The Distaff and the phallic cult

Meanwhile, traces of the lunar cult are found not only in ancient Russian bracelets and pendants-amulets, but also in Russian traditional clothes, in particular, in the famous kokoshnik - a festive headdress of married women. And although in folk ideas the moon and the month were usually associated with the afterlife, in many folklore texts the sun and the moon are often connected by related knots (brother and sister, husband and wife), and in the female hypostasis, the sun usually appears here, and in the male - moon (month). Considering this factor, V. P. Darkevich admits that the Old Russian lunar pendants could well have been a "symbol of marriage."

According to popular belief, on the day of Ivan Kupala (June 24), the Sun "leaves its palace to meet the spouse of the Month", and this day itself was considered the day of the marriage between two divine luminaries. According to many Slavic legends, stars were born from this marriage.

Many ancient Russian rituals and agricultural rituals were directly associated with the phases of the moon: the "young" month favored the beginning of sowing fruits growing above the ground, and the "old" - those that grow underground, the full moon contributed to agricultural work, for the old month they harvested grain and meat for In the winter, they cut down the forest and mowed the grass, they tried to collect medicinal herbs in the first half of the month, while they preferred to practice healing magic in the second, believing that the decrease in the month would lead to the decrease of the disease.

It was much more convenient to count the time by the phases of the moon than by the sun: the word "month" in its current "calendar" meaning speaks volumes about the fact that the moon was once held in high esteem and was "a golden arrow on the dark dial of the sky."

Lunar symbolism was associated with the cult of the Cosmic Cow (Bull), dating back to the most ancient times. "The horns of the month have already attracted the thought of a horned animal," writes A. N. Afanasyev, "and Russian folk riddles [...] depict him now as a bull, now as a cow." The month is often mentioned in Russian conspiracies: “You are red month! Stars you are clear! Sun, you are free, get off and get rid of the servant of God (from the binge) "," Month, you are Month, silver horns, your golden legs! Come down, Month, take off my tooth grief, take the pain under the clouds "," Father is bright month, gold horns for you, and my health "," You are red month, descend into my cage ", etc.

The ancient Russian lunar amulets were hardly a simple "imitation of the imported oriental samples of the 9-10th century," as B. A. Rybakov asserts. The cult of the heavenly bodies is the oldest cult in the history of mankind.

It should be noted that the moonworms on the Gryazovets spinning wheels were always located on a stand (blades) and never on a ridge, in the center of the composition of which a solar sign was usually placed, and in later spinning wheels - a two-headed eagle. Solar symbolism, as we see, dominated here as well, while the lunars played a secondary role. I take the liberty of assuming that in the original decor of the Gryazovets spinning wheels, the lunar cycle was captured, which consisted of 13 months and, therefore, in the earliest copies of these spinning wheels, the number of depicted moon months was also thirteen (or, in the modern transformed form, twelve) ... Over time, the original meaning of this symbolism was forgotten, and the traditional lunar months turned into a simple decorative element, as is often the case with many ancient symbols.

N. A. Shabunin "Travel to North". 1906

Totem spinning wheels

A distinctive feature of Totem root spinning wheels is a shortened square blade crowning a thin carved leg. The front side of these spinning wheels is decorated with triangular-notched carvings. In the center of the composition there is a solar rosette framed by a dense geometric pattern of triangles and squares. Under the towns there is usually a lattice or round through holes in several rows. The lower part of the blade is decorated with two large earrings facing the riser.

Spinning wheels of this type were used in the Totma area, in Mezhdurechye, on the territory of the Biryakovsky and Chuchkovsky village councils of the Sokolsky district, as well as the Pogorelovsky, Velikodvorsky and Verkhne-Tolshmensky village councils of the Totemsky district. Pogorelovsky spinning wheels are smaller than totem spinning wheels, the earrings on the lower part of their blades, as a rule, do not have a round end, there is no slotted grate under the townships, but in general they repeat the shape of Totem spinning wheels.

Biryakovsky spinning wheels are distinguished by the sparseness of the geometric pattern. They, as a rule, were not painted, but in later versions they were painted like mahogany, decorated with applied copper plates and inlaid with pieces of mirrored glass. Small copper plaques were attached to a loop, and with each movement the spinning wheel made a ringing sound. This was explained by the fact that a family of master accordionists was engaged in decorating local spinning wheels.

