Technology of reforestation in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. Norway spruce Young spruce forest in the old days
Assessment of the state and prospects of growing spruce undergrowth in different types of forests The work was carried out by: Shilova Alina, a student of the 10th grade of gymnasium 363 and Eremina Anastasia, a student of the 8th grade of school 310 Supervisor: Natalia Nikolaevna Aleksandrova, teacher of additional education St. Petersburg 2015 Palace of Children (Youth) Creativity of the Frunzensky District Department of Natural History
Purpose and objectives Purpose: To find the most favorable places for the growth of spruce undergrowth. Tasks: 1. Determine the growth rate of spruce undergrowth in different biotopes. 2. Select the most favorable biotope for the development of spruce undergrowth. 3. Find places where you can massively grow spruce seedlings to restore spruce plantations.
Window dynamics is associated with the death of individual old trees and the formation of gaps in their place in the tree layer (“windows”), which provide access of light under the canopy of the forest stand and enable young trees to develop and take their place in the upper layer of the forest stand.
Conclusions The growth rates of spruce undergrowth in different biotopes are determined primarily by the light regime, as well as climatic conditions. The most favorable conditions for spruce turned out to be clay soils, with elements of waterlogging and with a cover of mosses and blueberries. As well as a more open space in the place of a fallen spruce forest, where there are few tall trees and better sunlight.
List of used literature and Internet resources 1. Korobkin VI, Ecology. Textbook for universities / V.I. Korobkin, L.V. Predelsky, 2006 2. Potapov A.D., Ecology / A.D. Potapov, 2000 3. Shamileva I.A., Ecology: Textbook for students of pedagogical universities / I.A. Shamileva, 2004 4. Renewable resources [Electronic resource] - 5. Spruce forest and its undergrowth [Electronic resource] - aspx 6. European or common spruce [Electronic resource] -
7. Norway spruce [Electronic resource] - %EE%E2%E5%ED%ED%E0%FF 8. Forests of Russia [Electronic resource] - html 9. Window dynamics of taiga forests [Electronic resource] - Assessment of the vital state of pine undergrowth [ Electronic resource] - ref.ru/04bot/podrost.htm 11. Recommendations for reforestation and care of young forests in the North-West of Russia [Electronic resource] - _id= Coniferous forests [Electronic resource] -
POGROST
Undergrowth is called young trees that have appeared naturally in the forest. They grew from seeds that fell on the surface of the soil. However, not every tree is referred to undergrowth, but only a relatively large one - from one to several meters in height. Smaller trees are called seedlings or self-seeding.
Undergrowth, as we know, does not form a separate layer in the forest. However, it is located mostly at the level of the undergrowth, although sometimes higher. Individual specimens of undergrowth can vary greatly in height - from undersized to relatively large.
There is almost always some amount of undergrowth in the forest. Sometimes it's a lot, sometimes it's not enough. And it is often located in small clusters, curtains. This happens especially often in the old spruce forest. When you meet such a curtain in the forest, you notice that it develops in a small clearing, where there are no trees. The abundance of undergrowth is explained by the fact that there is a lot of light in the glade. And this favors the emergence and development of young trees. Outside the clearing (where there is little light), young trees are much less common.
Small clusters are also formed by oak undergrowth. But this is noticeable when mature oaks are found in the forest one by one among the general mass of other trees, such as birches, firs. The arrangement of young oak trees in groups is due to the fact that acorns do not spread to the sides, but fall directly under the mother tree. Sometimes young oaks can be found in the forest very far from the mother trees. But they do not grow in groups, but one at a time, as they grew from acorns brought by a jay. The bird makes stocks of acorns, hiding them in moss or bedding, but then many of them are not found. These acorns give rise to young trees that are very far from adult fruit-bearing oaks.
In order for the undergrowth of a particular tree species to appear in the forest, a number of conditions are necessary. First of all, it is important that seeds get on the soil and, moreover, benign, able to germinate. There must be, of course, favorable conditions for their germination. And then certain conditions are required for the survival of seedlings and their subsequent normal growth. If some link is missing in this chain of conditions, then undergrowth does not appear. This happens, for example, when conditions for seed germination are unfavorable. Imagine that some small seeds fell on a thick layer of bedding. They will first germinate, but then they will die. Weak seedling roots will not be able to break through the litter and penetrate into the mineral layers of the soil, from where the plants take water and nutrients. Or another example. In some part of the forest, there is too little light for the normal development of undergrowth. Shoots appear, but then die from shading. They do not survive to the stage of undergrowth.
In the forest, only a very small proportion of the seeds that have fallen to the ground give rise to seedlings. The vast majority of seeds die. The reasons for this are different (destruction by animals, decay, etc.). But even if seedlings have appeared, not all of them subsequently turn into undergrowth. A lot of things can get in the way. It is not surprising that our trees produce a huge amount of seeds (for example, birch many millions per hectare). After all, only with such a strange, at first glance, extravagance is it possible to leave offspring.
In the forest, it often happens that one species dominates in the tree layer, and completely different in the undergrowth. Pay attention to many of our pine forests of rather old age. There is absolutely no pine undergrowth here, but spruce undergrowth is very plentiful. Often, young fir trees form dense thickets in a pine forest over a large area. Pine young growth is absent here for the reason that it is very photophilous and does not withstand the shading that is created in the forest. In nature, pine undergrowth in mass usually appears only in open places, for example, in conflagrations, abandoned arable lands, etc.
The same discrepancy between mature trees and undergrowth can be observed in many birch forests located in the taiga zone. A birch grows in the upper tier of the forest, and under it there is a dense, abundant undergrowth of spruce.
Under favorable conditions, the undergrowth eventually turns into mature trees. And these trees of natural origin are more valuable from a biological point of view than those grown artificially (by sowing seeds or planting seedlings). Trees grown from undergrowth are best adapted to local natural conditions, most resistant to various adverse environmental influences. In addition, these are the strongest specimens, surviving the severe competition that is always observed between trees in the forest, especially at a younger age.
So, undergrowth is one of the important components of the forest plant community. Young trees, under favorable conditions, can replace old, dead trees. This is exactly what happened in nature for many centuries and millennia, when the forest was little exposed to human influence. But even now, in some cases, it is possible to use undergrowth for the natural restoration of a cut down forest or individual large trees. Of course, only when the young trees are sufficiently numerous and well developed.
Our story about forest plant communities has come to an end. You could be convinced that all tiers of the forest, all groups of plants and, finally, individual plants in the forest are closely related to each other, in one way or another they influence each other. Each plant occupies a certain place in the forest and plays a particular role in the life of the forest.
There are many remarkable features in the structure and life of forest plants. It is about them that will be discussed further. But in order to make the story more consistent and clear, we divided the material into separate chapters. In each chapter, plants are considered from one point of view. One chapter talks about interesting features of the structure, the other about reproduction, the third about development, etc. So, let's get acquainted with some little secrets of plants that live in the forest.
But first, a few more words. The book consists of separate short stories, original biological sketches. In these stories we will talk about the most diverse inhabitants of the forest - trees and shrubs, grasses and shrubs, mosses and lichens. Some mushrooms will also be mentioned. According to the latest ideas, mushrooms are not classified as a plant world, but are isolated into a special kingdom of nature. But the greatest attention will, of course, be given to trees - the most important, dominant plants in the forest.
It should also be noted that our story will concern not only plants as a whole, but also their individual organs - both aboveground and underground. We will get acquainted with interesting biological secrets of flowers and fruits, leaves and seeds, stems and rhizomes, bark and wood. In this case, attention will be paid mainly to large external features that are clearly visible to the naked eye. Only in some places it is necessary to touch a little on the internal, anatomical structure of plants. But here, too, we will try to show how different microscopic features are reflected in external signs - in what is noticeable to the simple eye.
And the last. The division adopted in the book into separate chapters devoted to certain features of forest plants (structure, development, reproduction), of course, is conditional. This was done only for the convenience of presentation, for some ordering of the material presented. There is no sharp distinction between these chapters. It is difficult to draw, for example, a clear boundary between structural features and reproduction. One and the same material can be placed almost with the same right either in one or another chapter. For example, the story about the special structure of pine and spruce seeds, which allows them to rotate very quickly in the air when falling from a tree, concerns both structure and reproduction. In the book, this material is placed in the chapter on the structure of plants. But this is just an arbitrary decision of the author, which, I hope, the reader will forgive him, just like some other similar decisions.
Introduction. The study of natural regeneration is of particular importance in afforestation. Such studies make it possible to determine the quantity and quality of the young generation replacing the parent stand. Of great interest is the establishment of the stability of plantations with a predominance of Scots pine.
The current growth of young trees is an objective indicator for assessing the state of undergrowth, since the forest stand can have both a negative and a positive impact on it.
It is known that the quantity and quality of undergrowth under the forest canopy largely depends on the species that makes up the forest stand. The advantage of natural renewal from the point of view of biology and economics was emphasized by G.F. Morozov.
Weiss A.A. found that in the process of growth in the plantation, the influence of trees on each other increases.
Iteshina N.M., Danilova L.N., Petrov L.V. determined that natural pine stands have lower growth rates compared to artificial plantations.
The main sources that reveal the issues of morphological relationships that affect both growth and the state of plantations were the works of Weiss A.A. .
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the growth of young animals in height under the canopy and in the open.
Objects and methods of research. The objects of research were located on the territory of the Usinsky forestry. For research, forest areas with a density of 0.4, 0.7 and an open area were selected.
The work was carried out at the end of the growing season - in September. A total of 3 trial plots were established. On each trial plot, 30 experimental plots 1 * 1 m were placed, where a selective enumeration of pine undergrowth was carried out (seedlings were not taken into account) with the measurement of linear indicators. On the selected sample plots, measurements of increments, age by whorls, measurement of height, crown diameter and trunk diameter of Scots pine undergrowth under different lighting conditions (different-density forest stands) were carried out.
Annual height increments of 131 pine undergrowth were measured on 3 trial plots.
Experimental studies. The growth of trees in pine forests is the most important taxation indicator of both a single tree and the entire stand. With the help of growth, it is possible to assess the potential productivity of a forest stand, the quality factor of growing conditions, and the competitive relationships between planting components.
The current growth of young Scots pine trees is an objective indicator that characterizes their growth and condition, and also synthesizes the results of the vital activity of the plant organism.
To identify the growth of young trees in height in order to separate the undergrowth formed under the influence of environmental factors, graphs of the dependence of growth by years and growth taking into account age were plotted. These charts are shown below.
Figure 1. Dependence of the growth of young trees over the years
Analyzing the graph of dependence of growth over the years, we can say that in the open area, the minimum growth of undergrowth was observed in 2008, and the maximum growth was recorded in 2011. It can also be said that the average increment varies within 7 cm. The growth of pine undergrowth in height over the years in absolute terms showed its dynamism. The change in growth within the trial area may differ in all years, or be similar in some years (Fig. 1).
These changes in the growth of Scots pine can be explained by the fact that in different years climatic factors differently influenced the growth of Scots pine undergrowth.
Figure 2. Dependence of growth of undergrowth on age
It can be seen from the graph of the dependence of growth taking into account age that in an open place, with increasing age, growth increases (direct relationship). The minimum growth of undergrowth was observed at the age of 4 years, the maximum at 10 years. In an open area, the growth intensity is greater, the larger the undergrowth. Under the forest canopy, the minimum increase was observed at the age of 8 years and increased sharply at the age of 9 years. Under the canopy there is no strict regularity as in the open area, since the growth under the canopy is greatly influenced by limiting factors (light, nutrients, flow and pressure of the environment, soil, fires, microenvironment, etc.).
