.

What do these words have in common?

If we turn to explanatory dictionaries, then we will find out that this is a peasant (Slide)

New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language. Author.

peasant

PEASANT

Conclusion: these words are about a man who worked on the earth.

The peasant calendar was full of work and completely dependent on nature.

Field work began in the spring. As soon as the earth dries out and warms up, the peasants went out into the fields to plow the land.

Peasants plowed with plow. They harnessed a horse, hitched a plow and went out into the field. (slide)

The peasant treated the field as a living being, observing the biblical commandment: "Do not harm the land, or the sea, or the tree."

Reader 2

Reader 3

Going out to sow grain in the field, the peasant put on wide winter bast shoes: “In order not to crush the earth, she is alive, she feels heaviness, but in bast shoes it is softer, lighter”

Reader 4

Even a horse, when working on arable land, steps with its hind hoof in the footprint of the front one, that is, it does not trample the ground in vain.

TEACHER (Slide)

“Work is bitter, but bread is sweet,” our ancestors used to say. With hard work they got their own food, because they remembered that without sowing, you will not reap. In many sayings, bread and labor are inextricably linked, because without the second you will not get the first. A respectful attitude to work was brought up in children from an early age. Any work was revered, because it brought bread .. It is believed that a good worker will not be left without food

BOOK WORK 78-79

What does the text say about the attitude of the peasants to the land?

What should be a person working in the field?

How do you understand the expression "where the owner passed, there the bread was born"

Why is haymaking called a real holiday?

(Peasants, during the winter, worked in factories, mines or in ancillary work, so working in nature gave them pleasure.

RESOURCE CIRCLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOLISTIC PERCEPTION.

Many poets and artists dedicated their works to the work of a grain grower. (slide show)

Artists (slide)

Van Gogh (slide)

Shishkin. Rye (slide)

Poems about bread. (slide)

Here it is, fragrant bread,

With a crisp twisted crust,

Here it is, warm, golden,

Like sun-filled!

In every house, on every table

He complained - he came.

In it is health, our strength,

It has wonderful warmth.

How many hands raised him

Saved, saved!

After all, grains did not immediately become

The bread that is on the table.

People long and hard

Work hard on the ground.

In every grain of wheat
Summer and winter
The power of the sun is stored
And native land.
And grow under the bright sky
Slender and tall
Like an immortal Motherland,
Bread spikelet. (ORLOV)

Grains of our days, shine
Carved with gilding!
We say: “Take care.
Take care of your own bread...
We did not dream of a miracle.
To us from the fields live speech:
“Take care of the bread, you people!
Learn to save bread.

The people spoke of bread as a living being: bread-breadwinner, bread-father. Just like bread, from time immemorial people have treated the work of those who created it. In Rus', bakers enjoyed special respect, they were never called Ivashka, Fedka, Petrushka - they called them respectfully, with their full names Ivan, Fedor, Peter. Bread was highly valued in Rus'. Respected people who grow and harvest bread. At all times, bread has been and remains a product that can feed a person.

MAIN STAGE (Music + slide)

Take the spikelets in your hands and stand in a circle. Imagine yourself in the middle of a grain field, listen to the sounds, try to understand your feelings.

We will now collect our spikelets together, creating an image of the field. The harvest is ripe, wheat is earing in the field.

Finish the phrase

I went out into the field and see (hear, feel)

REFLECTION

Do you feel like you are in a real field?

What guys have said that helped you?

PHYSICAL MINUTE.

Learning the folk game "Grandfather-Sysoy"

Grandfather-Sysy,

Don't shake your beard!

You listen to what we say

See what we show.

Grandfather - Sysoy answers

Hello kids.

Where were you on copper?

Children: - In the open field they walked in the wild, and ...... (showed with gestures what they were doing)

SOCIO-CULTURAL TRAINING - work in pairs

Teacher Bread is obtained by the sweat of one's brow, and farmers value the experience of their ancestors.

Especially brightly folk wisdom is manifested in proverbs and sayings.

They instruct, give wise advice, condemn laziness.

What proverbs do you know about bread and labor? (slide)

Seek deeds like bread.

You can't cut bread without a knife.

You can't get bread lying down.

But observing nature, folk signs have developed. They give advice to the peasant when to start this or that work.

Individual card work

Color the circle on the left in red near the proverb, and in blue near folk signs.

Group stage

- Listen carefully to your neighbor's opinion

Collectively choose your unanimous opinion.

Fill in the circles on the right.

