What folklore genres belong to ritual poetry. Genres of folklore: examples in literature

Table "The system of genres of Russian folklore"

Folklore - This is a type of collective verbal activity, which is carried out mainly orally. The main categories of folklore are collectivity, traditionality, formulaicity, variability, the presence of a performer, and syncretism. Folklore is divided into two groups - ritual and non-ritual. Ritual folklore includes: calendar folklore (carols, Shrovetide songs, stoneflies), family folklore (family stories, lullabies, wedding songs, lamentations), occasional (conspiracies, incantations, counting rhymes). Non-ritual folklore is divided into four groups: folklore drama, poetry, prose and folklore. speech situations. Folklore drama includes: Petrushka theatre, crib drama, religious drama. Folklore poetry includes: epic, historical song, spiritual verse, lyrical song, ballad, cruel romance, ditty, children's poetic songs (poetry parodies), sadistic rhymes. Folklore prose is again divided into two groups: fabulous and non-fabulous. Fairy tale prose includes: a fairy tale (which, in turn, is of four types: a fairy tale, a fairy tale about animals, a household fairy tale, a cumulative fairy tale) and an anecdote. Non-fairytale prose includes: tradition, legend, bylichka, mythological story, dream story. The folklore of speech situations includes: proverbs, sayings, good wishes, curses, nicknames, teasers, riddles, tongue twisters and some others.

Folklore

ritual

non-ritual

calendar folklore

carols, carnival songs, stoneflies,

stubble songs

folk drama

Petrushka theatre, crib drama, religious drama

family folklore

family stories, lullabies, wedding songs, lamentations

poetry

epic, historical song, spiritual verse, lyrical song, ballad, cruel romance, ditty, children's poetic songs (poetry parodies), sadistic rhymes

occasional

conspiracies, incantations, rhymes

prose

fabulous

a fairy tale (which, in turn, can be of four types: a fairy tale, a fairy tale about animals, a household fairy tale, a cumulative fairy tale) and an anecdote, a tale

unfabulous

tradition, legend, bylichka, mythological story, dream story

folklore of speech situations

proverbs, sayings, good wishes, curses, nicknames, teasers, riddles, tongue twisters

The joke is one ofgenresfolklore: a short oral story with a witty and unexpected ending. Anecdotes can rightly be called the favorite genre of our time. In Slavic folklore, the favorite character was a man playing a prank on fellow villagers.

A tale is a traditionally male oral story of a playful nature, claiming to be plausible; refers to small folklore forms. Hunting, fishing, marine, mining, theatrical and chauffeur stories are popular.

Ballad (ballad song, ballad verse) - one ofgenresRussianfolklore, which arose from a folk song with a tragic content. The most important characteristics of ballad songs are epic, family and everyday themes, psychological drama. Ballad songs are characterized by a predicted fatal outcome, recognition of the tragic, and one-conflict. As a rule, antagonistic characters act in them: the destroyer and the victim. Ballads have many features that bring them closer to other song genres, saturated with fantastic and magical motifs common to the folk epic. The term "ballad" in folklore is relatively new. Proposed by P.V. Kireevsky in the 19th century, it took root only a century later. The people themselves, performing ballad songs, did not distinguish them from others. An example of a classical ballad is the lyrical song "Vasily and Sophia". The whole content is an eternal story about lovers, whose mutual feeling is so strong that they conquer death. Beloved ones are ruined by the jealous and evil mother of Vasily. The plots of many ballad songs are built on the relationship between the girl and the good fellow (“Dmitry and Domna”, “The girl poisoned the young man”).

Bylina is a work of a song nature, a song-poem. It is characterized by the greatness of content, grandiosity, monumentality of images, heroic pathos. The real-historical basis of epics is Rus' of the X-XI centuries. About a hundred epic stories are known. There are common plots in Russian and Western European epics (epic heroes fight enemies and non-believers), but Russian epics lack the idea of religious wars; neither loyalty to the leader, nor bloody revenge become the defining themes of the Russian epic. In Russian epic traditions - liberation, protection, glorification of the Russian land and its people. The discovery of the Russian epic took place relatively recently, after the publication in 1804 of Kirsha Danilov's collections, which included 60 folklore works. Subsequently, the collection of epics was supplemented by the finds of P.N. Rybnikov and A.F. Hilferding. A rare fusion of wisdom and poetry distinguishes the Russian epic. Each epic, in addition to the main idea of honest service to the Fatherland, contains reflections on the painful moral and psychological quest of the main characters. So, Ilya Muromets finds himself in a situation of difficult choice: to marry or die.

Bylichka (bylichka) is a mythological story based on events that supposedly took place in real life. The authenticity, factuality of these stories is confirmed by specific names; exact geographical names of the place of action. The world of bylichek is simple and well known. The main difference between a fairy tale and a bylichka lies in the attitude of the listeners and the narrator to the narrated. If they listen to a fairy tale, realizing that it is a fiction, then a bylichka - as if it were true.

Children's folklore is a generalized name for small genres composed and performed both by children themselves and for them. The genres of children's folklore include songs and poems that accompany the life of a child from the cradle to adolescence: drawing lots, chants, teasers, lullabies, pestles, sentences, nursery rhymes, counting rhymes.

Boring fairy tale(from bothering - annoying) - a specific genre of folklore narratives, endless tales in which the same cycle of events takes place. They are often in poetic form.

Spiritual verses are songs of religious content that arose as poetic transcriptions by the people of the foundations of Christian doctrine. Folk names spiritual verses: antiquities, psalms, verses. A characteristic feature of spiritual poetry is the opposition of the religious to the secular. One of the most ancient spiritual verses - "The Lament of Adam" was already known in the XII century. The mass distribution of spiritual poetry begins around the 15th century.

