Svetlana Zubova

senior group

prepared by the educator senior group MBDOU "Rivne kindergarten "Rainbow" Zubova S. D.

Target: the development of a value attitude to the native culture.

Tasks: educational - to form an idea of holidays in Rus'(Intercession, Christmas, Maslenitsa, Forty Saints) about the customs and traditions of our people, introduce with Russian traditions holidays, appearance history;

Developing - develop informative children's interest in the history and traditions of their people, develop the speech of children, improve the skills of coherent utterance;

Educational - to instill love and interest in the traditions and customs of the Russian people, introducing to the origins of spiritual culture.

Course progress.

Q: Guys, what country do we live in?

D.: in Russia.

Q: What are people who live in Russia called?

D: Russians, Russians.

V .: Previously, Russia was called Rus, and from this word Rus began to be called on Rus' Russian people. Our ancestors lived a long time ago - who is this?

D: Great-grandmothers, great-grandfathers.

V.: Russian people lived by their labor: they plowed the ground, sewed clothes, hats, knitted scarves, felt felt boots, made jewelry, clay toys, carved wooden utensils, nesting dolls.

Those who did their job very well were called masters of their craft. They showed their skills at fairs, selling their products. At fairs, craftsmen exchanged experiences.

(I propose to consider the exhibition folk products.)

V.: Our Russian people very fond of Russians folk tales . What are the Russians you know folk tales, Guys?

D .: Children name fairy tales they know.

V .: And also our people loved the holidays, so they composed songs, ditties, jokes. Guys, do you like holidays?

V.: Our Russian people have always honored the holidays and celebrated them in a special way - they danced round dances, started games, baked delicious pies and treated all the guests. Today, guys, we will go on a journey with you. folk holidays. Let's remember what Russians Do you know national holidays?? I will show you pictures and you will call holiday.

Russian folk holiday Pokrov. And what is this feast of the Intercession? What time of year is this holiday.

D.: They express their versions.

V .: With the onset of cold weather, girls and women put a scarf on their heads. The earth was covered

snow - covered with snow, like a blanket. This holiday it is so called because on this day the first snow always falls, as it covers the earth with a white veil. This means that mother winter will come soon. IN Feast of the Intercession Russian people arranged known in Pokrov Fairs. There, the goods of any visible-invisible. Beautiful shawls, colorful shawls have always delighted customers. Look at these beautiful shawls. And now we will play the game that the youth played in this holiday. The game is called "Bloop"(Children stand in a circle and close their eyes. The leader takes the child into the circle and covers him with a shawl. Children open their eyes and guess who is hidden under the shawl. Whoever they guessed becomes the leader. The game is repeated 2-3 times)

B. Our journey continues. (THE WIND WHEELS, BLOWING) What time of the year are you guys here?

V .: What do you know about winter holidays:

D. children's answers.

On this day, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, was born. Night before Christmas

January 6 is considered magical. If you make a wish, it will surely come true. Only the desire must be necessarily good, because Jesus Christ teaches us kindness and love for all people. These days it is customary to visit parents, as well as godchildren to godparents. People exchange gifts, have conversations at a richly laid table. And it is customary to spend evenings at home, near the den and the decorated Christmas tree, have pleasant conversations, read fairy tales to children, tell them about how Christmas is celebrated in other countries, and, of course, drink hot tea. Christmas folk the festivities are in many ways reminiscent of the fun at Maslenitsa. Only instead of pancakes people are treated festive gingerbread, and instead of dancing round dances, they sing carols. CAROLS - special songs with the wishes of a rich harvest, health, harmony in the family. Few people know these songs now. I suggest you remember a few carols, they will still be useful to us.

Sow, sow, sow

Merry Christmas to you!

Open the chests

Get the patches!

Open the lids

Give us fifty dollars!

Kolyada! Kolyada!

Give me the pie.

Sow, sow, sow

Happy new year congratulations!

Happiness will be your mountain!

Harvest cart big!

Carolers scattered oats and wheat around the house, wishing for wealth and fertility. And the owners gave gifts, treated the guests.

V: Well done guys. What time of year is it now? And what spring holidays you know?

D.: children's answers.

V .: That's right Shrovetide. End of winter. The days are getting long and bright, the sky is blue and the sun is bright. At this time on Russ organized festivities. This one was called holiday - Maslenitsa. Cheerful and riotous, it lasted a whole week: fairs, street games, performances of mummers, dances, songs. IN people No wonder it was called the wide Shrovetide. Main treat holidays are pancakes, an ancient pagan symbol of the return to people of the sun and warmth. The main participant of Maslenitsa is a large straw doll named Maslenitsa. She was dressed up in a dress, a scarf was tied around her head, and her feet were shod in bast shoes. The doll was seated on a sled and taken up the mountain with songs. The fun continued until the evening, and at the end of all the undertakings, they “see off Maslenitsa” - they burn an effigy depicting Maslenitsa. Carnival, farewell! Come that year! Shrovetide, come back! Show yourself in the new year! Farewell, Shrovetide! Farewell, red! It was the farewell to Maslenitsa. A bonfire made of straw was laid out in the field and a doll with songs was burned. The ashes were scattered across the fields in order to reap a rich harvest next year. On Forgiveness Sunday, they went to each other to put up and ask for forgiveness if they offended before. We talked: "Please forgive me". "God will forgive you," they answered. Then they kissed and did not remember the grievances. But even if there were no quarrels and insults, anyway spoke:"I'm sorry". Even when they met stranger and asked for his forgiveness. Thus ended Maslenitsa.

A game "Wattle"

All participants are divided into two teams and lined up in two lines opposite each other.