Agree which of you will represent the joint decision

REFLECTION

Did you manage to come to an agreement?

What did you find difficult about your job?

What worked best?

SUMMARIZING

First the grain was sown with grain,

Then the agronomist cherished the sprouts.

Then the combine harvester took the ear,

He gently rubbed it in his palms.

Knowing that the bread has long ripened,

He went out to clean it with a combine harvester in the field.

Reader 2

Then the flour was ground from the grain

And she went to the baker.

And he was able to try:

These buns are delicious baked!

Appreciate, love and respect the one

Who sowed bread, grew and baked it!

How do you understand the proverb “As you sow, so shall you reap?” They sowed not only bread, they sowed the habit of working, therefore, from early childhood, the child developed a respectful, respectful attitude towards a good worker.

We bring salt with a loaf,

Worshiping, we ask you to taste:

Our dear guest and friend,

Take bread and salt from your hands.

Evaluation: 1- impressions from the lesson

2- your work during the lesson

d/z We will create a book of sayings and proverbs about bread. Everyone will design their own page with their own proverb.

a peasant, treated the field as a living being, observing the biblical commandment: "Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the tree."

Reader 2

The field is alive. It breathes - I’ll cover it with my hand, I won’t let the air in, it will suffocate. Hence the respect for the land: do not trample it, do not roll it with a wheel unnecessarily.

Reader 3

Going out into the field to sow grain, the peasant put on wide winter bast shoes: “So that the earth does not crush - it is alive, it feels heaviness, but in bast shoes it is softer, lighter”

Reader 4

Even a horse, when working on arable land, steps with its hind hoof in the footprint of the front one, that is, it does not trample the ground in vain

“Work is bitter, but bread is sweet,” our ancestors used to say. With hard work they got their own food, because they remembered that without sowing, you will not reap. In many sayings, bread and labor are inextricably linked, because without the second you will not get the first. A respectful attitude to work was brought up in children from an early age. Any work was revered, because it brought bread. It is believed that a good worker will not be left without food. But laziness is not held in high esteem, no one needs freeloaders.

· If they give bread, they will give businessmen.

Seek deeds like bread.

Sweat on the back - so is the bread on the table.

· Do not leave business for tomorrow, but leave bread.

· Then the extracted bread and stale is sweet.

You won't be full of conversation if you don't get bread.

· Work until you sweat, eat bread on the hunt.

· He who works tirelessly does not exist without bread.

· To get up early - to get a lot of bread, and to sleep for a long time - to pour a debt.

· Without bread and without porridge, our labors are worthless.

You can't cut bread without a knife.

· The harvest is ripe, and the sickle is sharpened.

This bread - don't sleep: if you reap - there will be no time to doze

You can't get bread lying down.

The meaning of the word "PEASANT"

New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language. Author.

peasant m. 1) A villager whose main occupation is the cultivation of the land.

Explanatory Dictionary, ed. S. I. Ozhegova and

PEASANT,. A villager who cultivates crops and raises farm animals as his main job. Peasant economy.

Bread and porridge are our food.

Bread and water - heroic food.

Not a fur coat warms, but bread.

You won't be full without bread and honey.

Without a piece of bread, longing is everywhere.

There would be a head on the shoulders, but there will be bread.

Where the owner walks, there the earth will give birth to bread.

Buckwheat porridge is our mother, and rye bread is our father.

Like an edge of bread, so is paradise under the spruce, and not a piece of bread, so is melancholy in the tower.

Not a piece of bread - and longing in the throat.

If there is more bread, the country is invincible.

Earth is mother, and bread is father.

Rye bread - kalach grandfather.

The well-fed counts the stars in the sky, and the hungry thinks about bread.

Hungry godmother has all the bread on his mind.

Bread on the table - and the table is a throne, but not a piece of bread - and the table is a board.

The well-fed thinks about business, and the hungry thinks about bread.

The plowman's hand is black, but the bread is white.

A beggar has bread on his mind, a miser has a crust in his account.

No salt, no bread - half a meal.

If you want to eat kalachi, don't sit on the stove.

REMEMBER BREAD

You know, one day I saw
As an old man asked for forgiveness.
He offended a loaf of bread
The one that suddenly dropped to the ground

He knelt before her,
In half bent, somehow.
Sor shook off the crust ... Clumsily
He hung the sign of the cross on himself.

"Forgive me loaf of bread,
I became awkward in my later years.
Let him witness the blue of the sky,
There is nothing more important than you.

