The harmonious development of ancient Russian culture was interrupted by the Mongol invasion in the middle of the 13th century. Therefore, historians separate the initial period of its evolution (IX-XIII centuries) from all subsequent ones. Life was an inseparable part of culture - everything that surrounded the daily life of ordinary members and nobility of East Slavic society.

Architecture

Like the entire culture of pre-Mongol Rus', the architecture of the country has changed a lot after the adoption of Christianity and the layering of Byzantine traditions on Old Russian ones. residential buildings Eastern Slavs from ancient times they were semi-dugouts and log cabins. In the north, in the forest zone, rich traditions of carpentry have developed.

Stone buildings appeared at the end of the 10th century, when Greek architects arrived in the country at the invitation of Prince Vladimir. The most important cultural monuments of pre-Mongol Rus were built in Kyiv - "the mother of Russian cities." In 989, the construction of the stone Church of the Tithes began, which became cathedral located next to the princely court.

In the future, ancient Russian monumental architecture spread throughout all the East Slavic lands. For example, in the 11th century, St. Sophia Cathedral was consecrated in Novgorod - today it is the main attraction of the city. Also, this building is considered the oldest church built by the Slavs and preserved in Russia. There was also a St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. An outstanding monument of architecture is built in the Vladimir principality in the XII century.

Fortifications most often were city walls assembled from wooden log cabins (they were also called gorodnitsy). At the top, platforms for the garrison and cracks were set up, from which they fired at the enemy. Towers (vezhi) were additional fortifications. Large cities consisted of outer walls, a citadel and an inner fortress. The walls of princely capitals could be built of stone. Beyond them, the settlements grew, where artisans and other ordinary people settled down.

Painting

Thanks to the influence of Byzantine Orthodoxy, the culture of pre-Mongolian Rus' was enriched not only by the traditions of building stone churches, but also by new trends in painting. Such genres as fresco, mosaic and iconography became an integral part of the life of the Eastern Slavs. In painting, the Greek influence turned out to be more durable than in architecture, where an original old Russian style soon arose. This was due to the fact that, for example, there was a strict Christian canon in iconography, from which the masters did not depart for several centuries.

In addition to religious art, there was also secular painting. A vivid example of this genre was the wall paintings created in the towers of the Kyiv Sophia. The drawings depicted the family of Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise, scenes from Everyday life monarch, fantastic birds and beasts. Several icons created in the Vladimir-Suzdal land in the 12th century have survived to our times. These artifacts demonstrate in the best possible way what the culture of Rus' was like in the pre-Mongolian period. Another unique monument, a medieval fresco, which is the main attraction of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral, depicts scenes of the Last Judgment.

The golden age of the culture of pre-Mongolian Rus' dates back to the 12th century, when the feudal fragmentation of a formerly united country caused the emergence of regional “schools” in many areas of creative activity. This trend also affected the visual arts. For example, murals were created in Novgorod, imbued with a unique gloomy and harsh spirit. Drawings of formidable archangels and figures of saints are unlike any other example of ancient Russian painting.

Music

Music is another art form that clearly shows what the history of the pre-Mongolian period was, leaving behind a lot of evidence about the song preferences of the Eastern Slavs. Music is characterized by the fact that at all times it has existed inseparably from the life of both the nobility and ordinary people. Family festivities, "games", could not be imagined without songs, dances and playing instruments. Folk art was very different. These were wedding parables, spring game melodies, laments for dead relatives.

The most gifted performers became professional musicians. Singers of solemn epics and storytellers specialized in the epic genre. Parallel to them, there was a whole world of wandering troupes, consisting of buffoons, who performed in city squares and feasts. The culture of pre-Mongol Rus' was multifaceted, and music in this sense did not differ from other types of art. Many buffoons not only sang, but also tried themselves as acrobats, dancers, jugglers and actors, that is, they became actors. Interestingly, the princely authorities often fought against such amateur performances, since the ancient "demonic" songs bore the stamp of long-standing pagan traditions.

Russians included balalaikas, tambourines, psaltery, rattles, domras. And horns and pipes were used not only for singing songs, but also for signaling during hunting or military operations. The squads had their own semblance of "orchestras". For example, such a team raised the morale of the troops during the sieges of the cities of the Volga Bulgarians in 1220.

Like the rest of the culture of pre-Mongol Rus', music received its own Orthodox niche. The texts of church hymns were Byzantine (translated into Slavic). Rus' borrowed the liturgical ritual from the Greeks. In the same way, chants appeared.

Folklore

Most of all, Old Russian culture is known for its folklore, which is distinguished by its outstanding diversity and richness. Songs, epics, spells, poetry were its integral components. Paganism gave rise to mythological tales that survived even after the adoption of Christianity. Folklore representations merged with Orthodoxy, which was most reflected in calendar holidays and superstitions.

The epic heroic epic is the pinnacle in oral folk art. Heroes became the main characters of such works. Heroes such as Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich are known to every child from collections of fairy tales. The epics reflected the wealth that represents the culture of Rus' in the pre-Mongolian period. Bogatyrs could be both real historical characters and generalized images. In the tales of fearless heroes, an entire medieval era with its characteristic features (the struggle against steppe nomads, "dashing people", etc.) was deposited.

Writing

Written creativity was the opposite of oral folk art. However, such literature could not appear without the alphabet. That, in turn, leaked to Rus' along with Christianity. The Byzantine enlighteners Cyril and Methodius created a special alphabet for the Slavs, which became the foundation for a variety of scripts: Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, etc.

