The art of Kievan Rus. Culture of Kievan Rus

Art of Kievan Rus

Folklore Kievan Rus

Language is, first of all, a means of communication between people. It connects the individual with a social group: both with the immediate environment - family or friend, and with a wider social group - clan, tribe, nation. In society, language performs various official functions, serving the Church, state, and justice. At the stage of “literary language” it becomes an instrument of education, science, and literature.

Before reaching this final cultural stage, language is undergoing a long process of internal development, being a means of self-expression for individuals and groups during work and leisure. We usually call products of such self-expression “folklore”. Echoes of this ancient poetic tradition were preserved mainly among peasants, at least in Russia, and therefore the term "folklore" became almost synonymous with the concept " folk literature", denoting literary works of the lower classes. In the ancient period the situation was different, since the development creativity in the field of literature was based on the cooperation of all social groups. During the Kievan period, after the introduction of Christianity in Rus' and the appearance of written texts, a kind of dualism formed in literary art. As Roman Jakobson masterfully puts it:

"For many centuries Russian written literature remained almost entirely the prerogative of the Church: for all its richness and high artistry, the ancient Russian literary heritage almost entirely consists of biographies of saints and pious people, religious legends, prayers, sermons, theological discussions and chronicles in the monastic style. However, the ancient Russian people possessed a rich, original, varied and highly artistic literature, but the only means of dissemination was oral presentation. The idea of using letters for secular poetry was completely alien to the Russian tradition, and means of expression this poetry were inseparable from the oral heritage and oral tradition" Rybakov B.A. Rus' in the era of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign." - In the book: History of Russia: From ancient times to the present day. M., 2006, vol. 1, p.575.

The main component of Russian folklore is the song - language and rhythm, words and melody are closely intertwined in it. A Russian proverb says quite characteristically: “You can’t erase a word from a song.” It was also said that “The Song is a living chronicle of the Russian people.” Since time immemorial, Russians have captured in song the entire course of their lives: work and entertainment, joy and sadness, minor incidents and great ones. historical events.

Russian folklore has accompanied the Russian people throughout their history, and only at the very Lately the sources of folklore began to dry up under the influence of industrialized and mechanized civilization. In villages, especially in northern Russia, storytellers of ancient epics are still held in high esteem.

Apart from the "Tale of Igor's Campaign", which, of course, was created not by the "people", but by an individual creator who belonged to the aristocratic class, the first written text of Russian folklore poem, a spiritual verse, dates from the fifteenth century. The oldest known Russian manuscript folk ballads, apparently created in 1619 for Richard James, an Oxford graduate who served as a chaplain to English merchants in Russia. The Englishman, therefore, has the honor of being a pioneer in the study of Russian folklore. James's manuscript contains only six songs.

Most of the works of Russian folklore we know, including folk prose such as fairy tales, were recorded in writing or, more recently, in audio form during the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Thus, there is no formal evidence for dating these materials other than the date of recording, which in most cases is relatively recent.

For some epic songs, the earliest date of composition can be determined by context. Thus, the song about the death of voivode Skopin-Shuisky, one of those recorded for James, certainly could not have appeared earlier than 1610, the date of the voivode’s death. In most cases, however, this method is unreliable. Some epic songs glorifying Prince Vladimir may have been created in his time, but we cannot be sure that we have the original text.

Thus, trying to select from the general fund of ancient Russian folklore a part that can be confidently attributed to the Kievan period is indeed an extremely difficult task. We can be sure that this or that folk song very ancient, but it is unlikely that we will be able to prove this in each specific case. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the roots of folklore, including Russian folk art, go deep into history - in many cases much further than the Kyiv period. Consequently, the picture of civilization of that period will be incomplete if folklore is left out of consideration, and even a hypothetical dating of some songs is better than ignoring the subject.