Zhivnaya song is a kind of autumn songs of calendar-ritual poetry. Autumn ritual poetry has not received such development as summer poetry, which sings of nimble women - “daughters-winches”, “quail-daughters-in-law”, who went out to the field early and harvested crops, “so that there was something good to do, okay.”

Riddle - kind of oral folk art, an intricate allegorical description of an object or phenomenon, offered as a test for ingenuity or an exercise (for children) for the development of logical thinking. The riddle belongs to those ancient types of folk art, which, continuing to live for centuries, gradually lose their original meaning, become a qualitatively different phenomenon. Having arisen on the basis of the secret language of the clan, the riddle was once used in military and embassy negotiations, expressed the prohibitions of family life, and served as a poetic means of conveying wisdom.

A conspiracy is a linguistic formula that, according to popular beliefs, has miraculous power. In ancient times, conspiracies were widely used in medical practice (treatment with a word, prayer). They were credited with the ability to cause the desired state of a person (inspire a sound sleep, tame the wrath of an angry mother, keep intact the one who goes to war, feel sympathy for someone, something, etc.) or the forces of nature: “grow a turnip, sweet, grow, turnip, strong" to get a good harvest.

Calendar-ritual songs (Carols, Podblyudnye songs, Shrovetide songs, Vesnyanka, Trinity-Semitsky songs, Round dance, Kupala, Zhnivnye) - songs, the performance of which was timed to coincide with strictly defined calendar dates. The most significant rites and songs are associated with various states of nature. summer period, which began with the solstice (Peter-turn) on June 12 (25). The calendar and ritual poetry contains valuable ethnographic and historical information: description peasant life, mores, customs, observations of nature and even elements of the worldview.

A legend is one of the genres of folklore that tells about the miraculous, the fantastic, which determines its structure and system of images. One of the ways in which a legend arises is the transformation of a legend. Often referred to as legends oral stories about historical figures or about events to which absolute authenticity is attributed (legends about the founding of Kiev). In these cases, the word "legend" can be replaced by the word "tradition". The narrator, stating the facts, supplements them with those created by his own imagination or combines them with fictional motives known to him. At the same time, the real basis often fades into the background. According to the subject, the legends are divided into historical (about Stepan Razin), religious (about Jesus Christ and his apostles, about saints, about the intrigues of the devil), toponymic (about Baikal), demonological (about the Serpent, evil spirits, devils, etc.), household (about sinners).

Small genres - a name that unites a group of genres that are different in nature and originRussian folklore, exceptionally small in size (sometimes in two words: Phil-simple), which is their main value. This includes nursery rhymes, riddles, proverbs and anecdotes. Small genres not only decorate and enliven other texts, they are very well adapted to independent life. Unlike the epic epic, small genres are not forgotten, they are as relevant as thousands of years ago.

Fables - works of comic poetry, small songs, built on the principle of stringing completely absurd events: Thunder rolled across the sky: \\ A mosquito fell from a tree. It is the fables that clearly demonstrate the opposite, terrible side of the funny. A chain of distorted events, which at first seem ridiculous, gradually creates a single picture of a “shifted”, “turned over” world. Fables are no less philosophical than epic. They, like the global metaphor of laughter, are also a way of knowing life: in visual simplicity they demonstrate to us the universal connection of opposite, "wrong" phenomena of reality. In medieval Rus', the fulfillment of fables was certainly integral part"repertoire" of buffoons.

Folk songs- a genuine artistic encyclopedia of the life of the Russian people. To date, the song, the richest layerRussian folkloredescribed incompletely and inconsistently. The genre division of songs into historical and ballad, robber and soldier, lyrical and round dance is rather conditional. All of them are an example of the finest lyricism and all without exception are historical. Attractive by their purity and sincerity, the songs deeply reveal the character of a Russian person who values his fatherland; who does not get tired of admiring his native land; and their children.

A saying is a widespread expression that figuratively defines any life phenomenon or gives it an assessment: Damn, it’s not a wedge, it won’t split the belly. Where is the grief of the clever, the fun of the fool.

A proverb is a short, apt, stable saying in speech. Compared with a proverb - a witty description given to a person, object or phenomenon and decorating speech, a proverb has a complete deep meaning, contains a wise generalization. The proverb, by definition of the people, is “flower”, the proverb is “berry”. The proverbs capture the life experience of the people: People quarrel, and governors feed. Altyn thief is hanged, honored with a half. Among the people that are in a cloud: in a thunderstorm everything will come out.

The famous Russian scientist and poet M.V. was the first to collect and write down proverbs. Lomonosov. Subsequently, collections containing 4-9 thousand proverbs were published: “Collection of ancient Russian proverbs” (Moscow University, 4291 proverbs), “Complete collection of Russian proverbs and sayings” (Ts.M. Knyazhevich, 5365 proverbs), “Russian folk proverbs and parables "(I.M. Snegirev, 9623 proverbs and sayings), in famous collection IN AND. Dal "Proverbs of the Russian people" there are more than 30 thousand of them.

Tradition is an artistic and narrative genre of folklore with elements of fiction. The plot of the legend is usually based on a real event. A vivid example of oral narratives of this type are the legends about the son of the Tula blacksmith Demid Antufiev, Nikita Demidov, the founder of the largest factories in the Urals in the first decades of the 18th century.

Narrative - oral folk story, without fiction telling about the past: Cossack and Siberian tales, "working" prose of gold diggers, artisans, miners, etc. In the style of narration and structure, tales are similar to legends and legends.

A fairy tale is one of the main prose folklore genres of an artistic and fantastic nature.

Skomoroshins are diverse songs of the mischievous art of buffoons: jester old "rins (epics - parodies), parodic ballads, songs-novellas of comic content, fables. They are united by one thing - laughter. If in the classical genres of Russian folklore laughter is only an element of content, then for buffoons it serves as an organizing artistic principle.

