Жемчуг in Russian Folklore

Abstract

Pearls are some of the most frequently encountered gems in Russian folklore. This reflects their importance for Russian culture, where from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and up to the nineteenth century, they were among its symbols. Pearls were not only gems representing the highest strata of society and the highest clergy. They were relatively easily accessible to the common people, and even to the peasantry, especially in the Russian North, the territory of their extraction in Russia (the poor peasantry used imitations). The rootedness and high value of pearls in folk life contributed to the fact that words from the word-formation family жемчуг can be found in almost all genres of Russian folklore. This article aims to give a general idea of the relevance of the image of pearls in the texts of Russian folklore. The objectives of the article are also to highlight the genre breadth within which this image functions; to mention the themes and motifs in which there are references to pearls; to reveal the symbolism of pearls in folklore texts; to note the textual partners that most often accompany the appearance of pearls in folklore. The article mostly refers to Songs Collected by P. N. Rybnikov; collections of lamentations by E. V. Barsov and B. B. Efimenkova; collection of fairy tales by A. N. Afanasyev; song collection by A. I. Sobolevsky and some other collections of local and all-Russian folklore.