It is obvious that some of the ritual songs that originally accompanied or symbolized various stages of the agricultural cycle are very ancient. Traces of pagan beliefs, the worship of the Sun and the Earth, are visible in many of them. This group includes songs performed during festivities on the occasion of the winter solstice (carols), the spring equinox (Maslenitsa), summer solstice(semik or rusalya) and the autumn solstice. After the introduction of Christianity in Rus', the former pagan holidays were combined with Christian ones, and the lyrics of some songs changed accordingly; old carol songs now played the role of Christmas hymns. In many cases, evidence ancient origin the song, in addition to its content, is an ancient melodic form. In general, there is enough indirect evidence that many Russian ritual songs developed in the Kievan period, if not earlier. An important part of the ritual songs is the cycle of wedding songs, which corresponds to the complex ceremonies that accompanied the ancient wedding ceremony, still performed among peasants. Each action of the ritual corresponds to a special song. Some are very cheerful, others are sad and even sad.

Epic songs (antiques, epics), which in terms of content can be dated back to the Kievan period, are quite numerous. These poems are usually dedicated to glorious deeds mighty heroes who defended Russian land from steppe nomads. In some cases, the hero’s opponent is a Jew (Jew). Of course, this refers to the struggle of the Russians with the Khazars. In many cases, however, the enemy in the various readings of the surviving texts is a Tatar, which for the Kievan period, of course, would be an anachronism, since the Tatars - as the Mongols were called in Rus' - appeared only in the thirteenth century.

The heroes glorified in epic poems are mainly warriors of St. Vladimir. Although they are always ready to defend the prince and his state, there is no servility in them, they communicate with him in a friendly manner, sometimes even scold the prince and his wife. They were not disciplined soldiers but rugged individualists and, indeed, each of them is portrayed as an individual with his own character. The eldest of them is Ilya Muromets, a large, powerful man of peasant origin, purposeful and fearless, but without traces of civilization. His main associate is Alyosha Popovich, the son of a priest, who relies on his cunning. Dobrynya Nikitich is a boyar, a noble, generous person. Another popular character from the gallery of portraits of heroes is Churilo Plenkovic, whom no girl could resist.

Other epic poems were later added to the Vladimir cycle of epics, including the legend of Volkh Vseslavich, which describes the adventures of Prince Vseslav of Polotsk, and the poem about Duke Stepanovich, which was composed in Galicia in the twelfth century and reflects the close ties of this principality with the Byzantine Empire. The famous poem "Sadko", an early version of which was also apparently created in the twelfth century, is a typically Novgorod work. Its hero is not a steppe hero, but a merchant traveler; wealth, not military prowess, gives color to history.

Another Novgorod epic - about Vasily Buslaev - is of a completely different kind. Vaska (diminutive of Vasily) is one of the unbridled young men of the city-republic; he is always looking for adventure and does not recognize any authority. A free-thinker, he does not revere the church, he is not superstitious, as the poet says: “he does not believe in dreams or choke.”

Returning to the “steppe epics,” it should be emphasized that some of them have parallels with Persian and Turkic folklore. For example, some episodes of the story about Ilya Muromets remind us of the great Persian epic "Shahnameh". Perhaps the Circassians were a link between Russian and Persian poetry; Circassian influences themselves can also be read in certain Russian epic songs. It is noteworthy that the hero of one of the ancient Russian epics is called Svyatogor (“prince of the holy mountains”). By these mountains, apparently, the Caucasian ridge was meant.

In conclusion, it is necessary to say a few words about the Russian fairy tale. The fairy tale has been extremely popular among the Russian people throughout the country's history. As an integral part of Russian folklore, it is rich and varied. There are two main genres of fairy tales: magical and satirical. Fairy tales, with their flying carpets, self-assembled tablecloths, etc., may have their roots in pagan witchcraft. Their popularity stems from people's dreams of things that would make life easier.

Satirical tales provide an outlet for popular discontent with political and social injustice. It's interesting that some fairy tale characters, for example Baba Yaga, are mentioned in the chronicles, which indicates the popularity of fairy tales in the Kievan period.

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Writing and enlightenment

The existence of writing among the Eastern Slavs in the pre-Christian period is evidenced by numerous written sources and archaeological finds. The creation of the Slavic alphabet is associated with the names of the Byzantine monks Cyril and Methodius. In the second half of the 9th century, Cyril created the Glagolitic alphabet (Glagolitic), in which the first translations of church books were written for the Slavic population of Moravia and Pannonia. At the turn of the 9th-10th centuries, on the territory of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, as a result of the synthesis of the Greek script, which had long been widespread here, and those elements of the Glagolitic alphabet that successfully conveyed the features of the Slavic languages, the alphabet arose, which was later called the Cyrillic alphabet. Subsequently, this easier and more convenient alphabet supplanted the Glagolitic alphabet and became the only one among the southern and eastern Slavs.

