What do we learn about peasant labor? How did peasants live in the Middle Ages? Tools and life of medieval peasants
Bitter taste of peasant bread
In autumn in every peasant hut, in the red corner under the images, like a shrine, a small rye sheaf with ears of grain was displayed - “obzhinok”, “dozhinok” or “birthday boy” - the last bread harvested from the autumn field. Spikelets entwined with colored ribbons are the most beautiful girl carried it into the house. The reapers accompanied the last sheaf with songs. There was something to rejoice and have fun: the long, grueling time of growing bread, a journey lasting almost a year, was ending. However, it all started much earlier.
"For every seed there is its time"
In those distant times, it was no longer fields, but forests that covered the Russian land. In the spring, trees in the forest fell under the blows of axes. The larger ones were used for construction, the rest were burned. The burnt stumps were left for a while, but the coals were broken up and fertilized the soil with them. So, step by step, man liberated many thousands of hectares of arable land from the forest, which became his breadwinner.
Since then, in Rus', year after year, in the fall and spring, plowing began in the fields: a horse pulls a wooden plow, and the plowman walks behind, straightening it so that the furrow comes out even. In ancient Russian epics, the plow and the plowman (ratai) are often mentioned:
The peasant plowed the ground with a plow two or three times, because it did not loosen the soil well. After plowing, the field was harrowed. “A sieve with four corners, five heels, fifty rods, twenty-five arrows” - this is how the harrow is described in the sophisticated folk riddle. Indeed, the harrow was connected in the form of a lattice of longitudinal and transverse slats with filled wooden teeth.
The plow and the harrow in the field seemed to be competing with each other, arguing over who was more important. “Deeper already,” the harrow reproached the plow. “Wider and smaller,” the plow answered her.
Following the autumn harrowing, the time for winter sowing came. After him, agricultural work stopped until spring. But even in winter, the thought of bread did not leave the peasant: will there be enough snow, will the crops freeze? In winter, it was necessary to tidy up the worn-out plow and harrow, repair the cart, and accumulate manure.
And in the spring, as soon as the snow melted from the fields, the earth dried out and softened, the peasant plowed the spring field. The teenagers were delivering manure. This work is not very pleasant, but it is extremely necessary. It is no coincidence that they say: “Put the manure thick so that the barn is not empty.” The plow again passed through the manured field, mixing fertilizer with the depleted, weakened soil.
Spring is the time for spring sowing. Based on many signs, they accurately guessed its date - not earlier, not later, otherwise there would be no good harvest. “For every seed there is its time”: the birch tree begins to blossom - these are oats, the apple trees have bloomed - it’s time to sow millet, the cuckoo has begun to crow - it’s time to sow flax. These are folk signs.
What is needed for a good harvest? The peasant knew this for sure: more sun, moderate rain, and fewer weeds and harmful insects. Alas, nature has not always been favorable to people. One of the worst harvest failures occurred in beginning of XVII V. Throughout the summer of 1601 there were torrential rains. The bread did not ripen, and in August it was completely destroyed by early frosts. On next year neither winter nor spring crops sprouted, and where they did emerge, they were destroyed by the early cold. A terrible famine began, the likes of which had never been known in Rus'.
But let's get back to sowing. The peasant prepared himself especially for this important task: the day before he washed himself in a bathhouse so that the bread would come out clean, without weeds. On sowing day, he put on a white shirt and went out into the field with a basket on his chest. During the sowing season, the priest was invited to perform a prayer service and sprinkle the field with holy water. Only selected grain was sown. “It’s better to go hungry and sow good seed,” says folk wisdom. The sower took a handful of grain from the basket and, every two steps, with a measured movement of his hand, fanned it out to the left and right. That is why a quiet, windless day was chosen for sowing.
What did the peasant sow? Only what has been selected and tested by centuries of experience: rye, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat. Wheat was considered the most demanding of all cereal crops. Sensitive to any changes in weather, it also required particularly careful cultivation of the soil, which it greatly depleted. If you're lucky, there will be a good harvest and good earnings, because excellent wheat flour was used to bake excellent White bread for the master's table. But no, all the work will go down the drain. Rye is the main breadwinner for peasants; on the contrary, it is the most unpretentious and reliable crop. There is almost always a harvest for it, which means a black loaf on the peasant table. “Rye bread is our dear father, buckwheat porridge is our mother,” they used to say in the villages. It was convenient to deal with buckwheat. If you plant it on poor soil, it will fertilize it. Buckwheat will kill the weeds and make the soil juicy and soft, so the peasant loved to alternate buckwheat with other crops, knowing that after it all bread would produce well.
Why did the peasant “suffer”
Summer is the busiest working time in the countryside. Three times the peasant plowed and fertilized the fallow field so that it would accumulate strength for future harvests. Before he had time to deal with the fallows, it was time to start haymaking, because the well-being of the livestock depended on its success.
The first mowing took place at the end of June - the holiday of Ivan Kupala. By this time the grasses were growing tall and lush. We went out to mow early in the morning, before the dew disappeared: the scythe does not like dry grass. “Mow the scythe while there is dew, away with the dew - and we’ll go home” - this is the rule of the mowers. This occupation was considered pleasant, which is why the mowers went to work cheerfully, singing. It's not enough to mow the grass. While it is drying, you need to turn it over with a rake several times, and when it is completely dry, then “sweep away the stacks.” IN free time the peasant transported the hay to the yard and stored it in the hayloft.
Meanwhile, the bread was ripening. There were immediately a lot of hunters for other people's property: voles, birds, and various insects. The locusts were especially scary. Its voracious hordes could turn golden fields into a dead desert in a matter of minutes. In 1649, due to a locust invasion, there was a shortage of crops in many regions of Russia.
If God had mercy on the peasant from all kinds of misfortune and good bread was produced, the time of harvest had come. “Zazhinki” was popularly called its beginning and was accompanied by ancient rites. The first sheaf, the “zazhinochny” one, like the last one, the autumn one, was decorated with flowers and ribbons, brought into the house and placed in the red corner. Later, this sheaf was the first to be threshed, and its grains were credited with miraculous powers. Everyone who could work went to the harvest: men, women, old and young. Some are essential workers, others are on the sidelines. Some reaped with a sickle, some knitted sheaves. The harvest was considered the most difficult times in the village. The very word “suffering” is akin to the suffering that the farmer experienced from his hard labor. The peasant worked all day from dawn to dusk, tirelessly and without straightening his back. When finishing the harvest, the reapers left a “beard” in the field - an unharvested bunch of ears of grain. It was curled, decorated with flowers and buried in earth. This ritual symbolized feeding the depleted earth, the desire to restore its strength for the future harvest.
However, ears of corn in the field do not mean a loaf on the table. The tied sheaves were taken to the threshing floor. If the bread turned out to be wet, it was dried in ovins - special dryers. They dug a deep hole in the ground, placed a log frame with lattice flooring over it, laid out sheaves, and lit a fire in the hole. Drying sheaves in a barn required great care. As soon as a barn flared up like a candle, both the building and the bread burned.