Participants braid "wattle"- join hands through one, cross.

The members of the first team walk towards the other team, which at this time is standing still, and They say: “We all congratulate Masha and wish her good health!”. They say the second half of the phrase, stepping back. Then the other team does the same. Then everyone lines up in the back of the head and follows the leader, who tries to walk in such a way that everyone is confused. As soon as the leader claps his hands, both teams take their places and again braid into "wattle".

Usually after that there are "superfluous" hands.

Fun game "Brook"

This game was known and loved by our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers, and it has come down to us almost unchanged. There is no need to be strong, agile or fast. This game is of a different kind - emotional, it creates a mood, cheerful and cheerful. The rules are simple. The players stand one after another in pairs, usually a boy and a girl, a boy and a girl, join hands and hold them high above their heads. From clasped hands, a long corridor is obtained. The player who did not get a pair goes to "origin" stream and, passing under clasped hands, looking for a mate. Holding hands, the new pair makes their way to the end of the corridor, and the one whose pair was broken goes to the beginning "brook". And passing under clasped hands, he takes away with him the one he likes. So "streamlet" moves - the more participants, the more fun the game, especially fun to play with music.

No one holiday in the old days, young people could not do without this game. Here you have a fight for your beloved, and jealousy, and a test of feelings, and a magical touch on the chosen hand. The game is wonderful, wise and extremely meaningful.

IN: We continue talking about traditions and holidays of the Russian people. Do you want to know about another old Russian holiday, about the treat that was being prepared this holiday. Please look at the board (image - lark).

What is the name of this bird? (children's answers). But this is not just a bird, it is the memory of the fallen soldiers. In March there is folk christian holiday dedicated to the lark. March 22 - Magpies. Why Magpies? (Demonstration illustrations: Ancient warriors Rus') . Very, very long ago, one of the commanders ordered a detachment of 40 brave warriors to sacrifice one of them to the gods. The soldiers refused to do this and then all the soldiers were killed. And he always loved his soldiers - defenders people, and people began to believe that 40 warriors of the squad did not die, but turned into larks. On this day - March 22, all the dead soldiers are remembered.

And the housewives baked special lean buns - "larks", with outstretched wings, as if flying, and even with tufts. Lenten treats were distributed to children.

Like all Russians holidays on Soroka, children danced round dances, played games.

IN: And now we will play a new game called "Lark".

The lark sang in the sky,

He rang the bell.

frolic in silence,

Hid the song in the grass.

Whoever finds the song

It will be fun all year long.

Then the players close their eyes. "Lark" runs out of the circle and rings the bell. Then he carefully places it behind someone's back. The one who guesses who has a bell behind his back becomes "lark".

Q: Guys, now tell me why this the holiday is called"Magpie-Larks"? What does the lark symbolize? What did the housewives bake in honor of this holiday? What traditions do people observe in this holiday? What did you learn from the legend I told you?

In Russia, to this day, lovingly preserved ancient rites and are celebrated regularly. And, although there were no special children's celebrations in antiquity, children certainly took part in many of them and played their special role. Both Orthodox and even more distant pagan traditions have come down to us.

Holidays honored in Rus'

From ancient times, Russians lived, focusing on three whole calendars:

1. Natural.
2. Pagan.
3. Christian.

Each of them gave his great and interesting holidays, but over time, many of them merged. This happened with the advent of Christianity. So, for example, Christmas merged with carols and Christmas time. Here are the main holidays revered in Rus', a kind folk calendar.

It is worth noting that there are much more holidays, but they are less known (in a new way).

• January 6-7 - Christmas. Kolyada.
• January 7-19 - Christmas time.
• February 15 - Candlemas.
• End of February - beginning of March - Maslenitsa (floating date).
• March 22 - Magpies.
• April 7 - Annunciation.
• The first Sunday after Easter is Red Hill.
• On the night of June 23-24 - Ivan Kupala.
• August 2 - Ilyin's day.
• August 28 - Spozhinki.
• September 14 - Semyon Pilot.
• September 27 - Exaltation.
• October 26 - Big Osenins.

Many of them had common features. Couldn't be done hard work. There had to be a circle and cleanliness in everything. And the house was put in order, and the soul. Quarrels and enmity were not allowed. Only good things should be said, no bad news. Violating this rule could be flogged. They dressed up in all the best, and the table was forced with the most delicious dishes.

Winter Rites and Celebrations

In December, it was already possible for people to take a break from hard work and it was worth thinking about a more pleasant spring preparation for new business. Our ancestors loved on December 25 ( Spiridon-solstice). On the night of it, according to their beliefs, their ancestors descended to the people in the form of Christmas spirits.

Hence the name of this multi-day holiday. The custom forbade any negativity in relation to each other. The evening before Christmas sochevnik (christmas eve) was supposed to be fast until the first star in the sky shines. With the onset of sunset, a quiet family meal began.

Little godchildren ran to visit their godparents with congratulations and kutia, and they fed them all kinds of yummy and gave money. This holiday ended early.

The next morning belonged entirely to the children. There was no noise and noisy. Flocks of children went from house to house, carrying a star the size of a arshin, a nativity scene - a box with two tiers and figurines of biblical heroes carved from wood. They praised Christ with songs and verses. The merry glorifiers also carried with them baskets for pies and sweets, which the owners of the houses endowed them with.

There was also a treasured plate where generous peasants and townspeople put coins for the children. Such processions went on until noon, then the adults began to glorify. This tradition was in all Russian estates.

On Christmas time games of mummers were obligatory. In a merry crowd they entered the houses, presented skits and threw out various funny jokes. Caroling is also considered traditional. It has been preserved since the time of the Slavic Kolyada.

