Modern children's toys have a long history. The most ancient of them are dolls. In primitive society, animal bones and household items were used for games. The toy itself dates back 3,500 years. It was found in southern Bulgaria and represents the head of a stork on a tripod made of bronze with the addition of silver.
The materials for making trinkets were usually:
Stone, wood
Slavic toys
The very first dolls were made from grass and were more of a representation than a toy. They were used in rituals of many peoples. The Slavs had common so-called bereginiya dolls. They had no face and were made from grass, hay or scraps of fabric.
Beregini were decorated with bells that rang and their sound drove away evil spirits. Such dolls were supposed to protect the peace of children, ward off illness and attract goodness to the family. There are many versions of where the name bereginya came from.
However, there were no sources of writing at that time and there is no reliable information. The Slavs called Bereginya the great goddess who gave birth to all living things. She was considered the supreme patron of the human race. Perhaps the dolls served as a smaller copy of her.
At the end of the 17th century, miniature cannons, soldiers, and war horses were already made from metals. The development of the toy industry was facilitated by trade with other countries and cities.
It is unknown who and when made the first toy. Scientists are still finding different burials of children with different rattles. The variety of shapes and images is impressive. In most cases, dolls were primarily amulets.
Secondly, the children's toy business brought good profits. IN Ancient Egypt and Ancient India, noble persons were often buried along with toys. Thus, figurines of cats in Egypt personified the goddess of the night and the moon, serving the underworld Bastet. Cat figurines were amulets against evil forces.
The stork on a tripod, found in Bulgaria, is also considered a possible god, a symbol of fertility and a protector of the family. The story of toys reflects the history of the development of mankind and its crafts. They were given mysterious properties, they often came to life in folk tales.
Masters of all centuries have strived to make dolls more human-like. In Africa and some European countries they were used in rituals of human hypnosis, sacrifice and healing.
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Alena Zamotaeva / Photobank Lori
Of course, in the old days there were no touch devices with sound and light effects. But prototypes of the famous Nikitin and Zaitsev cubes, Montessori manuals, inserts and items for children's handicrafts were available to almost all classes.
Peasant, petty bourgeois, merchant and noble offspring played, in fact, with the same toys, they were simply made from different materials And in different ways: for some, for example, parents bought a wooden pipe from a handicraftsman, and for others, they made a whistle out of clay themselves.
By the way, the custom of exchanging toys has always existed among children: for example, the son of a wealthy contractor, Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev, recalls in his autobiographical notes how happy he was when he exchanged doll bast sleighs from the beekeeper’s son, giving him his own - covered with velvet and with silver fringe.
Toys from birth
Proponents of educational toys believe that babies need hanging toys that develop sensorimotor coordination (coordination of perception with the eyes and actions with the hands). We are talking, first of all, about three-dimensional figures, simple rattles, bells, etc.
In Rus', the cradle or walker of a baby from any class was traditionally hung with rattles, rattles, bright rags, bells, pieces of copper and other “trinkets.” In addition to the cognitive and playful function, some of these items also carried a “mystical” meaning - caring parents believed that all this should protect the child from the evil eye, evil spirits and damage.
By the way, all these toys were the most environmentally friendly. For example, for centuries, babies in our country were entertained with turned wooden rattles or rattles made from birch bark. Small pebbles or dried peas were placed inside “for strumming.”
Older children played with rattles... made from pet bladders. These bubbles were thoroughly washed, rubbed with ash (to get rid of fat), filled with peas, and inflated through a straw. Such a rattle was often hung on a string around a child’s neck - and when it moved, it made a rather loud noise.
Toys from one year to 4-5 years
It is at this age that motor skills, attention, speech, and thinking are actively developing: visual aids are needed for objective activities. In Rus' there were plenty of such toys: these were wooden pyramids with rings, and cubes, and analogues of modern inserts. True, the most famous of them - the nesting doll - appeared quite late, at the turn of the 20th century.
In addition, for cognitive activity, a child needs dynamic toys - and they were in Russia. For example, foreigners have always been amazed at the skill of the carvers from the village of Bogorodskoye - they created intricate “anvils” with blacksmiths, bears, hussars, birds of paradise, etc. Twitch dolls (from the word “twitch”), the parts of which were connected with threads, were popular.
Another necessary item is a ball - not only for motor activity, but also to develop the ability to receive and give. In Rus', ball games have been known since ancient times - the first mentions of them were found in the chronicles of the 10th-11th centuries. Most often, the ball was made from rags and stuffed with rags.
