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Legends of Donetsk

Legends of Donetsk: from Scythian women to oil at the airport
Donetsk cannot boast of its venerable age and deep history. However, a century was enough for the mining capital to acquire an obligatory urban attribute - local myths. You can believe in them, or you can doubt them, but in any case it would be boring without them. We found the most popular legends and also found out where urban myths come from.

According to Donetsk local historian Valery Stepkin, Donetsk residents, relatively speaking, amuse themselves as best they can. “This is folk art, the same fairy tales, only fairy tales are several hundred years old, and Donetsk myths are dozens. Human nature requires fairy tales, it requires us to treat everything with humor, especially if there is a lot of negativity around. Look at Ukrainian history, literature, there’s a lot of fun there, there’s a lot of crying and sadness. But people cannot be sad all the time,” the local historian told us.

The non-sad residents of Donetsk have created an incredible number of myths and legends about their hometown. Not all of them have stood the test of time, but one of the first Donetsk myths, born in the era of Yuz - about Good Shubin - a spirit living in a mine and predicting collapses - is still alive in the memory of Donetsk residents. “Everything connected with mines, darkness and the unknown gives rise to myths,” explains Stepkin. - Just remember the giant mutant rats that were written about in newspapers during perestroika, but people then still believed the printed word. The rumor about rats was born then and is still alive.”

Myths about mutant rats living in mines and having breakfast with unwary miners are regularly supported by the miners themselves - either for fun, or emphasizing the unpredictability and danger of hard work. However, it is possible that someone actually saw something.

Urban myths are often enriched with modern details. Thus, until recently, trolleybuses were seriously discussing an oil well accidentally discovered by construction workers in the area of Donetsk airport. Oil supposedly flows in a tight stream, and its reserves will last for hundreds of years. True, on the same day it turned out that the builders simply damaged the pipeline for pumping oil products with an excavator bucket, and the story of the Donetsk oil field ends there. However, legends about how Donetsk almost became an oil tycoon city are still retold to the younger generation.

“In big cities, the myths are similar,” notes Valery Stepkin. - Legends about underground bunkers under administration buildings, secret railway lines and underground passages under churches will always be alive. People tend to believe in fairy tales. Even if they come up with them themselves.”

METRO FOR OFFICIALS

According to urban legends, under the “White House” there is a bunker and a railway line leading towards the Sea of Azov. There is a train here that is in full readiness for evacuation. They say the bunker was built in the 1980s and stretches to the street. Artem.

WHICH HAND IS THE COAL IN THE MINER?

Every full moon, a miner - also known as the "Glory to Miner's Labor" monument - from Shakhterskaya Square in the Kievsky district changes his hand, on which lies a huge piece of coal.

THERE ARE COUNTABLE DIAMONDS IN THE METRO

According to legends, diamonds were found during the construction of the metro in Donetsk. However, geologists admit that there could be such valuable stones in the depths of Donbass.

VAMPIRES OF ALEXANDROVKA

In the 1970s, after a series of murders in the DMZ area, rumors spread across Donetsk about vampires killing people and drinking the blood of innocent residents.

TERRICONS INEXPENSIVE

For several years, Donetsk residents have been retelling from mouth to mouth the legend that the Japanese offered to buy all the waste heaps in Donbass and take them outside the region.

DONBASS: GODDESSES AND BOGATYRS

Svyatogorye. According to epics, the heroes Muromets and Svyatogor lived here. Photo: A. Glushkov

In the Donetsk region, myths and legends have mainly historical background. Thus, there is a legend according to which the epic heroes Muromets and Svyatogor found a coffin on the chalk mountains of Svyatogorye and decided to “try it on”. It turned out to be too big for Ilya, but Svyatogor came up and slammed on him. Ilya tried to cut the lid, but with each blow iron hoops appeared on the coffin. I had to leave everything like that.

Legend says that Svyatogor did not die, but fell asleep. Muromets made one mistake - he cut with his sword, and only Svarog’s sword, which lay nearby, could break the lid. And this sword became protection for the Holy Mountains until the day there is someone who will find the “path between the centuries,” Svyatogor’s coffin and the sword and free the mighty defender who will be able to drive out all evil spirits from Rus'.

Residents of Donbass have a special relationship with stone sculptures - “Scythian women”. According to legend, Tabiti, the goddess of the hearth and family among the Scythians, created the first statues of “Scythian women” and settled in them the souls of those who died of unhappy love. In addition, she cast a love protection spell on them. If lovers quarrel nearby, the soul is released and punishes the culprit of the quarrel, then returning to the statue.

“Scythian women” must be conditionally “fed” with the help of special rituals, otherwise there will be no order and harmony in the house, but there will be plenty of illness and poverty. As Donetsk residents report on online forums, if you accidentally injure yourself near stone sculptures, the blood will not flow, and the wound will quickly heal.

This article was automatically added from the community

Donbass has recently been increasingly mentioned in connection with the difficult political situation in Ukraine. But this mountainous region is famous for many legends, most of which are associated with the local mines and catacombs.

Miner's Ghost

Thus, a very popular legend is about a spirit named Shubin, who helps miners, saving them from accidents. Most likely, Shubin is still not a name, but a surname. According to legend, this man lived at the end of the 19th century and was a gas burner by profession. That is, in modern terms, he degassed the mines. Since there was practically no ventilation in the faces at that time, the burner put on a long sheepskin coat soaked in water, entered the mine with a torch and threw it away, while he himself fell to the ground, covering himself with the sheepskin coat.

Monument to Shubin

If there was no gas or there was little of it, then the sheepskin coat saved the burner. But sometimes there was a strong explosion. Moreover, the owners of the mine developments were entirely foreigners, and they did not care too much about the safety of local workers.

One version says that Shubin was one of those who was unlucky enough to die in a mine from a methane explosion... Another is more interesting. Like, Shubin didn’t get along with his German owner. His character was conflicting, quarrelsome, and the German constantly oppressed the miners. And then one day Shubin came to the owner drunk and started the following conversation with him: “By what right do you drink our miner’s blood?” He, of course, answered: “I am the owner, I do what I want!” - “Oh, master? - answered Shubin. “Well, then I’ll show you who’s the real boss here.” The burner left, and after that no one saw him alive again.

