Russian museum of ethnography.
Located in a neo-classical building, constructed in early 20th century. It houses a collection of about 500 000 items, relating to the ethnography or cultural anthropology of peoples of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The museum was set up in 1902 as the ethnography department of the Russian museum. It is housed in a purpose built neo-classical building erected between 1902 and 1916 to Vasiliy Svinyin’s design in the proximity of the Michael’s castle in place of the eastern service wing, the stables and the laundry of the palace.
Василий Свиньин was a court architect, the author of the project and supervisor of the construction. He was appointed in charge of the project after winning anonymous competition. Unfortunately his project has never been fully implemented and storages, laboratories and memorial hall has never been constructed.
The building is symmetrical inside, it’s one of the few buildings, that were originally designed for the purpose. On each floor of the left and right wings there are 12 exhibition halls with the Entrance hall and the Grand marble hall in the centre. Special exhibition furniture and disinfection chamber were commissioned specially for this institution from Germany.
The Marble hall was designed as a memorial hall of Alex I in a style of Grecian courtyards. The plafond made of crystal plates, adorned with double-headed eagles and oak leaves. The hall is 935 m2 large, faced with Russian pink marble, mint in the Олонец region in the North of Russia. The gallery consists of 28 columns, 24 tons each, made of monolith marble slaps.
The original intention was to adorn the hall with a sculpture of Alex III and bronze bas-relief, depicting life of various peoples of Russia, but because of WW1 and the Revolution 1971 the monument has never been installed and the bronze bas-relief has never been produced. What we see today is plaster, painted in imitation of bronze. The bas-relief freeze by artists Богатырев и Харламов 1902 – is a unique chronicle of different peoples of Russia. Information for this bas-relief was collected during research expeditions around the country – and is very in keeping with the idea of Memorial Hall.
The museum’s first exhibits were gifts received by the Russian tsars from peoples of imperial Russia. These were supplemented by regular exhibitions to various parts of the Russian Empire, which began in 1901. Further exhibits were purchased by Nicolas II and other members of his family as state-financing was not enough to purchase this exhibits.
The collection of Buddhist religion objects was acquired to the museum by prince Эспер Ухтовский – nobleman, collector, friend of Nic II. Prince Тинищев – a wealthy industrialist, donated to the museum the archives of his private ethnographic bureau, which has been documented the life of Russian peasants since the 19th century. The collection was not officially opened to public until 1923. The museum was detached from the Russian in 1934.
When the museum of the peoples of the USSR was in Moscow would shut down in 1948, its collections were transferred to our EM.
Земледелие – agriculture
скотоводство – cattle breeding
рыболовство – angler
ремесло – trade, craft
ткачество – weaving
пчеловодство – beekeeping
гончарное дело – pottery
blacksmith – кузнец
капкан – trap
sweep net – невод (fishing rod)
соколиная охота – falconry
пасека – apiary
плуг, соха – plough
борона – harrow
серп – sickle
коса – scythe
вилы – pitchfork
грабли – rake
веялка – winnowing machine
сеять – saw
удобрять – fertilize
навоз – manure
жать – mow
урожай – harvest, crop
зерновые культуры – cereals
зерно – grain
пшеница – whet
рожь - rye
лен – flax
конопля – hemp
просо – millet
солома – straw
сено – hay
сенокос – haymaking
сорняк – weed
прополка – weeding
молотить – thresh
гречиха – buckwheat
ячмень – barley
Сарафан – sarafan, tunic, pinafore
платок – shawl, scarf
пояс – belt, кушак – sash
лапти – bast shoes
заправлять – tuck, навыпуск – untucked
кафтан – caftan (long coat)
зипун – homespun coat (coat, won by peasants in the winter time)
шуба – fur coat (sheep skin, sables, fox, arctic fox, squirrel, ermine)
парча – brocade
бархат – velvet
онучи – lager-wrappers
подковки – taps
женская нижняя рубашка – chemise
венец – head band
кика - head dress of a married woman
кокошник – cocoshnic (female head dress, won by both married and single women)
Russian costume.