In the northern provinces, balls were woven from linden, birch or willow bast. They were empty inside or filled with sand. In the southern regions, balls were felted from sheep's wool. Rubber balls appeared in Russia, as well as throughout the world, already in the second half of the 19th century.
In addition, toys that trained accuracy, such as a bow, were very popular. Not only boys, but also girls could shoot from it.
Toys for ages five and up
In the old days, children were taught to work very early, so peasants made braids from birch bark, little bodies, carts, toy harnesses, whips, and even carpentry tools for their sons. The girls received tiny household utensils, spindles, and spinning wheels as gifts. All this should have happened from a young age game form accustom children to their future responsibilities. As a rule, such toys were decorated rather sparsely, probably to emphasize their utilitarian purpose. Children of the upper classes also had similar toys - only more elegant.
Montessori followers believe that not only girls, but also boys need a doll for healthy personal development. It is desirable that it is not overly detailed and gives little man space to create your own play space around you. The dolls common in Rus' met all these requirements. Most often children younger age they played with “doodles” - wooden dolls that were usually carved by their father or older brother.
There were more options for older children. In many regions of Russia, “krupenichki” were made - the basis for such a doll was a fabric bag into which grain was poured, and then the toy was decorated at one’s own discretion. “Motanki” were also common - dolls made from threads that almost everyone, even children, could make. In those regions where bread was grown, straw dolls called “haircuts” were made.
The most common was, of course, rag-doll. Most often they were created without a face, but with clearly defined breasts - an echo of the pagan cult of fertility. The doll was dressed in a dress traditional for the area where it was made. The dress was sewn once and never taken off; On it, girls honed their handicraft skills. The doll could be richly decorated with embroidery, beads, and braid. Even in the poorest homes there were dozens of such toys. Of course, later expensive factory dolls with porcelain heads appeared, but even in very wealthy families they were given to children only on major holidays - at other times, the heirs of the most noble families played with traditional folk dolls.
When did the concept of an “educational” toy appear?
There is an answer to this: in the 19th century, around the same time when the progressive philosophy of a special “world of childhood” arose. Now parents could please their children with dollhouses with furnishings, working model railroads, and “laundry” or “grocery” sets.
Optical toys have been popular for a long time - a kaleidoscope, a microscope, a magic lantern and a praxinoscope (the predecessor of animation). But traditional folk toys were not forgotten either - on the contrary, manufacturers improved them in accordance with the requirements of the time. One of the most striking examples of this is the ancient Russian game “spillikins”. In its traditional form, this is a game in which straws and matches are used, and in the middle of the 19th century, artels began to produce special sets for it from “turning trifles” - small objects depicting household utensils, sweets, vegetables and fruits.
Marina Shevelkova
Russian folk toy.
Goals:- introduce children to Russian folk art;
Introduce children to the history of folk toys, to the history of the birth of the Russian wooden nesting doll;
To consolidate knowledge about the variety of folk toys;
Give the concept of the Bogorodsk toy;
Introduce the work of Filimonov masters;
Give the concept of the Dymkovo toy.
Guys, today we will talk about Russian folk toys.
Folk art is always understandable and loved by everyone. These can be toys made of wood or clay.
The folk toy is figurative, colorful, and original in design. These are fairy-tale images familiar to children, people and animals, made of wood or clay.
They also made toys from straw, moss, fir cones, flax. Both clay and wooden toys were manufactured in many places in Russia. You can indicate the most important centers: wooden toys were most often made in the Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod provinces, clay ones - in Vyatka, Tula, Kargopol.
I invite you to a small museum, right in our group, where you can look at folk toys and touch them with your hands.
1. First exposition - Dymkovo toys.
Dymkovo products surprise with their unusually bright patterns. Everyone likes lively, festive, magnificently sculpted and painted dolls of dandy ladies, goats, horses, roosters with painted tails.
The fishery originated in the distant past. During the festivities, “Svistoplyaska,” people brought small whistles with them and whistled on them all day long. So it came to be that “in Vyatka they make whistling toys.”
Masters worked in the village of Dymkovo alone and in families. They dug clay, mixed it with sand, kneaded it first with their feet and then with their hands. The products were fired in Russian kilns and then painted. Women and children took part in this work.
The process of making a toy can be divided into two stages: modeling the product and painting it.