Dried ears were threshed on a thresh - a compacted earthen platform under open air. The sheaves were laid out in two rows with the ears facing inward and beaten with a flail - a simple tool with a long wooden handle, from which a beater - a heavy stick with a rounded thickened end - was hung on a belt. It was she who knocked the grains out of the ears.
The tools of peasant labor are few: plow, harrow, sickle, scythe, pitchfork, rake, flail. The peasant made his simple work equipment mainly from wood and passed it on by inheritance. People have composed many proverbs, sayings, and riddles about the tools of agricultural labor. Try to guess: “Baba Yaga uses a pitchfork: she feeds the whole world, but she herself is hungry” (Sokha). “The thin matting covered the entire field” (Harrow). “Bent in an arc, all summer in the meadow, in winter on a hook” (Scythe). “The geese and oak socks are flying, saying: so-and-so, so-and-so” (Tsep).
After threshing, the straw was removed, but not thrown away - in a practical peasant farm, nothing was wasted, everything went into use. Thatch was used to cover the roofs, it was added to livestock feed and spread for cleanliness and warmth in the barn. Yes, the peasant slept not on a feather bed, but on a straw mattress. This is what the people used to say: a Russian man is born on straw, and dies on it. The straw on which the deceased lay was carried out of the gate and burned.
After threshing, the grain was raked into a heap. There was a lot of debris left in it - particles of straw, ears of corn, dust. To clean the grain, they winnowed it: they threw it up in the wind with a shovel, and the debris was blown away. At the same time, the best, larger and heavier grain fell closer to the winnower. It was this that was put aside for the future sowing.
This was the end of the bread preparation. All that remained was to store the grain in granaries and barns. If the bins are full, the peasant will easily overwinter, but if there is not enough grain until the next harvest, he will have to add acorns and quinoa to the bread flour in the spring.
The work of the tiller, who fed both the landowner and the townspeople - all of Russia, and half of Europe to boot, was held in great esteem in Rus'. In Christian times, the grain grower also had his own patron – Saint George, whose name translated from Greek means “farmer”.
"The bestial god" - Saint Yegoriy
But the peasant lived not only by working on the land. Livestock required no less care. What is a peasant farm without a cow and a horse? The housewife will milk it and make cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese, and butter out of it. What else does? Nourishing and tasty. When the time came to slaughter the cow, the family was provided with meat for the year. They will salt it, put it in the cellar for storage, and for many months there will be rich cabbage soup and porridge, pies with good filling on the table. Excess meat was sold to buy something needed for the household.
The cow was the main breadwinner in the peasant farm, and the horse was the main worker. Plow, harrow the field, transport manure to the arable land, transport hay to the yard, transport grain to the barn - nowhere without a horse! During the day, during the harvest, she had no time to rest, but as soon as dusk came and field work ended, the peasant children led the horses to the meadows at night, so that the animals could nibble the juicy grass to their heart's content and gain strength for the new working day. The owner treasured the horse and took care of it himself. If I had to choose between a horse and a cow, I would give preference to the horse without hesitation. He knew that she would help in the field in the spring and summer, the peasant would reap a good harvest, sell some of it and be able to buy another cow. Those who had no horses had the hardest time in the village.
The peasant farm had smaller livestock - goats, pigs, sheep. “A fur coat and a caftan walk across the mountains and across the valleys,” who doesn’t know this riddle. The sheep produces little milk and meat, but from its thick wool they made felt boots, which were indispensable for the Russian winter, knitted socks and mittens, and wove cloth. What about peasant sheepskin coats, hats, mittens? All thanks to the sheep.
The peasant could not do without cattle, although it required a lot of time and effort to care for them. This work lay mainly on the shoulders of women. In the summer, the housewife got up at first light, milked the cow and drove the animals out into the field for the whole day to gain weight under the supervision of children or a hired shepherd. In the evening the cattle were driven back, fed, watered, and milked.
In winter the troubles increased. Early rise, feeding, milking, cleaning the barn. Only one cow eats a pound of hay and drinks several buckets of water per day. The water needs to be warmed so that, God forbid, the cattle don’t get sick. If this happened, the peasants took the cow into a warm hut and looked after it, the nurse, like a small child: they sprinkled it with holy water, fed it with bread, and gave it flour drink. When it was time for calving, the owners were deprived of peace day and night, for fear of missing the moment the calf appeared. He was brought to the hut, warmed, watered, and fattened.
Cattle breeding was such an important branch of the peasant economy that it had not one, but several Christian patrons. Saints Frol and Laurus were revered as patrons of horses. They were depicted on ancient icons surrounded by a herd of assorted horses. These icons were hung over the gates of the stables. Saint George, the patron saint of warriors and farmers, was also the “god of cattle.” On the day of spring Yegor (as George was popularly called) April 23, for the first time after the winter home “imprisonment,” cattle were released to pasture.
Peasants were also involved in gardening. There was a garden and a vegetable garden in every household, and the care of them lay entirely on the shoulders of the woman: digging, manuring, planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting. Cabbage, turnips, onions, garlic, cucumbers, and carrots have long taken root in Rus'. Cabbage was fermented in large quantities for the winter. In the fall, they organized "cabbage gardens" - traditional collective cabbage cutting. Onions and garlic were prepared in large quantities. Foreigners who visited Russia in the 16th-17th centuries complained that Russian food was excessively flavored with onions and garlic.
Apple trees, cherries, pears, currants, and gooseberries were grown in the gardens. Fruits and berries were dried for the winter, and fruit drinks, kvass, and marshmallows were made from them. And apples, pears and cherries were also fermented.
In the peasant economy, as you can see, there was a clear division of labor. Men were mainly engaged in agriculture, construction, crafts, hunting, fishing, and collecting firewood. Women ran the household and raised children; looked after livestock, garden, vegetable garden; collected herbs, berries, mushrooms, nuts; they spun, weaved, sewed, knitted. On hot days, the wife came to the field to help her husband - reaping, mowing, throwing haystacks and even threshing grain.
“Teach a child when he lies across the bench”
Children in the village began to work early. At first, they did auxiliary work, but without their help the parents would have had a hard time.
Since ancient times, the age of a person in Rus' was calculated in seven years. The first seven years are childhood, the second seven are adolescence, and another seven years are adolescence. A peasant boy of five or six years old learned to ride a horse and began to drive cattle to watering; at the age of seven or eight he helped in the arable land - he controlled a horse. At the age of nine, the young owner had more responsibilities: feeding the cattle, transporting manure to the field, harrowing the arable land plowed by his father and harvesting grain with him. The father took his son hunting, taught him to set a snare, shoot a bow, and fish. By the age of 14, the teenager owned a scythe, sickle, flail, and axe, and a year later he could well replace his father in the event of his illness or departure.
