Текст книги "Сборник статей. Выпуск 6"

Archaic motifs in the North Russian folk emboroidery and their parallels in ancient ornaments of the Eurasian steep population

The article analyses the geometrical motifs preserved in the North Russian territory (Vologda and Arkhangelsk Regions) up to the early 20th century. The ornaments embroidered and woven by female peasants in Northern Russia comprised rhombs, meanders, saltire crosses, z-formed and swastika figures of different designs and configurations. It is well-known that for the first time in the history of mankind the meander and swastika depiction appeared on the territory of Eastern Europe in the old Stone Age (the 23rd millennium В. C.). These figures are depicted on the things made of fossil ivory found near the city of Chernigov (Mezin site). During the following millennia these ornaments became more complicated, they were transformed, modified and in the course of time became a carpet-design decor. Such ornaments were mostly characteristic of the so-called Andronovo pottery from the 2nd millennium В. C., which is referred by researchers to ancient Aryans. The recovered ornamented pottery helps to trace the migration of Aryan groups in different directions: east and south-east (the Caucasus, the Trans-Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan, India and China), south-west (Greece, Italy, and the Balkans), west and north-west (Germany, Scandinavia), etc.

Today the researchers suppose such ornaments to be a sort of a totem, a symbol of clan and ethnic affiliation for the person whose possessions were thus decorated. These ornaments acted as talismans, which preserved their owners from harm during all their life and even after it. Pieces of ceramics with intricate ornamental designs are usually found m graves, so this kind of decor was of a ritual character.

It is interesting that these intricate old Aryan ornaments in their variety had been reproduced by the women of Northern Russia on towels, shirts, aprons, waist-bands, tahle-clothes, bed valances up to the 1920—1930s. Some of these ritual things repeat the ornamental compositions of the 23rd millennium В. C. in detail.

The author assumes that similar simple ornamental elements could be reproduced by different, even not related, nations. But it seems incredible that the peoples divided by vast territories and long millennia (in case they are not ethnogenetically linked) could invent the intricate ornamental compositions, which are identical down to the smallest detail and which discharged the same ritual function of a talisman and a totem.

About several motifs in folk embroider on Solvychegodsk kokoshniki – headdresses of Northern Dyna type
(Using materials of the Vologda regional museum-reserve)

Of the numerous motifs in the Russian folk embroidery, the archaic one depicting a woman in childbirth is considered to him the least studied today. The most interesting motifs are depicted on the North Russian female headdresses called «kokoshniki». Several of them are kept in the archives of the Vologda museum-reserve. These headdresses made of red, crimson or cherry-colored hard silk or velvet are embroidered with a gold silver thread and decorated with pearls, cut nacre, natural semi-precious stones and strasses. The upper part of kokoshniki depicts either a zoo-anthropomorphic creature combining the features of a human and an animal, or a stylizing golden tree, which outline resembles a woman in childbirth.

These central personages are connected hy a thin band – a «naval-string» – with other figures, creatures or trees, smaller in dimensions. Usually zoo-anthropomorphic heings have the horns on their heads.

A headdress in the North Russian costume played a very significant role: it preserved a woman from harm, protected her from evil magic and stimulated a procreation function.

As such a headdress could he worn only by the woman abie to give birth, so it can be concluded that it depicts pagan Goddess Rozhanitsa – the mother of all Earth beings – who was celebrated in «Rigveda» hymns. This Goddess had been incarnated in the form of either a primordial cow, or a golden tree, or a woman in childbirth in the embroidery of the North Russian female headdress up to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Reflection of pagan beliefs in the ornamentation of North Russian female headdresses
(using materials of the Vologda regional museum-reserve)

The female headdresses of Northern Russia had always been associated with fertility. This article of clothing was thoroughly decorated and often cost as much as a few milch-cows or a horse. The motifs and images of embroidered compositions can hardly be concerned with concepts of the Orthodox Church.

The embroidery of the North Russian female headdresses distinctly reflects the pagan cult of ancient deities-creators of the Universe named Rod and Rozhanitsa. Researcher Boris Rybakov proved that long before the Christianity was introduced, the eastern Slavs had had a developed cult of Supreme Goddess

Rozhanitsa – the patroness of women and birth, and of God Rod – the patron of rams, storms, moisture on the whole, fertility and blood relationship.

On the northern female headdresses goddesses of Rozhanitsa are depicted as either zoo-anthropomorphic beings (which combine the features of both a human and an animal), or stylizing geometrical figures, or golden trees. It is notable that these images in their outline repeat the figure of a woman and childbirth, and all of them are horned. Moreover, some female headdresses were also sewn with horns.

In such a way a woman was compared to a cow or a goat that from ancient times had symbolized fertility.

The headdresses of the old-aged women of Northern Russia depicted God Rod as a horned bull always concerned with Water and the Moon cults.

