Folklore is folk art that reflects the views of people, their moral principles, and the characteristics of life. He appeared even before the emergence writing. People have been composing songs and fairy tales since ancient times. From generation to generation, legends about gods, heroes, campaigns and various natural phenomena are retold. Over time, a huge number of different works have accumulated. Over time, all examples of the activities of poets and writers began to be called oral folk art. Scientists systematized, determined the composition of each direction, and gave the works a scientific name.
Forms of folklore
There are two large groups: small and large genres. Small ones include:
- Lullaby. It has always been used to lull and calm the baby.
- A joke. Short story in the form of a poem that a mother tells to her child.
- Proverb. A concise saying carrying a generalized thought, conclusion, allegory. It differs from a saying in that it consists of a sentence containing a moral teaching.
- Proverb. Displays some phenomenon in life. Its meaning can always be expressed in another phrase. Is not a complete sentence.
- Counting book. An element of the game that helps establish agreement with the accepted rules.
- Patter. A phrase constructed by combining different sounds in such a way as to make it difficult to pronounce quickly.
Small forms include chants, riddles, and pestles. They assume a small volume folklore works, are often elements of pedagogy. Many of them allow you to encourage your child to take action in a playful way. For example, nursery rhymes suggest giving a massage simultaneously with the spoken speech, physical exercise. The most familiar include “Magpie-Crow”, “Ladushki”.
Songs have also been invented for games, which are divided into three large groups: ritual, kissing, and seasonal. The first ones relate to some holiday, for example, Maslenitsa festivities. They played kissing games at parties; they involved a kiss between a guy and a girl at the end. Seasonal ones are common among children, for example, “Warmers”, “Rucheek”.
Children's folklore
Children's folklore is considered one of the most voluminous. This includes works created by adults for children, as well as those composed by children themselves. The structure of children's literature is no different from adult literature. Many genres reflect the life and work of elders, therefore in this direction the moral attitudes of the people and their national traits are most fully voiced.
Examples include the poetry of nurturing or maternal poetry. This includes fairy tales, songs, and jokes created for children. The second part contains works for older and middle-aged children. This:
- teasing;
- comic or play songs;
- puzzles;
- horror stories;
- Mirilki.
Almost all of them are distinguished by their rhythm. A feature of many works is the combination literary text with the game, the presence of a didactic function. One can recognize in them cognitive, aesthetic and ethical functions.
Children's folklore is part of folk pedagogy. Its genres are based on the physical and mental characteristics of children of different age groups. The artistic form is also special: the movement has its own specific imagery system, a tendency towards rhythmic speech or play.
It is not always possible to draw the line between children's and mother's folklore, since from the age of 4-5 children begin to actively imitate adults, repeating their texts. Children's folklore can be found in children's poetry by such authors as K. I. Chukovsky, S. Ya. Marshak, S. V. Mikhalkov.
Major genres of folklore
This type includes:
- fairy tale;
- epic;
- giving;
- legend.
Fairy tale
The tale is entertaining oral history, having an instructive orientation. A distinctive feature of this genre is the presence of miracle and fiction. Fairy tales can be magical, everyday, or about animals. Examples include "The Frog Princess", "Porridge and the Axe".
In fairy tales, truth and goodness triumph. You can always find them right decisions or life paths. The secrets of the ancient worldview are also revealed. A fairy tale makes a child a participant in a fantasy world and makes him empathize with the heroes.
Bylina
Bylinas are ancient songs that most fully reflect all aspects of the historical and everyday life of the Russian people. They amaze with the richness of their plots and motifs, and the power of artistic images.
There are about a hundred epic stories in Russian epic. There are more than two thousand entries. Many of them date back to ancient times. Epic stories always tell about the struggle between two principles. To the very famous heroes include Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich. These characters are collective images, which capture the features of real people. The leading technique in epic storytelling is hyperbole.
Tradition
An example is “The Legend of the Conquest of Siberia by Ermak.” This is a story about real people and events of the past, which needed to be passed on to future generations. Tradition shows reality in everyday forms, but fiction or fantasy is used. The direction is characterized by references to ancestors and old people. Events always revolve around historical figures who are presented in a good light.
It may be based on facts such as a war with foreign invaders, a peasant revolt, large-scale construction, or a royal crowning. There are two ways to create legends: generalization of memories, generalization and design using ready-made plot forms. The second variety is more popular, since general motifs pass from century to century, but are associated with different events and persons.
There are legends:
- historical;
- ethnographic;
- cultural;
- toponymic and others.
Legend
Refers to non-fairytale prosaic folklore. This is a poetic legend about a historical event. The main characters are heroes. Gods and other supernatural forces are often present in the legend. Events are often exaggerated and fiction is added to them. Therefore, scientists do not consider legends to be completely reliable historical evidence.
Russians folk legends heterogeneous in plot and theme. They are divided into several groups:
- About the creation of the world. Often associated with biblical stories, there may also be linguistic elements;
- About animals. Such a narrative tells not only the origin of a certain species, but also its characteristics.
- About Christ, saints. They talk about hell and heaven, helping people.
- About the punishment of the wicked and the forgiveness of sinners. There you can find out how bad person refused to help a good person, for which he was punished. The good always receive rewards.
- About family values. In them, the narrative is built on the relationships between spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters.
