Traditions of the Pomors of the Kola Peninsula. Multimedia presentation “Culture and life of Pomors. Or maybe the reason for the appearance of the toponym lies not in this. At the bottom of the Odinchikha sponge there are several large stones, which the Pomors called Odintsy. Possible

Pomors are the Russian people in miniature. The Pomors took all the best from the Russian people (perseverance, assertiveness, hospitality, the ability to have fun, global optimism, and much more), but did not touch the flaws instilled by foreign influence. Here is what A.N. Zhilinsky in the book “The Far North of European Russia”: “The character of the Pomor is energetic, courageous, the Pomors are sociable, hospitable. There are quite a few real rich people among the Pomors; the latter are indebted to most of the ordinary Pomors. In all their intelligence and courage, the Pomors have no equal among the Russians. The sea is the life of a Pomor. From an early age, Pomors get used to the sea. From the age of 10-12 they go to heavy Murmansk crafts together with their elders. Often there are cases when the teams of sea sailing ships coming from Pomorye to Arkhangelsk consist of pomoroks. Pomorki sometimes participate on an equal basis with men in the marine fishery.

Pomors are distinguished not only by their character, but also by their special cultural traditions. These traditions manifested themselves in a particularly bright and varied way in oral folk art. The Pomeranian region is rich in songs, stories about nature, the sea and animals. The everyday speech of a northern person is also interesting. As Tatyana Sidorova, Associate Professor of the Department of the Russian Language at Pomor State University, writes in the article “Solombalets is an Odessan in felt boots” in the Pravda Severa newspaper, “evaluative “motives” are inherent in the statements of northerners, including, of course, residents of Arkhangelsk. Subtly feeling the word, the northerner discovers its new and new possibilities. Therefore, the speech of our countrymen often shines with word formations. One of the differences between the Pomors is also their approach to art. The North is rightly considered the treasury of Russian wooden architecture. Nationality gave life-giving force to wooden architecture. Northern people did not seek to surprise guests, whether Moscow or European, with the beauty of their creations. They only wanted to decorate their life, thanks to which this beauty is surprisingly folk.

What are the reasons for such a clear difference between the traditions of purely Russian and Pomors? One of the reasons, of course, is a certain special mentality of the Pomor character. But the matter lies in the great gulf between the Pomors and the rest of Russia. As in Soviet times, great emphasis is placed on the fact that there was virtually no serfdom in the North. There was no corvée; the basis of the economy was handicraft. Consequently, capitalism developed much faster. The fact that for a long time Pomorye was under the rule of Veliky Novgorod contributed to the strengthening and preservation of communal orders for a long time. The prototype of the veche was a secular gathering, where elders, sotskys, were chosen, issues were resolved, and mutual responsibility was determined. But on the other hand, exile to the North was equated with exile to Siberia. Although it happened, and they went here on purpose, for example, to the Solovetsky Monastery. But some couldn't resist. Only those whose soul is akin to the Pomeranian remained. About this soul, about this character, we are called to remember and tell the next generations.

Stones must be chosen carefully. You can not step where the algae, so as not to slip. It is better not to jump from stone to stone, some of them are wobbly. In two hours they will all hide under the rising tide.

She is clean. In the Kandalaksha Bay, the White Sea is not white at all, but transparent. White all around. And there are white ice floes on which seals bask.

The White Sea becomes truly white in winter, when the lips and bays are frozen over. The Barents Sea, which is to the north, beyond the Arctic Circle, does not freeze, it is warmed by the warm North Atlantic Current. Nothing warms the White Sea. In the south, there is the warm Black Sea, like a twisted mirror image of the White. They say that historical justice has triumphed on the Black Sea. Much is said about justice in the White Sea.

Between high tide and low tide, you can go to bask in the tone. Tonya (with an emphasis on the last syllable; a place in a pond where they fish with a seine or other fishing gear) is the essence of Pomeranian life, a fishing hut located on the very shore of the sea, from which Pomors gathered for crafts: to fish and hunt for whites.