The Baptism of Rus' contributed to the widespread and rapid development of writing and written culture. Of significant importance was the fact that Christianity was accepted in its Eastern, Orthodox version, which, unlike Catholicism, allowed worship in national languages. This created favorable conditions for the development of writing in native language.

The development of writing in the native language led to the fact that the Russian church from the very beginning did not become a monopolist in the field of literacy and education. The spread of literacy among layers of the urban population is evidenced by birch bark letters discovered during archaeological excavations in Novgorod, Tver, Smolensk, Torzhok, Staraya Russa, Pskov, Staraya Ryazan, etc. These are letters, memos, training exercises, etc. Writing, therefore, was used not only to create books, state and legal acts, but also in everyday life. Inscriptions on handicraft products are often found. Ordinary townspeople left numerous notes on the walls of churches in Kyiv, Novgorod, Smolensk, Vladimir and other cities. The oldest surviving book in Rus' is the so-called. “Novgorod Psalter” of the first quarter of the 11th century: wooden tablets covered with wax with the texts of Psalms 75 and 76.

Most of the written monuments before the Mongol period were destroyed during numerous fires and foreign invasions. Only a small part of them has survived. The oldest of them are the “Ostromir Gospel”, written by Deacon Gregory for the Novgorod mayor Ostromir in 1057, and two “Izborniki” by Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich in 1073 and 1076. High level The professional skill with which these books were made testifies to the well-established production of handwritten books already in the first half of the 11th century, as well as to the well-established skills of “book construction” by that time.

The correspondence of books was carried out mainly in monasteries. The situation changed in the 12th century, when major cities The craft of “book describers” also arose. This speaks of the increasing literacy of the population and the increased need for books, which the monastery scribes could not satisfy. Many princes kept book scribes with them, and some of them copied books themselves.

At the same time, the main centers of book production continued to be monasteries and cathedral churches, where there were special workshops with permanent teams of copyists. They not only copied books, but also kept chronicles, created original literary works, and translated foreign books. One of the leading centers of this activity was the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, in which a special literary direction, which had a great influence on the literature and culture of Ancient Rus'. As chronicles testify, already in the 11th century in Rus', libraries with up to several hundred books were created at monasteries and cathedral churches.

Needing literate people, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich organized the first schools. Literacy was not a privilege only of the ruling class; it also penetrated among the townspeople. Discovered in significant quantities in Novgorod, letters written on birch bark (from the 11th century) contain correspondence of ordinary townspeople; Inscriptions were also made on handicraft products.

Education was highly valued in ancient Russian society. In the literature of that time one can find many eulogies to the book, statements about the benefits of books and “book teaching.”

Literature

With the adoption of Christianity, Ancient Rus' was introduced to book culture. The development of Russian writing gradually became the basis for the emergence of literature and was closely connected with Christianity. Despite the fact that writing was known in Russian lands earlier, it was only after the baptism of Rus' that it became widespread. It also received a basis in the form of a developed cultural tradition Eastern Christianity. Extensive translated literature became the basis for the formation of an improper tradition.

The original literature of Ancient Rus' is characterized by great ideological richness and high artistic perfection. Its prominent representative was Metropolitan Hilarion, the author of the famous “Sermon on Law and Grace,” dating back to the mid-11th century. This work clearly demonstrates the idea of the need for the unity of Rus'. Using the form of a church sermon, Hilarion created a political treatise, which reflected the pressing problems of Russian reality. Contrasting “grace” (Christianity) with “law” (Judaism), Hilarion rejects the concept of God’s chosenness inherent in Judaism and affirms the idea of transferring heavenly attention and favor from one chosen people to all humanity, the equality of all peoples.