Examples include: “The Miracle at the Mill”, “The Poor Widow”, “The Golden Stirrup” and others.
Calendar ritual songs
These are songs that were performed during various rituals: “There was a birch tree in the field,” “Kolyada-Kolyada!”, “Serve the pie.” Such works are associated with the labor of peasants, natural phenomena and holidays. All calendar rituals are associated with solstices and equinoxes.
Rituals were always aimed at achieving a specific goal: cure of diseases, birth of a child. The overwhelming majority of such actions were accompanied by calendar songs. Sometimes they were combined with other forms: lamentations, crying. The most common genre of ritual folklore were conspiracies and spells. These are magical texts that accompany any ritual.
In conclusion, we note: all works can be divided into lyrical and dramatic. The first include lullabies, ditties, love and ritual songs. Dramatic works include works of folklore that contain stage elements of performance
Oral folk art is the traditional verbal creativity of the people. It can be both ancient and new - created in our days. Its main feature is that this art words are passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth.
There are a lot of genres in verbal folk art. These are myths and legends, epics, epics, proverbs and sayings, riddles, ditties, fairy tales, songs... The list of them can be endless. The creator is not an individual, but a people. That is why not a single work has its own specific, single author.
Over the centuries, the creations of people have evolved into entire verbal forms, which subsequently form rhymes (“verses”). Thanks to this technique, the works were easier to transmit and remember. Thus, ritual, round dance, dance, and lullaby songs appeared.
The subject of folklore creativity completely depended and continues to depend on the culture, beliefs, history and region of residence of the people. But the main feature of such creations was and remains the combination of a direct reflection of life with a conventional one. Simply put, in folklore there is not, and was not, a mandatory reflection of life in the form of life itself; convention is always allowed in it.
Genres of folklore
To better understand what oral folk art is, it is necessary to take a closer look at its genres, and there are a great many of them in this type of verbal art.
Proverbs and sayings
Let's start with those that we know well and sometimes use in everyday life - with proverbs and sayings. These types of oral art are among the most interesting genres that have survived to this day.
No one knows for sure when these genres appeared. oral creativity. The undoubted fact remains how accurately and concisely, figuratively, logically complete, the saying expresses the people's mind and experience accumulated over many centuries.
Meanwhile, many of us have long been accustomed to thinking that proverbs and sayings are one and the same thing. Actually this is not true. A proverb is a complete sentence containing folk wisdom. It is written in simple, often rhyming language.
Example of Russian proverbs:
"God saves man, who save himself"
"Small spool but precious"
“A penny saves the ruble”
Then, as a saying, it is an established phrase or phrase. It is intended for decoration.
Example of Russian sayings:
“Stay with your nose” (be deceived)
“Disservice” (help that turns into harm)
“When the cancer whistles on the mountain” (never)
Signs
Signs are another folklore genre that has undergone quite a few changes, but still has not lost its wisdom and has reached modern people.
It appeared in ancient times, when our ancestors were very close to nature, when people observed it, the phenomena occurring around them, and found connections between events. Over time, people put their observations into words. This is how signs appeared, which through the centuries carry the collected knowledge of their ancestors.
Some examples of weather signs:
The larks fly to the warmth, the chaffinch to the cold.
A lot of sap flows from a birch tree - for a rainy summer.
Sparrows bathe in the sand - predicting rain.
Also, many old signs related to home and everyday life have survived to this day. The most common is: “Spilling salt means shedding tears.” It is believed that this sign appeared in the middle of the 17th century, during the times of riots and uprisings in Rus'. Back then, salt was literally worth its weight in gold. This is where the meaning came from - spilling such an expensive “seasoning” like salt will inevitably lead to a quarrel in the house.
A few more examples of everyday signs that are undoubtedly familiar to us:
“If you whistle at home, you’ll miss the money”
“Clothes inside out means hassle”
“If you sew on yourself, you will sew up a memory”
Fairy tales
Since ancient times, certain elements of children's folklore - fairy tales - have also been preserved. Later, this genre of oral art changed greatly. this happened under the influence of aesthetic and pedagogical functions, but still it continues to exist.
However, some genres of verbal art “die out” over time, and humanity gradually forgets about them. This process is a natural phenomenon, it does not indicate decline folk art. On the contrary, the process of “dying away” is a sign that, due to changes in the conditions of human existence, the artistic collective creativity of the people is developing, as a result of which new genres appear and old ones disappear.
Epics
These genres include epics (or as they were also called - antiquities - Russian heroic-patriotic songs-tales, the main plot of which was important historical events or heroic deeds of heroes and warrior maidens). This genre arose in Ancient Rus', existed until the Middle Ages and gradually began to be forgotten by the 19th century.
In addition, ritual folklore can also be classified as almost forgotten genres. Let's look at its components a little closer.
Calendar folklore and annual song cycle
These small genres appeared in connection with the need to monitor the agricultural cycle, as well as changes occurring in nature and religious holidays.
Many proverbs, signs, advice and prohibitions have developed in calendar folklore. Here are some of which have survived to this day:
“If it melts early, it won’t melt for a long time”
“March sows with snow and warms with sun”
Quite a few songs were composed by the people for the annual song cycle. So on Maslenitsa it was customary to bake pancakes, perform rituals of farewell to winter and sing ritual songs. This and some other old traditions have been preserved to this day.