Mezhdurechensk spinning wheels are distinguished by a slightly narrowed downward blade shape, large rounded towns, the absence of earrings, and also an elegant leg with curly edges. The trihedral-notched carving on these spinning wheels was complemented by brush painting, the floral patterns of which resembled chintz.

On the territory of the Velikodvorsky village council, there were two types of spinning wheels - with a square and an elongated blade.

N. A. Shabunin "Travel to North". 1906

The first should be attributed to the Totem type. Its blade is crowned with 4-5 large rhombic towns, separated from each other by deep round cutouts. The two earrings on the lower part of the blade exactly follow the shape of the towns. The spinning wheel is slightly tapered upward.

Spinning wheels of the Verkhne-Tolshmensky village council have an original blade end with three large towns in the shape of a trefoil or a circle. Large earrings usually follow the shape of the towns. The spinning wheel's leg and blade are covered with fine triangular-notched carvings. In the center of the composition is a solar socket.

Not far from Tolshma on the territory of Sovega, now part of the Soligalichsky district of the Kostroma region, there was another original type of the Totem spinning wheel with a figured blade, the towns and earrings of which were made in the form of large bizarre curls resembling stylized heads of horses. A five-petal flower rose between the towns. In the center of the composition of the blade, decorated with a trihedral-notched carving, a rosette in a square was usually cut out.

And, finally, one of the later varieties of the Totem spinning wheel was the so-called "Solomenka", the area of existence of which was quite extensive and covered the territory of the Verkhne-Tolshmensky, Manylovsky, Nikolsky and Velikodvorsky village councils. The main distinguishing feature of this type of spinning wheel was zigzag patterns, laid out with multi-colored straw. In the center of the blade is a solar rosette, at the top of it there are four small towns in the form of horns facing each other, at the bottom there are straight hanging round earrings. The widespread use of these spinning wheels was due to the fact that they were made for sale in an artisanal way.

Vologda spinning wheels

Vologda spinning wheels-kopyls easily stand out among others for their impressive size: they are not only higher than all other types of Russian spinning wheels, but also have a much larger, massive blade slightly widened downward. In A.A. Bobrinsky's album, the Vologda spinning wheels are attributed to the second type. They were always carved from a monolithic piece of wood, most often from spruce or pine.

The upper part of the blade of the Vologda spinning wheel is usually decorated with a number of round, rhombic, or arrow-shaped townships, although sometimes towns are replaced with plant motifs or three gentle projections.

The Vologda "shovel-shaped" spinning wheels were most widely used in the Verkhovazhsky, Tarnogsky, Nyuksensky and - partially - Totemsky districts of the region.

A distinctive feature of the Nyuksen "kopyls" were ringing "necklaces" - rows of round through holes into which glass or wooden beads or colored pebbles were inserted, which emitted a characteristic sound with each movement of the spinning wheel. Most often, the three-edged beveled carving on Nyuksen spinning wheels was combined with bright oil painting.

Massive Tarnogo spinning wheels with a small figured leg were usually decorated with two round earrings or semicircular cuts. A huge blade decorated with three-sided carvings was crowned with diamond-shaped towns or three gently sloping ledges.

The Verkhovazhsky spinning wheels were distinguished by a double semi-oval blade end and three round towns framing it. The lower part of the blade was decorated with two semicircular cuts. Many of the Verkhovazhsky spinning wheels were covered with original floral painting.

On the territory of the Totemsky district, there were also spinning wheels of the Vologda type: these should include the aforementioned spinning wheels of Velikyodvorie with an elongated blade, as well as spinning wheels of Songuga, Seredsky, Zaozerye, Nizhnyaya Pecheny, Medvedevsky and Matveyevsky village councils. A characteristic feature of Velikyodvorie spinning wheels with an elongated blade is six through holes with bindings: three in the upper part of the blade under the triangular towns, and three in the lower part, above two semicircular cuts. The local name for such a spinning wheel is “about six windows”.