Carols, short songs sounded everywhere. Wishing the owners of all earthly blessings. If they were stingy and did not thank the singers, they could receive an evil wish for the holiday.

Symbolic meeting of spring and winter took place on Candlemas.

With the onset of spring came the long-awaited Maslenitsa. Even in Slavic paganism, it symbolized the end of cold weather and the beginning of spring. It was originally called Myasopust and only later received its real name. It is justified, since meat was banned in the last week before fasting, but oil was not.

All days of the week Maslenitsa with his name and rites. One of the most fun, in which the children took part, was riding down the hill and taking the snow town.

A few days before the holiday, the boys sculpted a town out of snow. The mayor, the defender of the year, was chosen. On the last day of the Saami, a crowd of boys and girls, the Maslenitsa army, stormed the city, trying to conquer it, and a battle began with the mayor. It was necessary to capture the flag and tie the defender of the Snow Town.

For a whole week there was a farewell to winter: pancakes, guests, skating. The highest point of incandescence festive mood- Burning a scarecrow wound from straw and hay. After Shrovetide symbol burned, the ashes were given to the will of the winds.

The period from January 6th to Maslena, as it was also called by the people, is still considered the best to start a family. Wedding weeks passed.

Annually spring is Easter. the rites of this the oldest holiday Christians all over the world are familiar to everyone: they bake Easter cakes, paint eggs. Often it was the children who were assigned the role of painting the symbols of Christ's blood.

spring holidays

Magpies. On this holiday, both day and night are equal. The birds are returning, waiting for them, wishing for the earliest possible warmth. According to legend, if the finch flew first, then there will still be cold, but if the lark, warming is expected. The ancestors of the Russians sculpted birds from ordinary dough, baked them and gave them to children. They took them outside and showed them to the sun.

In many villages, the tradition still exists, the figurines are called larks, because of the desire to see this particular bird. Yes, and the holiday is often called the Skylark.

On Red Hill, which comes after the strict feast of the Annunciation, it was supposed to paint eggs and wear them on the graves of loved ones. The children rolled them over the mounds and left them as a sacrifice under the crosses. On this day, it was believed that spring had finally arrived.

summer holidays

Unusual and mysterious Ivan Kupala celebrated not in the light of day, but always at night. Everyone walked in the street or went to the meadow, where fires were burning. Through them jumping cleared themselves. It was not shameful for mature villagers to jump with children and youth. The girls and boys sang and danced.

The unmarried and lonely wove wreaths of flowers and herbs and let the river flow, guessing at their family future. Two plants symbolize this holiday: the fern and Ivan da Marya. It is believed that a never-blooming fern suddenly throws out its bud on this night, and the lucky one, having found it, will also find a treasure.

Ilyin's day the kids didn't like it. After him, his parents forbade swimming in the river. Cooling water from lunch. All - do not swim.

IN Spozhiki the whole world rejoiced at the end of the harvest. They arranged a celebration.

autumn holidays

All the celebrations of this period are somehow connected with the new harvest. On Seeds of the Flyer tried to celebrate housewarming, life promised to be fine. They looked after nature: geese flew away - winter will come unexpectedly and quickly. It rained that day and wetted the field, it is unlikely that the crop will be harvested and preserved.

Exaltation- the beginning of the rest of the arable land. On Sergius of Radonezh there was a cutting and fermentation of cabbage, the expectation of snow and the beginning of fun. cover brought cold. People burned worn out bast shoes and old straw beds. Turned to the elements. Asking for indulgence and a mild winter. They rejoiced and thanked nature if the fields were covered with snow that day.

To Bolshie Oseniny there was a special celebration in honor of everything that could be grown on mother earth and prepared for winter storage.

Many holidays and rituals associated with them indicate that the ancestors honored the family and traditions. Here and matchmaking, and wedding feasts, the baptism of children. They sincerely believed that having performed the proper rituals, they guarantee success in life, their own and their descendants, everyone will be healthy and happy, and the family will be strong and for life.

It is quite obvious that folk holidays, which played a very significant role in the life of the ancient Slavic peoples, could not be left out of the formation of magical and religious rites. With the development of a religious cult, first of all, folk holidays were more and more filled with religious content, and the rites took on a religious character.

The main role in the agricultural religion of the Slavs was played by rituals and holidays associated with various periods of agricultural production. By their nature, these rites were predominantly magical in nature and constituted an integral calendar cycle.

The cycle of these rites and holidays began in winter, at that time when the days become noticeably longer, when "the sun turns to summer." According to the beliefs of agricultural religions, this was the moment of the birth of the sun god. Many rituals and holidays were associated with this period. Among them were Christmas time, carol holidays with the final moment of this cycle - Shrovetide, which contained such rituals as inviting, or invoking spring, seeing off winter (burning its straw effigy), etc.

The life of the peasant, as before, as now, is subject to the repeated change of the seasons. Therefore, since ancient times, natural and astronomical phenomena have been the main landmarks for people in the cycle of annual seasons. This is primarily the summer and winter solstices, the spring and autumn equinoxes, as well as the natural change of seasons, when summer comes after spring, and then autumn and winter. These transitional milestones are opened by big calendar holidays - Christmas time, Shrovetide, Semitsko-Trinity week, autumn is preceded by holidays in the name of the Savior and the Virgin.