You were the reward for the grain grower,
It was a consolation to the traveler.
Prayers were sent to God for you
And they did military deeds.

I also remember my childhood
Difficult war years.
The grief that we inherited
And bad, meager food

And the boys like gingerbread, like sweetness
A small piece came out
Black bread - a simple joy ...
Who could have thrown it to the ground?

The old man stood still a little,
And wandered off into the distance alone.
Remember bread, for God's sake,
With him the people are forever invincible

In every grain of wheat
Summer and winter
The power of the sun is stored
And native land.
And grow under the bright sky
Slender and tall
Like an immortal Motherland,
Bread spikelet. (ORLOV)

Grains of our days, shine
Carved with gilding!
We say: “Take care.
Take care of your own bread...
We did not dream of a miracle.
To us from the fields live speech:
“Take care of the bread, you people!
Learn to save bread.

So the summer has flown by, pulling cold from the river.
The rye ripened, turned yellow, tilted the spikelets.
Two harvesters are walking in the field. Back and forth, end to end.
Reap - thresh, reap - thresh, harvest.
In the morning the rye stood like a wall. By night, the rye was gone.
Only the sun has set, the grain has emptied.

Spring day, it's time to plow. We went out into the tractor field.
My father and brother lead them, they lead them hunchbacked over the hills.
I'm in a hurry to catch up with them, I ask you to ride.
And my father answers me: - The tractor plows, does not roll!
Wait a minute, grow up, you will lead the same!

Bread as an object of worship.

There are many rituals associated with bread. It was customary for the Eastern and Western Slavs to put bread in front of the icons, as if testifying to their loyalty to God. They took bread with them when they went to woo; with bread and salt they met the guest, the young on their return from the church after the wedding; bread was brought along with the dowry of the bride. Bread was often used as a talisman: they put it in the cradle of a newborn; they took with them on the road, so that he guarded on the way. A loaf of bread and each of its pieces, especially the first one, or a crumb, embodied a person's share; it was believed that his strength, health and luck depended on the treatment of them.

Types of peasant labor

Before we begin our acquaintance with child labor, let us briefly recall peasant labor in general.

The basis of all peasant life, as you know, from ancient times was agriculture, which largely determined the way of social and family life, views on the environment, relationships between people and the upbringing of children. Agriculture developed in various and complex climatic zones, required enormous labor, observations, and accumulated rich traditions.

The main and reliable crop was rye, which almost always produced a crop; barley, wheat, millet, peas, flax, hemp, etc. were also grown. The main working animal is the horse. The farmstead contained cows, goats, sheep, chickens, geese. Agricultural implements - scythe, sickle, harrow. All these were attributes of an agrarian culture that had been preserved for many centuries.

The success of agriculture largely depended on nature, in particular, the weather meant a lot to the farmer, so it was carefully monitored, and the results of the observations made it possible to decide on agricultural work. So, if it was cold on the Meeting (February 15), wait for late spring, which means get ready to sow bread at certain times, etc.; if a hen on the day of Evdokia (March 14) drinks water from a puddle, then a sheep on Yegory (May 6) will eat enough grass, i.e. it will be a good spring. Other natural features also spoke of a lot: the period of flowering of the bird cherry, the blooming of the leaves of the oak; a lot of snow in winter - a lot of bread, if the snow melted "along" - spring crops were sown early. A snowstorm, a blizzard on the day of Evdokia foreshadowed - the cattle would have to be kept in a barn in the spring longer, which was difficult for the peasant economy, which was not rich in fodder. So, observing the signs on certain days, the peasants made a long-term forecast, which allowed them to properly prepare for the upcoming seasonal agricultural work.

The specificity of the natural and climatic conditions of Russia was also reflected in the names of the Russian folk calendar, which arose in antiquity.

There were other variants of names: zharnik, stardnik - July, izyuk June, etc. At the same time, there were signs for each month and day: if in December the snow rolls close to the fences, it will be a bad summer; cold May - a grain-growing year; in November it will inflate with snow - bread will arrive, etc.

Agriculture in peasant farms was closely connected with cattle breeding, which also required tireless attention and a lot of work both in summer and in winter.

Let us note a characteristic feature of peasant labor: despite the repetition from season to season, from year to year of the same work, there was no routine in it. It may seem that the monotony of affairs does not require anything but mechanical skills, but no: weather conditions, the condition of seeds for sowing, the state of health of cattle, the burrows of each animal, and much more required quickness of mind, quick wit, observation and everyday adaptation of the peasant to these features. Even small children learned to do work in different ways, taking into account different circumstances; Thus, the nanny girl, trying to calm the child, resorted to various measures: she spoke sternly with one, caressed the other, entertained someone. Also, in dealing with animals, a different approach was required: a shepherd boy could besiege one cow with a menacing cry, and caress another, i.e. work constantly demanded the manifestation of creativity.

