Chapter II russian folklore: forms of russian folklore

Significance of Russian folklore

Russian folklore, also known as "narodnaia kul'tura" (folk culture) has played a significant role in shaping Russian history, culture, and identity. Here are some key aspects of the significance of Russian folklore to Russian culture
Folklore, particularly skazki (fairy tales), has been an integral part of Russian life for generations. Starting in pre-Christian Rus', systematized in the nineteenth hundred years, and controlled for political purposes under the Soviet Association, these accounts are one method for following the social history of Russia and its practices. With Russia's size prompting an extraordinary assortment of stories, and its super political states all through the hundreds of years implying that the political purposes of fables have been definitely more huge than in different societies, it is no big surprise that the investigation of Russian and Slavonic legends is a particularly immense and flourishing subject.
The Christianisation of Rus' under Vladimir I was the primary obstacle that Slavic fables expected to cross. Paganism was outlawed in the 12th century because the clergy saw it as a barrier to the peasantry's conversion because of its innate connection to folklore. Fortunately, this ban was impossible to fully enforce, and in the end, the Church was largely forced to adapt by incorporating elements of folklore into Christian stories. This resulted in the dvoeverie (mixing of religions) that is still prevalent in Native American communities today. However, the pre-Christian tropes of wise, old magical women advising and guiding heroes (bogatyri) and even female heroes (palenitsi or bogatyrki) themselves were lost, as was much of the matriarchal nature of pre-Christian folklore
This is most evident in the growth of Baba Yaga, the most well-known Slavic folk character, who appears in tales from Central and Eastern Europe all the way to Russia. She was, prior to Christianity, a living representation of the Pagan goddess of regeneration. She lived in a forest that was a metaphor for the transition between life and death and served as a kind of Mother Earth figure. She was crucial to heroes' victories and acted as a shamanic wise woman who advised them. Her absence of kids or a spouse permitted her the opportunity she expected to commit her life to her craft. However, as a result of the Christianization of the Slavic world and its resulting increase in patriarchy, this was deemed unacceptable and a threat to the preferred social order, and she was rewritten as the evil witch we know today.
The hero who most frequently belonged to the social class of peasants is the most prevalent theme in Russian folktales. This reflects the fact that folklore was written by peasants and portrayed characters and themes that were significant to the common people. While his adversaries, typically those of higher social standing, were frequently depicted as greedy, stupid, and cruel, the hero was typically humble and clever, and he was rewarded for his kindness. However, whenever the Tsar appeared in a story, he was typically depicted as a fair and just father figure who recognized the hero's true worth and gave him the appropriate reward. This is a significant point in Russian old stories, as it has stayed a major piece of the Russian mind in present day times. Various officials' failures are frequently attributed to their greed and stupidity, while the current ruler is thought to be unaware of the situation.
Russian fairy tales are featured in this open-book illustration. Plus Ivan the Fool Ivan is typically the third son of a peasant. He spends all of his time lying on the great house stove, which is a unique feature of Russian peasant houses. It was traditionally in the middle of the log hut and held heat for hours. He is thought to be lazy and foolish. Until something forces him to go on a journey and play the hero, he lies there. Ivan is extremely kind, humble, and fortunate, despite the fact that others view him as unintelligent. In contrast to his two older brothers, both of whom have attempted the same journey but have failed, he typically meets characters that he assists as he travels through the forest. The characters he helps become powerful beings like Baba Yaga, Koschei the Immortal, or the Vodyanoy as a reward for his assistance. Ivan can also appear as Tsarevich Ivan, the third son who is also frequently lost as a baby and is raised as a peasant and unaware of his royal bloodlines. On the other hand, Ivan Tsarevich is at times seen as the third child of the tsar, mistreated by his senior siblings. Anything that Ivan's experience, it generally includes the job of the dark horse who discredits everybody with his mind, venturesome characteristics, and generosity.
Baba Yaga The most well-known and complicated character in Russian folktales is Baba Yaga, a Slavic goddess who was the link between life and death, or our world and the underworld. Yaga's name is linked to the verb "yagatj," which means "to be cross, to tell someone off," according to one theory. Other theories link the name to several languages with meanings like "snake-like," "ancestral," and "forest-dweller." Anything the beginning of the name, it has come to be related with a hag like person who some of the time gets and forfeits youngsters and is eccentric in her way of behaving.
However, the original meaning Baba Yaga was given was one of nature, motherhood, and the underworld, and this association is far from it. In point of fact, Baba Yaga was the most beloved character in Russian folklore and served as a symbol for the matriarchal society that gave rise to the culture. Her eccentric nature was an impression of individuals' relationship with the Earth when the weather conditions could influence yields and gather. The sacrificial practices of the ancient Slavs are the source of her bloodthirstiness, and the nastiness that Baba Yaga is associated with is the manner in which the clergy liked to portray her in order to suppress pagan Slavic values that remained popular with the common people despite the fact that Christianity was the official religion.
