What connects Russian folklore with modern ones. Genres of Russian folklore: the age-old wisdom of the people carried through the centuries

Folklore and literature are two types of verbal art. However, folklore is not only the art of words, but also component folk life, closely intertwined with its other elements, and this is the significant difference between folklore and literature. But also as an art of words, folklore differs from literature. These differences do not remain immutable at various stages historical development, and yet the main, stable features of each of the types of verbal art can be noted. Literature is an individual art, folklore is a collective art. In literature there is innovation, and in folklore tradition comes to the fore. Literature exists in written form, a means of storing and transmitting an artistic text, a book serves as an intermediary between the author and his addressee, while a work of folklore is reproduced orally and stored in the memory of the people. A work of folklore lives in many variants; with each performance it is reproduced as if anew, with direct contact between the performer-improviser and the audience, which not only directly influences the performer (feedback), but sometimes also joins in the performance.

Anika the warrior and death. Splint.

Publications of Russian folklore.

The term “folklore,” which was introduced into science by the English scientist W. J. Toms in 1846, translated means “ folk wisdom" Unlike many Western European scientists who classify the most folklore different sides folk life (up to culinary recipes), including here also the elements material culture(housing, clothing), domestic scientists and their like-minded people in other countries consider oral folk art to be folklore - poetic works, created by the people and existing in wide masses ah, along with folk music and dance. This approach takes into account the artistic nature of folklore as the art of words. Folkloristics is the study of folklore.

The history of folklore goes back to the deep past of humanity. M. Gorky defined folklore as oral creativity working people. Indeed, folklore arose in the process of labor, and has always expressed the views and interests mainly of working people, in it in the most various forms man's desire to make his work easier, to make it joyful and free was manifested.

Primitive man spent all his time on work or preparing for it. The actions through which he sought to influence the forces of nature were accompanied by words: spells and conspiracies were pronounced, the forces of nature were addressed with a request, threat or gratitude. This indivisibility various types essentially already artistic activity(although the creators-performers themselves set purely practical goals) - the unity of words, music, dance, decorative art - is known in science as “primitive syncretism”, traces of it are still noticeable in folklore. As a person accumulated more and more significant life experience, which needed to be passed on to subsequent generations, the role of verbal information increased: after all, it was the word that could most successfully communicate not only about what was happening Here And Now, but also about what happened or will happen somewhere And once upon a time or some day. Selection verbal creativity V independent species art is the most important step in the prehistory of folklore, in its independent, although associated with mythological consciousness, state. The decisive event that paved the line between mythology and folklore proper was the appearance of the fairy tale. It was in the fairy tale that imagination - this, according to K. Marx, a great gift that contributed so much to the development of mankind - was first recognized as an aesthetic category.

With the formation of nations and then states, heroic epic: Indian "Mahabharata", Irish sagas, Kyrgyz "Manas", Russian epics. Lyrics not related to ritual arose even later: it showed interest in the human personality, in the experiences common man. Folk songs from the period of feudalism tell about serfdom, about the hard lot of women, about people's defenders, such as Karmelyuk in Ukraine, Janosik in Slovakia, Stepan Razin in Rus'.

When studying folk art, one should constantly keep in mind that people are not a homogeneous concept and are historically changeable. The ruling classes sought by all means to introduce into the masses thoughts, moods, works that were contrary to the interests of the working people - songs loyal to tsarism, “spiritual poems”, etc. Moreover, in the people themselves, centuries of oppression accumulated not only hatred for exploiters, but also ignorance and downtroddenness. The history of folklore is at the same time a process constant growth self-awareness of the people, and overcoming what expressed their prejudices.

By the nature of the connection with folk life There are ritual and non-ritual folklore. The folklore performers themselves adhere to a different classification. For them, it is important that some works are sung, others are spoken. Philological scholars classify all works of folklore into one of three categories - epic, lyric or drama, as is customary in literary criticism.

Some folklore genres are interconnected general sphere existence. If pre-revolutionary folklore was very clearly distinguished by the social class of its speakers (peasant, worker), now age differences are more significant. A special section of folk poetry is children's folklore - playful (drawing lots, counting rhymes, various play songs) and non-fictional (tongue twisters, horror stories, changelings). The main genre of modern youth folklore has become the amateur, so-called bard song.

The folklore of every nation is unique, as is its history, customs, and culture. Epics and ditties are inherent only in Russian folklore, dumas - in Ukrainian, etc. The lyrical songs of every nation are original. Even the most short works folklore - proverbs and sayings - each nation expresses the same thought in its own way, and where we say: “Silence is golden,” the Japanese, with their cult of flowers, will say: “Silence is flowers.”

