Traditions of wooden housing construction in Russia. Russian hut How and when they used to build houses in Russia

Both the house and the chapel are all made of wood.

Russia has long been considered a country of wood: there were plenty of vast, mighty forests around. Rusichi, as historians note, lived for centuries in the "wooden age". Frames and residential buildings, baths and barns, bridges and fences, gates and wells were built from wood. And the most common name of the Russian settlement - the village - said that the houses and buildings here were made of wood. Almost universal availability, simplicity and ease of processing, relative cheapness, strength, good thermal properties, as well as the rich artistic and expressive possibilities of wood brought this natural material to the forefront in the construction of residential buildings. Far from the last role was played here by the fact that wooden buildings could be erected in a fairly short time. High-speed wood construction in Russia was generally highly developed, which indicates a high level of organization of carpentry. It is known, for example, that even churches, the largest buildings in Russian villages, were sometimes erected "in one day", which is why they were called ordinary.

In addition, log houses could be easily dismantled, transported over a considerable distance and put back in a new place. In the cities there were even special markets where prefabricated log cabins and entire wooden houses with all interior decoration were sold "for export". In winter, such houses were shipped straight "from the sleigh" disassembled, and it took no more than two days to assemble and caulk. By the way, all the necessary building elements and details of log houses were sold right there, on the market here you could buy pine logs for a residential log house (the so-called "mansion"), and squared beams, and solid roofing boards, and various boards " dining rooms", "shop", for sheathing the "inside" of the hut, as well as "beams", piles, door decks. There were also household items on the market, with which the interior of a peasant hut was usually saturated: simple rustic furniture, tubs, boxes, small "wood chips" down to the smallest wooden spoon.

However, with all the positive qualities of wood, one of its very serious drawbacks - susceptibility to decay - made wooden structures relatively short-lived. Together with fires, a real scourge of wooden buildings, it significantly reduced the life of a log house - a rare hut stood for more than a hundred years. That is why coniferous species pine and spruce have found the greatest use in housing construction, the resinousness and density of wood of which provided the necessary resistance to decay. At the same time, in the North, larch was also used to build a house, and in a number of regions of Siberia, a log house was assembled from strong and dense larch, all the same interior decoration made from Siberian cedar.

And yet, the most common material for housing construction was pine, in particular, upland pine or, as it was also called, "kondovaya". The log from it is heavy, straight, almost without knots and, according to the assurances of master carpenters, "does not hold damp." In one of the orderly records for the construction of housing, concluded in the old days between the owner-customer and the carpenters (and the word "orderly" comes from the Old Russian "row" contract), it was quite clearly emphasized: "... carve a forest of pine, kind, vigorous , smooth, not knotty ... "

Timber was usually harvested in winter or early spring, while "the tree is sleeping and excess water has gone into the ground", while it is still possible to take out the logs by sledge. Interestingly, even now experts recommend logging for log houses in winter, when the wood is less susceptible to shrinkage, decay and warping. The material for the construction of housing was prepared either by the future owners themselves, or by hired master carpenters in accordance with the necessary need "as much as needed", as noted in one of the orders. In the case of "self-procurement" this was done with the involvement of relatives and neighbors. Such a custom, which has existed since ancient times in Russian villages, was called "help" ("cleaning"). The whole village usually gathered for the cleaning. This was reflected in the proverb: "Whoever called for help, he himself go."

They selected the trees very carefully, in a row, indiscriminately, they did not cut down, they took care of the forest. There was even such a sign: if you did not like three forests from the arrival in the forest, do not cut at all that day. There were also specific bans on logging associated with popular beliefs that were strictly enforced. For example, felling trees in "sacred" groves, usually associated with a church or a cemetery, was considered a sin; it was impossible to cut down old trees - they had to die their own, natural death. In addition, trees grown by man were not suitable for construction, it was impossible to use a tree that fell during felling "at midnight", that is, to the north, or hung in the crowns of other trees - it was believed that serious troubles and illnesses awaited residents in such a house and even death.

Logs for the construction of a log house were usually selected with a thickness of about eight inches in diameter (35 cm), and for the lower crowns of a log house - even thicker ones, up to ten inches (44 cm). Often the contract stated: "but do not put less than seven inches." We note in passing that today the recommended diameter of a log for a chopped wall is 22 cm. The logs were taken to the village and piled into "bonfires", where they lay until spring, after which the trunks were sanded, that is, removed, scraped off the thawed bark with a plow or a long scraper, which was an arcuate blade with two handles.

Tools of Russian carpenters:

1 - wood ax,
2 - potyos,
3 - carpenter's ax.

When processing construction timber, they used different kinds axes. So, when cutting trees, a special wood-cutting ax with a narrow blade was used, with further work a carpenter's ax with a wide oval blade and the so-called "potes". In general, possession of an ax was mandatory for every peasant. "The ax is the head of the whole thing," they said among the people. Without an ax, wonderful monuments of folk architecture would not have been created: wooden churches, bell towers, mills, huts. Without this simple and versatile tool, many tools of peasant labor, details of rural life, and familiar household items would not have appeared. The ability to carpentry (that is, to “rally” logs in a building) from a ubiquitous and necessary craft in Russia turned into a true art - carpentry.

In the Russian chronicles we find not quite usual combinations - "cut down the church", "cut down the mansions". Yes, and carpenters were often called "cutters". And the point here is that in the old days they did not build houses, but "chopped", doing without saws and nails. Although the saw has been known in Russia since ancient times, it was usually not used in the construction of a house - sawn logs and boards absorb moisture much more quickly and easily than chopped and hewn ones. The master builders did not sawn, but chopped off the ends of the logs with an ax, because the sawn logs are “pulled by the wind” - they crack, which means they break down faster. In addition, when processing with an ax, the log from the ends seems to be "clogged" and rots less. The boards were made by hand from logs - at the end of the log and along its entire length, notches were marked, wedges were driven into them and split into two halves, from which wide boards were hewn - "tesnitsa". For this, a special ax with a wide blade and a one-sided cut was used - "potes". In general, the carpentry toolkit was quite extensive - here, along with axes and staples, there were special "adzes" for choosing grooves, chisels and clearings for punching holes in logs and beams, "features" for drawing parallel lines.