The work of the Greek preachers from Thessalonica had the most far-reaching consequences. Without the Cyrillic alphabet, the entire pre-Mongolian would not have developed. This alphabet was used for the complete translation of Orthodox texts. The first literacy schools were founded by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich.

Novgorod birch bark letters are unique monuments of ancient Russian writing. Most of them were discovered by archaeologists in the 20th century. Birch-bark letters testify that literacy in Rus' was not considered the lot of the aristocracy only. Many ordinary citizens were able to write, which was recorded by medieval Novgorod artifacts.

The ancient Cyrillic alphabet was somewhat different from the modern one. It had superscripts and some extra letters. A cardinal reform of the old alphabet took place under Peter I, and it took its final form after the 1917 revolution.

Literature

Along with writing, Rus' adopted book culture from Byzantium. The first independent works were religious teachings or sermons. Such can be considered the “Sermon on Law and Grace,” written by Metropolitan Hilarion in the middle of the 11th century.

Chronicle has become much more common genre. They are not only chronicles of events, but also a source of knowledge about what the culture was like. Ancient Rus' pre-Mongol period. Chief Chronicler Kievan Rus believed to be Nestor. At the beginning of the XII century, he compiled The Tale of Bygone Years. This collection described the main events of Russian history from the emergence of statehood to 1117. Nestor focused his attention on political events: princely disputes, wars and alliances. The chronicler also left behind a "Reading", in which he dwelled in detail on the biography of the two martyr princes Boris and Gleb.

Prince Vladimir Monomakh was remembered not only as a wise politician and talented commander, but also as an outstanding writer. The ruler of Kyiv left to his heirs "Instruction" - a political treatise in which the author explained what an ideal state and effective power should be like. In the book, Monomakh reminded the future princes that the personal interests of politicians should not harm the unity of the state, which is necessary, among other things, to fight against the Polovtsy nomads.

"Instruction" was written at the beginning of the XII century. At the end of the same century, the main work of ancient Russian literature appeared - "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". It was also devoted to the theme of the fight against the Polovtsians. In the center of the narrative of the poem is the unsuccessful campaign in the steppe of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich, who ruled in Novgorod-Seversky.

The threat to peaceful life emanating from the nomads largely influenced the way the culture and life of pre-Mongol Rus became. In the Lay, an unidentified author better than anyone showed how destructive the pagan raids were. Like Monomakh in his Teaching, he emphasized the importance of the unity of the Russian lands in the face of a common danger.

applied arts

Russian craftsmen have long been famous for their unique jewelry making techniques (enamel, filigree, etc.). Similar products were made to order for the boyar and princely nobility. Foreigners admired Russian niello on silver. A variety of products were processed with this mixture: bracelets, crosses, rings, etc.

Kyiv masters preferred gilded and silver figures on a black background. Vladimir artisans often made a pure silver background and gold figures. Galicia had its own niello school. Using these examples, applied art once again demonstrates how diverse the culture and life of pre-Mongol Rus were.

The crafts of the village were very different from the crafts of the city. In the countryside, craftsmen used pagan motifs of evil spirits in their ornaments for a long time. Charms and amulets were popular. Most of them were made from the most accessible material - wood. If at first the incantatory elements in applied art had a distinct magical purpose, then gradually they lost this meaning and became simple patterns. The culture of Rus' of the pre-Mongolian period, in short, evolved. With each generation, it gradually changed and became more complicated.

Life and housing

The early Slavic semi-dugouts consisted of a stove, benches and bunks. Each such room became a home for a separate married couple. The prevalence of semi-dugouts among the southern tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs was noted by Arab geographers. Such dwellings began to disappear in the 10th century. This process was associated with the rupture of the patriarchal ties of a small family and the withering away of tribal remnants.

For example, in Kyiv, in addition to semi-dugouts, there were log and log dwellings. Wood was a relatively cheap material, almost every urban or rural resident could get it. Accessibility helped to quickly rebuild settlements in case of fires. Fires always led to severe destruction, which, on the other hand, was a noticeable drawback of the tree.

An important part of the princely palaces was the gritnitsa - a spacious room where the retinue gathered at feasts. Studying the arrangement of an aristocratic dwelling is another interesting way to understand what the culture of pre-Mongol Rus' was like. Architecture was an indicator of the social position, the position on the social ladder of the owner of the building. It is interesting that in the 12th century, when the state finally collapsed, the former grand ducal grids disappeared - their premises began to be used as prisons.

Cloth

Ordinary peasants, or smerds, dressed in belted shirts-kosovorotkas, tucked into trousers, and high boots. In winter, inexpensive furs were used. At the same time, bear fur coats were considered common people. Belts were narrow and leather, buckles were made of copper. Women, as a rule, wore jewelry necklaces, beads).

A characteristic feature of the retinue, boyar and princely clothes was a cloak. If the peasants wore coarse linen shirts, then the aristocrats wore silk shirts. Princely boots were made of morocco. A mandatory attribute of the monarch was a hat with a fur band. Jewelry of noble people was made of precious stones and gold. For example, Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich wore a characteristic pearl earring. The life and culture of pre-Mongol Rus (10th-13th centuries) surprised many foreigners. Winter clothes of the Russian nobility was made from sable furs, which were the most valuable commodity in all European markets.

