Folk art. Folk art is
Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And In contact with
17 of the most beautiful types of folk art in Russia.
Folk crafts are exactly what makes our culture rich and unique. Foreign tourists take with them painted objects, toys and textile products in memory of our country.
Almost every corner of Russia has its own type of needlework, and in this material we have collected the brightest and most famous of them.
Dymkovo toy
Dymkovo toy - symbol Kirov region, highlighting its rich and ancient history. It is molded from clay, then dried and fired in a kiln. After that, it is painted by hand, each time creating a unique copy. There cannot be two identical toys.
Zhostovo painting
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Vishnyakov brothers lived in one of the Moscow villages of the former Trinity volost (now Mytishchi district), and they were engaged in painting lacquered metal trays, sugar bowls, pallets, papier-mâché boxes, cigarette cases, teapots, albums and other things. Since then, artistic painting in the Zhostovo style has begun to gain popularity and attract attention at numerous exhibitions in our country and abroad.
Khokhloma
Khokhloma is one of the most beautiful Russian crafts, which originated in the 17th century near Nizhny Novgorod. This decorative painting furniture and wooden utensils, which are loved not only by connoisseurs of Russian antiquity, but also by residents foreign countries.
Bizarrely intertwined herbal patterns of bright scarlet berries and golden leaves on a black background can be admired endlessly. Therefore, even traditional wooden spoons, presented on the most insignificant occasion, leave the recipient with the kindest and longest memory of the donor.
Gorodets painting
Gorodets painting has existed since the mid-19th century. Bright, laconic patterns reflect genre scenes, figurines of horses, roosters, and floral patterns. The painting is done in a free stroke with a white and black graphic outline; it decorates spinning wheels, furniture, shutters, and doors.
Filigree
Filigree is one of oldest species artistic metal processing. Elements of a filigree pattern can be very diverse: in the form of a rope, lace, weaving, herringbone, path, satin stitch. The weaves are made from very thin gold or silver wires, so they look light and fragile.
Ural malachite
Known deposits of malachite are in the Urals, Africa, South Australia and the USA, however, in terms of color and beauty of patterns, malachite from foreign countries cannot be compared with that from the Urals. Therefore, malachite from the Urals is considered the most valuable on the world market.
Gusev crystal
Products made at the Gus-Khrustalny crystal factory can be found in museums all over the world. Traditional Russian souvenirs, household items, festive table services, elegant jewelry, boxes, figurines self made reflect the beauty of their native nature, its customs and primordially Russian values. Products made from colored crystal are especially popular.
Matryoshka
Chubby and plump cheerful girl in kerchief and Russian folk dress won the hearts of lovers of folk toys and beautiful souvenirs around the world.
Now matryoshka is not just folk toy, the keeper of Russian culture: this is a memorable souvenir for tourists, on the apron of which play scenes, fairy tale plots and landscapes with attractions are finely drawn. The nesting doll has become a precious collectible that can cost hundreds of dollars.
Enamel
Vintage brooches, bracelets, pendants, which quickly “entered” modern fashion, are nothing more than jewelry made using the enamel technique. This type of applied art originated in the 17th century in the Vologda region.
Masters depicted floral patterns, birds, and animals on white enamel using a variety of paints. Then the art of multi-color enamel began to be lost, and monochromatic enamel began to supplant it: white, blue and green. Now both styles are successfully combined.
Tula samovar
In his free time, Fyodor Lisitsyn, an employee of the Tula Arms Factory, loved to make something out of copper, and once made a samovar. Then his sons opened a samovar establishment where they sold copper products, which were wildly successful.
The Lisitsyn samovars were famous for their variety of shapes and finishes: barrels, vases with chasing and engraving, egg-shaped samovars, with dolphin-shaped taps, with loop-shaped handles, and painted ones.
Palekh miniature
Palekh miniature is a special, subtle, poetic vision of the world, which is characteristic of Russians folk beliefs and songs. The painting uses brown-orange and bluish-green tones.
Palekh painting has no analogues in the whole world. It is done on papier-mâché and only then transferred to the surface of boxes of various shapes and sizes.
Gzhel
The Gzhel bush, an area of 27 villages located near Moscow, is famous for its clay, which has been mined here since the mid-17th century. In the 19th century, Gzhel craftsmen began to produce semi-faience, earthenware and porcelain. Of particular interest are still items painted in one color - blue overglaze paint applied with a brush, with graphic detailing.
Collective artistic creative activity, reflecting the life of the ethnos, its ideals, its views, has absorbed the folk art of Russia. The people created and circulated from generation to generation epics, fairy tales, legends - this is a genre of poetry, original music sounded - plays, tunes, songs, the favorite festive spectacle was theatrical performances - mainly it was a puppet theater. But dramas and satirical plays. Russian folk art also penetrated deeply into dance, fine arts, and arts and crafts. Russian dances also originated in ancient times. Russian folk art has erected historical background for modern artistic culture, has become a source artistic traditions, an exponent of the self-awareness of the people.
Orally and in writing
Written literary works appeared much later than those oral gems that filled the precious box of folklore since pagan times. Those same proverbs, sayings, riddles, songs and round dances, spells and conspiracies, epics and fairy tales that Russian folk art has cut to a brilliant shine. The ancient Russian epic reflected the spirituality of our people, traditions, real events, features of everyday life, revealed and preserved the exploits of historical characters. So, for example, Vladimir the Red Sun, everyone’s favorite prince, was based on a real prince - Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, the hero Dobrynya Nikitich - the uncle of Vladimir the First, boyar Dobrynya. The types of oral folk art are extremely diverse.
