Tradition: definition, concept, meaning. "historical legend as a genre of folklore in the folk art of the Arkhangelsk north" What genres of folklore are the legends similar to?
Description of the video lesson
Tradition- a genre of oral folk art, stories of historical content, folk historical prose. Traditions have reached our days from time immemorial and have preserved the spirit of that time.
The word “legend” accurately reflects the essence of this genre. This is a story that is passed on from mouth to mouth, passed on from generation to generation.
Literacy and books in ancient times were accessible to few, but almost everyone wanted to know their place in history and understand events. Until the 19th century, legends replaced historical literature, telling in their own way about the past and present. But legends do not reflect the entire course of events; they pay attention to individual bright moments stories.
Legends often tell about the origin of a particular people. Usually we're talking about about some ancestor, ancestor, with whom the name of the tribe or people is associated. For example, in medieval European historical works there was a widespread legend about the origin of the Slavic tribes. It said that once upon a time there lived three brothers: Czech, Lech and Mech, or Bear. From the first came the Czechs, from the second - the Poles, from the third - the Russians.
The past is usually embellished in legends. For example, it is said that in former times there lived not ordinary people, but giants. Therefore, human bones found at the site of former battles between Russians and Lithuanians or Chud (one of the Finnish tribes) seem to be amazing in their size.
In the past, robber or Cossack atamans also possessed some magical properties: for example, Ermak, according to legend, is invulnerable to bullets, Razin is a sorcerer.
Real circumstances were also reflected in the legends, but after repeated retellings, something that seemed uninteresting was forgotten, missing details were conjectured, characters acquired new features, and events acquired new details. As a result, the facts in the story could be distorted beyond recognition.
In almost all legends, at the center of any event, from the largest to the smallest, there is always one bright personality: a king, a prince, a robber, an ataman, a general. This personality determines everything that happens. Attention is focused on this person, and the events described occur according to his will.
Legends about historical figures may describe events that are widely known. For example, the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, Ermak’s conquest of Siberia, the uprising in Moscow against the Poles during the reign of False Dmitry, the founding of the city of Petrozavodsk by Peter, Suvorov’s crossing of the Alps and others. Along with this, there are many stories that depict various actions famous people, not known from archival sources.
Many legends are dedicated to the founding of cities and the development of new territories. These stories are often associated with the activities of some outstanding person.
Among the heroes of legends there are often robbers and strongmen. Robbers rob, kill people, hide their loot, and bury treasures. However, in legends, robbers do not always appear as villains. Often we are talking about noble robbers who distributed the loot to poor people. Among them are Stepan Razin and Emelyan Pugachev.
Strongmen in legends are always simple people. Among the Cossacks - this is a Cossack, in barge haulers' stories - a barge hauler. The strongman surpasses everyone in physical strength and usually has no equal opponent. Sometimes such heroes are endowed with mythological, magical traits.
Thanks to the presence of fiction, legends are often close to epics or fairy tales.
Tradition "On the conquest of Siberia by Ermak" tells about distant events of the 16th century. The beginning of the legend is almost fabulous: “Tsar Ivan heard that beyond the Urals lies a land richer than the one that is subject to him.” And from then on there was no peace for Ivan the Terrible; he wanted to annex Siberia to his lands, but he didn’t know how. The king was tormented by this question so much that he fell ill and “went to bed.” The boyars could not help the sovereign. It turned out that a simple servant was capable of resolving such an issue. He suggested to the king the name of a man who would be “brave and daring, who is not afraid of death, who will not be struck by lightning or deafened by thunder.” It was this servant who was able to find the Cossack Ermak Timofeevich in the vast expanses of Russia. Ermak arrived to Tsar Ivan, agreed to go to the Siberian land and win it for his state from Khan KuchUm. Since then, Siberia has become part of the Moscow state.
The legend is completely different in form. "About Pugachev". There is no fabulousness in it; rather, it is an everyday sketch that reflects the dreams of the people about “their” ruler - a sovereign from the common people. For this reason, in legend, Pugachev appears not as an impostor encroaching on the throne, but as the real Peter III: “He was only called Pugachev.” But it so happened that he married either an Italian young lady or a princess “from our village”, who threw him off the throne and took it herself. But Catherine II arrived and put everything in its place: she returned the reins of power to Pugachev, ordered the colonel who treated the potential tsar badly to be cut off, and made the Cossack a colonel. And Pugachev sent his treacherous wife to a monastery.
And in legend "About Pugachev", as in the legend about Ermak, the events described are very different from those that actually took place. The real Pugachev was an impostor; he did not have a wife of Italian origin. Catherine II was not his ally, and therefore did not return the throne.
Many legends are completely at odds with historical reality. But in the poetic images of Ermak Timofeevich or Emelyan Pugachev, the reader sees the image of the Russian people, their autobiography. The legends are small in volume, but a lot is guessed in them: and original character the Russian people, and their attitude towards the tsarist power, and the people's self-awareness of unity, and national certainty.
Legends are imbued with love for the homeland and tell about the historical past. They are educational in nature. The main advantage of legends is not the historical, but the moral principle. Thanks to him folk epic is still relevant and valuable today.
Tradition is something that has come down to the present day directly from the depths of centuries and therefore has preserved the spirit of that time. “The legends of deep antiquity...” - this is what A.S. says. Pushkin about the events described in “Ruslan and Lyudmila”.
The word "legend" in the mind modern man It is even more associated with fiction, a frankly implausible story that embellishes reality.
But in the scientific literature about folklore, these concepts have a different, more clear meaning. Traditions and legends are genres of oral folk art. Legends are stories of historical content, folk and historical prose. Legends are stories with religious content. The popular consciousness does not make a distinction between traditions and legends. Yes and modern science cannot always draw a clear line between them.
The name “legend” quite accurately reflects the essence of this genre. This is a story that is passed on from mouth to mouth, passed on from generation to generation.