Family folklore
It included such small genres as: family stories, lullabies, nurseries, nursery rhymes, wedding songs, funeral laments.
The name “Family Stories” speaks for itself, and this genre of verbal art has existed since time immemorial - perhaps as long as a person has lived in this world. It is noteworthy in that it is formed quite separately, as a rule, within the framework of the family and close circle.
In addition, this genre has its own peculiarity, it can form “certain expressions” that are understandable only to family members or people present during the event that led to the appearance of this phrase. For example, in the Tolstoy family there was such an expression as “the architect is to blame.”
The birth of this expression was preceded by an event: when Ilya Tolstoy was five years old, New Year he was given the promised cup. The happy child ran to show everyone his gift. While running across the threshold, he tripped and fell. The cup broke. Little Ilya, justifying himself, said that he was not to blame, but the architect who made this threshold was to blame. Since then, the family of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy has had its own expression equivalent to the winged one - “the switchman is to blame.”
Lullabies
One more no less interesting genre There were lullabies in family folklore. In the old days, the ability to sing lullabies was considered a special art. During the game, mothers taught their daughters how to “cradle” correctly. This ability was necessary so that older girls, already at the age of six or seven, could look after the younger ones. That is why special attention was paid to this skill.
The purpose of lullabies was not only to calm, but also to protect the child. Many songs were “conspiracies.” They were designed to protect a small child from dangers that could await him in the future. Often lullabies were addressed to spirits and mythological creatures, carriers of sleep - Dream, Sleep. They were called to lull the baby to sleep. Currently, this genre of folk art is almost forgotten.
Pestushki and nursery rhymes
Pestushki and nursery rhymes were short melodies. They helped the child in development and knowledge of the world around him. Perhaps someone remembers from childhood - “Magpie-Crow...”. Such small songs and sayings encouraged the baby to take action, instilled hygiene skills, and developed fine motor skills, reflexes, helped to understand the world.
Wedding songs
Wedding songs were strikingly different from all other small genres of family folklore. Notable was the fact that these songs were not played outside the wedding ceremony. Moreover, from a functional point of view, they were extremely important, since they played a kind of “legal role” in this event. Along with wedding songs, lamentations played an important role in the ritual. They were an integral part of the holiday; they were lyrical narratives that described the experiences of the bride, parents and girlfriends.
Glorification also played a significant role. Guests used them in songs to praise the bride and groom and wish the newlyweds well-being and happiness. On top of that, not a single wedding could be complete without reproachful songs. This small component of the wedding ceremony consisted of comic songs. As a rule, they were addressed to matchmakers, because of whom the bride “left” her family, girlfriends and lost her maiden will.
Funeral lamentations or laments are another ancient folklore genre, the time and appearance of which no one knows for certain. It has survived only in “scraps” to this day, but from the title you can easily understand what it’s about. we're talking about and what this genre served for.
The main feature of this oral creativity was that it had its own “formula”, or better yet, a strict sequence, which each mourner “decorated” with his own creative element - a story about the life, love or death of the deceased. Now, for example, part of the ritual, as well as crying, can be seen and heard in the film “Viy” (1967).
Occasional folklore
Folklore that does not correspond to generally accepted use. It had an individual character, due to a specific situation and occasion. It included such small genres as chants, counting rhymes, and conspiracies.
Calls
Russian folklore is incredibly rich. They were small songs, often not devoid of humor and accompanied by playful actions. The plots of this small genre were very different: they could be chants about the weather and weather phenomena, about nature and the seasons, about animals and fairy-tale creatures...
Rain, rain! Rain, rain!
On me and on people!
A spoonful for me.
For people it’s okay.
And for the devil in the forest -
Lei a whole bucket!
Counting books
Counting tables are another small genre of verbal folk art. It arose a long time ago, but has now almost disappeared from modern folklore. Meanwhile, no matter how surprising it may sound, in ancient times counting rhymes were widely used by adults. Their main function was the distribution of work.
Yes Yes. After all, then many types of work were not only very difficult, but sometimes life-threatening. Therefore, few people at will I wanted to take on something like this. And the counting rhymes made it possible to distribute the work between the participants so that no one would be “offended.” Nowadays, this “important role” of counting rhymes has been lost, but they still exist and still perform their function in children's games.
CONSPIRACY
And finally, the most amazing, but far from the last, ancient genre of oral speech, quite complex in its structure. folk art, which, oddly enough, continues to live in our time - a conspiracy. Function, since its inception of this genre, has not changed. He still continues to play the role of a “magic weapon” designed to fulfill the wish of the speaker. As mentioned above, this genre is quite original in its execution and is often complex in its design - this is its peculiarity.
We can talk about the genres of oral folk art for an infinitely long time, because all directions are interesting and unique in their own way. This article is intended only to acquaint the reader with the immense, multifaceted wealth of human culture and wisdom, which clearly reflects the experience of previous generations.
(Poiché quanto sotto riportato è parte della mia tesi di laurea magistrale, se desiderate copiare il testo vi prego di citare sempre la fonte e l’autore (Margherita Sanguineti). Grazie.)
Folklore genres also differ in the way they are performed and various combinations text with melody, intonation, movements (singing, singing and dancing, storytelling, acting, etc.).
With changes to social life societies, new genres also 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.
There are genres in folklore productive, in the depths of which new works may appear. Now these are ditties, sayings, city songs, jokes, and many types of children's folklore. There are genres 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.