With the advent of Christianity in the tenth century, great Russian literature and its history began. Gradually, with its help, the Old Russian language took shape and became unified. The first books were handwritten, decorated with gold and other precious metals, gems, and enamel. They were very expensive, so people didn’t know them for a long time. However, with the strengthening of religion, books penetrated into the most remote corners of the Russian land, since the people needed to know the works of Ephraim the Syrian, John Chrysostom and other religious translated literature. The original Russian one is now represented by chronicles, biographies of saints (lives), rhetorical teachings ("Words", one of them - "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"), walks (or walks, travel notes) and many other genres that are not so well known . The fourteenth century gave whole line exceptionally significant folklore monuments. Some types of oral folk art, such as epics, became written. This is how “Sadko” and “Vasily Buslaev” appeared, recorded by the storytellers.
Examples of folk art
Oral creativity served as a reservoir of folk memory. The heroic resistance to the Tatar-Mongol yoke and other invaders was sung from mouth to mouth. It was on the basis of such songs that stories were created that have survived to this day: about the battle on Kalka, where “seventy great and brave” gain our freedom, about Evpatiy Kolovrat, who defended Ryazan from Batu, about Mercury, who defended Smolensk. Russia preserved the facts against the Baskak Shevkal, about Shchelkan Dudentievich, and these songs were sung far beyond the borders of the Tver principality. Compilers of epics conveyed the events of the Kulikovo Field to distant descendants, and old images of Russian heroes were still used by the people for folk works dedicated to the fight against the Golden Horde.
Until the end of the tenth century, the inhabitants of Kievo-Novgorod Rus' did not yet know writing. However, this pre-literary period brought to this day golden literary works passed on from mouth to mouth and from generation to generation. And now Russian folk art festivals are held, where the same songs, tales and epics of a thousand years ago are heard. Ancient genres that still resonate today include epics, songs, fairy tales, legends, riddles, sayings, and proverbs. Most of folklore works that have come down to us - poetry. The poetic form makes it easy to memorize texts, and therefore for many centuries folklore works passed down through generations, changing towards expediency, polishing from one talented storyteller to another.
Small genres
Small-sized works belong to small genres of folklore. These are parables: puns, tongue twisters, proverbs, jokes, riddles, signs, sayings, proverbs, what oral folk art gave us. Riddles are one of them artistic manifestations folk poetry that originated orally. A hint or allegory, circumlocution, roundabout speech - an allegorical description in a brief form of any object - this is what a riddle is according to V. I. Dahl. In other words, an allegorical image of phenomena of reality or an object that has to be guessed. Even here, oral folk art provided for multivariance. Riddles can be descriptions, allegories, questions, tasks. Most often they consist of two parts - a question and an answer, a riddle and a guess, interconnected. They are diverse in topic and are closely related to work and everyday life: animals and vegetable world, nature, tools and activities.
Proverbs and sayings that have survived to this day from the most ancient times are apt expressions and wise thoughts. Most often they are also two-part, where the parts are proportional and often rhyme. The meaning of sayings and proverbs is usually direct and figurative, containing morality. We often see diversity in proverbs and sayings, that is, many versions of a proverb with the same moral. a generalizing meaning that is higher. The oldest of them date back to the twelfth century. The history of Russian folk art notes that many proverbs have survived to this day shortened, sometimes having lost even their original meaning. So, they say: “He ate the dog on this matter,” implying high professionalism, but the Russian people in the old days continued: “Yes, he choked on his tail.” I mean, no, not that tall.
Music
Ancient types of folk musical creativity Russia are based primarily on the song genre. A song is a musical and verbal genre at the same time, either a lyrical or narrative work, which is intended purely for singing. songs can be lyrical, dance, ritual, historical, and they all express aspirations individual person, and the feelings of many people, they are always in tune with the social internal state.
Are there love experiences, thoughts about fate, a description of social or family life- this should always be interesting to listeners, and without bringing the state of mind of as many people as possible into the song, they will not listen to the singer. People are very fond of the technique of parallelism when the mood lyrical hero transferred to nature. “Why are you standing, swaying, “The night has no bright moon,” for example. And it is almost rare to come across a folk song in which this parallelism is absent. Even in historical songs - “Ermak”, “Stepan Razin” and others - it constantly appears. From This makes the emotional sound of the song much stronger, and the song itself is perceived much brighter.
Epic and fairy tale
The genre of folk art took shape much earlier than the ninth century, and the term “epic” appeared only in the nineteenth century and denoted a heroic song of an epic nature. We know epics sung in the ninth century, although they were probably not the first, they simply did not reach us, having been lost through the centuries. Every child knows well epic heroes- heroes who embodied the ideal people's patriotism, courage and strength: merchant Sadko and Ilya Muromets, giant Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich. The plot of the epic is most often filled with real-life situations, but it is also significantly enriched with fantastic fictions: they have a teleport (they can instantly cover distances from Murom to Kiev), they can defeat an army alone (“if you wave to the right, there will be a street, if you wave to the left, there will be an alley.” ), and, of course, monsters: three-headed dragons - Gorynychi Snakes. The types of Russian folk art in oral genres are not limited to this. There are also fairy tales and legends.
