Peasant reform
In Russian classical literature, almost exclusively LANDED PEASANTS, which were discussed above, are bred. But there were other categories of peasants, sometimes mentioned in passing by the classics. To complete the picture, you should get to know them.
STATE, or STATE, peasants. They were considered personally free, lived on state lands, and carried duties in favor of the state. They were led by special managers appointed by the government.
INDIVIDUAL PEASANTS. Belonged royal family, paid dues, carried state duties.
ECONOMIC PEASANTS until 1764 belonged to monasteries and churches, then these lands were allocated to special economies, transferred to the state, to which the peasants bore duties, remaining relatively free. Subsequently, they merged with the state peasants.
POSESSIONAL PEASANTS belonged to private industrial enterprises and were used as factory workers.
The abolition of serfdom in 1861 to one degree or another affected all categories of peasants, but we will only talk about how it affected the landlord peasants, who constituted the most numerous category (23 million) described in detail in Russian classical literature.
In general, the abolition of serfdom on February 19, 1861 took into account, first of all, the interests of large landlords - landowners. Although the peasant became personally free and could no longer be bought or sold, he was obliged to redeem his land allotment from the landowner. At the same time, he received not the allotment that he cultivated, but greatly reduced in favor of the landowner and at a price that significantly exceeded its actual value. When allotments were allocated, the landowner left the poorest, most infertile land to the peasants.
For the preparation of charters, that is, documents regulating relations between landowners and peasants after the reform of 1861, WORLD MEDIATORS were appointed from among the local nobles. Much in the fate of the peasants depended on the personal qualities of these mediators, their objectivity and benevolence. Among the world mediators, there were also liberal people inclined to a fair decision. Such were Konstantin Levin in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Versilov in Dostoyevsky's A Teenager, and the good-natured Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov apparently possessed these qualities in Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.
In the interests of the landlords, the peasants had to pay them a lump sum of 20-25% of the value of the field plot. The rest was initially paid by the treasury, so that the peasant repaid this loan within 49 years, in installments, at 6% annually.
A peasant who did not contribute 20 - 25% to the landowner was considered TEMPORARY and continued to work former owner SHARE, as the corvée, or dues, has now become known. Temporarily liable are seven men - the heroes of Nekrasov's poem "Who should live well in Rus'." In 1883, the category of temporarily liable was canceled: by this time, the peasants had to pay the ransom to the landowner in full or lose their allotment.
On average, reform per one peasant family 3.3 acres of land were allocated, that is, three and a half hectares, which was barely enough to feed themselves. In some places, the peasant was given 0.9 acres - a completely beggarly allotment.
In Russian literature, the peasant reform of 1861 and its consequences for the landowners and peasants were widely reflected. Such a dialogue in Ostrovsky's play "The Savage Woman" between the landowners Ashmetyev and Anna Stepanovna regarding the reform is indicative. Ashmetyev says: “Well, it seems that we can’t really complain, we haven’t lost much.” Anna Stepanovna declares: “So this is an exception, this is a special happiness ... Kirill Maksimych was then a conciliator and drew up charters for us with the peasants. He cut them so that they have nowhere to kick out the chicken. Thanks to him, I got a good job: the peasants work for me just as much and as much as the serfs - no difference.
In the novel “Mother” by Gorky, the peasant Yefim answered the question: “Do you yourself have a plot? "- replies:" We? We have! We are three brothers, and she put on four tithes. Sand - it’s good for them to clean copper, but the land is incapable of bread! .. "And he continues:" I freed myself from the earth - what is it? He does not feed, but knits his hands. I have been going to the farm laborers for the fourth year.
Millions of peasants went bankrupt, went to the laborers to the same landlords or kulaks, left for the cities, replenishing the ranks of the proletariat, which was rapidly growing in the post-reform years.
The fate of the yard peasants was especially difficult: they did not have a land allotment, and therefore the landowner was not obliged to provide them with land. Few continued to serve the impoverished landlords into old age, like Firs in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. The majority was released without land and money for all four sides. If the landowner left his estate, they remained, starving, in the estate, he was no longer obliged to pay them a month or a salary. Nekrasov wrote about such unfortunates in the poem “Who in Rus' should live well”:
... In the estate of that loitered
Hungry courtyards,
Abandoned by the master
By chance.
All old, all sick
And, as in a gypsy camp,
Dressed up.
Saltykov-Shchedrin colorfully described the bitter fate of a courtyard man after the reform in the story "The Tailor Grishka".
Shortly before the reform, having heard about it, many landowners, despite the ban, transferred almost all of their peasants to the household in order to deprive them of the right to allotment.
Nekrasov wrote:
"The great chain is broken,
Torn - jumped:
One end on the master,
Others for a man!
Yes, the master, especially the poor one, got it too: the money received for the ransom was quickly spent, and there was nothing to live on. Ransom certificates were sold or pledged for nothing - issued to landowners financial documents confirming their right to receive ransom money. It remained to sell the hereditary land, which was quickly seized by resourceful merchants and kulaks. But even this money did not last long.
Earlier than others, small-scale landowners went bankrupt and disappeared, followed by medium-sized landowners. Pictures of the ruin of the "noble nests", the impoverishment of the nobles are vividly drawn in the works of Bunin and A.N. Tolstoy.
Influenced by the events of the first Russian revolution in 1905, the government abolished the collection of ransom payments from peasants in 1906, that is, four years ahead of schedule.