Tongue twisters are a comic genre of folk art, belonging to the category of small ones, a phrase built on a combination of sounds that make it difficult to quickly pronounce words. Tongue twisters were used among the people as a teaching tool in the formation of children's speech, its development and subsequent formation, as well as for entertainment purposes.

Chastushka (from frequent) - a short, usually rhymed song of humorous or satirical content. Chastushkas are performed at a cheerful, fervent pace, accompanied by an accordion.

2. Calendar-ritual poetry

Vesnyanka is a song calling for spring and warmth. Vesnyanka sounded in Russian villages after the carnival songs. They reminded that the time for field work was approaching, birds were flying and “bringing spring”. The main dates of the spring call: March 4 - the day of Gerasim Grachevnik (rooks arrive); March 9 - the day of the Forty Martyrs (forty forty birds arrive); March 25 - April 7, according to a new style - the Annunciation (the day when the birds are released from the cages).

Zhivnnaya song is a kind of autumn songs in calendar-ritual poetry. Autumn ritual poetry has not received such development as summer. Only stubble songs are known, filled with gratitude and glorifying nimble women - “daughters-winches”, “quail daughters-in-law”, “early” going out to the field and harvesting, “so that it was, why do it good, okay.”

game song- a kind of spring-summer songs in the calendar-ritual folk poetry. Already in the names of this type of songs a cheerful mood is reflected, due to the onset of the long-awaited warmth, hopes for a generous harvest (this is in the dirt, you will be a prince!) The opportunity to throw off heavy clothes, show off and look at the future bride or groom. The game songs talked about sowing and growing the future harvest, here was main topic the sun - the source and continuation of life, light and heat, the theme of cereals and other plants, songs-games were called: "Poppy", "Pea", "Cabbage", "Flax", "Turnip", "Millet". Game songs can be divided as follows: - round dance, when the audience moved in a circle or in the same circle depicted various scenes provided for by the content of the song (“There was a birch in the field”); - songs-games performed by participants lined up in two lines one against the other ("And we sowed millet"); - “ghoul” songs, when the players, singing a song, walk one after another around the hut, braid their hands, round off the line, “curl” into a ball (“Braid, wattle”, “Curl, cabbage”). Echoes of both ancient magic and traces of ancient forms of marriage have been preserved in play poetry.

A carol song (carol) is a kind of winter (New Year's Eve) songs in calendar and ritual poetry. The onset of the new year was popularly associated with the increase in the day “by a chicken step” after the winter solstice on December 22. This observation formed the basis of popular ideas about the boundary that separates the end of the old year from the beginning of the new one. The arrival of the new year was celebrated by invoking Kolyada and Avsenya. The word "kolyada" goes back to the Latin name of the first day of the month - calendae (cf. calendar). In Rus', caroling was one of the main rituals held on New Year's Eve. It was accompanied by a detour of the neighbors and carol songs (Avsen), among which one can single out songs of praise and songs of request:

Kupala songs - a cycle of songs performed on the feast of Ivan Kupala (the night of July 6-7 - according to a new style). They contained elements of ancient magical formulas aimed at protecting the harvest from the machinations of evil spirits and so that bread would be generously harvested.

The Shrovetide song is an invocation of the wide and generous Maslenitsa (it is sometimes called Avdotya Izotievna).

Podblyuchnye songs - songs performed during the game that accompanied fortune-telling. Each player put his own object (ring) in the dish, then the songs were sung. The presenter, without looking, took out the first ring that came across from the dish. The content of the song was attributed to the one whose ring was taken out. The sub-song contained an allegory by which the future was judged.

Trinity-Semitskaya song is a kind of summer songs in calendar-ritual poetry. With the various states of the sun and the plant world, the most significant groups rituals and songs of the summer period, which began with the summer solstice (Peter-turn) - June 12 (25). Summer (Semitsky) rites, later combined with the Christian Trinity, are otherwise called green Christmas time. In Trinity-Semitsky songs central location is given to birch - the cult tree of the Slavs, the ancestor tree, a symbol of warmth and life.

3. Songs

Burlak songs - songs of barge haulers and about barge haulers. Bargainism originated in Russia in late XVI- the beginning of the 17th century, when the state was especially interested in the development of water trade relations and the attitude towards fugitive peasants or recruits who were hired as barge haulers was the most condescending. The barge haulers left both family adversity and the cruelties of serfdom. Usually they went downstream in ships and returned, leading ships loaded with goods towed, in addition, they were both loaders and porters.

Historical songs - songs, the occurrence of which is associated with a particular historical event or person. At the same time, individual nuances of the event (“I am from the Kama from the river, Stenka Razin’s son”) or the characterological details of the artistic and poetic portrait historical person could be fictionalized, embellished or inverted, sometimes creating an image distorted to the point of its opposite. Unlike epics, with their unchanging poetic structure, historical songs, while possessing the same informative content, no longer have strict compositional rules and obey the laws of other genres. Over time, the epic leaves the developing new genre. Songs of the 17th-18th centuries. become more diverse, acquire social coloring. The heroes of the new songs are real characters - Stepan Razin, Emelyan Pugachev, Ivan the Terrible, Yermak. With outward simplicity, historical songs have a wide folklore context, folklore symbolism actively “works” here: death is perceived as a crossing over a river, heroes are likened to eagles and falcons, symbolic images of trees are widely used - birches, oaks, mountain ash, etc.

Lyric songs- songs reflecting the world of personal feelings. The lyrical song helped the people to endure in any situation, absorbed the sadness and pain of loss, resentment and disappointment, was the only way to preserve their own dignity in a state of humiliation and powerlessness. “A song is a friend, a joke is a sister,” says a Russian proverb. Through the spiritual grief, the sad "mournfulness" of the lyrical song, the greatness and moral beauty of the people clearly show through.