Epics differ from fairy tales in that latest events completely fictitious. There are two types of fairy tales: everyday and magical. In everyday life, a variety of but ordinary people are depicted - princes and princesses, kings and kings, soldiers and workers, peasants and priests in the most ordinary settings. And fairy tales always attract fantastic forces, produce artifacts with wonderful properties, and so on. The fairy tale is usually optimistic, which is why it differs from the plot of others genre works. In fairy tales, only good usually wins; evil forces are always defeated and ridiculed in every possible way. Legend as opposed to fairy tale - oral history about a miracle, a fantastic image, an incredible event, which should be perceived as authentic by the narrator and listeners. Pagan legends have reached us about the creation of the world, the origin of countries, seas, peoples, and the exploits of both fictional and real heroes.
Today
Contemporary folk art in Russia cannot represent precisely ethnic culture, since this culture is pre-industrial. Any modern settlement - from the smallest village to a metropolis - is a fusion of various ethnic groups, and natural development each without the slightest mixing and borrowing is simply impossible. What is now called folk art is rather a deliberate stylization, folklorization, behind which stands professional art, which is inspired by ethnic motives.
Sometimes this is amateur creativity, like mass culture, and the work of artisans. In fairness, it should be noted that only folk crafts - decorative and applied arts - can be considered the purest and still developing. There is also, in addition to professional, ethnic creativity, although production has long been put on an assembly line and the opportunities for improvisation are scanty.
People and creativity
What do people mean by the word people? The population of the country, the nation. But, for example, dozens of distinctive ethnic groups live in Russia, and folk art has common features that are present in the sum of all ethnic groups. Chuvash, Tatars, Mari, even the Chukchi - don’t musicians, artists, architects borrow from each other in modern creativity? But their common features are interpreted by elite culture. And therefore, in addition to the nesting doll, we have a certain export product, which is our joint business card. A minimum of opposition, a maximum of general unification within the nation, this is the direction contemporary creativity peoples of Russia. Today it is:
- ethnic (folklorized) creativity,
- amateur creativity,
- creativity of the common people,
- amateur creativity.
Craving for aesthetic activity will be alive as long as a person lives. And that is why art flourishes today.
Art, creativity hobby
Art is practiced by the elite, where extraordinary talent is required, and works are an indicator of the level of aesthetic development of humanity. It has very little to do with folk art, except for inspiration: all composers, for example, wrote symphonies using the melodies of folk songs. But this is by no means a folk song. Property traditional culture- creativity as an indicator of the development of a team or an individual. Such a culture can develop successfully and in many ways. And the result popular culture, like a master’s pattern, presented to the people for possible repetition, is a hobby, an aesthetics of this kind, which is designed to relieve stress from the mechanicalness of modern life.
Here you can notice some signs of the original beginning, which draws themes and means of expression from artistic folk art. These are quite common technological processes: weaving, embroidery, carving, forging and casting, decorative painting, embossing, and so on. True folk art did not know the contrasts of changes in artistic styles for a whole millennium. Now this has been significantly enriched in modern folk art. The degree of stylization changes as well as the nature of the interpretation of all the old borrowed motifs.
Applied arts
Folklore has been known since ancient times applied creativity Russia. This is perhaps the only species that has not undergone fundamental changes to this day. These items have been used to decorate and improve home and public life since ancient times. Rural crafts mastered even quite complex designs that were quite suitable in modern life.
Although now all these items carry not so much a practical, but an aesthetic load. This includes jewelry, whistle toys, and interior decorations. Different areas and regions had their own types of art, crafts and handicrafts. The most famous and striking are the following.
Shawls and samovars
The Orenburg shawl includes shawls, warm and heavy, and weightless scarves and web scarves. Knitting patterns that came from afar are unique; they identify eternal truths in the understanding of harmony, beauty, and order. The goats of the Orenburg region are also special, they produce unusual fluff, it can be spun thinly and firmly. Tula masters are a match for the eternal knitters of Orenburg. They were not discoverers: the first copper samovar was found in excavations in the Volga region city of Dubovka, the find dates back to the beginning of the Middle Ages.
Tea took root in Russia in the seventeenth century. But the first samovar workshops appeared in Tula. This unit is still in honor, and drinking tea from a samovar is pine cones- quite an ordinary phenomenon in dachas. They are extremely varied in shape and decoration - barrels, vases, with painted ligature, embossing, decorations on handles and taps, genuine works of art, and also extremely convenient in everyday life. Already at the beginning of the nineteenth century, up to 1200 samovars were produced in Tula per year! They were sold by weight. Brass ones cost sixty-four rubles per pood, and red copper ones cost ninety. This is a lot of money.
The oral poetic creativity (folklore) of the ancient Slavs must largely be judged tentatively, since its main works have come down to us in the records of modern times (XVIII-XX centuries).
One might think that the folklore of the pagan Slavs was associated primarily with labor rituals and processes. Mythology emerged at a fairly high stage of development of the Slavic peoples and was a complex system of views based on animism and anthropomorphism.
The Slavs apparently did not have a single higher pantheon like the Greek or Roman, but we know evidence of the Pomeranian (on the island of Rügen) pantheon with the god Svyatovid and the Kiev pantheon.