In the state of self-sowing, young trees have an underdeveloped root system and a small leaf surface. As the roots and leaves grow, the assimilating capacity of the crowns increases, and the growth of wood increases. The poor growth of pine undergrowth under the canopy of mature stands is due not only to a lack of light, but also to the fact that the trees of the mother stand, with their powerful and well-developed roots, intercept nutrients and moisture from the soil. The vital activity of the roots is significantly affected by the water located on the illuvial horizon, which most often occurs in the spring after the snow melts. With its high standing, the vital activity of the roots is delayed, the duration of the growing season is reduced and, as a result, growth is reduced. Pine is a photophilous breed and grows well only without shading. Consequently, in an open area, the intensity of growth is much higher than under a canopy.
Output. Having studied the distribution of young animals by age and by year in the open and under the canopy, the following conclusions can be drawn:
In the open area, the minimum growth of undergrowth was observed in 2008, and the maximum growth was detected in 2011;
Under the canopy of the forest stand, the minimum increase in undergrowth was observed in 2000 and 2003, the maximum increase in 2005;
The growth rate within the trial area may vary in all years, or be similar in some years;
In an open area, the intensity of growth is greater, the larger the undergrowth;
Under the canopy, there is no definite regularity as in an open place, since the growth under the canopy is greatly influenced by limiting factors (light, nutrients, flow and pressure of the environment, soil, fires, microenvironment, etc.);
In an open area, the growth rate is much higher than under a canopy.
Bibliographic list
- Anhalt E.M., Zhamurina N.A. Analysis of the growth of pine undergrowth and young growth in pine-ash crops [Text] // News of the Orenburg State Agrarian University. 2013. No. 6 (44). P 31-34.
- Morozov G.F. Selected Works / Moscow: Timber industry, 1971. 536 p.
- Weiss A.A. Dynamics of competitive relationships: in v- between tree species in a pine cenosis [Text] // Bulletin of KrasGAU. 2011. No. 5. S. 84-87
- Iteshina N.M., Danilova L.N., Petrov L.V. Growth and structure of pine stands in various forest growing conditions [Text] // Innovative development of the agro-industrial complex and agricultural education - scientific support: Proceedings of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference. 2011. Vol.1. pp. 265-267
- Weiss A.A. Dynamics of competitive relationships between tree species in the pine cenosis [Text] // Bulletin of the Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University. 2011. No. 5. S.84-87.
- Weiss A.A. Connection between the diameters of the lower part of the trunks of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in the conditions of Central Siberia [Text] // Forest taxation and forest management. 2011. No. 1-2. S.29-32.
- Weiss A.A. Patterns of communication between the diameters of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) trees at chest height and diameters at stump height in conditions of Central and Southern Siberia [Text] // Bulletin of the Adygei State University. Series 4: Natural-mathematical and technical sciences. 2011. No. 1. S. 53-60.
- Machyk M.Sh., Weiss A.A. Estimation of the course of growth of morphological parameters of young pine forests, taking into account their age structure in the conditions of the East Tuva-South-Zabaikalsky mountainous forest region [Text] // Modern scientific research and innovation. 2016. No. 1 (57). C 268-276.
Development of self-seeding
The young generation of woody plants under the age of 3-5 years, and in the conditions of the north up to 10 years, formed from seeds in a natural way, is called self-sowing. Shoots that appear on the surface of the soil as a result of sowing seeds are called seedlings.
In the first year of its life, the size of self-seeding is far from the same. The height of a 2-year-old seed pine ranges from 2 to 14 cm, and the height of 2-year-old seed birches varies from 11 to 76 cm. A significant difference in height, diameters and other external signs of self-seeding and undergrowth was explained by C. Darwin. He explained fluctuations in growth and development primarily by individual variability. The hereditary characteristics of organisms within the same species are different.
Individual variability of plants is most pronounced at a young age. For seedlings or seedlings, the external environmental conditions are grass cover, showers, snowfall, snowfalls and other factors. They enhance the process of differentiation. which ultimately ends in failure. Natural thinning occurs, i.e. loss of part of self-sowing, which lasts in the plantation throughout the life of the stand, but has a maximum at a young age.
Seedling growth also depends on the thickness and density of the litter. With an increase in the thickness of the forest floor, the total amount of self-seeding and undergrowth decreases. In forest types where the litter consists of litter of hardwoods - ash, oak - and conifers, the development of self-seeding pine can be successful. In the presence of a dense litter of maple, aspen, linden, elm leaves, seedlings covered with these leaves die. Mother trees in the forest create favorable conditions for the development of self-sowing, protecting, for example, tender shoots from the sun, preventing herbaceous vegetation from growing violently.
A negative role in the process of natural renewal is played by the grass ground cover, especially reed grass, meadow grass, bluegrass, etc. Cereal plants form a dense turf, preventing the emergence and development of seedlings. However, not always cereals and mosses have a negative meaning. In the early stages of its development, sphagnum can be an additional moisturizer for seedlings of downy birch.
Dense moss cushions made of cuckoo flax or sphagnum in the taiga coniferous forest prevent the successful development of self-seeding. Seedlings that have appeared with a strong growth of moss cover or cereals may die due to lack of moisture. Drying of the upper horizons of the soil occurs. In the presence of heather under the forest canopy or on clearings, the appearance of sod grasses is excluded and favorable conditions are created for the growth and development of pine. Plants such as Ivan-tea, heather, European hoof, kupena, raven eye, contribute to loosening the soil.
The growth of some plants in the ground cover can cause the danger of some diseases of woody plants. So, in the northern regions of the taiga, spruce is affected by a rust fungus that passes from wild rosemary.
The living ground cover in clearings can be useful for the seedlings of tree species, as it protects them from frost, sunburn, and the drying effect of the wind. Ivan-tea and others have a protective effect on self-seeding of conifers. However, the cover is dangerous for tree seedlings as a competitor, taking away moisture, food, light and heat from them. Some plants (for example, lupine and clover) enrich the soil with nitrogen, improving the conditions for forest development. Knowing the nature of the grass cover, one can easily prevent its negative effects on the course of self-seeding growth of the main tree species.
Undergrowth development
The young generation of woody plants under the forest canopy or in clearings, capable of forming a forest stand, is called undergrowth. The presence of a sufficient amount of undergrowth under the forest canopy or on clearing does not yet mean that the forest needed for the economy has been formed. There are a number of factors that directly or indirectly negatively affect the further course of forest formation. Low temperatures and frosts often damage the undergrowth, as a result of which the plants grow poorly and take on a curved shape. On heavy wet and damp soils, undergrowth is squeezed out of the soil by frost. Among the young undergrowth there is a large number of injuries and diseases.
The closing of undergrowth crowns marks a new qualitative stage in forest formation. In the case of a uniform distribution of undergrowth that arose from the seeds of one seed year, a uniform closure is formed. From this period, undergrowth is considered a plantation, and the area occupied by it is referred to as covered with forest. In the case of clump placement of undergrowth, the closing of crowns occurs later than with uniform placement. Clump regeneration is typical for tempo-coniferous forests of different ages.
The undergrowth of individual tree species is classified according to their characteristics. So, spruce undergrowth is divided into three categories of reliability: stable, doubtful and unreliable. (208;5)
The condition of the undergrowth (its growth and development under the forest canopy) depends on the closeness of the crowns of the maternal canopy. The greatest number of trustworthy undergrowth in coniferous forests occurs at a density of 0.4-0.6. A decrease or increase in canopy density has a negative effect on the trustworthiness and number of undergrowth. In high-density plantations, little light and heat penetrate the soil surface, there is not enough moisture in the soil, the topsoil is in a supercooled state for a long time. Therefore, those shoots that were "lucky" to appear here, in the future, almost all die. In a rare forest, the other extreme. The abundance of light and heat contributes to the growth
sods. Under these conditions, pine undergrowth, having acquired an independent value, cannot compete with the grass cover and dies either from frost or from the sun.
Various tree species under a closed forest canopy can be in a state of oppression for a long time. For example, spruce and fir undergrowth up to 60 years or more. Pine, birch and aspen cannot stand long-term shading. Undergrowth plays a positive role in reforestation.
Undergrowth under the forest canopy reacts to a sharp lightening to varying degrees. The undergrowth of conifers after the removal of the parent forest canopy can get burned or significantly slow down growth and accelerate development.
Since ancient times, people have been using the wonderful property of plants - to give food and warmth. But in addition to these properties, people noticed that plants can influence the fate of a person, as well as heal him from illnesses, both physical and spiritual. Since ancient times, people have revered trees and sacred groves. They came to be treated, pray, ask for protection or love. From time immemorial, magical powers have been attributed to trees. It was believed that the guardian spirits of man live in them. Many signs, beliefs and rituals are associated with trees.
A tree in the folk culture of the Slavs is an object of worship. In ancient Russian monuments of the 11th-17th centuries. it is reported about the worship of the pagans "growths" and "trees", about prayers under them ("growth ... zhpyakhy"). Judging by everyone, these were, as a rule, fenced-in areas of the forest. The groves were considered reserved, they did not cut down trees, did not collect firewood. Among the Slavs, many groves and custom-made forests have “sacred” names: “god”, “gay-bog”, “god”, “holy forest”, “svyatibor”.
The category of revered and sacred trees also included individual trees, especially old ones, growing alone in a field or near healing springs. People came to these trees to get rid of diseases, the evil eye, infertility and other misfortunes. They brought gifts and sacrifices (hung towels, clothes, rags on trees), prayed, touched the trees. Through the hollows and crevices of such trees, the sick climbed, as if leaving their illnesses outside this hole. When Christianity appeared in Russia, in order to attract people to temples, churches were built right in the sacred groves. Numerous traditions, legends and apocryphal tales testify to this, about the construction of churches near revered trees. Various rituals were performed near the sacred trees.
The Southern Slavs practiced the custom of "marrying" the young around a tree (or precede this action with a wedding ceremony). Among the Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians, many ceremonies and celebrations took place on the "record" - a sacred tree (usually an oak or a fruit tree). Festive meals were also arranged here, sacrificial animals were slaughtered, bonfires were lit at Shrovetide; oaths were taken near the "reserve" and courts were held, etc. The old forest hazel tree - in the absence of a priest - could be confessed: kneeling down and clasping it in his arms, the man repented of his sins and asked the tree for forgiveness - this indicates that before the arrival of Christianity, trees were a link between God and people (the world of people and the world of gods). Oaks, elms and other large trees were reserved. It was forbidden to kill them and cause any harm at all. Violation of these prohibitions led to the death of a person, the death of livestock, and failure to harvest. Such trees were considered patrons of the surroundings - villages, houses, wells, lakes, protected from hail, fires, natural disasters.
A tree as a metaphor for a road, as a path by which one can reach the afterlife - a common motif of Slavic beliefs and rituals associated with death.
Characteristic ideas about the posthumous transition of the human soul into a tree. So, the Belarusians believed that in every creaky tree the soul of the deceased languishes, which asks passers-by to pray for her; if, after such a prayer, a person falls asleep under a tree, he will dream of a soul that will tell you how long it has been and why it has been imprisoned in this tree. The Serbs believed that the soul of a person finds peace in a tree growing on his grave; therefore, one must not pluck the fruits from the cemetery trees and break the branches. Slavic ballads about people sworn into trees are connected with the circle of these beliefs. Such folklore stories usually refer to people who died an untimely death before their allotted time; their interrupted life, as it were, tends to continue in other forms. A tree, like a plant, generally correlates with a person by external signs: the trunk - the body, the roots - the legs, the branches - the arms, the juices - the blood, etc. There are "male" and "female" trees (birch - birch, oak - oak), which differ in shape: y birch branches spread out to the sides, y birch - up. When a child is born, a tree is planted for him, believing that the child will grow in the same way as this tree develops. At the same time, in some beliefs, the growth of such a tree causes exhaustion of a person and leads him to death. Therefore, they tried not to plant large trees near the house.
The tree is closely related to the field of demonology. This is the habitat of various mythological creatures. Mermaids live on birch trees, witches flocked to giant oaks on the Kupala night, the devil sits in the roots of elderberry, in a hollow willow, pitchforks and samodivas on sprawling large trees, whose branches they play with, often demons live in thorny bushes (hawthorn is a pitchfork tree).
