What are legends and legends. "historical tradition as a genre of folklore in folk art of the Arkhangelsk north". Legends about the leaders of popular movements

From the point of view of the people, works of folklore non-fairytale prose are important as a source of information, and in some cases also as a warning, edification. Consequently, in non-fairytale prose, the cognitive and didactic functions prevail over the artistic. Unfabulous prose has a different modality than fairy tales: its works are confined to real time, real terrain, real persons... Non-fictional prose is characterized by non-separation from the stream of everyday speech, the absence of special genre and style canons. In the most general sense, we can say that her works are characterized by the stylistic form of an epic narrative about the authentic: The old people said ...; The old man Vyksatold me ...; I saw miracles, seemed to me ...; They saywhat if ...; My mom told me ...; Here in our villageone woman ...; Here I was myself in the redistribution.

The most stable component is the character, around which all the rest of the material coalesces. An important feature of non-fairytale prose is the plot (content). Usually plots have an embryonic form (single-motive), but they can be conveyed both succinctly and in detail. Works of non-fictional prose are capable of contamination. Sometimes story loops are formed around a character or an event. Many plots of folk non-fairytale prose are of a typological nature, they naturally arose in world folklore. There are also "wandering plots" recorded by different peoples in different periods of their history.

The genres of non-fairy-tale prose do not have the stability of the poetic form that is inherent in fairy tales, therefore they are usually determined by the nature of the content of the works. The early traditional folklore was characterized by myths. In classical folklore, there are legends, legends, demonological stories.

The thematic and plot fund of non-fairy-tale prose is oral folk stories - works that usually do not contain elements of fiction and are designed as a story about modernity or the recent past. Oral folk stories cannot be called folklore proper, they are a kind of "raw material" for legends, traditions, etc., which, if necessary, could be in demand.

The problem of differentiating genres of non-fairy-tale prose is a complex one. This is due to the vagueness of the material itself, the great flexibility of the works. General and characteristic folk stories of a non-fairytale nature - inconstancy, fluidity of form. They easily adapted to local conditions. The blurring of genre boundaries often led to interactions between genres of non-fairy-tale prose, both among themselves and with fairy tales. One and the same plot could take different forms, periodically appearing in the form of a bylich, legend, legend or fairy tale. It is no coincidence that legends, traditions and especially stories in the 19th century. published in fabulous collections interspersed with fairy tales.

Legends
1. Characteristics of the genre of legends

Tradition is a story about the past, sometimes very distant. Tradition depicts reality in ordinary forms, although fiction is necessarily used, and sometimes even fantasy. The main purpose of legends is to preserve the memory of national history. Legends began to be recorded earlier than many folklore genres, as they were an important source for chroniclers. A large number of legends exist in the oral tradition to this day.

Legends are an "oral chronicle", a genre of non-fairy-tale prose with a focus on historical accuracy. The very word "tradition" means "to transmit, to preserve." Legends are characterized by references to old people, ancestors. The events of the legends are concentrated around historical figures who, regardless of their social status (be it the tsar or the leader of the peasant uprising) are often presented in an ideal light.

Any legend is historical in its essence, because the impetus for its creation is always a genuine fact: a war with foreign invaders, a peasant revolt, large-scale construction, a royal wedding, etc. At the same time, tradition is not identical with reality. As a folklore genre, it has the right to fiction, offers its own interpretation of history. Plot fiction arises on the basis of a historical fact (for example, after the hero of a legend has stayed at a given point). Fiction does not contradict historical truth, but, on the contrary, contributes to its identification.

In July 1983, during the folklore practice, students of the Moscow State Pedagogical University in Podolsk, near Moscow, wrote down from A.A. Vorontsov, 78 years old, a legend about the origin of the name of this city. It is historically true that Peter I visited Podolsk. Tradition expresses the negative attitude of the people towards his foreign wife (Catherine I), for the sake of whom the legitimate queen was exiled to a monastery (see the Reader).

There are two main ways of creating legends: 1) generalization of memories; 2) generalization of memories and their design using ready-made plot schemes. The second path is characteristic of many legends. Common motives and plots pass from century to century (sometimes as myths or legends), being associated with different events and persons. There are repetitive toponymic stories (for example, about failed churches, cities). Usually, such plots paint the narrative in fabulous and legendary tones, but they are able to convey something important for their era.