The main gods in it were considered Svarog - the god of sky and fire, Dazhdbog - the sun god, the giver of blessings, Perun - the god of lightning and thunder, and Veles - the patron of the economy and livestock. The Slavs made sacrifices to them. The spirits of nature among the Slavs were anthropomorphic or zoomorphic, or mixed anthropomorphic-zoomorphic in the images of mermaids, divas, samodivas - goblins, water creatures, brownies.
Mythology began to influence the oral poetry of the Slavs and significantly enriched it. Songs, fairy tales and legends began to explain the origin of the world, humans, animals and plants. They featured wonderful, human-speaking animals - a winged horse, a fiery serpent, a prophetic raven, and man was depicted in his relationships with monsters and spirits.
In the pre-literate period, the culture of the artistic word of the Slavs was expressed in works of folklore, which reflected social relations, life and ideas of the communal-tribal system.
An important part of folklore were labor songs, which often had magical meaning: they accompanied rituals associated with agricultural work and the change of seasons, as well as with the most important events human life (birth, marriage, death).
Ritual songs are based on requests to the sun, earth, wind, rivers, plants for help - for the harvest, for the offspring of livestock, for luck in the hunt. The beginnings of drama arose in ritual songs and games.
The most ancient folklore of the Slavs was diverse in genres. Fairy tales, proverbs and riddles were widely used. There were also toponymic legends, tales about the origin of spirits, inspired by both oral tradition and later traditions - biblical and apocryphal. The most ancient chronicles have preserved the echoes of these legends for us.
Apparently, heroic songs also arose early among the Slavic peoples, which reflected the Slavs’ struggle for independence and clashes with other peoples (when moving, for example, to the Balkans). These were songs in praise of heroes, outstanding princes and ancestors. But the heroic epic was still only in its infancy.
The ancient Slavs had musical instruments, to the accompaniment of which they sang songs. In South Slavic and West Slavic written sources harps, whistles, pipes, and trumpets are mentioned.
The oldest oral poetry of the Slavs largely influenced further development their artistic culture, but also itself underwent historical changes.
With the formation of states, the adoption of Christianity and the emergence of writing, new elements entered folklore. Songs, fairy tales and especially legends began to combine old pagan mythology and Christian ideas. Christ, the Mother of God, angels, saints appear next to the witches and divas, and events take place not only on earth, but also in heaven or hell.
On the basis of the worship of Veles, the cult of Saint Blaise arose, and Elijah the Prophet took possession of the thunders of Perun. New Year and summer rituals and songs were Christianized. New Year's rituals were attached to the Nativity of Christ, and summer rituals to the Feast of John the Baptist (Ivan Kupala).
The creativity of peasants and townspeople was somewhat influenced by the culture of feudal circles and the church. Among the people, Christian literary legends were reworked and used to expose social injustice. Rhyme and strophic division gradually penetrated into folk poetic works.
Of great importance was the spread of legendary and fairy tales from Byzantine literature, literature of Western European and Middle Eastern countries.
Slovenian folk art already in the 9th-10th centuries. learned not only literary subjects, but also poetic forms, for example the ballad - a genre of Romanesque origin. So, in the 10th century. In the Slovenian lands, a ballad with a tragic plot about the beautiful Vida became popular.
A song about her originated in Byzantium in the 7th-8th centuries. and then through Italy it came to the Slovenians. This ballad tells how an Arab merchant lured the beautiful Vida onto his ship, promising her medicine for a sick child, and then sold her into slavery. But gradually the songs became stronger in terms of motives reflecting reality and social relations (ballads “The Imaginary Dead”, “The Young Groom”).
Songs about a girl’s meeting with overseas knights and the fight against the “infidels” were popular, which was obviously a reflection crusades. The songs also contain traces of anti-feudal satire.
A new and important phenomenon of Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian folk art in the XII-XIV centuries. there was the emergence and development of epic songs. This process went through two stages: first, songs of everyday content arose, reflecting the uniqueness of social relations and life of early feudal society; almost simultaneously with them, heroic songs also emerged.
Subsequently, with the creation and strengthening of the state, with the beginning of the struggle against Byzantium and the Turks, youth heroic songs began to be created and gradually took first place in the epic. They were created by folk singers shortly after the events sung in them.
The South Slavic epic was created with the creative cooperation of all Balkan Slavs, as well as with the participation of individual non-Slavic peoples. The epic songs of the South Slavs are characterized by general plots, which are based on the events of the struggle with neighboring peoples, common heroes, are common means of expression and verse forms (the so-called ten-syllable). At the same time, the epic of each nation has its own distinctive features.
The Serbo-Croatian epic is historical at its core. Despite the presence of anachronisms, fantasy and hyperbolization, the texts that have reached us also contain historically correct information. The songs reflected the features of early feudal relations, the political system and culture of that time. In one of the songs Stefan Dusan says:
I curbed the obstinate commander,
Subjected them to our royal power.
The songs express thoughts about the need to maintain state unity and the attention of feudal lords to the people. Stefan Dečanski, dying, bequeaths to his son: “Take care of the people as you do your own head.”
Songs are vividly depicted feudal life, relations between the prince and his squads, campaigns, battles and duels, military competitions.
The earliest songs, the so-called Dokosovo cycle, are dedicated to the events of the reign of the Serbian princely (from 1159) and then royal (from 1217) Nemanjić dynasty. They have a religious overtones and talk about the “holy deeds” and “righteous life” of the Serbian rulers, many of whom were canonized by the church as saints: the songs condemn feudal strife and civil strife.