They said that either he died a natural death, or he climbed into a mine while drunk and deliberately blew it up and himself at the same time. And since then they began to see him from time to time, here and there... Shubin’s spirit appears in front of the miners to lead them out from under the rubble or warn them of some danger. However, according to another version, it, on the contrary, scares the miners and can even collapse or flood the mine. Shubin supposedly lives in distant or abandoned workings. Those who believe in this spirit call him respectfully - “master”...

Diamonds instead of subway

Another “underground” legend of Donbass is associated with diamonds. Once upon a time, back in the Soviet era, they were going to build a metro in Donetsk, but nothing came of it. There were rumors that construction was frozen due to the fact that during the laying of the first metro lines, a deposit of large diamonds was discovered. It seems that there were even eyewitnesses who claimed that the stones were the size of a quail egg.

However, knowledgeable people say that diamonds are indeed “found” in the Donbass. They were first found long before the revolution. But for some unknown reason they did not develop the deposit. The tsarist government put the brakes on everything, and no private investors were found.

Mutants near Mariupol

In the Donbass city of Mariupol there are underground caves, which locals call “Adit” or “Nursery”. According to rumors, during the Soviet era, the KGB equipped secret laboratories in the local dungeons, where they allegedly studied the effects of radiation on people and animals.

Local old-timers willingly share legends about the catacombs with journalists and researchers. One of them, named Roman, recalls his grandfather’s stories that in the 50-60s of the last century, a secret object was located in artificial caves stretching for many kilometers. Although the area was fenced with barbed wire, some rumors leaked out. The most popular was the myth about mutants who were “bred” in secret KGB laboratories.

The mutants allegedly visited the nearby villages of Chermalyk and Granitnoye from time to time.

Somehow hooligans got into the habit of throwing stones on one woman’s roof - they were breaking the slate,” says Vladimir, a resident of the village of Chermalyk. - She complained to her son. The older guys have gathered, they’re sitting at home, waiting to teach the hooligans a lesson, and it’s already night outside. They heard the gate creaking, then a knock on the roof, well, they rushed after the unknown man, and he fell into the reeds and began to run away across the field towards the “Adit”. In general, they drove the bastard out into the clearing, shine a flashlight - there is a shadow, but there is no man!

The same Vladimir claims that he saw giant snakes near the “Adit” with his own eyes. He recalls:

One evening my father and I were driving a car, and then my father, cursing, sharply slammed on the brakes. We thought that some smart guy had laid a thick hose across the road, about the diameter of a fire hose, and the car jumped when they ran over it. We stopped to remove this "hose". We get out of the car, look, and it curls along the road like a vine, hissing - and towards the “Nursery”. We jumped into the car - and on the gas...

They also allegedly observed strange rodents similar to rats near the object. But still, these were not rats, but giant insects that from time to time crawled into local gardens, frightening the owners with their size.

And here is what Igor Krinichny from Granitnoye said:

Several years ago, on an argument with my comrades, I climbed into the right cave. The condition was to take a photo at the far wall. I made my way deeper with a lighter, so there was no visibility. I could barely see where to put my foot. About 200 meters later a rustling sound was heard. I stopped to take a closer look, raised the lighter higher, and it was like an electric shock - two huge eyes were looking at me, like those of an insect. I pulled as hard as I could, and this creature hissed - and behind me, I could hear how it moved stones with its body.

However, according to another version, there were no laboratories near Mariupol, but there was a uranium mine. Although one does not interfere with the other. If there is uranium, then it’s clear where the radiation and mutants came from! According to one former party official, testing of mining equipment took place there. After the collapse of the USSR, there was no talk of any secrecy, the catacombs were abandoned, and local bandits set up a shooting range there.

Findings of stalkers

Today, all that remains of the catacombs is a small section at the very entrance, 400 meters long. The remaining tunnels are concreted. Mariupol stalkers often visit there. According to these “hunters,” they more than once came across curious finds in the caves - for example, the remains of unknown equipment. And one day they came across a wedding dress cut from the 1970s-1980s. How it got to this eerie place is a mystery. Did anyone really want to have a wedding here? By the way, someone’s summer shoe without a pair was also discovered there, in the catacombs - apparently, from the same time as the dress.

Of course, it cannot do without mysticism. Stalker Zakhar Berkut claims that he and his comrades managed to photograph a ghost in one of the caves.

“We left the camera here with a long exposure, and in the picture at the end of the tunnel we can clearly see the silhouette of a person, although we know that there was no one there,” he recalls. The most interesting thing is that subsequently the sensational photograph mysteriously disappeared from the photo archive.

Local schoolchildren have a tradition of organizing festivities near the catacombs on graduation day. It was there that another “ghostly” episode happened.

At the graduation party, my brother and his classmates came here, they walked through the clearing and in the undergrowth,” says Vladimir from Chermalyk. -Someone suggested taking a group photo, and everyone stood up in a crowd. Imagine our surprise when in one of the photographs behind the group we found the pale face of a stranger.

Maybe these are the ghosts of the prisoners who built the catacombs? Or the same mutants? Who knows, maybe radiation can turn people into phantoms? One way or another, unlike young people, older residents avoid the former secret facility just in case...

Dina KUNTSEVA

According to one legend, Aza lived on the very shore of our sea with her old father. And she was so beautiful that all the boys couldn’t take their eyes off her. She didn’t pay attention to anyone, because, they say, she was too proud. She also boasted that she didn’t like anyone.

All the guys who lived nearby agreed, came to Aza and invited her to choose a groom among them. The beauty looked at them, thought, and then said:

You will compete. Whoever of you defeats his comrades will be my betrothed.

And the fellows began to compete. Odin came out of that competition as a winner, but Aza refused him and even began to mock the boys. She deceived her opponents. They were angry with the proud woman, they took her and drowned her in the sea.

Until now, when the water approaches the shore, either crying or a groan is heard from the sea. Old people say that it is the beautiful Aza who is crying about her unfound betrothed. And the sea is supposedly called Azov on her behalf...