The same slotted windows with bindings are present in the decor of spinning wheels from Zaozerye. However, there are only two of them and they are located almost in the center of the blade, under the through arches and the openwork slotted lattice of the cruciform shape. The lower part of the blade is decorated with two round earrings facing the stem.

Seredsky's spinning wheels are similar in shape and decoration to those of Tarnog, but differ from them in a smaller blade size. The Sundug spinning wheels are distinguished by massive rounded earrings resembling stylized skate heads in shape. The shape of the Matveyev spinning wheels almost repeated the Zaozersk and Sredsky ones, but much more often than the latter were covered with flower painting, in the motives and floral scale of which the influence of the Molvitin masters of the Kostroma province was guessed.

The spinning wheels of Nizhnyaya Bakery are very massive. A huge blade is crowned with three (less often - four) round towns located on the tops of gentle ledges. The lower part of the blade is decorated with earrings of the same shape.

Severodvinsk spinning wheels

The Severodvinsk painted spinning wheel-kopyl is very close in design to the Vologda type, although it is somewhat inferior to it in size. The main distinguishing feature of this type of spinning wheel is the graphic white-background painting or “painting with a contour”, in which the master did not make independent strokes, but only filled in the previously contoured parts of the plane.

Researchers have divided Severodvinsk painting into three independent types: Permogorsk, Rakul and Boretskaya. On the basis of the latter, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, two more varieties of local painting developed - Puchuzhskaya and Nizhneoyemskaya.

The most significant among them is the Permogorsk painting, which includes products by masters from the villages of the Wet Edom nest. It is based on small floral ornament, among which various scenes of peasant life are placed. The front side of the blade of the Permogorsk spinning wheel was divided into either two or three "staves". In the two-step scheme, the bird of paradise Sirin, framed by a toothed rosette, usually stirred at the top, and sienna of tea drinking or skating below. The reverse side of the blade was always decorated in the same way: at the bottom - a floral pattern, at the top - an empty ornamental frame, which was closed by a tow.

On the three-fold blade at the top, a lion and a unicorn were most often depicted, in the center - the supra-row, below - horseback riding. On the reverse side is a feast. The color range of Permogorsk painting is dominated by red and yellow colors on a white (sometimes yellowish) background. Art critics believe that the main elements of the pattern and the color scheme of painting in Permogorye have much in common with the ornamentation of ancient Russian manuscripts of the Pomor (18th century) and especially Belevsk (19th century) schools.

“The folk masters of the Northern Dvina used the wonderful traditions of the Old Russian book,” writes O. V. Kruglova, “where illustrations were like a second text for the illiterate, and the principles of church wall painting, where a consistent story in the images of fine art made it possible to “read” this plot to each".

Among the masters of Permogorye, the most famous were Yakov Ivanovich and Yegor Maksimovich Yarygin, Alexander Lukyanovich Misharin and the Khripunov brothers - Dmitry, Peter and Vasily.

As already indicated, the image of Sirin dominated in the Permogorsk painting. Images of a bird of paradise could be found not only on the blades of spinning wheels, but also on many other items of peasant life. It is noteworthy that the fabulous image of the Sirin bird was especially popular in the Russian North: it is practically not found in the famous Gorodets carving and painting. This suggests that the image of the mysterious and fatal bird-maiden, allegedly coming from Greece or from the East, did not just appeal to the inhabitants of the North, but turned out to be familiar to them and - quite possibly - even relatives. Most likely, here we should talk about the general Indo-European sources of this ancient image.

In the Russian tradition, the magic birds Sirin, Alkonost and Gamayun were combined in the image of the sacred patroness of Russia - Mother Sva. V. N. Demin quite rightly compares the word "Sirin" with the pagan name of Paradise - "Iriy": Sirin, as you know, is a bird of paradise. Echoes of the veneration of Sirin are also heard in the names of the country of Syria and the star of Sirius, in the names of the nymph Syringa and the Egyptian god Osiris.

Most researchers of Russian folk art are inclined to the version of the Greek origin of Sirin (from the legendary sirens from the Odyssey), some see the origins of the image of the bird of paradise in distant India, but none of the venerable scientists even tried to explain the extraordinary popularity of this character among the North Russian peasantry and even more so to find the origins of the image of the mysterious bird-maiden in the Russian mythological tradition. And completely in vain...