An outstanding writer and the historian was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor. His “Reading” about the princes Boris and Gleb and the “Life of Theodosius,” valuable for the history of everyday life, have been preserved. “Reading” is written in a somewhat abstract style; edifying and ecclesiastical elements are strengthened in it. An outstanding monument of ancient Russian chronicle writing, “The Tale of Bygone Years,” dates back to approximately 1113, preserved as part of later chronicle collections of the 14th-15th centuries. This work is compiled on the basis of earlier chronicles - historical works dedicated to the past of the Russian land. The author of the Tale, monk Nestor, managed to vividly and imaginatively tell about the emergence of Rus' and connect its history with the history of other countries. The main attention in the “Tale” is paid to the events of political history, the actions of princes and other representatives of the nobility. The economic life and way of life of the people are described in less detail. The religious worldview of its compiler was also clearly evident in the chronicle: he sees the final cause of all events and people’s actions in the action of divine forces, “providence.” However, religious differences and references to the will of God often hide a practical approach to reality, the desire to identify real cause-and-effect relationships between events.

In turn, Theodosius, abbot of the Pechersk Monastery about whom Nestor also wrote, wrote several teachings and messages to Prince Izyaslav.

An outstanding writer was Vladimir Monomakh. His “Teaching” depicted perfect image the prince - a fair feudal ruler, touched upon pressing issues of our time: the need for strong princely power, unity in repelling the raids of nomads, etc. “Instruction” is a work of a secular nature. It is imbued with the spontaneity of human experiences, alien to abstraction and filled real images and examples taken from life.

The question of princely power in the life of the state, its responsibilities and methods of implementation becomes one of the central ones in literature. The idea arises of the need for strong power as a condition for a successful fight against external enemies and overcoming internal contradictions. These reflections are embodied in one of the most talented works of the 12th-13th centuries, which has come down to us in two main editions, “The Lay” and “Prayer” by Daniil Zatochnik. A staunch supporter of strong princely power, Daniil writes with humor and sarcasm about the sad reality around him.

A special place in the literature of Ancient Rus' is occupied by “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” dating back to the end of the 12th century. It tells about the unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsians in 1185 by the Novgorod-Seversk prince Igor Svyatoslavich. The description of this campaign serves the author only as a reason for thinking about the fate of the Russian land. The author sees the reasons for the defeats in the fight against the nomads, the reasons for the disasters of Rus' in princely civil strife, in the selfish policies of princes thirsting for personal glory. Central to the Lay is the image of the Russian land. The author belonged to the druzhina environment. He constantly used the inherent concepts of “honor” and “glory,” but filled them with broader, patriotic content. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” embodied the characteristic features of ancient Russian literature of that time: a living connection with historical reality, citizenship and patriotism.

Big influence Batu's invasion had an impact on Russian culture. The first work dedicated to the invasion is “The Word of the Destruction of the Russian Land.” This word has not reached us completely. Also dedicated to Batu’s invasion is “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” - an integral part of a cycle of stories about the “miraculous” icon of St. Nicholas of Zaraisky.

Architecture

Until the end of the 10th century, there was no monumental stone architecture in Rus', but there were rich traditions of wooden construction, some forms of which subsequently influenced stone architecture. Significant skills in the field of wooden architecture led to the rapid development of stone architecture and its originality. After the adoption of Christianity, the construction of stone churches began, the construction principles of which were borrowed from Byzantium. The Byzantine architects summoned to Kyiv passed on to the Russian craftsmen their extensive experience in the building culture of Byzantium.

The large churches of Kievan Rus, built after the adoption of Christianity in 988, were the first examples of monumental architecture in East Slavic lands. The architectural style of Kievan Rus was established under the influence of Byzantine. Early Orthodox churches were mainly made of wood.

The first stone church of Kievan Rus was the Tithe Church in Kyiv, the construction of which dates back to 989. The church was built as cathedral not far from the princely palace. In the first half of the 12th century. The church has undergone significant renovations. At this time, the southwestern corner of the temple was completely rebuilt; a powerful pylon supporting the wall appeared in front of the western facade. These activities most likely represented the restoration of the temple after a partial collapse due to an earthquake.

St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, built in the 11th century, is one of the most significant architectural structures of this period. Initially, St. Sophia Cathedral was a five-nave cross-domed church with 13 chapters. It was surrounded on three sides by a two-tier gallery, and outside by an even wider single-tier one. The cathedral was built by Constantinople builders, with the participation of Kyiv craftsmen. At the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, it was externally rebuilt in the Ukrainian Baroque style. The temple is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Painting

After the baptism of Rus', new species came from Byzantium monumental painting- mosaic and fresco, as well as easel painting (icon painting). Also, the iconographic canon was adopted from Byzantium, the immutability of which was strictly protected by the church. This predetermined a longer and more stable Byzantine influence in painting than in architecture.