In L. Tolstoy's comedy Fruits of Enlightenment, peasants driven to the extreme come to the landowner in the city to buy land from him. “Without land, our habitation must weaken and fall into decay,” explains one man. And another adds: "... the land is small, not like cattle, - let's say, a hen, and there is nowhere to release it." However, the swaggering landowner demands payment in full, without the promised installment plan, and the peasants have no money. Only the cunning of the maid Tanya, who uses the superstition of the masters, helps the peasant walkers achieve their goal.
In Gorky's novel "The Life of Klim Samgin" one of the characters characterizes the situation of the peasants in this way. late XIX century: “The men live as conquered, as in captivity, by golly. The younger ones are leaving, who goes where.
Such were the consequences of the reform of 1861.
What is incomprehensible among the classics, or Encyclopedia of Russian life XIX century. Yu. A. Fedosyuk. 1989
Yu.A. Fedosyuk
WHAT IS INCOMPLETE AMONG THE CLASSICS, or ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN LIFE OF THE XIX CENTURY
A few words about this book
The history of this book is not quite ordinary. It began back in 1959 with a letter that 39-year-old philologist and journalist Yuri Fedosyuk wrote to the editors of the Voprosy Literature magazine. “Hundreds of expressions found in the works of Russian classics and reflecting public relations and household features pre-revolutionary Russia, become for an ever wider range contemporary readers“stumbling block” – either incomprehensible at all, or misunderstood “…” – was said in this letter. - It is not clear to me, who is only familiar with the metric system, whether the landowner who owns two hundred acres of land is rich or poor, whether the merchant who has drunk “half a damask” of vodka is very drunk, whether the official is generous, giving tip “blue”, “red” or “semitic” . Which of the heroes is higher in position when one is called "your honor", the second - "your excellency", and the third - "your excellency"? Separate events of this or that novel take place on Dormition Day or on St. Thomas Week, but if a description of nature is not given here, I do not understand either the time of year or the chronology of events. Concluding the letter, Y. Fedosyuk urged scientists - philologists and historians to start work on a special reference book on the history of Russian life, which would help a wide range readers, and above all teachers of literature, students and schoolchildren, "to comprehend the works of the classics more deeply, reviving many lines that have faded due to the fact that the concepts contained in them have been archived by our era."The letter was sympathetically received by specialists: the journal Voprosy Literature published it in No. 6, 1959 under the heading “Such a Manual is Necessary”, but the appeal contained in it to scientists, it seems, was not heeded by them. Years passed, and the extremely necessary, according to Y. Fedosyuk, to all readers of the Russian classical literature aid has not been forthcoming. And then, a quarter later superfluous century after his publication in "Questions of Literature", Yuri Alexandrovich Fedosyuk, by that time already well known among philologists and historians for his books on the etymology of Russian surnames (What does your surname mean? - M., 1969; Russian surnames: Popular etymological dictionary. - M., 1972; republished in 1981 and 1996) and on the history of Moscow (Boulevard Ring. - M., 1972; Rays from the Kremlin. - M., 1978; Moscow in the Sadov Ring. - M., 1982; republished in 1991, etc. .), decides to implement his old idea himself.
In 1989, work on a new book was completed, but, unfortunately, her fate unexpectedly turned out to be very difficult. The manuscript was handed over to one authoritative state publishing house, which, first due to financial difficulties, and then, alas, due to the dishonesty and incompetence of the employee responsible for publishing the book, could not publish it. Meanwhile, the contract concluded with the publishing house, as well as numerous assurances that the book is about to be released, for a long time they did not give the author himself the opportunity at first (he died in 1993 without waiting for the book to be published), and then his heirs to try to publish it elsewhere.
In the years since the book was written, interest in national history and culture in Russia has grown markedly, and the ideological barriers that once prevented authors and publishers from satisfying this interest of readers have disappeared. Books such as “Conversations about Russian Culture” by Yu. M. Lotman (St. Petersburg, 1994), “Costume in Russian artistic culture 18 - the first half of the 20 centuries. R. M. Kirsanova (M., 1995), “Dictionary of rare and forgotten words” by V. P. Somov (M., 1996), dictionary reference book “Rare words in the works of authors of the 19th century” edited by R. P. Rogozhnikova ( M., 1997), etc. However, the book that you are now holding in your hands does not coincide in form and content with any of them. Before you at the same time is a fascinating story about how our ancestors lived in the old days, which the author provided with numerous examples from well famous works Russian classical literature, and the much-needed historical commentary to these works, thanks to which the reader will be able to understand their content much deeper.
Concluding this little introduction, I would like to express my gratitude to Marina Ivanovna Labzina and Tatyana Mikhailovna Tumurova for their work in editing the book during the first, unfortunately, unsuccessful attempt to publish it. I am deeply grateful to the Flinta publishing house, which, having received the manuscript from me, kindly agreed to promptly publish my father's book, which had been waiting for its reader for so long. In addition, I consider it my pleasant duty to sincerely thank Sergei Ivanovich Kormilov, Erik Iosifovich Khan Pira, Igor Georgievich Dobrodomov, Lev Iosifovich Sobolev and Gennady Yuryevich Skvortsov: having carefully read the first editions of this book, they expressed their comments, which made it possible to include a whole a number of clarifications and corrections.