When hiring carpenters to build a house, the owners specified in detail the most important requirements for future construction, which was scrupulously noted in the contract. First of all, the necessary qualities of the scaffolding, its diameter, processing methods, as well as the timing of the start of construction were recorded here. Then a detailed description of the house to be built was given, the space-planning structure of the dwelling was highlighted, and the dimensions of the main premises were regulated. “Put me a new hut,” it is written in an old order, four fathoms without an elbow and with corners, that is, about six and a quarter meters, chopped “in the oblo”, with the rest. Since no drawings were made during the construction of the house, in the contracts for the construction vertical dimensions dwellings and its individual parts were determined by the number of logs-crowns laid in a log house - "and twenty-three rows up to the hens." The horizontal dimensions were regulated by the most commonly used long log - usually it was about three fathoms "between the corners" - about six and a half meters. Often in order, information was even given about individual architectural and structural elements and details: "to make doors on the jambs and windows on the jambs, as much as the owner orders to do." Sometimes samples, analogues, examples from the immediate environment were directly named, focusing on which the craftsmen had to do their work: ".. and make those upper rooms and the vestibule, and the porch, like Ivan Olferyev's small upper rooms were made at the gate." The whole document often ended with a recommendation of a disciplinary order, instructing the craftsmen not to quit work until it was completely completed, not to postpone or delay the construction that had begun: "And do not leave until the completion of that good work."

The beginning of the construction of a dwelling in Russia was associated with certain terms regulated by special rules. It was considered best to start building a house during Great Lent ( in early spring) and so that the construction process includes the Trinity holiday in time, let's remember the proverb: "Without the Trinity, the house is not built." It was impossible to start construction on the so-called "hard days" - on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and also on Sunday. Favorable for the start of construction was considered the time, "when the month is filled" after the new moon.

The erection of the house was preceded by special and rather solemnly formalized rituals, in which the most important earthly and heavenly phenomena were reflected, the most important for the peasant, the forces of nature acted in a symbolic form, various "local" deities were present. According to an old custom, when laying a house, money was put in the corners "to live richly," and inside the log house, in its middle or in the "red" corner, they put a freshly cut tree (birch, mountain ash or Christmas tree) and often hung an icon on it. This tree personified the "world tree", known to almost all peoples and ritually marking the "center of the world", symbolizing the idea of ​​growth, development, connection of the past (roots), present (trunk) and future (crown). It remained in the log house until the completion of construction. Another interesting custom is associated with the designation of the corners of the future dwelling: in the supposed four corners of the hut, the owner poured four heaps of grain in the evening, and if the next morning the grain turned out to be untouched, the place chosen for building the house was considered good. If someone disturbed the grain, then they were usually wary of building on such a "doubtful" place.

Throughout the construction of the house, another custom, very ruinous for future owners, was strictly observed, which, unfortunately, has not gone into the past and today is quite frequent and plentiful "treat" of carpenters building a house in order to "appease" them. The construction process was repeatedly interrupted by "hand", "stowing", "mat", "rafter" and other feasts. Otherwise, the carpenters could be offended and do something wrong, or even just "play a joke" - lay out the log house in such a way that "it will buzz in the walls."

The structural basis of the log house was a four-sided log cabin, which consisted of logs - "crowns" horizontally stacked on top of each other. An important feature of this design is that during its natural shrinkage and subsequent settlement, the gaps between the crowns disappeared, the wall became more dense and monolithic. To ensure the horizontality of the log crowns, the logs were stacked in such a way that the butt ends alternated with the top ends, that is, thicker ones with thinner ones. In order for the crowns to fit well to each other, a longitudinal groove was selected in each of the adjacent logs. In the old days, the groove was made in the lower log, on its upper side, but since with this solution water got into the recess and the log quickly rotted, they began to make a groove on the lower side of the log. This technique has been preserved to this day.

a - "in oblo" with cups in the lower logs
b - "in oblo" with cups in the upper logs

In the corners, the log house was connected with special cuts with original log "locks". Experts say that there were several dozen types and variants of cuttings in Russian wooden architecture. The most commonly used fellings were "in oblo" and "in the paw". When cutting "into a cloud" (that is, rounded) or "into a simple corner", the logs were connected in such a way that their ends protruded outward, beyond the limits of the log house, forming the so-called "remainder", which is why this technique was also called cutting with the remainder. The protruding ends well protected the corners of the hut from freezing. This method, one of the most ancient, was also called cutting "into a bowl", or "into a cup", since special recesses of the "cup" were chosen to fasten the logs in them. In the old days, cups, as well as longitudinal grooves in logs, were cut down in the underlying log - this is the so-called "cutting into the lining", but later they began to use a more rational method with cutting in the upper log "in the overlay", or "in the hood", which is not allowed moisture to linger in the "castle" of the log house. Each cup was fitted exactly to the shape of the log it came into contact with. This was necessary to ensure the tightness of the most important and most vulnerable to water and cold nodes of the log house - its corners.

Another common method of cutting "in the paw", without a trace, made it possible to increase the horizontal dimensions of the log house, and with them the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe hut, in comparison with cutting "in the open", since here the "lock" fastening the crowns was made at the very end of the log . However, it was more complicated in execution, it required highly qualified carpenters, and therefore it was more expensive than traditional felling with the release of the ends of the "corner" logs. For this reason, and also due to the fact that cutting "in the field" took less time, the vast majority of peasant houses in Russia were cut in this way.

The lower, "collar" crown was often placed directly on the ground. In order for this initial crown - "lower" - to be less prone to decay, and also in order to create a solid and reliable foundation for the house, thicker and more resinous logs were selected for it. For example, in Siberia, larch was used for the lower rims - a very dense and fairly durable wood material.

Often, large boulder stones were placed under the corners and middles of the embedded crowns, or cut pieces of thick logs - “chairs” were dug into the ground, which were treated with resin or burned to protect against decay. Sometimes for this purpose thick chopping blocks or "paws" were used - uprooted stumps placed down by the roots. During the construction of a residential hut, they tried to lay the "salary" logs so that the lower crown was tightly adjacent to the ground, often "for warmth" it was even lightly sprinkled with earth. After the completion of the "hut salary" - laying the first crown, they began to assemble the house "on the moss", in which the grooves of the log house for greater tightness were laid with a "mokrishnik" torn in the lowlands and dried with swamp moss - this was called "suede" log house. It happened that for greater strength, the moss was "twisted" with tows - combed out fibers of flax and hemp. But since, when drying, the moss nevertheless crumbled, at a later time they began to use tow for this purpose. And now, experts recommend caulking the seams between the logs of a log house with tow for the first time during the construction process and then again, in a year and a half, when the final shrinkage of the log house occurs.