S. Yesenin said: "The Russians have everything from the Tree - this is the religion of the thought of our people." And he explained why and why the tree is usually embroidered only on towels. This has deep meaning. “A tree is life,” the poet writes. Every morning, when we wake up from sleep, we wash our face with water. Water is a symbol of cleansing... Wiping their face on a canvas depicting a tree, our people say that they have not forgotten the secret of the ancient fathers to wipe themselves with leaves, that they remember themselves as the seed of an overworld tree, and, running under its cover, dipping their face in a towel, they as if he wants to imprint at least a small branch of it on his cheeks, so that like a tree he can shower cones of words and thoughts from himself and stream a shadow-virtue from the branches-hands.
tree of life.
The tree generally occupied a special place in the life of the pagan Slavs. A legend has been preserved that a long time ago, when there was still neither sky nor earth, but only the blue sea splashed everywhere, there were two oaks in the middle of it, on the branches of which two doves sat. Once the pigeons fluttered, then dived to the bottom of the sea and brought sand and pebbles from there. From this material the sky with the earth and all heavenly bodies were built.
From those ancient times came the myth and the tree of life. The Slavs believed that it served as the axis, the center of the whole world and, as it were, embodied the entire universe. The roots of this amazing tree, which was called the world tree, embraced the whole earth, reached the depths of the underworld. Its crown rested on the vault of heaven. For the ancient man, it embodied ideas about space and time. It was no coincidence that a riddle arose: “There is an oak tree, there are 12 branches on the oak tree, each branch has four nests, each nest has seven chicks.” This was the mythical image of the year: twelve months, each of them contains four weeks, and a week has seven days. (Then the account was kept by lunar months).
In the folklore of the Slavic peoples - fairy tales, riddles, conspiracies - the image of the tree of life often appears. Most often it is a mighty oak that has lived on earth for several centuries. In one of the famous tales, an old man climbed such an oak tree and reached the very sky. There he saw wonderful millstones - the emblem of a spring thunderstorm that gives people rain and fertility. Yes, and conspiracies from diseases begin most often with a joke that on the sea-okian, on the island of Buyan, where the alatyr stone lies, there is a “damask oak”.
Images of the external and internal world of an ancient person were strung on a tree-axis. It systematized this world, gave it harmony, where each object or phenomenon, each living being had its place.
At the top of the crown sat a deity - formidable, inaccessible. Birds found shelter in the branches. Bees swarmed around the trunk, moose, deer, horses, cows, and sometimes people crowded. The roots gathered snakes, frogs and even fish around them. There were also chained demons and other unclean forces. Fragrance comes from this tree, and twelve springs “flow like milk and honey” from its root. Sometimes the upper deity entered into battle with the "lower tier", stopping the encroachments of snakes and dragons on the "warm-blooded" located near the trunk. According to beliefs, the tree is the path by which the snakes go to the mythical country of the vyrey in autumn.
The tree that connects the earthly and underground worlds also figures in West Slavic mythological stories about children replaced by demons. In order to get her son back, the woman takes the changeling under some tree, and later takes her child from there. Things that needed to be disposed of - sent to the other world (items that were in contact with the deceased, old wedding paraphernalia, etc.) were thrown onto the tree (or attributed to it) things that needed to be disposed of - sent to the next world. water these items.
Cult trees, symbolizing the world tree, have accompanied many important events in human life for centuries.
An indispensable participant in the traditional Slavic wedding was the world tree, its image. Bridesmaids sing about him, promising young people happiness and wealth. And when a new house was being built, it was customary to put a ritual tree in the center of the building. Well, on folk holidays, such as on the Trinity, you can’t do without a birch, all yards, houses and temples are decorated with green branches.
“A Christmas tree was born in the forest” ... Everyone knows this song, from young to old. Leading a round dance around the discharged forest beauty, the children do not even suspect that they are performing ritual actions, part of the myth-making of our distant ancestors. Also, many centuries ago, people gathered near a tree, made sacrifices to its roots, sang, performed ritual dances, in which each movement had a symbolic meaning.
Until now, in some places the following custom has been preserved. If a guy brings a tree dug out in the forest and plants it under the girl's window, this is clearly perceived as a declaration of love, a marriage proposal.
The tree of life was usually depicted with eight branches, four on each side. When depicting it, four colors were most often used: black, red, blue and white. The branches, trunk and roots of the world tree connect, respectively, the upper, middle and lower worlds, and the branches connect the cardinal points.
Oak
from ancient times it was among the Slavs a sacred tree - the king of forests. Oak rightfully occupies the first place in the Slavic arboretum. The Russians called it Tsar Oak, and, according to popular beliefs, the king of birds, the eagle, lived on it. God the Father acted under the name or in the form of an oak tree. In folk beliefs, oak acts as a symbol of masculinity, supremacy, strength, power, firmness. It is no coincidence that in conspiracies his constant epithets are “iron” or “damask”, and the proverb says about him: “You can’t knock down an oak at one time.” They say about strong strong men: strong as an oak (oak).
The Slavs, among other trees, especially singled out and revered the oak. Perhaps, at first, in general, they called all the trees with the word "oak". It is no coincidence that the words “club”, “club” originating from him refer not only to the oak club.
Oak was revered as a deity. Sacrifices were made at its foot. Idols were hewn from oak wood. And the fire at the temple could only be “fed” with oak firewood. Among the people, the oak was considered connected by invisible threads with the supreme deity Perun. After all, this tree seemed to attract lightning to itself. And today, in a thunderstorm, you should not hide under an oak tree - it is dangerous. These are echoes of the main myth of the Eastern Slavs about the duel of Perun with the enemy, who is hiding under an oak tree. The Slavs had a ban on growing oak near the house, since, according to legend, thunder strikes the oak first.
Mostly our ancestors attributed to the oak and the legend about the world tree. This is exactly what the oak tree looks like in the Russian conspiracy: “... There is a holy Akiyan sea, an island on that sea, on that island there is an oak, from earth to heaven, from east to west, from the young of the month to the decrepit ...”
Faith and worship of the oak continued for so long that even after the adoption of Christianity by Russia, under pain of a church court, it was forbidden "to Petya's prayer service in front of the oak." After all, just as the gods decided the fate of the whole world and people in particular, sitting under the world tree, so they performed judgment under mighty oaks, believing that the sentences pronounced here were consecrated by a deity. There were entire reserved sacred oak groves. To go into such a walk, and even more so to pick a branch from a tree, was considered blasphemy. For this, the sorcerers-priests could condemn the "blasphemer" even to death.
It was forbidden to cut sacred oaks everywhere. It was believed that any attempt to damage them (cut down, break a branch, peel off the bark, and even use its dry wood for firewood) would turn into misfortune for a person or for everyone living nearby. Belarusians believed that if you start cutting down an old oak, then blood will appear from under the ax - the tree will cry with bloody tears.
Archaeological finds also point to the cult role of the oak: in 1975, an ancient oak was raised from the bottom of the Dnieper, in the trunk of which 9 boar jaws were inserted. In 1910, a similar oak was removed from the bottom of the Desna. Apparently, these trees were used in making sacrifices.
Oak groves were open-air sanctuaries.
In Christianity, the veneration of the oak, like many other pagan beliefs, entered as a symbol of the veneration of Christ and the Virgin Mary. The oak, along with the aspen, was one of several types of trees from which, it was believed, the cross of the Lord could be made. Because of its hardness and endurance, the oak has become a symbol of the strength of faith and virtue, as well as the resilience of Christians in the face of adversity.
The Russian apocrypha told how Judas wanted to hang himself on an oak tree, but "By God's command, the oak bowed and was preserved."
The Bulgarian legend told how an oak grove hid God, who was running away from the Plague; in gratitude for this, God made sure that the leaves from the oak fell only in late autumn.
In beliefs, practical magic and folklore, the oak consistently appears as a male symbol. In signs and prohibitions, the oak is compared with the owner of the house, the head of the family. So, for example, the Nizhny Novgorod expression “From oak - bark!” - meaning the order of the husband, so that the wife undresses him, takes off his boots. Water after bathing a newborn boy is poured under an oak tree; when the bride is brought into her husband's house, she first enters there and says to herself: “There are oak trees near the yard, and sons in the house,” if she wants boys to be born to her. In the Vitebsk region, a midwife cut the boy's umbilical cord on an oak chopping block so that he would grow up strong.
In the Tver province until the beginning of the 20th century, there was such a custom: as soon as a boy was born, his father went to the forest and cut down several oaks, the logs of which were then taken to the river and immersed in water. There they remained until the son grew up. When he intended to marry, oak logs, already turned into stained wood, so strong that it was impossible to cut it with an ax, were taken out of the water and used as the foundation of a house for a new family.
The inhabitants of Polissya considered it unacceptable for an oak tree to grow near the dwelling: they believed here that if there was this tree next to the house, then there would be no owner in the hut. The Poleshchuks were convinced that if this happened, then as soon as the oak reached a size that would make it possible to make a grave cross out of it, the owner of the house would immediately die. According to local beliefs, the oak, located near the dwelling, generally “survives” men from it.
The oak (like a tree in general) modeled the birth and growth of a child (the custom is to plant a tree at the birth of a baby). Sometimes the child himself planted the oak, then the child’s health was judged by his growth and development: the oak of the lad - the lad will be healthy, the oak does not grow - the lad will get sick.
The Eastern Slavs know a ban on growing oaks from acorns: it was believed that the person who planted the acorn would die as soon as the tree was equal to its height. The role of oak in wedding ceremonies is also known. In the Voronezh province, an ancient custom was respected; leaving the church after the wedding, the young people went to the oak tree and circled around three times.
The strength of the oak led to its widespread use in funeral rites: from ancient times, coffins were made from it, in former times it was a hollowed out block, and grave crosses. This can be seen in the words common in the modern language and stable combinations of words denoting the transition to another world: “look at the oak” - die, “give oak”, “cloud” - die. In Russian riddles, death is most often guessed through the image of an oak:
At the turn of the Tatar
There is an oak tree,
No one will get around, no one will go around:
Neither the king, nor the queen, nor the red maiden.
The properties of oak were taken into account in folk medical practice. In conspiracies from the most terrible diseases, the image of an oak is one of the most common. He was not only addressed in conspiracies, but oak trees were also used in the treatment itself.
If a person has a backache, it is good to lean against an oak trunk at the first spring thunder. The East Slavic custom is known to plug an oak branch into a belt on the back so that the back does not hurt during the harvest, etc. The Poles hung oak wreaths on the horns of cows so that the cows were strong and so that the horns would not break when butting.
In the folk medicine of the southern Slavs, a popular way to treat childhood diseases, as well as a way to stop child mortality in the family, was the custom to put the cut off hair and nails of a sick child or a thread into the trunk of an oak tree, which was previously measured by a child, and then clog this hole with a peg: when the child outgrows it hole, disease will leave him.
The oak served as an object to which diseases were symbolically transferred. Belarusians poured water under a young oak, in which they washed a consumptive patient; the Poles, with boils in their mouths, spat into a hole dug under an oak tree; Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs, Moravans left the patient's clothes on the oak; Bulgarians, Serbs and Macedonians visited revered oaks and tied ribbons and threads from clothes to their branches. Ukrainians hung towels and skeins of thread on oak trees as a vow.
To relieve a toothache, you need to bite an oak chip with a sick tooth.
Better yet, find an old oak tree in the forest, next to which springs break out of the ground, tear off the bark from the branch and soak it in spring water. If you wear such a charm in an amulet, your teeth will never be disturbed at all.
A sick child can be cured if you split the trunk of a young oak tree in the forest and drag the baby three times between the splits. And then tie the trunk with a rope or a sash.