One of the international ones is the story of how the king pacified the raging water element. (For example, he was attributed to the Persian king Xerxes.) In the Russian oral tradition, the plot began to figure in the legends about Ivan the Terrible and Peter I (see the Reader).

Plots about Stepan Razin were also later attached to other characters. For example, VI Chapaev, like Razin, does not take any bullet; he fantastically frees himself from captivity (by diving into a bucket of water or sailing away in a boat painted on the wall) and so on.

And yet the event of the legend is portrayed as a single, complete, unique.

Tradition tells about the universally significant, important for everyone. This influences the selection of material: the theme of the legend is always of national importance or is important for the inhabitants of a given area. The nature of the conflict is national or social. Accordingly, the characters are representatives of the state, nation, specific classes or estates.

In the legends, special methods of depicting the historical past have been developed. Attention is shown to the particulars of a big event. The general, the typical is depicted by means of the particular, the concrete. Localization is characteristic of legends - geographical confinement to a village, lake, mountain, house, etc. The credibility of the plot is supported by various material evidence - the so-called "footprints" of the hero (he built a church, laid a road, donated a thing).

In the Olonets lips. showed silver cups and fifty dollars, allegedly donated by Peter I; in Zhiguli, all antiques and human bones found in the earth were attributed to the Razins.

The prevalence of legends is not the same. Legends about tsars existed throughout the state, and legends about other figures in Russian history were told mainly in the area where these people lived and acted.

So, in the summer of 1982, the folklore expedition of the Moscow State Pedagogical University recorded in the village of Dorofeyevo, Ostrovsky district, Kostroma region. from the peasant DI Yarovitsyn, 87 years old, the legend "About Ivan Susanin" (see the Reader).

Plots of legends, as a rule, are single-motive. Consolidated (contaminated) legends could develop around the character; plot cycles arose.

Legends have their own ways of portraying heroes. Usually the character is only named, and in the episode of the legend, one of his features is shown. At the beginning or at the end of the narrative, direct characteristics and assessments are allowed, which are necessary for the image to be correctly understood. They act not as a personal judgment, but as a general opinion (about Peter I: Here it is the king - so the king did not eat bread for free; better than a barge workertal;about Ivan Susanin: ... after all, he did not save the tsar, but Russia.).

The portrait (appearance) of the hero was rarely depicted. If the portrait appeared, it was laconic (for example: robbers - strong men, handsome men, handsome fellows in red shirts). The portrait detail (for example, a costume) could be related to the development of the plot: the unrecognized king walks disguised in a simple dress; the robber appears at the feast in the general's uniform.

Scientists identify different genre varieties of legends. Among them are historical, toponymic, ethnogenetic legends, about the settlement and development of the region, about treasures, etiological, culturological - and many others. We have to admit that all known classifications are conditional, since it is impossible to offer a universal criterion. Legends are often divided into two groups: historical and toponymic. However, all legends are historical (already in their genre essence); hence, any toponymic tradition is also historical.

On the basis of the influence of the form or content of other genres, groups of transitional, peripheral works are distinguished among the legends. Legendary traditions are those with a miracle motive, in which historical events are interpreted from a religious point of view. A different phenomenon is fairy-tale plots, confined to historical figures (see in the Reader the plot about Peter I and the blacksmith - the famous storyteller F.P. Gospodarev).

Completed by a student of grade 9B MBOU "School № 23" STRUK ROMAN Supervisor: Pichugina N.V., teacher of Russian language and literature MBOU "School № 23" 2012 Historical legend as a genre of folklore in the folk art of the Arkhangelsk North

Goals and objectives of the work Goal - to study historical tradition as a genre of folklore in the literary tradition of the Arkhangelsk North; Objectives: To find out the distinctive features of the legend from other genres of folklore; Study the species groups of the legends of the Arkhangelsk region; Consider the role of legends in the oral folk art of the Arkhangelsk North