^ M.Yu. Fedosyuk
Instead of a preface
Plunging into the rich and diverse world of Russian classical literature, a young man, often imperceptibly, encounters difficulties. Its pages, like on a time machine, take us back to ancient times, when the social structure, life, and the people themselves were noticeably different from the present. Therefore, the works of the classics are perceived by us not as easily and simply as by the author's contemporaries - those readers for whom they were written. It is difficult to understand both the features of the described era, its laws and signs, as well as individual words and concepts that have disappeared from everyday life or have changed their meaning.Russian literature and national history are sisters. In our minds, they go hand in hand. The reader will not be able to fully understand Dead Souls» N.V. Gogol or "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy, having no idea about the time of their action, knowing nothing about serfdom or the post-reform era. Therefore, without knowledge of Russian history, it is difficult to understand Russian literature, while knowledge of literature makes it easier to understand history, enlivening it with images, dialogues and colors.
Comprehension of a work is impossible without the words turning in our minds into a visual image or an abstract concept. Here Yevgeny Onegin hurries to the dying uncle, "flying in the dust on the mail." And what does the line mean: "... Rushed through the mail ..."? (Is it possible these days to “jump by mail”?) What kind of steward told the hero that “uncle is dying in bed”? What is the uncle's estate, damask wallpaper in his living room? Finally - and this is especially important - what do the words "... He replaced the old corvée with a yoke with a light quitrent ..."? In short: no matter what the stanza is, there are riddles, large and small, but at the same time very essential for understanding the meaning of the narrative, the time of action, the psychology of the characters.
From these particulars, that unique picture is formed that allows us to enjoy artwork to clearly see and understand the action.
Yes, people have always been people, they were friends and enemies, worked and had fun, conceded or fought, defending their life ideals- without these common features with us, there would be no need to read and re-read works about the distant past. But here historical conditions, the whole situation of their life was very different from modern ones.
It is now clear to the reader what this book is written for. In order to facilitate the perception of Russian classical literature, removing the haze of time that has slightly obscured it, making it difficult to understand. Who is this book written for? For those who enter into life young man, whose growing interest in native literature, as well as to national history, is natural and logical, especially in our time.
The book is divided into thematic chapters, which will allow you to get information about certain facts of the past not in fragments, but in their historical totality, interconnected. Thus, it can serve not only study guide on literature, but also the simplest reference book on the history of social relations and life in Russia from late XVIII century to the beginning of the 20th century. At the same time, she almost completely relies on the material of Russian classical literature.
The book does not have to be read in a row, from the first to the last line. It is enough to familiarize yourself with the chapters or paragraphs from these chapters that interest you. At the end placed alphabetical index words interpreted in the book. Having met an incomprehensible word in the text of a work, the reader can easily find a page where it is explained, and it is also explained using the example of a literary text.
This book is one of the first examples of a reference manual of its kind. Therefore, it is hardly immune from incompleteness or some ambiguities. But I want to believe that it will be interesting for the reader to enter into fascinating world life of past centuries.
Instead of a preface
Chapter One THE PEOPLE'S CALENDAR
church calendar
old and new style
Holidays and fasts
Chapter Two
Kinship terms and properties
Confusion of terms
"Spiritual relationship"
Conditionals
dying words
Communication between family and friends
Official and semi-official addresses
"Word er s"
Other forms of treatment
CHAPTER THREE MEASURES AND WEIGHTS
Measures of length
Measures of area
Measures of weight
Measures of capacity for bulk goods
Liquid Volume Measures
temperature scale
Chapter Four MONEY AND SECURITIES
From Polushka to Katerinka
Two courses
All the colors of the rainbow
Securities
Chapter Five LAND AND POWER
Capitals, provinces, regions
Ministries and other government offices
provincial authorities
County authorities
city police
Volost and village
Post-reform institutions
Post-reform court
Gendarmerie
Some Forgotten Posts
Chapter Six Ranks and Ranks
Civil servants
Collegiate Registrar
Provincial Secretary
Collegiate Secretary
Titular Advisor
Collegiate Assessor
Court Advisor
Collegiate Counselor
State Councillor
Acting State Councilor
Privy Councilor
Acting Privy Councilor and Chancellor
Officials of the XV class
Chekhov's "Table of Ranks"
Court ranks and titles
Wrong title
Degrees and titles in science
CHAPTER SEVEN ARMY AND GUARDS
Recruitment duty
Military ranks
Officer ranks
Troop types
Forms and insignia
Reform of 1874
Cadets, Junkers and Cantonists
Some forgotten words
Chapter Eight Orders and Medals
Orders and their signs
Hierarchy of orders
Chapter Nine NOBLE AND PEASANTS
nobility
Titled nobles
Not earth, but souls
Landlord peasants
Yard staff
Estate management
Odnodvortsy and free plowmen
Guardianship and bail
Noble self-government
Peasant reform
Chapter Ten OTHER ESTATES PEOPLE
Philistinism and merchant class
Clergy
Chapter Eleven HOW WE DRESS
Suit and time
Men's suits
Women's urban clothing
Men's peasant clothing
Women's peasant clothes
Some details of the toilet and hairstyle
Beards and mustaches
Chapter Twelve
Means of transport
Crew types
Horse suits
Railways
Other means of transportation
Chapter Thirteen LIFE AND LEISURE
Inside the house
Lighting
Making fire
Small things
Food and drink
Diseases and their treatment
Taverns and other establishments
The history of this book is not quite ordinary. It began back in 1959 with a letter that 39-year-old philologist and journalist Yuri Fedosyuk wrote to the editors of the Voprosy Literatury magazine. “Hundreds of expressions found in the works of Russian classics and reflecting social relations and everyday features of pre-revolutionary Russia are becoming a“ stumbling block ”for an ever wider circle of modern readers - either incomprehensible at all, or misunderstood“ ... ”- said in this letter. - It is not clear to me, who is only familiar with the metric system, whether the landowner who owns two hundred acres of land is rich or poor, whether the merchant who has drunk “half a damask” of vodka is very drunk, whether the official who gives tea “blue”, “red” or “seven” is generous . Which of the heroes is higher in position when one is called "your honor", the second - "your excellency", and the third - "your excellency"? Separate events of this or that novel take place on Dormition Day or on St. Thomas Week, but if there is no description of nature, I do not understand either the time of year or the chronology of events. Concluding the letter, Y. Fedosyuk urged scientists - philologists and historians to begin work on a special reference book on the history of Russian life, which would help a wide range of readers, and above all teachers of literature, students and schoolchildren, “to better understand the works of the classics, reviving many lines that have faded due to the fact that the concepts contained in them have been archived by our era.