Literacy and books were available to few. And almost every person wanted to know their place in history and understand events. And until the 19th century, legends replaced historical literature for the common people, telling about the past in their own way. Legends do not reflect the entire course of events. They pay attention to individual highlights of history.
Legends often highlight the origins of a particular people. Usually we are talking about some ancestor, ancestor, with whom the name of the tribe or people (ethnonym) is associated.
There are many things in legends that cannot be read about in books. The past is usually embellished in legends. Thus, it is said that in former times there lived not ordinary people, but giants; therefore, human bones found at the site of former battles between Russians and Lithuanians or Chud (one of the Finnish tribes) seem to be amazing in their size. In the past, robber or Cossack atamans also possessed some magical properties: for example, Ermak, according to legend, is invulnerable to bullets, Razin is a sorcerer, etc.
Of course, real circumstances were also reflected in legends.
About our own kings and generous robbers.
In almost all legends, at the center of any event there is always one bright personality: a prince, a robber. Ataman, general, etc. This personality determines everything that happens.
Legends about historical figures may describe events that are widely known: for example, the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, Ermak’s conquest of Siberia, etc. But along with this, there are many stories that depict various actions of famous people that are not known from archival documents or other sources.
Of particular interest to folk historical prose is private life. historical figure. Bright, outstanding figures, although they differ in legends from ordinary people, but for some reason they are similar to mere mortals. They have their own personal life, they can do things that are not at all heroic, everyday, communicate directly with the common people, etc. It is told, for example, how Peter I becomes the godfather of the son of a poor peasant, as one of the largest commanders of the 18th century. Count Rumyantsev fishes on his estate, and Suvorov jokes with his soldiers.
Often legends are full of irony: even great figures in them can make mistakes, be mistaken, and appear in a funny light. This is another important feature of legends: they not only consolidate historical events in people’s memory, even if embellished, but also bring them closer to everyday life. Therefore, in the stories, in addition to famous personalities and high-profile events, there are heroes and circumstances unknown outside the local area.
Many legends are devoted to how this or that city was founded and new territories were developed, how certain geographical names. These subjects are also connected with the activities of any one outstanding person.
The names of cities, villages, rivers, lakes are sometimes associated with some event of local significance (which in reality might not have happened).
Among the heroes of legends there are often robbers and strongmen.
Robbers rob, kill people, hide the loot, bury treasures that no one can find. There are stories about entire villages of bandits: residents lured passers-by to spend the night and then killed them; or they did ordinary work during the day and robbed at night.
However, in legends, robbers are not always portrayed as villains. Often we are talking about noble people's intercessors who distributed the loot to the poor. Among them, Razin and Pugachev are mentioned.
Strongmen in legends are always simple people, representatives of the environment in which they are told about: among the Cossacks - this is a Cossack, in barge haulers' stories - a barge hauler. Such a strongman surpasses everyone in physical strength and usually does not have an equal opponent, but in all other respects he is the same as everyone else. But sometimes such heroes are endowed with mythological, magical traits. One of the most famous strongman heroes is Rakhta (or Rakhkoy) Ragnozersky, so nicknamed after the village of Ragnozero in Karelia.
Such characters indicate the connection of legends with other folklore genres, in the center of which there is an exceptional personality: with epics, historical songs, fairy tales, and folk beliefs.
How Christ gathered bread
The word "legend" in Latin literally means "that which is to be read." Initially, this was the name given to the lives of saints, which contained examples of Christian virtue and pious behavior. Later, legends began to be understood as generally instructive and pious stories. And then just stories in which something unusual, wonderful happens, but it is perceived as something that actually happened.
In legends, along with people and animals, God and saints, angels and demons act. If the legend is directed to the past, then the legend does not specify the time of action. This is either a sacred time - when God created the world, or we are talking about events that could happen at any time.
Everything that happens in legends is described and assessed from the point of view of compliance with Christian standards of life - as folk tradition understands them. There is a lot of incredible things in the events depicted in legends. But the concepts of “plausible” or “implausible” do not apply to them.
In legends, Christ or saints often descend to earth and unrecognized walk on it, rewarding the righteous and punishing sinners. Such stories are built on the contrast between what people think about inconspicuous wanderers and who they really are. Punishment or reward follows immediately or is promised in a future life, hell or heaven.
It happens that legends have something in common with fairy tales. The difference between them is that fairy tales are told for fun, for fun. And legends, despite the similarity of plots, are taken quite seriously, as a real case from which conclusions should be drawn and morals drawn.
The plots of the legends were drawn not only from oral, but also from written culture. Among written sources Apocrypha comes first. Legends were also based on some biblical events.
Christian images and stories are often superimposed on ancient folk beliefs.
Legendary stories are reflected not only in literature, but also in icon painting. The most common type of icon of St. George - "The Miracle of George on the Serpent" - is associated with a legend, and not with the life of this saint. This image, where Saint George on horseback tramples and pierces a snake with a spear, was so popular that it became the coat of arms of Muscovite Rus', and then Moscow.
Legends and traditions are a living genre. They surround us to this day. Folk culture still in his own way keeps track of events, selecting what seems most important. And the rumors that modern rumor gives rise to and spreads may well reach descendants in the future as outlandish stories.
Tradition is a story about the past, sometimes very distant. Tradition depicts reality in everyday forms, although fiction and sometimes even fantasy are always used. The main purpose of legends is to preserve the memory of national history. Legends began to be written down before many folklore genres, as they were an important source for chroniclers. IN large quantities legends exist in oral tradition even today.
Traditions are an “oral chronicle,” a genre of non-fairy tale prose with an emphasis on historical authenticity. The word “tradition” itself means “to convey, to preserve.” Legends are characterized by references to old people and ancestors. The events of legends are concentrated around historical figures who, regardless of their social status (be it a king or the leader of a peasant uprising), most often appear in an ideal light.