Festive cycles are connected by a chain of daily medium and small holidays (“semi-holidays”), calendar signs and observations, rhymed into proverbs and rigidly tied to church calendars. Therefore, holiday cycles are inseparable from the agricultural calendar. With the adoption of Christianity, the richest experience of Russian people in the development of nature and environment was, as it were, in a new way "systematized" and sacralized by the saints of the Orthodox saints. Accordingly, in the folk calendar, which consists entirely of rhymed sayings, every day became recognizable by the specific information that was assigned to a specific saint as a “nickname”: for example, Avdotya Malinovka, Lup Brusnichnik, Orina the Crane Flight, Savvatiy the Pchelnik. This information, accumulating from one day to another, seemed to lead to a milestone when qualitative changes in nature and, thanks to this, in human life, were to take place. It is on these lines that all the big calendar holidays fall. Therefore, in the folk way of life, every significant festival is not only an “emotional discharge” from everyday work, but it is also a kind of “summary” of the lived period of time, and at the same time “preparation” for the next period.

Both the "result" and the "preparation" were carried out through well-defined rites and ritual actions. Repeating, albeit in different versions, during the year from one holiday to another, they served the only purpose: not to let everything on Earth become impoverished. The continuation of the human race, the fertility of the earth, the fertility of livestock, animals, birds - these motives are at the center of all calendar holidays.

A significant role in the social life of the peasants and the urban population among the Russians, as well as among other European peoples, was played by rituals and customs dedicated to the dates of the Christian calendar and closely related to the cycle of agricultural work - the preparation and expectation of the harvest and its harvesting. As early as the beginning of the 20th century. the ritual calendar, containing many layers of distant times, retained its traditional specifics in most of the territory of Russian settlement, although many archaic rites had gone out of everyday life by that time, and the meaning of others was forgotten, and they, mixed with non-ritual everyday forms, were perceived as a festive fun .

Public life associated with folk calendar rituals manifested itself mainly in joint festivities and festive entertainment, which had many local differences. The Christmas and New Year cycle of customs and rituals associated with the winter solstice and aimed at ensuring fertility and all sorts of well-being in the coming year was called Svyatki38. Christmas time was the busiest and most fun time of the year, especially for young people. According to unwritten laws, the responsibilities of youth groups (territorial or social) included the organization and conduct of Christmas and New Year caroling, widespread in Russia and also known to other Slavic and non-Slavic peoples of Europe. Young people in a merry crowd went around the houses with wishes to the owners of all kinds of well-being and received a reward for this, most often with food. The carolers were given kutya, special cookies (roes or cows), pies, etc. In the morning New Year boys went home. They congratulated the hosts, sang the festive troparion and "sowed" - they scattered the seeds. Children were usually given small change. Everything that the carolers received from the owners went to the organization of festive parties and conversations, which, as already mentioned, were especially revelry and crowded.

From the New Year to Epiphany, they gathered in groups and guessed. Fortune-telling early lost its ritual significance and for the majority of the population served as a fun youth entertainment. Mostly girls guessed about their future marriage. Epiphany fortune-telling with sing-along songs stood out among the Russians. A lot of fun was brought by the mummers, who walked or drove around the streets with dances and songs, entering the houses, asking permission from the owners. Among the intelligentsia, mummers usually traveled around familiar families.

They often dressed up in traditional masks, including ancient ones - a goat, a horse, a bull, an old man with an old woman. But most of all, by the beginning of the 20th century. household masks were in use - doctors, gypsies and gypsies, and so on. At Svyatki, folk dramas were played - "The Boat", "Tsar Maximilian", "The Naked Master". The cycle ended with Baptism, the rites of which were formed under the strong influence Orthodox Church. The main moment was a mass religious procession with water blessing to the Jordan - a specially designed hole in the local reservoir. Everyone from young to old took part in it. The preparation of the procession and the arrangement of the ice-hole were also a public matter. Consecrated (holy) water was taken from the hole. Some men plunged into the ice font.

Maslenitsa, unlike many other calendar holidays, did not have a Christian meaning and marked only the beginning of Great Lent before Easter. In the life of Russians, both in the city and in the countryside, it has received a particularly wide development39. Shrovetide communion was, on the whole, of a riotous nature and retained in its composition many elements of very ancient rites. One of the main forms of communication was going to visit and receiving guests - they were "overdone". Plentiful fatty food was considered obligatory for this holiday. Pancakes, which were eaten in in large numbers. Pancakes were baked at home, in taverns, restaurants and special buffets, where they could be ordered to receive guests. Balls were held in the cities on Shrovetide.

The most favorite carnival pastime was public skating from the mountains. Residents of villages and cities rode on sledges, on ice-boats, on sledges, on logs knocked together in the form of a raft. Sometimes special mountains were built for this, filled with ice. In St. Petersburg and Moscow, under such mountains, festive bazaars were organized, where all sorts of performances were held for the common people, and delicacies were sold. From Thursday, when the “wide” Maslenitsa began, they rode for show in a sleigh on decorated horses harnessed in pairs, triples and with bells under an arc. Spectators lined up in the streets. Newlyweds who had been married for no more than a year participated in the skating. The "young" were taken out for public viewing, demonstrating their well-being. Games with the newlyweds were accepted: they were detained (“frozen”), covered with snow (“salted”), rolled in the snow. The young had to pay off. Crowds were going to stare at this fun. Shrovetide entertainment was considered snowball fights. In Siberia, the game "Taking the Snow Town" was preserved in everyday life for a long time. Maslenitsa festivities ended with the ceremony of seeing off Maslenitsa, in which many people took part: they burned bonfires, carried a stuffed Maslenitsa, burned it or tore it to pieces and scattered it across the fields.

The purpose of winter holidays and rituals was the desire of farmers to secure a favorable economic year. Therefore, frost was invited into the hut to the festive table in order to treat it and thus protect oneself from its arrival in the spring, when it can freeze the young shoots of crops. "Rzha" (rust) and "linen", spoiling the ear, were also invited.