You will run over Baba Yaga in most Russian folktales. She lives in a hut supported by two chicken legs in a forest—in Slavic mythology, a symbol of death and life. Yaga likes to catch travelers and force them to do "the kitchen work," but she also welcomes them with food and drink and can become their biggest helper if they correctly answer her riddles or act humble.
Viktor Vasnetsov's The Bogatyrs Bogatyrs Bogatyrs (1898). From left to right, Bogatyrs Alyosha Popovich, Dobrynya Nikitich, and Ilya Muromets The Bogatyrs are the main characters in Russian byliny (лин), which are myth-like tales of battles and challenges. They are similar to Western knights. There are two periods in the history of the bogatyrs: pre-and post-Christianity. Pre-Christianity bogatyrs were fanciful knight-like strongmen like Svyatogor — a goliath whose weight is perfect to the point that even his mom, the Earth, can't bear it. Volga Svyatoslavich is a bogatyr who can assume any form and comprehends animals, while Mikula Selyaninovich is a super-strong peasant who cannot be defeated.
Post-Christianity bogatyrs incorporate Ilya Muromets, who spent the initial 33 years of his life deadened, Alyosha Popovich, and Dobrynya Nikitich.
Popular Russian Folktales Tsarevich Ivan and the Grey Wolf is a magical folktale that tells the story of the youngest son of a tsar. It is one of the most well-known types of folktales. At the point when the Firebird starts to take brilliant apples from the Tsar's nursery, the Tsar's three children set out to get it. Ivan becomes friends with a talking wolf who assists him with tracking down the Firebird and free Elena the Lovely simultaneously.
The Hen Ryaba, perhaps the most well-known Russian folk tale, is read aloud to young Russian children at bedtime. In the story, an elderly couple has a hen named Ryaba, who eventually lays a golden egg. It does not break when the man and woman attempt to break it. They rest outside with the egg on the table because they are exhausted. A mouse runs past the egg and with its story figures out how to drop it on the floor, where the egg breaks. Tears follow, with different occupants of the town crying, including the trees, felines, and canines. The story is regarded as a folk illustration of the Christian view of creation: the old couple addresses Adam and Eve, the mouse — the Hidden world, and the brilliant egg — the Nursery of Eden.
Tsarevna the Frog Illustration to the fairy tale "The Frog Princess" by Ivan the Tsar's son and the frog. 1930.
This well known folktale recounts the narrative of Tsarevich Ivan, whose father the Tsar orders him to wed a frog. What Ivan doesn't understand is that the frog is really Vasilisa the Insightful, the delightful little girl of Koschei the Unfading. For three years, her father turned her into a frog because he was jealous of her intelligence. When Ivan secretly burns his wife's frog skin in the hope that she will always remain her human self, his wife temporarily transforms into her real image. Vasilisa is forced to return to her father's house as a result. Ivan sets out to find her and makes friends with animals along the way. He is instructed by Baba Yaga that if he wants to kill Koschei and save his wife, he must locate the needle that symbolizes his death. The needle is contained within an egg, a rabbit, and a box on top of an enormous oak tree. Ivan saves Vasilisa with the assistance of his new friends in locating the needle.
The Geese-Swans
This is a story a taken by the about a kid geese. With the help of a stove, an apple tree, and a river, his sister goes looking for him and saves him.
Baba Yaga flying in on her mortar, in a delineation by Ivan Bilibin
Baba Yaga flying in on her mortar, in a delineation by Ivan Bilibin
Baba Yaga, again in a delineation by Ivan Bilibin.
Baba Yaga, again in a representation by Ivan Bilibin.
The desire to write down and preserve oral traditions and the rise of the Romantic movement led to the codification and study of Russian folklore in the early nineteenth century. The job of class in this is focal, with authors, for example, Pushkin endeavoring to 'improve' the narratives told to him by his caretaker growing up. It is inevitable that the role of wealthy men in writing these stories resulted in a further loss of their original egalitarianism, despite the fact that it is incomparable to the impact of Christianization in terms of the scale of change. The need for mothers and nannies to tell these stories and modify them as they saw fit decreased significantly once they were recorded. Despite this, this codification provided scholars with a means of beginning an academic examination of folklore. It was right now that old stories started to be arranged into various subsections - family stories, creature stories, and courageous folksongs being the most famous[5,35].