Any legend is historical at its core, because the impetus for its creation is always a genuine fact: a war with foreign invaders, a peasant revolt, large-scale construction, a crowning of the kingdom, etc. At the same time, legend is not identical to reality. As a folklore genre, it has the right to fiction, offers his own interpretation of the story. Plot fiction arises on the basis of historical fact (for example, after the hero of the legend has been at a given point). Fiction does not contradict historical truth, but, on the contrary, contributes to its identification.
In July 1983, during folklore practice, students of Moscow State Pedagogical University in Podolsk near Moscow wrote down from A. A. Vorontsov, 78 years old, a legend about the origin of the name of this city. It is historically reliable that Peter I visited Podolsk. The legend expresses the negative attitude of the people towards his foreign wife (Catherine I), for whose sake the legitimate queen was exiled to a monastery (see in the Reader).
There are two main ways of creating legends: 1) generalization of memories; 2) generalization of memories and their design using ready-made plot schemes. The second path is characteristic of many legends. General motifs and plots pass from century to century (sometimes as myths or legends), being associated with different events and persons. There are recurring toponymic stories (for example, about failed churches, cities). Typically, such stories paint the narrative in fairy-tale-legendary tones, but they are capable of conveying something important for their era.
One of the international ones is the story of how the king pacified the raging water elements. (He, for example, was attributed to the Persian king Xerxes.) In the Russian oral tradition, the plot began to appear in the legends about Ivan the Terrible and Peter I (see in the Reader).
Stories about Stepan Razin were also subsequently attached to other characters. For example, V.I. Chapaeva, like Razin, cannot be killed by any bullet; he fantastically frees himself from captivity (by diving into a bucket of water or sailing away in a boat painted on the wall), and so on.
And yet the event of legend is depicted as single, complete, unique.
The legend tells about something generally significant and important for everyone. This influences the selection of material: the topic of a legend is always of national significance or is important for the inhabitants of a given area. The nature of the conflict is national or social. Accordingly, the characters are representatives of the state, nation, specific classes or estates.
Legends have developed special techniques for depicting the historical past. Attention is shown to the details of a big event. The general, typical is depicted through the particular, specific. Legends are characterized by localization—geographical confinement to a village, lake, mountain, house, etc. The reliability of the plot is supported by various material evidence—the so-called “traces” of the hero (he built a church, paved a road, donated a thing)
In Olonets province. they showed silver cups and fifty kopecks, allegedly donated by Peter I; in Zhiguli, all antiques and human bones found in the ground were attributed to differences.
The prevalence of legends varies. Legends about the tsars existed throughout the entire territory of the state, and legends about other figures of Russian history were told mainly in the area where these people lived and acted.
Thus, in the summer of 1982, the folklore expedition of the Moscow State Pedagogical University recorded in the village of Dorofeev, Ostrovsky district, Kostroma region. from the peasant D.I. Yarovitsyn, 87 years old, the legend “About Ivan Susanin” (see in the Reader).
The plots of legends are usually single-motive. Consolidated (contaminated) legends could develop around the character; story cycles emerged.
Legends have their own ways of depicting heroes. Usually the character is only named, and in the episode of the legend one of his traits is shown. At the beginning or end of the story, direct characteristics and assessments are allowed, which are necessary for the image to be correctly understood. They act not as a personal judgment, but as a general opinion (about Peter I: This is the tsar - so the tsar, he didn’t eat bread for nothing; he worked better than a barge hauler; about Ivan Susanin: ... after all, he saved not the tsar, but Russia!) .
The portrait (appearance) of the hero was rarely depicted. If a portrait appeared, it was laconic (for example: the robbers are strong, handsome, stately fellows in red shirts). A portrait detail (for example, a costume) could be connected with the development of the plot: the unrecognized king walks around dressed in a simple dress; The robber comes to the feast in a general's uniform.
Scientists identify different genre varieties of legends. Among them are historical, toponymic, ethnogenetic legends, about the settlement and development of the region, about treasures, etiological, cultural - and many others. We have to admit that all known classifications are conditional, since it is impossible to offer a universal criterion. Often legends are divided into two groups: historical and toponymic. However, all legends are historical (already by their genre essence); therefore, any toponymic legend is also historical.
Based on the influence of the form or content of other genres, groups of transitional, peripheral works are distinguished among the legends. Legendary tales are tales with a miracle motif, in which historical events are interpreted from a religious point of view. Another phenomenon is fairy tales dedicated to historical figures (see the story about Peter I and the blacksmith in the Reader). famous storyteller F. P. Gospodarev).
Zueva T.V., Kirdan B.P. Russian folklore - M., 2002
UNFAIRY-TALE PROSE
GENERAL FEATURES OF WORKS OF NON-FAIRY-TALE PROSE
From the point of view of the people, works of folklore non-fairy prose are important as a source of information, and in some cases also as a warning and edification. Consequently, in non-fairy tale prose, cognitive and didactic functions prevail over artistic ones. Non-fairy tale prose has a different modality than fairy tales: its works are confined to real time, real terrain, real persons. Non-fairy-tale prose is characterized by not being distinguished from the flow of everyday speech and the absence of special genre and style canons. In the most general sense, we can say that her works are characterized by the stylistic form of an epic narrative about the authentic: The old people said...; The old man from Vyksa told me...; I saw miracles, I imagined...; They say it's like...; My mother told...; Here in our village one woman has...; So I was in trouble myself.
The most stable component is the character, around which all the rest of the material is united. Important sign non-fairy tale prose - plot (content). Usually the plots have an embryonic form (single-motive), but can be conveyed both concisely and in detail. Works of non-fairy tale prose are capable of contamination. Sometimes plot cycles are formed - around a character or event. Many plots of folk non-fairy tale prose are of a typological nature; they naturally arose in world folklore. There are also “wandering stories” recorded among different peoples in different periods their stories.