Dance (comic) songs - the name of this group of songs speaks for itself. A good, cheerful mood is not alien to Russian songwriting, in which there is a place for laughter, and joke, and mockery. Many Russian dancers have entered the golden treasury of world culture: Kalinka is known in almost every country. The songs “The month is shining”, “You are my canopy, canopy”, “There was a birch in the field” are widely known.

Robber songs - songs of robbers or about robbers. Robbery (and prison) song as a genre was formed during peasant uprisings, mass escapes of peasants and soldiers from cruel forced life (XVII-XVIII centuries). The main theme of robber and prison songs is the dream of the triumph of justice. Heroes of robber songs - daring, bold " good fellows"with its code of honor, the desire to comprehend what is happening ("the thought of thinking"), a courageous readiness to accept all the vicissitudes of fate.

Wedding songs - songs that accompanied the entire wedding action from matchmaking to the "prince's table", that is, the banquet table in the groom's house: conspiracy, bachelorette party, wedding, arrival and departure of the wedding train to the church. bride and groom, married couple in lyrical songs they symbolize the inseparable Duck and Drake, or the swan with a swan, especially beloved in Rus'. Duck and swan are symbols of eternal femininity, each of which reflects the complex vicissitudes of women's fate. A Russian wedding is a complex complex of almost theatrical ritual actions, including many songs: sentences, eulogies, songs-dialogues and songs-lamentations, reproaches. 1. Wedding verdicts were pronounced for the most part boyfriend, who played the most important role at the wedding: he was her "director" and the protector of the bride and groom from evil forces. Sometimes sentences were pronounced by a matchmaker, matchmaker or parents. When the friend addressed one of the participants in the ritual, dialogue songs were formed, giving the wedding ceremony the character of a performance in which almost everyone was a participant. After the verdict was pronounced, the parents put bread and salt on the tray, occasionally money; then the guests made offerings. Dialogue songs were extremely popular at weddings. A typical example of girls' songs (performed at a bachelorette party) is a conversation between a daughter and her mother. Magnifications are song praises of the bride and groom, originally associated with incantation magic: the well-being, happiness of the bride and groom seemed real, almost arrived. In later forms, incantatory magnification magic was supplanted by an expression of the ideal type moral conduct, beauty, wealth.

Lamentations are lyrical songs that directly convey the feelings and thoughts of the bride, girlfriends, wedding participants. Initially, the function of lamentation was determined by the rite, where the bride presented her departure from the house as undesirable, as an action performed against her will in order to avoid the revenge of the patrons of the hearth. But it cannot be argued that the bride's crying has always been insincere. Swearing songs are joke songs, often parodies of greatness. The function of swearing songs is entertaining, they are colored with humor. They were performed after the completion of all the main actions of the wedding rite.

Soldiers' songs (their name speaks for itself) began to take shape after Peter I's decree on recruitment kits (1699). The indefinite service, established by decree, forever tore the soldier away from his family, from his home. Soldier and recruit songs are permeated with doom (“the great adversity is the service of the sovereign”), describe the difficult moments of parting with relatives (“From your young eyes, tears roll like a river flowing”), the hardships of barracks life (“What is day or night for us , soldiers, there is no calm: The dark night comes - to be on guard, Bel day comes - to stand in the ranks ") and often inevitable death in battle.

Lamentations stand out as a special group among soldiers' and recruit's songs.

Round dance songs are game songs, the name of which goes back to the name of the ancient solar Slavic deity Khors (cf. good, mansions, round dance). Those gathered moved in a circle, depicting the movement of the luminary across the sky, thereby glorifying, invoking and propitiating the sun, which is so necessary for the harvest. In the same circle, various scenes provided for by the content of the song were depicted. The most popular round dance songs have survived to our time: “There was a birch in the field”, “I go for a walk and along the round dance”, “Along and along the river, along and along the Kazanka”, etc.

Coachmen's songs - songs of coachmen or about coachmen. The life of the coachmen, whose main occupation was the "pit chase", was significantly different from the life of the peasants. They were exempted from taxes, but their situation was still extremely difficult. Often, "service people" did not pay running money, and when the coachmen refused to carry for free, they were beaten, or even shackled. Coaches who tried to return back to the village were forcibly returned to the outpost. Their songs tell of a bleak fate. Motifs about love for the “red maiden”, who “broke her heart without frost”, and about the death of the driver in the steppe, in an alien side, are especially common in the coachmen’s songs.

Children's folklore

A teaser is a mocking joke of a rhyming nature aimed at demoralizing the enemy.

Draw is one of the most widespread genres of children's folklore. Like counting rhymes, draws are designed to distribute game roles. The child chooses one thing, getting a player on his team, or something else.

The invocation is a children's song appeal to the sun, rainbow, rain, birds.

Lullabies are the oldest lyrical songs accompanying the motion sickness of a child. The lullaby is distinguished by unusual tenderness, regularity and calmness.

Pestle is a song or rhyme that accompanies the first conscious movements of the child.

A nursery rhyme is a short song that accompanies the child’s first games with fingers, arms and legs, for example, “Forty-White-sided”, when each finger of the child feeds on porridge, and they don’t give anything to the little finger, because it’s too small and hasn’t worked out anything. The most popular nursery rhyme since ancient times is "Ladushki".

A rhyming rhyme is a rhyming rhyme with which playing children assign roles and set the order for starting the game.

Bibliography

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Oral folk art - is a traditional verbal creativity people. It can be both ancient and new - created in our days. Its main feature is that this art of the word is passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth.

There are a lot of genres in verbal folk art. These are myths and legends, epics, epics, proverbs and sayings, riddles, ditties, fairy tales, songs ... You can list them endlessly. The Creator is not an individual, but a people. That is why not a single work has its own specific, single author.

