Towels (holiday, wedding, funeral, dull) in traditional peasant culture played a more important role in rituals compared to other items of household utensils, therefore their ornamentation was treated with passion and towels were passed on from generation to generation.

In museums there are very old examples of embroidered and woven towels. The towels were made using the technique of braided, openwork, multi-shaft, and set weaving, embroidered with set, counted satin stitch, cross stitch, Bulgarian cross, vestibule, stem stitch, and satin stitch. One of the earliest and most labor-intensive techniques is pereviti embroidery (embroidery on a canvas pierced in the form of a grid).

For a ritual towel, the middle of the linen was left white, embroidery was done on the edges, and lace (crocheted, bobbin-woven, or factory-made) or delicately woven stripes or tassels were sewn to the ends of the linen—thus, the most common version of a three-part division of space arose. There is also a more complex arrangement of ornaments: embroidery, lace (stitching), embroidery (possibly in red), lace or tassels. In ethnography, there is a hypothesis that until the middle of the 19th century, the ends of towels were not decorated with lace, crocheted, but by embroidery on pereviti, the ornaments of which often imitate hooked lace. Traditional embroidery motifs for ritual towels were peahen birds at the tree of life, birds following each other, rhombuses and others. Depending on the motifs of embroidery and lace patterns, towels were used in wedding, funeral, or calendar ceremonies. The towel for the icon in the red corner was richly decorated. Before embroidering such a towel, the two ends of the fabric were often sewn along one side to the height of the embroidery. Then, without interrupting the rapport at the seam, they embroidered from one edge to the other of the resulting fabric and sewed the lace along the entire width of the double ends. This towel was called deaf. It was hung on a mirror or on a frame with photographs.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, naturalistic embroidery of large flowers, bouquets, flowerpots, and subject embroidery spread. Women found these motifs on the wrappers of soap, colognes and other perfumes, which were developed by a whole staff of artists at the factory of the industrialist Brocard. The craftswoman also introduced her own motifs into the plot, which were found in ancient products.

Everyday towels - for wiping hands (rukoterniki), for covering a kneading bowl (nakvashenniki), for covering a bucket of milk (nakorovniki) - were also decorated, but less importance was attached to the symbolism of their ornaments. Such towels were colorful - checkered, striped - they could have a strip of calico with embroidery sewn on them, small lace, or small embroidery done with red and black threads on undyed linen.

The towel is a soaked towel. Talitsky district of the Sverdlovsk region.

End of the towel. From the funds of the Nizhny Salda Museum of Local Lore, Nizhnyaya Salda, Sverdlovsk Region

From the private collection of T.I. Shvalevoy, Ekaterinburg

City of Perm (from the church parish). From the private collection of T.I. Shvalevoy, Ekaterinburg

Alapaevsky district, Sverdlovsk region. From SODF expedition materials

Sverdlovsk region. From the funds of the Center for Extracurricular Activities of the Chkalovsky District of Yekaterinburg

Towels. Irbitsky district of the Sverdlovsk region. From SODF expedition materials

The village of Pryadeino, Kharlovsky s/s, Irbitsky district, Sverdlovsk region. From SODF expedition materials

Towels. Alapaevsky district, Sverdlovsk region. From SODF expedition materials

Russian culture originated many centuries ago. Even in pagan times, Russians decorated themselves and their living space (house, yard, household items) with original patterns. If a pattern repeats and alternates individual details, it is called an ornament.

Folk ornament necessarily uses traditional motifs. Each nation has its own. Russian ornaments are no exception. When we hear this phrase, embroidered shirts and towels immediately appear in our imagination. They feature horses, ducks, roosters and geometric shapes.

Traditional Russian ornament

Excursion into history

The primary unit of society is the family. And it is to families that we owe the first folk patterns. In ancient times, animals and plants had totemic significance. Each family believed that it had one patron or another. For generations, family members used objects with symbols of their family, considering them protection and help.

Gradually, the family drawing went beyond the family and became the property of relatives. Several genera exchanged their patterns. Thus, the entire tribe was already using symbols that originally belonged to certain families.

Over time, there were more patterns, and the circle of their users expanded. This is how Russian folk ornaments appeared in Russia.

Even in the exterior of the houses, symbolism could be traced

It can be seen that different areas used different colors for handicrafts. There is a simple explanation for this. In the old days, only natural dyes were used. They were produced in a handicraft way. So, the availability of raw materials for paints often determined the entire palette of works.

Different regions had their own favorite “decorations”. It is no coincidence that “paisley” is one of the motifs for ornaments in the eastern regions. The homeland of the “Indian cucumber” is Persia in the east.

Meaning and significance

A creative fusion of nature and religion. This is how we can briefly describe national, including Russian, ornaments. In other words, an ornament is a symbolic description of the world.