Genres of non-fairy tale prose do not have the stability of poetic form that is inherent in fairy tales, so they are usually determined by the nature of the content of the works. Early traditional folklore was characterized by myths. In classical folklore, tales, legends, and demonological stories are known.
The thematic and plot fund of non-fairy tale prose is oral folk stories- works that usually do not contain fantasy elements and are framed as a story about modernity or the recent past. Oral folk stories cannot be called folklore proper; they are a kind of “raw material” for legends, traditions, etc., which could be in demand if necessary.
The problem of delimiting the genres of non-fairy tale prose is complex. This is due to the vagueness of the material itself and the great flexibility of the works. General and characteristic folk narratives of a non-fairy tale nature - inconstancy, fluidity of form. They easily adapted to local conditions. The blurring of genre boundaries often led to interactions between non-fairy tale prose genres, both among themselves and with fairy tales. The same plot could take different forms, periodically appearing in the form of epics, legends, traditions or fairy tales. It is no coincidence that legends, tales and especially tales in the 19th century. published in fairy tale collections interspersed with fairy tales.
LEGENDS
Characteristics of the genre of legends
Tradition is a story about the past, sometimes very distant. Tradition depicts reality in everyday forms, although fiction and sometimes even fantasy are always used. The main purpose of legends is to preserve the memory of national history. Legends began to be written down before many folklore genres, as they were an important source for chroniclers. A large number of legends exist in the oral tradition even today.
Traditions are an “oral chronicle,” a genre of non-fairy tale prose with an emphasis on historical authenticity. The word “tradition” itself means “to convey, preserve.” Legends are characterized by references to old people and ancestors. The events of legends are concentrated around historical figures who, regardless of their social status (be it a king or the leader of a peasant uprising), most often appear in an ideal light.
Any legend is historical at its core, because the impetus for its creation is always a genuine fact: a war with foreign invaders, a peasant revolt, large-scale construction, a crowning of the kingdom, etc. At the same time, legend is not identical to reality. As a folklore genre, it has the right to artistic invention and offers its own interpretation of history. Plot fiction arises on the basis of historical fact (for example, after the hero of the legend has been at a given point). Fiction does not contradict historical truth, but, on the contrary, contributes to its identification.
In July 1983, during folklore practice, students of Moscow State Pedagogical University in Podolsk near Moscow wrote down from A. A. Vorontsov, 78 years old, a legend about the origin of the name of this city. It is historically reliable that Peter I visited Podolsk. The legend expresses the negative attitude of the people towards his foreign wife (Catherine I), for whose sake the legitimate queen was exiled to a monastery (see in the Reader).
There are two main ways of creating legends: 1) generalization of memories; 2) generalization of memories and their design using ready-made plot schemes. The second path is characteristic of many legends. General motifs and plots pass from century to century (sometimes as myths or legends), being associated with different events and persons. There are recurring toponymic stories (for example, about failed churches, cities). Typically, such stories paint the narrative in fairy-tale-legendary tones, but they are capable of conveying something important for their era.
One of the international ones is the story of how the king pacified the raging water elements. (He, for example, was attributed to the Persian king Xerxes.) In the Russian oral tradition, the plot began to appear in the legends about Ivan the Terrible and Peter I (see in the Reader).
Stories about Stepan Razin were also subsequently attached to other characters. For example, V.I. Chapaeva, like Razin, cannot be killed by any bullet; he fantastically frees himself from captivity (by diving into a bucket of water or sailing away in a boat painted on the wall), and so on.
And yet the event of legend is depicted as single, complete, unique.
The legend tells about something generally significant and important for everyone. This influences the selection of material: the theme of the legend is always of national significance or is important for the inhabitants of a given area. The nature of the conflict is national or social. Accordingly, the characters are representatives of the state, nation, specific classes or estates.
Legends have developed special techniques for depicting the historical past. Attention is shown to the details of a big event. The general, typical is depicted through the particular, specific. Legends are characterized by localization - geographical location to a village, lake, mountain, house, etc. The reliability of the plot is supported by various material evidence - the so-called “traces” of the hero (he built a church, paved a road, donated a thing).
In Olonets province. they showed silver cups and fifty kopecks, allegedly donated by Peter I; in Zhiguli, all antiques and human bones found in the ground were attributed to the Razins.
The prevalence of legends varies. Legends about the tsars existed throughout the entire territory of the state, and legends about other figures of Russian history were told mainly in the area where these people lived and acted.
Thus, in the summer of 1982, the folklore expedition of the Moscow State Pedagogical University recorded in the village of Dorofeevo, Ostrovsky district, Kostroma region. from the peasant D.I. Yarovitsyn, 87 years old, the legend “About Ivan Susanin” (see in the Reader).
The plots of legends are usually single-motive. Consolidated (contaminated) legends could develop around the character; story cycles emerged.
Legends have their own ways of depicting heroes. Usually the character is only named, and in the episode of the legend one of his traits is shown. At the beginning or end of the story, direct characteristics and assessments are allowed, which are necessary for the image to be correctly understood. They act not as a personal judgment, but as a general opinion (about Peter I: Here it is, the king - so the king, he did not eat bread for nothing; he worked better than a barge hauler; about Ivan Susanin: ...after all, he saved not the Tsar, but Russia.).
The portrait (appearance) of the hero was rarely depicted. If a portrait appeared, it was laconic (for example: robbers are strong, handsome, stately fellows in red shirts). A portrait detail (for example, a costume) could be connected with the development of the plot: the unrecognized king walks around dressed in a simple dress; The robber comes to the feast in a general's uniform.
Scientists identify different genre varieties of legends. Among them are historical, toponymic, ethnogenetic legends, about the settlement and development of the region, about treasures, etiological, cultural - and many others. We have to admit that all known classifications are conditional, since it is impossible to offer a universal criterion. Often legends are divided into two groups: historical and toponymic. However, all legends are historical (already by their genre essence); therefore, any toponymic legend is also historical.