You can go around the tree with the baby three more times nine times, and then hang a piece of baby clothes on its branches. As the left tissue decays, so the ailment will leave. From this rite, the tradition subsequently arose to decorate trees with rags and ribbons, which began to be perceived as sacrifices to forest spirits.
Oaks were considered the habitat of mythological characters. For example, according to the beliefs of the Eastern Slavs, witches flocked to giant oaks on the Kupala night. Among the southern Slavs, large oaks, elms and beeches were called "Samovil" or "Samodiv" (they gathered samodivs, pitchforks, devils).
Green oak near Lukomorye
Golden chain on an oak tree
And day and night the cat is a scientist
Everything goes round and round
Goes to the right - the song starts.
Left - tells a fairy tale.
There are miracles, there the goblin roams,
The mermaid sits on the branches.
Tells A.S. Pushkin.
The presence of fruits in oak brings its magical properties closer to the magical properties of fruit trees. So, rituals against infertility are usually performed under fruit trees, but sometimes under an oak.
Oak branches were used as a talisman, sticking them into the windows and doors of houses before the Kupala night.
The Slavs made amulets from oak bark.
The ancient sages predicted fate by listening to the rustle of oak branches.
In love magic, in order to bring the guy and the girl together, they used a decoction infused with oak and birch chips, chipped off in the place where these trees grew together.
A love spell on oak was also used. Tied together oak and birch. Having tied the string, they said: “As I tied you together, so I am tied forever with the servant of God (name). Amen". Then they left without looking back, and did not come to this place again.
Birch.
Since ancient times, a slender white-trunked birch has become a symbol of Russia. And although birches grow all over the world, they are not loved anywhere and are honored as they are in our homeland.
It has been so in all ages. After all, birch in Slavic mythology was also considered a sacred tree. Sometimes not only oak, but birch was revered by our ancestors as a world tree. This idea remained in the ancient conspiracy: “On the sea-ocean, on the island of Buyan, there is a white birch with its branches down, its roots up”
Linguists associate the Russian name of birch with the verb to save. This is due to the fact that the Slavs considered birch a gift from the gods, protecting a person.
The Slavic rune is associated with the birch - Bereginya - Birch, Fate, Mother, Earth.
Bereginya in the Slavic tradition is a female image associated with protection and maternal protective principles. In archaic antiquity, under the name of Beregini, Makosh, the Mother Goddess, was in charge of earthly fertility and the fate of all living things. This rune is the rune of fate.
Legends and beliefs, often associated with biblical characters, tell about the origin and natural properties of birch. In folk legends, the birch acts as a blessed tree, as it sheltered the trait of St. Friday, and she also sheltered the Mother of God and Jesus from the weather: therefore, she enjoys the patronage of all three. Or, on the contrary, the birch was considered a God-cursed tree, the branches of which were whipped by Christ. In eastern Polissia there is a legend about the human origin of this tree: birches are the daughters of the first man - Adam - who have grown into the ground with their braids, and birch sap is their tears. The white color of the tree trunk is explained in legends by the fact that the birch, when Judas wanted to hang himself on it, turned white with fright, but did not accept the traitor.
In Slavic ballads, legends, fairy tales, it is told that the ruined girl turns into a birch. The Belarusian song sings about a birch that grew on the bride's grave, which was poisoned by the groom's mother.
In traditional culture, birch symbolizes the feminine. In many beliefs, rituals, and ritual songs, in folklore texts, she is opposed to oak as a male symbol.
The tender birch was revered as a female symbol, was considered the patroness of young girls. Brides came to her both in days of joy and in hours of despair. Clinging to a thin white trunk, they dried their tears, as if they were absorbing faith, hope, love.
Any spring holiday in Russia in honor of the awakening nature could not do without a birch. On Trinity Day, churches and houses were decorated with young birch branches. It was believed that the tree would not be "offended" if it was cut down with love in the name of such a big holiday.
In many Russian provinces, they went to the forest on Semnik, chose a young birch, decorated it, curled wreaths on its branches, arranged a joint feast under it, led round dances, guessed. Then, with a cut birch (which was sometimes called "semik"), they walked around the village and, at the end of the ceremony, threw the birches into the water, into the fire, into the ravine (that is, they "escorted the birch", "buried" it). The girls "smoked" with a birch, asked her for a share, washed themselves with birch sap for beauty and health. This rite survived until the beginning of the 20th century. and maybe somewhere it is being revived today.
Trinity morning, morning canon,
In the grove along the birch trees there is a white chime.
Written by Sergei Yesenin.
There was such a sign: the girl who was the first to sit on the Trinity in the shade of the cherished birch, the first among her friends and get married. It was also believed that if you sit in the shade of the Trinity Birch and make a wish, it will surely come true.
In the mythological ideas of the Slavs, the period of the Trinity and Semik referred to those calendar intervals when the ancestors temporarily left the "other world" and appeared in the world of the living. The place of their stay on earth was the fresh green of birches. Therefore, birch trees were brought from the forest for the souls of the "parents" and installed near the houses. These days they went to the cemetery, brought here birch branches, wreaths, brooms. The main ritual action was the “plowing up” of the graves. They were swept over with birch branches, after which the branches were stuck into the grave ground.
Trinity week was also called "Mermaid": according to legend, only this week mermaids appeared on earth. Birch was considered a favorite habitat of mermaids. In mermaid songs, they appear to be sitting on a green or crooked birch. So, in the Smolensk region they sang:
At the birch gate
Zilina got cold
Vettiky waved;
On that birch bark
The mermaid sat down...
They imagined that mermaids live on weeping birches, swing on their branches or sit under a tree. Especially for the swinging of mermaids, branches were woven on birch trees.
Thus, the use of birch in the Trinity rites was determined by the idea of the image of this tree as the embodiment of fertility, as an object that connects the world of the living and the world of the dead and mythological creatures.
On the Trinity week, the girls performed fortune-telling, most of which was associated with a birch. So, for example, at night they wove birch branches with grass into a braid, and in the morning they looked: if the braid is untwisted, then be married this year, if not, stay in the girls. They also threw woven wreaths on a birch: depending on whether the wreath caught on a tree or fell to the ground, they judged whether the girl would marry in the next wedding season or not. Wreaths of birch branches, which were worn on the head all week, were thrown into the river: if a wreath sinks - to death, if it sinks to its shore - it awaits the continuation of girlhood, if it floats to a foreign shore - it will certainly be married.
Birch in folk beliefs was endowed with protective properties. Birch branches, especially used in Trinity and other calendar rites, were considered a reliable amulet by the Slavs. Shut up under the roof of the house, they reliably protected from lightning, thunder and hail; stuck in the middle of crops in the field protect from rodents and birds; abandoned on garden beds - protect capes from caterpillars. With the help of birch branches, they tried to protect themselves from evil spirits, especially the "walking dead". On the eve of Ivan Kypaly, birch branches stuck in the walls of the barn prevented the witches from milking milk from other people's cows, and harming them in general. On the eve of Ivan Kupala, wreaths of birch branches were put on the horns of cows so that the cattle were healthy and brought healthy offspring.
Among the Western Slavs, a birch broom, leaning against the bed of a woman in labor or the cradle of a newborn, was considered a reliable amulet.
At the same time, birch is often mentioned as an attribute of evil spirits in demonological beliefs and epics. The witch could milk milk from birch branches, she could also fly not only on a broomstick or a bread shovel, but also on a birch stick. White horses, given to the devil as a gift, turned into crooked birch trees, and bread given to the devil into birch bark; a woman in whom a demon "moved" during an attack was "thrown" on a birch.. Recently, during excavations near Novgorod, archaeologists found letters written on birch bark by our ancestors almost ten centuries ago. But birch bark is birch bark. Similar messages, “petitions” to the goblin, the water one, were written by the ancient Slavs on birch bark and pinned to a tree. They prayed not to deprive the hunter of game, to return lost cattle, to guard in the forest or on the river.
The contradictory attitude towards birch is also reflected in popular beliefs.
In some places, it was believed that a birch, planted next to the house, scares away evil and protects from lightning, and it was specially planted with the birth of a child.
In others, on the contrary, they were afraid to plant a birch next to the house, citing the fact that the birch “weeps” a lot and that lightning again strikes it. In Polissya, it was believed that a birch planted close to home causes female diseases in its inhabitants; that growths form on a birch from "women's curses."
In the Russian North, the place where birch trees once grew was considered unlucky; a new house was not built on it. At the same time, sometimes and in many places, birch trees were specially planted near the house for the well-being of the family. A birch branch installed with a front angle during the construction of the house was a symbol of the health of the owner and family. Birch branches were stuck in the field to get a good harvest of flax and cereals. A birch log was buried under the threshold of a new stable, "so that the horses were led." In ancient times, cradles were woven from branches to protect the child from illness. If a red ribbon is tied on a birch trunk, it will protect from the evil eye.
And yet more often the birch was used as a talisman against evil forces.
They turned to birch for help in case of illness. Beat the sick with a birch rod - a better healer will help. And if you pour water under a tree after bathing a sick child and say the right conspiracy, the disease will go to the birch. You just have to remember to say a conspiracy against a disease, like this, from angina pectoris: “I’ll throw a toad under the birch bush so that it doesn’t hurt, so that it doesn’t hurt”
They turned to the birch with a request for healing, they also twisted the branches of the tree over the sick, threatening not to let go until the disease recedes from the person.
In Mazovia, a malaria sufferer had to shake a birch with the sentence "Shake me as I shake you, and then stop."
Birch branches were used to give fertility not only to land and livestock, but also to newlyweds. The Slavs carried children through a split birch trunk in order to save the child from illness (the birch takes it upon itself).
Birch is a “happy” tree that protects from evil. They said about her: “There is a tree: the cry calms, the light instructs, the sick heal.”
A birch growing near the house drives away nightmares.
Buds, branches, leaves, bark, birch sap, growths on the trunk were considered especially healing. Branches consecrated in the church on calendar holidays were whipped to the patient in order to inform him of the power of the plant. Decoctions for various diseases were made from buds, leaves and growths. Birch sap has long been considered a rejuvenating and cleansing agent. In the spring, especially on holidays, girls and women drank juice and washed themselves with it for beauty and health.
Birch was used in folk magic as a love potion. They cut off a birch twig growing to the east, tore off the leaves from it; a twig was placed on the threshold, through which the person they think about should step over, and the leaves, dried and crushed into powder, were placed close to the heart. When the person they thought of came, the powder was mixed into some kind of drink and given to drink. They did it in an inconspicuous way.
In Polissya, in order to bewitch a guy, a girl would take a branch of a birch fused with an oak, quietly bypass the guy with her, or give him a decoction of the bark of this birch to drink.
Birch played a significant role in the rituals of the life cycle. In marriage rituals, she was used as a wedding attribute - a decorated tree, which was a symbol of each particular bride, and the girl's circle as a whole. In the Russian North, birch was an obligatory attribute in preparing the bride's bath: the branches of the tree were stuck into the ceiling and walls of the bath, the road to it was "torn" with trimmed branches, a decorated birch broom was fixed on the top of the bath. For the implementation of the pre-wedding ablution, the bride tried to choose birch firewood.
Her branches were stuck into the wedding loaf so that everyone in the house was healthy.
In the East Slavic funeral tradition, birch was used directly in preparing the “place” for the deceased: the coffin was most often covered with birch leaves or brooms, they also stuffed a pillow that was placed under the head of the deceased. Birch was also planted on the grave.
The intermediary role of birch in the mythological picture of the world space explains the contradictory ideas about it in popular beliefs. In any case, numerous descriptions of rituals and actions with a birch testify to the deep reverence for this tree.
Rowan.
In ancient Russia, the mountain ash was considered the personification of the feminine. She was also a symbol of modesty and elegance. Many ritual songs and rituals were dedicated to this tree.