However, already the first folklorists were struck by the similarity of fairy tales, songs, and legends belonging to different peoples. At first this was explained by the common origin of related (for example, Indo-European) peoples, then by borrowing: one people adopted plots, motifs, and images from another.

A consistent and convincing explanation of all phenomena of similarity can only be provided by historical materialism. Based on a wealth of factual material, Marxist scientists explained that similar plots, motifs, and images arose among peoples who were at the same stages of socio-cultural development, even if these peoples lived on different continents and did not meet each other. Thus, a fairy tale is a utopia, a dream of justice, which developed among various peoples as they developed private property, and with it social inequality. Primitive society did not know a fairy tale on any of the continents.

Fairy tales, heroic epics, ballads, proverbs, sayings, riddles, lyrical songs different nations, distinguished by national identity both in form and content, are at the same time created on the basis of laws common to a certain level of artistic thinking and established by tradition. Here is one of the “natural experiments” that confirms this position. French poet P. J. Beranger wrote the poem “The Old Corporal”, using as a basis (and at the same time significantly reworking it) a “complaint” - a special kind of French folk ballad. The poet V. S. Kurochkin translated the poem into Russian, and thanks to the music of A. S. Dargomyzhsky, the song penetrated the Russian folklore repertoire. And when, many years later, it was recorded on the Don, it was discovered that the folk singers had made significant changes to the text (and, by the way, to the music), as if essentially restoring the original form of the French “complaint,” which the Don Cossacks, of course, had never heard. This affected general laws folk song creativity.

Literature appeared later than folklore and has always, although in different ways, used its experience. At the same time, literary works have long penetrated folklore and influenced its development.

The nature of the interaction between the two poetic systems is historically determined and therefore varies at different stages artistic development. On this path, what is done on sharp turns history of the redistribution process social spheres actions of literature and folklore, which is based on Russian material XVII culture V. noted by Academician D.S. Likhachev. If back in the 16th century. storytellers were kept even in royal court, then a century and a half later, folklore disappears from the life and everyday life of the ruling classes, now oral poetry is the property almost exclusively of the masses, and literature - of the ruling classes. So later development can sometimes change the emerging trends in the interaction of literature and folklore, and sometimes in the most significant way. However, the completed stages are not forgotten. What began in the folk art of the time of Columbus and Afanasy Nikitin echoed uniquely in the quests of M. Cervantes and G. Lorca, A. S. Pushkin and A. T. Tvardovsky.

When interacting folk art With realistic literature more fully than ever before, the inexhaustibility of folklore as eternal source continuously developing art. The literature of socialist realism, like no other, relies not only on the experience of its immediate predecessors, but also on all the best that characterizes the literary process throughout its entire length, and on folklore in all its inexhaustible richness.

The law “On the Protection and Use of Cultural Historical Monuments”, adopted in 1976, also includes “recordings of folklore and music” among national treasures. However, recording is only an auxiliary means of recording folklore text. But even the most accurate recording cannot replace the living spring of folk poetry.

The theme of oral folk art in Russian literature is extremely diverse; there are numerous genres and types of folklore. All of them were formed gradually, as a result of life and creative activity people, manifested over several hundred years. Currently, there are specific types of folklore in literature. Oral folk art is that unique layer of knowledge on the basis of which thousands of classical works were built.

Interpretation of the term

Folklore is oral folk art, endowed with ideological depth, highly artistic qualities, it includes all poetic, prose genres, customs and traditions, accompanied by verbal artistic creativity. Folklore genres are classified in different ways, but basically there are several genre groups:

Labor songs - formed in the process of work, for example, sowing, plowing, haymaking. They represent a variety of shouts, signals, chants, parting words, and songs.
Calendar folklore - conspiracies, signs.
Wedding folklore.
Funeral lamentations, recruiting lamentations.
Non-ritual folklore is small folklore genres, proverbs, fables, signs and sayings.
Oral prose - traditions, legends, tales and incidents.
Children's folklore - pestushki, nursery rhymes, lullabies.
Song epic (heroic) - epics, poems, songs (historical, military, spiritual).
Artistic creativity - magical, everyday tales and tales about animals, ballads, romances, ditties.
Folklore theater - raek, nativity scene, mummers, performances with dolls.

Let's look at the most common types of folklore in more detail.

Labor songs

This is a song genre distinguishing feature of which is mandatory support of the labor process. Labor songs are a way of organizing collective, social work, which sets the rhythm with a simple melody and lyrics. For example: “Wow, let’s get a little more friendly to make it more fun.” Such songs helped to start and finish work, united the working squad and were spiritual helpers in the hard physical labor of the people.

