What is ceremonial poetry? What is the history of the appearance of folklore, features of this genre? Let's try to find answers to these questions together.
Introduction
Russian ceremonial poetry owes its appearance precisely to folk art. Folklore is an oral folk art. It reflects the creative collective activity of the people, which characterizes his ideals, views, lifestyle.
Kinds
Folk ritual poetry was created over many centuries. Epos, jokes, various tales, ditties, traditions, all this was passed down from generation to generation. It was in such oral activity that historical information about the traditions and way of life of the people was contained.
Ritual poetry was shifted to music, so plays, instrumental tunes appeared. From them it was possible to understand what is the life of a common people, to get acquainted with their hobbies, occupation.
Folk ritual poetry attracted many Russian writers for its melody, length. Folklore elements are used in the theater for staging satirical plays, dramatic performances, and puppet shows.
History of the term
Russian folk ritual poetry is considered a cultural heritage of any nation. The term "folklore" itself came into scientific use thanks to the English scientist William Thomsom in 1846. He suggested a set of structures that are integrated by speech, in a word, regardless of the elements in which they are interconnected. Gradually, instead of the term “folklore”, the expression “oral literature” began to be used.
Interesting Facts
What ceremonial poetry attracted Russian writers? Epics, sayings, songs, proverbs, conspiracies, fairy tales, all this reflected the idea of people about their historical roots, features of the world.
Russian ceremonial poetry is reflected in many works of art. For example, in the epics about Vasily Buslaevich and Sadko, many epics are used, praising Novgorod, the trading activity of that time, the movement of caravans to overseas countries is mentioned.
The rite poetry was created by the Russian people, in which there were not only epics, but also cunning riddles, folk proverbs, magical, heroic, everyday tales. Literature was a real asset and mind of the Russian people.
The significance of this type of folklore
It was ritual poetry that made it possible to strengthen the moral image of the people, was their historical memory. In such works one could learn about the peculiarities of the life of the Russian people, their customs, rites. Each of them had a certain meaning, was carried out at specific dates, and according to a special algorithm.
Rites were permeated with respect for the ancestors, reverence for their historical roots, the desire to preserve and pass on traditions from generation to generation.
Ratio to the seasons
Calendar ritual poetry involved taking into account the seasons. For each important holiday that was associated with church traditions, special temple singing was used. In addition, there were "semi-professional" genres, for example, in Russia there were buffoons, storytellers.
By the period of Russian Orthodox hymnography, folklore already had a centuries-old history, which developed from a system of genres, as well as various means of musical expression.
Researchers Findings
How did ritual poetry attract composers? The heroic epic is reflected in instrumental music. Throughout its existence, folk music has firmly entered the life of people, has become a reflection of personal, social, family life.
Researchers are convinced that in the period before which Kievan Rus did not exist, the Eastern Slavs had very developed family-household and calendar ritual folklore, instrumental music, and a heroic epic developed.
Epics, proverbs, songs, folk riddles have reached the present time, so it is difficult to distinguish the basis of folklore works from subsequent works of the Russian people.
Ritual folklore
Scientists who are engaged in folk art, single out in one group the so-called ritual folklore, which is associated with pagan ancient times, the agricultural calendar. For example, they included the dances and songs that were performed on Shrovetide, Christmas carols, on the day of Ivan Kupala.
In addition, fortune telling and wedding songs were counted among ritual folklore.
Features of the rites
In order to fully realize the richness of Russian ancient ritual poetry, it is necessary to consider this issue in more detail.
What was the significance of ritual poetry? Songs are considered one of the most ancient manifestations of folk art.
The content of such songs was closely related to the religious canons that had developed over the centuries. The rite, which originated in pagan times, was aimed at the deification of the natural elements. The most ancient historians consider calendar ritual songs. Their content was closely connected with ideas about the agricultural calendar, the cycle of nature.
Such songs contained information about the various stages of life and activities of peasants engaged in agriculture. They were included in the summer, spring, winter ceremonies corresponding to turning points during the changing seasons. When performing the rite, people sincerely believed that the spells they cast would be heard by the powerful forces of Water, the Sun, mother earth, bring an excellent harvest, and provide people with a comfortable life.
It was ritual songs that were considered an obligatory component of the rite. It was believed that the achievement of the goal directly depends on how correctly and fully all the ritual actions are carried out.