Looking into the dictionary of V. I. Dal, we can easily make sure that "sirin" is a native Russian word meaning an owl, eagle owl, scarecrow or a special kind of "long-tailed owl, similar to a hawk", leading a daytime and nocturnal lifestyle (SURNIA).

The owl, as you know, in almost all traditions is a symbol of wisdom. But, in addition, many peoples perceived the cry of an owl as a "song of death" (probably, this performance was associated with her nocturnal lifestyle). The sweet-voiced singing of the Greek sirens turned into death for their listeners and, therefore, was also a kind of “song of death”. Undoubtedly, one thing: the Greek sirens had their own prototype, and we should not ignore the version about its northern, Hyperborean, "owl" origin.

Images of lions and unicorns are also often found in folk art. In the Russian North, we find them in the painting of chests, suppliers, spinning wheels, arches and bast boxes, in the Volga region - in the decor of peasant huts, etc. In the Heraldic, the lion and the unicorn symbolize rival solar-lunar and female-male forces. Two lions on the sides of the World Tree act as its reliable guards: it was believed that the lion sleeps with open eyes, hence its veneration as a symbol of vigilant vigilance. "The lion is asleep, but he sees with one eye," says the Russian belief, recorded by V. I. Dal. Guardian lions are also found in Russian folk tales: “There is a kingdom not far away - you don’t go through the gate, lions are guarding the gate” (A. Afanasyev).

In the apocryphal legend of Noah's ark, recorded by P. S. Efimenko in the Arkhangelsk province, the lion acts as the savior of the ark: taking a piece of wool from all the animals, he swallowed it and vomited out the cat, which attacked the gnats and exterminated them. The lion's claw was used in cattle-breeding magic to keep the herd safe. He is also mentioned in the shepherd's conspiracy: “I go around, servant of God, with the claw of a lion-beast, my sweet herd, a peasant's belly. As my cows were afraid of the bear until now, so now the bear is afraid of my cows, and to this my word heaven and earth are the key and the lock, amen."

It is characteristic that the image of a lion was entrenched not only in peasant art, but also in works of art of a cult nature (the temple architecture of the Kiev Lavra, Suzdal and Vladimir, the decor of the 13th century iconostases, the ornament of Pskov bells, miniatures of handwritten books of the 11-12th centuries, copper plastic, etc. etc.), as well as in secular architecture (the gates of the Moscow palace of I. Grozny, ship carving, decor of city houses, the embankments of St. Petersburg).

Researchers again agree that Russian culture borrowed the lion's symbol from the Greek tradition no earlier than the 11th century. However, the stability of the Russian tradition, which has been repeatedly recorded and proven, is not in favor of this common opinion.

Many things on earth still remain unexplained: why, for example, were traces of the growth of cypresses, poplars, magnolia and viburnum found in the Arctic Circle, tropical plants in Siberia, and grapes in Greenland? How to explain the annual migrations of migratory birds from South to North? The great native of the Russian North M. V. Lomonosov asserts: “in the northern regions in ancient times there were great heatwaves, where elephants were born and reproduce and other animals, as well as plants, near the equator, ordinary, it was possible to keep, and therefore their remains, here those who are, cannot seem disgusting to the flow of nature. "

The legends of various peoples bring to us the echoes of the global cosmic catastrophe that once befell the Earth. It could be a cosmic explosion within the solar system, as a result of which a huge asteroid fragment crashed into the Earth. Vague memories of the monstrous cataclysm are preserved in the Avesta, Bundahishna and Kalevala, in Greek myths and legends of Siberia and China, in sacred Buddhist texts and many other sources. All of them report a sharp change in climate and the rotation of the earth's axis, as a result of which the sun changed its course, and the planet "turned over". If earlier the sun came from the North and went to the South, then after the impact it began to come from the East and go to the West.

Only this can explain the numerous mysteries of paleobotany and paleontology that continue to trouble the minds of modern researchers. And if elephants once lived in the north, then why can't the same be said about lions?

The second most important type of Severodvinsk painting was the Boretsky, Nizhnetoyemsky and Puchuzhsky murals, named after the regions of their manufacture: the village of Pervaya Zherlyginskaya at the mouth of the Nizhnyaya Toyma, the village of Puchuga and the village of Skobeli, Nagorye, Gorodok, Falyuki (Borok pier). As already noted, the Puchuga and Nizhnetoemsk paintings developed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries on the basis of the Boretskaya.