Food

Since the basis of agriculture in Rus' was arable farming, the diet of ordinary people consisted mainly of bread itself and various cereals (barley, wheat, rye and millet). Their importance for the life of the Eastern Slavs was fundamental. So dependent on bread that archaeologists have found children's toys in the shape of bread. Crop failure was considered the greatest disaster, the obligatory consequence of which was widespread pestilence.

The meat food of the townspeople consisted of poultry and livestock. The ancient tradition of eating horse meat has been preserved in the village for a long time. Dairy products, including cottage cheese, were an important part of the home table. The ideological war of the church with paganism also affected the diet. For example, all the same cottage cheese was considered a ritual dish. The priests tried to regulate the diet of their flock with the help of various fasts.

Of the fish on the table, sturgeons were especially valued (it is known that the Novgorod princes had “sturgeons” who collected taxes from sturgeons from fishing catches). Key vegetables were turnips and cabbage. The food culture of pre-Mongol Rus, in short, changed more slowly than all other areas of Slavic life. Traditional seasonings were cinnamon, vinegar, nuts, anise, mint, pepper. The lack of salt could turn into a real national disaster. This product was a favorite object of speculation of merchants.

Culture (translated from Latin- cultivation, processing) - all material and spiritual values ​​​​that are created by the physical and mental labor of people (humanity). Cultural phenomena should be distinguished from natural phenomena. Under the material culture is usually meant technology, tools, machines, dwellings, household items, i.e. the totality of the means of production and material goods created by human labor at every stage of social development. Spiritual culture includes education, science, literature, folk art, art.

Even before the adoption of Christianity, the East Slavic tribes had a developed culture. Material culture was associated with the main occupations and included tools for labor and processing of raw products, technologies for the production and preservation of various products and products. Wooden construction (houses, settlements, crossings and bridges over rivers) was supplemented by the manufacture of many wood products. Oral folk art was associated with pagan religion and everyday life.

The adoption of Christianity in 988 enriched Russian culture.

In the XI-XII centuries. appeared: chronicles ("The Tale of Bygone Years", Pskov, Ipatiev, Lavrentiev and other chronicles); translated books; original Old Russian literature, mainly lives and teachings (“The Word about Law and Grace”, “The Word about Igor's Campaign”, “The Prayer of Daniil the Sharpener”, “Monomakh's Teaching to Children”, etc.). Writing (“Cyrillic”) became widespread, which was reflected in the inscriptions on dishes, handicrafts, on the walls of cathedrals (graffiti), and in birch bark letters. The first schools appeared at princely courts and monasteries. Children were also taught privately at home. Monasteries were important centers of culture and education.

After 988, stone, mainly temple architecture appeared. The twenty-five-domed Church of the Tithes in Kiev, St. Sophia Cathedrals in Kiev, Novgorod and Polotsk, the Assumption and Dmitrovsky Cathedrals in Vladimir, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl and others, most of which have survived to this day, were built. During the construction, a cross-domed structure, an altar, apses, and other new elements were used. Cathedrals were decorated with icons, frescoes, mosaics. During worship, church hymns appeared.

Works of art were the products of some artisans - jewelers, gunsmiths, potters, etc. Their products were exported along with furs, honey, and other goods.

With the adoption of Christianity, the family became monogamous. Polygamy and concubinage were forbidden. The responsibility of fathers for the upbringing of children and the material well-being of the family has increased, but the dependence of women on men has increased. When drawing up a set of Russian legislation - Russkaya Pravda (first half of the 11th century) - not only customary law and princely decisions (precedents), but also Byzantine canon law and the norms of international treaties were widely used. The church had a special status and jurisdiction.

The Christianization of Russian culture, Russian consciousness continued for a long time. Some pagan, pre-Christian customs and rituals have survived to this day (for example, seeing off winter, caroling at Christmas, etc.). Slavic paganism and Orthodoxy were guided by the same moral criteria. But the religious content assumed different spheres of activity. Christianity regulated mainly social relations, and paganism regulated the relationship between man and nature.

Ancient Rus' in its heyday was a single ancient Russian state with a single Old Russian language, a single Old Russian culture.

But the degree of cultural unity was not high enough. In the cultural and everyday sphere of various territories of the vast East European Plain, there were their own characteristics. During the period of feudal fragmentation, the specific princes saw culture as a way to assert their own superiority and satisfy personal ambitions. Local chronicles depicted events from the standpoint of the local prince. The development of local icon-painting, architectural, handicraft and other "schools", special features was encouraged.

CULTURE OF PRE-MONGOLIAN Rus' (IX - BEGINNING OF XIII CENTURIES)

Culture of Rus' before the Mongol invasion (general provisions)

Features of the development of Russian culture.