Under the residential part of the house, either a low underground was arranged, or the so-called "basement" or "podyzbitsa" - the basement, which differed from the underground in that it was rather high, did not go deep, as a rule, into the ground and had a direct exit to the outside through a low door. Putting the hut on the basement, the owner protected it from the cold coming from the ground, protected the residential part and the entrance to the house from snow drifts in winter and spring floods, created additional utility and utility rooms right under the dwelling. A pantry was usually arranged in the basement, often it served as a cellar. Other utility rooms were also equipped in the basement, for example, in areas where handicrafts were developed, a small workshop could be located in the basement. They also kept small livestock or poultry in the basement. Sometimes the podyzbitsa was also used for housing. There were even two-story, or "double-lived" huts for two "living". But still, in the vast majority of cases, the basement was a non-residential, utility floor, and they lived in a dry and warm "top", raised above the cold, damp earth. This method of setting the residential part of the house on a high basement was most widespread in the northern regions, where very harsh climatic conditions required additional insulation of residential premises and reliable and isolation from frozen ground, while in the middle lane, a low and convenient underground was more often arranged.

Having completed the equipment of the basement or underground, work began on the installation of the floor of the hut. To do this, first of all, "crossbeams" were cut into the walls of the house - rather powerful beams on which the floor rested. As a rule, they were made four or less often three, parallel to the main facade of the hut, two near the walls and two or one in the middle. To keep the floor warm and not blown, it was made double. The so-called "black" floor was laid directly on the beams, collecting it from a thick slab with humps up, or log rolling, and covered "for warmth" with a layer of earth. From above, a clean floor was laid from wide boards.

Moreover, such a double, insulated floor was made, as a rule, over a cold basement-basement, a sub-basement, and a regular, single floor was arranged above the underground, which contributed to the penetration of heat from the living quarters into the underground, where vegetables and various products were stored. The boards of the upper, "clean" floor were tightly fitted to each other.

Male Roof Construction:

1 - chill (with a helmet)
2 - towel (anemone)
3 - prichelina
4 - ochelie
5 - red window
6 - drag window
7 - thread
8 - chicken
9 - slightly
10 - tes

Usually the floorboards were laid along the window entrance line, from front door into the dwelling to the main facade of the hut, explaining that with this arrangement, the floor boards are less destroyed, less chipped at the edges and last longer than with a different layout. In addition, according to the peasants, such a floor is more convenient for revenge.

The number of interfloor ceilings - "bridges" in the house being built was determined even in order: "... yes, in the same upper rooms, lay three bridges inside." The laying of the walls of the hut was completed by installation at the height where they were going to make the ceiling of the "skull" or "underpressure" crown, in which they cut ceiling beam- "mother". Her location was also often noted in regular records: "and put that hut on the seventeenth matitsa."

The strength and reliability of the foundation matrix - the foundation of the ceiling - was given very great importance. The people even said: "A thin uterus to everything - a house of confusion." The installation of the mother was very important point in the process of building a house, it ended with the assembly of a log house, after which the construction entered the final phase. Laying the floor and installing the roof. That is why the laying of the mother was accompanied by special rituals and the next "mat" treat for carpenters. Often, the carpenters themselves reminded the "forgetful" owners of this: when setting up the mother, they shouted: "The uterus is cracking, it does not go," and the owners were given to arrange a feast. Sometimes, raising the mother, a pie baked for the occasion was tied to it.

The matitsa was a powerful tetrahedral beam, on which "ceilings" of thick boards or "humpbacks" were laid, placed flat down. In order to prevent the matrix from bending under its weight, its lower side was often cut off along a curve. It is curious that this technique is still used today in the construction of log houses - this is called "carve out a building rise". Having finished laying the ceiling - "ceilings", they tied the frame under the roof, laying "cold" or "cool" logs on top of the cranial crown, with which the ceilings were fixed.

In the Russian folk dwelling, functional, practical and artistic issues were closely interconnected, one complemented and followed from the other. The fusion of "utility" and "beauty" in the house, the inseparability of constructive and architectural and artistic solutions manifested themselves with particular force in the organization of the completion of the hut. By the way, it was at the end of the house that folk craftsmen saw the main and main beauty of the entire building. The design and decoration of the roof of a peasant house still amaze with the unity of practical and aesthetic aspects.

Surprisingly simple, logical and artistically expressive is the design of the so-called nail-free male roof - one of the oldest, most widely used in the northern regions of Russia. It was supported by the log pediments of the end walls of the house - "recesses". After the upper, "thick" crown of the log house, the logs of the main and rear facades of the hut gradually shortened, rising to the very top of the ridge. These logs were called "males" because they stood "on their own". Long log slabs were cut into the triangles of the opposite pediments of the house, which were the base of the roof "lattice". The tops of the pediments were connected by the main, "princely" slab, which was the completion of the entire structure of the gable roof.

Natural hooks - "hens" - uprooted and hewn trunks of young spruce trees were attached to the lower slabs. They were called "hens" because the craftsmen gave their bent ends the shape of bird heads. The chickens supported special gutters for draining water "streams", or "water outlets" - logs hollowed out along the entire length. They rested against the clefts of the roof, which were laid on the slabs-purlins. Usually the roof was double, with a lining of birch bark - "rocks", which well protected against moisture penetration.

In the ridge of the roof, on the upper ends of the roofing notches, they “slammed down” with a “shell” - a massive trough-shaped log, the end of which went out onto the main facade, crowning the entire building. This heavy log, also called "okhlupny" (from the ancient name of the roof "okhlup"), pinched the gaps, keeping them from being blown away by the wind. The front, butt end of the okhlupny was usually designed in the form of a horse's head (hence the "horse") or, less often, a bird. In the most northern regions, the helmet was sometimes given the shape of a deer's head, often placing genuine deer antlers on it. Thanks to their developed plasticity, these sculptural images were well "read" against the sky and were visible from afar.

To maintain a wide roof overhang from the side of the main facade of the hut, an interesting and ingenious design technique was used - a consistent lengthening of the ends of the logs of the upper crowns extending beyond the frame. In this case, powerful brackets were obtained, on which the front part of the roof rested. Protruding far ahead of the log wall of the house, such a roof reliably protected the crowns of the log house from rain and snow. The brackets that supported the roof were called "releases", "helps" or "falls". Usually, a porch was arranged on the same outlet brackets, bypass galleries - "amusements" were laid, balconies were equipped. Powerful log outlets, decorated with laconic carvings, enriched the austere appearance of the peasant house, giving it even greater monumentality.