The daughter of a peasant family also did not sit idle: at the age of six she began to master the spinning wheel, at ten she worked with a sickle and sewed. By the age of 12-13, the girl completely ran the household in the absence of her parents: she carried water, did laundry, fed birds, milked cows, sewed, knitted, cooked, and looked after the younger children. At the age of 14 she weaved, reaped bread, cut hay, and at 15 she worked equally with adults.
Peasant wisdom says: “Teach a child when he lies across the bench.” The girls were taught everything that she could do by her mother, and the boys by her father. 14-15 years after the birth of the child peasant family received another full-time employee.
"Three girls were spinning under the window late in the evening"
Life itself forced the peasant to master many crafts. Men built houses, made furniture and tools, and made wooden utensils. Women spun, weaved, sewed, knitted.
They worked as craftsmen mainly in winter, when there was no field work. In the evenings, the owner of the house would sit on a bench in his corner and begin, for example, to weave bast shoes. These shoes were considered indispensable in the village - comfortable, light, cheap. The only drawback is that it is not durable. In times of need, when the legs knew no rest, a pair of bast shoes was barely enough for a week.
The expression “to weave bast shoes” in modern Russian means to confuse something. But it only seems that making bast shoes is a simple matter. Good master I could weave no more than two pairs per day.
For one pair of bast shoes, three or four young linden trees were peeled. The bast was soaked in water, then straightened, and the top layer was removed. The bast was cut into long narrow strips and, having been fitted to a wooden block, they were put into action using a kochedyk - a tool similar to a crooked awl. A true master I made such bast shoes that you could even walk through a swamp without getting wet. It is no coincidence that the bast shoes dealers, attracting customers, shouted: “At least eat your cabbage soup with my bast shoes.” In addition to bast shoes, the owner wove baskets for berries from bast, pesteri - large backpack bodies for mushrooms, and storage boxes various products and things.
Bye winter evenings the owner weaved from bast, the wife sewed a linen shirt. And how much work must be put in to have something to sew it from! The flax stems were pulled together with the roots by hand and threshed with flails to remove the seeds. The best of them went to sowing, from the rest they mined linseed oil. But the most valuable thing - flax fiber - was contained in the stem.
It was not so easy to get it: flax was soaked in water for two to three weeks, then dried. The stems were crushed, ruffled, removing the fire - the woody part - and combed with combs. The result was a soft, fluffy tow - raw material for spinning. The girls spun yarn from it in the evening.
By the light of a torch, girlfriends gathered in someone's hut with their spinning wheels and tow. They sat on benches on the bottom of the spinning wheels, and attached the tow to the vertical blades. With her left hand the spinner pulled out the strand, and with her right hand she rotated the spindle, similar to a fishing float. It spun like a top, twisting the strand into a thread and winding it around itself. Spinning is a boring, monotonous job, but in company, with a song or a conversation, time flew by. Guys often dropped in on such gatherings, entertained the girls with conversations and jokes, and looked for brides for themselves.
They tried to finish spinning by Maslenitsa. There was even a tradition during Maslenitsa week to ride with ice mountains on a spinning wheel that has become unnecessary. But usually the spinning wheel was taken care of and passed on by inheritance. Often it was made by the groom as a gift to his bride. Such a spinning wheel was decorated with elegant carvings and paintings. Some of them are now kept in museums.
When the spinning was completed, the peasant women began to weave canvas. The loom was moved from the barn to the hut for several weeks. In Rus' it has been used since pre-Mongol times.
Long stripes of grayish linen, woven at home, soaked in water and spread in the meadow, bleaching in the sun. After bleaching, the finished fabric was cut out and peasant shirts, trousers, and skirts were sewn from it.
IN peasant environment Mutual assistance has always been developed. There is no other way to survive in combat with nature. Is this why the community has been preserved in Russia for so long - a collective of people ready to Hard time support each other?
If a peasant had a problem, for example his house burned down, the whole community came to his aid. Together they cut down the wood, took it to the yard, and stacked the frame. When the owner became seriously ill during the lean season, the neighbors helped his family harvest the harvest. In the villages they helped widows and orphans. But misfortune was not the only reason to help one’s neighbor. If the family was unable to cope with urgent work on our own, fellow villagers were invited. This custom was called the good Russian word “help”. In the morning, volunteer helpers with their work equipment gathered at the house of those in need of help or right in the field. They worked together, cheerfully, with songs and jokes. And after work, the owner invited everyone to his yard and heartily treated them.
The peasant lived by his labor; work was the whole meaning of his life. The idea that labor is blessed by God has taken root among the people. It is not for nothing that the worker was addressed with the words: “God help!”, “God help.”
The lesson for the course “Origins” was:
Topic: “Peasant labor”
1.Introduction to the sociocultural category “Peasant Labor”
2. Accumulation of positive experience when working in a circle, in pairs, the ability to listen to each other, and pay attention to the words of the interlocutor.
3. fostering a respectful attitude towards working people.
Progress of the lesson.
ACCESSION,
The lesson begins at national costumes. The girl has a loaf of bread in her hands. Children read poetry. 1(Slide)
1.If we want someone
Greet with honor and honor.
Greet generously from the heart,
With great respect,
We meet such guests
A lush round loaf.
It's on a painted platter
With snow-white sleeves.
2. Loaf of earth and sky
On your table-
Nothing is stronger than bread
Not on the whole earth.
There are fields of grain in every small piece
And on each spikelet the earth rests.
TEACHER: Thank you for the hospitality, for the bread and salt, dear hosts. We accept your invitation.
Guys, why in Rus' were dear guests greeted with bread and salt?
Today we will visit peasant fields, hear sayings about labor and bread, songs about peasant labor, feel how important it is to take care of bread, native land- nurse,
The topic of today's lesson is “Peasant Labor” (Slide)
Read the words on the board: plowman, farmer, grower, peasant.
What do these words have in common?
If we turn to explanatory dictionaries, then we find out that this is a peasant (Slide)
New explanatory and word-formative 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 dried out and warmed up, the peasants went out into the field to plow the land.
The peasants plowed with plows. They harnessed the horse, attached the plow and went out into the field. (slide)
The peasant treated the field as a living creature, observing the biblical commandment: “Do not harm the earth, nor the sea, nor the tree.”
Reader 2
Reader 3
When going out into the field to sow grain, the peasant put on wide winter bast shoes: “In order not to crush the earth - it is alive, it feels heavy, but in bast shoes it is softer, easier for it.”
Reader 4
Even a horse, when working on arable land, steps with its hind hoof in the footprint of its front hoof, i.e. it does not trample the ground in vain.
TEACHER (Slide)
“Work is bitter, but bread is sweet,” our ancestors said. They worked hard to get their food, because they remembered that if you do not sow, you cannot reap. In many sayings, bread and labor are inextricably linked, because without the second you cannot get the first. A respectful attitude towards work was brought up in children with early years. Any work was revered because it brought bread.. It is believed that a good worker will not be left without food
WORKING WITH THE BOOK 78-79
What does the text say about the peasants' relationship to the land?