Calendar folklore

This type of oral folk art belongs to ritual traditions calendar cycle. The life of a peasant working on the land is inextricably linked with weather conditions. That's why it appeared great amount rituals that were performed to attract good luck, prosperity, large offspring of livestock, successful agriculture, etc. The most revered holidays of the calendar were considered Christmas, Maslenitsa, Easter, Epiphany and Trinity. Each celebration was accompanied by songs, chants, incantations and ritual actions. Let us remember the famous custom of singing songs to Kolyada on the night before Christmas: “Cold is not a problem, Kolyada is knocking on the house. Christmas is coming to the house, bringing a lot of joy.”

Wedding folklore

Each place had its own types of folklore, but mostly they were lamentations, sentences and songs. Wedding folklore includes song genres that accompanied three main rituals: matchmaking, farewell of parents to the bride and wedding celebration. For example: “Your product, our merchant, is simply a miracle!” The ritual of handing over the bride to the groom was very colorful and was always accompanied by both drawn-out and short cheerful songs. At the wedding itself, the songs did not stop; they mourned their single life, wished for love and family well-being.

Non-ritual folklore (small genres)

This group of oral folk art includes all types of small genres of folklore. However, this classification is ambiguous. For example, many of the types relate to children's folklore, such as pesters, lullabies, riddles, nursery rhymes, teasers, etc. At the same time, some researchers divide all folklore genres into two groups: calendar-ritual and non-ritual.

Let's consider the most popular types small genres of folklore.

A proverb is a rhythmic expression, a wise saying that carries a generalized thought and has a conclusion.

Signs - a short verse or expression telling about those signs that will help predict natural phenomena and weather.

A proverb is a phrase, often with a humorous slant, illuminating a life phenomenon or situation.

A saying is a short verse addressing natural phenomena, living beings, and surrounding objects.

A tongue twister is a small phrase, often rhymed, with words that are difficult to pronounce, designed to improve diction.

Oral prose

The following types of Russian folklore belong to oral prose.

Traditions are stories about historical events in folk retelling. The heroes of legends are warriors, kings, princes, etc.

Legends - myths, epic stories about heroic deeds, people covered with honors and glory, as a rule, this genre is endowed with pathos.

Bylichki - short stories that tell about the hero’s meeting with some kind of “evil spirits”, real cases from the life of the narrator or his friends.

Byvalshchina - a brief summary of what really happened once and with someone, while the narrator is not a witness

Children's folklore

This genre is represented by the most in different forms- poetic, song. Kinds children's folklore- something that accompanied the child from birth until he grew up.

Pestushki are short rhymes or songs that accompany the very first days of a newborn. With the help of them they nursed and nurtured children, for example: “The nightingale sings, sings, pretty, and pretty.”

Nursery rhymes are small melodious poems intended for playing with children.

Stretch, stretch,

Rotok - talker,

Handles - grips,

Walking legs.

Calls - poetic and song appeals to nature and animals. For example: “Red summer, come, bring warm days.”

A joke is a short fairy tale poem sung to a child, a short story about the world around him.

Lullabies are short songs that parents sing to their child at night to lull him to sleep.

Riddle - poetic or prose sentences that require solving.

Other types of children's folklore are counting rhymes, teasers and fables. They are extremely popular in our time.

Song epic

The heroic epic demonstrates oldest species folklore, he talks about events that once happened in song form.

An epic is an old song told in a solemn but leisurely style. Glorifies the heroes and tells about their heroic deeds for the benefit of the state, the Russian fatherland. about Dobrynya Nikitich, Volga Buslaivaich and others.

Historical songs are a kind of transformation of the epic genre, where the style of presentation is less eloquent, but the poetic form of the narrative is preserved. For example, “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg.”

Artistic creativity

This group includes epic and song genres created in the spirit of folk and artistic creativity.

A fairy tale is a short or long epic narrative, one of the most common genres of oral folk art about fictional events and heroes. All this is folklore, the types of fairy tales in it are as follows: magical, everyday and reflect those ideas about the world, good, evil, life, death, nature that existed among the people. For example, good always defeats evil, and there are wonderful mythical creatures in the world.

Ballads are poetic songs, a genre of song and musical creativity.

Jokes - special kind an epic narrative about comic situations from people's lives. Initially they did not exist in the form in which we know them. These were stories that were complete in meaning.

Fables - a short narrative about impossible, incredible events, something that was fiction from beginning to end.

A chastushka is a small song, usually a quatrain with humorous content, telling about events and incidental situations.

Folklore theater

Street performances were very common among the people; the subjects for them were various genres, but most often of a dramatic nature.