Tonya Tetrina on the Tersky coast, in the Kandalaksha Bay - this is Alexander Komarov's life's work.

It can be called an open-air museum, although Tony Tetrin does not have an official status and no definitions other than the main one - ton - are applied. On the site located on the Arctic Circle, on the very shore of the White Sea, Alexander Komarov is reviving the Pomeranian culture with his own hands. In Ton Tetrina you can understand how the Pomors lived, how they worked, to feel what a warm hut means when there is knee-deep snow and an angry frost outside the window.

Tonya Tetrina as a place tells the story of what was. Most people talk about Pomors in the past tense. They came, they were, they developed their culture, they were engaged in crafts, went to the sea for fish and hunted for seals. Today, some questions arise about Pomors. Are there still such people? Who are they? How do they live? What are they doing?

SEA SEA

There are many disagreements about the origin of the Pomors.

For some researchers, this is an ancient people, formed long before the emergence of the Russian state or individual Russian principalities. According to this vision, the Pomors are the descendants of the Finno-Ugric population of the White Sea coast, mixed with the Varangians (whose ethnicity and origin are also explained by different, sometimes opposite theories) and Russian aliens. Among the Pomors themselves, the most common version is that their ancestors came from the lands of Veliky Novgorod and the Suzdal Principality and settled along the White Sea coast, where they were engaged in crafts - primarily fishing, hunting and salt production. This was in ancient times.

Alexandra Demyanchuk, a Pomorka from the Karelian village of Nyukhcha, says that these people were then looking for a better place to live and found the White Sea.

Is it better here? - you can be surprised, remembering that somewhere it has long been spring, and here the snow is knee-deep.

Alexandra Demyanchuk

I like it here,” she says proudly. She also mentions Martha the mayor, the wife of the Novgorod mayor Isaac Boretsky. At the end of the 15th century, Marfa Boretskaya opposed the unification of the Novgorod lands with the Moscow principality, but her struggle ended in defeat for the city, and for her in death. You can learn about all this from Nikolai Karamzin's story "Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod." According to Alexandra Demyanchuk, this was the moment when, dissatisfied with the new situation, that is, dependence on Moscow, the Novgorodians went north to look for a new land for themselves.

Over several centuries of presence on the White Sea, the newcomers from the Russian principalities, mixing with the indigenous population, built a rich, original culture, a reflection of which was the perception of themselves (and, accordingly, their perception by others) as some separate, peculiar and original group. Already in the 17th-18th centuries, the people belonging to it were defined in the written documents of that time as Pomors or Pomortsy.

Pomors lived on traditional crafts. Until now, on the White Sea, everyone repeats the phrase "the sea is our field." To be a Pomor means to live and feed on the sea. The cold and dangerous sea, but it allowed to live, over the centuries developed economic and cultural relations with neighboring peoples, primarily with Norway, the best proof of which is Russenorsk - a pidgin [a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more ethnic groups ], where the Pomors communicated with their Norwegian neighbors.

The revolution changed everything. The Soviet government chose Pomorie as a place of repression. The first Gulag camp was founded on the Solovetsky Islands, and the construction of the White Sea Canal soon followed, which cost the lives of thousands of prisoners. Pomors suffered the same fate as other residents of the country - repression, collectivization, which went against the traditional way of life based on personal labor and personal responsibility. Collective farms were created - both fishing and agricultural, and the latter - often in defiance of nature. Then the war came. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is more than difficult to recreate the traditional activities of the Pomors, the time is not right.

Such is the story. Pomor traditions are captured in several museums scattered in the cities of the entire White Sea coast.

For example, in a small museum in Kandalaksha, in a school hall reserved for the museum in Chupa, in a rather large and serious museum of Pomeranian culture in Kem, in the Trash Shed built mainly on the enthusiasm of its leader in Nyukhcha. Tonya Tetrina is also, in a certain sense, a museum, only under the open sky.