Russian peasant costume renamed unchanged for almost 700 years and though nobility and urban residents adopted European style of cloth in the 18th century, peasants went on wearing bast shoes and untucked shirts. Since middle ages people believed, that the world is populated with evil spirits and cloth should protect nor only against the cold, but also from them.
Undergarment of ordinary peasants and the tsars before Peter the Great were very similar. It consisted of a shirt and pans. Shirt were usually knee-long, with embroider hem, colon and sleeves. The purpose for embroidering was not also for the beauty, also were supposed to protect the owner against evil spirits. Untucked shirts was belted with a narrow sash. Wealthy man would wore a fancy shirt over the plane one.
Shirts were made of white, red and blue fabric. The pans were wide at the waste and tinned with a string. The fancy shirt, sometimes made of silk.
Outer garment – caftan. A word of Turkish origin. A caftan reminds arrow modern, a variety of caftan was called зипун. Caftans varied in length, the classical only shows fancy boots. Становой кафтан.
In winter peasants wore sheepskin fur coats, while the nobles wore coats of sable, coats etc. Traditionally the coats were made with the fur inside, the outside was lined with silk, brocade or velvet. A fur coat – a common gift, was considered very special sigh of appreciation from the tsar. Fur coat was traditionally used on the weddings.
An important detail of men’s cloth – a belt (or a sash). Appearing on public without belt was considered as disgrace. Peasants usually wore bast shoes all year round, made of linden. Before putting those bast shoes on, man and woman wrapped their feet with a piece of a special cloth with a long string. Bast shoes were chip and comfortable and everyone could make it themselves. Urban also wore boots, well-to-do people – boots of soft leather, embroidered with pearls, nero-pointed tips, silver-taps, high kills. Traditional Russia costume is very bright, the most popular color was red (a synonym for “beautiful”). Other popular colors – azure, green, crimson, gold.
Female cloth. Russians traditionally preferred stout women. When a woman want to look good, she put on many different garments, jewelry if evaluable. Festive dress of a noble woman – 15-20 kl heavy. Because of such heavy cloth, Russian women walked slowly. Code of conduct discourage women from woreing tight-fitting cloth, that’s why woman never used belts. Women usually wore two shirts – a linen undershirt and a silk outer shirt. This shirts were wore at home – no stranger could see a women, this shirts were belted.
In the 17th century a sarafan became popular – was warn over a shirt. Head dress signal here marital status. Maiden’s head dress was like a diodem. Often decorated with embroidery, pearls or jewels. A married woman would wear a cap, that fully covered her hair. Being without head dress – great disgrace.
Woman wore jewelry – bracelets, rings. For special occasions used lots of make up – such as fard (белила) and cheek-color. Smoke black (сажа), flower, beet-root. Foreign visitors to Russia always wondered why Russian woman being so beautiful naturally make themselves ugly painting their faces regularly.
Agriculture in Russia.
Although the vast territories of Russia were covered with woods, agriculture was very important main occupation. Peasants plowed the fields twice a year – in spring and in autumn. Mostly wooden plow was used – with a house, with plowman steering at the back. Usually the procedure was repeated two or three times – before sole became loose enough. After that the field was harrowed. After that in autumn came time for autumn sawing (озимый сев) – this was the and of working in the field.
During the winter peasants would repair broken instruments and collect manure. In spring, when land became free from snow and dry, peasants started spring plowing (яровое поле) and while men were plowing, teenage boys spread manure. Peasants used lots of natural signs to determine the best time for sawing. When first birch started to blossom – it was ideal to saw oats. Blooming apple trees – good time for millet. When you hear the first «куку» in the forest – time to saw flax.
Before sawing, he man prepared themselves by going to the banya wearing a white shirt (чтобы без сорняков). A priest was invited to say the prayers and spread the field with holy water – best seeds were planted. After taken two steps the man would throw seeds before him – windy days were unsuitable for sawing. Wheat was considered the most demanding of oil crops – in addition to that it also wears out the sole – planting wheat was risky, but an opportunity to make a good profit.
