UDC 391

Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS 17 Akademika Lavrentieva Ave., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

E-mail: mf11@mail.ru

The aim of the study is to analyze the iconographic, compositional, and stylistic features of zoomorphic images in women's needlework of the Russian old-timers of Western Siberia in the middle of the XIX - first half of the XX century. A comprehensive study of animal images in the embroidered and woven handicrafts of this region is carried out for the first time and allows us to identify the variety of types and types of ornamental compositions, to put forward hypotheses about their origin and functions in the traditional everyday culture of Siberians. The source is the materials collected by the author in the 1980s-1990s during ethnographic expeditions: women's needlework, kept by old masters as a memory of their youth or relatively young people as memorabilia about their grandmother or mother, mother-in-law; some of the towels belong to the category of memorial towels, i.e. distributed after the death of someone on the street. memory. Ethnographic materials show that the origins of animalistic images (horses, lions, dogs, hares, elephants, etc. When considering their role and meaning in needlework, it is necessary to take into account both early forms and late transformations, interethnic interactions, and the influence of urban culture.

Introduction

Generic or folk ideas, knowledge about the world around us, and technological skills passed down from generation to generation are essential for the survival and development of an ethnic group. Ethnic images, subjects, and favorite compositions of fine art are formed at various stages of the development of the worldview of the people and for this reason, as it has been repeatedly demonstrated by researchers, can serve as a full-fledged ethnographic source. Ornamental art (actually rhythmic series and plots based on the principles of symmetry) it corresponded to the whole style of life of the Slavs-farmers, who had long combined their peasant labor with hunting, reflected ideas about the structure of the world and the forces that controlled it.

According to a number of researchers, zoomorphic forms of traditional decorative and applied art are closely related to traditional farming, and represent mostly ethnically colored stylization of images of native nature and its inhabitants [Grosse, 1899, p. 290; Tokarev, 1978, p. 131]. Substantiating the connection of plot and pictorial ornamental motifs with the culture of" primitive peoples", hunters and gatherers, E. Grosse noted: "While civilized peoples prefer to use forms of vegetation for their ornamentation, primitive ornamentation is almost exclusively limited to human and animal forms..."[1899, p. 111]. When considering these elements of traditional culture, we also take into account the magical theory of the origin of the ornament, according to which the plots are based on the following elements:

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ornamentation is generated by the pre-Christian beliefs of the Eastern Slavs [Narodnye znaniya..., 1991, p. 96]. In recent years, the idea of a zooanthropomorphic model of the world as one of the most archaic ones has become increasingly popular [Arsenyev, 1990, p. 144; Evsyukov, 1988, p. 16, 62; Denisova, 2003, p.33].

The questions of reconstructing the functions and significance of animal images in traditional decorative and applied arts of the East Slavic peoples are still far from being satisfactorily solved, despite the publication of a number of works, for example, by V. A. Gur, A. F. Zhuravlev, Z. P. Sokolova, etc. To reveal the role and place of animalistic images in the ethnic worldview of the Slavs, it is necessary to find out what was the basis of the tradition of their implementation in ritual needlework( embroidery), details of housing (carving), utensils (painting). Why were some images popular and widespread, while others were depicted very rarely? What are the origins of exotic animal iconography? It is obvious that the study of these questions could help illuminate some elements of early ideas and beliefs in the culture of the Slavic peoples, explain their amazing preservation in the places of secondary development - the lands of Siberia. The study of the symbolism of East Slavic spiritual culture and fine arts is impossible without a full-fledged typological analysis of the material and classification of modern typical forms, as well as without identifying specific regional variants of their manifestations [Tolstoy, 1990, p.48].