Images of the water-fowl in Russian folk tradition
(sources and genesis)

The images of the water-fowl – ducks, gooses, swans – played an exceptional role in the Russian folk tradition. The gooses-swans were always mentioned in the songs of a ritual character. Their connection to the other world, the world of the departed, is traced in Russian fairy-tales, riddles, spells and rituals invoking fertiltty.

In the old Aryan mythology a goose-swan was identified with the sky, the sun, the universe, the light, and a universal and individual soul, universal music. The great Water Goddess from the Veda epoch named Sarasvati was always accompanied by a goose, which stood for the all-embracing sky. In the Indo-Iranian (Aryan) mythology the water-fowl accompanied the Goddess-Mother of water who was often depicted as a world tree with birds sitting on it. And in the tradition of all Indo-European nations, a pair of ducks had always symbolized a conjugal love. The worship to the sacred goose-swan and duck in the ancient Indo-European epoch are recorded in the hymns of «Rigveda» and «Avesta». The archaic Eastem-Slavonic traditions trace an identical worship.

The author is convinced that this cult originates from the native land of Indo-Europeans – the polar territory – and dates back to the oldest antiquity. It is confirmed by the petrogliphs of the 5^th-4^th millennia B.C., which were encountered on the crags of the White Sea and Onega Lake and which depicted goose-swans in the scenes of a mythological ritual character. On the northern rivers and lakes this water-fowl has heen hatching out and fledging its chicks, here these careful and cunning birds, the fowling for which was quite difficult in ancient time, became most helpless when moulting. Moreover, at the most difficult for ancient northern people time – in famine spring and summer, the water-fowl was the main source to feed them. And this fact to a great extent promoted the development of the cult of gooses, swans and ducks. This ancient cult had heen preserved in different forms in the folk culture of the Russian North up to the early 20th century.

Possible sources of the image of a horse-goose and a horse-deer in indo-Iranian (Aryan) mythology

Of the ancient Aryan mythological images, the image of a horse-goose and a horse-deer seems to be the most interesting and enigmatic. The outward similarity of the bird’s flying to the horse’s running is not sufficient to explain this phenomenon. The image of a horse is compared exactly to the images of a goose and a swan but not to any other species of hirds. The explanation of it can be found in the old mythology of Indo-European nations as well as in ancient artifacts of art and religious cult. The archaeological fmds of the Mesolithic (7^th-5^th millennia В. C.) made in the polar regions of the Russian North testify to the existence of the developed cult of the water-fowl and an elk at that distant time. This cult is reflected in the petrogliphs which were found on the crags and which dated from the 4^th -3^th millennia В. C. Here appeared the image of a goose-elk combining the features of a bird and a deer.

While analyzing the archaeological and historical materials the author concludes that in the deep Indo-European antiquity an elk was used as a saddle and carriage animal. The fact that it was an elk but not a reindeer is obvious today.

As the Eurasian and North American wild reindeer had turned out to he untamabie, so the people had to tame the disappeared today Sayany deer. So in the territory of the European North the domesticated reindeer appeared not earlier than in the 13th century. There are many facts confirming that before the Aryans came to steeps, they had used an elk as a carriage animal. And only later having already the experience in treating carriage elks, the Aryans managed to domesticate a wild steep tarpan-horse.

The images of a horse on the one hand and of an elk-goose on the other were united in the mythology and rituals and resulted in a complicated synthetical image of a horse-goose and a horse-deer, which is perpetuated in the Russian embroidery, weaving and casting.

Reflection of Vedas’ mythological topics in Eastern-Slavonic calendar rites

The heliefs of northern Russian peasants preserved up to the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, especially the stable calendar-ritual cycles, evidently reflect the relics of the archaic Indo-European calendar that has deep-going roots. The Eastern-Slavonic pre-Christian picture of the world differentiated two temporal cycles: the period from winter solstice (December 22) till summer solstice (June 22) and the period from summer solstice till winter one. The beginning of either cycle was marked by the calendar ritual actions: winter Christmas-tide and summer John Baptist’s Day. The author thinks that the explanation of the correlation of these ritual actions with these calendar cycles lies in the depth of millennia.

According to the Veda tradition, the time periods of the alive, of the died and of the gods were different: the Period of ancestors was a lunar month (or 28 days), the Period of gods was a year, where the Day was the sun’s movement northwards (December 22-June 22) and the Night – the sun’s movement southwards (June 22-December 22).

The analysis of the Eastem-Slavonic calendar rites based on the dates of summer and winter solstice shows that the same philosophic concepts and the same mythological ideas are recorded in the old Aryan texts («Rigveda», «Makhahharata» and «Avesta»):

1. On the Day of gods (from December 22 till June 22) all died get an everlasting life m the world of gods and so cannot be subj ected to the incarnation in the world of people. They can visit their relatives on a special day of the Christmas-tide.