Elements of ornament were not only decoration. They carried a semantic and ritual load. They can not only be viewed, but also read. Very often these are conspiracies and amulets.

Each character has a specific meaning:

• Alatyr is perhaps the most important of the Russian and Slavic signs. This is a symbol of the infinite universe, the dual unity of the world and its balance. The source of life, consisting of male and female principles. The eight-pointed Alatyr Star and the Alatyr Stone were often used in patterns. They were expected to help in various life situations.

Holy Alatyr

• Another symbol that was very revered and often used in patterns is the World Tree of Life (or Tree of Kingship). It was believed that it grows on Alatyr Stone and the gods rest under its crown. So people tried to protect themselves and their family under the branches of the Tree of Life and with the help of the celestials.

One of the options for depicting the Tree of Reign

• Various swastikas are also a popular motif in Russian and Slavic needlework. Of the swastikas, you can find Kolovrat more often than others. An ancient symbol of the sun, happiness and goodness.

Variants of the image of the sun symbol among the Slavs

• Orepei or Arepei is a diamond shape with combs on the sides. Its other names: Comb Diamond, Oak, Well, Burdock. It was considered a symbol of happiness, wealth, and self-confidence. When placed on different parts of clothing, it had different interpretations.

Orepei symbol

• Animals and plants that surrounded people and were deified by them are a constant theme in the patterns.

Slavic symbolism is very diverse

Of particular importance was the number of alternations of elements in the ornament. Each number carried an additional semantic load.

Beauty and protection

The aesthetic meaning of the ornaments was combined with the totemic one. Magi and shamans applied symbols to ritual clothing and utensils. Ordinary people also put special meaning into traditional drawings. They tried to protect themselves with embroidery as a talisman, applying it to certain parts of clothing (to protect the body). Table linen, household items, furniture, and parts of buildings were also decorated with appropriate patterns (to protect the family and home).

The simplicity and beauty of ancient ornaments make them popular today.

Amulet dolls were decorated with traditional ornaments

Trades and crafts

Gradually, with the development of civilization vintage patterns transformed, some became identification marks of individual folk crafts. They developed independent crafts. Usually crafts have a name corresponding to the area where they are made.

The most popular are:

• Porcelain and ceramics "Gzhel". Her style is a characteristic drawing with blue paint on a white background. Named after the settlement of Gzhel, Moscow region, where the production is located.

Gzhel painting is an ancient craft

• “Zhostovo painting” can be recognized by flower bouquets on a black (less often green, blue, red) metal tray coated with varnish. The fishing center is located in Zhostovo (Moscow region). This craft began in Nizhny Tagil, where the production of Nizhny Tagil trays still exists.

Luxurious Zhostovo painting

• "Khokhloma" is a decorative painting on wood. It is characterized by black, red and sometimes green patterns on a golden background. Her homeland and place of registration is Nizhny Novgorod region.

Khokhloma is still popular today

• The settlement of Dymkovo is the birthplace of Dymkovskaya, and the city of Kargopol is, accordingly, Kargopolskaya, the village of Filimonovo is Filimonovskaya, Stary Oskol is the birthplace of Starooskolskaya clay toys. They all have a characteristic pattern and color.

Stary Oskol clay toys

• Pavlovsky Posad woolen shawls are the calling card of Pavlovsky Posad. They are characterized by a voluminous printed floral pattern. Red and black are their traditional colors.

The traditional Pavloposad scarf is a truly luxurious accessory

The continuation can be very long: Fedoskino and Palekh miniatures, Gorodets painting, Orenburg down scarf, Vologda, Yelets, Mtsensk lace. And so on. It is very difficult to list everything.

Drawing in folk style

Today, many people wear clothes and use things in folklore style. Many craftswomen want to create something unique themselves. They can take the finished product as a basis or create their own sketch.

To successfully complete this idea, you first need to:

1. Decide whether it will be a separate pattern or an ornament.
2. Break down the drawing into simple details.
3. Take graph paper, make a marking, marking each fragment and its middle.
4. We draw the first simplest detail in the center.
5. Gradually, step by step, we add the following fragments.

And now the unique pattern is ready.

Anyone can draw a pattern like this.

About Russian embroidery

The patterns, techniques, and colors of Russian embroidery are very diverse. The art of embroidery has a long history. It is closely related to the way of life, customs and rituals.

Color is an important component of needlework.

People endowed it with sacred properties:

• Red is the color of life, fire and sun. Of course it was often used in embroidery. After all, it is also beauty. As a talisman, it was designed to protect life.
• White is the color of pure snow. Symbol of freedom and purity. He was considered a protector against dark forces.
• Blue color of water and clear sky. Symbolized courage and strength.
• Black in the ornament meant earth. Zigzag and wave, respectively, an unplowed and plowed field.
• Green is grass, forest and their help to man.