The sculpting methods are very simple. Craftswomen don’t make sketches.
For example, when depicting a doll, craftswomen first make a skirt from a layer of clay, resulting in a hollow bell-shaped shape;
The head, neck and upper body are made from one piece,
And the details of clothing: ruffles, frills, cuffs, hats, etc. - are sculpted separately and applied to the main form, calling them moldings.
The Dymkovo toy is very specific. There are traditions in creating its form and in its design, which are expressed primarily in staticity, splendor of forms and brightness of color.
2. Second exhibition - Filimonovskaya whistle.
Filimonov toys were born in the village of Filimonov Tula region. The village is located near deposits of good clay.
Mostly women were involved in the toy business. Already from the age of 7-8, girls began to make “whistles”. They worked in the winter, in their free time from rural work. The toys were then sold at fairs and bazaars.
The figures are sculpted by hand, then they are dried several times in a heated room for 12 hours at high temperatures (up to 800 C) and painted without prior whitewashing (local clay acquires a bright white color after firing). Toys are painted here not with a brush, but with a quill pen.
The subjects of the Filimonov toy are traditional - these are ladies, peasant women, soldiers, dancing couples, horse riders; animals - cows, rams, horses, bears; from birds - chickens, roosters and much more. Unlike Dymkovo's, all Filimonov's toys are whistles, even ladies and gentlemen. The whistle is always in the tail of the animals and birds they hold.
After firing, they begin to paint the toy. First, yellow stripes and spots are drawn, then they are outlined with a red “feather,” then green, blue, and sometimes purple.
There are also more complex patterns, especially on the skirts of ladies: a branchy “herringbone”, a bright “berry”, a radiant “star”, or “sun”, sparkle and intertwine into joyful patterned inflorescences.
In the painting, the circle represents the sun, the triangle – the earth, fir trees and sprouts – a symbol of vegetation and life.
After painting, the toys look very bright and festive, expressive and good-natured. The faces of the figures always remain white, and only small strokes and dots outline the eyes, mouth, and nose.
3. Third exposition - Bogorodsk toys.
Folk craftsmen in the village of Bogorodskoye
Wooden carved toys are created in the Moscow region.
Wood carvers have lived here for more than 300 years. Families work here. Now there are about a hundred carvers in the village.
Toys are cut from linden. It must dry for two years before becoming a toy. Bogorodsk toys are often unpainted and rarely painted.
They cut figures from whole wood, for which they make blanks different shapes. If you are going to cut out a bear sitting on a stand, then the blank is triangular in shape.
Surface finished products the old masters used sandpaper to clean it.
Now toys are finished with carvings, which rhythmically lie on the surface and decorate the product. Traditionally, some parts of the toy are made movable. This is achieved in various ways. Some toys are mounted on bedside tables, and a spring is inserted inside, which powers the figure.
You can also find toys whose moving parts are attached to weighted strings; the weight swings, pulls the thread, it activates parts of the figures.
4. Fourth exposition - Matryoshka.
Matryoshka is a Russian toy, a wooden, brightly colored doll, hollow inside, into which smaller dolls of the same size are placed.
The name comes from the diminutive form of Russian female name Matryona, which was often used to call girls in peasant families.
Each matryoshka represents an image of a girl or woman in Russian national clothes: in a sundress, with a scarf on his head. Her clothes are decorated bright flowers, in her hands she holds a basket, or a bird, or a bouquet of flowers. All dolls that make up one toy are similar to each other, but differ in some detail. Usually one toy consists of 3 – 24 dolls. Matryoshka is one of the most popular Russian souvenirs.
The matryoshka was admired and admired. What colors does Konstantin Paustovsky use when talking about the nesting doll?
“A matryoshka doll in a scarlet shawl stood on the desk. It was thickly varnished and shone like glass. Hidden in it were five more nesting dolls in multi-colored shawls: green, yellow, blue, purple and, finally, the smallest nesting doll, the size of a thimble, in a shawl made of gold leaf.
The village master awarded the nesting dolls with Russian beauty, sable eyebrows and a blush glowing like coals. He covered his blue eyes with long eyelashes.”
Guys, our journey through the museum has ended. I hope you enjoyed it very much.
Archaeologists find samples of Russian wooden toys in the territories of ancient settlements and in burial grounds. Much has already been said about the fact that a toy almost always accompanied a person.