POMORY - A REGIONAL BRAND

In Arkhangelsk, somewhere at the beginning of the 2000s, Pomor culture went beyond the scope of local history museums. Then a group of people united, interested not only in the preservation of the Pomeranian culture, but in its development and promotion. Thus, the Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk region was created. Its initiators were Ivan Moseev and Vadim Medvedkov, organizations for 10 years already. One of its members is Arkhangelsk journalist Anatoly Bednov.

Anatoly Bednov

Anatoly Bednov in the last census recorded himself as a Pomor.

Pomors are people living along the shores of the White Sea and the rivers flowing into it, those whose way of life and culture are connected precisely with the sea and whose economy is primarily marine and river fishing, says Bednov.

When in a conversation it turns out that he himself is not engaged in fishing, Bednov still defines himself as a Pomor:

A fisherman is a profession, and a Pomor is an ethnic factor here. It's more than just a fisherman.

The goal of the Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk region, as Anatoly Bednov says, is “the revival of traditional culture already in modern conditions”, both material culture, that is, crafts, crafts, fishing, hunting, and spiritual.

These are Pomeranian tales, songs, costumes, holidays, features of the language, dialect. Plus, customs, rituals, everything that distinguishes us from the southern or Central Russian population, that is, what is specifically local, he lists.

At the same time, Bednov is convinced that the Pomors are not a separate people:

Russian Pomors. It's like a people within a people. Part of the Russian people, with its own characteristics that distinguish us from other peoples.

The Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk region has rather standard goals: the revival of traditional culture, its promotion and propaganda, attracting tourists on this basis, and the formation of regional brands.

To position the region against the background of others. Not just an ordinary territory at number 29, not an ordinary region, but a region with its own distinctive face, different from neighboring regions, - says Anatoly Bednov.

All this seems very understandable and justified - the development of the region, based on its cultural difference. This is not a new move at all, this strategy is popular all over the world. But something did not work with the Pomors. At a certain moment, the first rapid development of the “Pomor idea” and the promotion of local culture, as Antalii Bednov calls it, began to decline:

At the beginning of the 2000s, when the Pomor theme was very active and discussed even up to the level of the governor, then people signed up more [in Pomors]. But this, apparently, is such a general trend that manifested itself in various regions somewhere by the beginning of the 1990s. Somewhere in the Far East there were such sentiments, and in the south of Russia too.

During the 2002 census, even the then governor Anatoly Efremov signed up for the Pomors, setting an example for other regional officials. Then, as a result, 6,571 people signed up as Pomors. It turned out that a new nationality appeared in the north of Russia, and not everyone liked it.

Critical articles about the Pomors and the “Pomor idea” began to appear in the Regnum news agency, accusations of separatism and work for the benefit of hostile forces, in an effort to destroy Russia, were heard in them. On this wave, which was picked up by other media, local authorities began to treat the Pomors more coolly. The Pomor New Year - a major city event that took place in Arkhangelsk on the night of September 14-15 for several years in a row - was canceled.

The authorities began to be more wary in terms of financial support, too, allocating grants for some projects, under the pretext that there is not enough money, ”recalls Bednov.

At that time, another local organization joined the Pomors' initiatives - the National-Cultural Autonomy of the Pomors. Their positions, one might say, were more radical than those of the Association, and Anatoly Bednov believes that this fact also influenced the curtailment of Pomor projects.

They had a bias towards paganism, and this also had a very negative impact, they began to accuse that Orthodoxy was here, but here everything is going in that direction,” he says. Bednov believes that this arose primarily on economic grounds: - Economic organizations are probably afraid that if people are defined as a people, they will demand certain rights both to land and to resources. And we are not interested in this at all. I just wish someone would control mining.

How it is possible to make friends with the Pomor idea of politics so that no one is afraid, Bednov does not yet know. But he is sure that the region needs to develop, and ideologically too, otherwise it will become (and most likely is already becoming) unattractive for young people, and the outflow of the population from Pomorie will only increase.