For centuries, the creations of people have evolved into whole verbal forms, subsequently forming rhymes (“poems”). Thanks to this technique, the work was easier to transmit and remember. Thus, ritual, round dance, dance, lullaby songs appeared.

The theme of folklore creativity completely depended and continues to depend on culture, beliefs, history and the region where the people live. But main feature such creations were and still are a combination of a direct reflection of life with a conditional one. Simply put, in folklore there is not, and there was no mandatory reflection of life in the form of life itself, convention is always allowed in it.

Genres of folklore

In order to better understand what oral folk art is, it is necessary to get to know its genres better, and there are a great many of them in this form of verbal art.

Proverbs and sayings

Let's start with those that we know well and sometimes use in everyday life - with proverbs and sayings. These types oral art are one of the most interesting genres that have survived to this day.

No one knows for sure when these genres appeared. oral art. The undoubted fact remains how accurately and concisely, figurative, logically complete saying, expresses the people's mind and experience accumulated over many centuries.

Meanwhile, many of us have long been accustomed to thinking that proverbs and sayings are one and the same. Actually it is not. A proverb is a complete sentence containing folk wisdom. It is written in simple, often rhyming language.

An example of Russian proverbs:

"God saves man, who save himself"

"Small spool but precious"

"A penny saves a ruble"

Then, as a saying is an established phrase or phrase. It is meant for decoration.

An example of Russian sayings:

"Stay with the nose" (to be deceived)

"Disservice" (help turning to harm)

"When cancer on the mountain whistles" (never)

Signs

Signs are another folklore genre that has undergone quite a few changes, but still has not lost its wisdom and has reached modern man.

It appeared in ancient times, when our ancestors were very close to nature, when people watched it, the phenomena taking place around, and found connections between events. Over time, the people put their observations into words. So signs appeared that through the centuries carry the knowledge of ancestors collected in themselves.

Some examples of weather signs:

Larks fly - to heat, chaffinch - to cold.

A lot of juice flows from a birch - by a rainy summer.

Sparrows bathe in the sand - to rain.

Also, many old signs related to home and life have come down to our days. The most common is: "Spill salt - shed tears." It is believed that this sign appeared in mid-seventeenth century, during the times of riots and uprisings in Rus'. Back then, salt was literally worth its weight in gold. From here such a meaning appeared - spilling such an expensive "seasoning" as salt will inevitably lead to a quarrel in the house.

A few more examples of household signs that are undoubtedly familiar to us:

“You whistle at home - you will overlook the money”

"Clothes inside out - to a hassle"

“You sew on yourself - you sew up a memory”

Fairy tales

Since ancient times, individual elements of children's folklore have been preserved - fairy tales. Later, this genre of oral art changed greatly. this happened under the influence of aesthetic and pedagogical functions, but still it continues to exist.

However, some genres of verbal art eventually "die off", and humanity gradually forgets about them. This process is a natural phenomenon, it does not indicate the decline of folk art. On the contrary, the process of “withering away” is a sign that, due to changes in the conditions of human existence, the artistic collective creativity of the people is developing, as a result of which new genres appear and old ones disappear.

epics

These genres include epics (or, as they were also called, antiquities, Russian heroic-patriotic songs-tales, the main plot of which was important historical events or the heroic deeds of heroes and warrior maidens). This genre originated in Ancient Rus', existed until the Middle Ages and gradually began to be forgotten by the 19th century.

In addition, ritual folklore can also be attributed to almost forgotten genres. Let's take a closer look at its components.

Calendar folklore and annual song cycle

These small genres appeared in connection with the need to follow the agricultural cycle, as well as the changes taking place in nature and religious holidays.

Many proverbs, signs, advice and prohibitions have developed in calendar folklore. Here are some of which have survived to this day:

"It will melt early - it will not melt for a long time"

"March sows snow and warms the sun"

Not a few songs were composed by the people for the annual song cycle. So it was customary to bake pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, perform the rites of seeing off winter and sing ritual songs. This and some of the old traditions have survived to this day.

family folklore

It included such small genres as: family stories, lullabies, pestles, nursery rhymes, wedding songs, funeral lamentations.

The name "Family Stories" speaks for itself, and this genre of verbal art has existed since time immemorial - perhaps as long as a person lives in this world. It is noteworthy that it is formed quite apart, as a rule, within the framework of the family and close circle.

In addition, this genre has its own peculiarity, it can form "certain expressions" that are understandable only to family members or people present at the time of the event that led to the appearance of this phrase. So, for example, in the Tolstoy family there was such an expression as "the architect is to blame."

The birth of this expression was preceded by an event: when Ilya Tolstoy was five years old, on New Year he was presented with the promised cup. The happy child ran to show everyone his gift. Running across the threshold, he stumbled and fell. The cup broke. Little Ilya, justifying himself, said that he was not to blame, but the architect who made this threshold was to blame. Since then, in the family of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, an expression equivalent to the winged one appeared - "the switchman is to blame."

Lullabies

Another no less interesting genre in family folklore there were lullabies. In the old days, the ability to sing lullabies was considered special art. During the game, mothers taught their daughters how to “cradle” correctly. This ability was necessary so that older girls at the age of six or seven could look after the younger ones. That is why special attention was paid to this skill.

The purpose of lullabies was not only to soothe, but also to protect the child. Many of the songs were "conspiracies". They were called upon to protect small child from the dangers that might lie in wait for him in the future. Often the lullabies were addressed to the spirits and mythological creatures, the bearers of sleep - the Dream, the Dream. They were called to lull the baby. At present, this genre of folk art is almost forgotten.