In the folk culture of the Slavs of the VI-XIII centuries, traces of a special attitude of man to the beast were noted [Sedov, 1982, pp. 267-268]. The Eastern Slavic pagan pantheon included many cults of higher and lower gods, representing the forces of nature, its inhabitants, including animals. Folklore and ethnographic materials of the 19th and early 20th centuries testify to the long-term preservation of traces of animal worship, elements of commercial cults, rites-mysteries of the dying and resurrecting beast. Let us recall, for example, the Russian fairy tale about the Tiny Khavroshechka, who buried the bones of a cow in the garden and watered them with water. A similar plot "there is a cow" in the form of a proverb is also recorded in Siberia [Russkie narodnye bytovye skazki..., 1985, p. 222].

The purpose of this article is to explore the iconography, compositional features, stylistics, sewing technology embodied in traditional household items images of animals, their semantic load. It is important to identify the diversity of zoomorphic compositions in the south of Western Siberia and their connection to specific ethnographic, confessional-ethnographic and territorial groups of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. We do not pretend to cover all the important issues of the problem raised and will try to reveal in all its complexity and versatility one of the aspects of understanding the traditional zoomorphic ornament. Unfortunately, traditional speakers can only tell you the name of the image at best. Back in the 1920s, D. A. Boldyrev-Kazarin wrote that "the best time for studying folk art has already passed", but now, after almost 100 years, the researcher has to attract a few samples of museum exhibits and grains of field materials, complementing them with ethnographic and folklore records of the last century and a half.

A comprehensive study of zoomorphic compositions and ornaments of the East Slavic peoples of Western Siberia involves analyzing the existence and distribution of zoomorphic subjects in traditional cultural objects - women's needlework, housing, utensils; mapping the most widely captured images of animals; and studying the genesis of the role of zoomorphic motifs.

In this article, the indicated issues are considered on the materials of women's needlework (embroidery, weaving, knitting). Examples of decorative and applied art in the form of wood carving are mainly used as a source of information about the frequency of occurrence of specific motifs in folk life; they certainly need a separate special study. As for wood painting, it is not so significantly represented in Siberia.

We studied the traditions of zoomorphic subjects not only from the materials of museum collections, which often present random samples, but also from the results of field ethnographic expeditions that took place in the 1980s and 1990s, when we observed the fading existence of needlework as memorabilia of older generations (mothers, grandmothers) in family storage, in chests - " yashshyks". Towels typical for the studied region of the species consisted of three tiers-embroidery, lace-stitching and shaped ends-overhangs. Siberian women preferred to make brushes instead of overhangs; informants emphasized that towels with embroidery, embroidery and overhangs are more typical for Russian immigrants. Both old-timers and older Russian women wove hand - woven kitchen towels; unlike the festive ones, they were not embroidered, but supplemented with narrow strips of red krashenina.

For Easter, the home iconostasis was covered with embroidered towels-devout; they were hung on both sides of the icons. The red corner kept this design all summer. According to our observations, the main motifs of pious ornaments were not zoomorphic, they included plant patterns, less often swastikas,

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images of everyday objects, such as samovars. For the wedding, the walls were hung with woven and embroidered bride towels; how it looked in the interior can be seen in the famous painting by V. M. Maksimov "The Arrival of a sorcerer at a peasant wedding". Towels were given a special role in the funeral rites: with their help, the coffin was lowered into the grave. At the end of the ceremony, these towels were tied on birches or other close-growing trees.

Images of animals in traditional handicrafts are more typical for Russian Siberians-old-timers, some chaldons, and much less-for Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian immigrants. In Russian folk art, zoomorphic motifs are quantitatively inferior to anthropomorphic, vegetative, and ornithomorphic ones; their share, according to our observations, is small.

According to our field ethnographic materials, according to the frequency of occurrence, animal images captured in works of folk culture and art can be divided into three unequal parts: the largest is made up of images of domestic animals (horses, dogs), the smallest is made up of wild animals (leopards, hares, foxes), and the smallest is made up of exotic animals (elephants, lions). The studied compositions can be divided into single-part compositions, which contain only animals, and multi-part compositions, which include people, plants, and so on. The latter prevail. Among the images of animals, there were difficult to identify, the identification of which is largely difficult. Animalistic motifs are usually executed in the same manner: in profile in the form of a figure with geometrized contours and decorative complication of the body.