The letter was sympathetically received by specialists: Voprosy Literature magazine published it in No. 6, 1959, under the heading “Such a manual is necessary,” but the call to scientists contained in it did not seem to be heeded by them. Years passed, and the extremely necessary, according to Yu. Fedosyuk, to all readers of Russian classical literature, the manual still did not appear. And then, more than a quarter of a century after his publication in Questions of Literature, Yuri Alexandrovich Fedosyuk, by that time already well known among philologists and historians for his books on the etymology of Russian surnames (What does your surname mean? - M., 1969; Russian surnames: Popular etymological dictionary. - M., 1972; republished in 1981 and 1996) and on the history of Moscow (Boulevard Ring. - M., 1972; Rays from the Kremlin. - M., 1978; Moscow in the Sadovykh ring. - M., 1982; republished in 1991, etc.), decides to realize his old idea himself.
In 1989, work on a new book was completed, but, unfortunately, her fate unexpectedly turned out to be very difficult. The manuscript was handed over to one authoritative state publishing house, which, first due to financial difficulties, and then, alas, due to the dishonesty and incompetence of the employee responsible for publishing the book, could not publish it. Meanwhile, the contract concluded with the publishing house, as well as numerous assurances that the book was about to be released, for a long time did not allow the author himself (he died in 1993, without waiting for the book to be published), and then his heirs to try to publish it elsewhere.
Over the years that have passed since the book was written, interest in Russian history and culture has noticeably grown in Russia, and the ideological barriers that once prevented authors and publishers from satisfying this interest of readers have disappeared. Books such as “Conversations about Russian Culture” by Yu. M. Lotman (St. Petersburg, 1994), “Costume in Russian Artistic Culture of the 18th - First Half of the 20th Centuries” were published. R. M. Kirsanova (M., 1995), “Dictionary of rare and forgotten words” by V. P. Somov (M., 1996), dictionary-reference book “Rare words in the works of authors of the 19th century” edited by R. P. Rogozhnikova (M., 1997), etc. However, the book that you now hold in your hands does not match in form and content with any of them. Before you is both a fascinating story about how our ancestors lived in the old days, which the author provided with numerous examples from well-known works of Russian classical literature, and a much-needed historical commentary on these works, thanks to which the reader will be able to understand their content much deeper.
Concluding this short introduction, I would like to express my gratitude to Marina Ivanovna Labzina and Tatyana Mikhailovna Tumurova for their work in editing the book during the first, unfortunately, unsuccessful attempt to publish it. I am deeply grateful to the Flinta publishing house, which, having received the manuscript from me, kindly agreed to promptly publish my father's book, which had been waiting for its reader for so long. In addition, I consider it my pleasant duty to sincerely thank Sergei Ivanovich Kormilov, Erik Iosifovich Khan-Pira, Igor Georgievich Dobrodomov, Lev Iosifovich Sobolev and Gennady Yuryevich Skvortsov: having carefully read the first editions of this book, they expressed their comments, which made it possible to include in the text a number of clarifications and fixes.
M.Yu. Fedosyuk
Instead of a preface
Plunging into the rich and diverse world of Russian classical literature, a young man, often imperceptibly, encounters difficulties. Its pages, like on a time machine, take us back to ancient times, when the social structure, life, and the people themselves were noticeably different from the present. Therefore, the works of the classics are perceived by us not as easily and simply as by the author's contemporaries - those readers for whom they were written. It is difficult to understand both the features of the described era, its laws and signs, as well as individual words and concepts that have disappeared from everyday life or have changed their meaning.
Russian literature and national history are sisters. In our minds, they go hand in hand. The reader will not be able to fully understand "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol or "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy, having no idea about the time of their action, knowing nothing about serfdom or the post-reform era. Therefore, without knowledge of Russian history, it is difficult to understand Russian literature, while knowledge of literature makes it easier to understand history, enlivening it with images, dialogues and colors.
Comprehension of a work is impossible without the words turning in our minds into a visual image or an abstract concept. Here Yevgeny Onegin hurries to the dying uncle, "flying in the dust on the mail." And what does the line mean: "... Rushed through the mail ..."? (Is it possible these days to “jump by mail”?) What kind of steward told the hero that “uncle is dying in bed”? What is the uncle's estate, damask wallpaper in his living room? Finally - and this is especially important - what do the words "... He replaced the old corvée with a yoke with a light quitrent ..."? In short: no matter what the stanza is, there are riddles, large and small, but nevertheless very essential for understanding the meaning of the narrative, the time of action, the psychology of the characters.
From these particulars, that unique picture is formed, which allows us to enjoy a work of art, to clearly see and understand the action.
Yes, people have always been people, they were friends and enemies, worked and had fun, yielded or fought, defending their life ideals - without these common features with us, there would be no need to read and re-read works about the distant past. But here the historical conditions, the whole situation of their life in very many ways differed from modern ones.