Researchers - folklorists of the Arkhangelsk North

Features of the genre of legend 1. Preserve the memory of events and figures of national history; 2. Legends are of great educational value; 3. Perform informative, ideological functions; 4. Have aesthetic value; 5. The legend uses special pictorial and expressive means BREEDING - EPIC, NARRATIVE, STORY GENRE

Types of legends of the Arkhangelsk North Legends about the mythological people - MIRACLE; Legends about the founding of the "small homeland"; Legends about the northern heroes; Legends about the origin of the Arkhangelsk villages; Legends related to historical events; Legends about robbers; Legends about the schismatics; Legends about statesmen

These legends tell about the settlement, the founding of the Arkhangelsk region. Legends about the founding of the "small homeland"

Chud in the northern legends The mythological chud in the early northern legends is depicted as either red-skinned or white-eyed. In later legends, the chud appears as ordinary people

Favorite hero of the legends of the Arkhangelsk North - the hero Ivan Lobanov, originally from the Vologda region Legends about the northern heroes Bogatyr Ivan Lobanov

Legends about the defense of the Arkhangelsk North Historical Arkhangelsk In the legends of the Arkhangelsk North there are stories about the attack of the Swedes on the northern borders, episodes of the Crimean War, unsuccessful approaches of the British landing to the Pomor villages

Foma - voivode - a good-natured robber who helps the poor, weak, disadvantaged Robbers in Arkhangelsk legends Storyteller of northern legends Thomas the voivode

Legends about the schismatics The historical prototype of the legends about schismaticism in the church was Archpriest Avvakum, a prominent writer, activist Ancient Rus

Legends about statesmen The image of Peter the Great is the central image of legends about historical figures

Tradition as a genre of folklore occupies an important place in the system of oral folk art of the Arkhangelsk North; The themes of the legends are varied; each legend is interesting, instructive, informative in its own way; Tradition has an educational value, helps to travel back in time Conclusion

Tradition - a genre of folklore non-fairytale prose, which develops historical themes in its folk interpretation.

Tradition is a story about the past, sometimes very distant. The very word "tradition" means "to transmit, to preserve." Tradition depicts reality in everyday forms, although fiction is necessarily used, and sometimes even fantasy. The main purpose of legends is to preserve the memory of national history. Legends began to be recorded earlier than many folklore genres, as they were an important source for chroniclers. A large number of legends exist in the oral tradition to this day.

The legends are characterized by references to old people, ancestors. The events of the legends are concentrated around historical figures who, regardless of their social status (be it a king or leader peasant uprising) appear most often in a perfect light.

Difference from other genres

Unlike legends, which are focused on explaining the origin of natural and cultural phenomena and their moral assessment, the plots of the legends are associated with history, historical figures, and local toponymy. They differ from other genres of folklore non-fairytale prose - legends and byliches - in a number of signs: the content of legends is historical events and deeds of historical characters, the characters are historical or "quasi-historical" personalities (kings, rulers, robbers), mythological and epic characters (giants, mythologized aborigines of the region, first settlers, warlike opponents). Legends are characterized by a third-person narration (the action is attributed to the past, the narrator is not an eyewitness to the events). Collective memory fixes historical facts not only within the framework of local toponymic legends, but connects information about specific events with ideas about the creation of the world, introduces both into a single historical and mythological narrative, covering events from biblical antiquity to modern times. In stories about historical figures and events, the same mechanisms of mythologization operate as in folklore legends, one way or another connected with canonical and apocryphal texts.

Creation of legends

There are two main ways of creating legends: 1) generalization of memories; 2) generalization of memories and their design using ready-made plot schemes. The second path is characteristic of many legends. Common motives and plots pass from century to century (sometimes as myths or legends), being associated with different events and persons. There are repetitive toponymic stories (for example, about failed churches, cities). Usually such plots paint the narrative in fabulous and legendary tones, but they are able to convey something important for their era.

Tradition tells about the universally significant, important for everyone. This influences the selection of material: the theme of tradition is always of national importance or is important for the inhabitants of a given area. The nature of the conflict is national or social. Accordingly, the characters are representatives of the state, nation, specific classes or estates.