, CC BY-SA 3.0At first, these were simple dolls, often simply chopped with an ax. There are versions that many of these “koniks and pankas” served as idols, took part in rituals, and were amulets. Most likely this was the case, but there is no one to ask...
The craft of woodworking gradually improved, and toys changed and became more complex. There was a demand for them, these were no longer hastily carved “conics for my son” in a workshop, the craftsmen tried to create something new, their own, and then took them to the bazaars, where wooden toys were successfully sold.
Guide to Russian Crafts, CC BY-SA 3.0 This was the case in Sergiev Posad, where toys were first carved by monks, and then the town near Moscow became a center for the production of wooden toys. Many now known trends in Russian wooden craft toys originated from the samples of these toys.
In the “Wooden Toys” section you can read interesting stories about the history of the emergence, development, and sometimes revival of crafts, where the main skill is making toys from wood.
06.08.2013
The history of children's toys goes back not even hundreds, but thousands of years. In ancient times, children's toys were made mainly from the simplest and most popular materials - wood and clay. Archaeological finds indicate that back in the 9th century, East Slavic tribes made wooden toys (nursery rhymes) not only for the amusement of their children, but also successfully traded them at large bazaars and fairs. Of course, it was impossible to mix and match ancient Slavic figurines like modern Lego sets, but on the territory of the largest trading center of Rus' - Novgorod, which gathered merchants from different countries and continents, wooden Russian nursery rhymes were very popular, not inferior to chests and painted spoons.
The first written mentions of wooden nursery rhymes date back only to the 17th century. From them it is known that the royal offspring bought sweets and toys in the shape of horses and birds at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. It is interesting that the children of kings and commoners played with nursery rhymes made by craftsmen in the same workshops. The records of palace expenses that have come down to us take into account eighteen toys purchased at auction in Moscow, in the form of horses and cows, deer and rams, swans and ducks, purchased for the children of Peter I.
Even then, the first sets began to appear, albeit not as interesting as a modern Lego store offers, but very reminiscent of today's soldiers.
The most ancient type of wooden Russian toy is called “punk”. They were made by craftsmen in the northern villages of Russia until the beginning of the 20th century. The name comes from the root “pang”, which translates as “trunk”, because the toys were made from a single piece of wood. They strongly resembled the ancient pagan idols that were worshiped by the northern tribes before the advent of Christianity. Punks were made schematically, conveying only the image of a bird, animal or human figure, without drawing small parts. They, like Lego sets, awakened the imagination of children, developed their imagination, allowing them to express many different images with the help of one single detail.
Today, simple homemade wooden toys are often used by Waldorf schools, whose correctional and developmental teaching methods are based on the principles of creative knowledge of the world and the development of spirituality.
Why traditional wooden toys are important
All over the world, wooden toys are considered environmentally friendly and safe.
Everyone knows that a tree gives peace. There are even some folk signs- “hold onto a tree in the forest to receive strength and a state of calm from it.” A child playing with wooden toys is “recharged” by the warmth of wood.
Wooden toys are very pleasant to the touch, they are smoother and warmer. Accordingly, wooden toys have a very positive effect on development fine motor skills and the child's sensory perception.
As a rule, wooden toys are not stuffed with a huge number of functions, which is so typical for modern plastic toys. A wooden toy leaves room for the child’s creativity and imagination. Stimulates the child's active actions and encourages him to explore.
Wooden toys are already the history of our people. Such toys do not allow traditions to disappear. Form involvement in culture.
Wooden toys are more impact resistant than other toys. Some children constantly break their toys. Because wooden toys cannot be easily damaged, they last much longer.
Wooden toys are very beautiful. Most often, wooden toys are made by hand, which means that they can also be considered a work of art!
Great thinkers have long paid attention to children's toys. Aristotle insisted that, in the interests of education, suitable toys should be invented for children, otherwise children would begin to break things in the house. The philosopher Architas became famous for inventing a rattle for children. Lafaret came up with a game of wooden bricks for children's construction projects.
According to Plato, Locke, Froebel and others, children’s favorite toys can serve as the first test for an inquisitive mind and character.
Toys are associated with ancient religious rituals, the personification of the forces of nature in the form of people and animals. So female figure symbolized Mother Earth-Bereginya, the horse - the sun, the bird - the water and air elements. These three images from ancient times to our time carry precisely this meaning. It is believed that the origin of clay whistles is connected with the rituals of ancient times, when whistling was considered a reliable means of scaring away evil forces.