It is now clear to the reader what this book is written for. In order to facilitate the perception of Russian classical literature, removing the haze of time that has slightly obscured it, making it difficult to understand. Who is this book written for? For a young man entering into life, whose growing interest in his native literature, as well as in national history, is natural and logical, especially in our time.
The book is divided into thematic chapters, which will allow you to get information about certain facts of the past not in fragments, but in their historical totality, interconnected. Thus, it can serve not only as a textbook on literature, but also as a simple reference book on the history of social relations and life in Russia from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. At the same time, she almost completely relies on the material of Russian classical literature.
church calendar
We measure time over a day and within a year by months and days. Our not at all distant ancestors had a different reckoning - according to church holidays and posts. A simple, illiterate peasant, and even a city dweller, was poorly versed in the days and months, for them events took place “on the Candlemas”, “on Yegory”, “in Petrovka”, “on Kazan”, etc., that is, on memorable days the church calendar, which was closely intertwined with ancient, pre-Christian beliefs and signs, which is why we have the right to call it folk.
The popular name of certain dates is widely reflected in the classical fiction, putting the modern reader in a difficult position: we have a poor idea of what time the named event takes place. Here is an indicative excerpt from the poem by N.A. Nekrasov “Who should live well in Rus'”: a simple peasant woman Matrena Timofeevna tells seven wandering peasants about her difficult life, occasionally illuminated and bright memories of childhood, marriage, motherhood. Her husband works in St. Petersburg as a stove-maker.
The couple spent the winter in the village, and then
Filippushka came in winter,
Bring a silk handkerchief
Yes, I took a ride on a sled
On Catherine's day.
In addition to indications of winter, the mentioned holidays do not tell us anything. To the peasant listeners, as well as to the readers - Nekrasov's contemporaries, everything was extremely clear. Let us explain: the day of St. CATHERINE was celebrated on November 24 of the old style (December 7 of the new one), the Annunciation - on March 25 (April 7), autumn holiday icons of the KAZAN MOTHER OF GOD - October 22 (November 4).
Philip on the Annunciation
He left, but on Kazanskaya
I gave birth to a son.
There was not a day in the year that was not marked by the commemoration of any one, but more often several saints, or another event of Christian mythology. Therefore, the people did well without the usual dates for us: the day and the month.
The provincial nobility was also poorly versed in the official calendar. Here is what I.A. writes about the environment of his hero. Goncharov in the novel “Oblomov”: “They kept track of time on holidays, on seasons, on various family and household occasions, never referring to months or numbers. Maybe this was partly due to the fact that, in addition to Oblomov himself (meaning the father of little Ilya. - Yu.F.), others all confused both the names of the months and the order of numbers.
old and new style
You have already noticed: the modern dates of the holidays mentioned by Nekrasovskaya Matryona Timofeevna are given according to the old and new styles, that is, the calendar. What is their difference?
In the Julian calendar, introduced by the Roman emperor Julius Caesar in 45 AD, the year (that is, the time full turn Earth around the Sun) was calculated not quite accurately, with an excess of 11 minutes 14 seconds. For one and a half thousand years, despite the correction of three days, made in the XIII century, this difference was ten days. Therefore, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered these ten days to be thrown out of the calendar; Gregorian calendar("new style") was introduced in most countries Western Europe and then America. However, Russia did not agree with the amendment made by the head catholic church, and continued to adhere to the Julian calendar. A new style introduced in Russia Soviet authority in February 1918, when the difference in calendars had already reached 13 days. Thus, the chronology of the country was attached to the pan-European and American. Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the reforms and still continues to live according to julian calendar.
So, the difference between calendars in XX and XXI centuries is 13 days, in the 19th century it was 12 days, in the 18th century - 11. From March 1, 2100, the difference between the old and new styles will already reach 14 days.
When reading old Russian literature, the difference between officially accepted in Russia Gregorian calendar and old, Julian, it is useful to consider. Otherwise, we will not quite accurately perceive the time when the events described by our classics take place. Here are examples.
Today, often, hearing thunder in the first days of May, people quote the beginning famous poem F.I. Tyutchev "Spring Thunderstorm": "I love the storm in early May…" At the same time, few people think that the poem was written in the 19th century, when May in Russia began on May 13 according to the current calendar (a difference of 12 days) and a thunderstorm in the middle zone of the country is not at all uncommon. Therefore, Tyutchev, describing the first thunderstorm at the beginning (and in our opinion in the middle) of May, is not at all surprised by it, but only rejoices.
In the story of I.S. Turgenev "Knocking!" we read: “... it was in the tenth of July and the heat was terrible ...” Now it is clear to us that in the present we are talking about the twentieth of July. In another work of Turgenev, the novel "Fathers and Sons", it is said: "Come better days in the year - the first days of June. By adding 12 days, the reader will easily understand what time of year modern calendar Turgenev considered the best.
In the further presentation of the dates of the old and new style, we will give through a fraction.
Holidays and fasts
There are twelve main Christian holidays in a year, in Church Slavonic - twelve or twelve. Hence, each of them was called the TWENTIETH (twelfth).
The Twelve Feasts include: The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, or Palm Sunday, the Ascension, the Trinity (transient); Baptism (Theophany), Meeting, Annunciation, Transfiguration, Assumption, Nativity of the Virgin, Exaltation, Introduction and Nativity of Christ (non-transitory). Main Orthodox holiday- Easter of Christ - stands apart, is not included in the number of twelfth holidays.
In Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the landowner Obolt-Obolduev recalls with tenderness his rich and free life under serfdom:
Indeed, far from every landowner could afford to arrange in his house an expensive many hours of worship - ALL NIGHT, which lasted from evening until midnight, or even later.
Before every revered
twelfth holiday
In my front rooms
The priest served the vigil.
Let us explain (in calendar order) the main holidays and fasts that were widely celebrated and observed in pre-revolutionary Russia and reflected in Russian classical literature.
The main winter multi-day holiday was Svyatki, which lasted from the Nativity of Christ (December 25/January 7) to Epiphany (January 6/19). This time was a short respite in rural work, a short period of relative prosperity in most families and was accompanied by massive folk entertainment. "Holidays have arrived! That's joy!"- Pushkin wrote in "Eugene Onegin".
The ancient pagan Slavs had a time of cleansing from filth, days of cleaning and washing, and then festive feasts with sacrifices to the gods.
On the eve of CHRISTMAS, that is, the birthday of Jesus Christ, on CHRISTMAS EVE, young people walked the streets, sang special songs - carols, danced in front of the huts, begging the owners for treats and small money. This custom is colorfully described in Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas".
At Christmas time, young people dressed in the skins of various animals, put on masks, portraying ridiculous monsters and freaks. Walking through the houses of mummers is shown in the comedy "Poverty is not a vice" by A.N. Ostrovsky. Christmas fun with mummers on the estate of the Rostovs, and then the Melyukovs, is vividly drawn by L. Tolstoy in "War and Peace" (V. 2. Part 4. Ch. X).
The Feast of Baptism, or Epiphany, commemorates the rite of the baptism of Jesus Christ, that is, his immersion in the sacred Jordan River; at the same time, according to the Gospel of Matthew, the Spirit of God appeared to Jesus in the form of a dove - hence the Epiphany.
At Epiphany, the girls gathered separately from the guys to guess about the future, primarily about the betrothed - still unknown groom. Here there was a whole ritual, largely inherited from ancient times, various magical actions with clues to one or another sign: "Guessing windy youth"(Pushkin). For example, the first passerby was asked for a name - that is exactly what the future groom should have been called. These naive and touching baptismal fortune-telling, which Tatyana, who was “Russian in soul”, was also fond of, are described in the fifth chapter of Eugene Onegin.
The varieties of baptismal divination are even more fully listed in the romantic ballad by V.A. Zhukovsky "Svetlana", the first stanza of which is widely known: “Once on an Epiphany evening / The girls wondered ...”
Baptism is usually associated with severe cold, called by the people "Epiphany frosts." Having met the former county young lady a few years later at a capital ball with an important lady, the wife of a general, Onegin remarks: “U! how she is now surrounded / by Epiphany cold!
In the old days, they celebrated not a person’s birthday, but his NAMEDAY, that is, a day dedicated to the saint, whose name he was christened. So, the culminating scene of the novel "Eugene Onegin" takes place on the heroine's name day - TATIANA'S DAY, January 12, old style, 25th new. The next morning, Onegin and Lensky meet in a fatal duel.
by the most happy holiday early spring There was a SHROVE, which lasted a whole week.
The origins of Shrovetide - in ancient times. For the pagans, this was the time of seeing off winter and welcoming spring. It is impossible to date Shrovetide to a specific time, it changes every year. Why? Shrovetide week is associated with the main Orthodox holiday EASTER, which does not have a fixed date. This is a mobile holiday, it depends not only on the standing of the Sun, but also on the location of the Moon. Easter is always celebrated on Sunday, the first after the spring equinox and full moon. Therefore, the date of Easter annually wanders within 35 days - from March 22 to April 25, according to the old style (April 5 - May 8, according to the new one).
Maslenitsa begins eight weeks before Easter, that is, in February - March of the new style. This week it was forbidden to eat meat, while the rest of the food was allowed to be eaten in plenty, since immediately after the Pancake week fun was followed by a long and strict great post that dragged on for nearly seven weeks. “It’s not all carnival for the cat, Great Lent will come,” warns the proverb, the first part of which Ostrovsky took to name one of his comedies. The WIDE, that is, the most riotous, MASLENITSA are the last four days of the Maslenitsa week, from Thursday to Sunday.
The last day of the Maslenitsa week is called FORGIVENESS SUNDAY or FORGIVENESS DAY. On this day - the eve of Great Lent - the household bowed to each other, mutually asking to forgive all the insults and sorrows inflicted voluntarily or involuntarily.
“In our house, late in the evening, everyone suddenly became meek then, humbly bowed to each other, asking each other for forgiveness”, - writes I.A. Bunin in autobiographical novel"The Life of Arseniev".
On Forgiveness Sunday, a completely pagan rite was sometimes performed - seeing off Shrovetide and burning it in the form of a straw effigy dressed in a woman's dress, which was accompanied by songs and dances. Such a rite is shown in the fairy tale play by A. Ostrovsky "The Snow Maiden" and in opera of the same name ON THE. Rimsky-Korsakov.
The next day was CLEAN MONDAY - the beginning of Lent. Bunin has a story " Clean Monday”, the main event of which takes place on this day.
It should be noted that in church calendar many weeks have their own names. So, Shrovetide is called a MEAT WEEK (empty with meat), a week before it is a MULTIPLE (fasting and non-fasting days alternate in it), the previous one is CONTINUOUS (all whole days), etc.
In Ostrovsky’s comedy “Sin and trouble does not live on anyone,” Zhmigulina, “an elderly girl,” says to the young landowner Babaev: “I remember very well: from a motley week, the third year went on, as you left.” Motley Week is an unremarkable February or March time, not a holiday at all; Zhmigulina's memory betrays her undying interest in the young man.