Images of a horse and other pets

The horse is the most common zoomorphic image in Russian decorative art, which contained many semantic nuances. Its genesis is associated with the agrarian orientation of the economy and the spiritual culture, beliefs of the Slavic peoples, and the influence, as it is believed, of the inhabitants of the southern steppe spaces [Golubeva, 1966, p.81; Maslova, 1951, p. 96]. In Slavic antiquities of the X-XIII centuries, this image is embodied in metal pendants and amulets [Sedov, 1982, p. 224, 232, 290]. A special role in the spread of the horse cult, as noted by B. A. Rybakov, was played by the prince's squad [1953, p. 65-69]; the image of this animal, according to many scientists, served as a talisman [Stasov, 1894, p.112]. Historical and contemporary ethnographic materials present the image of a horse associated with the sun (horse races, Carnival rides, folk epithets "golden-maned", "golden-tailed", etc.), as well as a guide of souls to the afterlife and, finally, a sacrificial animal [Sedov, 1957, p. 20; Bratina, 2003, p. 36].

On the territory of the Novosibirsk Ob region, the Salair ridge, the image of a horse is found in traditional women's needlework (embroidery, crocheting), house carving of platbands, children's carved toys. Among the old-timers of Baraba, homemade wooden or metal scallops with pommels in the form of paired ice skates have been preserved (Fig. 1).

In women's needlework, as proved by materials from European Russia, the images of a horse and rider were typologically the earliest. We met three-part compositions with a female figure in the center or a temple building with horses on each side among the old-timers of the Ob region. Horses are embroidered with bent legs-as if frozen in running. If we consider the composition as a whole, then their protective function in relation to the central figure is clear. The horse's body is shown in a simplified schematic form as a pentagon (Fig. 2). In Siberian versions of embroidery, a horse's head was sometimes depicted with ears in the form of sticks resembling horns. The described compositions, made in the technique of white pereviti, show a close resemblance to

Fig. 1. Scallops with fins in the form of pair-headed skates, Chistoozerny district, Novosibirsk region.

Here and further photos of the author.

2. Composition "horses with riders", belaya perevit, Legostaevo village, Iskitim district, Novosibirsk region, second half of the 19th century.

Field materials of the author 1989

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3.Towels made in the technique of cross and white pereviti (a), as well as white pereviti (b).

a-Novosibirsk Art Museum; b-pos. Kyshtovka, Novosibirsk region, late XIX-early XX centuries. Author's field materials 1999

well-known Northern Russian embroideries from publications [Maslova, 1978, p. 120, 124]. It was the horns of large horned animals that were given sacred significance, perhaps they played the role of amulets. Clay-fashioned horns, which are well known in the plastic art of Tripoli, have been found on monuments in the Transnistrian region, the Danube basin, and Central and Western Europe (Bibikov, 1953, p.241).

V. A. Gorodtsov saw a reflection of the cultural influence of the ancient Dacians, which took place long before the Birth of Christ, in the three-part pattern with horses-riders [1926, p.34]. The researcher, in particular, wrote: "The Russian iconography of sewing, as far as is known, is not repeated in any Slavic people of Central Europe, it should be concluded that the separation of the Russian Slavs took place earlier than A.D., when the perception of the cult of the great goddess followed" [Ibid.]. The female figure represented, according to V. A. Gorodtsov, the great goddess or, if a church with cupolas was represented in the central part, a temple in her honor. The heavenly symbolism of horsemen was determined by embroidered images of the sun in the form of radiant disks under the hooves of horses. In his opinion, one of these horsemen probably hides the Russian god of thunderstorms and war, Perun, and the other-maybe Stribog - the god of wind, bad weather and water elements in general [Ibid., p. 35]. Siberian embroidery has a Christian content: the domes of churches are crowned with crosses, the heavenly horsemen, if we follow the above interpretations, stand guard over Orthodoxy, the Orthodox faith.