Children's labor

From early childhood, the child was immersed in the working atmosphere of the family, became a participant in various activities, and was gradually drawn into the system of work duties and relationships.

As soon as the child grew up, began to stand firmly on his feet and understand the speech of others, he easily and naturally joined in the work. He was not forced by his parents, they were not forced to work, but they were interested in business, allowed him to do something himself, to help his elders, because it is known that a child is by nature an active being. Children's thirst for imitation, activity, the example of others were the most effective incentives to work. Already at the age of four or five, the girl helped her sister wind up the threads, feed the chickens, the boy gave the bast to his father, weaving bast shoes, etc. The boy began to drive cattle to a watering hole, learned to ride. A six-seven-year-old child was trusted to drive the cattle into the yard, bring firewood to the hut. The boys were near the carpenter's father, the girls were near the mother at the spinning wheel and carried out their feasible, uncomplicated assignments. Girls very early began to nurse their younger brothers and sisters and joined the housework - they looked after the bird, washed the dishes and floors, carried water.

A peasant boy at the age of seven or eight was already helping his father on arable land, handling a horse. In winter, he helped his father in the preparation of firewood, learned to use a saw and an ax. He went hunting with his father, learned to set snares, shoot from a bow, and could fish.

At nine or ten years old, a teenager himself could handle a horse, knew how to harness it.

But not immediately the children were taken to the real thing, the folk experience of education prompted adults that this should be done gradually, including them in the game. A small shovel and rake were in the hands of the child when he worked with the adults; the father often left a small piece of land for his son, where the boy learned to plow. The girl learned to cook with her mother, making her own cakes and breads from dough. In a small bucket she began to carry water. They made a small spinning wheel for the girl and she sat behind it next to her older sisters. She learned to sew clothes for a doll that older children could make. So, gradually mastering labor skills, children with age were drawn into work, skillfully handling tools, inventory, and cattle.

From the game gradually moved to the real work.

At ten or thirteen years old, a teenager could already plow, and by the age of fourteen he could mow, harvest with a sickle, work with an ax and a flail, i.e. became a real worker. In winter, he could weave bast shoes and baskets.

The guy at the age of fourteen - sixteen was trained in such difficult types of work as mowing, was engaged in plowing, threshing, arranging firewood in the forest, he knew many subtleties of the peasant business. At the age of eighteen, he could do sowing (this is the most difficult work), and from that time he was considered a full-fledged master.

Adolescents helped their family with their earnings, hiring for the summer as a shepherd or leaving to graze horses at "night" together with a group of peers. The family received the necessary additional earnings, and for the teenager himself it was a kind of school, where he learned to comply with his obligations and to perform his work in a disciplined manner.

In addition to homework, which she joined very early, the girl began to work with a sickle in the field from the age of nine or ten, from that time she was really engaged in knitting sheaves, weeding beds, pulling flax and hemp. At ten or twelve she already milked a cow, could knead the dough, cooked, washed, looked after the children, carried water, sewed, knitted and did many other household chores.

At the age of fourteen, the girl harvested bread, mowed the grass, and began to work on a par with adults. And let's not forget - by this time she should have prepared a dowry for herself.

Competition, rivalry is especially characteristic of adolescence. “The teenager had to be upset, because he wants to learn how to plow before his peers, so that all the girls, big and small, can see it. I want to chop more firewood than my neighbor, so that no one calls him small or lazy, I want to catch berries to treat the younger ones."

At the age of fourteen-sixteen, young men and women, having undergone extensive labor training, became independent, confidently set to work, and behaved more sedately.

The demands of adults on the behavior of young people also changed with age, while the guy was more free from parental care, he could leave in the evenings without asking, go to parties. It’s another matter for girls, their parents tried to keep an eye on them, they couldn’t attend festivities without the permission of adults, they were supposed to behave modestly in the house with guests, eat little, be silent more, looking down, and not laugh out loud.

Not all labor occupations are described here, in which the child was included from an early age. But the ones described above testify to how much they meant to the growing child.

"The whole life of a peasant was permeated with concern for the harvest, cattle, weather, which shaped the worldview of children, taught them to be responsible for the fate of the harvest, the well-being of the family. In a poor and rich family, work was the basis of existence."