Pestushki and nursery rhymes

Pestushki and nursery rhymes - were short tunes. They helped the child in the development and in the knowledge of the world around. Perhaps someone remembers from childhood - "Magpie-Crow ...". Such small sentence songs encouraged the baby to act, instilled hygiene skills, developed fine motor skills, reflexes, helped to cognize the world.

wedding songs

Wedding songs were strikingly different from all other small genres of family folklore. It was noteworthy that these songs did not sound outside the wedding ceremony. In addition, from a functional point of view, they were extremely important, as they played a kind of "legal role" in this event. Along with wedding songs, lamentations played an important role in the ceremony. They were an integral part of the holiday, they were lyrical stories that described the experiences of the bride, parents and friends.

Magnifications also played a significant role. With them, in the songs, the guests praised the bride and groom, wished the young well-being and happiness. In addition, not a single wedding could do without reproachful songs. This small component of the wedding ceremony was a comic song. As a rule, they were addressed to matchmakers, because of which the bride "left" her family, girlfriends and lost her maiden will.

Funeral lamentations or lamentations are another ancient folklore genre, about the time, the appearance of which, no one knows for sure. It has survived only in “scraps” to this day, but from the name you can easily understand what in question and what this genre served.

The main feature of this oral art was that it had its own “formula”, or rather a strict sequence, which each mourner “decorated” with his own creative element - a story about the life, love or death of the deceased. Now, for example, part of the ceremony, as well as cries can be seen and heard in the film "Viy" (1967).

Occasional folklore

Folklore inconsistent with common usage. Wore individual character conditioned by a specific situation, an occasion. It included such small genres as: incantations, counting rhymes, conspiracies.

invocations

Russian folklore is incredibly rich. They were small songs, often not devoid of humor and accompanied by playful actions. The plots of this small genre were very different: they could be incantations about the weather and weather phenomena, about nature and the seasons, about animals and fabulous creatures ...

Rain, lei! Rain, lei!

For me and people!

Spoonful for me.

On the people on the bowl.

And on the goblin in the forest -

Lei for a whole bucket!

Rhymes

Rhyming rhymes is another small genre of verbal folk art. It originated a very long time ago, but now it has almost disappeared from modern folklore. Meanwhile, no matter how surprising it may sound, in ancient times, counting rhymes were widely used by adults. Their main function was the distribution of work.

Yes Yes. After all, then many types of work were not only very difficult, but sometimes life-threatening. Therefore, few people own will wanted to do something like this. And the counting rhymes made it possible to distribute the work between the participants so that no one was “offended”. Nowadays, this "important role" of counting rhymes has been lost, but they still exist and still fulfill their function in children's games.

CONSPIRACY

And finally, the most amazing, but by no means the last, rather complex in its structure, ancient genre of oral folk art, which, oddly enough, continues to live in our time - a conspiracy. The function, since the emergence of this genre, has not changed. He still continues to play the role of a "magic tool" designed to fulfill the desire of the speaker. As mentioned above, this genre is quite original in its execution and often complex in its design - this is its peculiarity.

You can talk about the genres of oral folk art for an infinitely long time, because all directions are interesting and unique in their own way. This article is intended only to acquaint the reader with the immense, multifaceted wealth human culture and wisdom, vividly reflecting the experience of previous generations.

The theme of oral folk art in Russian literature is extremely diverse, there are numerous genres and types of folklore. All of them were formed gradually, as a result of the life and creative activity of the people, manifested over several hundred years. Currently, there are specific types of folklore in literature. Oral folk art is that unique layer of knowledge on the basis of which thousands of classical works were built.

Interpretation of the term

Folklore is oral folk art, endowed with ideological depth, highly artistic qualities, it includes all poetic, prose genres, customs and traditions, accompanied by verbal artistic creativity. Folklore genres are classified in different ways, but basically there are several genre groups:

Labor songs - formed in the process of work, for example, sowing, plowing, haymaking. They are a variety of cries, signals, tunes, parting words, songs.
Calendar folklore - conspiracies, signs.
Wedding folklore.
Funeral lamentations, recruiting accounts.
Non-ritual folklore is small folklore genres, proverbs, fables, omens and sayings.
Oral prose - legends, bylichki and past stories.
Children's folklore - pestles, nursery rhymes, lullabies.
Song epic (heroic) - epics, poems, songs (historical, military, spiritual).
Artistic creativity - magical, everyday tales and tales about animals, ballads, romances, ditties.
Folklore theater - raek, nativity scene, disguise, performances with puppets.

Consider the most common types folklore in more detail.

labor songs

It's a song genre distinguishing feature which is the mandatory support of the labor process. Labor songs are a way of organizing collective, social work, setting the rhythm with a simple melody and text. For example: "Wow, let's pull a little closer to make it more fun." Such songs helped to start and finish work, rallied the work team and were spiritual helpers in difficult times. physical labor people.

Calendar folklore

This type of oral folk art belongs to the ritual traditions of the calendar cycle. The life of a peasant working on the land is inextricably linked with weather conditions. That is why it appeared great amount rituals that were performed to attract good luck, prosperity, a large offspring of livestock, successful farming, etc. The most revered holidays of the calendar were Christmas, Maslenitsa, Easter, Epiphany and Trinity. Each celebration was accompanied by songs, chants, incantations and ritual actions. Let us recall the famous custom of singing songs to Kolyada on the night before Christmas: “The cold is not a problem, Kolyada is knocking at the house. Christmas is coming to the house, it brings a lot of joy.

wedding folklore

Each separate place had its own types of folklore, but mostly they were lamentations, sentences and songs. Wedding folklore includes song genres that accompanied three main ceremonies: matchmaking, farewell of parents to the bride, and a wedding celebration. For example: "Your product, our merchant, is just a miracle!" The ritual of handing over the bride to the groom was very colorful and was always accompanied by long and short merry songs. At the wedding itself, the songs did not stop, they mourned the bachelor life, wished love and family well-being.