Rowan - the tree of the newlyweds. In the old days, the beautiful mountain ash was addressed to protect the newlyweds: its leaves were spread and hidden in their shoes and pockets. It was believed that they would prevent the evil deeds of sorcerers and witches. And in general, for well-being in the house, they tried to plant a mountain ash near it. The ancient Slavs believed that a person with bad intentions would not enter a house under the windows of which a mountain ash was planted.
In the Russian folk calendar there is a day "Peter-Paul Fieldfare". It falls at the end of September - the time of ripening rowan berries. On this day, rowan branches were cut into bunches, hung under the roofs of houses, sheds, and various outbuildings. Branches were also stuck at the edge of each field. This custom is associated with the notion of mountain ash as a tree that can protect against all sorts of troubles.
Rowan was considered a talisman in magic and folk healing. The Slavs said: "Stay under the mountain ash - you will scare away the disease."
With various diseases, a person crawled through a rowan bush three times. The Life of Adrian Poshekhonsky tells that after the martyr's death of the saint (1550), his body was buried in a wasteland where mountain ash grew. Once a year, on Ilyinsky Friday, people from different cities came to this place and arranged a fair; sick people came here - adults and children, who climbed through the branches of mountain ash, looking for healing. According to Russian and Belarusian beliefs, the one who harms the mountain ash will have a toothache. With a toothache, secretly at the dawn of the morning, they knelt before the mountain ash, hugged and kissed it and uttered a conspiracy: “Rowan, mountain ash, take my illness, from now on and until the age I will not eat you,” and then returned home, without looking back and trying not to who not to meet.
If you take out the core from a mountain ash growing on an anthill and say: “Do you, mountain ash, roots or bodies hurt? So the servant of God (name) would not have a toothache forever.
In the collection of conspiracies of the second quarter of the 17th century. from the Olonets region, several texts addressed to mountain ash have been preserved. “A conspiracy from portage, exile, commotion” was pronounced in the spring near a mountain ash standing on an anthill; it was also possible to make a staff from a mountain ash, gnaw it and leave a sliver in the mouth behind the cheek, so as not to be afraid of any "kudes" (witchcraft) during the journey. A conspiracy against fever was pronounced at the root of a mountain ash, and then, having pulled it out of the ground, they laid it on a bed near a sick person. At the beginning of the plot “from a hernia to a baby”, “two mountain ash, two curly” are described, they grow on a white stone in the middle of the sea-ocean, and a golden cradle with a baby hangs between them.
Among all the Slavs, there was a ban on chopping and breaking mountain ash, using it for firewood, picking flowers and even berries. Our ancestors considered the mountain ash a vengeful tree and believed: whoever breaks or cuts it down will soon die himself or someone from his house will die. The mountain ash was not supposed to be chopped, also because the healers transferred the disease from a person to a mountain ash. And if you cut this tree down on you and the disease passed on ... That's such a respectful attitude.
In magic, rowan was used to protect the house from magical attacks and evil spirits. For this, the mountain ash was planted near the porch or at the gate. And a branch of mountain ash with fruits has long been attached above the front door, where it protected both the house and its household from evil spirits. Rowan is a talisman "from dashing people and bad news. If you look closely at the underside of the rowan berry, you will notice that in shape it is an equilateral five-pointed star, and this is one of the most ancient and important pagan symbols - a symbol of protection.
In the Novgorod province, returning from a cemetery, rowan rods were hung over the door so that the deceased would not return home. In the Voronezh province, the matchmaker poured rowan roots into the top of the groom's boot so that he would not be spoiled at the wedding.
There are signs associated with mountain ash: "A large harvest of mountain ash - for a long and frosty winter." "Rowan in the forest is fruitful - by a rainy autumn, if not - to a dry one."
Willow was considered among the Slavs a sacred tree, a symbol of the continuity and constancy of life. It is the willow that symbolizes the ancient Slavic pagan god Yarila. To this day, the custom has been preserved once a year on the night of Ivan Kupala in honor of the sun god, to decorate a willow with flowers, to burn bonfires near it. At the end of the holiday, willow branches were planted in the yards.
In folk beliefs, she belongs to the trees cursed by God. According to legend, the tormentors of Christ made pins from it to fasten the cross. According to another legend, the nails with which Jesus was crucified were not made of iron, but made of willow. For this, the willow, according to popular notions, is defeated by turning by worms, and devils sit in a dry willow. According to Belarusians, on the willow, especially the old - dry and hollow, From Epiphany to Palm Sunday, the devil sits. In the spring, the devils warm themselves on the willow, and after they are blessed on a holiday, they fall into the water, and therefore from Palm Sunday to Easter you cannot drink water scooped up under the willow.
Willow in Russia played the same role as the palm tree, palm branches, with which the people greeted Christ entering Jerusalem. The willow was and is sanctified in the temple with holy water.
Willow was attributed magical power to influence the irrigation of fields and meadows (willow grows in damp places, near water), which means that, the ancestors believed, it contributed to fertility and future harvest. There is a clear connection with pre-Christian rites and beliefs, with the cult of the spirits of vegetation and fertility.
It was also believed that willow had the ability to endow livestock and people with health and sexual energy, protect against diseases and purify from evil spirits. In ancient times, there was a custom: parents who returned from church whipped children with consecrated willow and said: “Willow - a whip! Beats to tears. The willow is red, it does not beat in vain. This was done in order to endow the children with health.
With consecrated willow, young women and girls, as well as newlyweds, were lashed, thereby wanting to make them fertile.
In Russia, it was customary to keep the consecrated willow at home in the front corner behind the icons all year round. And on the very holiday, they whip cattle with willow branches and say: “As the willow grows, so do you grow” - in addition to wishing health to pets, this was supposed to protect them from evil spirits. Sprigs of consecrated willow were strengthened in sheds, barns. Before the first cattle pasture in the field, these branches were fed to the animals.
Willow was also attributed the power to protect houses from fires, fields from hail, stop a storm, recognize sorcerers and witches, discover treasures, etc.
Following the belief that the willow has a universal healing power, our ancestors ate nine cones (earrings) from the consecrated willow, believing that this would protect them from fever. During a thunderstorm, the consecrated willow was taken out from behind the goddess and placed on the windowsill - they believed that this would save them from lightning.
The preparation of willow branches in the cities was a special rite. On the eve of Palm Sunday, in the old days, Russians, without distinction of estates and ranks (from the king to the commoner), went to break the willow on the banks of nearby rivers. In Moscow, for example, in Kitay-gorod and on the banks of the Neglinka, overgrown with willows and willows. Foreigners who visited Moscow in the 16th - 17th centuries left interesting memories of how on Saturday, on the eve of Palm Sunday, before mass, a large tree (willow) decorated with various artificial fruits was taken out of the Kremlin's Assumption Cathedral with a large gathering of people, installed in a huge sleigh and carried, as in the procession.
The Slavs believed that willow amulets hung around the neck protected from hellish visions. Willow branches were hung over the doors of residential buildings, for they promised goodness and happiness. Women injected willow branches into their hair, which protected them from evil spirits, sharpened their eyesight and protected them from blindness.
All Eastern Slavs widely believed that a consecrated branch could protect against thunderstorms, storms, and other natural disasters, from evil spirits and diseases. In the Tambov province, it was believed that a willow thrown against the wind could drive away a storm, and thrown into a fire could pacify it.
In Russia, weeping species of white willow were a symbol of melancholy and sadness. In the old days, willow was called a sadness-tree, which not only sympathizes with pain, sickness of a person, but also takes it all away from the patient. There is a belief that willow has magical properties: it protects people from evil spirits, troubles and accidents. If you carry branches of this tree with you, you can get rid of the fear of death.
In folk medicine of the Slavic countries, willow was used as an anti-inflammatory and anti-febrile remedy for malaria. In the Kuban, willow was used in the treatment of childhood diseases. To do this, early in the morning, before sunrise, they went to the river and cut the willow three times, nine branches each. At the same time, they counted three times from nine to one. Arriving home, they dipped one bunch of nine branches into hot water and bathed the child near the window, from which the sunrise was visible. At noon, they put a second bunch of willow in hot water and bathed the child near the window, in front of which the sun stood at that moment. In the evening, when the sun was setting, the same actions were performed with the last bunch of branches in front of the window looking at the sunset. At the end, all willow branches with water belonged to the river and poured out with a prayer to float on the water. It was believed that the disease would recede.
Willow was fumigated by sick cattle, ground it into powder and covered their wounds, made a decoction from it and drank from various diseases, and also used it as a lotion from tumors and bruises. The consecrated willow was fed to cows and sheep, while they said: “I don’t give, but the willow. Just as the willow does not dry, so do you, my God-given cattle, do not dry.
Aspen- this plant, full of dignity and beauty, is considered in folk beliefs as a cursed tree; at the same time widely used as a talisman.
There is a popular belief that demons live in aspen leaves. In Christianity, it is believed that Aspen is guilty of allowing the tormentors of Jesus Christ to make a cross from his wood on which he was crucified, the nails of the knitting needle with which he was nailed to the cross. The Mother of God or Christ himself cursed the aspen and punished it with eternal fear, from which it trembles to this day. According to another legend, the aspen did not show respect: at the time of the birth of Christ and at his death, it did not calm down and did not bow, but continued to rustle its leaves and tremble. Therefore, it trembles for no reason, does not bear fruit, and cannot cover a person with its shadow. According to other stories, the aspen was punished for betraying the Mother of God, hiding under it with Christ, by the trembling of its branches, during the flight to Egypt. Finally, they say that Judas, tormented by fear and remorse, for a long time could not find a tree that would agree to “accept” him, and only Aspen took pity and allowed him to hang himself on it, for which she was immediately cursed by God.
It was forbidden to plant aspen near houses in order to avoid misfortune, including diseases; they did not use it in construction, did not heat the stove with it, avoided sitting in the shade of a tree, did not bring aspen branches into the house, etc.
In some places among the Eastern Slavs, aspen was also considered a "damn" tree, cf. the characteristic Hutsul name for the feature is "Osinavets". In places where aspen grows, according to popular belief, devils “curl”. The stay of the devil on the aspen is evidenced by the prohibition to hide under the aspen during a thunderstorm, because "the thunder is looking for the aspen." Thunder "beats" the devil in Slavic beliefs.
According to Belarusian beliefs, witches prepared a harmful potion from aspen branches on fire; in order to turn into a wolf or become invisible, the sorcerer had to roll over through five aspen pegs driven into the ground, or through an aspen stump; throwing an aspen branch in front of the traveler, the sorcerer knocked him out of the way. Wanting to make friends with the goblin, the man called him, standing in the forest on fallen aspens.
Aspen was used for magical purposes and divination. To detect a thief, the Poles put a thing into a split aspen that the thief had touched; it was believed that from this he would begin to shake the fever, and the villain would hasten to return the stolen. Aspen was used to recognize a witch: it could be seen if on the night before Ivan Kupala, hide in a barn under a harrow specially made of aspen. To find out which of the women in the village was a witch, the Belarusians drove an aspen stake into the ground, cut off chips from it, set fire to them and boiled a filter (a rag through which milk is filtered) on fire: it was believed that the witch would certainly come to ask not to burn her with fire.
In folklore, beliefs and rituals, aspen is an effective tool in the fight against evil spirits, witches, sorcerers and chthonic creatures. After the death of sorcerers, sorcerers were burned on fire from aspen wood so that they would not harm people. In a Russian fairy tale, the heroes defeat Baba Yaga by crushing her with aspen roots; Dobrynya Nikitich hangs the Serpent Gorynych, defeated by him, on a “jagged aspen” (epic “Dobrynya and the Serpent”). According to Russian and Belarusian beliefs, a killed snake must be hung on an aspen, otherwise it will come to life and bite a person. Conspiracies from snake bites are usually read over aspen bark, and then they rub the bitten place with it. A fire made of aspen wood is considered the most effective means of combating evil spirits, hence the proverb: let it burn on an aspen tree!