Many songs are dedicated to Sava, the founder of the Serbian church. These earliest songs are valuable monument culture. They give a vivid artistic summary of destinies native land, are distinguished by great content of plots and images, remarkable mastery of the poetic word.
Unlike the folklore of the Eastern and Southern Slavs, Western Slavs- Czechs, Slovaks and Poles, apparently, did not have a heroic epic in such developed forms. However, certain circumstances suggest that heroic songs probably also existed among the Western Slavs. Historical songs were widespread among the Czechs and Poles, and the predecessor of this genre is usually the heroic epic.
In a number of genres of Czech and Polish folklore, especially in fairy tales, you can find plots and motifs characteristic of other peoples’ heroic epics (combat, getting a bride): some West Slavic historical figures became heroes of South Slavic heroic songs, such as Vladislav Varnenchik.
In the historical chronicles of Poland and the Czech Republic (Gall Anonymous, Kozma of Prague, etc.) there are plots and motifs, apparently of epic origin (legends about Libusz, Krak, about the sword of Boleslav the Bold, about the siege of cities). Historiographer Kozma Prazhsky and others testify that they drew some materials from folk legends.
The formation of a feudal state, the idea of unity of Polish lands and patriotic goals in the fight against foreign invaders determined the popularity of historical legends, the appeal to them by chroniclers, thanks to whom these legends are known to us.
Gall Anonymous indicated that he used the stories of old people; Abbot Peter, the author of the “Book of Henryk” (XIII century), named the peasant Kwerik, nicknamed Kika, who knew many legends about the past of the Polish land, which were used by the author of this book.
Finally, these legends themselves are recorded or retold in the chronicles, for example, about Krak, the legendary ruler of Poland, who is considered the founder of Krakow. He freed his people from a cannibal monster who lived in a hole. Although this motif is international, it has a clear Polish connotation.
Krak dies in the fight with his brothers, but the throne is inherited by his daughter Wanda. The legend about her tells how the German ruler, captivated by her beauty, tried to persuade her to marry with gifts and requests. Having failed to achieve his goal, he started a war against her. From the shame of defeat, he commits suicide, throwing himself on his sword and cursing his compatriots for succumbing to female charms (“Greater Polish Chronicle”).
The winner Wanda, not wanting to marry a foreigner, rushes into the Vistula. The legend about Wanda was one of the most popular among the people. Both his patriotic meaning and romantic character plot. Dynastic legends also include legends about Popel and Piast.
Popel, the Prince of Gniezno, according to legend, died in a tower in Kruszwice, where he was killed by mice; a similar motive is common in medieval literature and folklore. Piast, the founder of the Polish royal dynasty, according to legend, was a peasant charioteer.
The chronicles mention songs in praise of princes and kings, songs about victories, chronicler Vincent Kadlubek talks about “heroic” songs. The “Greater Poland Chronicle” retells the legend about the knight Walter and the beautiful Helgund, which indicates the penetration of the German epic into Poland.
The story about Walter (Valgezh the Udal) from the Popel family tells how he brought the beautiful Helgunda from France, whose heart he won by singing and playing the lute.
On the way to Poland, Walter killed the German prince who was in love with her. Arriving in Poland, he imprisoned Wieslaw, who was plotting against him. But when Walter went on a two-year campaign, Helgunda freed Wieslaw and fled with him to his castle.
Walter, upon returning from the campaign, was put in prison. He was saved by his sister Wieslawa, who brought him a sword, and Walter took revenge on Helgunda and Wieslawa by cutting them into pieces. Literary historians suggest that the legend about Walter and Helgund goes back to the poem about Walter of Aquitaine, which was brought to Poland by the Shpilmans, participants in the Crusades.
However, in Polish folklore there were tales that were original works in plot, type of characters and form.
Chronicles and other sources attest to the existence of songs about historical heroes and events. These are songs about the funeral of Boleslav the Bold, songs about Casimir the Renovator, about Boleslav Crooked-mouth, about the latter’s battle with the Pomeranians, songs from the time of Boleslav Crooked-mouth about the attack of the Tatars, songs about the battle of the Poles with the Galician prince Vladimir, songs about Polish knights who fought the pagan Prussians. The report of a 15th century chronicler is extremely valuable.
Jan Dlugosz about the songs about the battle of Zavichost (1205): “the glades sang of this victory [...] in various kinds of songs that we hear to this day.”
The chronicler noted the emergence of songs shortly after historical event. At the same time, historical ballads, or thoughts, began to appear. An example would be the thought of Ludgard, the wife of Prince Przemysław II, who ordered her to be strangled in Poznań Castle because of her infertility.
Dlugosh notes that even then a “song on Polish language" Thus, Polish folklore is characterized not by heroic songs such as epics and South Slavic youth songs, but by historical legends and historical songs.
Story world literature: in 9 volumes / Edited by I.S. Braginsky and others - M., 1983-1984.
Immense oral folk art. It has been created for centuries, there are many varieties of it. Translated from in English"folklore" is "folk meaning, wisdom." That is, oral folk art is everything that is created by the spiritual culture of the population over the centuries of its historical life.