Traditional Russian embroidery

The thread was also endowed with certain qualities:

• Linen is a symbol of masculinity.
• Wool is protection, patronage.

In combination with patterns, special-purpose products were created.

For example:

• Roosters and red horses were supposed to protect the baby.
• To successfully complete the work, they embroidered with green and blue linen.
• They embroidered with wool against illnesses and against bad influences.
• Women's clothes were often embroidered in black to protect motherhood.
• The men were protected by a green and blue pattern.

Of course, a special set of symbols and designs was developed for each occasion and person.

This embroidery will look elegant on any fabric.

Folk costume

Folk costume embodies and reflects traditions. For centuries, craftswomen have transformed plain fabric into a unique work of art. From an early age, girls learned the secrets of needlework. By the age of fifteen, they had to prepare themselves everyday and festive clothes and a set of towels, tablecloths and valances for several years.

The cut of the suit itself is simple, rectangular. Linen or wool fabric of various qualities. Women pulled the fabric (removed some of the threads) and received new fabric. Hemstitching and other embroideries were done on it.

Russian folk costume is diverse

Of course, clothing varied in characteristic patterns depending on the area. It can be divided into two groups:

1. Central Russian. Differs in multicolor. Among the techniques, counted satin stitch, cross stitch, braids, and hemstitch stitches are often used. In the southern regions, lace, ribbons or strips of fabric are also used to decorate clothes. The design is often geometric. Orepey was especially loved in different versions.
2. Northern. Its characteristic techniques are satin stitch (colored and white), cross stitch, painting, white stitching and cutouts. Artistic motifs were used more often than geometric ones. The compositions were performed mainly in one color.

Russian embroidery is unique. It is distinguished by stylized images of animals and plants, as well as a wide variety of geometric patterns.

Keeping traditions

Exploring national traditions and handicraft techniques using preserved products, modern craftsmen adapt them to modern requirements. Fashionable original things are created on their basis. These are clothes, shoes, underwear.

One of the recognized fashion designers who includes folk motifs in each of his collections is Valentin Yudashkin. Foreign couturiers, for example Yves Saint Laurent, are also inspired by the Russian heritage.

Russian collection of Yves Saint Laurent

In addition, folk crafts continue traditions and improve skills in accordance with modern requirements. You can add enthusiasts who are not indifferent to traditional creativity. They independently study, collect and create in folk style.

Russian patterns continue to bring beauty and joy to people, and also preserve historical information.

The Sun The Sun was revered as the source of life, possessing great cleansing and protective powers. People turned to him with prayers for fertility and prosperity. An oblique cross with curved ends is a solar sign - solstice (change of day and night, seasons).

Horse The guardian of the hearth was the horse, perceived as the strongest domestic animal. According to ancient legend, the horse was given the honorable role of participating in the movement of the sun across the sky, which during the day races in a chariot drawn by golden-haired horses, and at night sails across the blue sea in a boat. Figures of knights and rooks were depicted on valances and towels.

Tree Tree is one of the most ancient symbols, the Tree of Life, this is how the ancestors represented the universe. They thought that there were gardens of paradise in the sky, and a miracle tree with magical fruits grew there. The tree of life, a tree that gives birth to new life, was a symbol of life, the unity of the family, its continuation and well-being.

Maternity towel A little man is born, the midwife receives him on a towel that his mother lovingly embroidered. While still a girl, she took care of her baby, providing a towel with rich protective symbolism. This towel is called a maternity towel.

Wiping towel Our distant ancestors had a daily magical ritual of cleansing with water. In the morning - from night fears and horrors, in the evening - from daytime hardships, worries and fatigue. The ritual of cleansing included wiping the face with a towel and called it wiping.

Wedding towel At the wedding, the parents greeted and blessed the bride and groom with a towel in their hands, on which there was bread and salt. They embroidered a peahen bird on them as a sign of love, and complemented the embroidery with plant elements and small birds. This is a wish to the young people for good and happiness.

Funeral towel And on the last journey, to the cemetery, they see off the person, carrying him on towels, and lower him into the grave on them. These are funeral towels. The funeral towel depicted symbols of the soul and the funeral (sacrificial) pyre. After the ceremony, funeral towels were given to the temple for the commemoration of the soul. The sign echoes the symbol of the earth, but the rhombus, consisting of three pairs of intersecting lines, remained empty inside.

From the bride's dowry. Olonets province, Kargopol district, Gar village.
Beginning of the 20th century.

Of all the items of Severus weaving, towels have the most honorable place. Their decoration in the Russian village has always been given special importance. These patterns still amaze with their harmonious beauty. Most often they are hot red, with a strict relief pattern, freely spread over the silver linen. So much taste, skill and work! Every little detail says that we are looking at truly great art.

Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about him. Where are its origins? How and when did these amazing patterns originate? Why them and not some others? What, finally, did the “decorations” of towels mean to our distant ancestors? All this is unknown to modern man. Therefore, our gaze only glides over the surface of things, and the essence of ancient art remains a mystery.