The earliest surviving works of ancient Russian painting were created in Kyiv. According to the chronicles, the first temples were decorated by visiting Greek masters, who added to the existing iconography a system for arranging subjects in the interior of the temple, as well as a style of planar writing. The mosaics and frescoes of the St. Sophia Cathedral are known for their special beauty. They are executed in a strict and solemn manner, characteristic of Byzantine monumental painting. Their creators skillfully used a variety of smalt shades and skillfully combined mosaics with frescoes. Of the mosaic works, the images of Christ Pantocrator in the central dome are especially significant. All images are imbued with the idea of greatness, triumph and inviolability Orthodox Church and earthly power.

Another unique monument of secular painting of Ancient Rus' is the painting of the walls of the two towers of the Kyiv Sophia. They depict scenes of princely hunting, circus competitions, musicians, buffoons, acrobats, fantastic animals and birds, which somewhat distinguishes them from ordinary church paintings. Among the frescoes of Sofia are two group portraits of the family of Yaroslav the Wise.

In the XII-XIII centuries, local characteristics began to appear in the painting of individual cultural centers. This is typical for Novgorod land and the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Since the 12th century, a specific Novgorod style of monumental painting has been formed, which reaches a more complete expression in the paintings of the churches of St. George in Staraya Ladoga, the Annunciation in Arkazhi and especially Spas-Nereditsa. In these fresco cycles, unlike the Kyiv ones, there is a noticeable desire for simplification artistic techniques, to the expressive interpretation of iconographic types. IN easel painting Novgorod features were less pronounced.

In Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', fragments of frescoes from the Dmitrievsky and Assumption Cathedrals in Vladimir and the Church of Boris and Gleb in Kideksha, as well as several icons, were preserved before the Mongol period. Based on this material, researchers consider it possible to talk about the gradual formation of the Vladimir-Suzdal school of painting. The best preserved fresco Dmitrievsky Cathedral with image Last Judgment. It was created by two masters - a Greek and a Russian. Several large icons of the XII - beginning of XIII centuries. The earliest of them is the “Our Lady of Bogolyubsk”, dating from the mid-12th century, stylistically close to the famous “Our Lady of Vladimir”, which is of Byzantine origin.

Folklore

Written sources testify to the richness and diversity of the folklore of Ancient Rus'. A significant place in it was occupied by the calendar ritual poetry: conspiracies, spells, songs that were an integral part of the agrarian cult. Ritual folklore also included pre-wedding songs, funeral laments, songs at feasts and funeral feasts. Mythological tales reflecting the pagan ideas of the ancient Slavs also became widespread. For many years, the church, trying to eradicate the remnants of paganism, waged a stubborn struggle against “filthy” customs, “demonic games” and “blasphemous things”. However, these types of folklore survived in folk life until the 19th-20th centuries, losing their initial religious meaning over time, and the rituals turned into folk games.

There were also forms of folklore that were not associated with the pagan cult. These include proverbs, sayings, riddles, fairy tales, and work songs. Authors literary works widely used them in their work. Written monuments have preserved numerous traditions and legends about the ancestors of tribes and princely dynasties, about the founders of cities, about the fight against foreigners. So, folk tales about the events of the 2nd-6th centuries were reflected in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign”.

In the 9th century a new epic genre- a heroic epic epic that became the pinnacle of oral folk art and a consequence of the growth of national self-awareness. Epics are oral poetic works about the past. The epics were based on real historical events, the prototypes of some epic heroes are real people. So, as a prototype epic Dobrynya Nikitich was the uncle of Vladimir Svyatoslavich - voivode Dobrynya, whose name is repeatedly mentioned in ancient Russian chronicles.

In turn, in the military class, in the princely-squad environment, there was its own oral poetry. The princes and their exploits were glorified in squad songs. The princely squads had their own “song makers” - professionals who composed “glory” songs in honor of the princes and their warriors.