In the new, later type of Russian peasant dwelling, which became widespread mainly in the regions of the middle zone, the roof already had a covering on the rafters, while the log pediment with males was replaced by a plank filling. With such a decision, a sharp transition from the plastically saturated rough-textured surface of a log cabin to a flat and smooth plank pediment, being tectonically quite justified, nevertheless did not look compositionally inexpressive, and master carpenters planted to cover it with a rather wide frontal board, richly decorated with carved ornaments. Subsequently, a frieze developed from this board, which went around the entire building. It should be noted, however, that even in this type of peasant house, for a long time, some of the earlier structures were also preserved with brackets-outlets, decorated with simple carvings, and carved porches with "towels". This determined mainly the repetition of the traditional pattern of distribution of carved decorative decoration on the main facade of the dwelling.

Erecting log house, creating a traditional hut, Russian carpenters for centuries discovered, mastered and improved specific woodworking techniques, gradually developed strong, reliable and artistically expressive architectural and structural units, original and unique details. At the same time, they fully used the positive qualities of wood, skillfully revealing and revealing its unique capabilities in their buildings, emphasizing its natural origin in every possible way. This further contributed to the consistent entry of buildings into the natural environment, the harmonious merging of man-made structures with pristine, untouched nature.

The main elements of the Russian hut are surprisingly simple and organic, their shape is logical and beautifully “drawn”, they accurately and fully express the “work” of a wooden log, log house, roof of a house. Benefit and beauty merge here into a single and indivisible whole. The expediency, the practical necessity of any made, is clearly expressed in their strict plasticity, laconic decor, in the general structural completeness of the entire building.

Ingenuously and truthfully, the general constructive solution of a peasant house is a powerful and reliable log wall; large, solid cuts in the corners; small, decorated with platbands and shutters, windows; a wide roof with an intricate ridge and carved piers, and also a porch and a balcony, it would seem, that's all. But how much hidden tension is in this simple construction, how much strength is in the tight joints of the logs, how tightly they "hold" each other! For centuries, this orderly simplicity has been isolated, crystallized, this only possible structure, reliable and captivating with its skeptical purity of line and forms, harmonious and close to the surrounding nature.

Calm confidence emanates from simple Russian huts, they have firmly and thoroughly settled in their native land. When looking at the buildings darkened from time to time, the old Russian villages do not leave the feeling that they, once created by man and for man, live at the same time some kind of their own, separate life, closely connected with the life of the nature surrounding them - they are so akin to that place where they were born. The living warmth of their walls, the laconic silhouette, the strict monumentality of proportionate relations, some kind of "unartificiality" of their entire appearance make these buildings an integral and organic part of the surrounding forests and fields, of everything that we call Russia.

In the old days, almost everything in Russia was built of wood: from a huge temple to a cross on a grave.
The tree in Russia has been honored since ancient times. To him, as to a living person, they addressed him in a variety of cases: "Holy tree, help." And the tree, listening to the request-plea, helped. The great power of the earth and sky is concentrated in the trees. This is now fully proven by science, and our ancestors felt it with their pure hearts, and therefore they loved wooden buildings with unpaved and unpaved natural walls: a good spirit emanated from them.

From century to century, from generation to generation, the building traditions of the people were passed on. Being formed, they determined the original basis of folk architectural creativity. Original - means predetermined by its own way of life, not borrowed from other peoples, by Russia's own characteristic features: nature, the language of its people and their ideas about the world around them, about what is good and bad, its dreams, joys and sorrows.

Each of the traditions was not a mechanical transfer of some form to a new building, but, above all, the instruction contained in this form.
In other words, in the traditional form there was a symbol of thought, visible to the eye, comprehended by the heart and mind. Such a “transmitter of thought” was the original wooden buildings, which have now become for us true treasures not only of Russian, but also of universal, universal culture ...

Any ideas become much more convincing if they are perceived visually. In the monuments of ancient Russian wooden architecture, the philosophy of unity is figuratively refracted, which was an integral part of the national spiritual life since the time of the baptism of Russia. The language of their architecture is a synthesis of thought and deed...

How they cut houses in Russia

The greatest application in wooden construction pine had houses. Due to the limitations of carpentry tools, logs were mainly used, and beams and boards were used only where they could not be dispensed with.

Roofing wooden houses they were made from hex or ploughshare - planks that had cut ends like a roofing hex - triangular, rounded or "crested".

Over the years, honing carpentry skills in wooden housing construction and improving woodworking techniques for centuries, the people came to the conclusion that the simplicity and rationality of the developed techniques allowed Russian carpenters to build log cabins in a very short time, as well as transport disassembled wooden buildings and quickly assemble them in another place. Known are "ordinary" wooden churches built on the same day.

The openings in the walls of wooden buildings were made low so as not to cut a significant number of logs. Half a log up and down in adjacent logs, the so-called portage windows were cut down (they were closed from the inside - covered with a sash). Smoke came out through the middle raised window (mostly wooden huts were heated in black), and such a window also performed the second function of additional lighting. interior decoration premises.

To increase the size of the premises, Russian carpenters placed several log cabins side by side, or during the construction of the church they used octagonal or cruciform log cabins (in plan). They did not make foundations for log cabins, the lower crowns were laid directly on the ground. Sometimes large stones or so-called “chairs” made of thick logs were placed under the corners and in the middle of the walls. The cups were made according to the shape of the logs placed in them.

A longitudinal groove was made in each crown so that the frame was denser. Later they began to do this: a cup and a groove were chosen in the lower humps of the upper logs, which protected the wooden frame from decay due to possible water ingress. In the 17th century, when building log cabins, they began to use double fitting: from above and below.

In the traditional wooden house-building of the Russian North, the male roof construction was widespread and is still used today: the logs, shortening, rise to the very ridge, into the males - log stumps that close the forehead of the hut with a triangle, long logs are cut - slabs, along which both slopes lay the board.

Its upper ends, lying on the last slug, are usually wound under a heavy log, in the lower part, which has a groove (cold, or a shell). At the bottom, the gorges rest against a stream (gutter), which diverts water away from the log house. The gutters lie on chicken hooks, cut down from thin spruce trees. The upper ends of the hens were cut into the lower slabs. So that the ends of the sleds, protruding from under the roofing, did not get damp, they were covered with mouldings.

With the male design, it was possible to give the pediments any shape - from a simple triangular pediment to a curvilinear pediment with a keeled end, forming the so-called "barrel".