Based on the influence of the form or content of other genres, groups of transitional, peripheral works are distinguished among the legends. Legendary legends are legends with a miracle motif, in which historical events are interpreted from a religious point of view. Another phenomenon is fairy-tale plots dedicated to historical figures (see in the Reader the plot about Peter I and the blacksmith - the famous storyteller F. P. Gospodarev).
Definition of genre. Folklorists have not yet given a sufficiently satisfactory and substantiated definition of legends. Often in scientific literature, traditions and legends are mixed, although these are different genres. This is explained by their proximity, as well as the presence of transitional forms, some of which are closer to legends, while others are closer to legends.
Legends People call bylyami "bylytsiny". They are characterized by
historical theme. Traditions preserve the memory of events and figures of national history. This type of works of oral folk art is of great educational importance, since the legends tell about the distant historical past, about a time from which, as a rule, no other evidence has been preserved. What is said in legends is usually perceived by both the storyteller and the listeners as something that actually happened.
A number of features give the legends a realistic character: historical material, which sometimes has a local coloring, an exact indication of the time and place of events, everyday details, often a reference to the traditional nature of the narrative (old people tell, talk), a minor role in the plots of fantastic elements. Legends not only tell about events and actions of historical figures, but also explain their reasons. This increases the educational value of the stories.
The legends are close to historical songs, but have a prosaic
poetic form, not poetic. Legends differ from fairy tales
because they tell about reality existing facts,
although sometimes interpreted with a certain amount of fiction, they are also distinguished by their free form; legends do not have stable beginnings and endings, or specific plot developments. Tradition differs from everyday oral history in that it talks about the distant past, and not about the near one, and also in that the narrator is never a participant or witness to the events.
Legends – epic i.e. narrative, plot genre. But the plot in them usually does not unfold into a complex chain of events, as in a fairy tale, but is built on one episode, bright and unusual. The unusual is the subject of the story in a fairy tale, but there it is the result of fiction, while in legend we are talking about the unusual in life, which gives the story an amazing, striking character.
Tradition, although it has a “free form”, in which there is no specific model for constructing a work, is not without an internal structure, principles of ideological and artistic organization of the work: the consolidation of all narrative material by one plot episode, one main character, the creation of whose image both the plot and expressive means are subordinated to. .
In pre-revolutionary Russian folkloristics, and sometimes even now, not all scientists recognized legends as a folklore genre and often considered them as a type of oral everyday word. However, legends not only perform informative and ideological functions, but also have an aesthetic one, which is manifested in the unusualness of the plot situation, idealization positive hero, the use of special expressive and figurative means. Traditions exist in the mouths of many people, while an oral story-memory is conveyed by one person. Legends exist in many versions, which is an important feature of folklore. They relate to and interact with other folk prose genres, as well as with historical songs. Finally, they have their own history. They, as well as some other genres of oral literature, are characterized by cyclization, that is, the unification of groups of works around historical characters or similar plot situations. The cycle reveals the image of the hero more fully than a separate legend. The works included in it are similar in themes, in their assessment of events and characters.
Collecting and studying legends. The collection of Russian folk legends was not carried out systematically. The most ancient legends are recorded in retellings in Russian chronicles. Records of legends were also made by some Western European travelers; Olearius, Fletcher, Collins.
In journals of the 18th century. from time to time, so-called historical “anecdotes” were published - stories about amazing incidents in life famous people, mainly kings and generals. These stories were often of a loyal character. Such works also appeared in separate books. A large number of them went to early XIX V. The collection “Anecdotes and Deeds of Glorious Men” went through several editions (1808, 1809, etc.). Peter I was especially popular. A book of jokes about him was published many times. Anecdotes were published relating to Patriotic War 1812, for example, the book by F. M Sidelnikov “Anecdotes of the most noteworthy incidents that happened during the current war with the French” (1813). This kind of publication contained legends composed mainly among soldiers.
The first consolidated (and, in fact, the only so far) collection of legends was M. N. Makarov’s book “Russian Legends” in three parts, published in St. Petersburg in 1838-1840.
It contains a variety of material, but nevertheless there are also folk legends.
In the XIX - early XX centuries. legends were published mainly in magazines that paid attention to Russian history: “Historical Bulletin”, “Russian Archive”, “Conversation”, as well as in regional collections. Publications were published by E.V. Barsov, N.Ya. Aristov and others. The legends were also included in collections of fairy tales. Thus, D. N. Sadovnikov’s book is called “Tales and Legends of the Samara Region” (1884). The legends were published in the ethnographic magazines “Ethnographic Review”, “Living Antiquity”, “Siberian Living Antiquity”, etc.
Russian folklorists began collecting legends more systematically after October revolution. Information about their publication is given in the well-known bibliographic index by M. Ya. Melts “Russian folklore”.
Study of Russian historical legends in the 19th century. for the most part it consisted of commenting on published “texts.” Actually, the research received almost no development.
The most valuable are the article by N. I. Kostomarov “Traditions of the original Russian chronicle” (1905), the book by I. P. Khrushchev “On the Old Russian historical stories and legends of the 11th-12th centuries" (1878), article by N. Ya. Aristov "Legends about historical persons and events" (1880), article by A. Zachinyaev "On the epic legends of the Oryol, Kursk and Voronezh provinces."
In these works, an attempt was made to distinguish legends from other prosaic genres of folklore, to determine the main plots and composition of the most popular characters, to establish the role of legends as historical source.
The study of legends expanded significantly during Soviet times.
K.V. Chistov developed the question of the classification of genres of non-fairy tale folk prose and their plot composition. S. N. Azbelev tried to distinguish between these genres in their relation to reality, V. K. Sokolova studied the typology of legends.
Peculiar Ural legends were studied by V.P. Kruglyashova and A.I. Lazarev.