Folklore continued to develop after the spread of written literature, remaining an important element of ancient Russian culture. In subsequent centuries, many writers and poets used the subjects of oral poetry and its arsenal artistic means and techniques. Also in Rus', the art of playing the harp, of which it is the birthplace, was widespread.

Arts and crafts

Kievan Rus was famous for its masters in applied, decorative arts who were fluent various techniques: filigree, enamel, granulation, niello, as evidenced by jewelry. It is no coincidence that the admiration of foreigners was great artistic creativity our craftsmen. L. Lyubimov in his book “The Art of Ancient Rus'” gives a description of star-shaped silver colts from the Tver treasure of the 11th–12th centuries: “Six silver cones with balls are soldered to the ring with a semicircular shield. Each cone is soldered with 5000 tiny rings with a diameter of 0.06 cm from wire 0.02 cm thick! Only microphotography made it possible to establish these dimensions. But that's not all. The rings serve only as a pedestal for the grain, so each one has another silver grain with a diameter of 0.04 cm!” Jewelry was decorated with cloisonne enamel. Masters used bright colors, skillfully selected colors. The drawings traced mythological pagan subjects and images, which were especially often used in applied art. They can be seen on carved wooden furniture, household utensils, gold-embroidered fabrics, and carved bone products known in Western Europe called “carving of brands”, “carving of Rus”.

Cloth

Modern researchers have numerous evidence about how princes and boyars dressed. Verbal descriptions, images on icons, frescoes and miniatures, as well as fragments of fabrics from sarcophagi have been preserved. Various researchers in their works compared these materials with mentions of clothing in written documentary and narrative sources - chronicles, lives and various acts.

Ritual folklore

Life was accompanied by various rituals: wedding, funeral, calendar, magical (spells), etc. Rituals and those accompanying them reveal such features of thinking ancient man: animism (belief in spirits and the existence of the soul), anthropomorphism (humanization of animals, plants, natural phenomena, death, diseases) and magism (belief that special actions and words influence events in a person’s life).

Birth rites

Birth rites are very ancient. Their purpose is to protect the newborn from misfortunes, illnesses, the evil eye and damage and to lay down a program for happiness, wealth and health. While bathing the baby, the midwife says: “Little hands, grow, get fat, become vigorous. Feet, walk, carry your body; tongue, speak, feed your head.” Later, these spells were replaced by lullabies, in which the child was predicted to have a prosperous and happy life: “You will walk in gold, wear pure silver.”

Wedding ceremonies

Wedding ceremonies were accompanied by lamentations of the bride, wedding songs and sentences of the groomsmen. Lamentations of the bride during matchmaking, at a bachelorette party, during departure for the wedding. The meaning of lamentations: farewell to home, to parents, to youth, to girlfriends and fear of new life on someone else's side, in someone else's family. During the wedding feast, songs were sung describing marriage rituals: conspiracy, gifts, bachelorette party, braiding, etc. Majestic songs at a wedding glorify the beauty, youth of the bride, intelligence, wealth, and prowess of the groom. The verdicts of the friends were accompanied by jokes and jokes. The friend “leads” the wedding, giving it integrity and cheerfulness with her decisions. When asked about the health of the groom’s father, he can say that not only is everyone in his house healthy, but everything is so well on the farm that even the geldings are pregnant and the bulls are milked.

Conspiracies

The function of conspiracies is practical: through actions and the magical power of words, to attract and bring about what you want. These can be conspiracies for a good harvest, for recovery, for love and marriage. The most ancient conspiracies are associated with peasant farming.

Fairy tales

Fairy tales contain amazing and mysterious adventure events; they show ideal heroes, fantastic creatures, magical objects, and miraculous phenomena. Fairy tales reflect dreams of justice, the victory of good over evil, and the alleviation of difficult living conditions (flying carpet, walking boots, self-assembled tablecloth, invisible hat, etc.).

Animal Tales

The meaning of the most ancient fairy tales about animals: to convey the experience of hunters, trappers, cattle breeders about animals, their habits, and habitat. Later, fairy-tale animals are attributed human traits character: for a hare - cowardice, for a fox - cunning, for a bear - gullibility, etc.

Fairy tales

This type of fairy tale has plots full of miracles. They reflect faith in other world, in the revival of the dead, natural phenomena are humanized (“Morozko”), animals and plants say, objects have magical properties.