Ways of depicting heroes

Legends have their own ways of portraying heroes. Usually the character is only named, and in an episode of the legend, one of his features is shown. At the beginning or at the end of the narrative, direct characteristics and assessments are allowed, which are necessary for the image to be correctly understood. They act not as a personal judgment, but as a general opinion (about Peter I: Here it is the tsar - so the tsar did not eat bread for nothing; he worked better than a barge haule; about Ivan Susanin: ... after all, he saved not the tsar, but Russia`!) ...

Varieties of legends

The main cycles of legends

In the repertoire of Russian legends, the following main cycles can be distinguished: the most ancient legends, legends about the "just tsar", legends about the leaders popular movements, legends about robbers and treasures.

The oldest legends

The oldest legends appeared at a time when the supernatural characters of tribal myths were replaced by ordinary people (A. N. Afanasyev called this process "bringing the gods down from heaven to earth"). Legends tell about the settlement of the Slavic tribes and about their ancestors, whose names were associated with the name of the tribes themselves: Chekh, Leh, Rus, Radim, Vyatka. In the legends about the first Russian princes, their closeness to the people is recorded (carriers Kiy, Olga; son of a prince and a slave, Vladimir I). Tells about important events their lives, about the death of the princes (the death of Oleg from his beloved horse; the murder of Igor by the Drevlyans and the revenge of his wife Olga). It is reported about the construction and strengthening of the first Russian cities (Kiev, Pereyaslavl and others); about the defense of these cities and the military cunning of the besieged inhabitants (for example, the legend "About the Belgorod jelly" - see in the Reader).

A large number of legends are devoted to the struggle of Ancient Russia with external enemies, as well as internecine wars. The exploits of individuals who have not submitted to their enemies - men, women and even children - are glorified. This is a feat of a Kiev youth who lived in the 10th century, who made his way through the Pecheneg camp to the Russian army for help; the duel of a young strong man Kozhemyaka with a huge pechenezhin; feat of Ryazan in the XIII century: Evpatiya Kolovrat and Princess Eupraxia - and others

Legends about the just king

Legends about a just tsar are associated with the names of Ivan IV (the Terrible) and Peter I.

The legends about Ivan the Terrible reflected the tsar's struggle with the feudal elite, the boyars. A number of legends are associated with the Kazan campaign (including a fantastic story about the punishment of the Volga). Ivan the Terrible becomes the godfather of the peasant who sheltered him, and there is even a legend about the election of Ivan the Terrible to the tsar from among the peasants (see the Reader). A special group is made up of the legends of Novgorodians about the defeat of Novgorod in 1571. They express a sharply negative attitude towards the tsar and the oprichnina (about Martha Posadnitsa; about the drowning of Novgorodians in Volkhov; about a miracle that made Ivan the Terrible to repent: the killed Metropolitan Korniliy took his severed head in his hands and followed the tsar on the heels; about the origin of the Valdai bells from the broken veche bell; about the holy fool Mikolka, who denounced the tsar at his entrance to Pskov: "Ivashka, Ivashka, eat bread and salt, and not human blood!").

The legends about Peter I were formed later, so the image of the tsar in them is more specific. A group of stories preserves the memory of historical facts: the Russian-Swedish war, the construction of the Ladoga Canal (ditch), the construction of shipyards. The most numerous group of legends is about the relationship of Peter I with representatives of different social groups and professions. The tsar eats murzovka (bread in kvass) at a poor peasant woman; appreciates the soldier's helpful advice; baptizes soldiers' children; makes the boyars work in the smithy; Pskov monks ordered to build defensive fortifications - and so on. There are legends about "Peter the Great". The Tsar studied abroad to cast cannons, to build ships; worked incognito in factories and shipyards. He also adopted the craft from Russian artisans. At the same time, Peter I was never able to weave a bast shoe.

Many toponymic legends are associated with the images of Ivan the Terrible and Peter I; these characters are attached to fairy-tale plots ("Geese from Russia", "The Beside Monastery", "Gorshenya", "Terrible and the Thief", "Peter I and the Soldier").

Legends about the leaders of popular movements

Legends about the leaders of popular movements supplemented the people's utopian dream of a just king.