Nativity scene - a variety dramatic work, designed for street puppet theater.

Rayok is a type of picture theater, a device in the form of a box with changing drawings; the stories told reflect oral types of folklore.

The presented classification is the most common among researchers. However, it is worth understanding that the types of Russian folklore complement each other, and sometimes do not fit into the generally accepted classification. Therefore, when studying the issue, a simplified version is most often used, where only 2 groups of genres are distinguished - ritual and non-ritual folklore.

The development of society is based on the ability of each new generation to perceive the experience accumulated by the people who lived before them. This applies to all spheres of life. What is folklore? This is exactly the kind of creative experience passed on to descendants for preservation and further development.

Artistic traditions are strong in fine arts, in folk crafts, in music, dance. But the basis that largely determines the national character has always been oral folk art.

Folk wisdom

The term “folklore” (Old English folc lore - “folk wisdom”) was coined in the mid-nineteenth century by William John Toms, an English historian and archaeologist. Scientists various countries people have different understandings of what folklore is. Its definition as folk literature and word-related forms of folk art is accepted by our art critics. In the West, folklore includes traditions in various aspects of everyday life and cultural life: in housing, clothing, cooking, etc.

The general essence of these definitions is artistic creative experience, transmitted and preserved by many generations. This experience is based on the realities of life and is closely related to working conditions and everyday life of people. AND epic tales, And short proverbs- reflection of popular concepts about surrounding nature, about historical events, about spiritual and material things. A close connection with work and everyday life is the main feature of folk art, its difference from classical types artistic activity.

Literature and folklore - the art of words

There are differences in the understanding of what folklore is and what traditional literature is. One of the types of verbal creativity exists in the memory of the people and is transmitted mainly in orally, and the means of storing and transmitting literary text is the book. In literature, the author of a work has a specific first and last name. And folk poetry is anonymous. A writer mainly works alone; a fairy tale or epic is the result of collective creativity. The narrator is in direct contact and interaction with the audience, the influence on the reader is indirect and individual.

The novelty of ideas and innovation in views on reality is what is valued in the book. Traditions born of previous generations are what folklore is in literature. The writer has found a unique and precise place for each word in a story, novel, or novel. Each new narrator makes his own changes to a fairy tale or anecdote, and this looks like an element of creativity.

The connection between folk and traditional word creation is also obvious and significant. From the recorded oral traditions the most ancient monuments of literature were born. Many forms of poetic and prose writings are borrowed from folklore. From the collective art of words come the fairy tales of Pushkin and Ershov, Tolstoy and Gorky, and the tales of Bazhov. What is folklore in literature today? Characters from folk art are present in Vysotsky’s songs. “The Tale of Fedot the Archer” by Filatov is folk in form and language. This is an example of the mutual influence of traditional literature and folklore. It was disassembled into quotes and “went to the people.”

Genre wealth

Like traditional literature, there are three types of folklore prose and poetry: epic (epics, tales, fairy tales, legends, stories, etc.), lyrics (poems and songs of different nature) and drama (nativity scenes, games, wedding and funeral ceremonies, etc.).

It is customary to divide folklore genres according to their affiliation with calendar and family rituals. The first include poetic accompaniment of New Year, Christmas, Maslenitsa festivities, meeting spring, harvest festivals, etc. These are carols, fortune telling, round dances, games, etc. The second includes wedding poems and songs, toasts and congratulations on important dates and events, funeral laments, etc.

A large group of folk poetry is associated with a functional environment. Songs, sentences, sayings, ditties help in work (crafts, workers, peasants), with them it is easier to endure hardships (soldiers, prison camps, emigrants). Narrative prose is associated with this group: fairy and everyday tales, short stories, narratives, fables, etc.

Children's folklore is composed by adults for children (lullabies, nursery rhymes, nurseries) and by children for games and communication (counting books, teasers, peace books, horror stories, etc.). What is folklore in small forms? Who doesn’t know proverbs, sayings, tongue twisters? Who hasn't heard or told jokes? They have always been the most active and relevant forms of folk art.

Word and music

The origins of folk art go back to the times of prehistoric rituals. Then music, songs, and dances formed a single action that had a mystical or utilitarian meaning. Together with elements of decorative and applied art: costumes, musical instruments - such rituals had big influence and for the development of art. And also on the formation of national identity.

Music performed on folk instruments, occupies a large place in the performing arts. But what is folklore in music if not the accompaniment of poetic works of various kinds? Russian guslars, French troubadours, oriental ashugs and akyns accompanied them by playing the musical instruments epics and tales, legends and traditions.