Depending on the stage of development, folklore is usually divided into early traditional folklore, classical folklore and late traditional folklore. Each group belongs to special genres, typical for a given stage of development of folk art.
Early traditional folklore
1. Labor songs.
These songs are known among all nations, which were performed during labor processes (when lifting heavy objects, plowing fields, manually grinding grain, etc.).
Such songs could be performed when working alone, but they were especially important when working together, since they contained commands for simultaneous action.
Their main element was rhythm, which organized the labor process.
2. Fortune telling and conspiracies.
Fortune telling is a means of recognizing the future. To recognize the future, one had to turn to evil spirits, therefore, fortune telling was perceived as a sinful and dangerous activity.
For fortune-telling, places were chosen where, according to the people, it was possible to come into contact with the inhabitants of the “other world”, as well as the time of day at which this contact was most likely.
Fortune telling was based on the technique of interpreting “signs”: randomly heard words, reflections in water, animal behavior, etc. To obtain these “signs,” actions were taken in which objects, animals, and plants were used. Sometimes actions were accompanied by verbal formulas.
Classic folklore
1. Rituals and ritual folklore
Ritual folklore consisted of verbal, musical, dramatic, game and choreographic genres.
The rituals had ritual and magical significance and contained rules of human behavior in everyday life and work. They are usually divided into work and family.
1.1 Labor rites: calendar rites
The observations of the ancient Slavs on the solstice and the changes in nature associated with it developed into a system of mythological beliefs and practical work skills, reinforced by rituals, signs, and proverbs.
Gradually the rituals formed an annual cycle, and the most important holidays were timed to coincide with the winter and summer solstice.
There are winter, spring, summer and autumn rituals.
1.2. Family rituals
Unlike calendar rituals, the hero of family rituals is a real person. Rituals accompanied many events in his life, among which the most important were birth, marriage and death.
The most developed was wedding ceremony, it had its own characteristics and laws, its own mythology and its own poetry.
1.3. Lamentations
This is an ancient genre of folklore, genetically related to funeral rites. The object of the depiction of lamentations is the tragic in life, therefore they strongly express lyrical beginning, the melody is weakly expressed and in the content of the text one could find many exclamatory-interrogative constructions, synonymous repetitions, unity of beginning, etc.
2. Small genres of folklore. Proverbs.
Small folklore genres include works that differ in genre, but have a common external feature - a small volume.
Small genres of folklore prose, or proverbs, are very diverse: proverbs, sayings, signs, riddles, jokes, proverbs, tongue twisters, puns, well wishes, curses, etc.
3. Fairy tales(see § 2.)
3.1. Animal Tales
3.2. Fairy tales
3.3. Everyday tales
3.3.1. Anecdotal tales
3.3.2. Short story tales
4. Non-fairy prose
Non-fairy tale prose has a different modality than fairy tales: its works are confined to real time, real terrain, real persons. Non-fairy-tale prose is characterized by not being distinguished from the flow of everyday speech and the absence of special genre and style canons. In the very in a general sense we can say that her works are characterized by the stylistic form of an epic narrative about the authentic.
The most stable component is the character, around which all the rest of the material is united.
An important feature of non-fairy tale prose is the plot. Usually the plots have an embryonic form (single-motive), but can be conveyed both concisely and in detail.
Works of non-fairy tale prose are capable of contamination.
The following genres belong to non-fairy tale prose: tales, legends and demonological stories.
5. Epics
Epics are epic songs, in which heroic events or individual episodes of ancient Russian history are glorified.
As in fairy tales, epics feature mythological images enemies, characters are reincarnated, animals help the heroes.
The epics have a heroic or novelistic character: the idea of heroic epics is the glorification of the unity and independence of the Russian land; in the novelistic epics marital fidelity, true friendship were glorified, personal vices (bragging, arrogance) were condemned.
6. Historical songs
Historical songs are folk epic, lyric epic and lyrical songs, the content of which is dedicated to specific events and real persons of Russian history and expresses the national interests and ideals of the people.
7. Ballads
Folk ballads are lyric-epic songs about a tragic event. Ballads are characterized by personal, family and everyday themes. At the center of the ballads are moral problems: love and hatred, loyalty and betrayal, crime and repentance.
8. Spiritual Poems
Spiritual poems are songs with religious content.
The main feature of spiritual verses is the contrast between everything Christian and the worldly.
Spiritual poems are heterogeneous. In oral existence they interacted with epics, historical songs, ballads, lyrical songs, and lamentations.
9. Lyrical non-ritual songs
In folk lyrics, word and melody are inseparable. The main purpose of songs is to reveal the worldview of the people by directly expressing their feelings, thoughts and moods.
These songs expressed the characteristic experiences of a Russian person in different life situations.
10. Folklore theatre.
Folklore theater is the traditional dramatic creativity of the people.
Specific features of folk theater are the absence of a stage, the separation of performers and audience, action as a form of reflection of reality, the transformation of the performer into another objectified image, the aesthetic orientation of the performance.
The plays were often distributed in in writing, were rehearsed in advance, which did not exclude improvisation.
Folklore theater includes: booths, traveling picture theater (rayok), folk puppet theater and folk dramas.
11. Children's folklore.
Children's folklore is a specific area of oral artistic creativity, which, unlike the folklore of adults, has its own poetics, its own forms of existence and its own carriers.