Epics

Epic songs with heroic plots - epics - are a special genre of ancient Russian folklore. The plot centers on the hero and his feat, the duel with the enemy and victory. The hero embodies the power and patriotism of the Russian people. The epics depict military-political and social situations typical of Ancient Rus'. The main idea that unites all epics is the need for the unity of Rus' and its protection from enemies. The enemies were personified fantasy characters: Serpent, Tugarin Zmeevich, Nightingale the Robber, Foul Idol. The epics were especially relevant during the times of endless raids by nomads and the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Other genres of ancient Russian folklore: proverbs, sayings, riddles, traditions, legends, myths, tales, etc.

Before reaching this final cultural stage, language undergoes a long process of internal development, being a means of self-expression for individuals and groups during work and leisure. We usually call products of such self-expression “folklore”. Echoes of this ancient poetic tradition survived mainly in the peasant environment, at least in Russia, and therefore the term “folklore” became almost synonymous with the concept of “folk literature”, denoting the literary works of the lower classes. In the ancient period the situation was different, since the development of creative abilities in the field of literature was based on the cooperation of all social groups. During the Kievan period, after the introduction of Christianity in Rus' and the appearance of written texts, a kind of dualism formed in literary art. As Roman Jakobson masterfully puts it:

“For many centuries, Russian written literature remained almost entirely the prerogative of the Church: for all its richness and high artistry, the ancient Russian literary heritage almost entirely consists of biographies of saints and pious people, religious legends, prayers, sermons, theological discussions and chronicles in the monastic style. However, "The ancient Russian people possessed the richest, original, varied and highly artistic literature, but the only means of its dissemination was oral presentation. The idea of using letters for secular poetry was completely alien to the Russian tradition, and the expressive means of this poetry were inseparable from the oral heritage and oral tradition" Rybakov B .A. Rus' in the era of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". - In the book: History of Russia: From ancient times to the present day. M., 2006, vol. 1, p. 575.

The main component of Russian folklore is the song - language and rhythm, words and melody are closely intertwined in it. A Russian proverb says quite characteristically: “You can’t erase a word from a song.” It was also said that “The Song is a living chronicle of the Russian people.” Since time immemorial, Russians have captured in song the entire course of their lives: work and play, joy and sadness, insignificant incidents and great historical events.

Russian folklore has accompanied the Russian people throughout their history, and only in very recent times have the sources of folklore begun to dry up under the influence of an industrialized and mechanized civilization. In villages, especially in northern Russia, storytellers of ancient epics are still held in high esteem.

Apart from the "Tale of Igor's Campaign", which, of course, was created not by "the people", but by an individual creator belonging to the aristocratic class, the first written text of a Russian folk poem, spiritual verse, dates back to the fifteenth century. The oldest known manuscript of Russian folk ballads was apparently created in 1619 for Richard James, an Oxford graduate who served as a chaplain to English merchants in Russia. The Englishman, therefore, has the honor of being a pioneer in the study of Russian folklore. James's manuscript contains only six songs.

Thus, trying to select from the general fund of ancient Russian folklore a part that can be confidently attributed to the Kievan period is indeed an extremely difficult task. We can be sure that this or that folk song is very ancient, but it is unlikely that we will be able to prove this in each specific case. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the roots of folklore, including Russian folk art, go deep into history - in many cases much further than the Kyiv period. Consequently, the picture of civilization of that period will be incomplete if folklore is left out of consideration, and even a hypothetical dating of some songs is better than ignoring the subject.

It is obvious that some of the ritual songs that originally accompanied or symbolized various stages of the agricultural cycle are very ancient. Traces of pagan beliefs, the worship of the Sun and the Earth, are visible in many of them. This group includes songs performed during festivities on the occasion of the winter solstice (carol), spring equinox (Maslenitsa), summer solstice (semik or rusalya) and autumn solstice. After the introduction of Christianity in Rus', the former pagan holidays were combined with Christian ones, and the lyrics of some songs changed accordingly; old carol songs now played the role of Christmas hymns. In many cases, evidence of the ancient origin of a song, in addition to its content, is the ancient melodic form. In general, there is enough indirect evidence that many Russian ritual songs developed in the Kievan period, if not earlier. An important part of the ritual songs is the cycle of wedding songs, which corresponds to the complex ceremonies that accompanied the ancient wedding ceremony, which is still performed among the peasants. Each action of the ritual corresponds to a special song. Some are very cheerful, others are sad and even sad.