The future harvest was symbolized at the festival by a sheaf displayed in the front, "red", forehead. Master and hostess, sitting down festive table, called to each other, pretending that they did not see each other, and said: "So as not to see each other in the fall behind haystacks and carts of bread, piles of vegetables." The festive ritual songs contained spells that allegedly ensured a good harvest and a large offspring of livestock:

The main ritual food of the holidays of this cycle was kutya, a kind of porridge made from boiled grains, a vegetable dish that appeared when people still did not know how to grind grains and bake bread. Pancakes were the main dish of Shrovetide. They are undoubtedly of later origin, and in their ruddy yellow-red color and round shape symbolize the "nascent" spring sun.

Many other cleansing rites were associated with the meeting of spring and seeing off winter. They were based on the belief that during the dark, cold winter a lot of different evil spirits had gathered, which should have been neutralized and expelled from the dwelling and from the fields.

For this, the Slavs washed their huts and washed themselves. They collected all the garbage in the yard and burned it at the stake. The fire was made as smoky and stinking as possible. All this supposedly drove away evil spirits. It was believed that magic power the willow, the tree that was the first to bud in spring, also had the power to ward off evil spirits. The head of the house stocked up on willow branches and whipped all the household members with them, saying: "Health - in the hut, twigs - in the forest!"

Having thus cleansed themselves, the house and the yard, people went to the fields and sprinkled them with ashes from cleansing fires. Willow branches were placed in the corners of the field.

It was believed that after performing all these rituals, the evil spirits were expelled and one could safely proceed to spring work. In order not to incur the wrath of spring and to use its favors more fully, they tried first of all to feed the spring. Therefore, in some areas, as soon as the snow began to melt, women put pieces of cake or bread on the thawed patches, saying: “Here you are, mother spring.” The arrival of spring is marked by the general revival of nature, the arrival of birds. In this regard, the custom arose and has survived to this day to produce figurines of birds - larks, storks - from dough in the spring. This is an undoubted relic of those distant times, when the “spring” in the form of a bird was caught and sacrificed, that is, they simply ate it, believing that the best remedy to take advantage of the beneficent forces of spring is to eat it.

With the advent of spring, people got the opportunity to part with the dark and stinking chicken hut, go out into the fresh air and take a deep breath, soak up the warm rays of the sun. The person experienced a joyful, high spirits. It is no coincidence that spring has always been a period of holidays. One of these spring holidays in Rus' was the “Red Hill” holiday, which got its name from the “red” spring, from “red”, that is, beautiful hills, hills, hills, which were the first to be covered with grass under the rays of the bright spring sun. On these slides, in fact, the holiday was celebrated; played folk games, sang songs, danced, danced round dances.

The ancient rituals of meeting spring were reminded of larks, dough buns in the form of a bird, with which on March 9, Art. Art. (Day of the Forty Martyrs, according to the Christian calendar) children ran down the street and shouted short rhymes about spring. April 23 Art. Art. (St. George's Day) at the first pasture of cattle, the owners jointly performed some ritual actions. But in general, after Maslenitsa, public life died down and revived again from Easter. Easter week young people spent on the street. The most characteristic were mass games with a pronounced sports element (towns, rounders). Swings were widely used. Women and children loved playing with colored eggs. Having gathered in groups, they broke eggs against each other, rolled them down a hill or along a special tray. In some places even at the end of the XIX century. led round dances.

The spring cycle of festive festivities ended with the Trinity (50th day from Easter), which also marked the transition to summer - they went to meadows and forests. Together they decorated churches and houses with young vegetation, birch trees. The main performers of collective ritual actions were girls and women. At the end of the XIX century. there were still ancient women's gatherings on Semik, which fell on the Thursday before Trinity and was celebrated with a feast. Girls with songs went to the forest to braid wreaths, to break a birch. A young birch was sometimes brought to the village, walked with it, and then broken or thrown into the water. Somewhere before the beginning of the 20th century. the rite of kumleniya of girls with kisses through a wreath was preserved. Such a kind of "twinning" was seen as a spiritual relationship.

Summer Kupala communication consisted in youth gatherings with lighting fires, games with pouring water; sometimes they arranged games in the "funeral of Kostroma" or "cuckoo", which were echoes of the rituals that once existed.

Summer holidays and youth festivities ended on St. Peter's Day (June 29, old style). On the eve of the holiday night, young people had fun until dawn - "they met the sun." It was customary to collect everything that was not tidied up in the nearest territory, to play pranks. Many made noise, sang, beat on stove dampers, and so on.

Public and family principles were closely intertwined in the celebration of the so-called patronal days - holidays in honor of the patron of the local church. They were carried out noisily and widely, even in those cases when they fell on the time of field work. In addition to the religious side of the holidays (going to church, going to the cemetery, sometimes lay prayers, etc.), the highlight was a big village festival. In many places, by these days, it was customary to brew beer with a common cauldron, to slaughter a bull - a custom that dates back to communal collective meals. In addition to relatives and acquaintances who gathered for the holiday, outsiders, the so-called side, who were considered common guests, also treated themselves to the houses. Patronal feasts were often called beer days.

To many calendar holidays fairs were timed; there were especially many of them in autumn. Fairs were accompanied by festivities, amusements, which were attended by whole families.

For our ancestors, who lived in ancient times in Rus', holidays were an important part of both family and social life. For many centuries, the Russian people honored and sacredly kept their traditions, passed down from father to son in every generation.

The daily life of an ordinary Russian person in those days was not easy and was dedicated to the hard obtaining of daily bread, so the holidays were a special event for him, a kind of sacred day, when the life of the entire community merged with their sacred values, the spirits of their ancestors and their precepts.