2. In the Night of gods (from June 22 till December 22) all died must return to the world of the alive in the form of dew, rain or snow in order to be reincarnated into a newborn child. Both the Feast of the Dew, antedating John Baptist’s Day, and the rite itself opening the marriage season imply the incarnation process.

3. As the souls of the other world were represented as twinkling lights, so on the Christmas-tide and on John Baptist’s Day the alive people join m the world of the died through all three fire hypostasis: fire itself (the sun and a bonfire), water (that potentially bears fire) and a tree (from which rubbing a ritual fire was made).

Ancient ritual concepts about the subdivision of a year into two parts (Gods’ Day and Gods’ Night) date back to the remote historical period when the ancestors of all Indo-Europeans (Indo-Iranians and Slavs in part) were living in the polar territory, in the north of Eastern Europe.

Along the way of myths
(Alexander Pushkin and Russian fairy-tale)

The author compares the subjects of the poem «Ruslan and Ludmila» by Alexander Pushkin to the old Indian epos «Legend about Rama» («Ramayana») and reveals a complete coincidence of them.

1. In «Ruslan and Ludmila» a wizard kidnaps a beauty named Ludmila, the wife of prince Ruslan, and takes her away up to the clouds. In the «Legend about Rama» a demon kidnaps a beauty named Sita, the wife of tsar’s son Rama, and takes her away up to the clouds.

2. Both Ludmila and Sita escape from their kidnapper’s in a magic garden.

3. Ruslan is helped by sorcerer Finn and the head of wizard Chemomor’s brother. This head is possessed of a magic sward. Rama is helped by sorcerer Vibhishana, a brother of demon Ravana. Moreover, the demon sacrifices one of his ten heads to get immortality and power equal to the divine. To compare, wizard Chemomor cuts of Fhis brother’s head but lets it live.

4. Both Chemomor and Ravana can be killed only with definite magic arms: one with a sward, another with an arrow.

5. Both Chemomor and Ravana cannot force the beautiful captives to be their wives.

6. Chemomor is helped by witch Naina, who offended by Finn’s refusal of her love, calls Chemomor to fight with Ruslan. Demon Ravana is called to fight with Rama by female demon Shurpanakha, offended by Rama’s refusal of her love.

7. Cbemomor deludes Ludmila with a ghost of wounded to death Ruslan. Demon Ravana tries to delude Sita with a ghost of Rama’s bloody head.

8. Both Ruslan and Rama first perish but then they recover with the help of magic water from the remote mountains given them by a sorcerer (Finn in the first case, and Vibhishana – in the second).

As at the moment when Alexander Pushkin was writing his poem, there was no European translation of the «Legend about Rama», the author surmises that both works are based on the identical very ancient subject, which was perpetuated both in the old Indian and North Russian versions. Moreover, some details from «Ruslan and Ludmila» convinced that the source used by Pushkin is older than the «Legend about Rama» dating from the late 2^nd -early 1^st millennia В. C.

Veda means knowledge

In 1903 in Bombey appeared the book «Arctic native land in Vedas» by B. G. Tilak, the prominent Indian researcher and public figure. Having studied the ancient texts for many years the author comes to the conclusion that the native land of Aryans occupied northern Europe – some territory near the Polar Circle. On that very territory the most ancient texts of the Aryan sacred books: «Rigveda», «Makhabharata», «Avesta» – were being written. According to these books the knowledge of their creators was enormous for that epoch.

«Makhabharata», for example, describes different aircrafts and calls them «flying chariots» or «divine birds». They were used by the epos’s personages for going spaceward. The fly of such a «flying chariot» described in a very realistic way is on the whole reminiscent of the fly of a nowaday spaceship.

The epos describes different kinds of weapons of mass destruction, from nuclear to psychotropic. Not by chance, at the first experimental explosion of an atomic bomb R. Oppenheimer cited «Makhabharata»’s description of the «space arms of gods».

The ancient Aryans knew the smallest spaces of time, which the contemporary civilization has discovered only over recent decades.

The old texts describe in detail the formation of the Universe and the primary self-organization of the matter, which lasted 25,92 x 1012 years. In «Makhabharata» the fundamental principle of the Universe is called the eternal Brahma-creator, or a genuine light. This idea of some superlight as the base for building the material Universe was likewise adopted by ancient Egyptians.

Some relics of these concepts could be found in the Eastern pre-Christian world-perception. According to them the seventh day of a week was dedicated to a «light» when people worshipped not to the sun but to the invisible light that was identified with the divine essence.

The discoveries of the 20th century have corroborated the wisdom of the ancients. The ubiquitous streams of invisible neutrino (a genuine light called by ancient wise men «eternal Brahma»), giving birth to everything in the Universe, penetrate everything around like water pierces a sieve.