The upper parts of the porches and hanging galleries were made of skeleton bars, sandwiched between the lower and upper trims, and a board filling between them. The same was the design of the walls of the cold upper floors - attics - in rich mansions.

Village huts were built on basements, but porches were rare here, perhaps they belonged to richer houses.

And the porch with a high roof was a special pride of the owner of the house.

The mansions of eminent merchants of the 16th century were three-story buildings, consisting of log cabins placed next to each other, covered with a common gable roof and sometimes even towers (up to 30 meters).

Dimensions of the future wooden house the customer indicated, traditionally, in sazhens. They measured in Russia for lack of other means of measurement by themselves: arms wide open - a sazhen (determined by the distance between the thumbs of outstretched hands), a staff on the shoulder - a small sazhen.

Ancient measures of length: measured fly fathom - 152.7 (176.4) cm, great oblique fathom - 216 (249.5) cm, small fathom - 142.7 cm.

For marking the salary, the northern masters, in addition to the carpenter's square (fly fathom), used a measuring rope, knots divided into simple fathoms.

Until the 20th century, chopped wood was used in wooden construction, although the saw was known in Russia since ancient times. It has been observed that sawn logs and boards absorb moisture more easily, swell and rot faster. BUT chopped logs from the blows of the ax from the ends they became, as it were, clogged. The cutters were not supposed to drive an ax into a log - this also reduced the service life of the future wooden structure.

All the cuttings of wooden huts, all the fastenings of bridges “into the features”, the rallying of the board “into a prong” did not need nails. The expression "done on nails" then meant bad work.

NORTHERN VILLAGE

So, it already happened that the North is the center, the ancestor and the bearer of wooden housing construction to this day.

The main difference of the northern village is the reasonable use of every piece of land. Often these are small-yard villages, with freely scattered wooden buildings. Northern villages are, as it were, an integral part of northern nature, so people carefully build their houses there.

Each wooden building in the northern village has its own face, character, and architectural forms. There is no place for a stamp, which is what makes such places remarkable.

The basis of each building is a log house - always powerful and majestic, "alive" and breathing nature. The external processing of the log house, its external corners, openings, porch, shutters, skates, carved towels is beautiful.

A log house is the basis of the architectural, artistic, tectonic expressiveness of a single and common for a variety of wooden buildings of the northern village.

Usually logs in log cabins have the same dimensions, similar color due to the understandable proximity of the forest, from where the materials for construction were delivered. That is why, even in terms of the external color of the log cabins and the local forest, wooden houses seem to be a continuation of the forest, nature, from where they were taken to the service of man.

And, of course, having started building wooden houses from logs of a certain size, people continued to adhere to the standard set for themselves, later building other wooden buildings from similar logs.

From the inside, the wooden hut of a Russian person was also his fortress, and the ornaments and carved details also carried his requests - wishes to the Creator, the Forces of Nature.

"... The horse on the roof is quieter in the hut ..." The horse is the personification of the choice of the righteous path, striving forward, for the better, to the heights of the human spirit. And where the spirit of morality reigns, there is both wisdom and silence.

The evolution of wooden housing construction.Can they modern houses can stay forever?

Not so long ago, the population of the planet Earth "went crazy" from fast food, synthetic clothing, energy drinks and artificial materials, but all this had a too serious impact on human health, and the "rebellion of artificial things" was smoothly replaced by a love for everything natural and healthy.

This trend has affected all areas of society, from food to the homes in which people spend half their lives. The first building material that was remembered by the representatives of the "new generation" was wood (,). Indeed, what product can be more environmentally friendly and comfortable for building your own home?

However, a number of questions arose - so that he served faithfully long years? Indeed, recalling the houses located in the villages and occupied by grandmothers and great-grandmothers, one involuntarily wants to abandon this idea - black boards, the smell of dampness, excessive humidity - all this is hardly conducive to improving health.

It's not about the wood at all, but about how it was taken care of and how it was built from it. So let's look at the main mistakes that our ancestors made in the construction and operation of houses.

How were wooden houses built in the past?

What technologies have you used before? It is difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question - after all, the concept of technology was not used at that time. However, the architects had their own secrets that helped to build high-quality structures.

Required tools:

The main tool of any architect was an ax. It was strictly forbidden to use a saw, as it tore the wood fibers, which made the material accessible to water and thereby worsened its consumer properties. Nails were also banned, as they worsened the quality of the building. Indeed, if we trace the process of wood decay, the area around the nails is the first to suffer.

Base and fasteners:

Not having modern technologies, which humanity now possesses, the construction of a wooden house was a rather laborious task.

Everyone knows the expression "cut down a hut"; it is associated both with the use of an ax - the only tool in the construction of houses, and with the name of the base - interconnected logs forming a quadrangle. Large boulders served as the foundation, which helped to reduce rotting, as well as retain heat.

The types of log cabins depended on the household purpose of a particular building:

1. Cut. The logs were stacked on top of each other, often without the use of fasteners. Since the buildings of this type did not have thermal insulation as such and allowed the wind to roam around the room, they were used exclusively for household purposes.

2. In the paw. The end of each log was combed and attached to the structure. The buildings of this type looked aesthetically pleasing, since the wood was adjusted to size, the logs did not go beyond the corners. However, aesthetics affected the quality, thermal insulation decreased, and in the cold season, the cracks let air through.

3. In oblo. This type of log house was considered the most reliable. The logs were fastened to each other with the help of special spikes and went beyond the wall, which made the building warm and durable. For the purpose of insulation, moss was tightly packed between the logs, and at the end of construction, all the cracks were caulked with linen tow.

Roof:

Like the entire building of the Russian architect, the roof was made completely without nails. At the end of the construction of the building, the logs became smaller and covered with longitudinal poles. With the help of thin tree trunks inserted into the poles, the hollowed out was supported, which collected the flowing water. Massive boards were laid out on top of the entire structure, resting against a prepared hole in the log, paying special attention to the upper joint of the boards.

There were many materials for covering the roof, but they did not cope very well with the protective functions: straw, shingles, turf with birch bark. The most popular roofing was tes (special boards).

Why modern wooden houses will stand for many years?

The modern world amazes with a variety of materials that help to build and competently operate wooden houses. Consider the main "assistants" of modern builders:

Instruments:

Hardware stores offer a huge number of tools, it all depends on what specific work is planned to be carried out during construction, whether there will be a drawing, how the boards will be laid, etc. Workers use a power saw (currently there is a large number of means of preventing rotting, making the saw the main tool in the job), which makes the process of preparing for construction quite fast. In addition, when buying a tree, the consumer receives a finished hewn product. The following tools will also come in handy: a hacksaw, an ax, a hammer, a nail puller, tape measures, a level, brushes, a slice.