In the next census in 2010, the number of Pomors decreased significantly. Then only 3,113 people signed up for the Pomors. Media publications critical of the Association of Pomors continue, they often include Norway as the country that finances the “Pomor idea” and Pomor organizations. Of course, in order to tear off the northern territories from Russia.

These raids in the media are constant, we are already used to it, every six months some kind of publication appears, - says Bednov and calls all the information about Norwegian support for Pomeranian organizations a fairy tale.

The Norwegians did not allocate any grants at all, there was nothing from Norway, that is, even from a formal point of view, we could not be considered “foreign agents”. For all these years not a single ruble, not a single crown has been received. In fact, the same Murmansk region is more actively working with Norway than the Arkhangelsk region, there are more international projects there, since they are geographically bordering.

Despite the fact that the regional authorities have stepped back from serious support for Pomor projects, neither Bednov nor his colleagues from the Association give up and continue their work.

If you do not take any measures, then the Pomors will simply dissolve, - Bednov worries. Threats to Pomeranian culture and its preservation are all around. First of all, globalization. Mass culture levels out regional diversity, on this soil there arises what Bednov calls "pseudo-folklore".

It is necessary to focus on identity, otherwise there will be confusion - the bird-happiness is decorated like Gzhel, and this is already called kitsch. There are, for example, pop groups that supposedly work under folklore, including northern folklore, which can replace traditional culture, and if there is no real support from the authorities, then with all the enthusiasm and with all the efforts, everything can wither. Local and state authorities should show interest.

OSHKUY. WHAT IS REMAINING OF THE POMORSKY SPEAK

While members of the Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk region are trying to develop the Pomor culture in Arkhangelsk, many others along the White Sea coast are trying to preserve it. The name of Ivan Moseev, the founder of the Association, is well known among these people. He is the author of numerous publications on the Pomor dialect, in this regard, few people like him have preserved what is undoubtedly considered the most valuable in any culture - language.

Alexandra Demyanchuk (Ukrainian surname, after her husband) from the village of Nyukhcha gladly responds to sing Pomeranian songs and insists that they sing along with her. She is a fairly well-known character in the Nyukhcha. She worked here as a teacher for several years, today, despite her age, and she is 80 years old, she leads an active lifestyle, mainly in the field of culture - she sings in a local ensemble, goes on tour with it and thus contributes to the preservation of Pomeranian culture. Her Pomor songs - perhaps the only time we heard for all our acquaintance with the Pomors Pomeranian speaking. That is how they call their own, very ancient, dialect of the Russian language in Pomorie.

Pomeranian speaking more actively than in oral speech, lives on paper. In the publications of Ivan Moseev. Thick Russian-Pomor dictionaries are impressive. Today, it is difficult to meet Pomeranian speakers, the linguistic leveling of the Soviet era has borne fruit. Alexandra Konstantinovna worked as a teacher in Soviet times and does not hide the fact that the Russian language was then the only one and there was no place at school for speaking.

Wherever and to whom one goes, moving along the coastline, every lover of Pomeranian culture has a book that at one time caused a serious scandal. We are talking about the collection "Pomorskie Skaski" published by Ivan Moseev. It is difficult to read “Pomorskie skaski” in Pomorskie, especially if your native language is not Russian. But you can compare it with the Russian version and understand at least that the Pomeranian polar bear is oshkuy. That is a villain. The tales are printed in three languages: Russian, Pomeranian and Norwegian. And if the first two options probably would not have attracted attention, then the Norwegian in the Pomor context alarmed the conservative environment, becoming for its representatives proof that the Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk Region, which Moseev headed, works in favor of the “enemy”, that is Norway. Moseev was accused of separatism and cooperation with Norway to separate Pomorie from Russia.

In 2012, a criminal case was opened against Moseev, he was accused of inciting ethnic hatred after a comment he left in a public post on the VKontakte website. In it, he allegedly called the Russian people cattle, in contrast to decent coast-dwellers. The case is very murky, and among Pomor activists there is a belief that all this was fabricated. But the court found Moseev guilty and fined him.