Features of Russian folklore
If you carefully read the works of Russian folklore, you will notice that it actually reflects a lot: the play of the imagination of the people, the history of the country, laughter, and serious thoughts about human life. Listening to the songs and tales of their ancestors, people thought about many difficult questions their family, social and work life, they thought about how to fight for happiness, improve their lives, what a person should be, what should be ridiculed and condemned.
Varieties of folklore
Varieties of folklore include fairy tales, epics, songs, proverbs, riddles, calendar refrains, magnification, sayings - everything that was repeated passed from generation to generation. At the same time, the performers often introduced something of their own into the text they liked, changing individual details, images, expressions, imperceptibly improving and honing the work.
Oral folk art for the most part exists in a poetic (verse) form, since it was this that made it possible to memorize and pass on these works from mouth to mouth for centuries.
Songs
A song is a special verbal and musical genre. It is a small lyrical-narrative or lyrical work, which was created specifically for singing. Their types are as follows: lyrical, dance, ritual, historical. Expressed in folk songs the feelings of one person, but at the same time of many people. They reflected love experiences, events of social and family life, reflections on difficult fate. In folk songs, the so-called technique of parallelism is often used, when the mood of a given lyrical character is transferred to nature.
Historical songs are dedicated to various famous personalities and events: the conquest of Siberia by Ermak, the uprising of Stepan Razin, peasant war under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev, the battle of Poltava with the Swedes, etc. The narration in historical folk songs about some events is combined with the emotional sound of these works.
Epics
The term "epic" was introduced by I.P. Sakharov in the 19th century. It represents oral folk art in the form of a song of a heroic, epic nature. The epic arose in the 9th century, it was an expression historical consciousness the people of our country. Bogatyrs are the main characters of this type of folklore. They embody the people's ideal of courage, strength, and patriotism. Examples of heroes who were depicted in works of oral folk art: Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets, Mikula Selyaninovich, Alyosha Popovich, as well as the merchant Sadko, the giant Svyatogor, Vasily Buslaev and others. Life basis, at the same time enriched with some fantastic fiction, constitutes the plot of these works. In them, heroes single-handedly defeat entire hordes of enemies, fight monsters, and instantly overcome vast distances. This oral folk art is very interesting.
Fairy tales
Epics must be distinguished from fairy tales. These works of oral folk art are based on invented events. Fairy tales can be magical (in which fantastic forces are involved), as well as everyday ones, where people are depicted - soldiers, peasants, kings, workers, princesses and princes - in everyday settings. This type of folklore differs from other works in its optimistic plot: in it, good always triumphs over evil, and the latter either suffers defeat or is ridiculed.
Legends
We continue to describe the genres of oral folk art. A legend, unlike a fairy tale, is a folk oral story. Its basis is an incredible event, fantastic image, a miracle that is perceived by the listener or storyteller as reliable. There are legends about the origin of peoples, countries, seas, about the sufferings and exploits of fictional or real-life heroes.
Puzzles
Oral folk art is represented by many riddles. They are an allegorical image of a certain object, usually based on a metaphorical rapprochement with it. The riddles are very small in volume and have a certain rhythmic structure, often emphasized by the presence of rhyme. They are created in order to develop intelligence and ingenuity. The riddles are varied in content and theme. There may be several versions of them about the same phenomenon, animal, object, each of which characterizes it from a certain aspect.
Proverbs and sayings
Genres of oral folk art also include sayings and proverbs. A proverb is a rhythmically organized, short, figurative saying, an aphoristic folk saying. It usually has a two-part structure, which is supported by rhyme, rhythm, alliteration and assonance.
The saying represents figurative expression, which evaluates some phenomenon of life. It, unlike a proverb, is not a whole sentence, but only a part of a statement included in oral folk art.
Proverbs, sayings and riddles are included in the so-called small genres of folklore. What is it? In addition to the above types, these include other oral folk art. The types of small genres are complemented by the following: lullabies, pesters, nursery rhymes, jokes, game choruses, chants, sentences, riddles. Let's take a closer look at each of them.
Lullabies
Small genres of oral folk art include lullabies. People call them bikes. This name comes from the verb "bait" ("bayat") - "to speak." This word has the following ancient meaning: "to speak, to whisper." It is no coincidence that lullabies received this name: the oldest of them are directly related to spell poetry. Struggling with sleep, for example, the peasants said: “Dreamushka, get away from me.”
Pestushki and nursery rhymes
Russian oral folk art is also represented by pestushki and nursery rhymes. At their center is the image of a growing child. The name “pestushki” comes from the word “to nurture”, that is, “to follow someone, raise, nurse, carry in one’s arms, educate.” They are short sentences with which in the first months of a baby’s life they comment on his movements.
Imperceptibly, the pestles turn into nursery rhymes - songs that accompany the baby's games with his toes and hands. This oral folk art is very diverse. Examples of nursery rhymes: “Magpie”, “Ladushki”. They often already contain a “lesson”, an instruction. For example, in “Soroka” the white-sided woman fed everyone porridge, except for one lazy person, although he was the smallest one (his little finger corresponds to him).
Jokes
In the first years of children's lives, nannies and mothers sang songs of more complex content to them, not related to play. All of them can be designated by the single term “jokes.” Their content is reminiscent of short fairy tales in verse. For example, about a cockerel - a golden comb, flying to the Kulikovo field for oats; about the rowan hen, which “winnowed peas” and “sowed millet.”