Non-ritual folklore (small genres)

This group of oral folk art includes all types of small genres of folklore. However, this classification is ambiguous. For example, many of the types belong to children's folklore, such as pestles, lullabies, riddles, nursery rhymes, teasers, etc. At the same time, some researchers divide all folklore genres into two groups: calendar-ritual and non-ritual.

Consider the most popular species small genres of folklore.

A proverb is a rhythmic expression, a wise saying that carries a generalized thought and has a conclusion.

Signs - a short verse or expression that tells about those signs that will help predict natural phenomena, weather.

A proverb is a phrase, often with a humorous bias, illuminating a phenomenon of life, a situation.

A sentence is a small verse-appeal to natural phenomena, living beings, surrounding objects.

A tongue twister is a small phrase, often rhymed, with words that are difficult to pronounce, designed to improve diction.

oral prose

Oral prose includes the following types of Russian folklore.

Traditions - a story about historical events in popular retelling. The heroes of the legends are warriors, kings, princes, etc.

Legends - myths, epic stories about heroic deeds, people, fanned with honors and glory, as a rule, this genre is endowed with pathos.

Bylichki - short stories, which tells about the meeting of the hero with some kind of "evil spirits", real cases from the life of the narrator or his acquaintances.

Byvalschiny - a summary of what really happened once and with someone, while the narrator is not a witness

Children's folklore

This genre is represented by a variety of forms - poetic, song. Types of children's folklore - that accompanied the child from birth to his growing up.

Pestles are short rhymes or songs that accompany the very first days of a newborn. With the help of them, they nursed, nurtured children, for example: "The nightingale sings, sings, pretty, but pretty."

Nursery rhymes are small melodious poems designed to be played with kids.

Podushki, porosushki,

Rotok - talker,

Handles - grips,

Walker legs.

Calls - poetic, song appeals to nature, animals. For example: "Summer is red, come, bring warm days."

A joke is a short fairy tale poem sung to a child, a short story about the world around him.

Lullabies are short songs that parents sing to a child at night to lull them to sleep.

Riddle - poetic or prose sentences that require a solution.

Other types of children's folklore are counting rhymes, teasers and tall tales. They are extremely popular even today.

Song epic

The heroic epic demonstrates ancient species folklore, he talks about the events that happened once in song form.

Bylina is an old song told in a solemn but unhurried style. Glorifies the heroes and tells about their heroic deeds for the benefit of the state, the Russian fatherland. about Dobryn Nikitich, Volga Buslaivaich and others.

Historical songs are a kind of transformation of the epic genre, where the style of presentation is less eloquent, but the poetic form of narration is preserved. For example, "The Song of the Prophetic Oleg."

Artistic creativity

IN this group included epic and song genres created in the spirit of folk, artistic creativity.

A fairy tale is a short or long epic narrative, one of the most common genres of oral folk art about fictional events, heroes. All this is folklore, the types of fairy tales in it are the following: magical, everyday and reflect those ideas about the world, good, evil, life, death, nature that existed among the people. For example, good always triumphs over evil, and there are wonderful mythical creatures in the world.

Ballads are poetic songs, a genre of song and musical creativity.

Anecdotes are a special kind of epic narration about comic situations in people's lives. Originally they did not exist in the form in which we know them. These were stories complete in meaning.

Fables - short story about impossible, unbelievable events, something that was fiction from beginning to end.

Chastushka is a small song, usually a quatrain with humorous content, telling about events, incidental situations.

folklore theater

Street performances were very common among the people, the plots for them were various genres, but most often of a dramatic nature.

Nativity scene - a kind of dramatic work intended for street puppet theater.

Rayok - a kind of picture theater, devices in the form of a box with changing patterns, the stories told at the same time reflected oral species folklore.

The presented classification is the most common among researchers. However, it should be understood that the types of Russian folklore complement each other, and sometimes do not fit into the generally accepted classification. Therefore, when studying the issue, a simplified version is most often used, where only 2 groups of genres are distinguished - ritual and non-ritual folklore.

Folklore in its nature, content and purpose is deeply democratic, truly folk art. He is distinguished not only by ideological depth, but by high artistic qualities. Folk poetic creativity is distinguished by a peculiar artistic system of visual means and genres.

What are genres of Russian folklore?

One of the most ancient forms of creativity was labor songs with their simplest commands, cries, signals given in the course of work.

Calendar folklore primordially came from the urgent practical goals of people. It was associated with ideas about the annual agricultural cycle and with changing natural conditions. People sought to know the future, so they resorted to fortune-telling, talked about the future according to signs.

This also explained wedding folklore. It is imbued with the idea of the safety of the family and clan, designed for the goodwill of the highest patrons.

Preserved from antiquity and individual elements children's folklore, which later changed under the influence of aesthetic and pedagogical functions.

Among the oldest genres - funeral lamentations. With the advent of universal military duty, there was a mourning for those who were taken to the service - recruiting accounts.

Genres non-ritual folklore also formed under the influence of syncretism. It includes small folklore genres ( proverbs): proverbs, fables, omens and sayings. They contained human judgments about the way of life, about work, about higher natural forces, statements about human affairs. "This is a vast area of moral assessments and judgments, how to live, how to raise children, how to honor ancestors, thoughts about the need to follow precepts and examples, these are everyday rules of behavior ... In a word, the functionality of proverbs covers almost all worldview areas." 9

The genres of oral prose include legends, stories, bylichki, legends. These are stories and incidents from life that tell about a person’s meeting with the characters of Russian demonology - sorcerers, witches, mermaids, etc. This also includes stories about saints, shrines and miracles - about the communication of a person who has accepted Christian faith, with forces of a higher order.