Folk song is a phenomenon of world culture. In every language, in sorrow and in joy, songs are sung, composed in ancient times and understandable to our contemporaries. In processing classical composers, at grandiose rock concerts, folklore motifs are loved and relevant.

Soul of the people

In our global world, folk art is one of the most important ways to preserve national character, the soul of the nation. Russian folk art was born from Slavic mythology and Byzantine Orthodoxy. It is a reflection of national traits that developed during turbulent historical cataclysms. Nature and climate also undoubtedly left their mark on the Russian mentality. The dependence of the common man in big and small things on the lordly or royal will accompanied him for many centuries. But this dependence did not kill his love for his small homeland and awareness of the greatness of Russia.

Hence the main features of the Russian character. Taking them into account, you can understand what Russian folklore is. Patience in work and perseverance in war, faith in goodness and hope for the best, grief without boundaries and joy without restraint - all this is inherent in the Russian people and is reflected in folk poetry and music.

Until the spring runs dry

The art of the people is alive as long as the people are alive. It changes with him. They wrote epics about heroes, and now they make cartoons. But to know what folklore is, how it influences the national and world art, preserving and developing traditions is important for any generation.

The content of the article

FOLKLORE. The term “folklore” (translated as “folk wisdom”) was first introduced by the English scientist W.J. Toms in 1846. At first, this term covered the entire spiritual (beliefs, dances, music, wood carving, etc.), and sometimes the material (housing, clothing) culture of the people. IN modern science There is no unity in the interpretation of the concept of “folklore”. Sometimes it is used in its original meaning: an integral part of folk life, closely intertwined with its other elements. Since the beginning of the 20th century. the term is also used in a narrower, more specific meaning: verbal folk art.

The most ancient types of verbal art arose in the process of the formation of human speech in the era Upper Paleolithic. Verbal creativity in ancient times was closely connected with labor activity human and reflected religious, mythical, historical ideas, as well as the beginnings scientific knowledge. Ritual actions through which primitive sought to influence the forces of nature, fate, were accompanied by words: spells, conspiracies were pronounced, various requests or threats were addressed to the forces of nature. The art of words was closely related to other types primitive art- music, dancing, decorative arts. In science this is called “primitive syncretism.” Traces of it are still visible in folklore.

The Russian scientist A.N. Veselovsky believed that the origins of poetry lie in folk ritual. Primitive poetry, according to his concept, was originally a choir song accompanied by dancing and pantomime. The role of the word at first was insignificant and entirely subordinated to rhythm and facial expressions. The text was improvised according to the performance until it acquired a traditional character.

As humanity accumulated more and more significant life experience that needed to be passed on to subsequent generations, the role of verbal information increased. The separation of verbal creativity into an independent art form is the most important step in the prehistory of folklore.

Folklore was verbal art, organically inherent people's life. The different purposes of the works gave rise to genres, with their various themes, images, and style. IN ancient period Most peoples had tribal legends, work and ritual songs, mythological stories, and conspiracies. The decisive event that paved the line between mythology and folklore proper was the appearance of the fairy tale, the plots of which were perceived as fiction.

In ancient and medieval society a heroic epic took shape (Irish sagas, Kyrgyz Manas , Russian epics, etc.). Legends and songs also arose reflecting religious beliefs(for example, Russian spiritual poems). Later appeared historical songs, depicting real historical events and heroes, such as they remained in people's memory. If ritual lyrics (rites accompanying the calendar and agricultural cycles, family rituals associated with birth, wedding, death) originated in ancient times, then non-ritual lyrics, with its interest in to an ordinary person, appeared much later. However, over time, the boundary between ritual and non-ritual poetry is erased. Thus, ditties are sung at a wedding, while at the same time some of the wedding songs become part of the non-ritual repertoire.

Genres in folklore also differ in the method of performance (solo, choir, choir and soloist) and various combinations of text with melody, intonation, movements (singing, singing and dancing, storytelling, acting, etc.)

With changes in the social life of society, new genres arose in Russian folklore: soldiers', coachmen's, barge haulers' songs. The growth of industry and cities gave rise to romances, jokes, worker, school and student folklore.

In folklore there are productive genres, in the depths of which new works can appear. Now these are ditties, sayings, city songs, jokes, and many types of children's folklore. There are genres that are unproductive, but continue to exist. Yes, new folk tales does not appear, but the old ones are still told. Many old songs are also sung. But epics and historical songs are practically no longer heard live.

The science of folklore - folkloristics - classifies all works of folk verbal creativity, including literary ones, into one of three genera: epic, lyric, and drama.