So let's try to get into it. At least a little - just one step...

Behind the crowns.
Fragment of an 18th century miniature.

Let's start with the fact that the towel was decorated so generously, of course, not by accident. In the old days, it was one of the most important things in life and accompanied a person from birth to death, as if marking the main moments of his fate. The newborn was wiped with a special towel. During the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom were placed side by side and tied with a towel, symbolizing the marriage bond. When a man died, they covered his coffin with a towel.

This thing was so valued that they often paid for work or purchases with it. And when a peasant left for a foreign land, or they took him as a soldier - they gave him a “towel” for the journey. As the best parting words.

Towel. Fragment. Arkhangelsk region, Pinezhsky district, Kevrola village. 1978.

On weekdays, too, they were always nearby. Some - “rukoters” with a modest pattern - hung at the washstand. If you wash your face, they will give you a “wiper.” The hut was decorated with the most elegant ones. They hung them in the “red” corner on images, and later on frames with family photographs. On mirrors, on windows and just along the walls with hooks.

They did this not only for beauty: according to ancient belief, these patterns carried the power of good and protected from all evil. There was even a special ritual for “reading” them. But even at the beginning of our century, much was still remembered. Here is an interesting conversation that happened at that time, an eyewitness told us. One village girl was preparing her dowry, and her mother was closely monitoring the work. Seeing that the young weaver had placed two rows of triangles, point to point, in the border of the towel, she stopped her:

You can't do that, daughter! You get dragon teeth. If you place the patterns sole to sole, the sun's rays will come out. And they will shine for you as long as the towel itself is alive.

Is it really interesting? It’s as if they were not decorating a towel, but telling a fairy tale... Among the usual motifs of folk weaving, crosses and rhombuses are especially common - their endless varieties are mandatory for any woven ornament. What could they mean?

The end of the towel is “paint”.
Vologda province, Ustyuzhensky district, Kuzminskoye village. End of the 19th century.

Squint your eyes and look at the sun. You will see four rays diverging from it in the form of a cross.

“There is a clear light in all the free light, on all four sides,” people said. “The Holy Russian land is great, and the sun is everywhere.”

The chronicles report more than once about the mysterious celestial phenomena at that time, when the sun is seen as a large cross surrounded by rainbow rays: “A wonderful sign in the sun, for fear there were circles, and in the middle of the circles there was a cross.” The straight, equal-pointed cross was the image of the sun in folk symbolism. The rhombus was revered as a symbol of fertility and was often combined with the sun sign inscribed in it. If we add that the rhombus was popularly called a “circle,” one can easily notice the similarity between such a pattern and the celestial phenomenon noted in the chronicle.

Coincidence? Let's go further. Here we are once again using the word “pattern” - but wouldn’t it also suggest something interesting? Having looked through the dictionaries, we learn that in Slavic languages ​​it has the same root as the words “dawn”, “glow”, “zarnitsa”. It turns out that the very concept of embroidered and woven ornaments, or, as they used to say, “patterns,” is also somehow connected with heavenly fire. From the same circle is the old name, now half-forgotten, of a homemade weaving mill - “krosna”, which is related by blood to the ancient Russian word “kres” - flame, fire. “Kresin” was the name given to the heavenly light during the summer solstice, and June itself was called “Kresnik.” According to popular legend, King Sun is feasting in his palace these days, and the rays and arrows he shoots play in the air.

But the most striking thing is that the entire space of the camp where the woven pattern was created is saturated with solar signs. The image of the sun and its rays is found on all main parts of the krosen. The horizontal base on which they are attached is directly called the “sky-bird”! And this means that the very design of the towels is born as if under a sunny sky.

Weaving such patterns is not easy: you need good memory and intelligence, intense attention and perseverance. If you miscalculate even one thread, the mistake is immediately obvious. But the work is not progressing quickly: according to the craftswomen themselves, in a day’s work they cannot weave even one elegant end for a towel.

The end of the towel is “paint”.
Vologda province, Ustyuzhensky district, Kuzminskoye village. The end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century.

In each area, towels had their own distinctive features. On the Pinega River, their ends are long, with three or more wide “stitches” gradually tapering upward. The ornament is clear and harmonious.

Along the Onega River, the towel itself is narrower, and the end decorated with an intricate “lace” pattern is smaller.

The ornament of Koksheng and Veliky Ustyug towels is even more elaborate, with an oblique white mesh, eight-pointed stars and light combed rhombuses.

In seemingly simple works created by the hands of village weavers, there is not only the fate of their creators. The worldview, moral principles and artistic taste of the inhabitants of the Russian North, behind which are the centuries-old traditions of an entire people, are embodied here. For us, these are priceless monuments of material and spiritual culture. How much one end of a homespun towel can tell scientists! After all, the ornament that decorates it is the language of millennia: each sign contains a whole concept, and several symbols standing in a row are like a phrase in a letter.