Traditional Russian holidays implied a complete ban on any daily activity (mowing, plowing, chopping firewood, sewing, weaving, cleaning, etc.). During the holiday, all people had to dress in festive clothes, rejoice and have fun, conduct only joyful, pleasant conversations, for failure to comply with these rules, a fine or even a punishment in the form of whipping was due.

Each season played its own specific role in the life of a Russian person. winter period, free from work on the ground, was especially famous for its festivities, noisy fun and games.

Main Russian holidays in Rus':

Winter

On January 7 (December 25), the Russian Orthodox people celebrated Christmas. This holiday, dedicated to the birth of God's son Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, ends the Christmas fast, which lasts for 40 days. On its eve, people were preparing to come to him with a clean soul and body: they washed and cleaned their homes, went to the bathhouse, put on clean holiday clothes, helped the poor and needy, and distributed alms. On January 6, on Christmas Eve, the whole family gathered at a large festive table, on which the obligatory first course was the ritual porridge kutya or sochivo. Dinner was started after the appearance of the first star, they ate silently and solemnly. After Christmas came the so-called holy days, which lasted until Epiphany, during which it was customary to go from house to house and glorify Jesus Christ with prayers and hymns.

Christmas time (Christmas week)

The holidays of the ancient Slavs, and then passed into the church celebration, the days of Christmas, begin from the first star on Christmas Eve and before the feast of Epiphany, the blessing of water ("from the star to the water"). The first week of Christmastide was called the Christmastide week, it is associated with Slavic mythology, associated with the turn of winter to summer, the sun becomes more, the darkness less. During this week, on evenings called holy evenings, holiness was often violated by mythological rites of divination, which was not welcomed by the church, and during the day, magicians dressed in clothes with flags and musical instruments walked the streets, entered houses and amused the people.

On January 19, Orthodox Baptism was celebrated, dedicated to the sacrament of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River, on this day the Great Blessing of Water was performed in all churches and temples, all water in reservoirs and wells was considered holy and had unique, medicinal properties. Our ancestors believed that holy water could not deteriorate and kept it in a red corner under the icons, and believed that this was the best cure for all ailments, both bodily and spiritual. On rivers, lakes and other bodies of water, a special hole was made in the ice in the form of a cross called the Jordan, bathing in which was considered a charitable and healing activity, relieving ailments and all sorts of misfortunes for a whole year.

At the very end of winter, when, according to the beliefs of our ancestors, Spring-Red with the help of heat and light drove away cold and cold, the Maslenitsa holiday came, known for its exuberant fun, which lasted for a whole week on the eve of Lent. At this time, it was customary to bake pancakes, which were considered a symbol of the sun, to visit each other, have fun and dress up, sled down the hills, and in the final Forgiveness Sunday to burn and bury the effigy-symbol of the conquered winter.

Spring

On this feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, although in Orthodoxy it does not have a prefeast, since Holy Week begins next, believers bring willow branches to the church (in the Slavic they replaced palm branches), which in the morning after the all-night vigil are sprinkled with holy water. Then the Orthodox decorate icons in their houses with consecrated willows.

Holy Easter was considered the biggest holiday of the entire Christian people in Rus', on this day the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his transition from death on Earth to life in heaven were revered. People cleaned and decorated their houses, put on holiday clothes, attended Easter services in churches and temples, went to visit each other, treating each other with Easter painted eggs and Easter cakes, after Lent. Meeting people said “Christ is Risen!”, In response, you need to say “Truly Risen!” and kiss three times.

The first Sunday after Easter was called Krasnaya Gorka or Fomin's Day (on behalf of the Apostle Thomas, who did not believe in the resurrection of Christ), it was a symbol of the arrival of spring and the long-awaited warmth. On this holiday, festivities began at night and lasted all day, young people danced round dances, rode on a swing, young guys met and got acquainted with girls. Holiday tables were laid with plentiful treats: fried eggs, loaves in the form of the sun.

Summer

One of the most significant holidays of the summer was Ivan Kupala or Ivan's Day, named after John the Baptist and celebrated on the day from July 6 to 7, on the summer solstice. This holiday has an ethnic origin and deep pagan roots. On this day, they burn large bonfires, jump over them, symbolizing the cleansing of the body and spirit from sinful thoughts and deeds, lead round dances, weave beautiful wreaths from flowers and meadow grasses, let them go with the flow and tell fortunes about their betrothed.

One of the folk festival revered since ancient times, to which many beliefs, signs and prohibitions are timed. On the eve of the holiday on Thursday and Friday they baked ceremonial cookies and stopped field work. And on Ilyin's day it was strictly forbidden to carry out any household work, it was believed that this would not bring results. A "brotherhood" was held, all the inhabitants of the nearest villages were invited to a common meal, and after the treats ended with folk festivals with songs and dances. And most importantly, Ilyin's day is considered the border of summer and autumn, when the water becomes cold, the evenings are cool, and the first signs of autumn gilding appear on the trees.

In the middle of the last summer month, namely on August 14 (1), Orthodox Christians celebrated the feast of the Honey Savior (saved from the word savior), which honored the death of the seven martyrs of the Maccabees, who were martyred for their Christian faith from the ancient Syrian king Antiochus. Houses were sprinkled with poppy seeds that protected them from evil spirits, the first honeycombs collected on this day, when the bees stopped collecting nectar, were taken to the temple for consecration. This day symbolized farewell to summer, after which the days became shorter, the nights were longer, and the weather was cooler.