A common, generic feature of children's folklore is the correlation of the artistic text with the game.
Works of children's folklore are performed by adults for children (mother's folklore) and by the children themselves (actually children's folklore)
Late traditional folklore
Late traditional folklore is a collection of works of different genres and different directions, created in peasant, urban, soldier, worker and other environments since the beginning of the development of industry, the growth of cities, and the collapse of the feudal countryside.
Late traditional folklore is characterized by a smaller number of works and generally less high artistic level compared to classical folklore.
1. Ditties
A chastushka is a short rhyming folk song that is sung at a fast tempo to a specific melody.
The themes of the ditties are varied. Most of them are devoted to love and family themes. But they often reflect modern life people, the changes that are taking place in the country contain sharp political hints. The ditty is characterized by a humorous attitude towards its characters, irony, and sometimes sharp satire.
2. Workers' folklore
Workers' folklore – oral folk works, which were created in the working environment or assimilated by it and processed so much that they began to reflect the spiritual needs of this particular environment.
Unlike ditties, workers' folklore did not turn into a national, all-Russian phenomenon. His characteristic feature– locality, isolation within a particular industrial territory. For example, workers in factories, factories and mines in Petrozavodsk, Donbass, the Urals, Altai and Siberia knew almost nothing oral works each other.
Song genres predominated in workers' folklore. The songs depicted the difficult working and living conditions of a simple worker, which were contrasted with the idle life of the oppressors - enterprise owners and overseers.
In form, the songs are monologues-complaints.
3. Folklore of the period of the Great Patriotic War.
Folklore of the period of the Great Patriotic War consists of works of various genres: songs, prose, aphoristic. They were created by the participants in events and battles, workers of factories, collective farm fields, partisans, etc.
These works reflect the life and struggle of the peoples of the USSR, the heroism of the country's defenders, faith in victory, the joy of victory, fidelity in love and love betrayals.
In our work we will dwell in more detail on the folklore classical genre of fairy tales.
Folklore is a system of systems. Like literature, it is divided into poetic genres: epic, lyric, drama. Genera are divided into types (song, fairy tale, non-fairy tale prose, etc.), and types are divided into genres. Some genres have a combination of characteristics of different types (lyric epic songs). If the classification is based on the way in which works exist, then folklore will be divided into ritual and non-ritual. Based on volume, small genres are distinguished.
Genre is the basic unit of study of folklore. Each genre is a typical structural model that has the ability to implement a certain life attitude. In the oral folk poetic tradition, genres are interconnected and interact.
Many genres are universal (for example: proverbs, riddles, fairy tales, legends, epic songs). Being perfect forms of artistic exploration of reality, they lived for centuries in the folklore of different peoples.
Folklore developed depending on changes in everyday life, the social life of the people and their consciousness. Many elements of folklore changed, processed, and transformed. There was a gradual replacement of the outdated system of genres with a new artistic system.
Russian folklore has its own history. Its roots go back to the ancient Slavic period, and then to the times of the united ancient Russian nationality. The feudal era led to the flourishing of classical folklore. Later, urban folklore, folklore of industrial workers, etc. appeared.
Early traditional folklore, classical folklore, late traditional folklore — art systems, historically replacing one another.
Folklore genres:
I. Early traditional folklore (work songs, fortune telling, spells).
II. Classic folklore:
1. Ritual.
2. Non-ritual:
a) Prose genres (fairy tale, tradition, legend, epic);
b) Poetic genres (epic, historical song, ballad);
c) Children's folklore (jokes, teases, pestushka, nursery rhyme, joke, counting rhyme, etc.);
d) Small genres (proverb, saying, sign, curse, tongue twister, etc.).
III. Late traditional folklore: (ditties, WWII poetry, workers' folklore).
The foundations of artistic imagery of oral folk art were formed in the prehistoric period, when early traditional folklore appeared simultaneously with language (human speech).
Early traditional folklore is a set of ancient genera and types of folklore, an archaic system that preceded the formation of the actual artistic creativity of the people.
The question of the early stages of the development of folklore cannot be considered based on the material of only one people. It is necessary to take into account the ancient kinship of close peoples (for example, the Slavs), as well as the universal, typological laws of the development of society and culture that operated everywhere.
Researchers of early traditional folklore turn to data from history and language. They conduct observations on the life and culture of ethnic groups that are delayed in their development, as well as on the remnants of primitive culture in the folklore of civilized peoples. This approach is called retrospective.
Labor songs.
Labor activity played a huge role in the origin and development of folklore.
During labor processes that required constant rhythmic efforts, labor songs arose already in ancient times. They are known among all nations and were performed during lifting weights, driving piles, plowing fields, drawing water, manually grinding grain, dressing flax, while rowing, etc. Such songs could be performed when working alone, but they were especially important when working together. The songs contained commands for simultaneous action. Their main element was rhythm, which organized the labor process.
In Russian folklore, echoes of ancient work songs have been preserved and have reached our time, without losing their productive functions. These are the so-called “dubinushki” - choruses in burlatsky songs performed on the Kama, Don and especially on the Volga. They were sung by barge haulers, porters, boatmen, and loaders. Depending on the type of work and its rhythm, a rhythmic pattern of the chorus was created.
Fortune telling. Conspiracies.