According to another legend, Aza also lived on the shore of our sea and was also indescribably beautiful, but, unlike the first, this one loved a good-looking, wonderful guy. Yes, the anxious hour came, and Azin’s beloved went to war with the Turks. And before the hike, he gave the girl a gold ring so that she would wait and not forget her beloved. With the verdict he gave:

If you lose this ring, I will know about your infidelity.

Several years have passed. Aza treasured the gift like the apple of her eye. And she kept waiting and looking out for the lad from the hike, but he still didn’t return. And then one day trouble happened. The girl went to the sea to wash her clothes, got lost in thought and accidentally dropped the ring into the water. And then, out of nowhere, a wave muddied the water - and the gift disappeared. Poor Aza got scared, rushed into the waves to get her dear loss, and drowned.

Since then, they say, the sea is called the Azov Sea after the name of a mediocre girl who never received her sweetheart from the trip.

The third legend tells about two sisters.

Near the big water (that is, somewhere near our sea), they say, there once lived an old fisherman. His wife died long ago, leaving the unfortunate woman with two daughters. One of them, the eldest, was called Aza, and the other, the smaller one, was called the Golden-Braided Gerbil. The sisters were so beautiful that whoever saw them would forget about the dream from that moment on: he kept thinking about them. And the girls were selective in their search for happiness; none of the local boys were dear to their hearts.

Every day Aza sat on the seashore, on a high cliff, and kept looking out for someone. Perhaps his betrothed, who sailed to distant alien worlds and there, as people said, died from an enemy saber.

And once, when the girl was sitting in the same thoughtfulness, a strong wind suddenly blew. Tall waves rose on the sea. They ran to the shore, hit the cliffs and moaned terribly. Suddenly a large piece of land broke away from the cliff and, together with Aza, fell into the raging waves. The Golden-Braided Gerbil saw this and rushed from the mountain into the sea to save her older sister. And so they both drowned...

The next morning, when the sea had calmed down, the old fisherman returned from visiting, went out to the seashore and saw that his daughters were not on the steep slope, and in the place where Aza liked to sit, there was a fresh landslide. The father looked down - and there, under the very steep slope, such golden sand sparkled in the sun that it blinded the eyes! And the sea is quiet, quiet and as affectionate as its children... And the unfortunate man understood everything and cried bitterly...

From then on, the sea began to be called the Sea of Azov, because the beautiful Aza drowned in it. And there are so many long sandy spits in this sea because her younger sister, the Golden-Braided Gerbil, drowned along with Aza.

Mythology of the ancient Slavs. Veles and Azovushka.

The born baby of the god Veles was kidnapped by the god Pan, the son of Viy, the king of the underworld. He picked up his cradle and carried it over the ocean. But then Veles began to grow and get heavier. Pan could not contain the baby and dropped it along with the cradle.

Veles sailed in a cradle to the shores of a large island. Here Veles fought with the Kite and saved the Swan Princess, the spirit of the Sea of Azov, who was called Azovushka. Azovushka was the daughter of Svarog and Mother Sva. The Sea of Azov is named after her.

Veles and Azovushka fell in love with each other, soon got married and began to live together. The island of Buyan on the Sea of Azov became their magical abode.

Group 2 talks about the lakes of Donbass based on materials from I. Kostyra’s book “Thoughts about Donbass”. An audio recording of the noise of the forest and the chirping of birds sounds.

Duma about Torskie Lakes

You probably won’t find such a marvel, created by nature itself, in the north of the Donetsk region in the whole world!

At a great distance from the sea, among fresh rivers and natural reservoirs, there are salt lakes, called in ancient times Torsky, and in modern times - Slavic. Repnoye, Slepnoye, Veisovo, Krivoe, Chervlenoe... And smaller, nameless ones, which locals simply call estuaries.

The lakes sparkle with a welcoming and cheerful surface from thickets of reeds, reeds, and cattails. But here there are also purely marine plants - ruppia, zannukelia. And in addition to the typical meadow china and marshmallow, halodites, which love saline soil, saltwort, saline wormwood and saline aster, and sodnik have taken root as if at home. It was as if they had suddenly moved from some coastal region to the open steppe. Actually, the water in the lakes matches the sea water.

All around is a hilly expanse of steppe, cut by gullies, gullies and ravines with chalk cliffs and screes, heat-loving wormwood bristles along the hillocks, and a dry, warm breeze blows, mainly from the southeast. Well, exactly like on the seaside coasts.

Unprecedented and nothing more!

They have long been called Torsky - after the tribe of Torks, who roamed along with the Khazars, Pechenegs and Polovtsians in this region. As well as the Torets River with its tributaries - Sukhoi and Krivoy. What does “fast” or “source” mean when translated into Russian?

This name is mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle, which, like Boyan in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” told about the tragic events that took place on the Wild Field back in 1185, during the Battle of the Kayala River. Igor was captured on the Tor River or was brought here from a more southern side. This very place is discussed in the “Word...”: “At midnight Ovlur (the Polovtsian who fled to Rus' with Igor) whistled his horse across the river; tells the prince not to doze off.” And in the chronicle it is specified: “... and Igor Lavrov sent his stableman a river for him to move to the other side of the Thor with a reined horse...”

Moreover, the same chronicle records that the warriors of Prince Igor, holding back the onslaught of enemies, were thirsty, but could not drink or water their horses, since the water in the river was salty. Whether it was the river named Kayala, or Makatikha, which was once stormy and full-flowing, but now its bed is almost dry, or another, but the place of Igor’s stay in captivity is indicated by Thor. And therefore, even if he was captured in another desolation of the wild steppe, he escaped from here. However, salt in water is remembered. This means that everything probably happened this way; from these places Igor fled to the nearby Seversky Donets, to whom he later addressed with grateful words: “Oh, Donche!...”

The largest of the Tor lakes is Turnip.

Somehow, working people, who by that time were extracting salt in makeshift saltworks, heard a terrible roar. And before their eyes, a barracks with a whole team of soldiers fell into the gaping, cracked or, in Ukrainian, “relapsing” earth. Even a concrete witness to this horror was found - a certain Wittich, whom Peter I demanded from abroad for the domestic salt industry.

Although, according to another legend, the salt factory disappeared in the abyss of the opening of the earth and the brine gushing out from there - all with gamuz.