The plots of the first type are conditional, subordinate to the archaic canon, the second - more close to naturalistic; they are embodied in the technique of white pereviti and crocheting (Fig. 3). The studied towels were brought to Siberia by Russian immigrants in the second half of the XIX-early XX centuries. On them, as in the described first versions of embroidery, pairs of horses are shown in dynamics, but more artfully and realistically. In the image, rearing up and slightly crouching on their hind legs, animals either guard someone, or serve someone, personifying pressure and energy. The animals depicted in this pose are located on both sides of the compositional center-a plant (tree, bush, flower). The iconography of such embroideries is stable, the pattern fits into a triangle with an upward-pointing top. There is every reason to consider this composition relatively late, formed on the basis of a once-given (possibly heraldic) pattern. Chronologically, the earliest type of such ornaments is made in the technique of white pereviti, and the later type is crocheted. In European Russia, according to G. S. Maslova, the area of such compositions with horses on the sides of a tree extends beyond the North-Western region [1978, p. 184].

Archaic compositions could be included in realistic or similar embroidery designs. The obvious non-randomness of the presence of various elements in the composition makes it necessary to analyze especially closely and from different angles the multi-tiered embroidery of the" wall towel " of Old Believers from the Altai foothills (Fig. 4). It is difficult to give an unambiguous assessment of this composition due to its uniqueness. In terms of content, the drawing probably correlates with the mythological scheme of the structure of the Slavic picture of the world: the upper female figures of deities, whose heads are crowned with crowns, are depicted in the pose of praying. Belonging to the Heavenly Kingdom (slav. Edit) is emphasized by solar symbols that are in the hands of deities. Among the deities are celestial birds with their tails held high, resembling peacocks (pav?). This is followed by an ornamental row with rhythmic alternation of patterns. In them, you can see the Greek initial letters of the name of Jesus Christ-I (iot) and X (chi) [How to choose..., 2003, p.22]. Obviously, the Old Believers

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they tried to embroider on the towel a monogrammed pre-Constantinian cross with a characteristic cross combination of these letters; the result was a figure of a cross vertically crossed by a line-Zh. This multi-part composition on an Old Believer towel organically combines Christian and pre-Christian symbols. Below this row, three birds are embroidered with their wings held high, and below them is a flower vine. In pagan times, it was believed that a bird sitting on a tree is a soul heading for heaven [Levkievskaya, 2007, p. 174]. Above and below the figures of embroidered birds are bordered by wavy lines, which may represent a water barrier (river), which, according to Slavic mythology, separated the afterlife from the human world.

For our research, images of horsemen on horses are of interest, which, unfortunately, are poorly preserved (some details are damaged). The horses are depicted in a dynamic pose with a raised front leg, they are gracefully seated riders, they are shown in profile. The plot includes chains of triangles (arrows? lightning bolts?) above the riders ' heads, and between them, below, some small animals (birds?). Complete the picture of the world order is an ornamental row of eight-petaled rosettes inscribed in regular octagons, as well as a row of rhombuses. The embroidery was probably made in the late XIX - early XX centuries. This is evidenced by the typology of the image and the manner of drawing: there are both archaic images of deities and birds, and later realistic images of horsemen and horses in the " Earthly World "(Slav. Reality?). In Russian folk folklore, the horse, which has many magical and heroic qualities, is always a faithful assistant to its master-the rider, which is probably reflected in this story.

The horse was a symbol of the union of life and death. It was believed that due to its position on the border of worlds, it provided the possibility of reincarnation. The motif of rebirth with the help of a horse is seen in the fairy tales "Sivka-burka", "The Hunchback Horse". In the Siberian versions of fairy tales, horses participate in various kinds of volkhovaniya ("The Tale of Ivashka-the thin cook", "Sivko-Burko, the prophetic Kourko"): the hero, crawling through the horse's ear, changed his appearance, became successful, and found happiness [Russkie skazki..., 1993, pp. 204, 217].

