RAFTS AND TRADES RELATED TO WOOD PROCESSING IN RUSSIAN VILLAGES OF STANS 3 AND 4 OF ZLATOUSTOVSKY DISTRICT OF UFA PROVINCE

Abstract

The article is based on the data of the field researches carried out by the author in the north-eastern regions of the Republic of Bashkortostan (Duvansky, Mechetlinsky and Belokotaysky Districts) in 2011-2014. In late 19th - early 20th centuries, this territory was part of stans 3 and 4 of the Zlatoustovsky District of the Ufa Province. Most of the Russian population of this area were the “Kunguryaks”, the descendants of immigrants from the northern lands (the former Perm and Vyatka Provinces). The author of the article considers the traditions of wood processing that existed in the Russian villages within the area under study in late 19th - early 20th centuries. Most objects required in the household and in everyday life were made from wood: there were many carved, chiselled, bent objects as well as those braided from rod, birch bark, and bast in the peasant’s house, they were daily used in all spheres of life. Many crafts and trades were connected with wood processing: carpentry, cooperage, joinery, etc. In the villages, there were wood carvers and “painters”, who turned wooden objects into pieces of decorative and applied arts. The traditions of wood processing were brought by the “Kunguryaks” from their historical homeland and they have much in common with the traditions of the Russian North. Among the artistic images of wood carving, there are both ancient amulets - images of ducks, horses, the sun, and Christian symbols - images of a cross, a chalice with grape bunches. In the painting on wood, both the Ural and Vyatka traditions are notable. The article fills in the gaps in the studies of the traditional culture of the Russian ethnos that for now is investigated unevenly in various regions, and the author introduces new material on its material culture into scientific use.