Be that as it may, the water gushing out threatened to flood the brewhouses. Based on the report of what had happened, Peter I was given the order to drain the newly formed lake into Torets. But the level of Torets turned out to be higher, and the water began to flood the surrounding area even more. And then the canal was filled up tightly. No one can vouch for the authenticity of the legend. Nevertheless, traces of the then unsuccessful channel are allegedly still visible and are not difficult to find.

And the lake, which arose on the site of cracked, or “turned”, earth and its subsequent failure, is still called Repny.

Blind Lake was called Koshu-Blind. Because a blind horse allegedly drowned in it - “mowing a blind”, to the local. And there were a lot of horse flies on it - gadflies.

Lake Weisovo associated with the name of Colonel Weiss, who was involved in the collection of excise duties. In 1832, his son Ivan was born, and the lake was named Weisov in his honor. And before that, it was called in different ways: and the Old Maidan, because on its side there was a square - the Maidan, where Cossacks, officials and elected officials from saltworks gathered in their cathedrals to consider and resolve certain problems in the organization of production and service and management; it was also called Mayatsky, since the road to the former military guard post Mayaki, which is in the direction of the Holy Mountains, ran nearby.

Krivoe was also called: Krivoe-Levadnoe. The first half came from the curvature of its coastline, and the second from the nearby hayfields.

And finally, named Chervleny. It is also Chervonnoe, or simply Chervone. Because along its banks grew a seemingly strange-looking grass - red, as if bloody, in color. It still grows here, saline, juicy, fragile and red in appearance - solyanka, or salt shaker.

The nameless lakes, called estuaries, salt licks, and salt marshes, are countless.

No wonder they turned around on local soil salt pans God knows when.

From the names of the lakes something common is striking: Ukrainianisms. Therefore, it was not only government workers sent from Russia who found themselves in the saltworks, but fugitive Ukrainian peasants also flocked here - it was from them that the names took on a Ukrainian connotation. Moreover, Ukrainian Cossacks from the Dnieper are “Cherkasy”.

The fact that salt production on Torah was already in full swing by the middle of the 17th century was evidenced by the decrees of Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich preserved in domestic archives. The first said that from Chuguev governor Khlopov should send a squad of 30 people annually to the Tor Lakes to protect the salt workers and salt production. For the raids of the nomads did not stop. For the same protective purpose, in addition to the Mayatsky prison, soon, according to the second order, Ostrozhek was also built on the salt lakes, in which guards from the same Chuguev served.

And soon Bogdan Khmelnitsky complained to the tsar: “Some thieves in Gadyach and Vspryk and in other cities started riots and many angers, and do not want to go with them against the sovereign’s enemy, they run to Ukrainian cities and to the Tor lakes.”

To which came the immediate decree of the Quiet One: “In the Ukrainian cities of Cherkasy and no people who come from the regiments of Bohdan Khmelnytsky or from Tor, or from other cities, should not be accepted and not placed in eternal life.”

In less than a quarter of a century, the same tsar will be forced by the incessant raids of nomads, who, due to the warmth of spring and summer, almost every year burned saltworks, trade and craft settlements, and, on occasion, ravaged Ostrozhek, which by that time had been transformed into the Tor fortress , - the same king, out of forced precaution, will be obliged to adopt a completely opposite decree: “Near those salt lakes, for the fear of enemy people, the city of Tor was built and the Cherkasy were called to live.” That is, the Trans-Dnieper Cossacks from Cherkasy Island. They were skilled in military matters. And besides, they were used to the countryside. Yes, and in salt making, due to everyday acumen, they quickly got used to it. And they can probably be considered the first settled inhabitants of the Tor Lakes.

The Toryans, who moved beyond the so-called Belgorod line, that is, a series of fortresses built to protect the southern Russian borders from Vorskla to the Don along the Seversky Donets - being on its leading edge, the Toryans suffered more than others due to the raids of nomads. Hundreds of them were driven away in full. And by the end of the 17th century, the Tor fortress, according to the report of the Chuchuevsky governor to the tsar, “came to complete ruin.”

Therefore, the residents abandoned the salt lakes, and in 1700 the fisheries on Tory became deserted. Meanwhile, new ones were opened in Bakhmut, where hundreds of Tory residents moved.

And all that remained from Thor was the newly-minted name Solyanaya. Or Salty. It was he, in fact, who became the prototype of present-day Slavyansk. Then he was expelled from the fortifications. And they gave it the status of a district town of the Yekaterinoslav governorship and gave it its current name.

From the first half of the 19th century, the Tor Lakes began to live a different, resort life - no less troublesome, hectic, but lively and cheerful, even idle.

In 1827, the staff doctor Yakovlev, having become familiar with the treatment on the Odessa estuaries, began to successfully use swimming in Lake Repnoye and rubbing sick soldiers with mud from it. Kharkov professor Gordienko also came to help his efforts, making initial chemical analyzes of both mineral waters and the same mud.

The fame of the healing properties of Slavic mud and water quickly spread throughout the surrounding villages and towns. And now sick people rushed here from everywhere - “weak-chested”, with skin diseases, with twisted arms and legs. And they were treated at random, despite the prohibitions of local authorities.

However, the influx of people for self-medication did not stop. Moreover, with the construction of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway near Slavyansk in 1867-1869, the resort became accessible to many who wanted to get to the Tor Lakes from more distant regions.

The arrival became orderly only after the resort was transferred to the ownership of the city and the construction of private sanatoriums began.

The city doctor Kossovsky was elected the first director of mineral waters.

And by the end of the 19th century, a royal decree was issued that the Slavic mineral springs were elevated to the rank of socially significant ones. Less than ten years have passed since, at the International Balneological Exhibition in the Belgian city of Spaa, the Slavic Resort was awarded the highest award - the Big Gold Medal and the Grand Prix - for the high medicinal properties of the exhibits of Tor mud presented there.

Here are the Tor lakes for you!

3rd group. Legends about the rivers of Donbass. An audio recording of the sound of a river and the chirping of birds sounds.

In the books by I. Kostyra “Thoughts about Donbass”, E. Motyzheva “Tales, Myths and Legends of Primiusye” we find an explanation for some of the names of the rivers.