In Siberia, Ukrainian immigrants in embroidery with Christian themes have horses depicted in a realistic manner. For example, a towel from the Karasuksky district of the Novosibirsk region depicts St. George the Victorious, as evidenced by the signature "Gregory the Victorious", above his head is a temple, and under the hooves of a rearing horse is a prostrate serpent resembling a tailed chimera (Fig. 5).

4. Old Believer towel made in the technique of the cross, Zyryanovsk, East Kazakhstan region. Republic of Kazakhstan, late XIX - early XX centuries. Field materials of the author 1983

Fig. 5. Ukrainian towel with the image of St. George, made in the technique of the cross, village. Karasuk, Novosibirsk region.

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Fig. 6. Carved platbands, Verkh-Irmen village, Ordynsky district, Novosibirsk region. Field materials of the author 1989

Fig. 7. Carved platbands, Lebedevo village, Toguchinsky district, Novosibirsk region. Author's field materials of 1988

in this plot, conventions indicate that these animalistic images have lost their former sacred functions, freed themselves from the cult content.

In the region under study, you can note platbands with zoomorphic patterns made in the technique of cutting, or through, carving. In the Ob region, house carvings of this type include figures of a pair of horses in a dynamic pose ("on the run"), located on both sides of the window. In the Toguchinsky district of the Novosibirsk region. Tarsminskaya vol. Horses were depicted conventionally, with clear linear graphics, as if with their heads proudly turned back (Fig. 6). In this area, there are cut carvings with more realistic images of horses, which resemble the corresponding children's toys in their external outline (Fig. 7). Children's toys, intended mainly for boys, represented horses 8). The materials of the Russian first settlers of Siberia of the 17th century suggest the use of wooden horses in rituals, which later became household items: figures of skates, similar to children's toys, were found under the first crowns of log cabins; this may be a construction sacrifice (see: Materials of the Neftyuganskaya village). archaeological expedition, 2007-Museum of the Siberian Cossacks, Surgut).

Images of other domestic animals are more rare, their areas do not coincide with the areas where "horse" images exist. Archaeological evidence from the 12th - 13th centuries is important for solving questions about the roots and symbolism of the "dog". on the sacrifices of dogs, which were made in order to propitiate, appease hostile forces that send diseases and death [Makarov, 1987, p. 76-77; Niederle, 2000, p.300].

8. Wooden toys-horse figurines, Krasnoyarsk Museum of Local Lore.

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Fig. 9. Ukrainian towel, village. Karasuk, Novosibirsk region, early 20th century Author's field materials 2003

10. Composition with dogs, cross-stitch, Novokuznetsk Museum of Local Lore.

In women's needlework of the XIX - early XX centuries, dogs were depicted as companions of people and animals. For example, in the embroidery "Well done horse watered, led to the red girl" faithful dog accompanies the young man when he visits the " red girl "(Fig. 9). The figures of dogs were ornamental rows. There is no reason to say that dogs played a significant role in the life of Russian peasants, but they are associated with many signs, beliefs, proverbs and riddles. In folk art and folklore, the dog was represented not only as a companion and companion of a person, but also as a soothsayer, a harbinger of events (for example, it howls with its head raised - to a fire, with its head lowered - to a dead person, etc.) [Bulychev, 1876, p. 1]. According to the signs of the peasants of the Irbitsky district, dogs should not be kept in izba, because during a thunderstorm, " andel of the Lord with lightning chases after the unclean, who hides from him in cats and dogs." Their images in Siberian needlework are typologically quite late - the end of the XIX-beginning of the XX century, made with a cross or crocheted. In some compositions, the figures of dogs appeared, probably in place of earlier images, most likely horses, on both sides of the pot. Moreover, the flowerpot itself with an upturned shamrock surprisingly accurately copies similar patterns with horses (Fig. 10). In the 1910s and 1930s, cross - stitch developed-

Fig. 11. The end of the towel, cross-stitch and crocheting, pos. Charyshskoe of the Altai Territory, early XX century.