Labor is not only the development of skills and abilities, it is also the development of worldview, moral hardening, aesthetic experiences and, of course, physical development and health.

Getting involved in labor, a person learned the laws of natural phenomena, saw their interconnection and interdependence (for example, that rye can be sown only at a certain time when nature favors this, that it will ripen in a few weeks and that it can also be harvested taking into account natural conditions, etc. .P.). Subtle observations of the surrounding world, carried out in the process of performing various tasks and necessary for their success, contributed to the development of mental operations, the ability to draw conclusions from observations, awakened insight and inquisitiveness.

Involving at first voluntarily, and later, out of necessity, in various affairs, a child, a teenager perceived his work as a natural and necessary occupation, from which it would be impossible to escape throughout his life: after all, everyone around him is working, it was not necessary to say that without labor it is unthinkable existence itself. Awareness of the role of labor as a vital necessity formed a corresponding attitude towards it. Peasant work is difficult, associated with many inconveniences: getting up early, working in rain or snow, in mud and abyss - requires great physical exertion. All these difficulties were perceived by both the Little Child and the young men as inevitable, and they accepted them resignedly, although they probably dreamed of an easier life. Perhaps the fabulous Ivanushka and Emelya were the embodiment of this dream?

Patience, the ability to endure life's hardships, enjoy labor successes, experience quivering feelings at the sight of rising greenery in the fields - this is also a consequence of labor activity. Work from infancy brought up the mind and soul of a person.

Labor activity strengthened and hardened the growing organism, developed physical strength and endurance, which in turn was manifested in labor.

The development of a serious, respectful attitude of children to work was facilitated by rituals associated with the main peasant work. Let's take a look at two of these rituals.

The rite began agricultural work. The beginning of spring field work was given special importance, since the fate of the harvest and the well-being of the family largely depended on it. Therefore, there was a special ritual for starting work with various magical actions, the observance of which was supposed to guarantee the success of plowing and sowing, which means it was the key to a good harvest. In each village, this ritual was performed in its own way, but there were also common features. "Correct behavior at the" start "was to ensure success in the future, to prevent, according to the peasants, possible troubles and natural disasters," to help protect themselves from them by the whole world.

Before the beginning - the beginning of plowing, a meeting took place, at which a person was elected, the beginning of which, it was believed, would be "easy". We needed such a peasant who had a "light hand", a kind, good man, always a man: "God Himself has decreed that a peasant sows." Here they decided when to start sowing for everyone else: before lunch or tomorrow. Then they took out the bread and the icon, harnessed the horse to the plow and went to the field. The chosen peasant made three prostrations before the icon, then, bowing on all four sides, he made furrows through all the plots with a plow.

With community money, they ordered a religious procession in the church during sowing; on this day they usually did not work.

When the winter crops "went to growth", they could also serve a prayer service on the field. And then, right there on the field, they arranged a feast, where all the peasants were present.

Also, the day dedicated to the first cattle pasture, which took place on May 6, on the day of St. George the Victorious, whom researchers consider to have replaced the pagan Yarila, was arranged in a special way. The peasants believed that Egory himself, invisible to people, rides on his horse and grazes cattle, protecting them from animals, over which he also rules (it is known that grazing was always associated with the danger of an attack by an animal, which was full in the forests surrounding the village) . "Our Father, George, save and keep our cattle in dark forests, in liquid places from wild animals, from creeping snakes and from evil people. Amen."

Before this day, the children went from house to house with the song "Father Yegory" and collected bribes. Families performed a number of ritual actions aimed, as it was believed, at the preservation of livestock; for example, the owners pray, then go around their cattle with bread and salt, with the icon of St. George, saying: "Holy Egoriy, father, we hand over our cattle to you and ask you: save it from the fierce beast!" Then they put a lock and a key under the gate - so that the beast's mouth is as tightly locked as a lock is locked with a key. Driving the cattle out of the yard, they said: "Egory the brave, take my animal for the whole full summer and save it!"

The pasture of cattle began simultaneously in the whole community before dinner. From each yard, the children drove cows, sheep and pigs with willows, followed by the owner and mistress. When the herd gathered, the shepherd went around him three times, holding a carpet of bread on his head, and a whip on his shoulder. A healthy, flourishing young woman followed the shepherd, followed by the headman, also with a rug on her head. Then everyone prayed.