Big Thor- This State-owned now, since it flowed through state-owned, that is, state-owned lands. And as for its tributaries, the Krivoe and Sukhoi, there is nothing to guess: the first is so named because it is crooked, and the second because in the summer it becomes shallow and dries out greatly. Bakai - “deep, swampy hole” translated from Tatar. In the times of Peter the Great, settlers from Bessarabia lived on the Bessarabka River.

And here Kolontaevka, which flows from an unnamed salt lake and flows into the State End, keeps a special memory.

One day, a small detachment of Tatars attacked women who were rinsing their laundry in the river. The women did not make a mistake and began to fight back with wet, tight and heavy rolls, whipped them in their insolent laughing faces, and beat them until the Cossacks arrived in time, harrowing this area from the attacks of the Crimean Tatars and the Nogai Horde. And then they laughed for a long time at how they beat the Gentiles together. That's why Kolontaevka.

The Legend of the Bakhmutka River

There is a legend about the daughter of the Polovtsian leader Bakhmet, who recklessly fell in love with a local shepherd. But the father opposed this love and sent the poor shepherd with his retinue to conquer the same world about whose peace and harmony the shepherd had sung more than once. In one of the skirmishes, the shepherd died. And then Bakhmet’s daughter cursed her father, who had sent his betrothed to certain death, and she threw herself into a bottomless pit, overgrown with forest up to the crown of her head. Bakhmut Khan never found her.

Some time passed after the tragedy that took place here, and in that ditch a salt spring appeared - the water in it was salty from the tears of the khan’s daughter, who there, in the dungeon, inconsolably mourned her beloved with bitter, salty tears.

That is why they called the newly born river Bakhmutka, and hence Bakhmut.

Who will now find out exactly how it really happened? In whose honor or memory the river was named after this name.

One way or another, these alien names - both Tor and Bakhmutka - have taken root on the Donetsk land, which has been Slavic since ancient times. And they became integral, inseparable from our ancient history. Including the history of salt production in the Donetsk region.

Mius and Miusik

There lived two river brothers - Mius and Miusik. They were born in the same land at the same time and fed on the same water. Everyone is equal, everyone is the same. That's why they argued all the time about which of them was the eldest and which was the younger brother. They argued, quarreled, and almost came to blows.

Finally, they decided to find someone to judge their dispute. They searched for a long time, and came to a wise raven, who supposedly had already lived on earth for three hundred years.

The raven listened to them and said:

- I respect you. You, first brother, flow south along the western channel. You, second one, flow in the eastern way. And where your hills and riverbeds converge into one sandy valley, meet at a large oak tree that touches the water with its branches. There I will judge you.

No sooner said than done.

The Mius had a flow along the western channel, and the Miusik - along the eastern channel.

Miusik thought:

- The one who runs to the oak tree faster will win. Let me start flowing faster.

And he rushed as hard as he could, trying to run almost in a straight line, towards the treasured oak tree. Along the way, small rivers followed him, asking to flow together.

Miusik to them:

- I don’t have time, I’m in a hurry. You yourself try to follow me there. If you catch up, I don’t mind, we’ll run together.

So I finally got to the oak tree. And on it the old raven is waiting for the brothers.

“I won,” Miusik shouts. - The first influx. Moreover, look, he brought with him a dozen streams and rivulets. They followed me, foolish, themselves. But I overtook everyone. First me.

“Wait,” the raven answers. – Let’s wait for your brother, Mius, first.

But Mius thought differently when he began to flow towards the oak tree:

- Of course, I can run quickly, no worse than Miusik. But the legs are not always the main thing. Sometimes it would also be nice to have a head on your shoulders. I’ll take my time and take my time, look around first and think. And it started flowing.

And behind Mius, as well as behind Miusik, a bunch of rivulets and streams followed, seeing that he had set off on a journey.

Mius was not in much of a hurry, he waited for every river so as not to forget or offend anyone. When he laid out a channel for himself, not straight, but in a winding way, so that even the weakest stream could find a path to it.

“Together,” he says, “it’s more fun to go.” And the path is getting shorter.

He now flowed in a large company of rivers and streams, about two dozen of them gathered around him. It flowed, admired the surrounding hills, looked at the oaks, listened to the feather grass, washed the coastal sedges. Finally, he also reached the treasured oak tree, where the raven and Miusik were waiting for him.

He looked at both brothers raven and said:

– You’re both great, no matter what. You're Miusik, the first one to come running, there's no doubt about it.

You Mius, you brought more rivers with you, you brought more water, you traveled a longer distance.

I want to know, before making my decision, how each of you judged yourself when you hurried to me, what you were guided by.

Miusik explains:

“The eldest of us is the one who came to you first.” Because the greatest is the one who is the fastest and most daring.

The raven listened to Miusik and looked at Mius.

Mius replied:

– The one in charge who is able to think about others. That’s why I stayed so long because I collected all the streams and springs that wanted to flow with me. He helped the weak to wash the riverbed, and led the strong alongside. Together we brought our water to you.

The raven lowered his head and thought. Then he cleaned the black feathers with his black beak and said:

“The benefit of a river lies in how wide its water belt is, and how deep its water is.”

You, Miusik, were in a hurry, but you didn’t bring much water. You, Mius, were in less of a hurry, but you collected more water, which brings life in the hot steppe.

I’m looking at you and not only me, any judge will tell you that the Mius River has great power. There is more water in it, which means more benefits from it. To be Mius the greatest of you brothers, and Miusik, from now on, to obey him in everything.

As he said, this is how it has been since then for Mius da Miusik.

Cunning Pronka (legend about the formation of the Nagolnaya and Nagolchik rivers)

One day a man came to live in our region - red-haired and freckled. He was, according to rumors, from a good family, like even Polish nobles. But apart from an old caftan and a saber, he had nothing. That’s probably why they called him, say, not Prokhor Alekseevich, but, simply, Pronka.

This Pronka, although he was the son of a nobleman, was greedy and cunning, like some kind of gypsy. He kept thinking about how to get riches longer and faster. He didn’t have a mother, but probably if he had, Pronka would have sold her too if they had shown him the gold.