Base and fasteners:

At the moment, there are several types of foundation - the choice depends on the type of soil and on the intended design. There are 3 main types:

1. Columnar (dense soil)

2. Pile (capricious soil)

3. Tape (most dense)

At modern construction various ready-made fasteners of open and closed type are used, which guarantees a tight connection, as well as using special heat-insulating coatings, reliable protection against dampness and cold.

Roof:

Modern roofs have high quality characteristics, have the functions of heat and waterproofing, noise insulation, are resistant to environmental influences and are very wear-resistant. We can distinguish the most popular materials for the manufacture of roofing:

2. Ondulin

3. Ceramic tile

4. Welding materials

5. Bituminous mastic.

Summing up, it is worth noting that the imperfection of houses built in Russia is caused by the lack of quality materials and modern tools. Using, you can not be afraid of darkening of wood or the possibility of decay. A house built in accordance with all norms and requirements will serve more than one generation of owners, but it is important to remember that beauty requires constant care.

Since ancient times, Russia has been famous for its rich coniferous and deciduous forests. Therefore, the tree acted as a leader building material in those times. Everything was built from wood, from huts for the common people and baths, to mansions for rulers, as well as churches.

An interesting fact is that the secrets of ancient Russian architecture are still applied today. There was a time when wood faded into the background, and stone, concrete and brick were used instead. However, now in the 21st century, wood, as a building material, has gained a second life.

Wood is a traditional material of Russian architecture

All houses in Russia were built from a log house. A log cabin is logs connected to each other. For the construction of huts, pine and larch logs were used, in more rare cases - oak or birch. For the construction of the roof, spruce wood was taken, since it is lighter.

Endless forests are just one of the many reasons why our ancestors preferred wood. Here are a few more factors that influenced the popularity of this building material:

1. For a Russian person, wooden houses are not just a place to live, but a kind of continuation of the forest, nature. In such a house, a person feels calm and comfortable.
2. Giles Fletcher, the author of On the Russian State, argues in his book that for Russians, a wooden building is much more convenient than a stone one because the stone is cold and damp, and the houses made of dry wood are warm. And this, according to the author, is extremely important for the harsh climate of some regions of Russia.
3. Our ancestors understood that, as in the forest, in such a house one can breathe easily and freely. The windows in those days were small and narrow, and in the cold season they were completely covered with boards. Therefore, a wooden dwelling is the best option.

Respect for wood has come to Christian Russia since pagan times. People believed that if you turn to the tree, hug it, then all diseases and problems will go away, because a “good spirit” came from the tree.

You say that all this is a fairy tale? Far from it. After all, in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth. Wood, especially conifers, emits a pleasant aroma, the inhalation of which is a kind of healing inhalation. This is an excellent prevention of colds. And those suffering from chronic bronchitis after a year of living in such a house will forget about their illness. Such aromatherapy calms and relaxes a person. Therefore, our ancestors were not storytellers at all, it was just that people at that time expressed themselves in slightly different words.

What instruments were used in Russia?

The name "log" is not accidental. It came from the expression "cut down a hut." What does this mean? Logs for the log cabin were harvested exclusively with the help of an ax, although saws already existed at that time. Unlike a saw, an ax “smoothes” the wood fibers when cutting, making the ends of the logs smooth.

Nails were used extremely rarely, because when in contact with their surface, the tree began to rot over time. And in those days there were no special impregnations that protect the surface from moisture and insects. Sharpened wooden pegs were used as a fastener.

How were timber harvested for construction?

They approached the choice of a tree for a log house very responsibly, because not every trunk will turn out good material. Pine should be flat and not eaten by insects. Having chosen suitable trees, the craftsmen made special marks on the trunks - notches. The bark was removed in narrow strips towards the root.

A whole piece of bark was needed to allow the resin to run off. After that, the trees were left to stand in the forest, sometimes even for several years. During this time, resin was abundantly released from the tree, lubricating the trunk.

The felling of the selected pines was started in late autumn or early winter, when the tree was already “sleeping”. If cutting is done in summer or spring, the pine tree will start to rot.

Unlike conifers, deciduous trees were cut down during the warm season.

For huts, small trees were chosen, and for temples and churches - centuries-old pines.

Construction of houses

Traditionally, the construction of a house began in the spring with the erection of a special stone sole - the prototype of the modern foundation. If they built a shack (a barn for storing supplies), then they often did without a foundation, i.e. logs were laid on the ground.

A series of logs connected with each other was called a "crown", this name is used to this day.

The buildings of that time can be conditionally divided into several groups:

• crate;
• hut;
• mansions.

A crate is a quadrangular room without windows with a thatched roof, not intended for heating. The cage was rarely used as a dwelling, mainly food was stored in it. The hut is a slightly larger crate with an installed stove. Often the hut was connected to the cage, and the covered passage between them was called the canopy.

Mansions were a combination of several rooms. They included chambers, a basement, a room, a room, etc. The upper floors of the choir were intended for the nobility, and the lower ones for the servants.

In those days, several technologies for building houses were used. For the construction of shacks and cages, a log house was used "in cut", while the logs were stacked in pairs on top of each other. Often they were not even fastened together with stakes.

For the huts, a technology with a funny name “in the paw” was used, and all because the hewn ends of the logs really looked like paws. The fastening was made in such a way that the ends did not go out. This was done to prevent drafts.

With the “in oblo” technology, the ends slightly went beyond the line of the walls and remained round. At the same time, the craftsmen tied logs and crowns together with the help of pegs, and moss was lined between the crowns. This technology considered the most reliable. The house could stand for more than a century. And the room itself was always warm.

A lot of time has passed since then. However, some ancient Russian secrets of architecture are still relevant. Today's architects and designers successfully apply them in combination with the latest technologies.

Traditions of the people ancient Russia First of all, they are connected with the house, with how relationships were built in the family, how the household was run, with customs, rituals and holidays. Building a house is an act of creation, creation. And carpenters in Russia were likened to creators, were considered involved in the sacred sphere and endowed with supernatural power and special knowledge about the outside world. To legitimize the new model of the world, the world transformed by the completed creation, the construction was accompanied by certain sacraments...