What should a person working in the field be like?
How do you understand the expression “where the owner passed, there the bread was born”
Why is haymaking called a real holiday?
(The peasants worked in factories, mines or in auxiliary jobs during the winter, 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 the grain grower. (Slide show)
Artists (slide)
Van Gogh (slide)
Shishkin. Rye (slide)
Poems about bread. (slide)
Here it is, fragrant bread,
With a crunchy twisted crust,
Here it is, warm, golden,
As if filled with sunshine!
In every home, on every table
He came - he came.
In it lies health, our strength,
It's wonderfully warm.
How many hands raised him,
Saved, protected!
After all, the grains did not immediately become
The bread that is on the table.
People work long and hard
We worked 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 the immortal Motherland,
Ear of bread. (ORLOV)
Grains of our days, shine
Gilded carved!
We say: “Take care.
Take care of your native bread...
We did not dream of a miracle.
A live speech to us from the fields:
“Take care of your bread, you people!
Learn to save bread."
People spoke of bread as a living being: bread-breadwinner, bread-father. From time immemorial, people have treated the labor of those who created it in the same way as they did with bread. In Rus', bakers enjoyed special respect; they were never called Ivashka, Fedka, Parsley - they were called respectfully, full names Ivan, Fedor, Peter. Bread was highly valued in Rus'. People who grow and harvest bread were respected. 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 experiences.
We will now collect our spikelets together, creating the image of a field. The harvest is ripe, wheat is heading in the field.
Finish the sentence
I went out into the field and see (hear, feel)
REFLECTION
Did you get the feeling that you were in a real field?
Which guys' statements helped you with this?
PHYSICAL MINUTE.
Unlearning folk game"Grandfather-Sysoy"
Grandfather-Sysoy,
Don't shake your beard!
Listen to what we say
Look what we show you.
Grandfather - Sysoy answers
Hello kids.
Where were you on copper?
Children: - They walked freely in an open field, and ...... (they showed with gestures what they were doing)
SOCIOCULTURAL TRAINING - work in pairs
Teacher Bread is earned by the sweat of the brow, and farmers value the experience of their ancestors.
Folk wisdom is especially evident in proverbs and sayings.
They instruct, give wise advice, condemn laziness.
What sayings do you know about bread and labor? (slide)
· Seek business like bread.
· You can't cut bread without a knife.
You can't get bread by lying down.
But observing nature, folk signs have developed. They give advice to the peasant when to start this or that work.
Individual work using cards
Fill in the circle on the left with red for the proverb, and blue for the folk signs.
Group stage
- Listen carefully to the opinion of your seatmate
Jointly choose your one common opinion.
Fill in the circles on the right.
Agree which of you will represent the joint solution
REFLECTION
Were you able to come to an agreement?
What did you find difficult about your job?
What worked best?
SUMMARIZING
At first the grain was sown with grain,
Then the sprouts were nurtured by an agronomist.
Then the combine operator took the ear of grain in his hands,
He rubbed it carefully in his palms.
Having learned that the bread had long since ripened,
He went out into the field to remove it with a combine harvester.
Reader 2
Then flour was ground from the grain
And she went to the baker.
And he was able to try:
You baked such delicious buns!
Appreciate, love and respect the one
Who sowed bread, raised it and baked it!
How do you understand the proverb “What goes around comes around?” They not only sowed bread, they sowed the habit of working, so from the very early childhood The child developed a respectful, respectful attitude towards a good worker.
We bring salt with the loaf,
As we worship, we ask you to taste:
Our dear guest and friend,
Take the bread and salt from your hands.
Rating: 1 - impressions of 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.
peasant, treated the field as a living being, observing the biblical commandment: “Do not harm the earth, nor the sea, nor the tree.”
Reader 2
The field is alive. It’s breathing—if I cover it with my hand, don’t let in any air, it will suffocate. Hence the respect for the earth: do not trample it, do not roll it around unnecessarily.
Reader 3
When 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 heavy, but in bast shoes it is softer, easier for it.”
Reader 4
Even a horse, when working on arable land, steps with its hind hoof in the footprint of its front hoof, i.e. it does not trample the ground in vain
“Work is bitter, but bread is sweet,” our ancestors said. They worked hard to get their food, because they remembered that if you do not sow, you cannot reap. In many sayings, bread and labor are inextricably linked, because without the second you cannot get the first. A respectful attitude towards work was instilled 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 parasites.
· If they give you some bread, they will also give you a businessman.
· Seek business like bread.
· Sweat on your back means bread on the table.
· Don’t leave things for tomorrow, but leave bread.
· Then the bread obtained and stale is sweet.
· You won’t be satisfied with conversation if you don’t get bread.
· Work until you sweat, eat bread when you want.
· He who works tirelessly cannot live without bread.
· To get up early is to get a lot of bread, and to sleep long is to earn a lot of bread.
· 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.
· Don’t sleep on this bread: if you reap, you won’t have time to sleep
You can't get bread by lying down.
The meaning of the word "PEASANT"
New explanatory and word-formative dictionary of the Russian language. Author.
peasant m. 1) A villager whose main occupation is cultivating the land.
Explanatory Dictionary, ed. S. I. Ozhegova and
PEASANT,. A rural resident engaged in cultivating crops and raising farm animals as his main job. Peasant farming.
Bread and porridge are our food.
Bread and water are heroic food.
It is not the fur coat that warms you, but the bread.
Without bread and honey you will not be full.
Without a piece of bread there is sadness everywhere.
There would be a head on your shoulders, and there would be bread.
Where the owner walks, there the earth will give birth to bread.
Buckwheat- our mother, and the rye bread is our dear father.
Just as there is a land of bread, so there is paradise under the spruce tree, but there is not a piece of bread, so there is melancholy in the mansion.
Not a piece of bread - and there is longing in my throat.
If there is more bread, the country cannot be defeated.
The earth is mother, and bread is father.
Rye bread - grandpa rolls it.
A well-fed man counts the stars in the sky, but a hungry man thinks about bread.
The hungry godfather has 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.
A well-fed man thinks about business, and a hungry man thinks about bread.
The plowman's hand is black, but his bread is white.
A beggar has bread on his mind, a stingy man has a crust on his account.
Without salt, without bread - half a meal.
If you want to eat rolls, don’t sit on the stove.
REMEMBER THE BREAD
You know, one day I saw
Like an old man asking for forgiveness.
He offended a loaf of bread
By suddenly dropping it to the ground
He knelt before her,
Bent in half, somehow.
He shook the litter off the top... Clumsily
He hung the sign of the cross on himself.
“Forgive me a piece of bread,
I became awkward in my later years.
Let the blue sky be a witness,
There is nothing more important than you here.
You were the farmer's reward,
It was a consolation to the traveler.
Prayers were sent to God for you,
And they carried out military affairs.
And 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 was given out
Black bread - simple joy…
Who could have thrown him to the ground?”