But in all other respects, he was a very good man: reasonable, sophisticated, well-groomed. Except that he has narrow shoulders and a thin appearance. Well, maybe the Poles are all like that...

Pronka settled where the Gruzskaya Balka now begins. He built a hut for himself, planted a vegetable garden, and began hunting.

And in the evenings, when it became boring, he went to a tavern, had a bitter drink with his comrades, and played cards like a fool.

One day, drinking buddies were returning home, and in a drunken affair at an old well they argued about which of them would get the best wife, the richest, and the most beautiful.

Everyone, even the one who is crooked, presents himself as the luckiest. Well, Pronka, of course, was stuck.

He came home and began to think about how he could outdo his comrades and outdo them. I thought all night and all day. And in the evening this is what happened.

Someone knocked on Pronkin's door. He opened the bolt, and a girl was standing on the threshold. She is short in stature, dressed in a simple peasant sheepskin sheepskin coat with fur inside, and has a face as beautiful as the spring sun.

- Who are you? – Pronka was surprised.

- I am the spirit of this land. I fly over the feather grass with the wind, sorting through the blades of grass. I lie languidly in the thyme - I move the flowers. When I roll down from the thorn branches with dew, when I warm my sides with rose hips under the clear sun. The spirit of the local land, forever attached to it, I keep the riches here.

And yesterday I heard you boasting at the well that you would find the best wife for yourself, and I decided to come, look at you, and stay in your house. Will you let me in?

Pronka opened the door wider:

- Welcome. Such and such a beauty. What should I call you?

- I’m Navka. The spirit is invisible. I don’t have a baptized name. Call it whatever you want. Yes, at least Glafira. Why not a name? - the girl answers.

- Well, Glafira, so Glafira. I just have nothing to treat you with. You know, life is a bachelor's life. I can only give you some tea.

And Pronka began to treat Glafira to tea. The two of us sat over our cups and talked for a while.

I lost track of time with Navka. It’s as if she’s not a peasant at all, as you can tell from her sheepskin coat, but a lady or some kind of princess.

She knew all of Pronka’s favorite poetry, she could speak intelligently about the books of scientists, as if she had read them herself, and she easily remembered forgotten songs that Pronka had heard from her mother as a child. And the jokes she joked and the fairy tales she told - all the night fogs outside the window disappeared from laughter, and the morning sun that came out onto the horizon also began to smile.

Pronka thought and thought, and laughed:

“Just stay,” he says, “to live with me forever.” It's more fun together. Will you be my wife? Do you know how to cook?

“Otherwise,” Glafira answers. - Like all the girls in these parts: they cook, wash, darn, and look after the cattle.

“Well, if you go after the cattle, that’s really good,” Pronka clapped his hands with joy. - So it’s decided. You just need to change your sheepskin coat for a sundress, like the women here wear. Do you have one of these in your treasures?

Glafira to him:

- Thinking about my naked sheepskin coat is not your sadness. I chose this one for myself - to wear girls. If I wanted to, I would ask the local flowers to dress me in either silk or brocade.

But now, if you have become a husband, take care of me yourself. Make me a sundress the way you like. For me, everything is beautiful, whatever you dress me in.

So Pronka began to live with Glafira. Of course, his heart was drawn to Navka, he liked her.

But with his intelligence and cunning, he also thought: “If she really is the spirit of this entire earth, then she will show me a short path to all its riches. If not, he’ll probably bring it with him as a dowry. You can’t just let such happiness slip away from your hands.”

Time has passed. Lives with Glafira Pronka. Everyone's wife is good; she's a sight for sore eyes in any business. Only the wealth in his house does not add much. No gold, no silver, no expensive stones that you could brag about to your comrades in the tavern.

Pronka began to get angry. Looking askance at your wife. Tea with poems and songs makes him sick, the smell of feather grass and thyme gives him a headache. Here Glafira became pregnant and gave birth to a son.

Pronka thought that after this golden rain would fall on his head, but no. It's stuck tightly. Pronka became completely angry. And when his son began to disturb his sleep at night, he completely became a wolf, and on a dark night he kicked them both out of the house. Glafira, with her son in her arms, threw out her sheepskin coat and slammed the door. Refused both.

Glafira went into an open field, hit her chest on the damp ground and turned into a river - Nagolnaya, and turned her son into a river - Nagolchik.

The two of them flowed slowly across the wide steppe on their river business. Only once did Nagolnaya splash water towards Pronka’s house: “You’ll regret it.”

Time passes, Pronka is gnawed by resentment. I began to look into the tavern more and more often. I started playing cards with drinking buddies and random people more and more often. And then one day he sat down to play with an old Cossack centurion from Leonovo-Stepanovka, which was higher up the river, but he lost outright. And he lost his hut, and his land, and his farm, and the caftan that he was wearing on his shoulders, and his own pants. He wanted to get even, and the centurion said to him:

- I'll let you recoup. But it’s a deal. I heard that you are a nobleman. If you lose again, I will take you as my son-in-law. My only daughter needs a husband, and I need a son. Well, if you win, it’s your happiness, I’ll forgive you all your debts.

Pronka heard about the marriage and took a better look at the centurion. He seems like a decent guy. Surely he will give his daughter a good dowry. And it wouldn’t be shameful to present yourself as a centurion’s son-in-law in front of your comrades. Pronka thought and thought and agreed.

They started playing. Pronka, now on purpose, loses to the centurion. The centurion won.

He quickly put Pronka in his chaise and took him to his village. My daughter needs to be locked up.

As Pronka drove to Leonovo-Stepanovka, he kept thinking how many benefits he would get from his marriage. But in reality it turned out differently.

Pronka got a wife who was lazy, old, fat and pockmarked. The living weight in it was almost eight pounds. There is no beauty at all. And his character, God forbid, is worse than that of an army sergeant major. Almost not according to her - she quickly brought up her husband with cuffs and slaps. And if he says even a word against him, he will crush him under him, sit on top of his chest, and smack Pronka on the cheeks and tear his hair off the top of his head in clumps.

I didn’t want to hear about children and the love that happens between a husband and his wife.