Among the Eastern Slavs, as well as in Poland, an aspen stake was stuck into the grave of a "walking" dead person or vampire. Often this was done even at the funeral, so that the deceased would not turn into a "walking" dead man. The pointed aspen stake received in the eyes of the people the meaning of Perun's club. To protect the cows and calves from the attacks of witches, aspens are placed on the gates and in the corners of the barnyard, cut down or uprooted; during the plague of cattle, driving away the Cow Death, they beat her (that is, they wave through the air) with aspen logs.
In the rituals of the Eastern Slavs, aspen was used as a talisman. On St. George's and Kupala nights, with the help of aspen branches stuck into the walls of the barn, gates, sheds, they protected cattle from witches who took milk from cows. For the same purpose, at the hotel of cows, a piece of aspen was strengthened on her horn; the first colostrum was filtered through an aspen pipe and given to the cow. If the cow's milk was sour, she was driven through the aspen branches laid along the threshold; a newly bought horse was forced to step over an aspen log placed at the gate of the yard, and so on.
Protecting the fields from witches, aspen branches were stuck into the crops; in the same way, gardens were protected from moles, caterpillars, etc. The healer, destroying the hall on the field, pulled it out of the ground with aspen sticks and burned it on aspen fire.
During the construction of the house, aspen pegs were stuck in the corner of the foundation, protecting the house from any trouble. Defending himself from the goblin, a man, caught at night in the forest, went to bed in a circle outlined on the ground with an aspen stick.
As a saving tool against demonic obsession, aspen can also serve as a healing tool for expelling evil spirits and diseases. They read a plot over aspen rods, which are then placed on the patient. When their teeth hurt, they take an aspen twig and read a conspiracy over it three times: “On the sea in Okiyana, on an island in Buyan, there are three tall trees, under those trees lies a hare; move you, toothache, to that hare! After that, the aspen knot is applied to the diseased teeth.
In folk medicine, various diseases were “transferred” to aspen: during a fever, the cut hair and nails of the patient were put into a hole drilled in an aspen tree, and the hole was clogged with an aspen peg, believing that the fever could not come out of this. Sometimes the patient's belongings were buried in a pit under an aspen tree or the patient was put on a fresh aspen stump, believing that the disease would leave the person in him. “Transmitting” the disease to the tree, they asked: “Aspen, aspen, take my quagmire, give me lightness!”
In some cases, in exchange for health, a person gave a promise not to harm the aspen - not to break its branches, not to chop, not burn .. In childhood epilepsy, cut hair and nails were hammered into the door frame with an aspen peg at the height of the child's growth: it was believed that when a child outgrow this place, he will recover. With children's insomnia, they made a font for a child from aspen or put aspen in his cradle. With the help of aspen, toothache, hernia, children's fright and other diseases were also treated. When a cholera epidemic approached, cut down aspen trees were stuck into the ground at the four ends of the village, thereby protecting the village from the penetration of the disease.
Broken paralysis, healers advised lying down to rest their feet on an aspen log. The patient recovers if you read the plot over aspen rods and put it on his chest.
Everyone knows that the best way to fight werewolves and vampires is with an aspen stake. Aspen absorbs, takes aside the negative energy of the other world. It was this property that was considered magical in former times. In the aspen grove, psychics and magicians lose their abilities. Here you can also find refuge from magical persecution, protect yourself from an energy vampire, and partially neutralize the effects of induced damage or the evil eye.
Hawthorn. Among the Slavs, hawthorn is a noblewoman, hawthorn and a symbol of chastity.
The ritual functions of the hawthorn are due to its thorniness, which brings this shrub closer to the blackberry, wild rose, blackthorn. In some nationalities, hawthorn is called blackthorn. The hawthorn was one of several plants used to make a wreath for Christ.
The association between its spring bloom and virginity has led to popular belief that it advocates chastity. Hawthorn flowers were used for wedding wreaths. However, the smell of hawthorn flowers could portend death.
With the help of hawthorn, you can prevent the dead from becoming a vampire. To do this, the belly or heel of the deceased was pierced with a hawthorn thorn, and for fidelity, a hawthorn bush was also planted on the grave, and for fidelity, a hawthorn bush was also planted on the grave. The branches of the plant were placed in the chimney if it was suspected that the vampire would enter the house through it. It is believed that a stick from this thorny plant can drive the devil away, and kill with a knife, the handle of which is made of hawthorn. Hawthorn was placed on the threshold of the cow pen in order to prevent witches from entering there.
There is a belief that demons live in thorny bushes, and hawthorn is a pitchfork tree.
Among the southern Slavs, an earthquake is also explained by the shaking or damage to the tree on the branches of which the Earth is placed, or the pillar on which it rests. This dog constantly gnaws at the hawthorn, and when there is very little left, he begins to tear with all his might to break it. From this, the Earth shakes, but does not collapse, because it is worth cracking the trunk, like St. Peter baptizes the tree with a rod and the hawthorn becomes whole again.
From the evil eye and damage, its branches were placed under the pillow, at the same time being protected from diseases.
Elder.
In folk beliefs, elder belongs to the so-called cursed, dangerous plants, since the devil lives in it. In Ukraine, for example, they believe that the elder was “planted” by the devil and now constantly sits under it. In the apocryphal traditions of Christianity, the elder disputes the dubious honor of being the very tree on which Judas Iscariot hanged himself.
According to another legend, the devil hung himself on an elder tree, which is why its leaves and berries emit a putrid smell. The Polish legend says that. that the first demon settled in a huge pit and planted an elderberry on top so that she would guard him. The Serbs considered the elderberry bush to be the habitat of the pitchfork.
Perhaps that is why elderberry was not used in family and calendar rituals, but it was widely used in magic, amulets, and healing.
At the same time, it was believed that elderberry was the abode of household spirits, bringing good to the owners, guardians of the economy, etc. In Polish and Ukrainian incantations, elderberry is identified with Adam; they address her with the words "Byzynovy Adame", "Man of God, holy Adam", explaining to him that both elderberry and Adam have existed since the foundation of the world.
Elderberry was forbidden to burn in order to avoid toothache. Children's toys were never made from it, so that children would not have a headache. Among the Poles, Hutsuls, Lusatian Serbs it was forbidden to sleep under the elderberry, urinate under it, climb on the elderberry. Elderberry was not used as fuel, so as not to bring bedbugs and fleas into the houses.
There was a ban on uprooting elderberry (if it was necessary to uproot it, cripples or mentally ill people were specially hired for this work).
Violation of this prohibition, according to legend, could lead to misfortune, illness, for example, rheumatism (“if you chop an elderberry, it will twist your legs and arms”). It was believed that where an elder bush was dug up, nothing would ever grow.
These taboos were lifted if the elderberry was chopped or broken for any specific purpose: as a medicine, for decorating a church or making hedges, for fuel. It was possible to break the elderberry on a certain day (on Good Thursday, before noon).
Elderberry was used for the magical treatment of diseases. Water was poured under the elderberry, in which the sick child was bathed, in the hope that the disease would be taken away by the spirit living under the bush. They tied the elderberry with threads from the clothes of a patient with a fever. Conspiracies were turned to the elderberry, which were read under the plant in the treatment of toothache: “Holy elderberry, I keep you from being burned by fire, and you keep me from toothache.” To protect a child from a headache, the Slovenes buried his cut hair under elderberry, and the Slovaks bathed small children in a decoction of elderberry flowers to ensure their health.
And patients with radiculitis knelt before the elderberry and asked her to take over their illness: “Elderberry! Dazhbog sent me to you so that you could take on my illness!”
Among the southern Slavs, elderberry was widely used for snake, scorpion and wasp stings, and was also used in folk veterinary medicine.
Among Czechs and Slovenes, girls turned to elderberry during fortune-telling about marriage. At Christmas time, the girl went to the elderberry bush, shook it and said: "I'm shaking, I'm shaking the elder, answer, dog, from the side where my dear lives," and listened to where the dogs barked. It was believed that during fortune-telling you can see the betrothed in the elderberry bush.
In Ukraine, conspiracies addressed to the elder are widely known: "from misfortune", "so that the court does not sue", "to gain strength and courage", "to get rid of any misfortune".
Elder branches were used as a universal amulet. They decorated houses, outbuildings, fences to protect against witches on St. George's and Kupala nights, they simply carried them with them. In the Balkans, elderberry branches (along with other plants) were used in rain-making rites. They decorated from head to toe dodol, peperuda, Herman's doll, and at the end of the ceremony they threw the branches into the water.
In Russia, there was a belief that if you set off on a journey with an elder staff, then neither evil people nor wild animals would be afraid. The method of making a cane-amulet can be found in ancient Russian herbalists. At the sight of such a cane, evil spirits run away with all their might.
Spruce. According to legend, the fir hid the Mother of God during her flight with Christ to Egypt. According to another legend, she hid Christ, who was hiding from the plague, for which she received a blessing and was rewarded, remaining forever green.
The thorniness of spruce, as well as a strong resinous smell, determine its use as a talisman. In Ukraine, spruce branches (together with branches of rose hips and nettles) were stuck on the eve of the Kupala night in front of the gate, barn, roof eaves and other places to protect livestock from witches, pigs from diseases. At the first milking, the Poles filtered the milk through spruce branches laid crosswise so that it would not spoil. Spruce branches were widely used to protect buildings and cultural space from bad weather. In Moravia, they decorated crosses with them, which at Easter were stuck in crops from hail. However, spruce branches consecrated at Christmas, Epiphany, Candlemas, Easter or on the day of the Nativity of John the Baptist were considered more effective means. In Belarus, consecrated spruce branches, along with incense, were placed at four corners when laying the House to protect it from thunder. The branches that were stuck into the ice on the sides of the hole for Epiphany were brought home, put behind the icons and stuck into the roof - from wind and thunder; tied to apple trees in the garden to protect the trees from the storm; stuck into the wall, put under the house, in the underground - "so that the storm does not touch."
Spruce is a female tree. It is probably with the “female” symbolism of spruce that the prohibition to plant and generally have a spruce near the house, which supposedly “survives” from the house of men, is connected. According to the beliefs of the Serbs, if a spruce grows near the house, boys will not be born in it. In the Russian North, they did not plant a spruce near the house, fearing that otherwise "the men would not live, they would die, there would be only widows."
The ban on planting spruce near the house can be explained by the fact that spruce belongs to barren trees (according to Bulgarian legend, spruce is “barren”, because it was cursed by the Mother of God). In Belarus, spruce was not planted out of fear that "nothing will be done in the house", "nothing will be born either in the barn or at home." They especially avoided keeping spruce near the houses of the newlyweds, so that they would not remain childless, "so that the family would not be uprooted."
In the beliefs of the Eastern Slavs, spruce is also related to the field of folk demonology. According to the Vladimir bylichka, the brownie lives in a large pine or spruce branch hanging somewhere in the yard. The children of the forest spirits lie in cradles hanging on fir and pine trees, and the children of mermaids lie under the spruce. Through the fir-trees the devils lead the cursed children dragged by them into the forest, under the fir-tree the goblin puts the children who have lost their way to sleep.
According to legend, on behalf of the sorcerers, the cursed children abandoned to them, as well as the devils who demand work from the sorcerers, are counting the needles. There is a conspiracy from childhood insomnia: “Come, dawn, into the forest, sit on the Christmas tree, count your needles. There you have a job, there you have a job. Don't touch my heart child."
According to Slavic beliefs, during a thunderstorm, the devil hides under a spruce, bringing thunder and lightning to himself. This explains the prohibition to be under the spruce during a thunderstorm.
Spruce has found wide application in funeral and memorial rituals. At the Old Believer consent of the runners, it was customary to dig up the roots of a large spruce right in the forest, twist it out of the ground a little and put the body of the deceased without a coffin into the resulting hole, and then plant the spruce in its original place, "as if nothing had happened here for a century." This agrees with the Olonets evidence of the burial of gallows between two fir trees, as well as the motif of burial under a fir tree in Serbian epic songs.