On August 19 (6), the Apple Savior or the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord came, among our ancestors it was one of the very first harvest holidays, symbolizing the beginning of autumn and the withering of nature. Only with its onset, the ancient Slavs could eat apples from the new harvest, which were necessarily consecrated in the church. Holiday tables were laid, grapes and pears began to be eaten.

The last, Third Savior (Bread or Nut) was celebrated on August 29 (16), on this day the harvest season ended and the housewives could bake bread from the new grain harvest. Holiday loaves were consecrated in churches, and nuts were also brought there, which were just ripe at that time. Finishing the harvest, the farmers always knitted the last "birthday sheaf".

Autumn

One of the most revered holidays of autumn, which came to the ancient Slavs from Byzantium, was Intercession Day, celebrated on October 14 (1). The holiday is dedicated to an event that took place in the 10th century in Constantinople, when the city was besieged by the Saracens, and the townspeople brought prayers for help to the Holy Mother of God in temples and churches. The Blessed Virgin Mary heard their requests and, having removed the veil from her head, sheltered them from their enemies and saved the city. At this time, harvesting work was completely over, preparations for winter began, round dances and festivities ended, gatherings with needlework, chants and conversations began. On this day, tables were laid with treats, gifts were brought to the poor and orphans, a visit to a church service was obligatory, and the time for wedding celebrations began. Marriage on the Intercession was considered especially happy, rich and durable.

Scenario of a thematic conversation for students elementary school"Let's talk about winter folk holidays."

Matveeva Svetlana Nikolaevna, teacher primary school MBOU "Secondary School No. 9"
Ulyanovsk.
Description of work: I bring to your attention a thematic conversation with primary school students about winter folk holidays, which can be used as a extracurricular activities and classes for schoolchildren, and classroom hours. This material will be useful for elementary school teachers, after-school educators, kindergarten teachers, educators of children's health camps and sanatoriums. Thematic conversation is focused on students of primary school age, possibly preschoolers preparatory groups.
Target: familiarity with the winter folk holidays.
Tasks:
- clarify children's knowledge about winter folk holidays;
- broaden the horizons of younger students;
- develop curiosity and Creative skills children;
- to cultivate respect for the history of their people, for traditions.

Event progress

Teacher: Good afternoon, children and dear adults! But did you know that from Christmas to Maslenitsa itself, in Rus', winter holidays were cheerfully celebrated. What holidays do you know?
The children answer.
Teacher: The most beloved and famous folk holidays in Russia, of course, are the snowy and frosty Christmas, Christmas time, Epiphany and many others.
It's no secret that all Russian folk holidays without exception are filled with traditions, rituals and rituals.
Today we will learn about the tradition of mummers, carols, Christmas divination, as well as the tradition of celebrating holidays and much more.
Here are some winter holidays:
December 12 - (Kolyada Day)
December 25 - (Christmas)
December 31 - January 1 (New Year)
December 25 - January 6 (Svyatki)

Teacher: All modern holidays are rooted in paganism.
For example, Kolyada Day among the ancient Slavs, it was 7 thousand years BC, it fell on the day of the winter solstice. Teacher Kolyada, according to legend, descended from the sky, giving the idea of ​​a sacred calendar, spoke about the change of day and night, and explained how time moves.
The winter solstice marked both the beginning of a new life and the renewal of nature. Adults and children jumped over the fire, danced round dances, the boys competed in strength and ingenuity. Daylight was increasing, which means that spring was just around the corner.
It is even known that in the XVI century in Rus' with a day winter solstice a special ceremony was connected. So the bell ringer of the Moscow Cathedral, who was responsible for the chiming of the clock, came to bow to the tsar, reported that from now on the sun turned to summer, now the day was increasing, and the night was shortening. For this good news, the king rewarded the headman with money.
At this time, another multi-day winter holiday was celebrated - Christmas time (or Christmas carols). It began in the last days of December and ended in early January. Christmas time was accompanied by magical rites, carols were sung on the eve of Christmas, mummers walked around the villages, festive feasts were held in every house, girls guessed at their betrothed.
Special songs with wishes for a rich harvest, health, peace and harmony in the family were called - carols. The indispensable participants of the Christmas holidays were, of course, mummers. Whom only did not dress up.
Teacher: solve riddles and find out.
Sample riddles:
My outfit is colorful
My cap is sharp
My jokes and laughter
They cheer everyone up.
(Parsley).

He sucks his paw
Sleeps all winter long.
But when spring comes
Waking up from sleep
And let's roar in the forest ...
Everyone calls him...
(Bear).

The wedge flies curly to the south,
Not wanting to meet the blizzard.
Flying around the floor of the earth
Rushing into the distance...
(Cranes).

Teacher: Dressed up as bears, cranes, parsley and others. The mummers, within reasonable limits, were allowed everything, but only so as not to offend the owners of the house.
Perhaps one of the most important Christian holidays is Nativity. It was believed that if at Christmas happy man enters the house first, then the whole year happiness will not leave its walls. Christmas was accompanied by colorful folk customs and festivities. These are Carols, and walking with a star, and campaigns of mummers. It was here that both paganism and Christianity coexisted peacefully.
Sample carols:
carol, carol,
Give me the pie.
Give a damn
pig leg,
A little bit of everything.
Carry, do not shake -
Come on, don't break!

Go-go-go, goat,
Go-go, gray
Oh, lyuli, lyuli -
Go-go gray.

We don't go by ourselves.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli
We have a goat.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli...

Like our goat
Yes, from Moscow.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli...
Yes, from Moscow.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli
With red braids.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli...
With red braids
With goats.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli...
don't go goat
Under Mikhailovka.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli...
Like in Mikhailovka
All tenants are archers.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli...
Shot a goat
In the right ear.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli...
From the right ear
Yushka flowed.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli...
Lamentations
- Oh, the goat fell, the darling fell!
- How? Did the goat fall?
So give her some fat. For the goat to get up.
Here is our goat
I got up and went.
Oh, lyuli, lyuli...