According to another point of view, children of all times and nations imitate adults in play; their toys are not endowed with a deep mythological meaning and are only a figurative reflection of the life surrounding the child.
The question of the origin of the toy cannot be resolved unambiguously. Most likely, in ancient times both play and cult meanings were closely intertwined, and then religious rituals were forgotten, and the toy remained only an object of entertainment.
But it is no coincidence that man embodied the forces of the elements in the images of living beings that were most familiar and close to him, interpreting them differently: the great goddess of fertility became a lady, a maiden; poultry - duck, chicken, goose; horse - a workhorse pulling a cart or carrying a gentleman. The bear, also a participant in ancient rituals, is a funny, good-natured club-footed animal from folk tale. Time has changed the conditions of life around us, new subjects have penetrated into the work of folk craftsmen, but these images still appear in toys of any craft to this day.
Toys used by the children of the common people are few in Russia. In some areas, children's toys almost did not exist in peasant life. To play, they used wooden painted eggs, spoons, jars, a knife, a nail, stones, and so on. However, from books and from the words of old people, we still know some common folk toys.
“Once upon a time, in the village of Bogorodskoye, there lived a woman who wanted to amuse her children and carved out of wood for them “Auka” - a swaddled baby. The children played with “Auka” and threw it on the stove. One day the woman’s husband began to get ready for the fair. He took “Auka” “And he thinks: I’ll show it to the merchants in the Posad who sell figurines. I took it with me. The merchant liked it. He bought the “Auka” I brought and ordered a few more pieces.”
Wooden carved and colorfully painted horses, bears and birds were traded near the Trinity-Sergius Lavra at the beginning of the 17th century. Toys with movement were known back then. Each master made his own familiar toys. “Skaters” slaughtered people, “animalists” - animals, “bird keepers” - birds. Some cut only “nutcrackers”, “nutcrackers” - wooden, hook-nosed old men with a device for cracking nuts.
Others made so-called “divorces” - they mounted figurines of cows or soldiers on sliding slats. And other masters carved bears shaking their paws. The most skilled carvers could freely carve figures of animals and birds.
Forgotten common toys
CARRACHES, that is, rattles were made from various materials: from wood in the form of a turned ball; on a wooden leg, and peas or small pebbles were placed inside. From birch bark in the form of 6- or 8-gonal boxes; horn from a goat or cow, covered with a bubble with peas inside. The pets' bubbles were washed, a few peas were put in, they were inflated, tied and dried - the rattle was ready. NIGHTINGALE. This is a clay pot, the size of an apple. It has a spout, like a teapot, and several holes, fills with water and, when blown, creates a melody that distracts and amuses the child.
Howlers. They were obtained from acacia fruits and straws. By tightly pulling a wheatgrass leaf, a ribbon, a leaf of birch bark, bark, or stems, you can produce a piercing squeaking sound.
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KUBAR. A small wooden ball or cylinder on a short leg, similar to a top, was launched along the floor, ground or ice. When playing, the children whipped him up with a whip and this made him spin endlessly. Sometimes the children argued about who would steal the kubar next or drive it through sand, puddles or mud.
DZYK. They take an ordinary button, insert a thin stick into the hole, one end of which is pointed, and the other is grasped with the fingers and set in motion - a slight buzzing occurs.
FURCHALKA. Take a thin circle or plate of wood, lead, bone; make two holes in the middle and stretch two threads. Having twisted the threads, they begin to quickly pull them with their hands, sometimes tightening them, sometimes loosening them. This causes rapid rotation and a special whirring noise.
RATCHETS. There are two types: a wooden roller with a handle and a ratchet made of 10-15 planks.
The rattle, in addition to entertainment, had a widespread use in protecting orchards from birds, and later as a noise instrument when performing songs.
SAWGER. This is a rather witty toy that resembles a swinging pendulum. It was popular in Tula and Nizhny Novgorod. The sawyer is placed on the edge of the table, and the thread with the stone is lowered down. They give a slight push to his head, and he sways for quite a long time, pulling the thread on the edge of the table.
SOLDIER WITH SABER. A bolster was inserted into the shoulder of the wooden soldier. A wooden saber or chicken feather was attached to the roller. They place it somewhere in the wind, and when it blows, the soldier makes a movement with his saber. Distributed in the Vyatka province.