The shepherd gathered the whole herd more tightly and threw a stick over it: "Well, thank God, he threw all the diseases of our cattle through the whole herd." Well, after that, the boys played burners, running around the herd, which should have contributed to good milk yields. It was impossible to work that day.

On the day of St. Nicholas the Pleasant (May 22), the first pasture of horses was held at night. Village teenagers and a shepherd burned bonfires at night, baked potatoes in the ashes, games were started until dawn.

These days were followed by others, furnished with certain ritual actions: "Zazhin" - the beginning of the harvest; the beginning of haymaking, etc.

Let us ask ourselves: how did these rituals contribute to the labor education of children, since the ritual did not require the participation of children in labor? When they were performed, the children were once again imbued with the main concerns of the peasants - about a good harvest and the safety of livestock. Involving themselves in rituals related to agricultural affairs, adolescents mastered those ritual actions that, according to the peasants, contributed to good results of labor, called for the help of magical powers to ensure the well-being of the family along with everyday work. The seriousness with which the adults treated the described rituals aroused in the children an understanding of the great importance of the undertaking and developed in them the same serious attitude to work.

Participation of children in public works

Help. There were such village works that rallied, taught mutual assistance and support, brought to life such human qualities as mercy, generosity, responsiveness, conscientiousness.

This kind of work includes helping neighbors, fellow villagers who find themselves in a difficult situation: fire victims, orphans, widows, lonely old people, families of recruits, assistance during funerals, etc. For example, a peasant who suffered from a fire turned to the world with a request to help build a hut, and the society necessarily responded to the request: together they harvested logs in the forest, took them out and put up a house. The sick owner, who failed to prepare the seeds in time, could collect them for sowing on a basket from the yard and cultivate the land, sow the seeds.

This form of mutual assistance was called help. Usually help was in field work, when plowing the land, reaping for those who do not have a horse or do not have enough hands. The owner, as a rule, turned for help either to the community or to his close friends, neighbors and relatives. Rarely did anyone refuse to participate in the help, because every peasant understood that he himself could be in distress.

The peasants gathered for help not only when the owners appealed, but they themselves took the initiative if they saw the plight of the owners. Participation in helping was considered a moral obligation for everyone, an ordinary occurrence, and if someone refused to come to the rescue, then no one punished him, but society condemned him, and they rarely decided to act against public opinion.

They also attracted the help of young people because songs, jokes, and pranks were played already during work. And at the end of the work they could sing all night, ride the owner's horse, etc. The owner had his own ethics: he did not indicate to whom and how to work, he did not make comments, but was kind and affable, but the negligent were not invited the next time.

Here are some types of help:

Bribes - the erection of a log house, prepared by the owner, on the foundation, when the finished log house was dismantled, put in a prepared place, caulked.

Baking - folding an adobe stove, which was usually done by single guys and girls. These are youth aids, on which work was combined with a party. It was necessary to bring clay, then crush and tamp it with boards, trample it down with your feet. As a rule, this help was collected during the construction of a new hut.

Supryadki is spinning from wool, flax, hemp by women and girls. Usually they were arranged in families where there were few women or too many children. At first, yarn was prepared from raw materials; raw materials for this were sent in advance to women - acquaintances and relatives, they spun threads, sometimes each worked separately in her own hut, and often at common gatherings. Then an evening of supryadok was appointed, at which the spinners appeared with ready-made yarn and threads in their best outfits, and the hostess arranged a treat with songs and dances.

Couplings were also arranged as alternate help, in turn with many girls, when they gathered in one or another hut.

Toloka flax is mainly girlish and female help, although young guys could also participate in them. They gathered alternately in different huts, starting from the outer courtyard of the village, and were necessary because it was necessary to quickly process the collected flax. Girls and young women came with their crushers at night, worked until dawn by the light of a lantern or a tallow candle. Each worker had to process 100 sheaves during her work. All night they worked with songs, and during the day the owner treated them to dinner.

There were still many reasons for helping: when plowing, completing the harvest, haylofts - help in harvesting hay, woodsheds - when cutting down forests, cabbage - when salting cabbage, etc.

The child realized the need for mutual help very early, watching the life of his family, listening to the conversations of adults about the upcoming help and gradually getting involved in them. For him, as well as for adult peasants, help was a given, a necessity, so the obligation to participate in them was beyond doubt. So, from early childhood, kindness to people, readiness for mutual assistance and the desire to make life easier for their neighbors, relatives and those who simply need help were awakened in the soul of a person.

During the general work, quick wit, dexterity, virtuosity in individual cases were manifested. The opinion about the girl was also formed in appearance, she made a lot of her clothes herself, and this showed what kind of worker she was.