Signs, fortune telling, witchcraft, and conspiracies are known among all nations. They are based on a mythical perception of the world, which gave the environment a special, hidden meaning. In ancient times, they were based on figurative, metaphorical thinking, assimilation by analogies. The persistence of these phenomena is amazing: superstition and witchcraft, especially in a modernized guise, still exist today.
Divination- a means of recognizing the future. The fortuneteller does not try to influence the natural course of events, but only strives to penetrate hidden secrets. To recognize the future, one had to turn to evil spirits, so fortune telling was perceived as a sinful and dangerous activity (for example, fortune tellers took off their crosses).
For fortune-telling, places were chosen where, according to the people, it was possible to come into contact with the inhabitants of the “other world” (crossroads, bathhouse, cemetery, etc.), as well as the time of day at which this contact was most likely (evening , midnight, until the first rooster). Nevertheless, Christian images also penetrated into fortune telling.
In fortune-telling, people sought to get an answer to one or another important question for them: about health, about the harvest and offspring of livestock, about the fate of those who had gone to war... The most numerous were the fortune-telling of girls about their upcoming marriage.
The most artistically developed were festive fortune-telling - collective fortune-telling about the future. The symbolism of special sub-dish songs played a primary role in them.
The name "podblyudnye" comes from a type of fortune telling. Having gathered in a hut, the participants (most often girls) took a dish (bowl), put rings or other small objects in it, taking off themselves, poured water into the dish and covered it with a scarf. (A version of this ritual without water is also known.)
The choir sang songs - poetic predictions, and someone, without looking, took out the objects placed there from the dish. First they gave honor to the bread and only then sang other songs. They could foreshadow wealth, wedding, continuation of girlhood, misfortune, death. Whose item was taken out, the prediction related to that. The number of songs depended on the number of fortune tellers.
Russian Christmas fortune telling with chickens.1858. Lubok
CONSPIRACY(or spell) - a work of a magical nature, pronounced with the aim of influencing the world, its phenomena and objects in order to obtain the desired result. Spells are an integral part of witchcraft. The pronouncing of a conspiracy was often accompanied by actions with water, fire, various objects, etc., as well as the sign of the cross. When pronouncing healing spells (for example, in a bath), the patient was given infusions of medicinal herbs, spat on, massage, and elements of hypnosis were used.
Conspiracies were passed down from eldest to youngest, often through relatives. There was a belief that sorcerers had to get rid of their knowledge before death and that they could do this by deception (for this they only had to touch another person).
They also believed that the text of the conspiracy could not be changed, otherwise its power would weaken. Therefore, not relying on memory, conspiracies were written down in notebooks. There was even a written form of their everyday life. However, despite this, conspiracies, like any folklore phenomenon, were subject to variability.
Classic folklore- a rich system of developed, artistically valuable genres. It functioned productively for centuries and was closely connected with feudal life and the patriarchal consciousness of the people.
Works of classical folklore are usually divided into ritual and non-ritual.
Ritual folklore consisted of verbal, musical, dramatic, game, and choreographic genres that were part of traditional folk rituals.
Non-ritual folklore.
In oral prose there are two large sections: fairy tales And non-fairy prose. Their distinction is based on the different attitudes of the people themselves towards fairy tales as fiction and “events” as truth. From the point of view of the people, fairy tales have no other purpose than to act on fantasy. They amaze, surprise, delight, and are interesting with their unusual humorous situations.
Tradition is a story about the past, sometimes very distant. Tradition depicts reality in everyday forms, although fiction and sometimes even fantasy are always used. The main purpose of legends is to preserve the memory of national history. Legends began to be written down before many folklore genres, as they were an important source for chroniclers. A large number of legends exist in the oral tradition even today.
Traditions are an “oral chronicle,” a genre of non-fairy tale prose with an emphasis on historical authenticity. The word “delivery” itself means “transfer, preserve.” Legends are characterized by references to old people and ancestors. The events of legends are concentrated around historical figures who, regardless of their social status(be it a king or the leader of a peasant uprising) are most often presented in an ideal light.
Any legend is historical at its core, because the impetus for its creation is always a genuine fact: a war with foreign invaders, a peasant revolt, large-scale construction, a crowning of the kingdom, etc. At the same time, legend is not identical to reality. As a folklore genre, it has the right to artistic invention and offers its own interpretation of history. Plot fiction arises on the basis historical fact(for example, after the hero of the legend has been at a given point). Fiction does not contradict historical truth, but, on the contrary, contributes to its identification.
Legends- This prose works, in which events associated with the phenomena of inanimate nature, with the world of plants, animals, and people (tribes, peoples, individuals) are fantastically comprehended; with supernatural beings (God, saints, angels, unclean spirits ). The main functions of legends are explanatory and moralizing. Legends are associated with Christian ideas, but there is also a pagan basis in them. In legends, man turns out to be immeasurably higher than evil spirits .
Folk demonological stories- These are superstitious narratives associated with characters from the category of lower mythology.
Pagan worldview of peasants mid-19th century V. captured by I. A. Goncharov. He wrote: “In Oblomovka they believed everything: werewolves and the dead. If they were told that a haystack was walking across the field, they would not think twice and believe it; would anyone miss the rumor that this was not a ram, but what something else, or that such and such Marfa or Stepanida is a witch, they will be afraid of both the ram and Martha: it will not even occur to them to ask why the ram became not a ram, and Martha became a witch, and they will even attack him “Whoever would think to doubt this, the belief in the miraculous is so strong in Oblomovka!”