DANCERS. Two little men are cut out of wood, their arms and legs loosely tied with threads. The dancers are strung on horsehair, which is barely noticeable. When twitching, the dancers move funny, seemingly for no apparent reason.
BLACKSMITHS. Two wooden blocks are placed one on top of the other, and two figures are seated astride them with hammers in their hands, and in the middle is an anvil. Then the bars begin to move in different directions, and the dolls move, creating the effect of working in a forge.
KOZYULKA. A spirally cut part is placed in a wooden box the size of a cigarette case, a needle-sting is attached to it and a thread is attached. The thread is located in a box along a labyrinth of a spiral, and when the player pulls the end that sticks out of the box, a “boiler” with a needle-like sting sticks out.
CHALLENGES. They make two or four wings similar to mill wings. These wings are put on a roller, and the roller is put on a stick and placed against the wind. They spin freely in the wind and bring great pleasure to children.
TSYKALKA. It looks like a modern syringe, only children made it from the hard stem of wild carrot, borax and the like.
They filled it with water and rushed it quite far.
CLAY TOYS IN THE FORM OF BREAD. Children's toys in the form of bread were found in old Ryazan. From these toys you can imagine what bread was like at that time. Children playing with clay conveyed the Well-Rise Bread with great realism. The top of the bread is covered with checkerboard slices. Such cuts must have been used to cover “clean bread” for a better taste of the crust and for beauty.
DOLLS. Dolls were rapidly improved, from wood to wax, clay and porcelain. They always tried to bring the doll closer to the real thing. female image and even came up with moving arms, legs, eyes.
Among the Slavs, the doll had a deep meaning - it protected and resembled an idol - Bereginya - a magnificent doll and was placed above the porch, on the windows. Later, fever dolls were popular in Rus'. The housewife always sewed 12 pieces - for 12 months of the year against 12 terrible diseases. She sewed to please the Lichomaniacs, the shakers, that is, she appeased the spirits of various diseases. Each had its own name
Shaking, Ledeya, Puffy, Yellowing, Korkusha, Breast, Ogneya, Glyadeya, Nivea.
The twisted doll was popular among the peasants. Some rag was rolled into a rolling pin, the head was tied with thread, and the top was covered with a shred that replaced the dress. Sometimes they were called "duckweeds".
Each girl knew how to make a haircut doll from straw. A bunch of straw was twisted to form a head. A smaller bundle was inserted between the two bundles and hands were created. They decorated the doll in different ways: they attached a braid, knitted a scarf, and even made dresses from worthless rags.
Very poor children were forced to make dolls even just from logs, wrapping them with something.
In the Moscow province they made dolls from clay and chalk. Children from wealthy families used dolls with porcelain heads. The doll has always helped to develop good, family-moral concepts and rules.
There is such a sign: when children play with dolls a lot and diligently, there will be profit in the family; if you handle toys carelessly, there will be trouble in the house. They believed that the doll guards children's sleep and protects the child, so it is always next to him - both in games and in dreams. Playing with dolls among girls was especially encouraged among the people, since the doll was also considered a symbol of procreation. For example, the peoples of Central Asia believed that a doll would bring a good harvest if a girl played with it until marriage.
In a Russian village rag-doll- the most common toy. She was in every peasant house, and in some families there were up to a hundred dolls.
Children began to “twirl” rag dolls at the age of five
Doll - spin
They rolled a piece of colored fabric into a rolling pin, covered the face with a white rag and pulled it down at neck level. Then the side remnants of the fabric were rolled up to form hands - and the doll was ready. Dress up! It must be said that the doll was made with great diligence, since the taste and skill of the owner were judged by it.
The doll was dressed up, but the face was not painted. Such dolls were called "faceless". According to popular beliefs, a doll with a face seemed to acquire a soul and could harm the child. Therefore, the faceless doll was also a talisman.
There used to be a custom: as soon as a woman felt that she was going to have a child, she began to make a twisted rag doll: “First she tied the body, then attached the arms along with the head, and then simply dressed the toy. She worked without a needle: no need for the arms touched the metal. And so the mother builds such a doll and, two weeks before the birth, puts it in the cradle, and they are both already waiting for the baby to appear. And the doll protects the cradle from the evil eye. The baby grows up, plays with his amulet doll. which retains the warmth of her mother’s hands. Having become an adult, the girl herself makes such a talisman doll two weeks before the birth of her baby.”