In folklore, the earliest historical image of the people's leader is the ataman of the Siberian Cossacks, Ermak Timofeevich, who defeated the Siberian Khan Kuchum. The cycle of legends about Ermak took shape simultaneously with the cycle about Ivan the Terrible (at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 18th century). The image of Yermak has absorbed the epic features of epic heroes and is colored by popular ideas about the "noble robber". The main group of stories about Ermak is associated with his Siberian campaign (who was Ermak; the purpose of the campaign; with whom was Ermak; victory of Ermak; death of Ermak).

Legends about robbers and treasures

Legends about robbers and treasures were told throughout Russia, since the places associated with robbers and the places where they supposedly buried treasures were known everywhere. Typological image " noble robber"(the hero robs the rich and intercedes for the poor) appeared in numerous local variations (Churkin, Roshchin, Soroka). At the same time, common plots were used that recreate the typical bio" graphic "of the robber. It necessarily explained what exactly prompted the hero to become a robber; depicted a purely Russian picture of river robberies, robbery and agility. The tragic end of the robber's fate is obligatory.

Legends about the robber Kudeyar are widespread, which reflected the genetic connection between the stories about the treasures and mythology. The ancient layer of Kudeyar's image goes back to a mysterious and powerful being, the owner of the earth's interior and the values \u200b\u200bhidden in them. The very word "Kudeyar" means a violent rebel, a magician close to dark forces ("kud" - an evil spirit, "yar" - ardor, riot). Hence the late meaning of the image - "robber" appeared.

Zueva T.V., Kirdan B.P. Russian folklore - M., 2002

"The tradition of deep antiquity, deeds of bygone days ..." These lines from childhood hears, sees, reads every Russian-speaking person. This is how Alexander Pushkin began his work "Ruslan and Lyudmila". Are his tales really legends? To know for sure, you need to understand the concepts.

Poetry is poetry, but what does the word "legend" mean? We will consider the definition and special features of this phenomenon in our article.

Tradition as a genre

We will begin our acquaintance with the world of folk legends with the definition of the concept itself. So, various sources give us the following.

Tradition is a prosaic plot in which historical facts are presented in a popular interpretation. The legends of the people are not associated with the genre of fairy tales, although sometimes the events resemble mythical or fabulous.

Traditions in literary theory are usually divided into two large groups according to the type of plot: historical and toponymic.

Legends are part of oral folk prose

We learned the Definition gave us a general idea. Let's talk about one feature of this genre. It is noteworthy that the legends are. This means that the stories heard today were created hundreds of years ago and passed from mouth to mouth. By the time the legend was recorded on an information medium, tens or even hundreds of transformations of the plot and images could have occurred.

Creations famous poet Homer's Greek Iliad and Odyssey, which are incredible in size, were also transmitted orally. They also described historical events, embellished and somewhat altered. This shows some similarity of these creations with newer legends.

As a genre of oral prose, legends are admired for their long history. Fortunately, or maybe not, distribution in recorded form is much easier nowadays. We should value every word, tradition, which gives important spiritual knowledge about ancestors.

Comparison with other folklore prose genres

Tradition can sometimes be mistakenly defined as a legend or an epic. To avoid this, let us name the following pattern: the plots of legends are aimed at explaining the origin of some cultural or natural phenomenon. They often give a certain moral assessment of the events described. And the legend is a retelling of the story in a folk way with the participation of well-known or famous heroes in the local area.

The legends of the people differ from the epics by their content, by the characters (historical figures: robbers, rulers, ordinary people, artisans), by the participation of real personalities known in a certain area, who have become mythological heroes.

A characteristic of this genre of folklore prose is a third-person narration about events related to the past. The narrator of the legends was not an eyewitness to the events, but conveys a story heard from third parties.

Historical legends

Collective folk memory created ancient legends from real facts, which we can read in a slightly different light in history textbooks. This is how historical legends were created.

Legends about Zhanna d'Ark, Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Ataman Mazepa and others are considered historical.

This also includes the biblical stories about the creation of the world, the exit of the Israelites from Egypt in search of their land and many others.

This group includes such legends that absorb people's ideas about the creation of their world. All folklore units create a single historical and mythological world, reflecting a broad picture of the people's view of the surrounding reality.