In the weaving of the North, the diversity of geometric motifs was revealed with particular brightness. There are significantly fewer figurative patterns here. In terms of their content, they are all closely related to the patterns of local embroidery. In comparison, the woven pattern remained more archaic for a long time. But new motives came here too. For example, in Veliky Ustyug fabrics these are “punks” - male and female figures in a peasant costume of the 19th century.

All patterns of woven towels are subject to the law of symmetry: since ancient times it has symbolized the harmony of the universe. Well, the horizontal flow of the ornament, the motifs of which are lined up in an endless series, speaks of the eternal cycle of life in nature.

End of the towel. Olonets province, Kargopol district, Pogost village.
End of the 19th century.

Yes, this area is amazing - folk art. It can tell you a lot. All of us, whether good or bad, have heard about ancient mythology. She's beautiful, no doubt about it. But what do we know about the poetic views of the nature of our own ancestors? It’s as if they didn’t have their own wonderful legends.

According to ancient folk beliefs, the world consists of four elements: “Queen-Water”, “Tsar-Fire”, “Mother of the Raw Earth” and “Air-Master”.

Water is related to the earth, is its integral part. That’s why it’s “raw”. Why "mother"? For the Russian peasant, the land is like a living being. He falls asleep for the winter and wakes up from the hot rays of the spring sun. Drinks water and gives birth to a crop. Tenderly, like a mother, she takes care of people: she feeds, gives water, clothes, protects from harm.

Fire and air, without which he cannot live, constitute another group of elements. Russian people have long had deep respect for fire. In the old days they believed that it protects against illnesses and cleanses from diseases. That’s why they jumped over him and smoked his clothes over him.

Well, fire and the Sun, of course, are related: they are both sons of heaven. “What is the most beautiful thing in the world?” - asks the riddle. " Fire ". “What kind of fire burns brightest? " - "Sun". Let us remember again the village camp - Krosna. Now we understand that its name comes from the same heavenly fire, the image of which was embodied in weaving patterns. According to one poetic legend, the sun scatters its golden curls across the sky and spins thread-rays from them. So the peasant woman will first of all tie a flax tow to the sun carved on a spinning wheel and spin threads from it, as if from the rays of the sun. They will then be used to weave. Fans of Russian folk tales, of course, remember how a towel thrown on the ground turned into a river of fire. But the real ones are similar to her - they are so generously decorated with hot red patterns.

Towel. Olonets province, Kargopol district, Gar village.
End of the 19th century.

Let's take a closer look at them again. The craftswomen called the background on the fabrics “earth.” You probably guessed why: in thoroughly symbolic ancient art, linen canvas personified Mother Earth. It is no coincidence that she is white - our ancestors associated this color with the concept of goodness, and who in the world is kinder than a mother? And now on the glittering silver “ground” a woven ornament glows. If the canvas itself has a straight weave of threads, then the pattern seems to cover it with an oblique mesh. . And it creates the impression of movement! Before us is a visible image of fire descending onto the silvery plain of the earth and transforming it. This is the most common and most important image of patterned weaving.

An ancient Slavic legend tells that everything in the world began to live after a fire ignited in the earth. Isn’t that what jewelry says too? You will finally be convinced of this if you find out exactly when the craftswomen made towels. It turns out that there was a strictly defined time for this. The weavers sat down to work only in the spring, but before the start of field work. Weaving them was somewhat reminiscent of a spell. By creating their fiery patterns, the peasant women seemed to ask the sun to shine stronger and hotter and quickly drive away the cold and darkness from the earth, so that it would bear rich fruits for the joy of people. Yes, in the patterns of Russian folk weaving, a truly cosmic image appears before us. The earth, resurrected from a long winter sleep and fertilized by heavenly fire, received the power to produce crops and feed people, animals, birds - everything that lives under the sun. And the Sun itself, which gives all life on earth its transforming light and its life-giving warmth... These are the secrets that the patterns of ancient towels keep. But it seemed simply beautiful.

The sacred meaning of the ornaments of the ancient Slavs in the matrix of the Universe

Let's consider a ritual towel - a towel of the ancient Slavs with an ornament, which is shown in Figure 1. Next, we will combine the image of the model of the towel with the matrix of the Universe.

Rice. 1. A fragment of embroidery on a North Russian towel - a towel, is believed to depict fertility goddesses and a magical ornament symbolizing fertility. Such towels were used for ritual purposes. “A towel is an embroidered decorative towel made of homespun canvas. A subject of folk culture and folk art of the Eastern Slavs.

Since ancient times in Rus', the towel had not only an aesthetic purpose, but also a ritual purpose. The patterns embroidered on the towel not only serve as decoration for everyday life, but are also a symbolic reminder of the invisible connections that connect each person with his family and ancestors.