A joke, as a rule, gives a picture of some bright event, or it depicts some rapid action that corresponds to the active nature of the baby. They are characterized by a plot, but the child is not capable of long-term attention, so they are limited to only one episode.
Sentences, calls
We continue to consider oral folk art. Its types are complemented by slogans and sentences. Children on the street very early learn from their peers a variety of calls, which represent an appeal to birds, rain, rainbows, and the sun. Children, on occasion, shout out words in chorus. In addition to the nicknames, in peasant family every child knew the sentences. They are most often pronounced one by one. Sentences - appeal to a mouse, small bugs, a snail. This may be imitation of various bird voices. Verbal sentences and song chants are filled with faith in the powers of water, sky, earth (sometimes beneficial, sometimes destructive). Their utterance introduced adult peasant children to the work and life. Sentences and calls are combined into a special department called “calendar” children's folklore"This term emphasizes the existing connection between them and the time of year, holiday, weather, the whole way of life and the way of life of the village.
Game sentences and refrains
Genres of oral folk art include playful sentences and refrains. They are no less ancient than calls and sentences. They either connect parts of a game or start it. They can also serve as endings and determine the consequences that exist when conditions are violated.
The games are striking in their resemblance to serious peasant activities: reaping, hunting, sowing flax. Reproducing these cases in strict sequence with the help of multiple repetitions made it possible to instill with early years the child respects customs and the existing order, teach the rules of behavior accepted in society. The names of the games - "Bear in the Forest", "Wolf and Geese", "Kite", "Wolf and Sheep" - speak of a connection with the life and way of life of the rural population.
Conclusion
IN folk epics, fairy tales, legends, songs live no less exciting colorful images than in works of art classical authors. Original and surprisingly accurate rhymes and sounds, bizarre, beautiful poetic rhythms - like lace are woven into the texts of ditties, nursery rhymes, jokes, riddles. And what vivid poetic comparisons we can find in lyrical songs! All this could only be created by the people - Great master words.
Behind these words there is a big and important phenomenon: folk poetry and theater, music and dance, architecture and fine arts. Folk art is the foundation on which the building of world artistic culture has grown.
This article only talks about folk arts and crafts. It originated in ancient times and, like other types of artistic creativity, at first it was not at all recognized as art. People simply did the things they needed in everyday life, creating, as we now say, an objective environment: traditional home decoration, costume, household utensils, tools and military weapons. All working people did this objective world, reflecting in it their social and everyday way of life, their unique perception of the world, ideas about happiness and beauty, and their unique national character.
Collectiveness of creativity is the most characteristic feature folk art. After all, almost everything in the master’s work was dictated by a centuries-old tradition: the choice of material and methods of processing it, the nature and content of decorative decoration.
The art critic V. S. Voronov, a great connoisseur of folk art, wrote well about the collectivity of folk art: “All its formal wealth was created through constant repetition: the slow accumulation of paraphrases, additions, amendments, changes... and variations... led to the creation of strong, well-worn forms ... Successful and original, brought into art by individual dexterity and keen vigilance, were grafted, developed and brought into finished form; the random, mediocre and far-fetched could not withstand further collective scrutiny, fell away and disappeared.”
This is a historical collectivity, closely related to the transmission of traditions from master to master, from generation to generation. But there is also collective creativity of contemporaries, in which the “choral” principle characteristic of folk art is clearly manifested. Since ancient times, its spiritual basis was the commonality of worldview, rituals, customs, and folklore. The same image varied in the works of different masters. When someone found a new technique or motive, it quickly became public knowledge. As a result, the art of not one or several masters, but of an entire craft as a single creative organism, developed and enriched. And today, the artists of Palekh and Khokhloma, the village of Kubachi and Polkhovsky Maidan are proud of their belonging to the unique art of their native craft, and together they solve the creative problems facing it (see Folk artistic crafts).
Isn’t this where the amazing cheerfulness of folk art comes from - from the consciousness own strength! After all, behind every thing - be it a carved spinning wheel or an embroidered towel, a painted spoon or a woven tablecloth - is the talent, work and unanimity of many people, ideally an entire people! And beauty also comes from this source. And of course, from native nature, from which the master learns tirelessly. And she takes colors, rhythms, and forms - remember at least the buckets in the shape of a swimming bird, typical of the Russian North. Like nature, folk art selects only the best and polishes it over centuries, creating truly perfect technology, forms, ornaments, and colors. Over time, all this acquires the character of tradition: since the beautiful achieved must be preserved - this is the demand of the people. That is why they talk about works of folk art as monuments of history and culture.
Today we buy the “golden” Khokhloma bowl not because it is needed on the farm. It enchants us with the nobility of its form and the elegance of its painting. For this beauty, we seem to free the thing from performing its direct function and put it on the shelf as an interior decoration. Today, the decorative side is beginning to increasingly predominate in works of folk art.
When making any thing necessary for the household, the master used the conventional language of ornament to reproduce the picture of the world as he imagined it. One of the largest researchers of folk art, V. M. Vasilenko, recently “read” the symbolism of a wooden ladle-scoop from the city area. Kozmodemyansk. Peering into the scoop, you can easily see the swan's head. Above is a circle and a rhombus decorated with radial notches. These are very ancient motifs, most often representing the sun. And the whole product is crowned with a horse figurine. He stands solemnly, as if on a pedestal. No doubt this is not ordinary peasant horse, and a real “fire horse”! To make the symbolism of the thing clear, let us remember that for centuries the people had a poetic idea that during the day a light in the sky was pulled in a cart by horses, and at night it was transferred to a boat, which was pulled along the underground ocean by swans or ducks.