Pronka thought that at least the centurion would sign over his estate to him, but he bequeathed it to one daughter. He exposed his son-in-law as a completely disenfranchised church mouse in front of the people. With an important landowner wife, he turned into a simple orderly.

Then Pronka regretted, covering his bald head from the sun with a burdock, that he had chased great happiness, but lost little, but it was too late. Apparently, Navka laughed at him and gave him the wife he deserved.

V. Consolidation of what has been learned.

On the interactive board you see watercress. It contains the names of the rivers of our region. Your task is to see and name them.

VI. Reflection.

Which landing did you like and remember the most? Why?

What information in your piggy bank seems most valuable to you?

VII. Lesson summary.

Each geographical feature has a scientific explanation for its name. This is the science of etymology. However, in parallel with the official explanation, there are often folklore and mythological explanations for certain names, such as they are imprinted in the memory of the people.

I invite each group to compose a senkan on the topic of our lesson on the algorithm: 1 line: name of the concept, 2 line: 2 adjectives, 3 line: 3 verbs, 4 line: phrase or sentence, 5 line: conclusion in one word.

VIII. Homework.

Your homework will be creative work. Come up with your own legend about any geographical object in the Donetsk region.

Literature

1. I. Kostyrya. Dumas about Donbass. http://donpatriot.ru/legendi_o_donbasse.html

2. E. Motyzheva “Tales, myths and legends of Primiusja” http://17mkurgan.wmsite.ru/rasskazy-i-otchety/skazki-mify-i-legendy-primiusja/

Legends of Donbass

(presentation of the book "Duma on Donbass" by I. Kostyri)

Goals: expand students’ knowledge about the history of the Donetsk region, introduce them to legends; develop patriotic feelings for the native land and the people living in this territory, interest in studying the history of their homeland; cultivate a feeling of love for one’s native land.

Equipment: multimedia equipment, presentation.

Progress of the lesson

Introduction.

Donetsk region, hurry up the bus,

The road runs like a blue ribbon...

I happened to be born in this region,

And I don’t need another homeland!

Motherland! Great word! For every person it begins from the place where he was born and raised. For you and me, this is Donbass. Every country is proud of its history and traditions, and we are not indifferent to this either... Guys, what do you know about the history of our region? (Slide 1)

The class is divided into 3 groups (in rows). Each row is invited to read and discuss this legend, and also tell it to their classmates, showing illustrations to it.

LEGENDS ABOUT THE SEA OF AZOV.

Among the Azov Pomeranians, there have long been their own legends about the name of the Sea of Azov. They are connected with the name of a fisherman’s daughter, a certain Aza.

“According to one of the legends, Aza lived on the very shore of our sea with her old father. And she was so beautiful that all the boys couldn’t take their eyes off her. She didn’t pay attention to anyone, because, they say, she was too proud. She also boasted that she didn’t like anyone.

THE LEGEND ABOUT LOW FESCULAR AND HIGH FEBRUARY.

“Even earlier, when there was a merciless war between the Polovtsians and the Russian princes, the opponents sent, those on their side, and those on theirs, the nosy Tipchak, the daughter of the Polovtsian khan, and a brave Russian warrior named Kovyl. At night they almost collided among the Stone Graves. The moon illuminated them with bright light at that moment. The girl was struck by the fabulous beauty of the young Russian.

And he, too, was captivated by her indescribable appearance.

They couldn't kill each other. Just as they couldn’t betray their own.

When the first rays fell on the earth, they were seen standing together in the mountains.

- Treason! - the opposing sides shouted.

Arrows flew at them from both camps. Yes, it’s high - you can’t reach it. But they didn’t have time to execute them either.

The lovers threw themselves down from a high stone and fell to their deaths.

Where drops of their blood fell, grass grew - low fescue and tall feather grass. Nature immortalized the lovers in the form of two stone bodies lying with their heads facing each other.” (slide 4)

THE LEGEND OF STONE GRAVES

“The ancients had a corresponding idea.

It was supposedly flying like hell over the Dnieper. He looks at its calm, wide surface, at the people who swam on boats, at the fishermen, and his black heart shook with anger.

- Look, how they settled in... It’s not good, it’s not my way... And the Devil decided to pester people. When night fell, he took the sackcloth and flew overseas to the high mountains.

I collected wild stone there, returned to the Dnieper and poured it out in the middle.

- Remember me! - the Devil ordered. “I’ll dam the whole river with stones.”

So he flew off several times during the night. Rocky rapids have already begun to emerge from the Dnieper water.

And once, just before dawn, he gained more than usual. It flies, barely holding the de-ryuzhina with its claws. Somewhere below, a rooster crowed loudly. The Devil’s paw trembled, one end of the sackcloth slipped out of it, and the stones flew to the ground and fell in the middle of the steppe. Since then, these dark piles of wild stone, similar to steppe graves, have been visible there. And people called them Stone Graves.” (slide 5)

THE LEGEND OF SVYATOGOR.

“...They say that the hero Svyatogor once met with the Peche-negs. There were many of them, but he was alone.

And a battle ensued between them. The fierce battle lasted for a long time. Many Pechenegs were killed by Svyatogorov’s great sword. And he, wounded, continued to fight.

But then the enemy’s poisoned arrow pierced the rich man’s body... Svyatogor felt weakness throughout his whole body... The giant understood - the end had come.

He looked at the white light: at the high chalk steep mountains, at the blue waters of the Donets, bowed to the mane of his faithful maned friend and quietly crawled off him, lay down under the rock above the Seversky Donets. He died there.

And people named this area after him - Svyatogorye.” (slide 6)

THE LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN WELL.

“Tsar Peter the Great also drank from it, returning from his last, this time successful, victorious, Azov campaign in 1696.
The peasants, and perhaps the landowner himself, delighted at the unspeakable guest - of course, the Tsar-Father himself was privileged to visit his estate! - they presented Peter the Great with the most precious thing they had - a cup of healing water. For a long time ago they were convinced of its miraculous work - no one ever suffered with their stomach during the entire time they were here.
The king drank the kelekh in one gulp and closed his eyes in surprise - the water turned out to be too cold, to the point of aching in his teeth, and it took his breath away. But it also had a rare taste, incredibly soft and almost sweet, you can drink it straight away, no matter how much you drink.
Finally, Peter rubbed his smartly cocky mustache, opened his huge eyes to the fullest extent and showed his strong white teeth in a contented, childishly happy smile. And he exhaled:
- Oh, golden water!
He took out a gold thaler from his pouch, a German-made coin, since he had not yet minted Russian ones - he reigned for only ten years, and not alone, but until the current, victorious and therefore triumphant year of his glory, together with his brother Ivan - took it out and threw it into the well, loudly ordering:
- From now on it will be the Golden Well!
Since then, this name has stuck – Golden Well.” (slide 7)

THE LEGEND OF THE DONETSK ridge.