The main crop – ray and buckwheat. Buckwheat – vary weed-resistant and loosened the sole, that’s why peasants alternated crops. Each year some plots of land were left idol (под паром). Summer – the busiest season. After plowing and fertilizing idol fields, farmers started hay-harvesting. It usually started at the end of June. Hay were usually harvesting in the morning, when grass was still wet of dew. Hay-harvesting considered of harm-activity, after harvest harvesting it was dried, plugged and finally stored in barns. Shortly after that came time for reaping. Everybody participated in reaping season. «Страда» - a Russian phrase for busy time – a hard work, continued from dawn till dusk.
The reapers would often reap a bunch of spikes in the field – it was supposed to feed the field for next year crops. Dry ears were threshed with a flail, after that straw was removed and used for fetched roofs, edit to cattle feed. Threshed grain was wracked in a pile, still contained lots of trash – straws, ears and dust. To remove those, grain was fanned in the wind. The harvest was stored safely till the next year.
Нечисть.
Cattle-breeding.
The most common – a cow and a horse.
A cow – valuable source of milk, which could turn into butter, cheese, sour cream and curd. When a cow was batched, it provided meat for the family almost for the whole year – it was salted and deposited in the cellar. Stchi, pines with meat.
A horse – firmest greatest helper. Were used for plowing, transporting harvest, after a hard day in the summertime there were taken to nice meadow with a plenty of grass. A horse was the most valuable possession and the father of the house would take care of the horse. In the family had to chose which family to sell, they would dispose a cow first.
Other animals – pigs, sheep, goats. Sheep – source of wool for felt boots, mittens, socks. Taking care for the cattle – women’s job, in the summer the lady of the house got up before dawn to milk the cow, after that the cows were led to grace under the supervision of the children or a shepherd (one shepherd in the village – animal doctors). Cattle breading had several patron saints – St Frol and Lavr (above entrance of the stables), St George. On the day of St George cattle were led out from the stable to grace (23 april).
In every house – vegetable garden, lady’s job. Carrot, turnip, onion, cucumbers, cabbage. The cabbage was pickling. Onion and garlic – in a large quantities, foreigners complained, that Russian food smell of it. Apples, plums, cherries, pears, current – jams and soft-drinks.
Weaving, spanning, making bast shoes.
Веретено – spindle
прялка – spinning wheel
home made – домашнее
home dye.
Life in a village required each person to must a several trades: man – built houses, made furniture and agricultural instruments, women – made wove fabrics, clothes. Peasants would pursue all this occupations mostly in the winter, when free from other tasks. The father of the house would sit down and making bast shoes – they were light, comfortable and chip, but they didn’t last long. During the harvesting season a pair of bast shoes lasted about 1 week. Skilled professional could make two pairs in a day only. Making of one pair required taking back of two or four barks. Bark was soap in water, then straightened, upper layer was removed, but into thin stripes and the making process started. Quality bast shoes – water-resistant.
In addition to them – baskets, boxes, storage containers.
Peasants mostly wore clothes from flax. All parts of flax were used – it was also flayed, best seats were used for sawing, other seeds return into lean-seed oil. Spans - sopping water for three weeks, dried, combed, the resulting product was soft, fluffy combs for weaving. In a winter time young girls would get together with bringing there one distaffs. Weaving was monotonous, in a good company – much more enjoyable. Weaving was usually finished before Shrovetide. A distaff was like a special device, often a young man could make nice-decorated distaff to his fiancée.
After spinning was over, came time for weaving, weaving machine was installed in the house for a few weeks. It existed in Russia since 10th century. The result was fabric, homely fabric was a little bit grey and was left to bleach at the sun, then shirts and pants were made from it.
House.
In the 9 and 10 centuries law-cabins were very small and consisted from a living part and entrance part (сени). In the 16 and 17 century – grew bigger. Entry hall was usually small, it connected living part of the house to service parts, such as barn, shed, attics, cellar, another storage – клеть – for clothes, shoes, pottery, sometimes young married couple would occupy this room. The centre – the room with the stove.
Russian stove. The Russian word изба originated from “feed the stove”. Building of stove – a complicated task, usually accomplished by special trade professionals. A stove without chimney was more economical, smoke was a primitive disinfector. Poorer households – stoves without chimneys. The stove had many functions, such as small nitchers for keeping the food warm, drying wet clothes. A stove occupy up to a quarter of the house. Heating a stove took several hours, can stay hot for many hours. Bred, potatoes etc. The top of the stove – the warmest place in the house – for elderly and for the kids. The bogyman – behind the stove. Stove – an important thing in the fairy-tales. The lay out of all peasants houses was more or less the same – individual only in some details.