For thousands of years, folklore was the only form of poetic creativity among all peoples. But with the advent of writing for many centuries, right up to the period of late feudalism, oral poetic creativity was widespread not only among the working people, but also among the upper strata of society: the nobility, the clergy. Having arisen in a certain social environment, a work could become a national property.

Collective author.

Folklore is a collective art. Each piece of oral folk art not only expresses the thoughts and feelings of specific groups, but is also collectively created and disseminated. However, the collectivity of the creative process in folklore does not mean that individuals did not play any role. Talented masters not only did they improve or adapt existing texts to new conditions, but sometimes they also created songs, ditties, and fairy tales, which, in accordance with the laws of oral folk art, were distributed without the name of the author. With the social division of labor, unique professions arose related to the creation and performance of poetic and musical works (ancient Greek rhapsodes, Russian guslars, Ukrainian kobzars, Kyrgyz akyns, Azerbaijani ashugs, French chansonniers, etc.).

In Russian folklore in the 18th–19th centuries. there was no developed professionalization of singers. Storytellers, singers, storytellers remained peasants and artisans. Some genres of folk poetry had mass distribution. Performing others required certain training, a special musical or acting gift.

The folklore of every nation is unique, just like its history, customs, and culture. Thus, epics and ditties are inherent only in Russian folklore, dumas - in Ukrainian, etc. Some genres (not just historical songs) reflect the history of a given people. The composition and form of ritual songs are different; they can be timed to coincide with periods of the agricultural, pastoral, hunting or fishing calendar, and enter into various relationships with the rituals of Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or other religions. For example, the ballad among the Scots has acquired clear genre differences, while among the Russians it is close to a lyrical or historical song. Among some peoples (for example, Serbs), poetic ritual lamentations are common, among others (including Ukrainians) they existed in the form of simple prosaic exclamations. Each nation has its own arsenal of metaphors, epithets, comparisons. Thus, the Russian proverb “Silence is gold” corresponds to the Japanese “Silence is flowers.”

Despite the bright national coloring of folklore texts, many motifs, images and even plots are similar among different peoples. So, comparative study plots of European folklore led scientists to the conclusion that about two-thirds of the plots of fairy tales of each nation have parallels in the tales of other nationalities. Veselovsky called such plots “wandering”, creating the “theory of wandering plots,” which was repeatedly criticized by Marxist literary criticism.

For peoples with a common historical past and speaking related languages (for example, the Indo-European group), such similarities can be explained by a common origin. This similarity is genetic. Similar features in the folklore of peoples belonging to different language families, but have long been in contact with each other (for example, Russians and Finns) are explained by borrowing. But even in the folklore of peoples living on different continents and probably never communicating, there are similar themes, plots, and characters. Thus, one Russian fairy tale talks about a clever poor man who, for all his tricks, was put in a sack and is about to be drowned, but he, having deceived the master or the priest (they say, huge schools of beautiful horses graze under the water), puts him in the sack instead of himself. The same plot can be found in the fairy tales of Muslim peoples (stories about Haju Nasreddin), and among the peoples of Guinea, and among the inhabitants of the island of Mauritius. These works arose independently. This similarity is called typological. At the same stage of development, similar beliefs and rituals, forms of family and public life. And therefore, both ideals and conflicts coincide - the confrontation between poverty and wealth, intelligence and stupidity, hard work and laziness, etc.

Word of mouth.

Folklore is stored in the memory of the people and reproduced orally. The author of a literary text does not have to directly communicate with the reader, but a work of folklore is performed in the presence of listeners.

Even the same narrator, voluntarily or involuntarily, changes something with each performance. Moreover, the next performer conveys the content differently. And fairy tales, songs, epics, etc. pass through thousands of lips. Listeners are not only in a certain way influence the performer (in science this is called feedback), but sometimes they themselves get involved in the execution. Therefore, every piece of oral folk art has many variants. For example, in one version of the fairy tale Princess Frog The prince obeys his father and marries the frog without any further discussion. And in another, he wants to leave her. In different fairy tales, the frog helps the betrothed to complete the king’s tasks, which are also not the same everywhere. Even such genres as epics, songs, ditties, where there is an important restraining element - rhythm, melody, have excellent options. Here, for example, is a song recorded in the 19th century. in Arkhangelsk province:

Dear Nightingale,

You can fly everywhere:

Fly to happy countries,

IN nice city fly Yaroslavl...

Around the same years in Siberia they sang to the same tune:

You are my little darling,

You can fly everywhere

Fly to foreign countries,

To the glorious city of Yeruslan...

Not only in different territories, but also in different historical eras the same song could be performed in variations. Thus, songs about Ivan the Terrible were remade into songs about Peter I.