Сборник научных статей

Вологда. Издательство «МДК». 2002

Вступительное слово кандидата исторических наук, искусствоведа, С. В. Жарниковой (г. Вологда)

История художественных ремесел и промыслов России уходит своими корнями в седую древность. Русская народная вышивка, узорное ткачество, резьба и роспись по дереву, плетение, тиснение и роспись на бересте, кружевоплетение, ювелирное производство и многое другое берут свое начало в глубинах тысячелетий. Восхищаясь вышивкой рубах и передников, сложными геометрическими орнаментами концов полотенец, столешников, поясов, золотой вышивкой головных уборов, выполненных русскими крестьянками на порубежье XIX – XX вв., мы, как правило, очень смутно представляем себе, что перед нами в таких, казалось бы простых, обыденных вещах, предстают целые эпохи живой истории народов, населявших просторы России на протяжении многих тысячелетий. Выдающийся исследователь русской культуры В. А. Городцов, анализируя севернорусское крестьянское ткачество и вышивку, и сравнивая их узоры с орнаментами, нанесенными на изделия из кости мамонта людьми, жившими в восточной Европе еще 25 тысяч лет тому назад, писал в 1926 году: «В узорах севернорусских мастериц скрывается живое воспоминание о самых древних общечеловеческих религиозных символах. И какая свежая, какая твердая память!»

Геометрическая трехгранно-выемчатая резьба, искусством которой славятся наши резчики по дереву, украшавшая прялки и швейки, скамьи и сундуки, шкатулки и шкафы-поставцы, дуги и коромысла, детские колыбели и нарядные праздничные сани, также имеет многотысячелетнюю историю. Уже за пять тысячелетий до нашего времени именно такая резьба оберегала и украшала многие деревянные изделия, которыми пользовались наши далекие предки. А некоторые элементы этих орнаментов появляются здесь, на просторах Восточной Европы еще в каменном веке, в VII – VI тысячелетиях до нашей эры, о чем свидетельствуют многочисленные находки археологов.

Разве не удивительно, что роспись мезенской прялки так близка цветовом и композиционном решении к дипилонской греческой вазе VIII – VII в, до нашей эры, с той лишь разницей, что мезенская роспись XIX в. архаичнее древнегреческой, хотя и моложе ее на добрых три тысячи лет.

А знаменитая каргопольская, филимоновская и абашевская игрушка, гак похожая на народные игрушки далекой Индии. Те же орнаменты, те же таинственные знаки! Сколько им тысячелетий? Ведь перед нами на самом деле не украшение, не забава, а древний магический текст, заговор, оберег. Науке известно, что такие орнаментальные комплексы неповторимы и племена или группы племен, разработавшие их в глубокой древности, надолго сохраняют входившие в комплекс священные знаки. Как писал один из ведущих специалистов по орнаменту С. В. Иванов: «Части или группы распавшегося племени нередко расходятся и теряют связь между собой, но орнамент, продолжая хранить древние традиции, свидетельствует о древней общности этих групп».

Птица «Сирин», несущая плодородие полям и нивам, цветущее вечное Древо жизни, гуси-лебеди – символы неба, духовного начала и вечности – все они с нами в народных песнях, сказках, в изделиях наших чудо-мастеров.

Замечательные художественные традиции наших далеких предков не были забыты и утрачены. Они совершенствовались век от века. И слава средневековых русских мастеров гремела далеко за пределами Руси. Русские кожевенники считались лучшими в Европе. Изделия русских ювелиров – скань, серебро с чернью, эмали экспортировались в IX – X в.в. в Польшу, Чехию и к балтийским славянам, вызывая восхищение современников высокой техникой работы. Не случайно Киев называли «соперником Константинополя». Исключительная талантливость и сметка русских мастеров удивляла европейцев. Так поляк Маскевич, живший в Москве во время польской интервенции в начале XVII века, писал: «Все русские ремесленники превосходны, очень искусны и так смышлены, что все, чего сроду не видывали, не только не делывали, с первого взгляда поймут и сработают столь хорошо, как, будто с малолетства привыкли». А Олеарий в своем «Описании путешествия в Московию» (1656 г.) утверждал, что «тот, кто желает в ремесле удержать за собой какие-нибудь особые знания и приемы, никогда не допускает русских к наблюдению».

Из века в век, из поколения в поколение передается эта эстафета мастерства.

И в наше бурное время все равно цветет по-прежнему живое Древо народного искусства, не перевелись в России мастера и умельцы. И до тех пор, пока жива в народе потребность творить красоту – жив и сам народ!

Кандидат исторических наук, искусствовед

С. В. Жарникова

Ярмарка «Художественные промыслы России» Вологда 23,24,25 июня 1994 года.

Областной культурный Центр «Русский Домъ».