From the history of things: Sadnik, stag, ruble and other "extinct" objects of Slavic life

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

Housekeeping in Russia was not easy. Without access to the modern goods of mankind, the ancient masters invented everyday objects that helped a person to cope with many things. Many such inventions have already been forgotten today, because technology, household appliances and a change in the way of life have completely supplanted them. But despite this, ancient objects are in no way inferior to modern ones in the originality of engineering solutions.

Luggage chest

For many years, people have kept their valuables, clothes, money and other little things in chests. There is a version that they were invented in the Stone Age. It is reliably known that they were used by the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. Thanks to the armies of conquerors and nomadic tribes, the chests spread throughout the Eurasian continent and gradually reached Russia.

The chests were decorated with paintings, fabrics, carvings or patterns. They could serve not only as a cache, but as a bed, bench or chair. The family, which had several chests, was considered well-off.

Sadnik

The gardener was considered one of the most important subjects of the national economy in Russia. It looked like a flat wide shovel on a long handle and was intended for sending bread or cake to the oven. Russian craftsmen made an object from a solid piece of wood, mainly aspen, linden or alder. Having found a tree of the right size and suitable quality, it was split into two pieces, cutting out one long board from each. After that, they were smoothly curved and drew the outline of the future gardener, trying to remove all kinds of knots and notches. Having cut out the desired item, it was carefully cleaned.

Rogach, poker, chapelnik (frying pan)

With the advent of the oven, these items have become indispensable in the household. Usually they were kept in the baking space and were always at hand with the hostess. Several types of grips (large, medium and small), a chapel and two pokers were considered a standard set of stove equipment. In order not to get confused in objects, identification marks were carved on their handles. Often such utensils were made to order from a village blacksmith, but there were craftsmen who could easily make a poker at home.

Sickle and millstones

At all times, bread was considered the main product of Russian cuisine. The flour for its preparation was extracted from harvested grain crops, which were planted annually and harvested by hand. A sickle helped them in this - a device that looks like an arc with a sharpened blade on a wooden handle.

As needed, the harvested crop was ground by the peasants into flour. This process was aided by hand millstones. For the first time, such a weapon was discovered in the second half of the 1st century BC. The hand millstone looked like two circles, the sides of which fit tightly to each other. The upper layer had a special hole (grain was poured into it) and a handle with which the upper part of the millstone rotated. Such utensils were made of stone, granite, wood or sandstone.

Pomelo

The pomelo looked like a cutting, at the end of which pine, juniper branches, rags, bast or brushwood were fixed. The name of the attribute of purity comes from the word revenge, and it was used exclusively for cleaning ash in the oven or cleaning around it. To maintain order, a broom was used throughout the hut. Many proverbs and sayings were associated with them, which are still on the lips of many.

Rocker

Like bread, water has always been an important resource. To cook dinner, to water the cattle, or to wash, she had to be brought. The rocker was a faithful assistant in this. It looked like a curved stick, to the ends of which special hooks were attached: buckets were attached to them. The rocker was made of linden, willow or aspen wood. The first memorials about this device date back to the 16th century, but archaeologists of Veliky Novgorod found many rocker arms made in the 11-14th centuries.

Trough and ruble

In ancient times, linen was washed by hand in special vessels. A trough served for this purpose. In addition, it was used for feeding livestock, as a feeder, kneading dough, and cooking pickles. The object got its name from the word "bark", because initially the first troughs were made from it. Subsequently, they began to make it from the halves of the log, hollowing out recesses in the logs.

Upon completion of washing and drying, the linen was ironed with a ruler. It looked like a rectangular board with jagged edges on one side. Things were neatly wound on a rolling pin, a ruble was put on top and rolled. Thus, the linen fabric was softened and leveled. The smooth side was painted and decorated with carvings.

Cast iron iron

The ruble was replaced in Russia by a cast iron iron. This event is marked by the 16th century. It is worth noting that not everyone had it, since it was very expensive. In addition, cast iron was heavy and more difficult to iron than the old method. There were several types of irons, depending on the heating method: burning coals were poured into some, while others were heated on the stove. Such a unit weighed from 5 to 12 kilograms. Later, the coals were replaced with cast iron ingots.

Spinning wheel

The spinning wheel was an important part of Russian life. In ancient Russia, it was also called "spindle", from the word "spin". Spinning wheels were popular, which looked like a flat board on which the spinner sat, with a vertical neck and a shovel. The upper part of the spinning wheel was richly decorated with carvings or paintings. At the beginning of the 14th century, the first self-spinning wheels appeared in Europe. They looked like a wheel perpendicular to the floor and a cylinder with a spindle. Women, with one hand fed the threads to the spindle, and with the other turned the wheel. This way of twisting the fibers was easier and faster, which greatly facilitated the work.

Today it is very interesting to see what was pre-revolutionary Russia in 1896 in color photographs by Frantisek Kratka.