The old man stood still for a little while,
And he 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 the immortal Motherland,
Ear of bread. (ORLOV)
Grains of our days, shine
Gilded carved!
We say: “Take care.
Take care of your native bread...
We did not dream of a miracle.
A live speech to us from the fields:
“Take care of your bread, you people!
Learn to save bread."
So the summer has flown by, the cold is coming from the river.
The rye has ripened, turned yellow, and bent its ears.
Two combines are in the field. Back and forth, from end to end.
They reap - they thresh, they reap - they thresh, they harvest.
In the morning the rye stood like a wall. By nightfall, the rye was gone.
As soon as the sun set, the grain was empty.
It's spring day, it's time to plow. We went out into the tractor field.
They are led by my father and brother, hunchbacked over the hills.
I hurry after them, asking them to give me a ride.
And my father answers me: “The tractor plows, but doesn’t roll!”
Wait a minute, when you grow up, you’ll lead one yourself!
Bread as an object of worship.
There are many rituals associated with bread. In the eastern and Western Slavs It was customary to place bread in front of icons, as if thereby testifying to one’s loyalty to God. They took bread with them when they went to get married; they greeted the guest with bread and salt, the newlyweds upon returning from church after the wedding; they brought bread along with the bride's dowry. Bread was often used as a talisman: it was placed in the cradle of a newborn; They took him with them on the road so that he would protect him along the way. A loaf of bread and each piece, especially the first, or crumb, embodied a person’s share; it was believed that his strength, health and luck depended on his handling of them.
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The work of a real peasant, just like a real artisan, is solitary creativity: in quiet absorption he devotes himself to his occupation. He lives in his creation, just as an artist lives in his; he most likely would not have given it to the market at all. With bitter tears in their eyes, the peasant women take their beloved pawn out of the stall and take her to the slaughterhouse; an old artisan is fighting for his pipe, which a merchant wants to buy from him... The peasant, just like the artisan, stands behind his work, he vouches for it with the honor of the artist.
Under feudalism, the division of peasant labor into necessary and surplus appeared in an open form: during the necessary working time, the peasant ensured the existence of himself and his family. During surplus time, he created a surplus product, which was appropriated free of charge by the feudal lord in the form: eat.
The landowners, deprived of the free labor of the peasants, were forced to rebuild their farms in accordance with the new conditions. However, the transition from the feudal system of farming to the capitalist one could not be carried out immediately, since the old system was only undermined, but not destroyed. Therefore, the landowner economy was based on a combination of two systems - labor and capitalist.
The labor of peasants is used to an even lesser extent in various crafts. The erroneous attitudes that existed at one time led to the fact that handicraft industries gradually fell into decline and were eventually almost completely eliminated. This had a detrimental effect on the financial situation of the village, and socially led to the country losing large quantity products that satisfy the household needs of the population. Let us also note that the labor resources of the village were not fully used, and there were great losses in the income that these trades brought when selling products both within the country and abroad.
During the 15th century, while the labor of independent peasants and agricultural workers, engaged in independent work along with hired work at the same time, went to their own benefit, the standard of living of the farmer was as insignificant as the scope of his production.
What conditions should be created to make the peasant’s work easier? There must be machines, and machines can only be used effectively in a cooperative. As a communist, I am interested in people, regardless of what nation they are, what language they speak, what faith they worship, to live well. Working people the same everywhere. The working people earn bread by the sweat of their brow, and I want the working people to shed less sweat and receive more products from their labor. This is what I am interested in as a person. I am also interested in you achieving the same things that we, the Soviet people, achieved, and even better results, using the experience of our peasants.
The theoretical reflection of the economic productivity of the land (along with the labor of the peasants) was the teaching of the French physiocrats (Quesnay, Boisbilguera, Turgot) that only Agriculture has a productive nature, allowing not only to reimburse its costs, but also to obtain a surplus product. In other branches of handicraft and industrial production that do not cultivate the land, supposedly only their costs are reimbursed, nothing more, and therefore no surplus product is created by them.
Similar problems arise in socialism - whether the peasant’s labor on his plot should be taken into account.
This acceleration, which was based on the principle of material stimulation of peasant labor, in the second half of the 20s. began to slow down, but not through the fault of the rural worker.
The transformation of the nobles into a privileged class was accompanied by an expansion of their rights to the personality and labor of the peasant.
Under feudalism, the source of land rent was the surplus (partially necessary) labor of personally dependent peasants.
This means that the landowner's land is cultivated with the same peasant implements, the labor of a ruined, impoverished, enslaved peasant. This is what it is, the culture that the deputy Svyato-polk-Mirsky spoke about and which all the defenders of landowners’ interests talk about. Landowners, of course, have the best livestock, which live better in a master's stable than a peasant in a peasant's hut. The landowner, of course, has the best harvests, because the landowner committees took care back in 1861 to cut off best lands from the peasants and write them down to the landowners.
Social politics parties, Soviet state is to based on modern technology and science to bring closer and closer the nature of the work of the peasant and the work of the worker, to improve the life of the village, to improve culture rural life. All this practically leads to the gradual elimination of socio-economic, cultural and everyday differences between city and countryside, between the working class and the peasantry.
Over time, the monasteries from labor communities, where everyone worked for everyone and everyone spiritually supported each of their brethren, turned into large land owners who used the forced labor of peasants.
The reduction in the sources of recruitment for slaves, as well as the blurring of the lines between them and the peasants, entailed the elimination of the archaic form of exploitation: the labor productivity of a slave per month was lower than the labor productivity of a peasant who cultivated his allotment.
Types of peasant labor
Before getting acquainted with child labor, let us briefly recall peasant labor in general.
From ancient times, the basis of all peasant life, as is known, 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 natural and climatic zones, required enormous labor and observation, and accumulated rich traditions.
The main and reliable agricultural crop was rye, which almost always yielded a harvest; Barley, wheat, millet, peas, flax, hemp, etc. were also grown. The main tool for tillage was the plow (XIII-XX centuries), which was improved over time; in some regions they used a plow with a metal share. The main working animal is the horse. The farmstead housed cows, goats, sheep, chickens, and geese. Agricultural tools - scythe, sickle, harrow. All these were attributes of an agrarian culture that had been preserved for many centuries.
The success of farming 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 determine agricultural work. So, if it was cold on Candlemas (February 15), wait for late spring, which means get ready to sow grain, etc., at a certain time; if a chicken drinks water from a puddle on Evdokia Day (March 14), then a sheep on Yegoriya (May 6) will eat grass, i.e. there will be a good spring. Other natural features also spoke volumes: the flowering period of the bird cherry tree, the blossoming of the leaves of the oak tree; a lot of snow in winter - a lot of grain, if the snow melted “together” - spring crops were sown early. A snowstorm and a blizzard on the day of Evdokia were foreshadowed - the cattle would have to be kept in the barn longer in the spring, which was difficult for a peasant farm that was not rich in feed. Thus, by observing signs on certain days, peasants made a long-term forecast, which allowed them to prepare accordingly for the upcoming seasonal agricultural work.