Before moving on to Great Lent, we should talk about fasting in general.
Every fast imposes many difficult requirements on the believer: frequent prayers, abstinence from various kinds food, complete rejection of worldly passions and carnal pleasures - in a word, renunciation of all life's joys. In total, there are four multi-day fasts in the year and three one-day fasts on minor holidays, not counting two fast days a week - Wednesdays and Fridays. Total fast days in a year is 178-199.
GREAT LENT on the eve of Easter is the most important and strict of all. He was distinguished by a particularly severe fasting, that is, abstinence from FAST - meat and dairy food. Eating was sometimes limited to the limit. “At home, on the occasion of fasting, they didn’t cook anything and didn’t set up a samovar”, - says Chekhov's story "Murder". Theatrical and circus performances, all kinds of public entertainment were completely prohibited.
As in other posts, marriages were not allowed. “Now Great Lent and they won’t get married”, - says Alyosha in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "The Humiliated and Insulted"
the last week Great Lent, before Easter, is called PASSION, in memory of the passions, that is, the suffering of Jesus Christ crucified on the cross. Every day of this week, filled with frequent divine services and especially strict fasting, was called PASSIONATE or GREAT.
In the lyceum poem "Gorodok" Pushkin wrote:
The same Thursday, that is, Thursday, was sometimes called CLEAN.
I did not know peace
Alas! not for an hour
As if at the Naloya
On Great Thursday
Exhausted bastard.
“It all happened on Good Friday”, - wrote Dostoevsky in "The Humiliated and Insulted". It's about about the last Friday before Easter.
The God-fearing mother of Aduev, seeing off her son to serve in St. Petersburg (“ ordinary story» Goncharova), edifies the young man: “Keep fasting, my friend: this is a great thing! On Wednesday and Friday - God will forgive, and on Great Lent - God forbid. Here is Mikhailo Mikhailovich and smart person considered, what's in it? What a meat eater, what Holy Week- everything is eating. Even the hair stands on end!
Easter night with matins is repeatedly reflected in fiction. The strongest description is in L. N. Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection", when this festival is colored by Nekhlyudov's flashed strong and deep feeling for Katyusha.
The main Orthodox holiday of the year is EASTER, or BRIGHT RESURRECTION of CHRIST. It was taken by Christians from the Jews, who were installed in memory of the deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. For Christians, the holiday has acquired a completely different content. They celebrate the miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ after his execution and removal from the cross.
The Easter holiday itself was often called among the people HOLY WEEK or simply HOLY. The word "week" here should be understood in obsolete value- Sunday; week - from not doing, not working. Subsequently, this word began to denote the entire seven-day period, or in Church Slavonic the week, and the non-working day was called Sunday - in honor of the Resurrection of Christ.
In the epilogue of Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" it is said that Raskolnikov “I lay in the hospital the whole end of Lent and the holy day” i.e. Easter.
Arriving home from church, believers break their fast, celebrate the feast and the end of Great Lent with a plentiful and delicious food and drink. These festive feasts are vividly described in humorous stories young Chekhov.
The week after Easter is called LIGHT.
The bright week is followed by FOMIN MONDAY and FOMIN WEEK, or, in the popular way, KRASNAYA GORKA - time long-awaited weddings banned in Lent. Therefore, weddings on St. Thomas' week were especially numerous.
The maid Tanya in L. Tolstoy's comedy "The Fruits of Enlightenment" asks the bar to let her go to the village, as she and her fiancé Semyon “The matter is now settled ... And on Krasnaya Gorka and the wedding”.
In the story of A.I. Kuprin "Bonza" we read: "... her fiancé, a naval officer, was visiting Moscow in anticipation of St. Thomas' week, on which the wedding day was appointed".
In L. Tolstoy's story "The Devil": “Eugene got married on Krasnaya Gorka in the city and immediately left for the village with his young wife”.
In Chekhov's story "My Life" Mikhail and Masha got married "Shortly after St. Thomas Week."
No matter how fluctuating due to lunar cycle time of Easter and Krasnaya Gorka, but it's always spring. It is no coincidence that Anna Karenina says: “... on the second day of the saint, a warm wind blew ... and on the very Krasnaya Gorka ... a real spring opened.”
It can be said without exaggeration that the presented book by Yu.A. Fedosyuk (1920-1993) is a unique phenomenon. For decades ascetic research work the author has collected colossal material, reflecting the material and spiritual culture of the Russian people in words forgotten or incomprehensible to the modern reader. Examples taken from the well-known works of Russian classical writers cover literature XVIII-XX centuries
The book is addressed to schoolchildren, students, teachers, everyone who loves Russian literature and seeks to educate themselves more deeply.
Yuri Fedosyuk
What is incomprehensible among the classics, or Encyclopedia of Russian life of the XIX century
A few words about this book
The history of this book is not quite ordinary. It began back in 1959 with a letter that 39-year-old philologist and journalist Yuri Fedosyuk wrote to the editors of the journal Voprosy Literature. “Hundreds of expressions found in the works of Russian classics and reflecting social relations and everyday features of pre-revolutionary Russia are becoming a “stumbling block” for an ever wider range of modern readers - either incomprehensible at all, or misunderstood “…” - said in this letter. who is familiar only with the metric system, it is not clear whether the landowner who owns two hundred acres of land is rich or poor, whether the merchant who has drunk "half a damask" of vodka is very drunk, whether the official who gives tea "blue", "red" or "seven" is generous. of the heroes above but in the position when one is titled "your honor", the second - "your excellency", and the third - "your excellency"? Separate events of a particular novel take place on Dormition Day or on St. Thomas Week, but if no description of nature is given here, neither the time of year nor the chronology of events is clear to me. Concluding the letter, Y. Fedosyuk urged scholars - philologists and historians to begin work on a special reference book on the history of Russian life, which would help a wide range of readers, and above all teachers of literature, students and schoolchildren, "to better comprehend the works of the classics, reviving many lines that have faded due to the fact that the concepts contained in them have been archived by our era.