The culture of a people is part of its history. Its formation, subsequent development is closely connected with the same historical factors that influence the formation and development of the country's economy, its statehood, political and spiritual life of society. Naturally, the concept of culture includes everything that is created by the mind, talent, needlework of the people, everything that expresses its spiritual essence, a view of the world, nature, human existence, and human relations.

a) The culture of Rus' takes shape in the same centuries as the formation of Russian statehood. The birth of the people went simultaneously along several lines - economic, political, cultural. Rus' took shape and developed as the center of a huge people for that time, consisting at first of various tribes; as a state whose life unfolded over a vast territory. And all the original cultural experience of the Eastern Slavs became the property of a single Russian culture. It developed as a culture of all Eastern Slavs, while at the same time retaining its regional features - some for the Dnieper region, others for North-Eastern Rus', etc. The development of Russian culture was also influenced by the fact that Rus' took shape as a flat state, open to all, both intra-tribal domestic and foreign international influences. And it came from time immemorial. The general culture of Rus' reflected both the traditions of, say, the Polyans, the Severians, the Radimichi, the Novgorod Slavs, and other East Slavic tribes, as well as the influence of neighboring peoples with whom Russia exchanged production skills, traded, fought, reconciled - with the Finno-Ugric tribes, the Balts , Iranian, other Slavic peoples and states. At the time of its state formation, Rus' was strongly influenced by neighboring Byzantium, which for its time was one of the most cultured states in the world. Thus, the culture of Rus' developed from the very beginning as a synthetic one, i.e. influenced by various cultural trends, styles, traditions.

At the same time, Rus' not only blindly copied other people's influences and recklessly borrowed them, but applied them to its cultural traditions, to its people's experience, which came down from the depths of centuries, to its understanding of the world around it, to its idea of ​​beauty. Therefore, in the features of Russian culture, we are constantly confronted not only with influences from outside, but with their sometimes significant spiritual processing, their constant refraction in an absolutely Russian style. If the influence of foreign cultural traditions was stronger in cities, which in themselves were centers of culture, its most advanced features for their time, then rural population was basically the custodian of ancient cultural traditions associated with the depths of the historical memory of the people. In villages and villages, life flowed at a slow pace, they were more conservative, more difficult to succumb to various cultural innovations. b)

For many years, Russian culture - oral folk art, art, architecture, painting, artistic crafts - developed under the influence of pagan religion, pagan worldview. With the adoption of Christianity by Russia, the situation changed dramatically. First of all, the new religion claimed to change the worldview of people, their perception of all life, and hence ideas about beauty, artistic creativity, aesthetic influence.

However, Christianity, having had a strong impact on Russian culture, especially in the field of literature, architecture, art, the development of literacy, schooling, libraries - in those areas that were closely connected with the life of the church, with religion, could not overcome the origins of the people. Russian culture. For many years, dual faith remained in Rus': the official religion, which prevailed in the cities, and paganism, which went into the shadows, but still existed in remote parts of Rus', especially in the northeast, retained its positions in the countryside. The development of Russian culture reflected this duality in the spiritual life of society, in the life of the people. Pagan spiritual traditions, folk at their core, had a profound impact on the entire development of Russian culture in the early Middle Ages.

Under the influence folk traditions, foundations, habits, under the influence of the people's worldview, church culture itself, religious ideology, was filled with new content. The stern ascetic Christianity of Byzantium on Russian pagan soil, with its cult of nature, worship of the sun, light, wind, with its cheerfulness, love of life, deep humanity, has significantly changed, which is reflected in all those areas of culture where the Byzantine, Christian at its core, cultural influence was especially large. It is no coincidence that in many church monuments of culture (for example, the writings of church authors) we see completely secular, worldly reasoning and a reflection of purely worldly passions. And it is no coincidence that the pinnacle of the spiritual achievement of Ancient Rus', the ingenious "Lay of Igor's Campaign" is all permeated with pagan motives, which we will discuss below. V)

The openness and synthetic character of Old Russian culture, its powerful reliance on folk origins and folk perception developed by the entire long-suffering history of the Eastern Slavs, the interweaving of Christian and folk-pagan influences has led to what is called the phenomenon of Russian culture in world history. Its characteristic features are the desire for monumentality, scale, figurativeness in chronicle writing; nationality, integrity and simplicity in art; grace, deeply humanistic beginning in architecture; softness, love of life, kindness in painting; the constant beating of the pulse of quest, doubt, passion in literature. And all this was dominated by the great fusion of the creator of cultural values ​​with nature, his sense of belonging to all mankind, his concern for people, for their pain and misfortune. It is no coincidence that, again, one of the favorite images of the Russian church and culture was the image of Saints Boris and Gleb, philanthropists, non-resistors who suffered for the unity of the country, who accepted torment for the sake of people. These features and characteristic features of the culture of Ancient Rus' did not appear immediately. In their basic guises, they have evolved over the centuries. But then, having already been molded into more or less established forms, they retained their strength for a long time and everywhere. And even when united Rus' politically disintegrated, the common features of Russian culture were manifested in the culture of individual principalities. Despite the political difficulties and local peculiarities, it was still a single Russian culture of the 10th - early 12th centuries. The Mongol-Tatar invasion, the subsequent final disintegration of the Russian lands, their subordination to neighboring states interrupted this unity for a long time. G)

The most noticeable feature of ancient Russian culture is the dominance of religion in it, which, penetrating all its spheres, acted as an integrating element, giving it a certain integrity. The activity of the church was one of important factors that ensured and maintained the dominance of religious ideology. The degree of dominance of religion in culture was largely determined by the power and influence of the church in all spheres. public life, which primarily depended on the nature of the emerging relationship between church and state.

There can be no unequivocal answer to the question about the influence of the church on the cultural-historical process, about the assessment of its cultural activities. On the one hand, the church stimulated the development of certain areas of culture (writing, architecture, painting, etc.), using their arsenal of means to promote religious ideology. On the other hand, the subordination of these spheres of culture to the interests of the church, the establishment of the strictest control and regulation, ultimately fettered development. The assessment of the role of the church in the development of culture must be concrete historical, it cannot be the same and unambiguous in relation to different periods. Such a significant place that religion occupied in ancient Russian culture, however, did not lead to the complete and undivided dominance of the church in this sphere of society. II. PAGANISM. 1. Mythology of the Slavs.

