RUSSIAN FOLKLORE
RUSSIAN FOLKLORE in the Republic of Bashkortostan is represented by the heritage of people from many regions of Russia and can be characterized mostly by the same peculiarities as traditional Russian ethnic art. At the first stage of people’s settlement in Bashkortostan there were traditions of the North and South of Russia, the Volga, Center and Western regions. Conservation of the traditions of R.f. in the republic was caused by the natural and geographical factors (mountain-forest districts), compact settlement, far distance from the center and the type of settlements. Social and political processes of the 19th – early 20th c. provoked leveling of the folklore dialects, provided the formation of the common repertoire and stylistic peculiarities. There was a loss of folklore distinctive features of ethnic and confessional (old believers), ethnic and social (peasants, workers of mining plants, Cossacks) groups. Certain folklore genres were lost in soviet times due to anti-religious fight (spiritual poetry), official prohibition to read them (calendar songs), non-relevant position (epics, fairytales, historical songs, lamentation of recruits, brides, etc.). Folklore was receiving new motifs, images and plots. Many fairytales registered in the 1930’s– 1940’s are social, political and anti-religious (“Soviet demon”, “Greedy priest”, etc.), they reflect the achievements of economy, industry and social life (“A blacksmith killed a blacksmith”). However traditional plots still existed (fairytales about animals, Ilya Muromets, Alyesha Popovich, Kochshey the Immortal, Baba Yaga). Legends, lore and historical short stories about the immigration of Russians to the Bashkir lands, foundation of the settlements, legends about local geographic objects (mountains, rivers, etc.) and historical events (Peasant war of 1773– 75, etc.), about the landlords and ethnic heroes (Y. Pugachyev, Salavat Yulayev, etc.) were popular among workers. During the Great Patriotic War songs based on historical motifs became popular (“At the Polish border” as well as songs about free people (about Lantsov, Churkin the Ataman), etc. Bylichkas were preserved (about demons, goblins, water creatures, mermaids, hobgoblins, etc.) R.f. was enriched by means of foreign ethnic folklore in the post-war period.
There are songs, anecdotes, Internet-folklore. The center of ethnic art holds different holidays, contests and festivals encouraging the revival of R.f.. There are folklore ensembles, such as “Maryana”, “Tausen”, “Yablonka” family ensemble (Belebey), “Zdravitsa” ethnic choir of Russian song (Ufimskiy district), “Berestinochka” ethnic folklore ensemble (Belokatayskiy district), “Makov tsvet” ethnic pop-folk ensemble (Neftekamsk), “Russkiye zvony” (Belebey), etc., ensembles of Russian ethnic instruments, such as “Razdolye” (Oktyabrskiy), “Naigryshi” (Ufa), orchestra of Russian ethnic instruments (Kumertau), etc. Harmonic, balalayka, trechshetka and other sound instruments are traditionally popular.
R.f. in Bashkortostan has been collected since the 1830’s by virtue of V.I. Dal, poet N.M Yazykov and his brothers A.M. Yazykov and P.M. Yazykov and A. Gaponov. The songs registered by the Yazykovs in Novoselki village, Ufimskiy District were later included into P.V. Kireyevskiy’s collection. R.f. of Ufimskaya region in the 1840’s-1860’s was registered and partially published by the local historians in “Ufimskiye regional vedomosti” newspaper. In the 2nd part of the 19 c. R.f. was registered by R.G. Ignatyev, V.S. Kasimovskiy (songs and spells of Duvan village, Zlatoustovskiy district), M.Kolesnokov (folklore of Belebeyevskiy district). Rybakov was registering folklore of local peoples including Russians at the edge of the 19th-20th c. A Russian wedding ceremony in Ufimskaya District and lyrics of the songs were registered by A. Umov. Folklore of plant workers from Beloretsk, Kaga and Tirlyan was collected by G.P. Beloretskiy in the late 1890’s. D.K. Zelenin was studying the peculiarities of old believers at Isen-Ivanovskiy plant, Belebeyevskiy District in May 1904. The beginning of the scientific stage of R.f. collection and studying is connected with N.P. Kolpakova’s expedition. The notes are in the Scientific archive of UFIC RAS, in the Handwriting department of the Institute of Russian literature (The Pushkin House) of RAS; part of them are copied and kept in the archives of Russian Institute of Art History. There are 19 songs published in “Lyrics of Russian wedding” collection (Leningrad, 1973). R.f., Ukrainian and Bashkir folklore were registered in 1942–43 by the Institute of ethnic arts of National academy of sciences of Ukrainian SSR (now Institute art history, folklore and ethnology of National academy of science of Ukraine), which was evacuated to Ufa. The chair of folklore of M.V. Lomonosov MSU held an expedition headed by E.V. Pomerantseva to the Russian settlements of Bashkortostan. The materials are stored in the Scientific archive of the UFIC RAS, some of them are published in “Russian ethnic art in Bashkiria” collection (1957). R.f. in the republic had been being collected since the 1960’s by the professors and students of Bashkir state university (headed by L.G. Barag, B.G. Akhmetshin, L.I. Bryantseva), SSPI (I.Y. Karpukhina), in the 1980’s– 1990’s – by F.G. Galieva, T.I. Rozhkova, S.A. Moiseyeva, since the 2000’s – by I.G. Kulsarina, N.G. Kulsarin. Fairytales and non-fairytale prose were studied by Baraga, Karpukhin, G.Z. Imayeva, lore and legends – by Akhmetshin, Russian traditional songs – by Bryantseva, Galieva, Rozhkova, Moiseyeva. The materials are published in the “Folklore of peoples of Russia” series, “Ethnic fairytales, legends and lore registered in Bashkiria in the Russian language in the 1960–1966” collections (1969), “Fairytales, legends and new notes in Russian” (1975), “Russian wedding songs of mining plant villages of Bashkiria” (2000), “Evening sunset” (Sterlitamak, 2000), “Russian tradition songs of Arkhangelskiy district, Bashkortostan” (2006), etc.
B.G. Akhmetshin, F.G. Galieva