In science, demonological stories were first called blades of epic. - those. short stories about goblins, brownies, devils and devils, half-believers, sorcerers - in a word, about representatives of dark, evil spirits.
Demonological stories are addressed to the present, what happened in them is incredible, the narrator experiences a feeling of fear. The main goal pursued by a story or story is to convince listeners of the truth of what is being reported, to influence them emotionally, and to instill fear of a demonic creature. The plots of tales and tales are usually small in size and single-motive. The characters are a human and a demonic creature. The devil (the devil) was very popular - a universal image denoting any “evil spirit.” Various characters in fairy tales could be called devils.
The time, place of the event, and the image of the demonic creature (its portrait and behavior) are characteristic. Demons appear at the “unclean”, borderline times of the year and day: at Christmas time, on Kupala night, at noon, at midnight, before dawn, after sunset. Everything happens at dusk, in the dark night, in the fog, in the light of the moon...
A person meets them where they are: as a rule, in deserted and dangerous places. These are wastelands, forest wilds, swamps; intersections and points of deserted roads; caves, pits, reservoirs, especially whirlpools (for example, near mills), whirlpools; wells, even vessels with water. Demons live in trees (birches and willows, in hazel); in undergrounds and attics, in abandoned houses, in bathhouses, barns, barns; and even in the hut - under the stove or behind it.
Epics- these are epic songs in which heroic events or individual episodes of ancient Russian history are sung. In their original form, epics took shape and developed during the period of early Russian statehood (in Kievan Rus), expressing the national consciousness of the Eastern Slavs. (about Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, Vladimir Monomakh, Dobrynya, Sadko, Alexander Popovich, Ilya Muromets, etc.)
Historical songs- these are folk epic, lyric-epic and lyrical songs, the content of which is dedicated to specific events and real persons of Russian history and expresses the national interests and ideals of the people. They arose in connection with important phenomena in the history of the people - those that made a deep impression on the participants and were preserved in the memory of subsequent generations. (Songs about Ivan the Terrible, about the “Time of Troubles”, about Stepan Razin, about Peter’s time, about the Pugachev uprising, about Patriotic War 1812)
Folk ballads- these are lyric-epic songs about a tragic event. Ballads are characterized by personal, family and everyday themes. The ideological orientation of ballads is associated with folk humanistic morality. At the center of the ballads are moral problems: love and hatred, loyalty and betrayal, crime and repentance.
Late traditional folklore- this is a set of works of different genres and different orientations, created in peasant, urban, soldier, worker and other environments since the beginning of the development of industry, the growth of cities, and the collapse of the feudal countryside.
Late traditional folklore is characterized by a smaller number of works and a generally lower artistic level compared to classical folklore - a rich, developed, centuries-old culture, generated by feudal life and a patriarchal worldview.
Late traditional folklore is distinguished by a complex interweaving of the new with the old. In the village repertoire there was a transformation of classical genres, which began to be influenced by literary poetics. Proverbs and sayings, anecdotal tales, folk songs of literary origin, and children's folklore have shown their viability.
The ancient lingering song was greatly supplanted by the city's "cruel romances", as well as quickly and widely spreading ditty. At the same time, epics, old historical songs, old ballads and spiritual poems, and fairy tales were gradually forgotten. Folk rituals and the poetry that accompanied them over time lost their utilitarian-magical meaning, especially in urban conditions.
WITH late XVIII V. in Russia, the first state-owned factories and serf-owned manufactories appeared, in which civilian workers from impoverished peasants, convicts, passportless vagabonds, etc. worked. In this motley environment, works arose that laid the foundation for a new phenomenon - workers' folklore. With the development of capitalism and the growth of the proletariat, the topics expanded, the number of works of oral creativity of workers, which was characterized by the influence of book poetry, increased.
The emergence of the working class, a layer of artisans, led to the formation of a new branch in folklore, which over time becomes a noticeable and specific phenomenon.
From peasant folklore, this creativity inherited the most democratic, socially, morally and aesthetically valuable traditions, experience, forms, and repertoire that meet the spirit of the time and the needs of “its” class.
Their critical rethinking took place taking into account the needs of the working class and its situation, as can be seen in the example of Russian folk songs that existed in Russia in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries.
At the first stage, the emerging songs of workers were nourished by the traditions of peasant folk songs of social protest, songs of literary origin, Decembrist, populist songs. Peasant songs often served as the basis for the creation of highly social songs of workers.
The work song and urban romance, which by that time had formed into an independent branch of creativity, began to actively spread among the peasants, in turn influencing the development of new forms of peasant folklore.
The acquisition of workers' folklore of its own original shape, the borrowing of various elements from other spheres of creativity and their processing is a process full of drama. It involves both the denial of peasant folklore and, in a certain sense, its genre reworking, updating, and simplification.
The destruction of the patriarchal way of life, which began especially rapidly in the second half of the 19th century. - since the abolition of serfdom and the capitalization of Russia, it has fundamentally changed the situation in traditional creativity. Folklore gradually moved to other positions in cultural environment. Folklore of the 20th century is only one paradigm of cultural development with all the ensuing fundamental changes in the foundations of its existence.