The mythology of the Eastern Slavs was an important part of the doctrine of their religion - paganism. In relation to the history of Ancient Rus', paganism refers to religious beliefs, rituals and traditions that developed before the adoption of Christianity.

Mythological narrative is the basis of the most important doctrinal ideas of Slavic paganism: about the miraculous arrangement of the world by extraordinary creatures, gods and first ancestors; about the divine presence in nature, about human destiny and public affairs; about the hierarchy of the gods, which was conceived primarily as a family subordination of the younger generation of gods to the older one; about the constant supernatural movement of life forms - to the other world and back, from the human state to the zoomorphic, etc. Finally, the mythological idea of ​​dualism was woven into the fabric of paganism - everything (both nature and human nature) is permeated with the struggle of light, good and dark, evil principles.

The mythological images of the gods made up the pantheon - the divine community. The pagan Slav firmly believed in the reality of the existence of his gods. One old legend has preserved the words of Prince Vladimir, addressed to the Varangian Olav: "I ask you to honor the gods and tame yourself before them with humility; I am afraid that they will shed the horror of their violent anger and cruelty on you" ("Olav Trigveson's Saga"). The gods, like the ancestors from their abode, vigilantly followed the order in the world, acted as a guarantor of the observance of the customs of the ancient society.

From the mythological personifications of dark forces, paganism formed hordes of demons - evil spirits.

Revealed to ancient man in the form of religious knowledge, myths were perceived in the cultures of the past as sacred narratives. The sacred halo around the most important myths was also supported by the fact that many myths had their direct continuation of the ritual, the sacred rite, playing out the plot of the myth.

Human consciousness was captivated by ideas about the evil and good spirits of nature, about the possibility of influencing nature with the help of spells, conspiracies, propitiatory sacrifices and the whole variety of ritual magical actions. art and folklore were inextricably linked with pagan ideas.

The custom of burning the dead and erecting large earthen mounds - barrows - over the funeral pyres spread everywhere. Faith in the afterlife was manifested in the fact that things, weapons, food were laid with the dead, and commemorations were held annually at the graves in honor of the sacred ancestors. To protect against evil forces (ghouls, goblin, evil spirits), amulets from wolf and bear teeth were used, verbal conspiracies were used, magical signs were introduced into the ornament. Birth, marriage, death, all these events in a person's life were accompanied by incantations.

The main deities of the Slavs were: the deity of the universe - Rod, the deity of the sun - Dazhdbog, the goddess of the earth, the god of cattle - Veles, the god of fire - Svarog, the god of thunder - Perun.

In addition, there were many minor deities. The hearth or stove was considered sacred as a symbol of the family. They prayed to the fire under the barn. In the villages there were idols depicting deities to whom "the whole world" offered sacrifices. The gods were treated to specially fattened rams and bulls, and those who made sacrifices themselves participated in eating the sacrificial animals. Groves, rivers, lakes were considered sacred. In addition, each tribe had a common sanctuary, where members of the tribe converged on especially solemn holidays and to resolve important matters. 2. Calendar rites and holidays.

a) caroling.

The most important pagan rituals and holidays in Rus' were merged with agricultural labor, with the life of nature, and therefore with mythological personifications of natural forces.

The birth of Kolyada, a mythological creature related to Mokosh, coincided in time with the "birth" of the Sun at the winter solstice. Participants in the caroling ritual sang songs glorifying Kolyada, went from house to house, wishing the owners health, a rich harvest, and offspring in the coming year. At the request of carolers, the owners rewarded them with food gifts - this was a sacrifice to Kolyada. Bonfires were kindled, and to the merry songs, accompanied by the dances of the mummers, the collected food was collectively eaten. This usually happened on December 24 (according to the old style).

Christmas time began with caroling - an ancient Slavic holiday for the beginning of the New Year, which lasted from December 25 to January 6 (according to the old style). What is its essence?

The sun, which was gaining strength, promised an early awakening of the earth, the revival of nature. Ancient farmers, inextricably linked with nature by their work, believed that by combining the efforts of many people in a ritual action, they could help fertility. After all, people and nature, according to their worldview, are two parts of one whole, and the rite is a means of communication between them.

Mandatory Christmas games, merry amusements, plentiful food and intoxicating drinks awakened in people a cheerful energy, which, in their opinion, merged with the emerging energy of fertility, doubling it.

The other side of Christmas rituals is divination. Everyone wanted to know what the year would be like: fruitful, plentiful for ailments, generous for weddings. It was believed that open Christmas divination will surely come true.

Shrovetide was celebrated at the end of March, during the vernal equinox. Maslenitsa is a holiday of seeing off winter and welcoming spring. An indispensable companion of this spring holiday were pancakes, butter pancakes. Their shape symbolizes the sun. A thousand years ago, the appearance of pancakes was even closer to the oldest schematic representation of the Sun - they were baked on round clay pans with jagged edges and a cross drawn inside.

Maslenitsa itself towered above the merry, disguised crowd, overeating on oil pancakes - the personification of the end of winter and the beginning of the fruiting season. She was present at the festival in the form of a stuffed animal, dressed in women's clothes. The festivities began with the rites of invocation and the meeting of Maslenitsa. The festivities ended with the ritual burial of Maslenitsa - the effigy was burned or, having been torn apart, scattered across the fields, buried. Having marked the arrival of spring, having transferred its strength to the fields, Maslenitsa should now calm down until the next year. V).