The towel is made from linen or hemp fabric, 30-40 centimeters wide and 3 or more meters long. Embroidery, lace, braided weaving, and ribbons are used to decorate the towel. Various symbols were used in embroidery on towels. Zoomorphic ornaments were embroidered - symbolic roosters, chickens, swans, ducks, eagles, deer, lions, horses, etc.; vegetable - oak, hops, viburnum, poppy, lily, rose, grapes, etc.; geometric - rhombuses, circles, swastikas, zigzag lines and other patterns; as well as everyday, anthropomorphic and cultic ones in various combinations.

Until the 18th-19th centuries, each embroidered pattern had its own sacred meaning and ritual purpose. After Peter the Great’s reforms, everyday motifs began to appear in embroidery on towels that did not carry a ritual meaning, and by the end of the 19th century, embroidery almost completely lost its ritual meaning.”.

In Dahl's dictionary about a number of purposes of a towel - “ towel, fly"In Slavic customs the following is said:

« Rushnik - towel - Hand washing - washing hands, a ritual between a woman in labor and a grandmother (midwife). On the 9th day after the birth of the child, both wash their hands together, and the second (midwife) receives a fly (towel) from the woman in labor.

Fly - trimmed with pearls. Veil, shawl (scarf, towel), i.e. not an uncut scarf or two uncut scarves together, a long shawl. " The entire young woman is covered with a fly and taken to the crown under the fly. You wave your magic fly and perform all sorts of miracles!»».

The Slavs knew that the one who delivered a child must be “untied” from the “fate” of this child. And this is not superstition - this is the sacred knowledge of the ancients. Moreover, the placenta in which the child grew in the mother’s uterus must be “buried” and in no case should it be used to make “medicines”.

For example, dogs eat this place when puppies are born, and lick the place of the bitten umbilical cord on the puppy’s body. They do this instinctively, but this “knowledge” allows the offspring to be healthy. Modern godless society, with the help of ignorant fashion designers, has stripped young girls and women, exposing all their reproductive “areas” to demonic forces. What kind of healthy offspring of the nation can we talk about after this? These ignoramuses, pretending to be God knows what, are simply murderers of the nation and not only in our country. Slavic women, even in a simple version, wore aprons with “protective” ornaments over their shirts. Our ancestors were smarter than modern “fashion sages”, you can be sure of that. And I'm not a prude.

Figure 2 shows the result of combining the model of a towel with Northern Russian embroidery at its ends with the matrix of the Universe.

Rice. 2. The picture shows model of a ritual towel combined with the matrix of the Universe. The key to combining the layout of the ritual towel with the matrix was the horizontal “base of the ornament” and the characteristic pattern of the ornament as shown in the figure. By changing the nature of the pattern on the side parts of the ornament on the towel model, I kept the number of branches of the ornament in its center.

The model is identical to the original, which is shown in Figure 2.

1. The level of the Upper and Lower Worlds of the matrix, with which the ornament on the towel is combined.

2. - respectively, the 15th level of the two worlds of the matrix.

3. - 9th level of the matrix. The hands of the large “Goddesses” are located at the 17th level, and their heads touch the 18th level of the matrix. The hands of the small “goddess” are located at the 16th level of the matrix, and the base is at the 15th level.

A is the place of transition between the Upper and Lower worlds of the matrix, where two sacred Tetractys and the “Star of David” are shown. The characteristic ornament covers 7 levels (vertical arc bracket) of the Upper and Lower worlds of the matrix.

It is clear from the figure that the characteristic “hook” ornament, large and small “goddesses” and the base of the ornament with alternating small vertical “marks” were precisely combined with the matrix, and the latter was the template or canon for constructing the ornament of Slavic embroidery. Typically, towels had a diameter of 30 centimeters and a length of up to 3 meters or more - “A towel is made of linen or hemp fabric 30-40 centimeters wide and 3 or more meters long.”

The transverse size of the ornament, as can be seen from the figure, is 9 levels. Then, accordingly, 9 levels of the matrix, for example, correspond to 30 cm, and three meters in centimeters - (300cm/30cm) = will correspond to 100 levels of the matrix of the Universe. Taking into account the size of the Lower world of the matrix of the Universe at 36 levels (One of the secrets of the Brahma-Samhita about the sizes of the Spiritual and Material world in the matrix of the Universe) in the Spiritual world of the matrix of the Universe, the upper edge of the ornament of the ritual towel will reach - 100 levels - 36 levels = 64 levels of the Spiritual world of the matrix . There are 108 levels left to the abode of the Supreme Lord - 64 levels = 44 levels of the matrix of the Universe. Then the length of the towel should be increased by - (30 cm / 9 levels) = 3.34 x 44 levels = 147 cm. And the ritual towel with a width of 30 cm and a length of 447 cm will “extend” from God’s “bottom of the Universe” in the Material world of the matrix to the “abode » The Supreme Lord at the 108th level of the Spiritual world of the matrix. At the same time, it will “cover” 144 levels of the matrix of the Universe!

