The topic of oral folk art in Russian literature is unusually 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 - stories, legends, bylichki and anecdotes.
- Children's folklore - rhymes, nursery rhymes, lullabies.
- Song epic (heroic) - epics, poems, songs (historical, military, spiritual).
- Artistic creativity - magical, everyday tales and fairy tales about animals, ballads, romances, ditties.
- Folklore theater - rayek, nativity scene, disguise, performances with puppets.
Let's consider the most common types of folklore in more detail.
Labor songs
This is a song genre, the distinguishing feature of which is the obligatory accompaniment 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 the work, rallied the working squad and were spiritual helpers in the hard physical labor of the 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 a huge number of rituals appeared 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 andTrinity. 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 it was 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 cheerful 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 kinds 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.
Let's consider the most popular types of 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 thosesigns that will help predict natural phenomena, weather.
Proverb - a phrase, often with a humorous bias, illuminating the phenomenon of life, the situation.
Sentence - a small verse-appeal to natural phenomena, living beings, surrounding objects.
Patter is a small phrase, often rhyming, 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 folk retelling. The heroes of legends are mytho-epic heroes, 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 that tell about the meeting of the hero with some kind of "evil spirits", real cases from the life of the narrator or his friends.
Happenings - 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 - what accompanied the child from birth to growing up.
Pestushki 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.
Pimps, pigs, Rotok - talker, Handles - grippers, Legs-walkers.
Chants - poetic, song appeals to nature, animals. For example: “Summer is red, come, bring warm days.”
Jest is a small fairy tale poem sung to a child, a short story about the world around.
Lullabies are short songs that parents sing at night to lull their baby to sleep.
Riddle - verse or prose sentences that require a solution.
Other types of children's folklore are counting rhymes, teasers and fables. They are extremely popular in our time.
Song epic
The heroic epic demonstrates the oldest types of folklore, it tells about the events that happened once in song form.
Epic is an old song told in a solemn but unhurried style. Glorifies folk heroes, heroes and tells about their heroic deeds for the benefit of the state, the Russian fatherland. For example, epics about Dobrynya 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
This group includes epic and song genres created in the spirit of folk art.
Fairy tale - a short or long epic narrative, one of the most common genres of oralfolk art about fictional events, heroes. All this is folklore, the types of fairy tales in it are the following: magical, everyday and animal tales. Fairy tales 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.
Jokes are a special kind of epic narration about comic situations from people's lives. Originally they did not exist in the form in which we know them. These were stories complete in meaning.
Fiction is a short story about impossible, improbable events, something that was fiction from start to finish.
Chatushka is a small song, usually a quatrain with humorous content, telling about events, incidental situations.
Folk theater
Street performances were very common among the people, the subjects for them were various genres, but most often of a dramatic nature.
Nativity scene is a kind of dramatic work designed for street puppet theater.
Rayok - a kind of picture theatre, devices in the form of a box with changing patterns, the stories told at the same time reflected the oral forms of folklore.
The presented classification is the most common among researchers. However, it should be understood that the types of Russian folklore are mutuallycomplement 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.