12. End of towel, cross-stitch and crochet, Novokuznetsk Museum of Local Lore.

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13. Platbands on the house of 1865, Yandov village, Semenovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod region (a); wood painting of a stove board, Vologda (b). The author's field materials of 2002 (a) and 2006 (b).

It was influenced by patterns of so-called canvas patterns and urban fashion, and as a result, ornamental rows of dog figures became popular (Fig. 11).

Individual embroideries with images of cows are known in different places of the studied territory of the Ob region, the Salair Ridge. They are united by the naturalistic nature of images, possibly borrowed from "canvas patterns" (Fig. 12). Images of other domestic animals in needlework are not found in Siberia.

Images of wild and exotic animals

When analyzing images of lions or leopards (sometimes difficult to distinguish in graphics), it is important to note that in the ethnographic literature there are some three-part compositions with fantastic animals that have horse heads, paws and S-shaped curved tails [Maslova, 1978, p. 78, 81, 90, 91; Razina, 1970, p. 139]. An interesting fact is not only the polymorphism, but also the interchangeability of these images-horses and lions.

The lion motif is recorded by ethnographers in embroidery from the northern, central and southern Russian provinces of Russia [Maslova, 1978, p. 86, 184]. Such embroidery in the technique of colored cross-stitch has been preserved in Russian museums in single copies, usually dating back to the end of the XVIII century. [Razina, 1970, p. 118-119]. Images of lions or leopards appeared under the influence of decorations brought to Ancient Russia by Byzantine and Italian fabrics, feudal heraldry, stone carvings of Vladimir-Suzdal temples, and finally, ornaments of facial manuscripts [Makarova, 1986, p. 68, 70, 74, 117; Rybakov, 1956, p. 27; Darkevich, 1975, p. 190 - 191; 1976, p. 205; Culture of Byzantium..., 1989, ill. tsv.; Lelekov, 1975, p. 61]. Lion figures are often found in house carvings and paintings of golbtsy and Russian lockers of the North and Volga region (Belov, 1982, pp. 272, 279) (Fig. They are also recorded in the house carvings of ancient Siberian cities; here lions appear, in particular, as characters of naive painting [Monuments of Siberia..., 1974, figs. 247, 248].

The profile image of a lion with a raised paw and an S-shaped curved tail, typical of the decorative art samples of the Novgorod land, is also widely represented in Siberia (Fig. During the study period, the Siberian lion was made both in the technique of white pereviti and crocheted. The central figure of a lion in the composition could be framed at the top with plant patterns, and at the bottom it usually ended with a mesh grid and brushes. The lion's body is covered with scattered squares, the tip of the tail is in the form of a flower, the paws are usually with claws, the neck is framed with wool. In the Siberian images, no predatory features are noticeable, the contours are smooth, soft, the muzzle is good-natured, as if smiling, with a pair of eyes shifted to the side. Typical for the ancient and Byzantine traditions, the interpretation of the lion as "a hero who defeated predators in single combats", "an angry lion" is completely different from the established Russian-Siberian iconography.

In Northern Baraba, we found a towel with a composition of so-called heraldic lions, which are depicted in profile much more realistically (Fig. 15). The plot is embroidered with a cross in red and black threads. In the drawing, the lions ' raised clawed paws seem to support a vase with a lush bouquet of flowers that they are guarding. The importance and special "royal" sacredness of the image is emphasized by the trident crowns. The bottom is framed by a floral ornament in the form of three large roses, and above and below it - borders of oak leaves. A similar motif was known in the Upper Volga region, Podvinye, and Vologda region, from which it could have been brought to Siberia by North Russian settlers (Maslova, 1978, p. 86).

The image of a hare is found as an element of a complex composition, as well as ornamental rows. By-

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14. Embroidery on white pereviti, Museum of Kemerovo State University of Culture and Arts (a); towel ends embroidered with a cross and on white pereviti, village. Toguchin, Novosibirsk region (b).

15. Towel ends, cross-stitch and crocheting, village. Vengerovo, Novosibirsk region.

16. Ends of a towel embroidered with a cross, Gzhatskoye village, Kuibyshev district, Novosibirsk region, late 19th-early 20th centuries.