Genres song epic: epics, historical songs, military songs, spiritual songs and poems.

Gradually, folklore moves away from everyday functions and acquires elements of artistry. It has an increasing role artistic beginning. As a result of historical evolution, folklore became poetic in its main and fundamental qualities, reworking the traditions of all previous states of folklore. 10

Artistic creativity is embodied in all forms fairy tales: fairy tales about animals, fairy tales, household.

This type of creativity is also represented in riddles.

The early types of artistic creativity include ballads.

Lyric songs also carry artistic function. They are performed outside the rites. Content and form lyrical songs associated with the expression of the experiences and feelings of the performers.

Modern researchers refer to the artistic song folklore of the latest formation romances And ditties.

Children's folklore has its own system of genres, correlated with the age characteristics of children. It has artistic and pedagogical functions. It is dominated by game beginnings.

The artistic spectacular theatrical basis contains folklore spectacles and folklore theater. It is presented in all variety of genres and types ( games, disguise, nativity scene, rayek, puppet shows, etc.).

A separate genus of artistic representations forms the so-called fair folklore. It arose from fair performances, cries of merchants, farcical barkers, joke speech, jokes and folk rhymes.

The genre of joke.

A detailed account of individual folklore genres will be undertaken in subsequent sections of the manual.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Modern literature has its origin and one of its forerunners was the folklore genre.

Even before the invention of printing, works of folk art were passed from mouth to mouth.

Today let's look at what folklore is in the modern sense, what functions it performs, who studies it and how, by what features one can distinguish folklore works and, of course, look at examples of such works in Russian art.

Folklore is our genetics

The term "folklore" (from English folk-lore " folk wisdom”) appeared in Europe at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. In Russia, it has been actively used since the 30s of the nineteenth century.

He generalized ideas about literary and musical works(songs, dances) created by a team of unknown authors from the people over several tens (or hundreds) of years in the distant historical past.

Until the 20th century, works of arts and crafts and architectural creativity were also called folklore.

Simply put, folklore is oral folk art. Currently, the concept is actively used in the musical and literary sense.

We are interested in the latter, and it is important to note that it is he who is the first source of the emergence of fiction. Its second source is the spiritual literature created in such cultural centers, like monasteries, - influenced the people's worldview with a cementing moral principle.

Folklore opened the floodgates of everyday colloquial speech, sources of verbal imagery and fabulous fantasy.

Genres of folklore

Works of oral folk art are usually divided into three varieties:

Lyric;
epic;
Dramatic.

As in fiction, epics are represented by traditional genres for each of the genera. Lyrical songs reveal the innermost themes of folk life.

The following types are distinguished:

historical;
love;
wedding;
funeral;
labor;
road (coachmen);
robbery;
comic.

epic genres-, fairy tale, tale, true story, fiction, bylichka, byvalshchina.

Small genres folklore - a proverb, a saying, a tongue twister, a riddle, a joke - are also elements of the epic.

To present folklore dramatic works, one must see the folk fair theater "rayek". Texts for him were written in a special verse - raeshnik. Christmas mysteries, farce comedies, cartoons, everyday sketches - all this is a folk drama.

Features of folklore works

Having carefully read the definition, we can distinguish several important features of folklore:

it's our genetics. If the people disappear from the face of the Earth, it will be possible to “pick up” its culture with the help of fairy tales, legends, proverbs, songs.

Russian folklore

Works of Russian literary folklore are studied from the first steps schools. These are Russian folk tales, proverbs, riddles. Older children get acquainted with epics about Russian heroes.

In high school schools are being studied folklore sources works of classical literature: stories and poems by A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, N. V. Gogol. Without knowing the folk plots and characters, which in a sense have become the ABC of national imagery, it is impossible to fully understand the diverse world of national culture.

Many people think that apart from "Kurochka Ryaba", "Kolobok" and "Turnip", the Russian people have nothing to tell. This is wrong. Open collection fairy tales- you are guaranteed an exciting read!

In a moment of lyrical longing, leaf through the collection of folk songs, or rather listen to them with musical accompaniment. What they sing about touches everyone, touches the most secret strings, causes both smiles and tears. This is our sounding life, our knowing that everything in the world is repeatable.

What is the meaning of folklore

Folk art is always functional, it is not born out of nowhere and always has a clear goal. Scientists offer to share works of folklore to the following types:

Ritual;
Non-ritual.

The first type describes the repetition of ritual actions, life events significant for many generations. Ritual folklore is divided into family and calendar. The first concerns milestones family life: matchmaking and weddings, the birth of children, the death of relatives. It is widely represented by wedding and funeral songs, lamentations, incantations.

Separately worth children's folklore with his lullabies, nursery rhymes, pestles.

Non-ritual folklore is timed to the calendar circle peasant life: the change of seasons and the economic activity of the farm worker. Each event of the cycle is accompanied by special songs: carols, chants, smells, etc.

Non-ritual genres include epics, fairy tales, ditties, riddles, proverbs, sayings.

study of folklore

See how important folklore is! That is why it was necessary to create a separate scientific discipline to study it. It's called folklore. Along with ethnography, this science explores the life of the common people.

Ethnographers are engaged in describing dwellings, clothing, dishes, food, rituals, discovering objects of material culture, and folklorists do the same when studying the artistic word.

Their goal is to trace how the types and genres of artistic creativity have changed, how new plots and motives have appeared, what social and psychological phenomena found their way into some of the works.

Outstanding domestic scientists I. M. Snegirev, I. P. Sakharov, F. I. Buslavev, A. N. Veselovsky, P. N. Rybnikov, V. Ya. Propp and many others became the first collectors of folklore works.

Under their editorship, there were collections of proverbs, tales, recorded by them on expeditions around the country. Extracting old samples of folk art, folklorists give readers a rich world of our sounding past.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site

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