Ritual songs accompanied plowing and harvesting, wedding celebrations, Christmas parties, christenings.
Calendar-ritual songs are quite short in volume, they are not complicated in the poetic structure.
They included glee and anxiety, hope and insecurity. Researchers consider the personification of the main image, which is associated with the essence of the rite, to be one of the distinguishing features of this type of creativity.
For example, in the old Christmas songs Kolyada is portrayed, moving around the yards in search of a host who will bestow her with various goodies and blessings.
In calendar songs there is Shrovetide, Trinity, Spring. Songs contain a call for good, they reproach people with frivolity and deceit. In form, such songs can be called short poems, capable of a few small verses to indicate a lyrical situation, to convey the mood.
Types of calendar ritual songs
Caroling began on Christmas Eve, from December 24. That was the name of going around houses with singing special carols in which the owner of the house wished a good harvest, wealth, and happiness. Children sang carols, carrying a star on a pole. It symbolized the Star of Bethlehem that appeared in the sky during the birth of Christ. The owners tried to give the carollers money, tasty cookies, sweets. If the owners of the house were in no hurry to present children, they sang special ditties with ridiculous threats addressed to them:
Don’t give, master, a pie -
We will take your cow by the horns.
Do not give us the gut -
We are your guinea pig for the temple.
Don’t give the blink to the children -
Get it, master, kick.
Particular attention in folk art was given to the beginning of the year. Russian people sincerely believed that how to celebrate the New Year depends on how it will be held. People tried to set the table so that it had a lot of delicious and delicious dishes. In the New Year, everyone had fun, wished each other happiness and health.
As a background for such wishes, short carols of a song kind were used.
For example, in the poem "Svetlana" V. A. Zhukovsky uses one of the songs dedicated to the blacksmith:
…Blacksmith,
Forgive me gold and new crown
Skuk gold ring.
Based on a folk song about peasants that he heard from his nanny, A.S. Pushkin wrote more than one poem of his own.
Conclusion
Shrovetide in special songs was ridiculed, scolded, called to return, called her various female names: Izotyevna, Avdotyushka, Akulina Savvishna.
V. I. Dahl mentioned in his writings that for Shrovetide every day of the week had a certain meaning:
- Monday was associated with the meeting;
- Tuesday tied to flirting;
- Wednesday was considered a gourmet;
- Thursday was associated with hospitality;
- Friday was considered mother-in-law's evenings;
- on Saturday they arranged gatherings;
- Sunday was dedicated to the Shrove Tuesday.
The Trinity cycle was also filled with various calendar and ritual songs, and therefore attracted many Russian poets and writers. For example, A.N. Ostrovsky used a ritual song about the cloud.
Composers did not stand aside, they gladly used fragments of ritual songs in their work.
Spring ceremonies were performed during Lent, so there was no game festive character in them. As the main spring genre used - spring flies. These songs were not sung, but clicked, climbing on the roofs, hillocks. With their help, people tried to call for spring, said goodbye to winter.
Part of the spring flies is associated with verses known to everyone since childhood about the “Fly-Tsokotuha” and “Cockroach”.
After the adoption of Christianity, pagan beliefs gradually lost their semantic meaning. The meaning of those magical actions that gave rise to a certain type of folk music was also lost.
But, despite this, the very forms of holding ancient holidays turned out to be stable. Ritual folklore, which underwent significant transformations and updates, continued to function.
The Christian church expressed an extremely negative attitude towards traditional dances and songs. Representatives of the clergy considered folklore sinful, associated with the devil. Such an assessment was discovered by researchers in many chronicles and canonical church decrees. For example, there is information that the Kiev Metropolitan John II wrote in the ninth century to Jacob Chernoritsu (writer) that the holy fathers ordered him to observe piety, and in the case of music and dancing, get up from the table and leave.
It was at that time that another area of folklore appeared, which was born in the depths of the "carnival" culture of Ancient Russia.
She was considered a "crooked mirror" of existing reality, a "stupid" wrong life, in which everything happened the other way around. Reality and fantasy, good and evil, top and bottom were mixed up.
In Soviet times, almost no attention was paid to ancient folk art, and holidays and folk festivals were prohibited. It was during this historical period that many ancient Russian rites and traditions were irretrievably lost. Recently, the situation has changed for the better. Many writers and poets again turned their attention to legends, traditions, old rites, and use them in their creative activities.