HUNTING FOR YOUNG POMOR

There are Pomors in Kandalaksha, and in Nyukhcha, and in Chupa. They have one feature that unites them. The fact that they are Pomors without any doubt is recognized by those who are older.

Here you go into the house in Chupa, and there is Ivan Mekhnin with his wife. They are Pomors. Why? Because they live here and were engaged in crafts, at least they caught fish. They are here, they are local, they are from here. Or you meet Galina Ivanovna in the Chupin library. Yes, she's a wimp. Father is Russian, mother is Karelian, she is from here, and the sea is the main thing for her. But young Pomors do not seem to exist in nature.

Vasily Efimov still lives in Chupa, he is young, and all the information about him speaks in favor of the fact that he is a Pomor. But Vasya is not easy to talk to. It's like a fish - you have to catch it first. Suppose, somehow by chance, to be near him, in which his wife, Yulia Suprunenko, helps. She grew up in Ashgabat, but changed warm Turkmenistan for life in the harsh homeland of her husband. Yulia worked at WWF (World Wildlife Fund), through his projects she got to the White Sea and fell in love. In the sea and in Vasya.

Ivan Mekhnin

Vasily Efimov

Vasya is going somewhere, dressed in winter hunting overalls. I sat down on a stool to answer a few questions. Does he die?

I don’t know who it is, how to understand who is a Pomor, who is not a Pomor, - he answers calmly. - In my understanding, Pomors are those who live on the coast of the White Sea, fish and live by fish, fishing, forest.

His wife Julia emphasizes that Vasya was born here in Chupa and grew up here. His dad is from Pulonga. This evokes memories for Vasya, he talks about his parents and his childhood:

Yes, they were constantly at sea and they took me, from the age of three I began to go to sea with them.

Julia tells even more about Vasya: quiet, calm and not speaking Vasya, when he goes out to sea, turns into a sea wolf. He is in the sea like a fish in water, he steers the boat without error, he knows all the bays, bays and currents by heart.

Many young people from the White Sea coast think that their place is not here, that they need to run away from here, go to big cities to study, work, earn money, make a career, be happy. Exactly the same way it seemed to Vasya at a certain time. But if you are a Pomor, then there can be no other happiness than here, on the White Sea. Julia and Vasya know about this, since for some time they lived together in Moscow.

Vasya, until he left for the metropolis, he did not understand. Until he realized there that it was in general ... That he would not survive there, that he felt bad there. In the city, he does not orient himself in the same way as he orients himself in the sea. He was there like a fish on land, he suffocated in it. He lay down straight on the floor and kicked his legs, saying: “I won’t live here, I can’t live here,” Yulia recalls.

Pomors have a hard time outside their natural habitat.

The locals do understand that they live in a unique place; if you walk around the city, ask people around, they don't like to live in these panel houses, they don't like to live in apartments, they like to live on the ground, they leave for the whole summer in Keret, in Pulonga. They understand that they will never buy this for themselves in any metropolis. They began to move here from big cities, they come here to live. A lot of families come here, they want to live here, because we have everything we need here: a hospital, a kindergarten, and a school. There was even a lyceum before that. And the metropolis is strangling them, - says Yulia.

Her words are confirmed by the pomorka Alexander Demyanchuk from Nyukhcha, 450 kilometers away from Chupa.

So I can’t be in the city,” she says.

Julia and Vasya moved to live in Chupa. Together they develop the tourism business. Julia is actively involved in the "Basin Council" - an organization established in 2003 on the initiative of the then head of the WWF marine program and director of the biological station of Moscow State University. In their plans for the conservation of the White Sea nature, they paid attention to local residents, and the Basin Council develops its projects in such a way that they will benefit people. That is, before announcing the opening of a natural park, they discuss it with people, try to find their understanding for this or that idea.

We try to preserve nature, taking into account the interests of local residents - this is how Julia formulates the main goal of the organization.

