Folk culture. Russian folk culture. Folk culture and traditions

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Practically every nation has its own heritage. One of the main tools for its transmission is folk culture (folklore). Later in the article we will consider this concept in more detail, compare it with modern trends.

General information

In the history of every nation there is both folk and mass culture. The latter is a more modern phenomenon. Popular culture example: A group of young people sing the songs of a famous artist while walking the streets. The other type has significant differences. Folklore culture consists in studying sources about folk holidays or parables, legends and other works. Based on this, it becomes clear that in the first case we are dealing with modern mores. And folklore - folk culture - describes the life of the last century. All genres of folklore were created a long time ago and today are considered a historical heritage. A small part of the works of past centuries has become an integral part of the modern world.

Degrees of development

There are two levels of folk culture - high and low. The first includes fairy tales,legends, ancient dances, epic, etc. Reduced is considered a manifestation of pop culture. Basically, the works that have come down to us from time immemorial have anonymous creators. Fairy tales, epics, dances, songs, myths and legends are among the most valuable highly artistic compositions. They have nothing to do with elite manifestations. It is generally accepted that folk culture came to the modern world from ancient times. Its subject is the nation as a whole. There are no individual creators and professional craftsmen who are valued individually. Such a culture is part of the life and work of people. All works were inherited orally and had several variants. The reproduction of folk culture can be individual (this is a story, a legend), mass (carnivals), group (dance a dance or sing a song).

Audience

Society has always shown an interest in folk culture, as is customary in industrial and traditional societies. However, in the post-industrial environment, the situation is slightly different. If we talk about the differences between folk and high culture, they are similar to the differences between ethnic and national. What is the difference? National and high culture is transmitted only in writing. At the same time, folk and ethnic - in different (oral, written and others). Elite culture is created by an educated population, while ethnic culture is created by poorly educated citizens. Recently, the modern audience has become interested in folk culture and traditions.

Aesthetic component

What is this? Folk artistic culture consists in the fact that a person who is a master, thanks to his ability to focus on a certain thing, as well as formulate it all into a meaningful fragment, can convey it all in the form of a song, dance or verse. Thanks to this, the aesthetic development of the individual in particular and society as a whole takes place. Artistic culture can attract the bulk of the population. All works are created by both professionals and amateurs. All compositions, songs, poems that are worthy of attention are inherited and become art. A person who knows how to convey his thoughts in poetry, songs or dances is spiritually rich, he has an open soul and sincerely shares his impressions. Thanks to such artists, people from year to year had the opportunity to enrich their inner world, to fill the emptiness of the soul.

Russian folk culture

This phenomenon is studied by many sciences. Each discipline has its own view of the subject and its own methods of research. The volume of updated information is so large that scientists do not have time to follow it and master it for scientific enrichment and personal knowledge. The heritage of folk culture is growing every day. At the same time, each object claims to be the main one, in which the whole meaning of the world is stored. This means that each discipline presents its knowledge as the most extensive in the field of spiritual values: folklore, literary criticism, art criticism - from icon painting to musicology and architecture. Every person who is interested in the folk culture of Russia knows about all the successes of these cultures, since they are all audible, readable and put on public display. Their number and namelessness speak of the birth of the folk element. And in the symbols, about which they tirelessly say that they have become masterpieces of Russian culture, the artistic image of the Russian people was expressed.

Understanding

There are different ideas about the very term "folk culture". Below are the main points of view:

• enlightenment of the lower classes of society;
• enlightenment of "illiterate" society;
• a culture that was created by the elite, but was "lowered" down.

Such definitions are informative when viewed in a specific historical passage.

Traditional folk culture of peasants

It was formed on the basis of religious understanding. It was not so much a spiritual foundation as the main content of spiritual life. Peasant culture had at its disposal various tools that made it possible to perceive and correctly see the world, helped to master the perception of the sensual and the supersensible. In accordance with the opinion of a number of authors, the concepts of "religiosity" and "folk culture" can be put on the same level. The development of peasant spirituality is an important source of subsequent progress in society during the Middle Ages. At the same time, the number of cities in Europe is growing rapidly. settledthe most decisive people are serfs, feudal lords who wanted to change their lives. New activities have appeared: craft, trade.

Chronicles

It was not very good with classical education in Russia in ancient times. Then distrust of "pagan" science triumphed. At the same time, there were a number of the most popular directions. Among them, it is worth noting icon painting, church architecture, liturgical singing and chronicle writing. The Russian chronicler could tell his contemporaries the whole meaning of history; he was a historiosophist, philosopher and chronicler. Such "teachings", "words" were very popular. At that time, the first written code of laws was created. Russian folk culture had all the features of a European one. And later it had practically no difference from the folklore of Christians.

Religion

Folk religion in Russia had two names in church and scientific circles of the 19th century. They defined its nature as a synthesis of Christian doctrine and "pagan" beliefs. The first name was such - "dual faith", the second - "everyday Orthodoxy". The first is used in scientific everyday life and in the modern world, it is perceived by scientists formally. In the literal sense, this term should be understood as a combination of two faiths in a folk religion. In numerous studies of the beliefs of the Slavs of the East (as well as Russians), the main interest of ethnographers is directed to "pagan experiences", the reconstruction of archaicmodels and interpretation. In the Middle Ages in Russia and in the West, there was a gap between the traditional consciousness of many and the book culture of a smaller number of the population. The intellectuals of Russia, who had a desire to master the Greek language, studied it even under Prince Yaroslav the Wise: their translators were present in Kyiv. A connection arose between the Middle Eastern centers of Christians and Russia, and over time, in spite of any events, it was no longer interrupted.

Meaning

How did moral values develop? Mass culture is a spiritual product of art, which is created in a wide circulation. It is designed for a large audience, for a significant number of spectators. Its main advantage is that it is intended not only to entertain a large number of people, but also to enrich their thoughts. Folk culture, examples of which are given above, is quite relevant in modern society. Today, there are few people who are not interested in the spiritual heritage of their ancestors. Folk culture can be recognized by almost every person of any age and any level of education. Its main feature is simplicity (texts, movements, sounds are easily perceived by people). Culture is for the emotional type.

Spiritual development

Any culture is considered in dynamic and static aspects. Of course, spiritual development is no exception. The development of culture is a rather complex phenomenon. Statics provides for development in space. Disciplineexplores cultural typology, morphology and structure. This is a synchronous learning process. Culture is also commonly classified into spiritual, physical, material and artistic. Let's take a closer look at spiritual culture. It is based on a creative type of activity, which is expressed in a subjective form and satisfies the secondary needs of society. The composition of spiritual culture includes: religious (beliefs, modern cults), moral, legal (legislation, executive system), political (ideology), pedagogical (ideals of raising children), intellectual (history, philosophy, science) parts. You need to know that the objects of this subject include museums, theaters, libraries, cinemas, educational institutions, concert halls, courts.