Christmas carol came
Christmas Eve!
The carol has come
Open the gate.
Give me a cow
Butterhead!
And God forbid that
Who is in this house!
The rye is thick for him,
Rye is stingy!
Him with an ear of octopus,
From the grain of his carpet,
Half-grain pie.
The Lord would give you
And live, and be,
And wealth;
And create for you, Lord,
Even better than that!

Get off the stove
Serve the rolls.
You are a good uncle!
Give money to pass!
Give out - don't give out
Will wait,
Stand at the gate!
golden head,
Silk beard!
You give me a pie
For the Feast of Christ
A pie, at least fresh
though sour,
Yes, wheat!
Cut thicker
Give me more!
One hundred cows for you
Half a hundred bulls!
I would milk you a bucket
All sour cream!
(In preliminary preparation, children sing some carols).
Teacher: Kolyada- the god of celebrations and peace. Kolyada is perhaps one of the most beautiful ancient Christmas rites, accompanied at Christmas by going around the houses with songs, congratulations and wishes of wealth, good health, and a good harvest.
carols- These are costumed processions with a star and chants, which are still held in the countryside.
On the eve, children, and adults, were going to carol under the windows of rich peasants, called the owner in songs, repeated the name of Kolyada and asked for money, sweets, etc. songs and music. Kolyada is the deity of fun, so they called him, clicked in new year holidays crowds of youth.

Ovsen, where are you going? Bridges to bridge!
Who to ride? Kolyada sovereign!
What should he ride?
On a sunny pig!
What to drive?
Piglet!

Teacher: The last day of Christmas - Schedrets, famous for its lavish gifts and festive feast. The evening was called generous or rich by the people, which is associated with the custom of preparing a rich festive table, where, unlike the Christmas evening, there were always meat dishes. The composition of the mummers is the same as in Kolyada. Carolers approached a house or a crowd of people and sang: "Generous evening! Good evening!". In carol songs, as a rule, they praised the owners, and each by name, and wished well-being in every possible way. If they entered the house, they did a symbolic sowing with grain, wishing the owners happiness, health, and a good harvest:
We sow snow, we sow,
Happy New Year!
Ugly wheat,
Peas, lentils!
Stacks on the field
On the table - pies!
Happy New Year,
With all kind!
To be healthy
Lived for many years!

Teacher: Then the carolers began "to torment carols", that is, to beg the owners for gifts, complained that “went from afar”, “the goat’s legs hurt” etc. The owners resisted, laughed it off. Then the mummers began to sing generous songs, some containing joking threats. It was considered a great shame not to give gifts to carolers. The mummers could also send comic curses to such greedy owners:
Give them, Svarozha, on the back!
Smash them, Father Perun!
An empty bag for them, a leaky pot!

Carol, carol!
And sometimes carols
Christmas Eve
Kolyada has come
Brought Christmas.

Teacher: What do you think, what else was sung about in carols?
The children answer.
Teacher: They wished the owner and the mistress a harvest, the girl and the guy - to get married and marry. "Kolyada" - the god of festivities. He was depicted in the form of a solar disk with the face of a baby, since on holy days "the sun turned to the summer." Cookies, which were treated to the mummers, also had to be round (the symbol of the solar disk). Folk performers sang loudly, in a tense timbre, to hear the echo.
Sample carols:
Carol, carol!
And sometimes carols
Christmas Eve
Kolyada has come
Brought Christmas.

carol, carol,
You give me a pie
Or a slice of bread
Or half the money
Or a chicken with a crest,
Rooster with a comb!
Open, owners, chests,
Take out the patches!
Let's go for a penny
To carolers!

Teacher: Traditionally, children started round dances, and carried a star on a stick or on a pole. When the door was opened, they first showered the hosts with grain. If the hosts, to whom the children came, showed greed, then the participants in the carol could also perform mischievous carols.
Sample naughty carols:
Don't give me a pie -
We are the cow by the horns.
Do not give kvass -
We are a pig by the temple.
Do not give a pancake -
We are the host in Pinka.
Serve, don't break
Don't snack!
Don't give me a pie -
Let's take the cow by the horns!

Who will not give a pie -
Therefore, a bunt is born,
Who will not give meat -
That's why the cat is in the window,
Blind eyes.

Give you Lord
One cow
Yes, and that comel,
milked with tar,
Resin would filter.

Teacher: Everything that the owners gave to the children: money, sweets, etc., the carolers put in a bag and thanked with songs and poems. Having collected a full bag of gifts, carolers went home to meet the first Veles day (New Year) in the family circle.
Sample verses and songs:
Good evening good people!
May the holiday be merry!
Happy New Year
We wish you happiness and joy!
Good evening, good evening
Good people to health!
New Year's Eve generous evening
All of you - happiness and health!

Teacher: There were even tips that were important to follow during Christmas time.
Here are some sample tips:
1. Always be in good mood, wish happiness to all people, as well as radiate love and joy.
2. During this period, utter abundance should reign in the house: tables are richly and tasty set, which will ensure prosperity next year, a rich harvest, good profit.
3. Spend more time with friends, relatives, then you will be together all year.
4. Invite guests as much as possible more people and welcome them - then the world will be open to you.
5. Give and receive gifts.
6. Do not be stingy and do not regret anything, then the Universe will not regret anything for you.
7. Doing good deeds, helping other people, showing charity, caring for nature - this will come back to you.
8. Do not refuse help at this time, especially for children.