They prepared for the spring rituals in advance: they embroidered towels with images of the goddess of fertility Makosh, women in childbirth, horses, cranes and other birds. These towels were covered with floral ornaments. Spring ceremonies could not do without painted eggs. The tradition of painting eggs in the spring is one of the oldest among those that have survived to this day. A painted egg was such an important attribute of rituals that for a long time (from about the 10th century) it was customary to use specially made ceramic painted eggs - pysanky. It was believed that a painted ritual egg has extraordinary properties: it can heal a sick person or even put out a fire caused by a lightning strike.

They crowned the spring rituals and began the summer "green Christmas time", or mermaids. They fell at the end of May June (in different areas they appointed their own time). For the tiller, this time is critical - he did everything he could in the fields, the thrown grain sprouted, now everything depended on nature, and therefore, on the whim of the creatures controlling the natural elements.

The gaze of the farmer turned to the water surface - to rivers and lakes, sources of fertile morning dew. And the soul to the mermaids, the rulers of the reservoirs. And at that time they expected from the mermaids not only pranks and intrigues, but also the irrigation of the fields with life-giving moisture, which contributes to the earing of bread.

Mermaid ritual round dances and songs were accompanied by beats of a tambourine, sharp sounds of a flute. Spinning and jumping, piercing cries, the participants brought themselves into a state of extreme excitement. Such a massive rampage was supposed to attract the attention of the mermaids and lure them out of the pools.

A good harvest depended not only on moderate irrigation, but also on solar heat. Therefore, two "fiery", solar holidays were part of the "green Christmas time" - Yarilin Day (June 4, old style) and Ivan Kupala (June 24, old style), the date of the summer solstice.

Yarilo was the god of the rising or spring sun, the god of lust and love, the god of the producer and patron of animals, the producer of plants, the god of strength and courage.

Kupala is a deity of Slavic mythology associated with the cult of the sun. During the holiday, it was revealed as a doll or stuffed animal (male, and sometimes female). Ivan da Marya flowers were decoration and symbol of the holiday. According to popular beliefs, on the night of Ivan Kupala, a wonderful fern flower bloomed with a fiery color - "perunov color", indicating the place of buried treasures. Witchcraft charms surrounded this flower, it was considered almost impossible to find it and open the treasure. Particularly gullible and reckless went to the forest at night. For centuries, tales about such simpletons have been passed from mouth to mouth among the people.

In the evening on Ivan Kupala, the main action began with a magical rite of obtaining "living fire": sacred bonfires were lit from the warm fire, and the most daring people started jumping over them. Everyone aspired to soar higher, because the height of the loaves depended magically on the height of the jump. There were round dances around the fires.

The next round of agrarian calendar holidays and rituals is timed to coincide with the time of harvesting and the beginning of its processing. Particularly significant were: the feast of the "first fruits" (early August); honoring the Family and women in childbirth, when the bread is already poured into the bins (the time of the "Indian summer", from late August to mid-September); start of flax spinning (October). For the performance of rituals, as a rule, special places were used - sanctuaries, in which, according to legend, deities and spirits temporarily or permanently lived.

In each house there were sacred places for performing domestic rituals. In addition, the Slavic burial, which in its structure resembled a residential mansion, was revered as a sacred place, the home of ancestors.

For the administration of joint sacred rites, the people gathered in remarkable areas of fields or river banks, near streams, but especially often in groves.

There were also specially equipped sanctuaries of the temple. Large temples usually had the form of a round platform, protected from all sides by a moat or rampart. Inside, statues of pagan gods were placed in the very center, and a little further, probably, there were buildings for common ritual feasts. The participants in the rites were illuminated and "cleansed" by the light of large sacred fires that were kindled around the sanctuary.

The sanctuary of Perun near Novgorod belonged to the most impressive temples of this kind. Archaeologists have discovered numerous remains of Slavic pagan sanctuaries - the settlement "Grudok" in the basin of the Middle Desna, a temple on the top of the Starokievsky mountain above the Dnieper. It is characteristic that many large temples were located on elevations and were revered by the pagans as unusual, sacred places.

The culture of Kievan Rus was formed in the era of the formation of a single Old Russian. nationalities and the formation of a single Russian. lit. language. Huge impact on the cult. generally rendered Christianity.

Writing. Slav. writing existed at the beginning of the 10th century (a clay vessel with an inscription in Slavonic - the end of the 9th century, an agreement between Prince Oleg and Byzantium - 911, the alphabet of Cyril and Methodius). After the adoption of Christianity in the 11th century, literacy spread among princes, boyars, merchants, wealthy townspeople (the rural population is illiterate). The first schools were opened at churches and monasteries. Yar. The wise created in Novg. school for children of clerics. Monomakh's sister set up a school for girls in Kyiv.