The specifics of the natural and climatic conditions of Russia are also reflected in the names of the Russian folk calendar, which arose in ancient times.
There were other variants of names: zharnik, stradnik - July, raisin June, etc. At the same time, each month and day had its own signs: if in December the snow piles up close to the fences, it will be a bad summer; May is cold - a grain-bearing year; in November there will be snow - bread will arrive, etc.
Agriculture on peasant farms was closely connected with cattle breeding, which also required tireless attention and a lot of work both in summer and winter.
Let us note a characteristic feature of peasant labor: despite the repetition of the same work from season to season, from year to year, there was no routine in it. It may seem that the monotony of affairs does not require anything other than mechanical skills, but no: weather conditions, the condition of the seeds for sowing, the health of the livestock, the burrows of each animal and much more required mental agility, intelligence, observation and the peasant’s daily adaptation to these features. Even small children were taught to do work in different ways, taking into account different circumstances; So, the girl-nanny, trying to calm the child, resorted to various measures: she spoke strictly to one, caressed another, 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 required 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 responsibilities and relationships.
As soon as the child grew up, began to stand firmly on his feet and understand the speech of those around him, he easily and naturally joined in the work. His parents did not force him, they did not force him to work, but they interested him in business, allowed him to do something on his own, to help his elders, because it is known that a child is by nature an active being. A child's thirst for imitation, activity, and 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 threads, feed the chickens, the boy gave bast to his father, who was weaving bast shoes, etc. The boy began to drive cattle to water and learned to ride a horse. A six or seven year old child was trusted to drive the cattle into the yard and bring firewood to the hut. The boys were next to their father doing carpentry, the girls were next to their mother at the spinning wheel and carried out their feasible, simple tasks. Girls very early began to babysit their younger brothers and sisters and were involved in housework - caring for poultry, washing dishes and floors, fetching water.
At the age of seven or eight, a peasant boy was already helping his father in the arable land, handling a horse. In winter, he helped his father prepare firewood and learned to use a saw and an ax. I went hunting with my father, learned to set a snare, shoot a bow, and could fish.
At nine or ten years old, the teenager could handle a horse himself and knew how to harness it.
But the children did not immediately get down to business, the people's experience of education told adults that this should be done gradually, including them in the game. A small shovel and rake were in the child's hands as 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 flat cakes and bread from the dough. She began to carry water in a small bucket. They made a small spinning wheel for the girl and she sat at it next to her older sisters. She learned to sew outfits for a doll that older children could make. Thus, gradually mastering labor skills, children with age became involved in work, skillfully handling tools, equipment, and livestock.
They gradually moved from play to real work.
At ten to thirteen years old, a teenager could already plow, and by the age of fourteen, he could mow, reap 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.
A boy of fourteen to sixteen years old learned such difficult types of work as mowing, was engaged in plowing, threshing, collecting firewood in the forest, and knew many of the subtleties of peasant work. At the age of eighteen he could carry out sowing (this is the most difficult work), and from that time on he was considered a full-fledged owner.
Teenagers also helped the family with their earnings, hiring out as summer shepherds or going out to graze horses at night with a group of peers. The family received the necessary extra income, and for the teenager himself it was a kind of school, where he learned to comply with his obligations and to carry out his work in a disciplined manner.
In addition to housework, which she was introduced to very early, the girl began working with a sickle in the field at the age of nine or ten; from that time on, she was really engaged in knitting sheaves, weeding beds, pulling flax and hemp. At ten to twelve years old, she was already milking a cow, could knead dough, cooked, washed, looked after children, carried water, sewed, knitted and did many other household chores.
At the age of fourteen, the girl reaped bread, mowed grass, and began to work on an equal basis with adults. And let's not forget - by this time she should have already prepared a dowry for herself.
Competition and rivalry are especially characteristic of adolescence. “The teenager had to be stopped, because he wants to learn to plow before his age, 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 fish for my mother’s pies, collect berries to treat the younger ones."
At the age of fourteen to sixteen, boys and girls, having undergone extensive labor training, became independent, confidently took to work, and behaved more sedately.
The demands of adults on the behavior of young people also changed with age, while the guy was freer from parental care, he could leave in the evenings without asking, and go to parties. Girls were another matter; their parents tried to keep an eye on them; they were not allowed to attend festivities without the permission of adults; they were supposed to behave modestly in the house with guests, eat little, remain silent, with downcast eyes, and not laugh loudly.
Not all work activities in which a child was involved from an early age are described here. But those 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, livestock, and weather, which shaped the worldview of children and taught them responsibility for the fate of the harvest and 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 a worldview, moral strengthening, aesthetic experiences and, of course, physical development and health.
By getting involved in work, a person learned the patterns of natural phenomena, saw their interconnection and interdependence (for example, that rye can be sown only at a certain time, when nature favors it, 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, and awakened insight and inquisitiveness.
Involving himself at first voluntarily, and later out of necessity, in various activities, the child or 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 works, there was no need to say that without labor it is unthinkable existence itself. Awareness of the role of labor as a vital necessity also shaped an appropriate attitude towards it. Peasant work is difficult, associated with many inconveniences: getting up early, working in the rain or snow, in mud and abyss - requires a lot of physical stress. All these difficulties were perceived by both the Little Child and the young men as inevitable, and they accepted them without complaint, 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 the hardships of life, to rejoice at work successes, to experience tremulous feelings at the sight of rising greenery in the fields - this is also a consequence of labor activity. From an early age, work nurtured the mind and soul of a person.
Labor activity strengthened and tempered the growing organism, developed physical strength and endurance, which in turn manifested itself in work.
Rituals associated with basic peasant work contributed to the development of a serious, respectful attitude of children towards work. Let us dwell on two such rituals.
The ceremony 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, a special ritual for starting work with various magical actions developed, the observance of which was supposed to guarantee the success of plowing and sowing, and therefore 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 “inception” was supposed to ensure success in the future, prevent, in the opinion of the peasants, possible troubles and natural disasters, and help protect the whole world from them.
Before the beginning - the beginning of plowing - a meeting was held, at which a person was elected, the beginning of which, it was believed, would be “easy”. What was needed was a peasant who had a “light hand,” a kind, good person, definitely a man: “God Himself ordained that a man sow.” 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 in front of the icon, then, bowing on all four sides, made furrows with a plow through all the plots.
Community money was used to order a religious procession in the church during sowing; They usually didn’t work that day.
When the winter crops “started to grow,” they could also serve a prayer service in the field. And then, right there in the field, they held a feast, where all the peasants were present.