Making such a spinning doll is not difficult. The peculiarity of the work is that we make a doll without a needle, only twisting, only rags and tying with cotton thread.
Take a small piece of any fabric, approximately 20x20 cm in size. The bottom edge should be bent by 2-3 cm and not twisted very much. We also bend the free edge of the side cut inside out and get only one open cut - at the top. In two places (conditionally on the neck and waist line) we tie the twist with threads. So we came up with the so-called “body”. It must be stable, that is why the hem at the bottom is needed. You can insert a thin cotton rod into the twist of the “body”.
Next we make the head along with the arms. Let's take the same square of fabric, put a piece of cotton wool for the neck, cover it in the center with a piece of cloth, make a ball - the head and tighten the thread tightly along the neck line. Now let's make the hands. Let's adjust the cut and take the excess fabric inside the sleeve, and tie the hands with thread. After we make the arms, we will tighten the remaining fabric at the waist line, while the arms can be given any direction. By the way, at the same time you get a blouse with your hands. The base is ready.
Now the doll can be dressed up. Hair and braids can be made from elastic stocking. We will stretch a thin strip over the doll’s head, cut its end into three ribbons and braid it. To prevent the hairstyle from falling apart, we tie the head with a ribbon. A skirt (one or several) can be cut in the form of a circle - this is a circle skirt; We'll make a small hole in the middle and put it on the doll. To prevent the skirt from standing up like a bell, we will wrap it around the waist with a ribbon-belt. The result was an image of a girl. If you cover the doll with a scarf, you get the image of an older woman.
The beauty of such a doll is that it is made quickly, from the most affordable materials and right during the game. Images and their number can be created right during the game. And if the twist doll is done carefully, it can also serve as a wonderful souvenir.
GRAIN.
This doll is simple in appearance, but made with great love and has a deep symbolic meaning. It was usually given as a gift for Kolyada, Christmas and sometimes on holidays associated with the harvest. The doll was necessarily filled with grain, preferably wheat or grain of all sorts at the same time, so that the harvest would be rich in all types of grain crops. In Rus', porridge has long been the main type of food, since the grain has a powerful vitality, is easily digestible, and is available for cultivation on the territory of the Slavs. If it is the earth that gives a harvest, it means it will give birth, then the image that gives this harvest is female.
The doll was made from burlap. A small bag was filled with grain, while the women always sang a song or read a prayer. A head without a face was attached to the body-bag, tied with a scarf and a braid-belt (with a magical ornament: water, earth, grain, sun). A grain doll helps a person to believe in a successful year, and faith helps a person to create everything necessary for a miracle life.
RUSSIAN MATRYOSHKA. The Russian toy, christened matryoshka, born in Sergiev Posad near Moscow, received special fame and love. For residents of many countries, she truly became a “Russian girl,” a symbol of everything Russian. And deservedly so, because with enviable generality and folk humor, cheerful invention and colorful brevity, the master decided on the character of the doll, its clothes and shape.
This happened in a way that often happens in folk art, where a new painting is superimposed on an ancient form and tradition, or a new form is invented, and sometimes a new function. Figurines of this shape have existed in Rus' for a long time. And the detachable wooden toy has been around since ancient times. But there were no nesting dolls a hundred years ago.
Sergiev Posad has always been famous for its toys. They said that Sergius of Radonezh himself cut toys and gave them to children. At the end of the last century, master Vasily Zvezdochkin carved a doll to perfection, dressed her in an apron and sundress, dressed her in a scarf with flowers, and gave her a rooster or handkerchief. And he gave her the most common name -
Matryona. Success came to the girl Matryona in 1900 at the World Exhibition in Paris.
The oldest detachable toy - the prototype of the Matryoshka doll, which existed in Ancient Rus' - carried a deeper meaning. Some researchers suggest that such a doll feminine with large offspring there is the goddess of life herself, procreation. Others believe that the multi-opening doll indicates that man, like the earth, has seven spheres - seven bodies. And our ancestors had seen these subtle bodies before. And yet, the ancient sages said that seven generations preserve memory and genetic codes. Seven generations from clan to clan depend on each other, which is why they were so careful about all the traditions and laws of the clan.
SWIPPER DOLLS made from whatever was at hand. They swaddled a log, a wooden spoon, and a bundle of straw.
HAIR DOLLS were made from straw.
BABY DOLLS from clean rags so that the child can hug and even kiss her before going to bed.
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