The main, and often the only tool of the ancient Russian architect was an ax. Saws, although known since the 10th century, were used exclusively in carpentry for interior work. The fact is that the saw breaks the wood fibers during operation, leaving them open to water. The ax, crushing the fibers, seals the ends of the logs, as it were. Not without reason, they still say: "cut down the hut." And, well known to us now, they tried not to use nails. After all, around the nail, the tree begins to rot faster. In extreme cases, wooden crutches were used.

Russia has long been considered a country of wood - there were plenty of vast mighty forests around. Russian life has developed in such a way that almost everything in Russia was built of wood. From powerful pines, firs and larches, Russians of all classes - from the peasant to the sovereign, erected temples and huts, baths and barns, bridges and hedges, gates and wells. As historians note, Russians lived in the Wooden Age for centuries. And the most common name for a Russian settlement - a village - indicated that the buildings here were made of wood.

Late 1940s. Construction of a log house in the village of Bukhovoe, Chaplyginsky district Ryazan region, street Central order, household Toropchin Alexei Makarovich. Two carpenters install a window frame: the owner of the house has a level in his hands (to the left - A.M. Toropchin), the third member of the team caulks the gaps between the logs.

Wood is one of the most ancient, traditional and favorite building materials of the Russian people. Why not stone? After all, we had a stone!

D. Fletcher answered this question back in the 16th century in the book “On the Russian State”:

“A wooden building is more convenient for Russians than stone or brick, because there is a lot of dampness in them, and they are colder than wooden houses, which is important in the harsh climate of Russia; houses made of dry pine forest give the most heat" ...

The tree in Russia has been honored since ancient times. They addressed him, as if he were alive, in a variety of cases: “Holy tree, help.” And the tree, listening to the request, helped. The great power of the earth and sky is concentrated in trees. huts-mansions, built: "as beauty and the world will say," they loved so much.

The spirit of the tree continued to live in the logs of the log house, in the floor and ceiling boards, in the tabletop polished to a shine and in the benches. Therefore, the peasant considered the hut itself, his dwelling, as part of nature, its spiritual continuation.

Entering such a house, you understand that its space is filled with the measured noise of the forest and fresh air; this space breathes peace and serenity. A delicate “forest” aroma of Siberian pine or larch, cedar, and spruce always hovers in the house. The sun reigns here from morning to evening, soft pastel colors look natural, resin flows down the logs like a solar tear, and from a dark icon the bright face of the Mother of God looks with an all-penetrating gaze...

The house looks genuinely majestic, like nature itself. One gets the impression that this house has taken root, "taken root" in the environment, has become an integral part of the surrounding forests and fields, of everything that we call Russia.

Home is a unique place on earth where a person feels confident and calm, where he feels like a full owner. From here he counts all his movements in time and space, returns here, here his family hearth awaits, here he raises and educates children, here his life flows. “Home is where your heart is,” wrote the Roman scholar and historian Pliny the Elder.

When creating a home for himself and his family, our ancestor entered into the closest and very complex ties and relationships with the environment. Skillfully using its features, he sought to get used to nature, merge harmoniously and consistently with it, fit into its living and easily vulnerable structure. Existing alongside and together with nature, developing in constant contact with it, he achieved sometimes amazing results in the most difficult and responsible business of forming a full-fledged dwelling, practical and expressive.

Natural observation, the experience of ancestors, traditions developed over the centuries, the ability to perceive and objectively evaluate the features of the natural landscape awakened an amazing “flair” in Rusich - it settled down, settled down in a really the best place, where it was not only convenient, but also beautiful - the beauty of the surrounding nature was very important for him, and sometimes decisive. It uplifted the soul, gave a feeling of freedom and spaciousness.

A Russian hut... She envelops the wise goodness of children's fairy tales, dissolving in peace in the heart. For a Russian person, an ordinary village hut is a kind of original monument of his being, the beginning of the Fatherland is connected with it - the root basis of his life.

Calm confidence emanates from simple Russian huts, they have firmly and thoroughly settled in their native land. When looking at the buildings of old Russian villages, darkened from time to time, the feeling does not leave that they, once called by man and for man, live at the same time some kind of their own, separate life, closely connected with the life of the nature surrounding them - so they became related to that place where they were born.

Ancient North Russian huts tell us about how our ancestors lived during the times of Novgorod the Great and Moscow Russia. What our ancestor did is practically what he said. Each hut is a story.

We know a lot about how modern wooden houses are built, what building material, tools, and means of protection are used for this. We are also familiar with other information, thanks to which we can easily build a house with our own hands. All this is good, but only in order to build the future, you need to know our past well, in fact, what we will do today. In this article, we will fill the informative void in our memory and find out how wooden huts were built in Russia.

construction tool

So, before talking about the construction itself, let's look at what tool our ancestors used. Here, there is nothing special to talk about, since our ancestors had a single, reliable and trouble-free tool - an ax that was used at any stage of construction. With its help, cut down trees, removed their bark, cleaned them of knots, adjusted the logs to each other. In a word, they did everything that could be required at the time of building a house. Due to the widespread use of an ax in construction, the expression “cut down a house” was widely used at that time.

That is why today, out of habit, we call wooden houses log cabins, although we hardly use an ax.

Procurement of materials

So, armed with an ax, our near ancestors went into the forest and cut down trees. It should be noted that the priority building material of that time were coniferous trees, mainly pine and spruce. This is explained by the fact that these rocks have an even structure, so they are easy to process and lay. In addition, these trees, for the most part, have a suitable level of humidity, which made the house more resistant to shrinkage. Of course, at that time they did not know about the humidity of the tree, but they noticed that when using the same pine, the walls of the house less often gave deformation and cracked, as happened with other species.

Trees were cut down in winter. First of all, this was due to the fact that in winter there was more free time, since there was almost no housework. In addition, our ancestors believed that a tree sleeps in winter, so it simply does not feel pain from ax blows. Surprisingly, they were right, since the tree in winter stops the vital processes associated with metabolism, as a result of which the internal moisture content of the tree decreases several times, which, in turn, favorably affects the construction. Of course, people did not know any of this, but only used what their hearts told them.

The felled trees were hauled home on horseback. Further, with the help of the same ax, the bark was removed from the tree and sorted, where diseased trees, on which rot or insects were noticed, were culled for sawing. After that, the tree was dried for some time, shifting from place to place, and then, directly, they began construction, in which men from the streets of the city or from all over the village took part.