Also, the day dedicated to the first pasture of cattle, which took place on May 6, on the day of St. George the Victorious, whom researchers consider to have replaced the pagan Yaril, was arranged in a special way. The peasants believed that Yegor himself, invisible to people, rode out on his horse and grazed cattle, protecting them from animals, over which he also ruled (it is known that grazing cattle was always associated with the danger of an attack by animals, of which there were plenty in the forests surrounding the village) . “Our Father, George, save and preserve 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 singing the song “Father Yegoriy” and collecting bribes. Families performed a number of ritual actions aimed, as it was believed, at preserving livestock; for example, the owners pray, then walk around their cattle with bread and salt, with an icon of St. George, saying: “Saint Egory the 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 animal’s mouth is locked as tightly as a lock is locked with a key. When driving the cattle out of the yard, they said: “Brave Yegory, accept my animal for the whole summer and save it!”
Cattle herding began simultaneously throughout the entire community before lunch. From each yard, children drove cows, sheep and pigs through the willows, followed by the owner and mistress. When the flock had gathered, the shepherd walked around it three times, holding a loaf of bread on his head and a whip on his shoulder. Behind the shepherd walked a healthy, blooming young woman, followed by the headman, also with a rug on his head. Then everyone prayed.
The shepherd gathered the whole herd together and threw a stick over it: “Well, thank God, I threw all the diseases of our little cattle through the whole herd.” Well, after that the boys played burners, running around the herd, which was supposed to contribute to good milk yield. It was impossible to work that day.
On the day of St. Nicholas the Pleasant (May 22), the first horse drive was carried out at night. Village teenagers and a shepherd burned fires at night, baked potatoes in the ashes, and played games until dawn.
These days were followed by others, surrounded by 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? While performing them, the children once again became imbued with the main concerns of the peasants - about a good harvest and the safety of livestock. By participating in rituals associated with agricultural affairs, adolescents mastered those ritual actions that, according to the peasants, contributed to good labor results and called upon the help of magical forces to ensure, along with everyday work, the well-being of the family. The seriousness with which adults treated the described rituals aroused in children an understanding of the great importance of the work they were starting and developed in them the same serious attitude towards work.
Children's participation in community service
Help. There were village works that united, taught mutual assistance and support, and brought to life such human qualities as mercy, generosity, responsiveness, and conscientiousness.
Work of this kind includes providing assistance to neighbors, fellow villagers who find themselves in difficult situations: fire victims, orphans, widows, lonely old people, families of recruits, assistance during funerals, etc. A peasant who suffered, for example, from a fire turned to the world with a request to help build a hut, and society necessarily responded to the request: together they harvested logs from the forest, took them out and built a house. A sick owner who was unable to prepare seeds in time could collect them for sowing in baskets from the yard and cultivate the land and sow the seeds.
This form of mutual assistance was called help. Usually, help was used in field work, plowing the land, and harvesting for those who do not have a horse or do not have enough workers. 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 find himself in distress.
Peasants gathered for help not only when their owners approached them, but they themselves took the initiative if they saw the plight of their owners. Participation in help was considered the moral duty of everyone, a common 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.
Young people were also attracted to help because already during work there were songs, jokes, and pranks started. And after finishing work they could sing all night, ride the owner’s horse, etc. The owner had his own ethics: he did not indicate who should work and how, did not make comments, but was kind and friendly, but careless people were not invited 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, placed in a prepared place, and caulked.
Baking is the building of an adobe stove, which was usually done by single boys and girls. These are youth events where work was combined with partying. It was necessary to bring clay, then knead it and compact it with boards, trample it with feet. As a rule, this help was going to help during the construction of a new hut.
Supryadki is the spinning of wool, flax, and hemp by women and girls. They were usually placed in families where there were few women or too many children. First, yarn was prepared from raw materials; the 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 general gatherings. Then an evening ceremony was appointed, to which the spinners appeared with ready-made yarn and threads in their best outfits, and the hostess arranged a treat with songs and dances.
They also arranged marriages as alternating pomos, taking turns among many girls, when they gathered in one or the other hut.
Flax pounding is predominantly for girls and women, although young boys could also take part in them. They gathered alternately in different huts, starting from the outer yard of the village, and were necessary because it was necessary to quickly process the collected flax. Girls and young women came with their sheaves at night, worked until dawn by the light of a lantern or tallow candle. Each worker had to process 100 sheaves during work. They worked all night with songs, and during the day the owner treated them to dinner.
There were still many reasons for help: when plowing, finishing the harvest, hay sheds - help in making hay, wood sheds - when cutting down forest, cabbage sheds - when pickling cabbage, etc.
The child realized the need for mutual assistance very early, observing the life of his family, listening to adults talk about upcoming help and gradually becoming 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 not in doubt. Thus, from early childhood, kindness towards people, a readiness for mutual assistance and a desire to make life easier for one’s neighbors, relatives and those simply in need of help were awakened in a person’s soul.
During general work, intelligence, dexterity, and virtuosity in individual matters were demonstrated. The opinion about the girl was based on her appearance; she made many of her clothes herself, and from this it was clear what kind of worker she was.
The joint work caused a great emotional upsurge among its participants; the young people not only worked here, but also rallied, became closer, got to know each other better, and songs and jokes evoked a joyful mood. All this colored hard work in positive tones, and therefore participation in help was not perceived as a heavy duty. Pomochi were characterized by the interweaving of labor and holiday elements.
Labor holidays. In mid-August, the harvesting period ended. Harvest is a time of very intense work, when it was important to harvest the 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: reaping, knitting sheaves, stacking haystacks, etc., work went on from dawn to dusk.
In the final days of the work, help was held - “dozhinki”, which organically merged with the holiday marking the end of the entire harvest. Help could be arranged on the strip with a sick woman or with orphans, the eldest of whom is only 13-14 years old, i.e. for those who could not handle the cleaning themselves. There was also help, to which they especially invited relatives and close people, and sometimes even 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 harvesters rolled around in the field so that their backs would not hurt for the future harvest, with the words “Nivka, Nivka, give back my snare.” And there was always a ritual of curling the “beard,” which has been preserved since ancient pagan times and was aimed at returning strength to the earth for the next year’s harvest.
On the eve of the ceremony, they went around the houses and, knocking on the window with a stick, invited: “Tomorrow on the beard!” The helpers came to the field early in the morning with their sickles and worked with songs and jokes until they had squeezed out all the bread. And in some places the last sheaf was reaped in silence; if someone speaks, that “fiancé will be blind.” The last ears of corn were left unharvested, they were tied up - this is the beard. They decorated it with ribbons, tied it with grass and bent it to the ground, lightly sprinkling 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 they curled the “beard”, they left the field singing with the last compressed sheaf - the “birthday boy”, dressed in a sundress. 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 pomochanka and the feast began. After the treat, the girls walked around the village singing and dancing and calling the owner; There were also guys here, sometimes they rode down the street on the owner’s horses, singing and joking.
Haymaking turned into a holiday - a difficult but fun time, lasting about a month at the height of summer, in July. The women dried the grass cut by the mowers - turned it over, tousled it, raked it into a pile - hoarded it, etc. They mowed the grass, dried it and piled it together, and then divided the finished hay heart to heart.
And everywhere you had to know the rules of work, feel when the hay was ready to be stacked; The rains added a lot of hassle. But under favorable weather conditions, hay harvesting is a pleasant agricultural job.