A measure of the first one is the plot on a towel from the village of Gzhatsky, Kuibyshev district, Novosibirsk region, with red and black cross-stitched patterns, which is dated by informants to the end of the XIX-beginning of the XX century (Fig. 16). The embroidery probably conveys a scene of the celebration of the Trinity, the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and the cumulation rite known from local materials (Fursova, 2003: 13, 37, 43). The central figures are girls in sundresses and with wreaths on their heads. They are depicted dancing with handkerchiefs in their hands. To the right and left of the girls are trees decorated with flowers, fruits, and leaves, from which crosses radiate in different directions. Between the trees below is a flowerpot with a plant from which the girls seem to "grow": the branches end with their figures. Inserted between all the participants of the plot, four hares are shown in a static pose-crouched on their hind legs. Judging by their place in embroidery, forest animals play a subordinate role, emphasize the connection of action with nature. There are handicrafts with the image of bunnies in the "walking" pose with the paw raised up, in the form of ornamental rows (Fig. 17). Note that the iconography of such images is easy to read everywhere: whether the cross-stitch is done or the "hare" plot is crocheted.

In folklore works, the hare acts as either a harmless, cowardly forest animal, or an undesirable newcomer in a peasant's hut, who has demonic qualities and brings joy to others.-

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17. Belarusian towel, cross-stitch and crocheting, St. John's wort village, Toguchinsky district, Novosibirsk region, early XX century.

Author's field materials, 2003

18. Towel ends, double cross embroidery and color cross-stitch technique, Mishikha village, Kytmanovsky district, Altai Territory, second half of the 19th century, Museum of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS, No. 36 E.

Field materials of the author 1983

19. Towel ends, cross-stitch and white pereviti technique, Krasnoyarsk Surikov Museum.

go misfortune [Bulychev, 1876, p. 2; Gura, 1997, p. 177]. Bans on eating hare meat were widely spread, based on the lack of cloven hooves in this animal, which is "indicated in the Holy Scriptures" and which has survived to this day thanks to "Holy Tradition". In the folklore of the Russian North, the hare as a male image was depicted as an obedient groom or a guy-a participant in round dances, kissing games, and wedding ceremonies [Gura, 1997, p. 178]. In Russian game songs about a trapped hare, well-known erotic symbols related to marriage and the wedding night are captured. The conducted analysis suggests that a set of "rabbit" semantic elements may have been characteristic of ceremonial wedding towels.

Of particular note is a towel (locally called "towel") from the village of Mishikha, Kytmanovsky district, Altai Krai, made in the late 19th century from white canvas (Fig. The ends are embroidered with coarse linen threads of pink (originally, perhaps, red) and gray (originally black?). colors in the double cross technique. The ornament is formed by diamond-shaped geometric shapes combined with floral patterns (its analogues in Russian folk embroidery were not found). Below - embroidery in the technique of colored pereviti, the compositional center is made up of the figure of a man (judging by the costume, this is an employee in official clothes with a cane and boots with heels) and a tree located to the left of it. On each side, one below the other, there are four elephants in profile. The color scheme includes red (the main color) and details made of black and blue, from which the tree branches are decorated. Probably, the embroidered ends are re-sewn from an older towel, because the flax threads in them are slightly yellowish in hue, different from the background of the main canvas. The described composition evokes memories of the famous

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the traveler Afanasy Nikitin and his unknown companions, merchants who visited the "overseas countries" in India. The origins of this story in Altai embroidery should be sought, perhaps, in the decor of printed fabrics of the XVII - XVIII centuries. (Western European, etc.), from which the privileged strata of Russian society made official clothing (Biryukova, 1973, pp. 40-41). We also note the similarity between the elephants embodied in Altai embroidery and the syncretic elephant horses of the Finno-speaking peoples of Northwestern Russia (Kosmenko, 1984, p. 119).