The time frame covered by the legends is difficult to determine: this is information from the most biblical antiquity to the present.

Toponymic traditions

Toponymic legends include legends that record events that became the basis for the origin of a particular name. Their heroes are, respectively, local famous characters and events that are meaningful only there. Studying these local stories is an interesting part of toponymic and ethnographic research.

Toponymic are short legends about the Serpent Shafts (from the Serpent), the city of Kiev (about Kiev, his brothers and sister), the city of Orsha (Prince Orsh and his daughter Orshitsa), the city of Lvov and many other toponymic objects.

Research Perspective

In every city, every village there are such short stories about where some local name came from. Collections of such legends can be compiled endlessly. There is still a field for research today. Therefore, everyone who has discovered legends and found them an interesting object of activity has a job.

Publishing a collection of legends collected in a specific area is a very real prospect. New names appear today, right at this moment. Also in the remote corners of Russia there are settlements in which folklore is actively developing. This means that new boundaries appear for ethnographic and folklore work.

It is noteworthy that at the present time there are more topographic legends. Historical ones are preserved from previous eras, since for some time all facts are fixed immediately after their appearance.

Legends, myths and their historical basis

The legend, which we have already defined, is sometimes associated with mythology. So, stories of exploits greek hero Hercules, according to researchers, could not have arisen without real historical facts... Those mythical events and heroes with which the probable real story the adventures of Hercules appeared over time.

Some facts from the Book of Enoch, in which the giants were mentioned, were confirmed. In the same way, architectural monuments were found that could have witnessed the events that became the basis of the legend about the Flood.

conclusions

Thus, we learned that legend is a word of mouth folk story about historical events. In the process of transmission, carriers tend to embellish the tradition. The definition and features of this folklore genre are now known to us. We can easily distinguish it from legends and fairy tales.

Ancient legends are a reflection of the deepest layers of the culture and history of a particular people. Studying and comparing them with the facts of the history of certain nationalities, one can draw conclusions about the worldview of the people who lived at that time. The value of retellings for ethnology is also extremely high.

Folk legends, historical and toponymic, were heard by every person, but he could not pay attention to this diamond, cut during the years of transmission from mouth to mouth. Now we can appreciate what we know and what we hear about the surrounding cultural world. Let our article be useful to you and give you an opportunity to look at the work of the people from the other side.

Tradition is something that has come down to our days directly from time immemorial and therefore preserved the spirit of that time. “Legends of deep antiquity ...” - says A.S. Pushkin about the events described in Ruslana and Lyudmila.

The word "legend" in the minds of a modern person is even more connected with fiction, a frankly implausible story that embellishes reality.

But in scientific literature about folklore, these concepts have a different, clearer meaning. Traditions and legends are genres of oral folk art. Legends - stories of historical content, folk and historical prose. Legends are stories of religious content. The popular consciousness does not distinguish between traditions and legends. And modern science is not always able to draw a clear line between them.

The name "legend" quite accurately reflects the essence of this genre. This is a story that is passed by word of mouth, passed from generation to generation.

Literacy and books were available to few. And almost every person wanted to know his place in history, to understand the events. And until the 19th century, legends replaced the common people with historical literature, telling about the past in their own way. Legends do not reflect the entire course of events. They pay attention to specific highlights in history.

Legends often highlight the origin of a particular people. Usually we are talking about some ancestor, ancestor, with whom the name of a tribe or people (ethnonym) is associated.

There are many things in legends that cannot be read about in books. The past is usually embellished in legends. Thus, it is said that in former times there lived not ordinary people, but giants; therefore, human bones found at the site of past battles between Russians and Lithuanians or Chudyu (one of the Finnish tribes) seem to be striking in their size. Robber or Cossack chieftains in the old years also possessed some magical properties: for example, Ermak, according to legend, is invulnerable to bullets, Razin is a sorcerer, etc.

Of course, real circumstances also found their reflection in legends.

About their own kings and generous robbers.

In almost all legends, one bright personality always stands at the center of any event: a prince, a robber. Ataman, general, etc. This personality determines everything that happens.

Legends about historical figures can describe events that are widely known: for example, the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, the conquest of Siberia by Ermak, etc. But along with this, there are many plots in which various actions of famous people are depicted, not known from archival documents or other sources.