Soon, the "Basin Council" began to engage in other work, not only nature. The organization included local businessmen interested in the development of the region, and fishermen. Especially for the latter, when they acted on behalf of a rather large association, challenging the new fishing regulations became more effective. Increasingly, tourism development is on the agenda of the Basin Council. Only the White Sea is not the Black Sea, and there are no ordinary resort towns here and cannot be.

BELOMORSKY TOURISM

Tourism is different. We are also trying to approach this very carefully, so that it is socially responsible, so that it is reasonable. The nature of the Arctic is very vulnerable, if you trample a piece of earth under a tent, then nothing will grow there for three years. The North cannot love a large number of people. So many people will never come to us as, conditionally, to the Crimea, - Yulia Suprunenko believes. - They want to build hotels here. It's something I wouldn't want, but one small hotel would be nice. The most simple, elementary, hostel type. And so, I would like to see more go to rural, traditional tourism, so that the locals pass on to tourists what they can teach, what they have. But such people who can do it, unfortunately, leave every year. Of course, there may be those who will draw this from books, light up and will transmit it, such enthusiasts, this is also possible.

From her words it follows that tourists coming to the White Sea can be divided into two groups. The first ones are not classic Muscovites who just come in large numbers, build dachas and take their children there - no, they go there "to save it all." These are lovers, some are in love, like Yulia, some, like Vasya, have roots here. But there are others. Those who buy land, build "estates", restrict access to local residents, and those who, it would seem, just like Pomors, love to go to sea, but their manners are not at all Pomeranian.

These are people who come in very cool cars, on very cool boats. They throw them into the sea, these boats of their own, and just drive on crazy motors. No Rybnadzor can keep up with them. And sometimes they shoot at animals. Once a walrus came to us shelled, he did not die, but there were traces on him. And what to do with them? We do not have such equipment, no one here has such equipment to catch up with them and punish them. Although we will be doing raids this year with the Basseinov Council. If there are not enough opportunities for different bodies, either there is not enough fuel, or there is no such equipment, then we are ready to provide them with our help. We arrange raids, somehow help, fine. Or fires. We have extinguished fires here more than once on our own, with our own people. Of course, we call the services, but until they arrive ... And of course, mostly tourists call them, these fires, - says Yulia.

And yet, many Pomor activists see a chance in tourism. Although Pomorie clearly lacks tourism infrastructure. Finding a place to stay is just the beginning of the problems a tourist faces. There is a question of transport. You can travel between large settlements by train or electric train, but many places on the White Sea are simply inaccessible, especially in cold weather. To get to the old Pomeranian villages, you need to hire a car, and it's expensive. And, of course, this is not always possible in winter.

You have to get to Toni Tetrina in winter by snowmobile. There is another factor. The appeal of the stunning beauty of the Russian North is greatly reduced by the restrictions on stay for foreigners. Not every foreign tourist is ready to communicate with the FSB, even if this communication is very polite. The very fact that a foreigner needs to declare to the security service about his intention to visit the White Sea may cause rejection among many potential guests.

In this ancient Pomeranian village, you can still see how powerful and rich the Pomeranian culture was. Huge wooden merchant houses testify to how well the Pomors lived thanks to crafts and trade. In one of these two-story wide houses, which was built back in 1903 and belonged to the merchant Ponamarev before the revolution, and then performed various state functions (there was an administration, a first-aid post and even a maternity hospital), today there is a "Trash Shed". Nadezhda Semenova left the official name, which arose spontaneously, even before the museum was formally founded.

People get rid of rubbish, and I dragged everything to myself, ”she says. - I work at a school, we began to engage in research activities.

Nadezhda Sergeevna and shows the first exhibit:

This is the pillowcase that was given to the groom. The girl gave it to him.

She began collecting unnecessary "trash" back in 2006. There were more and more exhibits, and it was not entirely clear what to do with them.

At first we did not take much because there was no space, and then I began to put it all in the barn.