A fundamental work is the book by V.K. Sokolova “Russian Historical Legends” (1970). The study by V.K. Sokolova is the first work in which the plots, cognitive, ideological and artistic value of legends are examined in detail, and what has been done in their study is summarized. The book clarifies the relationship of legends to other genres and the coverage of reality in works of this type. The researcher turns to a historical and comparative comparison of Russian legends with the traditions of other Slavic peoples and establishes important features of their relations. V.K. Sokolova gave a classification of types of legends, showed the use of traditional material of legends and its adaptation to new social conditions. Unfortunately, the book does not discuss legends about Russian commanders (Suvorov, Kutuzov, Platov, Skobelev).
Types of legends. Russian scientific knowledge is heterogeneous. But attempts to give them a reasonable classification were not always successful. The simplest classification was thematic, which, for example, is adhered to by S. N. Azbelea: “Tales and legends, as a rule, are distinguished by topic - historical, toponymic, religious, demonological, everyday and etc." V.E. Gusev divides historical legends into historical ones, or legends about events, and “heroic, or legends about persons.” V.K. Sokolova rightly criticizes this classification, since legends about events and persons are difficult to distinguish: both legends about events and legends about persons can be historical, legends about both events and persons can also be heroic.
V.K. Sokolova distinguishes two types of legends: historical and legendary. Further explaining that she classifies among them historical legends of religious content and socio-utopian legends, that is, she mixes two genres - traditions and legends.
As for the legends themselves, we can accept the classification given by V.K. Sokolova, which divides them into two types: historical and toponymic legends. The first includes stories about historical events and personalities related to them, as well as about persons who participated in the events or met with historical figures. The second includes stories about the emergence of settlements (cities and villages) and their names, about places associated with the most important events.
Historicism of legends and their historical development. The historicism of legends lies primarily in the fact that they have historical background. In chronicles and folk traditions, legends play the role of a reliable historical source; they are referred to as true evidence of the past of their native country.
The historicism of legends also lies in the fact that over time, changes occur in the life content and form of works. Their themes, plots, motives, characters, and the nature of the depiction of events and persons are constantly updated. The general evolution of folk art and changes in popular views introduce new elements into the structural and artistic features of legends.
Russian folk legends in their historical development identified several cycles that are associated with certain historical periods and tell about important events and persons of that time.
The most ancient legends. The most ancient Russian folk legends have not reached us in exact records. Early Russian chronicles include many stories, the basis of which can be considered oral traditions. Chroniclers sometimes refer to the fact that they use the stories of old people, to what is said among the people. Moreover, they provide versions of oral stories and their own refutation of the information contained in them. For example, the chronicler cites a legend in which Kiy is spoken of as a prince, but here he mentions that “others who are not knowledgeable” call him a carrier: if Kiy had been a carrier, he would not have gone to Constantinople, where he was received by the king with great honors.
There are three types of texts in the chronicles, which there is reason to consider as coming from folk legends: these are either brief records of important and amazing incidents (dating back to the most ancient times), or retellings of oral traditions, or more common narratives, to a certain extent plot-organized and including itself a significant dialogical text. They, as a rule, are devoid of religious Christian overtones, and sometimes contain some pagan elements. This kind of chronicle records are distinguished by significant realism: the simplicity of the narrative, the presentation of the plot of the action, the characteristics of the characters in their actions. Already the most ancient forms of legends contain; contains the main elements that form this type of work.
Early legends captured a lot of important evidence about the past of the Russian people. These are, first of all, stories about ancient Slavic tribes, about their ancestors. So, according to legend, Radim and Vyatko came from the “Lash countries”; the first with his family settled on the Sozh, and the second on the Oka. From them came the Radimichi and Vyatichi. Stories about the neighbors of the Slavs were also preserved in the chronicles: about the giants Aubry, who were punished by God for cruelty and violence against other peoples - they disappeared from the face of the earth, which is why the proverb “perished like Aubry” came into being. A story is also recorded about how the glades were freed from the Khazar yoke; The khan demanded tribute from the glades, they gave the Khazars “a sword from the smoke.” The Khazars were afraid of this tribute and left. On this occasion, N.I. Kostomarov notes: “There is, of course, not a drop of historical truth here. The clearing could not give away a sword from the smoke, while swords were rare and precious...” The scientist believes that “the basis of this story was a song,” this “is shown by the tone of the story and the poetic fluency of expression.”
Ancient legends tell about the first Russian princes; about Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople, about his death from the bite of a snake that crawled out of the skull of his beloved horse (the plot was processed by A. S. Pushkin in “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg”), about Olga’s revenge on the Drevlyans for the death of Igor, about the matchmaking of Prince Vladimir to Rogneda .
Many stories are devoted to the struggle of Russian tribes with southern nomads. Particularly noteworthy are the stories about the young man from Kiev Kozhemyak, who defeated Pechenezhin in single combat, about whom it is said: “Great and terrible.” The legend about Kozhemyak can be compared with epic motifs: here the young hero, the youngest among the brothers, shows incredible strength; he is a human normal height, and his enemy is a giant, reminiscent of a filthy Idol; Pechenezhin before the battle mocks Kozhemyaka, like an enemy in an epic over a hero; Kozhemyaka hits Pechenezhin on the ground, like an enemy hero at the end of a duel.
The stories about battles include the legend about the fight against the Mongol-Tatars, especially about the Battle of Kulikovo. True, almost no legends about her have survived, but research has shown that famous work ancient writing, “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” is based on oral tradition. A special type of work should be highlighted - heroic tales, which are an intermediate phenomenon between historical song and legend. S. N. Azbelev believes that the heroic legend tells directly about specific historical facts, thus bringing it closer to historical legend and historical song. The tale is characterized by a specific historicism, in contrast to the conventional historicism of the epic.
