Relatives in Russia: How who was called, and who was in charge of the house

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It was considered a real wealth for our ancestors to have a large family. The family was a unity, they were companions in work and spiritual development. Each had its own nickname, which reflected a deep meaning. Read who the bros and nephews were, what were the ways to become related, and who were called matchmakers, and who were wedded brothers and sisters - all about the most complicated family relationships.

Who is the highway, how did it become and the complaint to the court against children as an educational measure

Bolshak in Russia was the name of the head of the household, most often it was the oldest man in the family. This person solved organizational and economic issues in the family: he distributed classes for everyone, was responsible for the purchase or sale of livestock, grain, he needed to ask permission to go to work. If the parents had married sons, they most often lived in their own home. Their wives got more - they were subordinate not only to the highway, but also to the big one, that is, to the owner's wife.

Obedience was a prerequisite in the family, it was even enshrined in law. For example, if the children behaved very badly, the upset parents could file a complaint with the rural municipality court. Most often, disputes and misunderstandings were resolved in favor of the elders. To become a highway, the following was required: either to accept this position from his father, or to start a separate farm, or to "sit down" in the place of an objectionable elder. Yes, there were heads of the clan who drank or carelessly performed their duties. Then the relatives could file a complaint with the community and choose a new highway. After the death of the head, the Bolshoi passed by seniority, but sometimes the younger brother was chosen if he had special merits.

Brothers, stripping and whipping - who is this and what kindred ties between them

Today, people rarely use special names to determine kinship. There used to be more of them. For example, there is such a thing as an uncle. And in Russia there were the so-called striya (that is how they called the paternal uncle) and vuya (maternal uncle). The cousins were respectively named stryichichi (these are the sons of the striy) and vuychichi (the sons of the vuya). The currently known word bro is used to define one's attitude to a friend, acquaintance, and least of all, oddly enough, to a brother. And in Russia, a bro is nothing more than a nephew, that is, a brother's son.

The word "nephew" in the middle of the 19th century was the name of any relative of the same clan. There were also interesting explanations for the names, for example, mother-in-law - "her own blood" or "all blood", daughter-in-law meant "on the demolition", brother-in-law - "trusted person" and so on. From ancient times to this day, the husband's parents are called mother-in-law and father-in-law; the names “mother-in-law” and “father-in-law” are intended for the wife's parents. A son's wife is called a daughter-in-law, but for a father-in-law she will be a daughter-in-law. Brothers and sisters of the spouses for the husband will be the brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and for the wife - the sister-in-law and brother-in-law.

Bobyl: not only one who could not get married on time

Unmarried adult men were called bobs in Russia. They served at that time for 25 years, while not everyone could get married before they were taken into the army. After returning, the forty-year-old soldier most often married a widow. Among the peasants, marriages with a large age gap were condemned, especially when the husband was much older than his wife. Men who did not have sons were also called beans, and the wife had to carry the nickname of bean. You can recall the wonderful tale of Nikolai Ostrovsky "The Snow Maiden", where the main character was adopted by Bobyl and Bobylikh.

Until 1810, the church strictly forbade family marriages up to the seventh generation. But the peasants bypassed church restrictions quite often, since it was difficult to find people in small villages who were not related to each other. If a man was looking for a wife in very distant villages, then his mother needed to find out her pedigree thoroughly. This was done so that a related marriage would not occur, as well as in order to learn more about the future bride.

Matchmakers are different: parents and trusted people

Matchmakers are the parents of the bride and groom in relation to each other. If you recall Pushkin, then his matchmaker Babarikha, described in the wonderful "Tale of Tsar Saltan", is a grandmother to Saltan's son, Tsar Guidon. The opinions of researchers are divided, some say that Babarikha is Guidon's maternal grandmother, while others argue that she is none other than the mother of Tsar Saltan.

The matchmakers were not only the parents of the young people, but also the groom's confidants, whom he instructed to negotiate with the bride's parents about a possible wedding. Hence the name of the matchmaker, as they call the woman who made the selection of brides and grooms her profession.

Wedded relatives and dairy mothers - interweaving of family ties

In old Russia, there was a way to become related - it was fraternization. It was quite simple to do this, you had to change your pectoral crosses and that's it, you are the named brothers. Such relatives were also called "cross". The named mothers and fathers were considered to be the parents who raised the orphan. If a woman feeds someone else's child, then she is called a dairy mother. At the same time, the children of this woman were foster brothers and sisters for this baby, which actually meant consanguinity.

Among the peasants it was considered very important, was the child born in sin or in a married marriage. If the parents of the illegitimate child wanted to get married, they had to recognize the illegitimate child. For legitimate children by this couple, the baby adopted into the family received the status of a wedded brother or sister.

Men, when they got married, also had a special relationship. They gave their wives nicknames that modern women would be offended by.