Liter. The most important monument of ancient Russian. cultures are chronicles - weather statement historical events. Chronicle 1 - the end of the 10th century - the Ruriks before the introduction of Christianity. 2 - at Yar. Wise, 3 and 4 comp. Metropolitan Hilarion under Prince St. 1113 - The Tale of Bygone Years (monk of the Kiev Pech Monastery Nestor). At the beginning of the story, he poses the question: “Where did Russ come from. land, who in Kyiv began to reign first, and where did the Russian land come from? + "The Tale of Boris and Gleb" and "The Life of Theodosius" by Nestor. In addition to chronicles, there are also other genres. 1049 - "The Sermon on Law and Grace" by Metropolitan. Illarion: glorifies new ideas and concepts of Christianity, Rus', the Russian people, princes. At the end of the 11th century - "Teaching children" Vl. Monomakh, the main goal is the need to fight the princes. interstitial "A word about the regiment I." - a story about the campaign of Prince Igor St. Cha in 1185 against the Polovtsy.

Architecture. Until the 10th century in Rus' they built from wood; arch. style - turrets, towers, tiers, passages, carvings - passed into the stone architecture of Christ. time. They began to build stone temples according to the Byzantine model. The earliest building in Kyiv - the end of the 10th century - the Church of the Virgin - Tithes. At Yar. Wise - Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral - a symbol of the power of Kievan Rus: 13 domes, pink brick walls, decorated with frescoes and mosaics inside, many icons. In the 12th century, single-dome churches were built: Dmitrovsky and Assumption in Vladimir-on-Klyazma, the Church of the Intercession-on-Nerl. New fortresses, stone palaces, chambers of rich people were laid in Chernigov, Galich, Pskov, Suzdal.

icon painting. The oldest extant icon of the Vladimir Mother of God. "Deesis" (prayer) - the end of the 12th century, "Angel with golden hair", "Assumption of the Virgin", "Savior Not Made by Hands" - all 12th century.

Art. Carving on wood, stone, bone. Jewelry skill: filigree, filigree (both - wire pattern), granulation (silver and gold balls - ornament). Chasing and thin. weapon finishing.

Folk art reflected in Russian folklore: incantations, spells, proverbs, riddles (everything is connected with agriculture and the life of the Slavs), wedding songs, funeral lamentations. A special place is occupied by epics, especially of the Kyiv heroic cycle (heroes: Prince Vl. Red Sun, heroes).

Music. The most ancient genre is ceremonial and labor songs, “old times”. Instruments: tambourines, harp, pipes, horns. Buffoons performed on the squares - singers, dancers, acrobats, there was a folk puppet theater, button accordions - storytellers and singers of the "stars".

Life. People lived in cities (20-30 thousand people), villages (50 people), villages (25-40 people). dwelling: farmstead, log house. log house In Kyiv: palaces, cathedrals, towers of boyars, wealthy merchants, duh-va. Leisure: falconry, hawk, dog hunting (for the rich); horse racing, fisticuffs, games (for commoners). Cloth. Men: shirt, pants, tuck. in boots, female: floor-length shirt with embroidery and long sleeves. Goal. attire: prince - a hat with bright fabric, for women. - a scarf (married - a towel), peasants, townspeople - fur or wicker hats. Upper coat: a cloak made of linen, the princes wore barmas (chains of silver or gold medallions with enamel decorations) around their necks. Food: bread, meat, fish, vegetables; drank kvass, honey, wine.

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The concept of culture includes everything that is created by the mind, talent, needlework of the people, everything that expresses its spiritual essence, a view of the world, nature, human existence, human relations. The culture of Rus' takes shape in the same centuries as the formation of Russian statehood. The general culture of Rus' reflected both the traditions of, say, the Polyans, the Severians, the Radimichi, the Novgorod Slavs, and other East Slavic tribes, as well as the influence of neighboring peoples with whom Russia exchanged production skills, traded, fought, reconciled - with the Finno-Ugric tribes, the Balts , Iranian, other Slavic peoples and states.

At the time of its state formation, Rus' was strongly influenced by neighboring Byzantium, which for its time was one of the most cultured states in the world. Thus, the culture of Rus' developed from the very beginning as a synthetic one, i.e. influenced by various cultural trends, styles, traditions. At the same time, Rus' not only blindly copied other people's influences and recklessly borrowed them, but applied them to its cultural traditions, to its people's experience, which came down from the depths of centuries, to its understanding of the world around it, to its idea of ​​beauty.

For many years, Russian culture - oral folk art, art, architecture, painting, artistic handicraft - developed under the influence of pagan religion, pagan worldview. With the adoption of Christianity by Russia, the situation changed dramatically. First of all, the new religion claimed to change the worldview of people, their perception of all life, and hence ideas about beauty, artistic creativity, aesthetic influence.

The openness and synthetic character of Old Russian culture, its powerful reliance on folk origins and folk perception developed by the entire long-suffering history of the Eastern Slavs, the interweaving of Christian and folk-pagan influences has led to what is called the phenomenon of Russian culture in world history. Its characteristic features are the desire for monumentality, scale, figurativeness in chronicle writing; nationality, integrity and simplicity in art; grace, deeply humanistic beginning in architecture; softness, love of life, kindness in painting; the constant beating of the pulse of quest, doubt, passion in literature. And all this was dominated by the great fusion of the creator of cultural values ​​with nature, his sense of belonging to all mankind, his feelings for people, for their pain and misfortune. It is no coincidence that, again, one of the favorite images of the Russian church and culture was the image of Saints Boris and Gleb, philanthropists, non-resistors who suffered for the unity of the country, who accepted torment for the sake of people. These features and characteristic features of the culture of Ancient Rus' did not appear immediately. In their basic guises, they have evolved over the centuries. But then, having already been molded into more or less established forms, they retained their strength for a long time and everywhere. And even when united Rus' politically disintegrated, the common features of Russian culture were manifested in the culture of individual principalities.