Joint work caused a great emotional upsurge among its participants, the young people not only worked here, but also rallied, got closer, got to know each other better, and songs and jokes evoked a joyful mood. All this colored hard work in major tones, and therefore participation in the help was not perceived as a heavy duty. Help was just characterized by the interweaving of labor and holiday elements.

Labor holidays. In mid-August, the period of grain harvesting ended. Harvest is a time of very hard work, when it was important to harvest in a short time with a minimum of losses, when it was impossible to delay the work deadlines - they were dictated by nature. It was at this time that the whole family was in the field: they were reaping, knitting sheaves, setting shocks, etc., work went on from dawn to dusk.

In the final days of work, help was carried out - "dozhinki", which organically merged with the holiday on the occasion of the end of the entire harvest. Help could be arranged on the strip with a sick woman or orphans, the eldest of which is only 13-14 years old, i.e. for those who could not cope with the cleaning themselves. There was also help, to which relatives and close people were specially invited, and sometimes guys.

The joy at the successful completion of hard work was so great that it required a special holiday.

At the end of the work, the reapers rolled around the field so that their back would not hurt for the future reaping, with the words "nivka, nivka, give me back my snare." And there was certainly a ritual of curling the "beard", which has been preserved since ancient pagan times and aimed at restoring strength to the earth for the next year's harvest.

On the eve of the ceremony, they went around the house and, knocking on the window with a stick, invited: "To the beard tomorrow!" Helpers came to the field early in the morning with their sickles and worked with songs and jokes until they had all the bread. And in some places the last sheaf was reaped silently; if someone speaks, that "groom will be blind." The last ears were left uncompressed, they were tied - this is the beard. They decorated it with ribbons, tied it with grass and bent it to the ground, lightly sprinkled it with it, put bread and salt under the beard, bowed low and said:

Here's a beard for you, Ilya, give us rye and oats!

After the “beard” was curled, with the last compressed sheaf - the “birthday man”, dressed up in a sundress, they left the field with songs. Many special songs were reserved for this occasion. The sheaf was solemnly brought into the owner's hut and placed under the icons, and then fed to cattle and poultry. In the owner's house, a treat was prepared for the arrival of the helpers and a feast began. After the treat, the girls with songs and dances walked around the village and called the owner; the guys were also here, sometimes on the owner's horses they rode along the street with songs and jokes.

Haymaking turned into a holiday - a difficult but fun time, lasting about a month at the height of summer, in July. Women dried the grass cut by mowers - turned it over, tousled it, raked it into a pile - dug, etc. They mowed the grass, dried it and put it in stacks, and then shared the finished hay heart to heart.

And everywhere it was necessary to know the rules of work, to feel when the hay is ready for laying in stacks; the rain added a lot of trouble. But under favorable weather conditions, hay harvesting is a pleasant agricultural job.

Warm nights, the fragrance of herbs in the meadows, bathing after the heat - all this created a festive mood.

All the participants, especially the girls, put on their best dresses, dressed up, and sang a lot while working. The meadow then turned into a place of festivities, where they danced, played the harmonicas, joked, where the girls showed off in front of the suitors. Often peasant families went to distant meadows, taking babies with them. They rested in huts, cooked food on fires. For dinner, several families united, after working in the meadow, the elders rested, and the young ones went for berries. They moved to huts outside the village even when the meadows were nearby; at this time, the youth remained in the meadows all the time for haymaking. Therefore, this time was looked forward to and, despite hard work, they considered it a holiday.

Autumn cabbages began the time of autumn evenings of youth. After the end of the cabbage harvest, the laborious work of salting it was ahead, for this the girls "kapustnitsy" were invited to it, and the guys came without an invitation to help the girls, and mainly to entertain the workers. It was necessary to chop, chop cabbage in one day, put it in tubs and lower it into the cellar. Sometimes up to 5,000 heads of cabbage were processed, then a lot of poochs were required - up to 200 girls. And they often gathered for cabbages and in a small composition, if there was not much cabbage. But the custom remained unchanged: work was combined with a holiday.

After they managed the work, the hostess invited everyone to the hut and put out refreshments for the youth. Here the fun began until the morning: songs, games, dances; they usually sang game songs, and they also performed laudatory ones, those that were sung at wedding parties in honor of unmarried relatives.