And these are not empty calculations. They lead us to understand the sacred meaning of the ritual towel of the Slavs. Obviously, “wiping yourself off” after washing with a 4.5 meter long towel is, to say the least, inconvenient.

In the next picture with a reconstruction of the traditional decoration of a Ukrainian hut, we will see an almost stylized image of the matrix of the Universe on towels with ornaments.

Composite towel.

Its lower parts were attached to the main one with strips of factory muslin, which literally crumbled to dust, and I had to replace it with modern lace.

The upper main part of the towel is decorated with rows of figures and signs. If we conventionally take two rows of birds that make up a semantic unity as the first row, then we will count seven rows. Each row differs from other rows in the number, shape and size of images.

Let's start trying to read patterns from the top row. It has long been noted that cockerels and birds in the upper tiers of Russian embroidery mean the sky. But not just heaven, but Heaven with a capital S, paradise, irium, from which they fly to earth. The Seventh Heaven is synonymous with the word “paradise”, and our cockerels occupy exactly the seventh, top row of embroidery. Therefore, we can assume that the rest of the heavens are depicted below on the towel.

Sixth row decorated with small four-ray "snowflakes". Their small size and large number (compared to other figures) indicate that this is an image of “frequent stars”. In one Russian folk song there are words that the girl was embroidering “... the sun is red, the month is clear, the stars are frequent.” Our towel is an illustration of this folklore text.

Fifth row are occupied by three huge spread out figures against the backdrop of “frequent stars”. As noted above, ethnographers call such images either a “flowerpot woman”, or a “snake-legged goddess”, or a “woman in labor”. Let us pay attention to the fact that researchers agree on one thing - these are female figures. Their triplicity and equal scale reminded me of the idea of ​​certain three mothers reflected in folklore. For example, in the celebration of Maslenitsa, among other definitions, the mysterious phrase “a daughter of three mothers” is mentioned. The semi-pagan “Pigeon Book” gives an explanation of this:

"First mother - Holy Mother of God,
The second mother is the cheese Earth,
The third mother accepted grief.(Gol. Book 220)" .

Based on these widely spread ideas among the people, we can assume that the towel depicts three Mothers, the average of which Mother - cheese Earth in her divine, heavenly hypostasis.

The third mother in the text is the mother of each individual person. But my own mother is actually my own father’s wife, his wife. In the Old Russian language, the word "lada" means spouse. Heavenly goddess Lada was the patroness of wives giving birth to children. It is she, Mother Lada, and not just an earthly woman-mother, who is logical to place next to the grandiose Mother - the Earth.

In the official ancient Russian pagan pantheon established by Prince Vladimir, we will find the name of a goddess not inferior in scale to the two above-mentioned: this Makosh- mother of the harvest, happy lot, fate, etc.

So, three Great Mothers: Makosh, Mother Earth and Mother Lada are located in the upper part of the heavens, which is separated from the four “lower” heavens by a clear boundary line.

In 4th heaven we see three large rosettes. It has long been established that such figures are images of the sun. Its triplicity means morning, day and evening, in other words, morning Dawn, Noon and evening Dawn.

In 3rd heaven There are four four-petal rosettes, as if crossed out crosswise “on all four sides.” This persistent repetition of the "four" and the smaller scale compared to the solar signs suggest the 4 phases of the moon. It may be objected that the full and new moons are different from the waxing and waning moons, and on the towel all four rosettes look the same. I believe that the embroiderer could not have set out to depict each phase of the moon, but only noted that there are four of them, thereby showing her idea of ​​the cyclical nature of time.

In the second sky Female figures resembling flowers or trees lead a round dance. They are significantly smaller than similar “plant” goddesses from the 5th heaven. Their multiplicity, “earthliness” and “major mood” suggest that these are bereginii.

First heaven represents two parallel lines, between which zigzag lines are depicted. Everything together looks very thorough; it is truly a “firmament of heaven” with reserves of heavenly moisture.

The Earth is suspended from the unshakable Sky by a strip of airy lace.. She is shown not in her divine form, but very specifically, by the earth on which we walk with our feet. In contrast to the somewhat encrypted nature of the upper celestial signs, the images on the ground are easy to read.

On it we see 2 male figures alternating with floral rosettes. The first thing that catches your eye in the rosettes is the carnations or cornflowers, again sticking out “on all four sides.” Exorbitantly lush ears of corn are embroidered between the flowers, and all this originates in crossed rhombuses with a dot in the middle, grouped into oblique crosses. The center of the rosette undoubtedly means a plowed and sown field, the ears of corn - some kind of cereal crop. It is known that mostly wild poppy grows in wheat fields, and cornflowers grow in rye fields. The flowers on our towel are not poppies, and, as it turned out, not carnations, but the famous field weed cornflower, therefore, the ears represent rye. It is interesting that since ancient times, the cultivation of rye was a distinctive feature of the Slavic tribes from, for example, the Germanic tribes, which did not cultivate rye.