The Slavophile movement was also the first to use folklore to promote nationalism at this time. Folklore was viewed by Slavophiles as evidence of a national tradition that unified Slavs long before Peter the Great attempted to establish a European nationhood, as well as evidence of the innate Christian values of the Russian narod (people). Baba Yaga, for example, was a common theme and story that connected the vast expanse of the Russian empire with what the Slavophiles considered to be a similar ethical understanding of the world and, beyond that, a similar - and uniquely Russian - soul.
Because folklore played such an important role in the narod's day-to-day life, it was an ideal medium for Soviet propaganda, particularly under Stalin. The Soviet narrative of class struggle supervised by the state incorporated the typical formula, in which a modest lower class hero defeats a greedy upper class villain with the assistance of a benevolent leader, into the creation of new folktales. These were made with the intention of highlighting the improvement in life under the USSR and illustrating the types of heroism that were thought to be essential to its success, such as hard work and loyalty to the state.
All the while, conventional legends was altered and blue-penciled to guarantee its consistence with the state message. The Russian Relationship of Ordinary Authors (RAPP) was put up together to stifle fables which could have been considered to ruin the Soviet public, specifically kids, who were considered to be especially helpless against the purported 'common babble' of legends, while people artists were thoroughly taught in communist way of thinking, in order to enable them to advance the socialist message in their narrating successfully. This is, obviously, unreasonable: the stories of individuals, which had gone from the proletariat up to the most noteworthy places of the government, were then transformed into stories of the state, communicated downwards to common individuals.
Russian folk tales: Folk tales have been a significant part of Russian folklore for centuries. These tales reflect the unique and diverse cultural traditions of different regions of Russia. For example, tales from the northern region of Russia often involve the sea and fish, while tales from the central region of Russia often involve forests and animals. These tales served as a means of entertainment, as well as a way to pass on wisdom and moral values from one generation to another. Importance of nature: Russian folklore is deeply connected to nature, which is highly regarded in Russian culture. Nature is considered sacred and is often personified as capable of taking revenge on those who mistreat it. This connection to nature is reflected in many Russian folk tales, songs, and rituals.
Religious traditions: Russian folklore has strong ties with the Orthodox Christian religion. Many festivals and rituals are based on Orthodox Christian traditions, such as Maslenitsa (Butter week), which is similar to Carnival in other cultures. Russian music and dance: Russian folk music and dance have a unique and distinctive flavor that is heavily influenced by the country's rich folklore. Traditional Russian instruments, such as the balalaika and domra, are commonly used in folk music. Folk dances, such as the circle dance or "khorovod," are also an integral part of Russian traditions. National identity: Russian folklore plays a crucial role in shaping the national identity of Russia. Folklore has been used as a symbol of resistance against cultural imperialism, particularly during the Soviet era when many traditional practices were suppressed. Since then, there has been a resurgence of interest in Russian folklore, which has helped to strengthen the country's cultural identity. In summary, Russian folklore represents a rich and diverse heritage that is deeply embedded in Russian culture. It reflects the country's history, traditions, and values, and plays a vital role in shaping national identity.
It is not necessarily the case that old stories was constantly utilized as publicity in the USSR. The 1920s are much of the time called the 'brilliant long stretches' of skazki; between the tsarist regime and Stalinism, a brief period in which the state was too preoccupied with the economy to consider academia. During this period, academic folklorists flourished and established two schools of thought: the Formalist and the Finnish. The Finnish viewed folklore from a historical and geographical point of view, whereas the Formalists viewed it as an apolitical art form. While both can be censured for their absence of social investigation, their simple presence showed a transitory much needed refresher for Soviet folklorists to work liberated from the level of restriction they would before long insight.
Urban folktales are flourishing in the post-Soviet era thanks to the internet, which provides the kind of community spaces that were once found in hamlets and villages. A few pundits don't consider these to be legends, since they don't shape part of an oral custom, and on second thought mark them 'post-', or 'hostile to ' fables, but there is developing understanding that the networks framed on the web and the narratives that travel through them are the encapsulation of twenty-first century old stories. Where when narrators would venture to every part of the nation, performing stories, these days the web is a circle of execution and reflection. The matriarchal origins of Slavic folkloric traditions are coming to the forefront in progressive internet circles as well as in the "new folk talks" of contemporary authors like Ludmila Petrushevskaya due to the growing popularity of feminist and queer readings of folklore and acceptance of the Church's role in distorted stories.
The certain allure of these basic, invigorating, soothing stories has been an area of consistency all through Russia's turbulent history. Over the past century, their incorporation into a variety of media has strengthened their position as an essential component of Russian life. In a country as extensive as Russia, containing such countless various traditions and societies, the strength of the folkloric custom is crucial to join individuals from youth and to make a good judgment of local area and history. Even though Russian folklore has been and may continue to be politicized, I believe that the classic characters Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Beautiful will always be important parts of every Russian child's childhood, regardless of their political views or social status.