“The fact that the sea was once completely splashing on top of the Donetsk Ridge, leaving only its edges free, is evidenced by both legends and the findings of geographers and geologists. Taken together, they appear as if they were true legends, in which sometimes you cannot distinguish truth from fiction. The history of the Donetsk Ridge is rich in them.

This happened in ancient times, back in the days when the local area where we live today was the bottom of the sea. Near the sea, on a high rocky cliff, there stood a small hut. And in that hut lived an old fisherman, as old as this world, with his granddaughter.

The girl went out on her boat alone into the sea. Lo and behold, out of nowhere, a school of sharks appeared. And then, as if he had emerged from under the water, a big guy appeared next to her. He swung his hammer, hit one shark on the head, it sank to the bottom, swung it again - and the second one just splashed its tail, drowning. When the latter disappeared into the depths of the sea, the guy swam closer to the girl, grinning, and bowed...

A lot of time has passed since then. In the place where the sea splashed, supposedly at its former edge, Druzhkovskaya Mountain rises. In a quarry that had been worked out long ago, where limestone and sandstone were mined, archaeologists found a whole collection of shark teeth, untouched by time. The skeletons of the fish have decayed, but the teeth, covered with strong enamel, have been preserved.” (slide 8)

THE LEGEND OF SALT.

“The viper, their mysterious land or earthly paradise is not like the birds. A weak girl went into the forest and fell into this hole. She fell through, fell to the bottom, and the vipers hissed.

And a gray stone lay there by itself. Whatever viper gets close to him will lick and lick that stone. And then she moves away to the side, and much more quickly than she approached.

And the eldest one hovered around that girl and bowed, nodding her head to indicate that she too should lick that stone.

“I,” the girl later said, “took a long time to strengthen myself: as much as nine days!” And then she licked it herself. And suddenly I recovered and my hunger disappeared - I didn’t even want to eat.

Who knows, perhaps the gray stone was the prototype of that “lick” that is made from rock salt for animals to this day.” (slide 9)

THE LEGEND OF STONE COAL.

“Once upon a time a hunter wandered through the wild steppe, through ravines and clearings, through ravine copses in search of prey. I'm already a little tired. He took from his shoulder a hare caught in a hunt, a black grouse caught by villagers, a bag of matting with several perches, which he caught by the handful on small and narrow rifts in Lugan. And on the way here he noticed a spring in the bayrak, and he went down to it.

Then he began to collect dried wood for the fire. He sees that at the foot of the steep slope of the ravine there is a fresh slope - a fox hole. However, what a wonder: the earth that the redhead was raking out with her paws was somehow unusual - black, very black in appearance, and black pebbles, large and small, glittered in it.

The hunter returned, cleared out the old shepherd's fire pit, lined it with black stones brought from the fox hole, and struck a fire. When the dry fire flared up, I placed the whole perch wrapped in burdock in the heat, and sprinkled the same black earth on top so that it would evaporate quickly and bake evenly. And lay down to rest...

After some time, he rushed to look at the baking fish and was terribly surprised: the earth and pebbles brought from the hole were now not black, but red, covered in blue lights on top. I quickly cleared away the fire, but all that was left of the perch was ash - it burned down along with the burdock leaves.

-Are you looking? - the hunter was amazed. - The earth is burning! Or is it a demonic obsession?

He sat there, in thought and bewilderment, looking at the hitherto unheard-of phenomenon, and then he took the same stones from the hole and threw them into the heat. At first it began to smoke slightly, and then small tongues of greenish-red flame poked out through the smoke.

“What a miracle! — the hunter was even more amazed. “The earth is burning!”

He quickly filled the empty bag with those pebbles and black earth, picked up the game, the hare and the fish, tightened his walking belt and hurried into the settlement to tell his fellow villagers about the unprecedented miraculous find. And before his eyes all the time he had a vision of the recently burning earth.” (slide 10)

Did you like the legends?

What new did you learn?

What is a legend? (a legend about historical events or personalities)

These and many other legends and thoughts can be read in the book I. Kostyrya. Duma about Donbass, which is located in the library of Municipal Educational Institution School No. 115 in Donetsk,

Presentation for the lesson (Donbass) Bottom line.

Children's hearts are a gift to Donbass.

(each student writes a wish to his hometown on a cut out heart and pastes it onto whatman paper)

Donbass is a mountainous region that is famous for many legends, most of which are associated with the local mines and catacombs.

Miner's Ghost

Monument to Shubin

Mutants near Mariupol

The mutants allegedly visited the nearby villages of Chermalyk and Granitnoye from time to time.

Once hooligans got into the habit of throwing stones on one woman’s roof - they were breaking the slate,” says Vladimir, a resident of the village of Chermalyk. - She complained to her son. The older guys have gathered, they’re sitting at home, waiting to teach the hooligans a lesson, and it’s already night outside. They heard the gate creaking, then a knock on the roof, well, they rushed after the unknown man, and he fell into the reeds and began to run away across the field towards the “Adit”. In general, they drove the bastard out into the clearing, shine a flashlight - there is a shadow, but there is no man!

The same Vladimir claims that he saw giant snakes near the “Adit” with his own eyes. He recalls:

And here is what Igor Krinichny from Granitnoye said:

Findings of stalkers

Of course, it cannot do without mysticism. Stalker Zakhar Berkut claims that he and his comrades managed to photograph a ghost in one of the caves.

Local schoolchildren have a tradition of organizing festivities near the catacombs on graduation day. It was there that another “ghostly” episode happened.

edited news Mordecai - 30-06-2014, 12:23