Legends of the 16th-18th centuries. In the legends of the 16th-18th centuries. Three cycles of works stand out: about Ivan the Terrible, about Ermak and about Stepan Razin. Each of them is original in its own way.
Among the legends about Grozny, especially popular are the stories about the Kazan campaign and about the mounds poured by order of the tsar in order to count the army (each warrior brought a cap of earth).^ the justice of the Terrible, his communication with the peasants, to whom he comes to the huts and from whom he baptizes children. The Tsar brutally deals with the boyars and governors who rob the people. He executes the governor for taking a bribe - a goose stuffed with gold. \ The sympathy of the people for Ivan the Terrible became the basis of the plot about his election to the kingdom (the Tsar is made of men) .
Foreign travelers who visited Rus' recorded several characteristic stories about Grozny, reminiscent of jokes. Gil Fletcher, English ambassador to the court of Tsar Fyodor. Ioannovich, was in Moscow at the end of the 16th century. In 1591, he published 120 I in London the book “On the Russian State,” in which he reported a story about the cunning of Ivan the Terrible: the tsar ordered each of the governors to collect a cap of fleas, otherwise they would pay a fine for disobeying the tsar’s order. But since the governors could not carry out the order, the king imposed a large fine on them. The legends tell how Grozny, unrecognized, accosted a gang of thieves and began to persuade them to rob the royal treasury. But the thieves did not agree: they do not rob the treasury. The king rewarded the thieves. In another legend, a poor peasant, having nothing else, presented the king with a pair of bast shoes and a turnip as a gift; Ivan the Terrible ordered the boyars to buy turnips from this peasant. And then one of the boyars decided to receive a greater privilege from the tsar and presented him with an expensive gift, but the tsar gave him a turnip.
In the XVI-XVII centuries. Two important social cycles of legends are emerging - about Ermak and about Stepan Razin. This was the result of the influence of large peasant movements on folk art. The legends of these cycles represent a new phenomenon in works of this type, namely: the masses were no longer satisfied with the dream of a just king, but began to dream of a hero who would lead the “free people”, of a people’s leader. In many regions of Russia, legends about Ermak developed, attaching his origin or his actions to a certain region; Don, Ural, Volga. And Ermak acted either as a Don Cossack, or as a barge hauler from the Volga, or as a robber from the Kama. The main plot is a trip to Siberia. He is motivated, as in historical songs, by the fact that Ermak offers his comrades to earn the king’s forgiveness. Legends are dedicated to both Ermak’s victories in Siberia and his death.
Stories about Stepan Razin began to take shape during his lifetime. They reflected the growth of peasant unrest. Large detachments of “free people” gathered on the Don and especially on the Volga. They were led by Stepan Razin. In legends, this is the image of a people's leader. The motives of the legends are very close to the motives historical songs about him. The main plots, as in the songs, are the capture of Astrakhan, reprisals against the governor, and the campaign in Persia. The image of Razin is revealed in his relationship with the “freedom”. People come to Razin from all over the Russian land: runaway peasants, the poor; he takes care of them and gives them what he takes from merchants and landowners.
The main aspect of the image of Razin, as well as the nature of the entire cycle of legends about him, can be called romantic, which is most clearly expressed in the plot of “Razin and the Persian Woman”. However, the general plan of the image is quite realistic. With all this, the Razin cycle of legends is distinguished by a significant development of fantastic motifs. There are many deviations from the historical truth in the legends. So, for example, the story about how Razin in 1670 in Astrakhan throws the bishop who was anathematizing him from the bell tower, but Razin was not in Astrakhan in 1670. In this case, no fantastic motive arises, but only historical truth is violated. However, in the legends about Razin there are often motifs of magic; the story sometimes takes on a fairy-tale character. The people endowed Razin with wonderful qualities; a bullet does not take him, his shackles do not hold him, he escaped from prison on a boat, which he drew on the wall and on which he splashed water from a mug: the waves splashed and the boat floated. Fairy-tale motifs were complemented by legendary ones: the execution of Razin caused not only grief among the people, but also utopian dreams, which found expression in stories that he was alive and would come to protect the people. Motifs of this kind are much more common in legends than in historical songs, more faithful to historical truth. The legends of the Razin cycle differ from previous cycles social issues of great importance, a direct glorification of popular protest and struggle against class oppression.
Legends of the 18th-19th centuries . In the legends of the 18th-19th centuries. The theme of popular uprisings finds further development. It serves as the basis for a rich cycle of stories about Emelyan Pugachev. This cycle has a pronounced anti-feudal character. It reflected the scope of the social struggle of the Russian peasantry in the 70s of the 18th century. In the center is the image of Pugachev, the leader of the rebellious masses and, which is typical of the folk psychology of that time, the “peasant king.”
The main plots of the cycle are the plots of the struggle against the governors and landowners, reprisals against them. Pugachev is presented as a “fair king”. He protects the people from tyranny and oppression, and the people follow him, supply weapons and clothing, and feed Pugachev’s troops. A number of legends paint pictures of battles with tsarist troops, the capture of fortresses, cities and factories in the Urals. The defeat of Pugachev's troops and his execution are covered in legends in a special way: the people could not come to terms with such an outcome of the peasant war. This gave the basis for the legend that Pugachev was alive, would come to the aid of the people, and instead of him he voluntarily went to the execution of a soldier. Here we see a repetition of the motif of some legends of the Razin cycle.
Pugachev is close to the people, relies "on the people, protects them, promises them "freedom", fights with generals and landowners. An important feature of the legends about Pugachev is that he acts with the masses of the people, and not with "free people", escaped from the landowners, like Razin. This was reflected in new stage liberation struggle. A. N. Lozanova noted the realistic plan of legends and songs about Pugachev.
In the legends of the 18th-19th centuries. The theme “tsar and people” continues to develop. It is most realized in the legends about Peter I. Russia's numerous wars with the Swedes, Germans and Turks gave this theme a new aspect - it turns into the theme of "commander and soldiers", especially in the legends about Suvorov and Kutuzov.