In order to remember and retell or sing some piece of work (sometimes quite voluminous), people have developed techniques that have been polished over centuries. They create a special style that distinguishes folklore from literary texts. Many folklore genres have a common origin. So, the folk storyteller knew in advance how to start the tale - In some kingdom, in some state... or Lived once…. The epic often began with the words Like in the glorious city of Kyiv…. In some genres, endings are also repeated. For example, epics often end like this: Here they sing his glory…. A fairy tale almost always ends with a wedding and a feast with a saying I was there, I drank honey and beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth, or And they began to live and live and make good things.

There are also other, most varied repetitions found in folklore. Single words may be repeated: Past the house, past the stone one, // Past the garden, the green garden, or the beginning of the lines: At dawn it was dawn, // At dawn it was morning.

Entire lines, and sometimes several lines, are repeated:

Walking along the Don, walking along the Don,

A young Cossack is walking along the Don,

And the maiden weeps, and the maiden weeps,

And the maiden weeps over the fast river,

And the maiden weeps over the fast river.

In works of oral folk art, not only words and phrases are repeated, but also entire episodes. Epics, fairy tales, and songs are built on the threefold repetition of identical episodes. So, when the Kaliki (wandering singers) heal Ilya Muromets, they give him a “honey drink” to drink three times: after the first time he feels a lack of strength, after the second - an excess, and only after drinking the third time does he receive as much strength as he needs it.

In all genres of folklore there are so-called common, or typical, passages. In fairy tales - the fast movement of a horse: The horse runs - the earth trembles. The “courtesy” (politeness, good manners) of the epic hero is always expressed by the formula: He laid the cross in a written way, but he bowed in a learned way. There are beauty formulas - Neither can I say it in a fairy tale, nor describe it with a pen. The command formulas are repeated: Stand before me like a leaf before the grass!

Definitions are repeated, so-called constant epithets, which are inextricably linked with the word being defined. So, in Russian folklore, the field is always clean, the month is clear, the maiden is red (krasna), etc.

Others also help with listening comprehension artistic techniques. For example, the so-called technique of stepwise narrowing of images. Here is the beginning of the folk song:

It was a glorious city in Cherkassk,

New stone tents were built there,

In the tents the tables are all oak,

A young widow is sitting at the table.

A hero can also stand out through contrast. At a feast at Prince Vladimir:

And how everyone sits here, drinks, eats and brags,

But only one sits, does not drink, does not eat, does not eat…

In the fairy tale, two brothers are smart, and the third ( main character, winner) is a fool for the time being.

Beyond certain folklore characters stable qualities are fixed. So, the fox is always cunning, the hare is cowardly, and the wolf is evil. There are certain symbols in folk poetry: nightingale - joy, happiness; cuckoo - grief, trouble, etc.

According to researchers, from twenty to eighty percent of the text consists of finished material, which does not need to be memorized.

Folklore, literature, science.

Literature appeared much later than folklore, and has always, to one degree or another, used its experience: themes, genres, techniques - different in different eras. Yes, stories ancient literature rely on myths. Author's fairy tales, songs, and ballads appear in European and Russian literature. Due to folklore it is constantly enriched literary language. Indeed, in the works of oral folk art there are many ancient and dialect words. By using endearing suffixes and freely used consoles, new ones are created expressive words. The girl is sad: You are my parents, my destroyers, my slaughterers.…. The guy complains: You, my darling cool wheel, have spun my head!. Gradually, some words enter the colloquial, and then literary speech. It is no coincidence that Pushkin urged: “Read folk tales, young writers, in order to see the properties of the Russian language.”

Folklore techniques were especially widely used in works about the people and for the people. For example, in Nekrasov’s poem Who can live well in Rus'?? – numerous and varied repetitions (of situations, phrases, words); diminutive suffixes.

At the same time, literary works penetrated folklore and influenced its development. As works of oral folk art (without the name of the author and in various versions), the rubai of Hafiz and Omar Khayyam, some Russian stories of the 17th century, Prisoner And Black shawl Pushkin, beginning Korobeinikov Nekrasova ( Oh, the box is full, full, // There are also chintz and brocade.// Have pity, my sweetheart, //Well done shoulder…) and much more. Including the beginning of Ershov's fairy tale The Little Humpbacked Horse, which became the origin of many folk tales:

Behind the mountains, behind the forests,

Beyond the wide seas

Against heaven on earth

An old man lived in a village.

Poet M. Isakovsky and composer M. Blanter wrote a song Katyusha(Apple and pear trees bloomed...). The people sang it, and about a hundred different Katyushas appeared. So, during the Great Patriotic War sang: Apple and pear trees don’t bloom here... The Nazis burned apple and pear trees…. The girl Katyusha became a nurse in one song, a partisan in another, and a communications operator in the third.