The letter was sympathetically received by experts: Voprosy Literature magazine published it in No. 6, 1959, under the heading "Such a Handbook Is Necessary," but the call to scientists contained in it did not seem to be heeded by them. Years passed, and the extremely necessary, according to Yu. Fedosyuk, to all readers of Russian classical literature, the manual still did not appear. And then, more than a quarter of a century after his publication in "Questions of Literature", Yuri Alexandrovich Fedosyuk, by that time already well known among philologists and historians for his books on the etymology of Russian surnames (What does your surname mean? - M., 1969; Russian surnames: Popular etymological dictionary. - M., 1972; republished in 1981 and 1996) and on the history of Moscow (Boulevard Ring. - M., 1972; Rays from the Kremlin. - M., 1978; Moscow in the Sadovykh ring. - M., 1982; republished in 1991, etc.), decides to realize his old idea himself.
In 1989, work on a new book was completed, but, unfortunately, her fate unexpectedly turned out to be very difficult. The manuscript was handed over to one authoritative state publishing house, which, first due to financial difficulties, and then, alas, due to the dishonesty and incompetence of the employee responsible for publishing the book, could not publish it. Meanwhile, the contract concluded with the publishing house, as well as numerous assurances that the book was about to be released, for a long time did not allow the author himself (he died in 1993, without waiting for the book to be published), and then his heirs to try to publish it elsewhere.
Over the years that have passed since the book was written, interest in Russian history and culture has noticeably grown in Russia, and the ideological barriers that once prevented authors and publishers from satisfying this interest of readers have disappeared. Such books were published as "Conversations about Russian Culture" by Yu. R. M. Kirsanova (M., 1995), "Dictionary of rare and forgotten words" by V. P. Somov (M., 1996), dictionary-reference book "Rare words in the works of authors of the 19th century" edited by R. P. Rogozhnikova (M., 1997), etc. However, the book that you now hold in your hands does not match in form and content with any of them. Before you is both a fascinating story about how our ancestors lived in the old days, which the author provided with numerous examples from well-known works of Russian classical literature, and a much-needed historical commentary on these works, thanks to which the reader will be able to understand their content much deeper.
Concluding this short introduction, I would like to express my gratitude to Marina Ivanovna Labzina and Tatyana Mikhailovna Tumurova for their work in editing the book during the first, unfortunately, unsuccessful attempt to publish it. I am deeply grateful to the Flinta publishing house, which, having received the manuscript from me, kindly agreed to promptly publish my father's book, which had been waiting for its reader for so long. In addition, I consider it my pleasant duty to sincerely thank Sergei Ivanovich Kormilov, Erik Iosifovich Khan-Pira, Igor Georgievich Dobrodomov, Lev Iosifovich Sobolev and Gennady Yuryevich Skvortsov: having carefully read the first editions of this book, they expressed their comments, which made it possible to include in the text a number of clarifications and fixes.
M.Yu. Fedosyuk
Instead of a preface
Plunging into the rich and diverse world of Russian classical literature, a young man, often imperceptibly, encounters difficulties. Its pages, like on a time machine, take us back to ancient times, when the social structure, life, and the people themselves were noticeably different from the present. Therefore, the works of the classics are perceived by us not as easily and simply as by the author's contemporaries - those readers for whom they were written. It is difficult to understand both the features of the described era, its laws and signs, as well as individual words and concepts that have disappeared from everyday life or have changed their meaning.
Russian literature and national history are sisters. In our minds, they go hand in hand. The reader will not be able to fully understand "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol or "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy, having no idea about the time of their action, knowing nothing about serfdom or the post-reform era. Therefore, without knowledge of Russian history, it is difficult to understand Russian literature, while knowledge of literature makes it easier to understand history, enlivening it with images, dialogues and colors.
Comprehension of a work is impossible without the words turning in our minds into a visual image or an abstract concept. Here Yevgeny Onegin hurries to the dying uncle, "flying in the dust on the mail." And what does the line mean: "...Stremglav rode by mail ..."? (Is it possible these days to "jump by mail"?) What kind of steward told the hero that "uncle is dying in bed"? What is the uncle's estate, damask wallpaper in his living room? Finally - and this is especially important - what do the words "... He replaced the old corvée with a yoke with a light quitrent ..."? In short: no matter what the stanza is, there are riddles, large and small, but nevertheless very essential for understanding the meaning of the narrative, the time of action, the psychology of the characters.
From these particulars, that unique picture is formed, which allows us to enjoy a work of art, to clearly see and understand the action.
Yes, people have always been people, they were friends and enemies, worked and had fun, yielded or fought, defending their life ideals - without these common features with us, there would be no need to read and re-read works about the distant past. But here the historical conditions, the whole situation of their life in very many ways differed from modern ones.
It is now clear to the reader what this book is written for. In order to facilitate the perception of Russian classical literature, removing the haze of time that has slightly obscured it, making it difficult to understand. Who is this book written for? For a young man entering into life, whose growing interest in his native literature, as well as in national history, is natural and logical, especially in our time.