The corner opposite the mouth of the stove was considered a lady’s corner, where she kept her cooking appliances, such as – fire rake (кочерга), ухват – fork, помело - brush, wooden spade.
Close to the stove – wash-basin, which consisted of a clay jug and wooden pail for the water. In the lady’s corner walls were with shelves, all spots were carved by the father.
The best place – “red corner” located across from the stove, where icons were displayed on a special shelve, for entering the house each visitor must remove its hat and cross themselves and greet the owners. The most welcome guests were sitting in the red corner, during weddings – newly wedding couple. Man’s corner – usually the father slept on the bench and chess with his instruments – under the bench.
There were table, few benches, chests, shelves. No chairs, no begs before the 19th century. The most important item of the furniture – the table, where the whole family would get together, the table was big enough to accommodate everybody, surrounded by benches, which were also used for sleeping. All clothes – put in chests, the wealthier the family – the more chest in the house. When a girl was born, the family started collected her dowry for the wedding.
Several structures – banya, amber, well.
Peasant food.
Everyday food was simple and lack variety. Consisted of хлеб, щи, porridge and kvas (soft drink made of bread, slightly fermented national drink). Bred was widely use for various rituals – communion (причастие), weddings (Easter). The lady of the house usually made bread ones a week – it was very time and labor consuming process. A woman started making bread sponge (закваска) the night before. Ready bread was stored in special wooden bins. Every day peasants mostly eat white bread. In bad years a villagers would ate the bark. They also make pasties, pancakes and ginger bread.
Although Russia was culturally isolated from western Europe until the time of Peter I, there were many foreign influences in its cuisine. The Varangians, ancient Scandinavian tromps introduce the Russians to the herring and also a range of techniques for pickling, drying and preserving foods though out the endless winters. The centuries of occupation by the Mongols and tartars brought a whole list of delicious foods, that are now considered to be Slavic staples – noodles and dumplets (пельмени), staffed vegetables, tea and the samovar. Along with this a list of seasonings, fermented milk drinks and dry fruits. Te day-to-day fair of the Russian peasants was sweet and sour and simple. The staples were grains of all sorts, which were made into sour bread and cashas (cereals), mushrooms, beers, honey and all kinds of fish.
Perhaps, the most popular – pancakes. Pancakes are rich and spongy, drown in melted butter. Russians made pancakes even before Christianity was adopted, traditionally associated with a sun. They were used in many Russian rituals from giving birth to death. In old rays pancakes usually were made from ray grains.
Another popular Russian food – pastries. In the 17th century around 50 types of pies existed. Pice comes from a different filling – meat, fish, cabbage, jam. Traditionally sweet. Gingerbreads, made with no filling, but lots of honey and spices. Those often came in different elaborate shapes – animals, fish, birds.
Porridge cereal casha. 600 years ago the word casha made fist – ancient chronicles tell many tells of wonderful casha given by various rulers, important ritual foods at weddings, christenings and funerals. In 16th century around 20 types of cashas existed in Russia. Many cashas still popular.
Another staple Russian food – stchi. In an old days the word would apply to any soup, the skill of cooking stchi was a valuable talent of young women. Traditionally stchi was made of cabbage, carrot, meat. Sometimes cabbage was replaced with sorrel. Over 200 days a year meat was prohibited – also on Wednesdays and Fridays all year round.
Meals – usually two days a day – lunch and dinner. For breakfast – a piece a bread. The father of the family would be the first person to take his seat at the table. A meal would start with a prayer of gratitude, each participant of the meal would get a spoon and a slice of bread. Food was served by the mother of the house, usually she would be so busy, that she had no time to eat with the family. Liquid foods were served in common wooden boils, the father would make sure, that everybody is getting the fair share of the food. For breaking the rules, the father of the family would hit the offender with the spoon. Load voices, laughter and leaving the table before the meal is over was strictly prohibited.
Usually food was scarce, Russian peasants had big meals only on special occasions (on festive dates).