Warm nights, the scent of grass in the meadows, swimming after the heat - all this created a festive mood.
All 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 celebration, where they danced in circles, played harmonicas, joked, and where girls showed off in front of the grooms. Peasants often traveled to distant meadows with their families, taking their babies with them. They rested in huts and cooked food over fires. Several families united for lunch; after work, the older ones rested in the meadow, and the young ones went to pick berries. People moved to huts outside the village even when meadows were nearby; At this time, young people remained in the meadows throughout the haymaking period. Therefore, they looked forward to this time and, despite the hard work, considered it a holiday.
Autumn cabbages began the time of autumn parties for young people. After the end of the cabbage harvest, the labor-intensive work of salting it was necessary, for this purpose the cabbage girls were invited to it, and the guys came without an invitation to help the girls, and mainly to entertain the workers. In one day they had to chop and shred the cabbage, put it in tubs and lower it into the cellar. Sometimes up to 5,000 heads of cabbage were processed, then a lot of heads 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 holiday.
After the work was completed, the hostess invited everyone to the hut and set out refreshments for the young people. Here the fun began until the morning: songs, games, dances; They usually sang play songs, and also performed songs of greatness, those that were sung at wedding parties in honor of single relatives.
So, help, playing an important role in the economic life of the village, meant a lot in consolidating certain ethical standards, preserving customs and forming public opinion. Through help, economic skills were passed on from generation to generation, and young people perceived the knowledge acquired by their elders in their practice. Here the reputation of the bride and groom was created, their strengths and weaknesses were revealed, and in the process of communication, friendly affections were cemented.
Assessing the overall importance of child labor in the development of personality, we note its enormous role in the development of physical and spiritual strength and in preparation for active work. The main feature of the work of peasant children is seen in its attachment to all types of work of an adult peasant. This is how, entering labor relations and responsibilities, children gradually, step by step, were included in the main spheres of life, living through its main stages in childhood. They did not prepare for future work, but lived it, were engaged in matters that were significant for the family and society, while simultaneously mastering practical skills and abilities, producing a certain product of work. Work was not so much a means of education as the meaning of a person’s life from an early age. Associated with the main areas of life, child labor ensured the multifaceted development of the individual and was the key to a person’s success in an independent adult life.
Literature
Konstantinov N.A., Medynsky E.N., Shabaev M.F., History of pedagogy - M., Education, 1982.
Kharlamov and. F. Pedagogy: Proc. manual for students of universities and teachers. Inst. – 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 universities. "Peter", 2000.
Similar abstracts:
Folk pedagogy as part folk culture. The need to educate students in the traditions of Russian culture, information and educational function national holidays. Inclusion of folklore material in music programs in primary schools.
We have long been accustomed to the statements that prayer is our spiritual food, the basis of our inner life, the source of our salvation. Meanwhile, rather quickly, spiritual laziness forces these words to be perceived precisely as words - beautiful and correct.
There are quite a lot of young people in our villages. Hence the following two-sided conclusion: either the exodus of a new generation of peasants has ended, or this is a temporary lull before the mass exodus to large and small industrial cities. Both are equally likely. On the one hand, the surrounding farms are withering away before our eyes, while others are directly looking into the grave, and it seems that nothing hints at a renaissance. On the other hand, there is little work in the cities; in our regional center, Zubtsovo, for example, it is much more difficult to find a job than to meet a wife destined by God. How six thousand townspeople live and feed there is dark for us.
In general, the peasantry is a cold-blooded, unpoetic people, and yet I would like to think: what if rural youth have finally comprehended the poetics of agricultural labor... After all, this is still not like drilling the same hole for eight hours in a row, or hanging around behind the counter, or lay sand-lime bricks with a poke and poke...
Peasant labor is this... After you have risen with the sun, washed your face from a washstand nailed to a birch tree, had breakfast with scrambled eggs and your own lard, the master leaves the village on a tractor with dogs barking and roosters crowing. If plowing is on the agenda, then it’s nice to watch how the ground rises behind you, looking like chocolate butter, and, instead of seagulls, crows circle above it. If it’s haymaking, then the smell of freshly planted clover, tart-sweet, like a good cologne, will take your breath away. If this is cleaning, then all the time you are caressed by the thought that in your bunker you already have buns and rolls stored in some part of Russia.
In a word, if we approach the matter somewhat poetically, then peasant labor- an enviable lot for a serious man. Firstly, it’s beautiful, because you’re plowing, and above your head blue sky, on both sides there are endless fields, and quiet ones darken in the distance mixed forests. Secondly, it is noble, because the farmer feeds the people, receiving mere trifles for his work. Thirdly, it’s great because it’s diverse and fresh air- It’s not for nothing that there are no crazy people in the villages.
Finally, it is a prejudice that the peasant works on the land full daylight hours. Except that when plowing you have to sweat almost from dawn to dusk, because there is a lot of land, but not enough equipment, and even it starts up every once in a while. During haymaking and the harvest season they work from dew to dew, that is, in our places, from about noon to six.
Just like in the old days, which despite all the current troubles one cannot dare to call good, they don’t drink during the famine, they carry lunch in the field, the bread is no thinner than in the era of work meetings and workdays.
Troubles happen like this: every year, the loans that the region allocates to collective farms for diesel fuel and other utilities disappear somewhere. And then the Rossiya collective farm bought the latest hay harvesting machine, which itself packs rolls of mowed grass into film - it now stands near the chairman’s fence and is only of interest to stray dogs. The reason for this trouble is this: our film, manufactured in St. Petersburg, breaks every now and then, and the Dutch film, which never breaks, cannot be raised given the collective farm poverty. If you buy Dutch film, then a kilogram of hay will cost five rubles, and our collective farms sell milk at three rubles per liter - they don’t give them more.
The peculiarity of peasant labor in modern times is that there are far fewer workers than those registered in the countryside. On the collective farm “Ilyich’s Way” there are only sixty farmers, one free tiller and several hundred villagers who live on who knows what. That is, it is known what: a vegetable garden, otherwise they sell milk and meat to the outside, build fences for summer residents, steal, collect non-ferrous metal wherever necessary. As for the free tiller, he grows cabbage on his ten hectares and takes it to Rzhev to sell. This occupation is dangerous for three reasons: because there is a market mafia everywhere, because you can’t get sick - there are only three pairs of hands in a family, because at times you have to hire farm laborers and thereby instill a sense of class in your fellow villagers. Our families are small because, according to the general belief, big family- it’s too labor-intensive; a hole for a latrine will need to be dug at least once a year.
Apparently, the most prosperous category of our peasantry are those who live on who knows what. Judging by the fact that in two months of the summer season in our village they took away: one car, two windshields, four wheels, one gun, one spinning rod and seven refrigerators, we can live.
Some villagers also work in the police, but this is a pure sinecure, because our police officers are mainly engaged in traveling around villages and explaining why they are not able to catch robbers and thieves.
