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Video: How daughters were raised in peasant families 100 years ago: What a girl could do at the age of 10
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In ancient times, the upbringing of boys and girls in Russia was very different. And if the first parents were brought up as earners, then the second - as future mothers and housewives. And if they said about a 12-year-old girl that she was, and about a boy that he was, it was a great shame for both the child and his parents.
Preparation for the main role of a woman began very early, and the growing up of girls was accompanied by many traditional rituals. One of the important things was the preparation of the dowry, in which the girl herself participated from early childhood. She weaved it, sewed it, embroidered it, spun it, knitted it and made it.
Folk traditions and rituals were fully reflected in the appearance of girls, whose hair from an early age was braided into one braid, symbolizing the unity of three vital forces. Moreover, it was woven so that it lay strictly along the spine. This was due to the belief that light forces from the hair passed into him and filled him with energy. After marriage, the braid was divided into two. And this was a symbol of the fact that forces would be needed twice - for the girl herself and her child.
The ancient "Domostroy" - the charter according to which the peasantry lived, was an unwritten law. He demanded strictness in the upbringing of his children from the father of the family. This was especially true for daughters, since giving a daughter in marriage blameless, and besides accustomed to different work, was considered a matter of great pride for parents.
To drive the household - walk without opening your mouth
Daughters began to be taught to work much earlier than sons. Apparently from here and went that girls grew up faster.
- according to this principle, the mother raised her daughter, and she began teaching any agricultural or handicraft work with a personal example. Showing and explaining to my daughter the subtleties and sequence of doing this or that case, she gradually involved her in the process itself.
So, if at the age of five or six years old the little hostess looked after the ducklings or chickens, then by ten or twelve she drove the cows out to the pasture and could milk them. Work skills that were early acquired made it possible for a woman to endure all the hardships of peasant everyday life. And it is not for nothing that the saying has existed among the people for centuries:
Thus, the little daughter of five or six years old, according to the peasant code, had to master the basics of spinning, help the mother manage the house: wash the dishes, clean up, cook simple food, as well as sweep the floor, wash and clean the benches, shake and clean the rugs, clean the bed, shake it up, change a torch, candles, clean kerosene lamps; look after poultry and livestock. And younger brothers and sisters could be left under her supervision.
At the age of 10, the requirements for the girl who had gone through the initial "science" of her mother, grandmother became more stringent, and she became adultly responsible for the work that was entrusted to her. She had to collect firewood and bring water from the well, clean and heat the stove, cook porridge and borscht, cook pies and other pastries.
Often ten-year-old girls themselves had to wash and rinse their clothes on the river, and then hang them up to dry. And if in the summer it was almost like entertainment, then washing in an ice hole in winter turned into a rather severe ordeal.
And in large families, looking after the younger ones fell on the shoulders of the older sister, who could already swaddle and feed from the horn, lull and entertain with songs, "little dogs" and jokes.
Often, a girl of 10-11 years old could be given by her parents as a nanny - "pestuny" to look after other people's children. The "pestunya" was paid with either food, or fabric cuts, or even money. So, for a season, a girl could earn from three to five rubles.
It was very important for the girl in adolescence to master the elements of weaving, since all the fabrics for clothes, towels, tablecloths were made by the peasants themselves. Therefore, the fabric was called homespun. In the beginning, the girl was taught. In some regions, wool was combed and spun. As a rule, weaving was carried out in winter by big "woman's" companies.
And if at the age of five or seven, the baby mastered the primary skills of spinning yarn on a spindle or spinning wheel, which her father made for her in a reduced version, then by the age of 10 she could already independently weave a belt or towel for herself on a weaving mill. From these years she began to prepare a dowry for herself.
There were many responsibilities for the little hostess and not at home. She had to knit sheaves, collect spikelets, stir up hay; plant seedlings, weed weeds and water the garden; graze a cow, goat, geese, ducks; remove manure and clean cattle.
However, based on the foregoing, one should not think that the village children in Russia were deprived of the usual children's joys. At their leisure, the younger girls played “mothers and daughters” with reeled dolls, which they themselves sewed outfits and came up with jewelry. And girls a little older gathered for gatherings, where they frolicked, sang, knitted, embroidered and sewed. And children of all ages were sent to the forest to pick berries, mushrooms, herbs, brushwood. These entertainments were also adapted for adult life.
All her childhood and adolescence, the girl was under the auspices of her father, who, having given her in marriage, transferred these responsibilities to her husband. In Russia they said:. And becoming a wife, she was obliged to honor her husband as the head of the family. And what her mother and father taught her, she passed on to her children and grandchildren. And the labor skills mastered from an early age were the main guarantee of her survival in adulthood.
Well, how the sons were raised in peasant families 100 years ago and what they could do by the age of 14, read in review
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