Tea drinking in Russia has long been perceived as something more than an ordinary meal or gathering at the table. The traditions of tea drinking, rooted in Russia, imply, first of all, the opportunity to drink tea in a pleasant company over a sincere conversation.

As a rule, a tea feast lasts several hours, the guests have a leisurely casual conversation. Among the people, tea drinking has long remained a symbol of prosperity and wealth, and the familiar expression “to tip” meant a manifestation of special generosity. And only in the 18th century tea finally entered Russian life and became a truly national drink, without which it is simply impossible to imagine the daily life of a Russian person. The famous expression “chasing tea” that appeared in the 19th century very aptly reflected the addiction of Russian people to tea drinking.

Tea was especially popular among the merchants, which gave rise to new customs. The memories of the Pomors about one of these customs have been preserved, which consisted in the fact that “the next day after the blessing, the groom came to the bride with gifts; he brought a head of sugar, a pound of tea and a wide variety of sweets - sweets, nuts, gingerbread, and all this was in fairly large quantities and whole bags; this was done because the bride invited her friends to visit her all the pre-wedding time, who helped prepare the dowry: all small things, starting with handkerchiefs, napkins, had to be marked with new initials - with the groom's last name. After that, the groom became his man in the bride's house.

Mansion of the Vysotsky tea manufacturers,

created by architect R.I. Klein in 1900

Fragments of tea packaging "Royal Rose"

Since tea has firmly entered the life of the Pomor, tea drinking has become an important part of his life. In Pomorie, not a single family celebration, not a single friendly meeting can do without tea. Sincere gatherings are held over tea, the most important news are discussed, people exchange opinions, argue, have fun, make business deals and just relax.

As Ludmila Alekseevna Zaikova recalls, tea is drunk on average six to seven times a day: at breakfast before work, at second breakfast, during light snacks, they complete dinner with tea, drink for an afternoon snack with sweets, and also enjoy evening tea in the family circle , not to mention tea drinking as a separate form of feast.

The main thing in the Pomeranian tea drinking is the atmosphere of sincerity, fun, peace and joy. It is not for nothing that the fame of a drink that warms not only the body, but also the soul is firmly entrenched in tea. Pomors also say such proverbs: “Where there is tea, there is paradise under the spruce”, “Drink tea - you will live up to a hundred years”, “Drink some tea - you will forget longing”.

It is well known that tea came to Russia from the East. But the Pomors had their own tea: from leaves, fruits, herb roots, in a huge assortment of collected, dried and harvested for various purposes - medicinal and tonic.

Our ancestors were not as spoiled by the delights of the tea industry as their descendants, and drank mainly Chinese black tea.

Tea trading company, founded in 1849 Kalonymus Zeev Wulf Vysotsky, throughout its activities, it has been distinguished by an exceptional trading culture, advanced technical equipment of its factory, unsurpassed product quality, in a word, had an impeccable reputation. The trademark of the partnership was a boat with a raised sail, "V. Vysotsky and Co" was the official supplier of the Russian Imperial Court, and controlled a third of the country's tea market.

The firm of the merchant Vysotsky, thanks to the remarkable organizational skills and commercial instinct of its founder and owner, quickly gained momentum. Wulf carefully studied all the nuances of the tea business and delved into any subtleties of the business. Contemporaries have repeatedly noted both his high competence and education, and the general culture of doing business.

Having gained entrepreneurial freedom, Vysotsky was able to dictate his terms to the market, thanks to which in 1903 the fixed capital of the company doubled again, amounting to 6 million rubles, and net profit approached 630 thousand rubles, increasing annually at the fastest pace in the industry. Soon V. Vysotsky & Co. became one of the monopolists, controlling 35% of the tea market in the Russian Empire.

Industrialists also brought tea from the V. Vysotsky and Co. partnership to Pomorie, fragments of the Royal Rose tea package were preserved in the Pomorskaya Gornitsa Museum with. Sumy Posad.