So, help, playing an important role in the economic life of the village, also meant a lot in fixing certain ethical norms, in preserving customs and shaping public opinion. Through help, economic skills and abilities were passed from generation to generation, the youth perceived the knowledge acquired by the elders in their practice. Here the reputation of the bride and groom was created, their advantages and disadvantages were revealed, and in the process of communication during the help, friendly affections were fixed.

Assessing the overall importance of child labor in the development of the individual, we note its enormous role in the development of physical and spiritual strength and in preparation for vigorous labor activity. The main feature of the labor of peasant children is seen in its attachment to all types of work of an adult peasant. That is how, entering into labor relations and duties, children gradually, step by step, were included in the main spheres of life, lived through its main stages even in childhood. They did not prepare for the future work, but lived it, were engaged in affairs significant for the family and society, at the same time mastering practical skills and abilities, giving out a certain product of work. Labor was not so much a means of education as the meaning of human life from an early age. Associated with the main spheres of life, child labor ensured the multifaceted development of the individual and was the key to a person's success in independent adult life.

Literature

Konstantinov N.A., Medynsky E.N., Shabaev M.F., History of Pedagogy-M., Enlightenment, 1982

Kharlamov and. F. Pedagogy: Proc. allowance for university students and ped. in-comrade. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M .: Higher. school, 1990.

Kharlamov I.V. Pedagogy. Minsk., 1998.

Likhachev B.T. Lectures on pedagogy. M., 1995.

Bordovskaya N.V., Rean A.A. Pedagogy. Textbook for high schools. "Peter", 2000.

Similar abstracts:

Folk pedagogy as part of folk culture. The need to educate students on the traditions of Russian culture, the information and educational function of folk holidays. Inclusion of folklore material in music programs in elementary school.

We have long been accustomed to the assertion that prayer is our spiritual food, the basis of our inner life, the source of our salvation. Meanwhile, rather quickly, spiritual laziness makes these words be perceived precisely as words - beautiful and correct.

Peasant labor in the image of N.A. Nekrasov

I. Introduction

The work of a peasant causes conflicting feelings in Nekrasov. On the one hand, it is in labor that the strength of the people, their rich opportunities, are manifested. The peasant loves and knows how to work; idleness is alien to him. It is peasant labor that will create what is good in Russia. On the other hand, the labor of a peasant is forced labor, bringing him suffering.

II. main part

1. Labor as joy and creation. In many of Nekrasov's works, peasant labor is described precisely from this side. Everything is created by the labor of a peasant - from bread to the railway, which was built, after all, not by "Count Kleinmichel", but by ordinary people. ("Railway"). Labor is the basis of a man's self-respect, even his pride. In the poem “To whom it is good to live in Rus',” Yakim Nagoi asks Pavlusha Veretennikov for a reason: “Our fields are vast, // But not much generous, // Tell me, by whose hand // Will they dress in spring, // And will they undress in autumn? ". White women are not tender.

And we are great people // In work and in revelry! Saveliy’s proud words echo these words: “Do you think, Matryonushka, // A peasant is not a hero?”. Even a child feels this pride in his work (“Peasant Children”, “A Man with a Fingernail”). Labor is the basis of a peasant's life. No wonder the seven wanderers yearning for work in “Who Lives Well in Russia” so cheerfully take up the mowing: “I woke up, flared up // A forgotten habit // To work! Like teeth from hunger, // Works for everyone // Nimble hand. Nekrasov was one of the first to poeticize peasant labor, considering it as the basis of existence and contrasting it with the idleness of the ruling classes.

2. Labor is suffering. Under the conditions of an exploitative system, the labor of a peasant is forced labor, not for himself, but for “God, Tsar and Master”; it is labor through force, exhausting and gradually killing a person. The lyrics of Nekrasov (“Railway”, “On the Volga”, “Uncompressed Strip”, etc.) are also filled with pictures of such work, and in particular the poem “To whom it is good to live in Russia”. Yakim Nagoi, who tells Veretennikov about how the peasant's navel "bursts" in overwork, says about himself: "He works to death"; in the same episode, Nekrasov also paints an impressive portrait of a peasant exhausted by work. Literally, Saveliy tells about hard labor. Nekrasov is especially sorry for women and children who are overworking at work (the poems “The Cry of Children”, “The village suffering is in full swing ...”, the story of Matryona Timofeevna in “Who Lives Well in Russia”, etc.).

III. Conclusion

The theme of labor in Nekrasov's work is one of the most important. It combines both pride in the Russian peasant, and deep sympathy for him, and the denunciation of the ruling classes, who have made labor - the basis of human life - literally penal servitude.