The basis of any ancient culture is writing. One of the main sources of cultural development in Kievan Rus was developed by two Bulgarian monks - Cyril (827 - 869) and Methodius (815 - 885) - the Slavic alphabet - Cyrillic. A talented linguist, Cyril took the Greek alphabet, consisting of 24 letters, as a basis, supplemented it with hissing sounds characteristic of Slavic languages ​​(zh, u, w, h) and several other letters. The new “own” writing served as the basis for the rapid development of book culture in Kievan Rus, which, before the Mongol invasion, was one of the most civilized states of medieval Europe in the 11th-13th centuries. Manuscript books of secular content, along with Greek theological works, become a necessary sign of belonging to culture. Books in this era are kept not only by the prince and his entourage, but also by merchants and artisans. The development of writing in the native language led to the fact that the Russian Church from the very beginning was not a monopoly in the field of literacy and education. Birch-bark writings testify to the spread of literacy among the democratic strata of the urban population. These are letters, memos, owner's notes, training exercises, etc., the text in them was written in a "charter" - reminiscent of a modern printed font.

Chronicles are the focus of the history of Ancient Rus', its ideology, understanding of its place in world history - they are one of the most important monuments of writing, literature, history, and culture in general. Chronicle writing, according to the observations of domestic scientists, appeared in Rus' shortly after the introduction of Christianity and it was concentrated in monasteries. The first chronicle may have been compiled at the end of the 10th century. Already at the first stage of the creation of chronicles, it became obvious that they represent a collective work, they are a collection of previous chronicle records, documents, various kinds of oral and written historical evidence. The compiler of the next chronicle acted not only as the author of the corresponding newly written parts of the chronicle, but also as a compiler and editor. The next Chronicle Code was created by the famous Hilarion, who wrote it, apparently under the name of the monk Nikon, in the 60-70s of the 11th century, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. And then the Code appeared already in the time of Svyatopolk in the 90s of the XI century. The arch, which was taken up by the monk of the Kyiv-Pechersk monastery Nestor, and which entered our history under the name "The Tale of Bygone Years".

Literature - The general rise of Rus' in the 11th century, the creation of centers of writing, literacy, the emergence of a whole galaxy of educated people of their time in the princely-boyar, church-monastic environment determined the development of ancient Russian literature. Metropolitan Hilarion. In the early 40s of the XI century. he wrote his famous "Sermon on Law and Grace". Nestor created the famous "Reading about the life of Boris and Gleb." In it, as in the "Word" of Hilarion, as later in the "Tale of Bygone Years", the ideas of the unity of Rus' sound, its defenders and guardians are paid tribute. At the beginning of the XII century. one of the associates of Monomakh, hegumen Daniel creates "The Journey of Abbot Daniel to the Holy Places." He went all the way - to Constantinople, then through the islands of the Aegean Sea to the island of Crete, from there to Palestine and to Jerusalem. Daniel described in detail his entire journey, spoke about his stay at the court of the Jerusalem king, about the campaign with him against the Arabs. Both "Instruction" and "Walking" were the first genres of their kind in Russian literature.

Architecture. The first stone building in Rus' appeared at the end of the 10th century. - the famous Church of the Tithes in Kyiv, built at the direction of Prince Vladimir the Baptist, later a church of Hagia Sophia was erected in its place. Both temples were built by Byzantine craftsmen from their usual plinth - a large flat brick. Red plinth and pink mortar made the walls of the Byzantine and first Russian churches elegantly striped. They were built from plinths mainly in the south of Rus'. In the north, in Novgorod far from Kyiv, stone was preferred. True, the arches and vaults were laid out all the same from brick. Novgorod stone "gray flagstone" - a natural rough boulder. Walls were laid from it without any processing. In the Vladimir-Suzdal land and Moscow, they built from dazzling white limestone, mined in quarries, carefully hewn into neat rectangular blocks. "White stone" is soft and easy to process. That is why the walls of Vladimir churches are richly decorated with sculptural reliefs.

Art. Transferred to Russian soil, canonical in content, brilliant in its execution, the art of Byzantium collided with the pagan worldview of the Eastern Slavs, with their joyful cult of nature - the sun, spring, light, with their completely earthly ideas about good and evil, about sins and virtues. From the very first years, Byzantine church art in Rus' experienced the full power of Russian folk culture and folk aesthetic ideas. one-domed Byzantine church in Rus' in the 11th century. transformed into a multi-domed pyramid, the basis of which was Russian wooden architecture. The same thing happened with painting. Already in the XI century. the strict ascetic manner of Byzantine icon painting turned under the brush of Russian artists into portraits close to nature, although Russian icons carried all the features of a conventional icon-painting face. Along with icon painting, fresco painting and mosaics developed. The frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv show the manner of painting by the local Greek and Russian masters, their commitment to human warmth, integrity and simplicity. Later, the Novgorod school of painting took shape. Its characteristic features were the clarity of the idea, the reality of the image, and accessibility. In Rus', the art of wood carving, and later - stone carving, developed and improved. Wood carvings have generally become feature dwellings of townspeople and peasants, wooden temples. The white-stone carving of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus, especially during the times of Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest, in the decorations of palaces and cathedrals became a remarkable feature of ancient Russian art in general. And of course, important element The entire ancient Russian culture was folklore - songs, legends, epics, proverbs, sayings, aphorisms.