A coffin was often made from spruce (as well as from pine and birch), hoping that it would not allow the deceased to “walk” after death. This was reflected even in Russian carol curses addressed to the owner, who gave the carolers a bad gift: “If you don’t give it, for the New Year you will have a spruce coffin, an aspen cover.”
Everywhere there was a custom to throw spruce branches on the road to the cemetery, both before the funeral procession and after it. Thus, they “covered” or “sweeped” the way for the deceased, so that he “did not come, did not disturb.”
Among the Western Slavs, they ate branches like an evergreen plant, garlands from it and spruce wreaths are one of the most common grave decorations. Felled spruce (as well as cypress, juniper pine), often decorated with flowers or ribbons, could be installed or less often planted on the grave of a guy or girl who died before marriage.
Spruce also served as a ritual tree, mainly in the Christmas and New Year, Maslenitsa, Trinity and Kupala festivities, as well as at a wedding.
Spruce was considered a symbol of eternal life, unfading. This is where the custom for Christmas (later - for the New Year) begins to decorate the house with this tree.
There is a sign: “You can’t cut a century-old spruce - to trouble.” - The people believe that the old, centuries-old spruce is the dwelling of the goblin. If it is cut down, then the goblin will begin to take revenge by all means available to him, up to and including arson. And he will certainly start knocking him off the road in the forest, where he is the owner.
viburnum among the Slavic peoples since ancient times it has been a symbol of youth, girlhood, fun and revelry. In folk legends, this is a woman, her fate, her share. It blooms with a delicate white color, shining with the purity of innocence. But then comes marriage. Joy comes in half with grief. A flower quickly fades - feelings quickly fade. A berry is born - not that bitter, not that sweet. Fragile viburnum branches break under rain and wind.
Kalinovye gai have long been called sacred. Near them it was forbidden to graze cows, cut down bushes. According to legend, if you rock a child in a viburnum cradle, he will grow up melodious. The red color of the viburnum has great amulet power, which is why the bride's outfit has always been red in the past.
In the old days, viburnum was always present in the wedding ceremony. It is the main decoration of the bride's wreath, wedding tree, wedding loaf and other wedding attributes. The bride's wreaths were woven from viburnum, periwinkle and other fragrant herbs - this ensured the love of the young for many years.
Kalina is also a symbol of procreation, there is even an expression: "Kalina gave birth to the family."
In Ukraine, when a girl was born in the family, berries and viburnum leaves were placed in the first font so that she would be beautiful, ruddy, happy and healthy. Kalina was hung next to the woman in labor so that she and her child were healthy and happy.
At the same time, viburnum is a tree and funerary, memorable - "you, my sisters, plant viburnum in my head."
In songs, killed, cursed people, lovers who died of love turn into viburnum.
Kalina with drooping branches symbolizes the girl's sadness. Breaking viburnum branches - Symbolized to marry a girl. Collect viburnum, walk on viburnum - look for love or love. In Ukraine, viburnum is attributed a special power: the viburnum flower, plucked and applied fresh to a loving heart, comforts languor.
Of the entire chain of images associated with viburnum, only the “viburnum bridge” correlated with prowess and youth. Walking along the viburnum bridge meant indulging in selfless fun, revelry. In one song, a yearning girl asks the fellows to “build her a viburnum bridge,” that is, to cheer her up, and a woman striving to regain her youth catches up with them on the viburnum bridge with the words: “Oh, I caught up with my summers on the viburnum bridge; oh, come back, come back at least for an hour to visit!
Kalina is planted on the grave of a son, brother, young Cossack, and generally unmarried.
Maple .
In the legends of the Western and Eastern Slavs, maple is a tree into which a person is turned ("sworn"). It is for this reason that maple wood could not be used for firewood ("maple went from man"). It was impossible to make a coffin out of its trunk (“it is a sin to rot a living person in the earth”). It was forbidden to put maple leaves under bread in the oven (a palm with five fingers was seen in a maple leaf).
The transformation of a man into a maple tree is one of the popular motifs of Slavic legends: the mother “cursed” the disobedient son (daughter), and the musicians walking through the grove where this tree grew, made a violin out of it, which, in the voice of the son (daughter), tells about the mother’s wine.
In songs about a mother or poisoner's wife, sycamore (white maple) grows on the grave of a murdered son (husband).
And in the South Slavic tradition, where such songs are unknown, maple, nevertheless, is also thought to be involved in human destiny. According to Serbian beliefs, if an unjustly convicted person embraces a dry maple, the maple will turn green, but if an unhappy or offended person touches a maple green in spring, the tree will dry up.
According to an old tradition, when a house was built, a couple of maples were planted on its south side. Since the house was usually built when a new family was created, these trees were called "Groom" and "Bride". But, probably, in the old days, these two maples, under the protection of which the house was all year round, were called the trees of the god and goddess.
Maple symbolized the ability to magical protection, love and material well-being.
Maple was used in the construction of bridges over running water. Running water is an obstacle for the dark forces, and the maple did not allow these forces to use the bridge.
Maple branches covering the barn, or stuck into the walls, protect livestock from the evil eye and spoilage.
Maple was called a good tree, believing that it is the seat of deities or demons.
It was believed that maple brings happiness, protects from lightning, so it was planted near the house.
In Russia, in order to prevent the witch from entering the courtyard and the house, maple branches were plugged into the door. To scare away evil forces, maple fruits were buried under the threshold of the house, a green branch was hung over the bed.
Maple leaves were often depicted on Easter eggs.
The maple arrow is believed to kill the undead.
In agricultural magic, maple branches were used to grow flax. They were stuck into the arable land, saying: "Lord, give us flax, like a maple tree."
There is a belief that there is a very strong connection between a person and a maple that grows near his house. And as long as a person is alive and well, then the maple grows and turns green.
Maple is a melodious tree. “Pull a ringing string on a dry branch of a wedge-tree, sing your daring song to me ...” is a frequent motif of ancient legends. It was from maple that Sadko's harp was made.
Maple branches were used in the rites of the Trinity, Green Christmas time, Ivan's day. In Polissya, Saturday before the Trinity was called “maple”, “maple Saturday”. On a holiday, one or three trees were placed at the doors and windows, decorating the house with branches. It was believed that at this time the souls of deceased relatives come to the house and hide in the maple branches.
After the holidays, trees and branches were not thrown away, they were burned or chopped for firewood.
There are signs associated with maple: “If maple leaves curl up and expose their lower surface to the wind, it will rain.” "Maple sap has gone - the spring frosts are over."
For women, it symbolizes a young man, slender and strong, kind and beloved.
In Ukraine, maple and linden were presented as a married couple, and the fall of maple leaves promised separation from the family.
Linden The name of this tree in all Slavic languages comes from the word "stick" (due to the viscous juice). Softness was attributed to linden, which made it a symbol of femininity, tenderness, the opposite of the "male" tree - oak. Among the Slavs, linden was read not just as a symbol of a woman, but as a “mother of trees”, a giver of life (this attitude is associated with the role of linden in the material well-being of a person). As the oak was dedicated to Perun, so the linden was the tree of the goddess Lada.
In Russian folk art, a beautiful linden is associated with love with both oak and maple.
Lipa was closely associated with the Orthodox cult and Christian legends. It was she who was considered the tree of the Virgin; they said that the Mother of God rests on it, descending from heaven to earth. Icons and icons were hung on the linden; on the linden, according to legend, miraculous icons appeared (“appeared”) more often than other trees. According to the legends, the linden covered with its branches the Mother of God with the little Christ during their flight to Egypt. Linden is a tree revered as a saint in all Slavic traditions. Among the southern Slavs, old large lindens traditionally grew near churches and temples, especially ancient ones; courts were held under these lindens, holidays and meetings of residents were held. Processions of the cross stopped under the lindens during religious processions through the fields, meals were arranged here, etc.
Linden was also considered a happy tree, which was not afraid to keep near houses and plant on graves. It was also said that it was good to fall asleep under a lime tree. The sacred nature of the tree led to the use of linden wood for carving a “live” fire, with the help of which the fire was renewed annually in the hearths.
In this regard, it was natural to prohibit touching the revered lindens, damaging them, chopping them, breaking branches, administering natural needs under them, etc. It was known that a horse who plucked a linden branch would certainly fall, but if a person returns the branch to its place, the horse will recover. The Poles were also wary of cutting down lindens, believing that otherwise either the person who cut down the tree, or someone from his family, would die.
Ukrainians say about linden that God gave her a special power - to save husbands from the curses that their wives "reward" them with. Linden takes over everything, that's why her trunk is covered with growths. And one more thing: cattle cannot be beaten with linden - they will die.
Linden is used as a universal amulet. It was widely believed that lightning did not strike the linden, so they planted it near houses and were not afraid to hide under it during a thunderstorm. The Russians hung linden crosses around the neck of a person tormented by obsessions. They also stuck a linden branch in the middle of the pasture during grazing so that the cows would not wander far and could not be touched by animals in the forest. Everywhere in Russia it was believed that a witch could be discouraged from becoming a werewolf if she was hit backhand with a bare lime stick. In the same way, brave people drove away the devil that had become attached to them. During the wedding, the inhabitants of Herzegovina held a linden branch over the heads of the newlyweds as a talisman. She decorated houses and pens with cattle on St. George's Day and on Trinity.
Like many other trees, linden played an important role in folk medicine: various diseases were transferred to it everywhere, by hammering pieces of the patient’s clothes, his nails and hair into the tree trunk; fumigated sick people and cattle with smoke from burnt linden wood, etc.
Alder- a tree mentioned in the legends of the Western and Eastern Slavs. They tell how the devil, competing with God at the creation of the world, tried to create a wolf, but could not revive him; by the will of God, the wolf came to life and rushed at the devil, who hid from him on an alder tree. Then the blood from the heel of the devil bitten by the wolf fell on the alder, which made its bark red. According to another legend, God created a sheep, in response to which the devil created a goat and, wanting to brag to God, dragged her to God by the tail. On the way, the goat escaped from the devil and hid on an alder. Since then, the goats have no tail, and the bark of the alder has become red from the goat's blood.
It is also mentioned in the legends about the crucifixion of Christ: alder branches were broken during the scourging of Christ, for which Christ blessed this tree.
Among the southern Slavs Alder is used in folk medicine, "living fire" is carved from it.
In the Russian North, it was customary to leave a sacrifice to the field or forest spirits on an alder - usually in the form of bread and salt.
Because of its red color, alder has become a magical amulet. Like everything bright, red bark attracts the eye and, accordingly, protects from the evil eye.
Even if the bark is hidden in a pocket, a person is reliably protected. Hence the popular sign of putting pieces of alder in the pockets of the newlyweds in order to protect the newlyweds from spoilage. Its branches are stuck along the edges of the field to protect against hail and bad weather; they bathe in the water that bathes the roots of the alder in order to protect themselves from diseases.
When you have a fever, you need to go to the forest and sit on a freshly cut Alder stump, and then the fever will pass into the tree. The Poles believed that the water washing the roots of Alder turns black; if you bathe in such water, the body will turn black, but at the same time the person will be saved from all diseases.