If in the Permogorsk painting the plant pattern was placed on the blade arbitrarily, asymmetrically, then in boretsk spinning wheels it was arranged according to a strictly designated scheme. In the three-way blade, windows were usually depicted at the top ("becoming with windows"), in the center - a semicircular arch, and below - a riding scene ("becoming with a horse"). On the reverse side at the bottom were various genre scenes, at the top - an empty, magnificently ornamented frame of flexible stems.

The floral pattern on the wrestler's spinning wheels, as in Permogorye, dominated, but here it was drawn more finely, more subtly and almost always made red. In addition, gold was widely used in the decoration of spinning wheels of this type. The design of the Boretsk and Puchuga spinning wheels is almost identical; you can distinguish them from each other only by the pattern on the leg: the stem is straight on the Boretsk and Puchuga spinning wheels, and the wriggling one on the Puchuga spinning wheels. In turn, a distinctive feature of the Nizhny Omsk spinning wheel was a brightly painted turning leg, and on the back of the blade there was a spinning mirror.

The most famous masters of borets painting were the Amosov brothers - Stepan, Nikifor, Mikhail, Vasily, Kuzma and their sister Palageya Matveevna Amosova. In the village of Puchuga, the works of the father and son of the Kuznetsovs were famous, and at the mouth of the Nizhnyaya Toima - the brothers Andrei and Vasily Tretyakov and the wife of the latter Pelageya.

And, finally, the third center of the Severodvinsk painting was the village of Ulyanovskaya, Cherevkovsky district, located on the Rakulka river (hence the name of the painting - "Rakulskaya"). The Rakul spinning wheels were significantly higher in height than the wrestler and Permogorsk ones. In appearance, they cannot be confused with any others: a low leg, expanding almost from the very base with oval ledges, turns into a long and narrow blade with four towns. In the lower part of the blade, a bird was always depicted inscribed in an ornamented square, in the upper part there was an S-shaped branch with large leaves and bunches of black antennae.

The Rakul spinning wheels, in contrast to the Boretsk and Permogorsk ones, had a characteristic yellow-ocher color. By the beginning of the 20th century, the color of Rakul spinning wheels lost its former harmony: the background, due to the use of aniline, became poisonous yellow, in the painting of a large branch for the same reason, too contrasting colors appeared - purple, bright blue and bright green. The most famous masters of rakul painting were Dmitry Fedorovich Vityazev and his son Yakov Dmitrievich.

Mezen spinning wheels

Root Mezen spinning wheels are also similar in design to those of the Vologda type. Their main difference is calligraphic painting with a black outline on a golden-yellow background ("cursive"), the theme of which is surprisingly close to the rock paintings (petroglyphs) of the Russian North.

The blade of the Mezen spinning wheel is broken into horizontal friezes, in the center of the composition there are two stripes with rhythmically running deer and horses. The reverse side of the blade is occupied by steamers, scenes of hunting, fishing, riding, etc. "Everything in these spinning wheels is full of significance: deer and horses are depicted as if in a solemn ritual run," write N.V. Taranovskaya and N.V. Maltsev.

The center of the trade was the village of Palashelie on the Mezen River, almost all the male population, which was engaged in the manufacture of spinning wheels. The most famous are the masters Novikovs, Fedotovs, Kuzmins and Aksenovs. The popularity of the Mezen spinning wheels was enormous: they were exported to the Northern Dvina, Pinega, Pechora and even Onega. In addition, in a number of places centers of imitative painting were formed: the village of Pokshenga on the Pinega River, the village of Keba on the Vashka River, the village of Seltso on the lower Dvina, etc.

The main elements of the Mezen painting were deer and horses. The mythological functions of the horse were discussed by me above in the chapter on Russian wooden utensils. The image of a deer is often found in northern embroidery, in the plots of Russian folk tales, in songs, legends and beliefs. In the North Russian brotherhoods mentioned above, there was a custom to sacrifice a bull. But in local legends, the image of a sacrificial deer is clearly recorded.