At the end of the 1940s, three students - A. Okhrimenko, S. Christie and V. Shreiberg - composed a comic song:

In an old and noble family

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy lived

He ate neither fish nor meat,

I walked along the alleys barefoot.

It was impossible to print such poems at that time, and they were distributed orally. More and more new versions of this song began to be created:

Great Soviet writer

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy,

He didn't eat fish or meat

I walked along the alleys barefoot.

Under the influence of literature, rhyme appeared in folklore (all ditties rhymed, there is rhyme in later folk songs), division into stanzas. Under the direct influence of romantic poetry (), in particular ballads, a new genre of urban romance arose.

Oral folk poetry is studied not only by literary scholars, but also by historians, ethnographers, and cultural experts. For ancient, pre-literate times, folklore is often the only source that has conveyed certain information to the present day (in a veiled form). So, in a fairy tale, the groom receives a wife for some merits and exploits, and most often he marries not in the kingdom where he was born, but in the one where his future wife is from. This detail of a fairy tale, born in ancient times, suggests that in those days a wife was taken (or kidnapped) from another family. Available in fairy tale and echoes ancient rite initiation - initiation of boys into men. This ritual usually took place in the forest, in a “men’s” house. Fairy tales often mention a house in the forest inhabited by men.

Folklore of late times is the most important source for studying the psychology, worldview, and aesthetics of a particular people.

In Russia at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st centuries. Interest in the folklore of the 20th century has increased, those aspects of it that not so long ago remained outside the boundaries of official science (political jokes, some ditties, Gulag folklore). Without studying this folklore, the idea of the life of the people in the era of totalitarianism will inevitably be incomplete and distorted.

Lyudmila Polikovskaya

Word " folklore» borrowed from in English and literally translates as folk song. Folklore is, firstly, a collection of texts of various genres: fairy tales, epics, conspiracies, laments and lamentations, ritual and non-ritual songs, historical songs, urban romance, ditties, anecdotes. Secondly, folklore refers to fine folk art and music, traditional toys, folk costumes. Folklore is everything that is created by the people. At the same time, the people are the collective creator of folklore works. This means that folklore works do not have a specific author. They were created and formalized over a long period of time collectively. As a result, a folklore tradition was developed.

Heroes and symbols of folklore

Tradition- This is a key concept for folklore. All folklore works are called traditional. Tradition is a certain established pattern, developed over a long time, according to which individual folklore works are created.

Tradition is closed. For example, a fairy tale has only six possible characters: the hero (Ivan Tsarevich), the sender (the king, the father), the desired character (the bride), the antagonist (Koschei, the serpent Gorynych), the giver (the character who gives something to the hero) and the helper (usually animals that help the hero). This is where her isolation manifests itself. There can't be any other characters here.

Folklore is a means, an instrument for consolidating, preserving and transmitting folk wisdom from generation to generation. This means that the performance of fairy tales, epics, and songs is initially necessary in order to convey traditional cultural information and experience from parents to children. For example, fairy tales convey moral standards that every member of society must comply with: the hero of fairy tales is brave, hardworking, respects parents and the elderly, helps the weak, wise, noble. IN heroic epics it says that you need to defend your homeland: the hero-defender is strong, brave, wise, ready to stand up for the Russian land.

Folklore is symbolic. This means that folk wisdom is transmitted in symbolic form. A symbol is a sign, the content of which in folklore is the traditional folklore meaning. For example, drake, dove, eagle, oak are symbols denoting good fellow. A dove, a duck, a swan, a birch tree, and a willow tree are symbols that represent the red maiden.

Folklore should not be taken literally. It is necessary to learn to see traditional folklore meanings behind symbols. The gold and silver bridle of a heroic horse does not at all mean that it is made of gold and silver. These metals symbolically denote the folklore meaning of “rich, noble.”

Who studies folklore?

Folklore reflects traditional folk culture. Russian traditional folk culture- is a fusion of pagan and folk-Orthodox views on nature and society. In works of folklore, the characters are often animals and forces of nature (wind, sun). This reflects pagan worldview a people who spiritualized nature, believed in wonderful creatures, and prayed to them. Along with this, there are Christian characters (Mother of God, saints) - these are Orthodox Christian traditions.

Folklore is studied by folklorists. They go on expeditions to record works of oral folk art. After this, the symbolism of these works, their content and structure are examined. Outstanding folklore researchers are V.Ya. Propp, A. N. Afanasyev, S. Yu. Neklyudov, E. M. Meletinsky, B.T. Putilin.