One of the first images of commanders in legends was the image of Peter I. At the same time, he was also the image of a “just king”. With all the hardships for the people military service and labor, for example, on the construction of the Ladoga Canal, Peter I is portrayed as positive. Only in backward layers of the population, especially schismatic ones, is he presented as the Antichrist.
A large place in the legends is occupied by the circumstances associated with the capture of Azov, Oreshok (Shlisselburg), Riga, but there are no images of the battles themselves. This may be explained by the fact that little legends were written down; their collection began late, when much had already been forgotten. At the center of the legends associated with military events is Peter, who is presented as a commander, but only in a general aspect. Most of all, the image of Peter is developed in everyday life. Legends about him often have the nature of so-called historical anecdotes. For example, in Solovki, Peter proves to the monks the great benefits of cannons compared to bells. There are many stories about Peter's meetings with different people. He is depicted as a businesslike owner, strict towards soldiers and generals, despising the clergy. In one story, Peter tells the monks: such slackers should be in the army, not saving souls.
There are many legends about Peter’s meetings with craftsmen, with “working” people. He keeps up with them in their work and shares all the difficulties with them. He is simple and can measure his strength with a soldier, give him his doublet, reward him for a cunning invention (the soldier drinks his sword and, having made a wooden one, assures that it was God who turned it into such a thing so that he would not carry out the king’s order to stab another soldier). This type of legend arose among soldiers and was a natural consequence of both long military service and the truly peculiar attitude of Peter I towards soldiers.
A similar theme is especially widely developed in the legends about Suvorov, the beloved commander of the mass of soldiers at the end of the 18th century. Legends about him are very popular. They are patriotic in nature. The soldiers are proud of their military leader, the victories they won under his command, and his heroic behavior in battle. In legends, Suvorov is described as a simple, witty, cheerful person with whom you can speak directly/without embarrassment. The soldiers' love for Suvorov was the basis for the deep sorrow expressed in the legends about his death. Many motifs of legends about him were then transferred to the image of Kutuzov.
The legends about Ataman Platov were especially popular. He is presented as a simple Cossack, brave, courageous, setting an example in battle. The peculiarity of the image is that Platov is not afraid to say a word against the opinion of the tsar.
The images of Suvorov, Kutuzov and Platov are the most vivid and meaningful images of commanders who can rightfully be called folk heroes.
Toponymic legends. Toponymic legends are an ancient, popular type of legends among the people. They are stories about geographical objects(localities, rivers, lakes, mountains, etc.) and settlements, attached to certain areas. The main feature of toponymic legends is that they explain the nature, origin or names of geographical objects and settlements. They are connected with historical legends in that they are often attached to certain events or persons, and thereby to historical periods.
Already in ancient Russian legends there are stories about the settlement of Slavic tribes, about their names, about the founding of cities. Thus, Kyiv, according to legend, was founded by three brothers: Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv and their sister Lybid. It should be noted that near Kiev there are hills Khorivitsa, Shchekovitsa and a tributary of the Dnieper Lybid. A legend has been recorded about the origin of the name of the city of Orsha. The young Prince Orsha and his daughter Orshitsa, in a difficult hour for Kiev, came to the aid of Prince Vladimir and helped him repel the raids of the Pechenegs.
Toponymic legends also include stories about the origin of mounds. Kurgan mounds are associated with many people: with Ivan the Terrible, with Razin (mounds on the banks of the Volga).
An important group of legends includes explanations of the names of localities, cities, etc. The names were given not only according to the characteristics of the area, but also according to the events and persons who were associated with it. For example, near the city of Alatyr there is the Tsar-Horse area. Its name was explained by the fact that Ivan the Terrible’s horse died there. In several places in the Volga region, the heights are called “Besednye Mountains” or “Dumnye Mountains”. Their names allegedly arose due to the fact that in those places Razin or Pugachev held thoughts - meetings with their assistants.
Let us present toponymic legends recorded in the Saratov region of Acad. A, A. Shakhmatov.
“I heard from old people about one place that Stenka Razin lived there. This place can now be recognized very well: a huge mountain, similar to a courtyard, its name now is Stone Courtyard, in the middle of it is a hillock, on the hillock there is an oak forest, and in the very middle, at the top near the hillock, three birch trees, under the birches there is a spring. The old people say that robbers lived in that very place, and the outer side of that mountain on one side looks like a gate. And around it there is a yard. At the very top of the mountain there is a forest like a roof, at the bottom it is like a stone wall. This wall is called the front side of the Stone Courtyard. To the side of this yard there are high mountains... The name of these mountains is the Karaulnye Mountains. Old people say that when Stenka Razin lived, robbers on these mountains watched for travelers on the road, and it was as if a chain was stretched through the ground from there. As soon as they saw people passing by, they would pull this chain, and a bell was tied to the ring of this chain. As soon as their comrades hear this bell, they will go out onto the road. And even further to the main road there is a ravine called Bath Ravine, as if they went there to take a steam bath.”
Toponymic legends, according to their nature, can be divided into two groups: legends that realistically convey information from historical facts, and legends in which fiction occupies a significant place; Moreover, in ancient stories of this type it usually takes a fantastic form.
Fantasy in toponymic legends can be the result of personifications, remnants of mythological ideas and the introduction of fairy tales. Rivers, lakes, mountains can be personified. There is a story about a dispute between the Kama and the Volga; The Kama made a mistake; it broke through in the wrong direction), and it failed to become an independent river; it remained a tributary of the Volga. An example of a legend in which traces of mythological ideas have been preserved is a story (recorded by the traveler Olearius) that explains the name of the Snake Mountain on the Volga bank: on the mountain lived a huge snake, it caused great harm to people, but a brave young man cut the snake into three pieces, which turned into large stones. And they still lie on the top of the mountain.
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