Epic songs (antiques, epics), which in terms of content can be dated back to the Kievan period, are quite numerous. These poems are usually dedicated to the glorious exploits of the mighty heroes who defended the Russian land from the steppe nomads. In some cases, the hero’s opponent is a Jew (Jew). Of course, this refers to the struggle of the Russians with the Khazars. In many cases, however, the enemy in the various readings of the surviving texts is a Tatar, which for the Kievan period, of course, would be an anachronism, since the Tatars - as the Mongols were called in Rus' - appeared only in the thirteenth century.

Satirical tales provide an outlet for popular discontent with political and social injustice. It is interesting that some fairy tale characters, such as Baba Yaga, are mentioned in the chronicles, which indicates the popularity of fairy tales in the Kievan period.

The culture of Kievan Rus is the totality of all material and spiritual values accumulated in the process of development of Russian principalities from the birth of the state in the 10th century until the 13th century inclusive.

The culture and life of Kievan Rus consists of pre-Christian traditions and paganism, transformed after the baptism of Rus.

Writing

One of the main indicators of availability own culture is writing. In Rus', writing in its modern sense appeared in the 10th century, but back in the 9th century, the monks Cyril and Mythodius created an alphabet, which was later transformed into the Cyrillic alphabet (which is still used today). The active development of the culture of Kievan Rus, including writing, began after the adoption of Christianity.

The first evidence of the presence of writing was birch bark letters - pieces of birch bark with squeezed out or inscribed notes about Everyday life. The first books were the chronicles of the state, as well as the Bible. Before the advent of printing technology, books were copied by hand by monks, who often added their own comments and observations to the text, as a result of which the rewritten books could differ greatly from the original.

The development of writing led to the appearance of the first educational institutions, as well as the birth of literature. An important stage in the formation of the culture of Kievan Rus was the writing and adoption of the first code by law - “Russian Truth”.

Architecture

A feature of the culture of Kievan Rus was its religious orientation. Wooden architecture was replaced by stone construction. Stone temples began to be actively erected to replace wooden churches. The architectural traditions of stone construction in Rus' were formed under the influence of Byzantine architecture, because it was on the basis of the designs of Byzantine architects that the first stone churches were built.

989 – the first stone church was built in Kyiv.

1037 – foundation of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, one of the brightest representatives of stone architecture of Kievan Rus.

Painting

The development of painting was greatly influenced by the Baptism of Rus', which gave impetus to the development of spiritual and material culture Kievan Rus. Such types of fine art as frescoes and mosaics appeared, which began to decorate churches. Icon painting also appeared in Rus', which began to occupy one of the most prominent places in culture.

The standard of icon painting came from Byzantium and the first master icon painters in Rus' were visiting Greeks, from whom Russian masters adopted their skills. The Greeks also brought with them the art of painting, which decorated the walls of temples. The frescoes, depending on their location, depicted biblical scenes or scenes from everyday life.

By the end of the 12th century, painting had developed so much that several painting centers in Rus' began to be identified, each of which had its own traditions and characteristics.

Arts and crafts

In addition to painting, decorative and applied arts were highly developed in Rus' - unique things were created from enamel, clay toys with special paintings, jewelry and much more. Many of the painting and craftsmanship styles that existed then remain to this day. The main subjects for painting of the DPI were epics, legends and scenes from folklore.

Folklore

Folklore in Rus' was very developed and was of great importance for the culture of Kievan Rus. Since ancient times, various tales and legends have been passed down from mouth to mouth. Ritual poetry - incantations, songs, spells - occupied a special place. Ditties, sayings, pestles and much more actively developed.

In the middle of the ninth century there appeared new genre- an epic that told about the adventures of great heroes, about battles and conquests. Much later, folk oral epics and epics formed the basis of the first literary works, including the famous “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”

With the development of writing and literature, folklore not only did not disappear, but continued to actively develop.

In general, the following events had a huge impact on the culture of Kievan Rus:

The emergence of writing;
The birth of statehood;
The formation of Christianity.