Folklore, translated from in English, means “folk wisdom, folk knowledge.” 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. Since the beginning of the 20th century. the term is also used in a narrower, more specific meaning: oral folk art.
Folklore is an art that has been formed over many centuries and changes over time.
Only all 3 of these factors, present AT THE SAME TIME, are a sign of folklore and distinguish it from literature.
Syncretism is the unity and indivisibility of various types of art, characteristic of the early stages of its development. Artistic creativity is not separated from other types of activity and, together with them, is directly included in practical life. Syncretism is an undeveloped state of early traditional folklore. The most ancient types of verbal art arose in the process of the formation of human speech in the Upper Paleolithic era. Verbal creativity in ancient times was closely connected with human labor activity and reflected religious, mythical, historical ideas, as well as the beginnings of scientific knowledge. Ritual actions, through which primitive man sought to influence the forces of nature, fate, were accompanied by words: spells and conspiracies were pronounced, and various requests or threats were addressed to the forces of nature. The art of words was closely connected with other types of primitive art - music, dance, decorative art. 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 are 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.
Types of folklore: Epic (legends, fairy tales, traditions, epics - genres) Lyric-epic genre (transitional) - romance
Lyrics (songs, ditties); Drama (folklore theater)
Types of folklore: Archaic - folklore develops among peoples at the primitive stage of development. There is no written language yet; culture is oral. The folklore of people with mythological thinking covers the entire culture of the ethnic group. Classical - folklore takes shape in the era when states are formed, writing and literature emerge. Here artistic fiction is formed, a genre system is formed. Modern is post-folklore, which developed in Russia after the abolition of serfdom. His element is the city. Epic songs, fairy tales and traditional lyrical songs are being replaced by songs of a new formation, ditties, and anecdotes.
Folklore (according to V.E. Gusev) - verbally - musically - choreographically - the dramatic part of folk art (the spiritual component of folk culture) - not material art. Materially expressed (DPI) – folk art.
Folklore is a syncretic and synthetic art, because combines various types of art.
Signs of folklore: Orality (not only the form of dissemination, but the form in which it has the greatest aesthetic impact); Impersonality (the work has an author, but is not identified); Collectivity (as an aesthetic category. The quality of the project accepted by the team corresponds to folk tradition. Collectivity = tradition + improvisation); Traditionality (works are inserted on the basis of traditions); Variability ( different variants in different territories); Improvisation; Nationality (aesthetic category, expression of ideals, interests, aspirations of the people).
Tradition is stable patterns, artistic techniques and means used by a community of people for many generations and passed on from generation to generation. Tradition is understood as the most general principles of creativity, and in folklore - a set of stable plot forms, types, heroes, and poetic forms.
Folklore genres:
The folklore genre is a set of works united by a common poetic system, everyday use, forms of performance and musical structure. (V.Ya. Propp) Genre is a unit of classification of folklore
Ph-r is divided into genera (epic, lyric, drama), genera - into types (eg, songs, fairy tales, etc.), and types into genres. If the method of existence of works is used as the basis for the classification, then the genre will be divided into ritual and non-ritual.
The epic reproduces reality in narrative form in the form of objective pictures. Divided into: Songs (poems)
Epics; historical songs; ballads; spiritual poems; Prose; Fairytale prose; Animal Tales; Fairy tales; Jokes
Novels; Non-fairy prose; Legends; Legends; Bylichki (demonological stories).
In epic folklore genres, the main artistic feature is the plot. It is built on a conflict, which is based on the hero's clash with supernatural or real opponents. The plot can be both simple and complex, the events can be perceived as both real and fictional, and the content can be related to the past, present and future.
Lyrics - lyrics poetically depict the inner, state of mind person, his subjective experiences
Songs of Ditties; Lamentations; Dramatic genres of folklore have a spectacular and playful nature, and convey the attitude to reality in the play action; Ritual games; Dramatic games; Late theatrical genres; Theater of live actors; Puppet show; Rayok;
According to the method of existence of works, folklore is divided into: Ritual; Ritual calendar; Ritual family; Non-ritual.
In addition, there are small genres of folklore: paremias; Proverbs and sayings; Puzzles
As well as such types as children's folklore (lullabies, teasers, horror stories, chants, etc.), folklore of workers (songs, ditties, prose), folklore of the Second World War (ditties, front department, rear, driven into occupation, Victory, etc.)
Each folklore genre has its own circle of heroes, its own plots and stylistic devices, however, all together folklore genres in their natural existence they are interconnected and form a system. In this system, outdated f.zh. are destroyed. and on their basis new ones are born.
Folklore researchers: V.N. Tatishchev (18th century), Slavophiles P.V. Kirievsky, N.M. Yazykov, V.I. Dahl et al.; 1850-60s: F.I. Buslaev, A.N. Afanasyev, A.N. Veselovsky, V.F. Miller; beginning of the Soviet era: B.M. and Yu.M. Sokolovs, D.K. Zelenin, M.K. Azadovsky, N.P. Andreev. Second floor. 20 in: V.I. Chicherov, V.Ya. Propp, N.N. Veletskaya, V.K. Sokolova, L.N. Vinogradova, I.E. Karpukhin, V.P. Anikin, E.V. Pomerantseva, E.M. Meletinsky, V.A. Bakhtin, V.E. Gusev, A.F. Nekrylova, B.N. Putilov, etc.