Of particular interest for folk historical prose is the private life of a historical person. Bright, outstanding figures, although they differ in legends from ordinary people, in some ways they are similar to mere mortals. They have their own personal lives, they can do things that are by no means heroic, everyday, communicate directly with the common people, etc. It tells, for example, how Peter I becomes the godfather of the son of a poor peasant, as one of the greatest military leaders of the 18th century. Count Rumyantsev is fishing on his estate, and Suvorov jokes with his soldiers.

Legends are often full of irony: even great figures in them can be mistaken, erroneous, appear in a funny light. This is another important feature of legends: they not only consolidate historical events in the people's memory, even embellishing them, but also bring them closer to everyday life. Therefore, in the stories, in addition to famous personalities and high-profile events, there are heroes and circumstances unknown outside the area.

Many legends are devoted to how this or that city was founded and new territories were developed, how these or those geographical names arose. These plots are also associated with the activities of one outstanding person.

The names of cities, villages, rivers, lakes are sometimes associated with some event of local importance (which in reality could not have happened).

Among the heroes of legends, robbers and strongmen are often found.

Robbers rob, kill people, hide loot, bury treasures that no one can find. There are stories about entire robber villages: residents lured passers-by to spend the night, and then killed them; or they did ordinary work during the day, and robbed at night.

However, robbers are not always portrayed as villains in legends. Often we are talking about noble people's defenders who distributed the loot to the poor. Among them, Razin and Pugachev are mentioned.

The strongmen in legends are always ordinary people, representatives of the environment in which they are told about them: among the Cossacks, this is a Cossack, in the burlak stories, it is a barge haule. Such a strong man surpasses everyone in physical power and usually does not have an equal opponent, but in all other respects he is the same as everyone else. But sometimes such heroes are endowed with mythological, magical features. One of the most famous strongman heroes is Rakhta (or Rakhkoy) Ragnozero, so named after the village of Ragnozero in Karelia.

Such characters indicate the connection of legends with other folklore genres, in the center of which there is an exceptional personality: with epics, historical songs, fairy tales, folk beliefs.

How Christ Gathered Bread

The word "legend" in Latin literally means "what should be read." Initially, this was the name of the Lives of the Saints, which contained examples of Christian virtue and pious behavior. Later, legends began to be understood as generally instructive and pious stories. And then just stories in which something unusual, wonderful happens, but it is perceived as something that actually happened.

In legends, along with people and animals, God and saints, angels and demons act. If the legend is turned into the past, then the time of action is not specified in the legend. This is either a sacred time - when God created the world, or we are talking about events that could happen at any time.

Everything that happens in the legends is described and assessed from the point of view of compliance with Christian norms of life - as the folk tradition understands them. In the events depicted in the legends, much is incredible. But the terms “plausible” or “unlikely” do not apply to them.

In legends, Christ or saints often descend to earth and unrecognized ones walk on it, rewarding the righteous and punishing sinners. Such stories are based on the contrast between what a person thinks about inconspicuous wanderers and who they really are. The punishment or reward follows immediately or is promised in future life, in hell or heaven.

It happens that legends have something in common with fairy tales. Their difference is that fairy tales are told for fun, for fun. And the legends, despite the similarity of the plots, are taken quite seriously, as a real case, from which one should draw conclusions, extract morality.

The plots of the legends were drawn not only from the oral, but also from the written culture. Among the written sources, the apocrypha are in the first place. Some biblical events also formed the basis of legends.

Christian images and plots are often superimposed on ancient folk beliefs.

Legendary subjects are reflected not only in literature, but also in icon painting. The most common type of icon of St. George - "The Miracle of St. George of the Serpent" - is associated with a legend, and not with the life of this saint. This image, where Saint George on horseback tramples and pierces a serpent with a spear, was so popular that it became the coat of arms of Moscow Rus, and then Moscow.

Legends and traditions are a living genre. They surround us to this day. Popular culture still counts events in its own way, choosing what seems to be the most important. And the rumors that modern rumor creates and spreads may well reach descendants in the future with outlandish stories.

Legends

Characteristics of the genre of legends