This meaning, often incomprehensible to us now, made a completely ordinary thing an integral part of not only everyday life, but also the worldview of the people, associated with the peculiarities of their worldview and ethical ideals. Other aspects of a work of folk art are also inseparable: utilitarian and aesthetic. Over the centuries, unique rules have been developed that the masters have always followed. For example, the shape of an object is dictated by its purpose, so it is ideally simple and thoughtful. Further, any shape is the result of the special properties of the material. A clay jug will have one configuration, a wooden one of the same size will have a completely different configuration, and a copper one will also have its own configuration. Finally, the shape of the item and its decor must match each other.
Originating in ancient times, folk art has long been a national property. The situation changed with the development of class society. The division of labor gave rise to new type artistic activity- professional art that satisfies the spiritual and aesthetic needs of the ruling classes. At its center stood creative individuality with its uniquely personal perception of the surrounding world. By the beginning of the capitalist period, folk art in industry developed countries everywhere it turns into the art of the working masses of villages and cities. Increasingly, it is assessed as “common” and “outdated.” The efforts of patrons who tried to save the “dear old days” could not change fate.bu folk artist, doomed to compete with a factory that throws millions of faceless but cheap things onto the market. By the end of the 19th century. in most European countries it was practically solved.
In states that took the capitalist path of development later, the gap between folk and professional art was not so noticeable. Especially where, as in Russia, folkloric elements have deeply penetrated the culture of the upper strata of society. It is no coincidence that they are decorated with light herbal ornament the golden ladles now kept in the Armory are very similar to their wooden counterparts, which were used by ordinary people.
The folk art of Rus' was predominantly peasant, so it clearly reflected the farmer’s view of the world. What concepts occupy such a worldview? central place? Sun, earth, water. And, of course, everything that grows on earth. Hence the main “characters” of folk art: the sun, which was most often depicted in the form of a cross, rhombus or rosette; horses and birds; mermaids firmly connected with the water element; the mythical Tree of Life, symbolizing the endless growth of earthly fruits; finally, Mother Cheese Earth, the image of which scientists recognize in women embroidered on towels with their hands raised to the sky, as if asking him for rain and blessed rays of the sun, and in clay toys from various regions of Russia - a woman with a baby at her breast, and along the hem there are bright “suns”.
But life changed, and folk art changed along with it. After all, the power of tradition lies precisely in the fact that it sensitively responds to changes in reality, helping new things to be imprinted in art. If it were otherwise, folk art would have long ago turned into cold stylization. But it still makes us happy today! Gradually, the mythological meaning of ancient symbols was forgotten, and their connection with agricultural rituals weakened. IN late XIX V. The master often no longer knew what certain images meant, and yet he did not abandon them: he crowned the roof of the hut with a ridge, and carved solar rosettes on the shutters. True, gradually the ancient symbols acquired an increasingly noticeable decorative character, but something important for people from their original meaning was always preserved.
In the XVII-XIX centuries. Many new motifs entered the art of the people - the sources were Baroque, classicism, and empire styles. However, these images became an expression of a purely popular worldview, often even acquiring a new appearance. Thus, the lions on the window sills of Nizhny Novgorod huts clearly echo the stone lions noble estates. But how good-natured they are: often such an animal resembles a dog or a cat. Folk art never copies, it always remains itself. We can say that there is no change of styles at all, which is so characteristic of professional art. All historical layers, starting with the most ancient, coexist in folk art, just as they are inseparable in the memory of the people. This is a clear example of the wise accumulation of cultural values.
Folk art experienced a rebirth in the USSR and socialist countries with the entry into the historical arena of broad masses. A lot has been done during the years of Soviet power. Many artistic crafts that had died out were revived, and new folk artistic crafts arose, for example, lacquer miniatures by the former icon painters of Palekh, Mstera and Kholuy. The works of local artists are full of images of Soviet reality and carry new content that pre-revolutionary folk art did not know (see Palekh, Lacquer miniature).
Similar processes occurred in Kholmogory bone carving, in Fedoskino lacquer miniatures, in Tobolsk bone sculpture, and in Shemogodsk carved birch bark. Ukrainian wall painting appears to be a surprisingly fresh phenomenon, finding itself in easel-type art. The same can be said about Kosovo ceramics, painted Uzbek dishes, Georgian and Armenian pottery vessels, and the creativity of the northern peoples. Soviet folk art did not know the simple restoration of old traditions. On their basis, new decorative and applied art was created, imbued with genuine nationality.
Today it exists in two main forms. On the one hand, the traditional art of the village is still alive, associated with the unique way of life of a particular people, the characteristics surrounding nature. On the other hand, folk arts and crafts are developing, many of which have a rich history. The resolution of the CPSU Central Committee “On Folk Art Crafts” (1974) emphasizes the important role of folk art in the culture of a socialist society.
And today, works of folk art give us all the spiritual and aesthetic values that the people have accumulated over the centuries. Here is the history of the country, its present day and future. Because the rich and varied art of a people is the guarantee of its creative power, moral health and historical longevity.