The entire composition as a whole represents a harmonious system of the universe, a pagan Universe. It contains seven Heavens, divided into upper and lower. In the upper, starry heavens there are the goddesses of the Mother and paradise, in the lower ones, separated from the earth by a firmament with reserves of water, luminaries and benevolent spirits. On earth, man is engaged in agriculture, and in the primordial Slavic way.
I can’t help but note some of the feminist orientation of this Universe. If men reign on earth, then only women are depicted in heaven.

We should not be embarrassed by the fact that the Universe depicted on this towel does not completely coincide with the universes identified by other researchers of the Russian tradition on the basis of oral folklore, wood carvings or paintings of spinning wheels. The fact is that, unlike Christianity, which is “a fairly integral, stable, structurally uniform, closed system of dogmas and religious symbols, Slavic paganism was a heterogeneous open system in which the new coexisted with the old, constantly supplementing it, forming a whole series of layers " .

Our embroiderer or her predecessors, from whom she studied, had every right to see the world one way and not another. The main thing is that this vision completely fits into some not very rigid, but still having boundaries, ethnic framework that distinguishes the Slavic system of worldviews from the worldview systems of neighboring ethnic groups.

Next towel, at first glance, has an inexpressive pattern and does not attract attention. I even doubted whether it was worth purchasing it. But I bought it anyway, looked more closely and realized that it was amazing!

A clear stripe divides the pattern horizontally. Everything underneath is embroidered upside down. This is a well-known technique for depicting the underground “other” world, the “other world”. What does the embroiderer’s imagination put there? There, just like above, trees and grass bloom luxuriantly, underground water flows (zigzag line, snake), that is, nothing in common with Christian hell!

Top part, "white light", has a traditional three-part composition. However, the central and side figures contrast sharply with each other.

In the middle there is a slender geometric image of a “pillar” with an eight-petalled rosette. In its center there is a rhombus with an oblique cross - the oldest sign of earth, soil cultivated for sowing.

The figure is crowned with an oak leaf - symbol of Perun. The connection between the Thunderer (Ilya in the Christian tradition) and agriculture can be traced through Russian incantatory songs.

For example:

And Saint Elijah
I walked between
I walked between
Zhitushko gave birth.

Around and on the sides of the central image, plants (roses?) bend and seem to bow before it. This contrast suggests an antithesis: living - inanimate, natural - man-made, namely: the temple of Perun in the middle of the forest. Rybakov mentions in his study of Russian embroidery that “idols were sometimes depicted ... among trees, which can be considered an expression of the idea of ​​​​a sacred grove.” However, it does not illustrate its message. It seems that the towel in question depicts such a sacred grove with an idol.

The central rosette has a large red dot in each of its eight petals and is reminiscent of the archaeological site of Novgorod in the Peryn tract. Here is his description:

"As a result... of excavations, a round area was revealed... in the center of which there was a round pit with traces of wood in it. The researcher rightly considers the hole to be the base wooden idol Perun. A shallow ditch was dug around the site-temple with eight extensions in the cardinal directions; in each extension, traces of a fireplace were found at the bottom of the ditch. The temple was illuminated by eight fires".

In general, the embroidery can be deciphered as follows: a straight road in the middle of a forest leading to eight bonfires surrounding a sacred oak tree, at the foot of which is depicted the sign of a plowed field, the subject of the main concern of the peasantry for more than a millennium.

If the decoding is correct, then, taking into account the Ilyinsky songs, we can conclude that the cult of Perun was quite widespread among the peasantry, contrary to the popular belief that it was a deity only of the military aristocracy.

I showed this towel to many interested parties. Some agreed with me regarding reading the patterns, others did not. The main argument of those who disagreed was that the flowers and the rosette came together by chance and did not mean anything. To this I will give the following objections.

Russian embroidery is an example of consistent style. On the towel, the mixture of geometric and floral geometrized images is striking, alarming with its imbalance, forcing you to look more closely and think about the plot. It has long been noted that there is nothing accidental in embroidery. “Each individual ornamental motif on towels is a complete symbol in itself, but all together they represent an artistic and semantic unity.”

Addition

Wavy line - sign of Water. Rain is depicted by vertical lines, rivers, underground waters - by horizontal lines, "heavenly abysses" - by horizontal lines.

Sun symbol can be found most often on the platbands of houses. And here it is in embroidery:

Often found in embroidery are various animals, for example, moose.
Well woman in labor, of course, as a symbol of fertility:

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