Construction of a wooden frame

So, when starting to build a log house, our ancestors used the same tool - an ax, with which, having previously stepped back a certain distance from the edge of the log, they cut out special holes in which other logs were fixed. There was no concrete, crushed stone, durable stone at that time, so no one equipped the foundation. The first logs that fit into the crown were laid on compacted soil. To compact the soil, a certain layer of earth was removed. In the same way, the surface was leveled relative to the horizon. Having laid the first crown, the carpenters of that time proceeded to lay the next, then another, and so on, until the walls of the house were completely ready. It is worth noting that when laying, the carpenters signed each log, regardless of the row. This was done in order to protect yourself from unnecessary work, if suddenly something goes wrong and you have to dismantle the whole house to the log.

In the construction of a log house of the past, it is striking that the builders did not use a single nail, and this did not affect the strength of the house in any way. In addition, there were no heaters, protective equipment, paintwork materials before, but wooden houses, with proper care, were always warm and could stand for 50 years or more. It turns out that this was the case.

In order to make the house warm, close all the cracks and compact the logs, the carpenters of that time went to the trick. Ordinary forest moss was placed on the surface of each next log, which, when the wooden house was shrinking, pressed so hard that it completely closed all the through holes. In addition, these houses were small in size, so it was very easy to heat them.

They built the house not as fast as in the old days. As a rule, construction began in early spring, and finished in autumn. The owners simply did not have time to wait a year or two for the house to shrink, so they started building the roof immediately after the walls of the house were completed.

As for the construction of the roof, then, for the most part, the roof was gable. This was due to the fact that a minimum of building material was used for the construction of this type of roof. As roofing material people chose straw, as it was free and protected the house well from rain and snow. The roof structure itself strongly resembles a modern roof with two slopes, load-bearing beams, “interfloor floor beams”, a primitive crate, a ridge and the roof itself. At that time, people used the attic to dry clothes, store some supplies from the garden, and also for unnecessary things. This was explained by the fact that in the house, due to the lack of free space, these things simply did not have a place. In turn, in an empty attic, the air was much warmer than outside, which was achieved thanks to the chimney.

As wall cladding, but more for the purpose of insulation, our ancestors used straw, which, no matter how strange it may sound, they mixed with cow dung and clay. The clay was smoothly rubbed, giving the contour of the house perfectly even edges of the walls and surface. Whitewash was applied over the clay, which was renewed, as a rule, several times a year.

Center definition

Construction began with the definition of a ritual center. Such a point was recognized as the middle of the future dwelling or its red (front, holy) corner. A young tree (birch, mountain ash, oak, cedar, fir tree with an icon) or a cross made by carpenters was planted or stuck here, which stood until the end of construction. A tree or a cross was likened to the world tree, symbolizing the world order, the cosmos. In this way, relations of similarity were established between the structure of the future structure and the structure of the cosmos, and the act of construction itself was mythologized.

Victim

In the center, marked by the world tree, the so-called building sacrifice was laid. Like the world, which in the mythological representation was "deployed" from the body of the victim, the house was also "brought out" from the victim.

In the early stages of history, the Slavs did not exclude human sacrifices when laying buildings, then livestock (most often a horse) and small animals (rooster, chicken) became the ritual equivalent of a human sacrifice.

An extract from the Christian nomocanon reads: “when building houses, it is customary to lay the human body as a foundation. Whoever puts a person in the foundation is punished - 12 years of church repentance and 300 prostrations. Put a boar, or a bull, or a goat in the foundation. Later, the building sacrifice became bloodless. A set of three sacrificial symbols is stable: wool, grain, money, which correlate both with the ideas of wealth, fertility, prosperity, and with the personification of the three worlds: animal, plant and human.

Laying the first crown

The rite of sacrifice was combined with the laying of the first crown. Special attention was paid to this operation, because the first crown is a model for the rest of the crowns that make up the frame.

With the laying of the first crown, the spatial scheme of the dwelling is realized, and now the whole space is divided into domestic and non-domestic, internal and external.

Usually, on this day, carpenters lay only one crown, followed by a “salary” (“overlay”, “stowing”) treat, during which the craftsmen say: “The owners are in good health, and the house should stand until it rots.” If the carpenters wish the owners of the future house evil, then even in this case, laying the first crown is the most appropriate moment: hitting the log crosswise with an ax and keeping the intended damage in mind, the master says: “Duck! Shut up like that!” - and what he conceived, then it will come true.

Matrix laying

The central moment of construction - the laying of the matitsa (a beam that serves as the basis for the ceiling) - was accompanied by ritual actions, the purpose of which was to ensure warmth and prosperity in the house.

One of the carpenters walked around the topmost log (“crown of the skull”), scattered grains of grain and hops on the sides. The owners prayed to God all this time.

The master priest stepped onto the mat where a sheepskin coat was tied with a bast, and bread, salt, a piece of meat, a head of cabbage and green wine in a bottle were placed in its pockets. The bast was cut with an ax, the fur coat was picked up below, the contents of the pockets were eaten and drunk. They could raise a mat with a pie or a loaf of bread tied to it. And only a day later they continued to finish building the house.

Cutting windows and doors

Close attention was paid to the process of manufacturing door and window openings in order to regulate and secure communication inner world(at home) with the outside. When inserted door frame, said: “Doors, doors! Be locked up to the evil spirit and thieves, ”and they made the sign of the cross with an ax. The same thing happened when they installed lintels and window sills for windows, and they also turned to the windows with a request not to let thieves and evil spirits into the house.

House Cover

The sky is the roof of the earth. Hence the orderliness of the world, harmony, because everything that has an upper limit is definitely finished. The house, like a picture of the world, becomes "one's own", residential and safe only when it is covered.

The last, most plentiful treat of carpenters, which was called the "lock" of the roof, is connected with laying the roof.

In the North, they arranged a "salamatnik" - a solemn family dinner for carpenters and relatives. The main dishes were salamata of several varieties - a thick mash made from flour (buckwheat, barley, oatmeal), kneaded with sour cream and seasoned with melted butter, as well as porridge from cereals fried in butter.

Completion of construction

The rituals that complete the construction of the house seem strange. For a certain period (7 days, a year, etc.), the house had to remain unfinished in order to avoid the death of any of the family members. For example, they could leave a piece of the wall over the icons unwhitewashed, or they didn’t make a roof over the entryway for a year, so that “all sorts of troubles would fly out into this hole.” So incompleteness, incompleteness was associated with the ideas of maintaining the existing order, eternity, immortality, the continuation of life.