In Poland, on Trinity, Alder branches were used to decorate houses to turn away thunderstorms and hail. The Poles stuck Alder branches into barley crops so that moles did not tear the soil, and also placed Alder branches under sheaves to protect them from mice. Belarusians believed that Alder could protect households from visiting the "walking dead", since it had "the red blood of Satan." For the same reasons, in Polissya, people planted Alder near their houses, so that "the devil would not become attached" to a person. The Slovaks put a piece of alder leaf in the shoes of newlyweds going to the crown.
hazel the western and southern Slavs have a sacred tree. Hazel belonged to the “blessed” trees, in which “thunder does not strike”: during a thunderstorm they hid under it, branches. Crosses made of hazel were used to decorate houses, stick them into fields and outbuildings, especially on St. George's Day, on Ivan Kypaly; it was believed that a thunderstorm would bypass the places protected by hazel. At the same time, it was believed that thunder and thunder, not having power over the tree itself, had a detrimental effect on its fruits. Nuts deteriorate, blackening, as if burning from the inside. Due to its status, hazel was widely used as a talisman against evil spirits. Demons. Bulgarians expelled those who sent insomnia to children, bypassing the cradle of a child with a lit walnut branch. Branches of hazel were protected from pysalok. Hazelnut was an effective amulet against snakes and mice. The Bulgarians believed that snakes are not only afraid of hazel, but also die from it. Czechs and Slovaks planted branches of hazelnuts in barns, beat them on the walls of houses and storerooms, thus driving mice out of there.
The southern Slavs did not plant hazel, believing that when its trunk is equal to the neck of the person who planted it, it will die.
Slovenes during Christmas fortune-telling, calling evil spirits to the crossroads, outlined a magic circle around themselves with the help of a hazel branch. Therefore, on the eve of Trinity, people avoided picking hazel branches, fearing to disturb the souls of the dead. On Ascension Day or on Spirit Day, they decorated houses with hazelnut branches, laid them on the floor in the house and in the church, knelt down on them, prayed, and, pressing their ears to the hazel branches, listened to them. It was believed that in this way you can hear the dead and even talk to them. At the end of the day, these walnut branches were taken to the cemetery, they swept the graves with them, so that in the "other world" the soul of the deceased could hide in their shadow.
Christmas divination speaks about the connection between the hazelnut and the cult of ancestors. It was believed that an empty nut portends death and a hungry, lean year, and a full one - well-being and health.
Rosehip protected the newlyweds from the action of harmful forces. In Croatia, three rosehip thorns were stuck into the groom's hat, which protected him from the evil eye; after the wedding, the bride's veil was thrown on a wild rose, to which she bowed nine times.
In Serbia, to protect a child from a witch, the rose hips were sewn into his clothes, placed next to him; in Bulgaria, it was forbidden to dry the diapers of a newborn on a dog rose, so that the Samodivas living under it would not harm him.
In Croatia, rose hips were kept in the house so that the plague would not enter it. So that the witch would not take away the milk from the cows, on St. George's Day, they decorated the doors of the house with rosehip branches, stuck them in front of the entrance to the house and into the barn. Rosehip protected both people and cattle from snakebite, for example, the Poles fumigated cattle and the shepherd with smoke from rosehips before pasture.
It was believed that rose hips give fruitful power, so rose hips in rituals often performed in tandem with fruit trees. In Poland and Slovakia, as many rose hips were baked into Christmas bread as the number of heads of cattle the owner had: it was believed that the animals would not get sick, and the cows would give more milk. In the Czech Republic, cattle were fed rose hips at Easter.
The Kuban Cossacks have a legend that rose hips grew out of the blood of a girl who, not wanting to marry an unloved one, stabbed herself with a dagger. In autumn, this bush dressed in an outfit of red berries, but only a kind person could pick them. If an evil person approached him, the bush bristled with thorns and did not let him pick a single berry.
In folk medicine: diseases were referred to him, water after treatment was poured under a wild rose bush. At the same time, the rosehip could give health, for which an exchange was made between the patient and the rosehip bush: the patient took away the red thread that hung on the rosehip during the night, and entangled the bush with a yellow thread that hung around his neck for a day and said: “I give you a yellow thread , and you give me a red thread. The disease passed to the wild rose, and the life-giving power of the wild rose - to the patient. In Bulgaria, a patient with epilepsy was measured with a rosehip rod, which was buried in the place where the seizure occurred. In gratitude, the sorceress hung a red thread with coins strung on it on a wild rose and left a cake, wine, oats and three horseshoes under a bush. In Serbia, a sick person, in order to get rid of the disease, crawled through a split rosehip rod, which was then tied with a red thread.
Rejuvenating apples, according to Russian legends, had great power: they could not only give health and youth, but also restore life to the dead. They grew up in a distant land, and were guarded by evil giants or dragons. In Slavic mythology, griffins and basilisks guard all approaches to the Iry garden, the Alatyr mountain and the apple tree with golden apples. Whoever tries these golden apples will receive eternal youth and power over the universe. And the apple tree itself with golden apples is guarded by griffins and the dragon Ladon himself.
It has been known since ancient times that the apple tree is a tree of female power. The fruits of the apple tree have long been used as a love spell.
Apples and branches of an apple tree play an important role in the wedding ceremonies of the Slavs. The apple acted as a love sign: the guy and the girl, having exchanged fruits, expressed mutual sympathy, publicly declared their love. An apple accepted by a girl during the matchmaking is a sign of consent to marriage. The southern Slavs are invited to a wedding, bringing apples home
An apple branch is used in the manufacture of a wedding banner, a tree; apples are strengthened in the bride's wreath. Belarusians, Poles and Ukrainians stick branches of an apple tree into a loaf, and Russians into a baked wedding chicken. Among the southern Slavs, going to a wedding, the bride took an apple with her; in the church after the wedding, she threw an apple behind the altar in order to have children.
Apples were given to newlyweds so that they would have many children; on the wedding night, one apple was placed under the feather bed, and the second was broken in half, and each of the newlyweds ate half. An apple is a symbol of the bride's chastity: it was placed on a wedding shirt or instead of it in a sieve. Under the apple tree, the southern Slavs performed a ritual shaving of the groom before the wedding; when changing the headdress of the bride to the headdress of a married woman, the veil was removed from her head with an apple branch and thrown on the apple tree.
Among the southern Slavs, on Christmas and New Year's, the youngest member of the family brought an apple tree branch into the house, it was stuck into the Christmas roll; all households and cattle were hit with an apple twig, and then they were thrown onto an apple tree.
The apple is the embodiment of fertility: it was placed in the seed grain so that the wheat was born large, like apples, and to protect the crops from being stripped.
The last Apple was not plucked from the tree: it was left on a branch so that next year there would be a harvest.
In Slovakia, a young housewife, having come to a new house, turned over a basket full of apples so that there would be abundance in the household.
From infertility, an apple, which was born after the secondary flowering of the apple tree, or the first on a young tree, and also hung on the apple tree for a long time, helped.
The apple is associated with the world of the dead and plays a significant role in funeral rites: it was placed in a coffin, in a grave, so that the deceased would take it to the "other world" to their ancestors. In Bulgarian beliefs, Archangel Michael took the soul to heaven only with an apple. The apple on the table on Christmas Eve was intended for the dead, so in Poland, fearing the revenge of the ancestors, it was forbidden to take apples from the Christmas tree.
The apple tree acts as an intermediary between the two worlds, as a link in bringing the soul to the world of the ancestors. In Serbia and Bulgaria, a small apple tree was carried in front of the coffin, planted on the grave (instead of a cross), so that the dead could communicate with the living through it. It was believed that the tree was on the way with the deceased until his very transition to the “other world”. When the apple tree withered, it meant that the soul had reached paradise.
It was believed that before the Apple Savior, i.e. before the consecration of apples, mermaids live on the apple tree, damn. Apples were consecrated in the church on the Transfiguration (Apple Savior) and only after that they were allowed to eat.
In addition, apples are used to remove warts, rather by magical than medical methods. A five-pointed star is visible in an apple cut horizontally in half, and the wood and flowers of the apple tree are used in love witchcraft.
At the same time, the pear was treated as a habitat for evil spirits: in Macedonia, a wild pear is included in a number of trees called “Samovils”, it was forbidden to sleep, sit, tie a cradle to it, etc. under it. In Polissya, they were afraid to stand under a pear tree during a thunderstorm. According to Serbian beliefs, on the Pear (growing in the field, with a dense crown, crooked), veshtitsy and challahs lived, witches gathered at night, strigs danced; during the ritual expulsion from the village of Chumy, a victim was left for her on an old pear tree. Under the pear tree lived a grass snake that sucked milk from a cow every evening. The treasure was buried under a pear or a pear was planted in the place of the buried treasure. In many Slavic zones, a dry pear, like a willow, was considered the habitat of the devil, so old trees were not cut down for fear of incurring a loss on the farm.
In the Ukrainian spell tradition, the pear is associated with the world tree (oak) and is the tree of the anti-world, the tree of evil and barrenness, and is opposed to the apple tree.
Branches, fruits, wood, ash from a pear served as a talisman and were used in producing magic. The shaft of the wedding banner was made from the bough of a pear, the Ukrainians stuck a pear branch into the wedding loaf. When the bride was driving to the crown, dried pears were scattered at all crossroads; in Polissya, the mother showered the groom with pears so that he would be rich; in Plovdiv, it was believed that a barren young woman should have eaten a pear that hung on a tree the longest. In order for the newborn to be healthy, pear branches were placed in the first font, water was poured after bathing under the pear tree. The first fruits were consecrated and distributed to neighbors for the mention of the soul.
In calendar rituals, branches and a pear tree were more often used. In southwestern Bulgaria, in Macedonia, a pear was cut down for a badnyak, sometimes wild - because of its abundant fruiting, so that the house was prolific and rich. With a pear branch, the polyaznik stirred the fire in the hearth, pronouncing good wishes; the hostess took her to the chicken coop so that the chickens would rush well.
In Serbia, warts and abscesses were treated by rubbing them with the fruit of a pear, after which they were thrown onto the road with the words: “Whoever takes me, whoever bites me off, on that illness, on me health.” The disease was “hammered” into the pear in a hole drilled in the trunk; in northern Bulgaria, under a pear tree, the shadow of which does not fall on other trees, the childless were treated. To ensure their health for the whole year, on Midsummer's Day they crawled through a wreath twisted on a pear branch.
The Slavs treated fruit trees with special trepidation, since in the folk tradition they were the focus of fruit-bearing power.
The fruit tree often acts as a mythological double of a person. In ancient Slavic traditions, the custom is known to plant a fruit tree at the birth of a child so that it grows and develops like a tree, and the tree, in turn, will bring a rich harvest of fruits. In the event of a child’s illness, this tree was used to guess about his fate: if the tree began to dry, the child could die and vice versa.
An apple tree uprooted in the garden foreshadowed the death of the owner or mistress. In Polissya, after the death of the owner, it was customary to cut down a pear or an apple tree.
Almost everywhere, the fruit tree was associated with the feminine. This is even evidenced by the fact that in the Slavic languages all fruit trees are feminine in the grammatical gender of their names.
According to beliefs, in order to get rid of infertility, a woman had to eat the first buds, flowers or fruits from a fruit tree, and also crawl under branches bent to the ground, saying at the same time: “Just as you are not barren in your own way, so I will not fruitless in her
A pregnant woman was forbidden to climb trees, pick fruits, or even touch a fruit tree, otherwise the tree, according to legend, could dry up.
Water was poured under the fruit tree, in which the woman in labor washed herself; it was she who was tried to be treated with the first fruits of the new harvest.
All Slavs know the ban on felling fruit trees. Cutting them down was considered a sin. Violation of this rule could cause death, injury, drought.
Fruit trees were practically not used in healing magic, in particular, illnesses and “lessons” were not “transferred” to them.
The wood of fruit trees was widely used for the manufacture of amulets.
In general, we can say that all fruit trees have a positive effect on a person.
Information about the magical properties of trees was preserved in the minds of the Slavs only in echoes. They can be found in fairy tales, epics, warnings. Sometimes you can hear: “Do not hide under a tree in a thunderstorm!”, “Do not dry laundry on the branches of a tree!”, “Do not break a tree!”. The warnings are still alive in our memory, but why one should not do this or that, no one or almost no one knows. Under the influence of Christianity, some ideas about the magical properties of plants and the causes of these properties have changed, some have been lost. Therefore, in this chapter, I pursued the goal of collecting information about the magical properties of trees in the life of the ancient Slavs, and tracing the role that they played in the life of our ancestors.