In the Siberian city museum collections there are embroideries illustrating well-known subjects of works of Russian literature. For example, the towel is embroidered with the characters and title (although the words are rearranged) of A. I. Krylov's fable " The Crow and the Fox "(Fig. In this case, a symbolically symbolic image of a tree (possibly a chestnut tree, judging by the outline of the leaves)draws attention to itself and realistic images of foxes and crows. The crow is slightly bent over, holding a piece of cheese in its beak, and the fox, sitting on its hind legs, looks up with lust. Between them, a man is depicted (this character is not included in the plot of the fable), carrying an object in his hand, possibly a glass. The cross-stitched composition ends with the inscription at the bottom: "The birds believed", which reveals the meaning of the image. This is followed by a meandering ornament made in the technique of white pereviti. The towel may have been made in the urban environment of the 1910s and 1920s as a gift, in memory of an event, or as an edification.

Conclusions

The prevalence of typologically early zoomorphic motifs in Russian folk art is probably related to the long-term preservation of elements of hunting, accompanied by animalism. Animal deification, as we know, was one of the main religious systems, which was based on the idea of the unity of society and nature. Zoomorphic images recorded in women's needlework and in a number of other traditional household items of the East Slavic settlers of Siberia may have been tied to certain ritual actions that were performed in ancient times at sanctuaries with the belief that such qualities of animals as strength, dexterity, beauty, and sexual activity would be transmitted to people. At this stage of studying the problem, it is very difficult to correlate the functions of ornamental towels (wedding, funeral, everyday, etc.), their ritual significance with zoomorphic characters. It is obvious that when a new bride joined a new family, she brought embroidered and woven towels to her husband's house, made the transition "from one family to another," connected the "patrons" of the two families, and thus secured herself. It can also be assumed that in the rite of burial, a towel tied on a cross or on a nearby tree could also once serve as a kind of mark of the deceased's ancestral affiliation. Apparently, the functions of such towels were much broader than is usually emphasized in the ethnographic literature: they went beyond the concepts of connection with the afterlife and the idea of fertility.

Animal images in Siberian arts and crafts are presented as elements of complex compositions together with anthropomorphic, ornithomorphic, and plant drawings, as well as in the form of ornamental rows, most often secondary in importance images (for example, hares, dogs). The horse is depicted in many works of folk art and oral folk art, and, for example, elephants-in one, which indicates the absence of deep roots of this image in the layers of Russian spiritual culture. In Siberia, as well as in North-Eastern Russia, totemic beliefs associated with the cult of the taiga's owner, the bear, which was given a dominant role among forest animals, were long held (Bolonev and Fursova, 2000; Gura, 1997, p.159). However, in the visual arts, his image is not marked either in women's needlework or in wood carving. To clarify this question, it may be helpful to interpret the combined zoo-, ornitho-, and anthropomorphic images on woven needlework that are known from Siberian materials, which are very conventional and multi-faceted and therefore need special study.

The collected materials related to the Ob, Prisalair, Altai and partly Baraba regions allow us to state that the images of domestic and some wild animals (horses, hares, dogs) in embroidery in these territories are quite widely represented, while exotic ones (elephants, lions) are rarely represented. In general, this does not correspond to the assessment of Siberian decorative art as not containing complex plot compositions [Boddyrev-Kazarin, 1924, pp. 8-9; Blomqvist, 1930, p. 419], which has already been noted by some researchers [Rusakova, 1983, p.119]. It is important to note that in the forest-steppe Baraba embroidery, house carvings are dominated by images of birds, in the forest part of the Middle Ob region, in the Prisalairye-images of horses, dogs, lions, cows, hares, elephants. The existence in Siberia of ornamental towel compositions of the late XIX - first third of the XX century with zoomorphic motifs indicates the transfer of Northern Russian traditions here: their carriers not only preserved and changed old samples from towel to towel, but also developed them in the direction of realistic drawing. Collected data

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The materials show that the origins of animalistic images can be different; each specific image must be approached individually, taking into account the likely early forms, their transformations, interethnic interactions, the influence of urban culture, factory production.

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