Taisiya Afanasievna Evtyukova, 89 years old, pomorka, spoke about the ritual of brewing tea: “It is recommended to cook boiling water in samovars. When water boils, a teapot is placed on the burner. Next, pour the tea leaves in the right amount at the rate of 0.5-0.75 g per serving and pour boiling water over about 1/3 of the teapot. Cover with a lid and a napkin for 5 minutes so that the teapot spout remains open, otherwise the tea will steam and change its taste. Then pour boiling water into the kettle to the top and stir. The draft slows down, and the samovar slowly brings the water to a boil, brewing tea with high quality.”

The main attribute of the traditional Pomeranian tea drinking is the samovar. The appearance and size of samovars was very diverse - they were produced for several glasses and even several buckets. The people immediately appreciated the advantage of the samovar: no need to heat the stove to heat water.

Firewood, charcoal or even pine cones were used to kindle the samovar. Largely thanks to the samovar, the tradition of the Russian tea ceremony was formed as a leisurely and relaxing pastime. The samovar is a symbol of comfort, home warmth, it is a living being, the real master of the house.

Serafima Nikolaevna Usharovich recalls that, first of all, the tea table was covered with a tablecloth only on holidays - for special occasions, and everyday tea drinking was at the usual table in the kitchen, which was not covered with anything. The samovar was always assigned the role of a silent interlocutor at the table. He always stands in the center of the table, kind - in his image, in the roundness of his forms. He puffs good-naturedly on smoke and gurgles with boiling water.

Since tea in those days was not cheap, it was very important, in addition to the ability to brew delicious tea, also the ability to “not sleep tea”, that is, not less. pour it in such a way that each of those present at the tea party receives their portion of tea of the same strength, and plus, the hostess would not allow a large consumption of dry tea leaves. Only the mistress herself poured tea, and only in case of emergency this action was entrusted to the eldest of the daughters, which corresponded to the unwritten rule - tea should always be poured by the same person who is well acquainted with this business.

They drank tea from porcelain dishes, without necessarily topping up 1-2 cm from the edge of the cup, which was considered good form. In merchant families, it was allowed to serve cups of hot tea on deep saucers, from which they drank it with sugar or jam, holding the saucer in the palm of your hand with a special, ostentatious chic. Tea from a samovar is usually drunk as a bite, that is, sugar is served separately.

According to the Pomeranian tradition of tea drinking, several types of snacks are served at the table, the first of which is hearty dishes. Here we are mainly talking about pies, kulebyaks and pancakes. The fillings for them can be very diverse: meat, cabbage, fish, and eggs. The purpose of these dishes is to feed the guests who have just come to your table. Snacks are also served on the table - various sandwiches, meat and cheese cuts, pates, caviar. These dishes are good because they do not distract from the conversation, serve as a good snack and do not get cold. After a pause, sweet dishes appear on the table - pastries, honey, various varieties of jam, or pancakes with sweet fillings, fresh fruits and berries. Baked milk was always on the table. Lyudmila Alekseevna Zaikova recalls that “during the Great Patriotic War, life was difficult, and her mother baked alabashniks - pancakes made from black flour, adding grated potatoes there.”

Now, brewing bagged tea in a hurry, we are surprised by Eastern philosophers who considered it a drink of harmony and wisdom. We, unlike our ancestors, who turned tea drinking into a ritual of relaxation and communication, simply absorb the liquid without enjoying the process itself. Try to follow the tea tradition of the Pomors, and sincere gatherings at the same table will become a good tradition in your home.

L. Makarshin, p. Sumy Posad

Bibliography

Bernshtam, T.A. Russian folk culture of Pomorie in the XIX-beginning of the XX century. : ethnographer. essays / T.A. Bernstam; USSR Academy of Sciences; Institute of Ethnography im. N.N. Miklukho-Maclay; Rep. editor: K.V. Chistov. - L. : Nauka, 1983. - 231 p.

Gemp, K. P. Tale of the White Sea / K.P. Gemp. - Arkhangelsk: North-West. book. publishing house, 1983. - 237 p.

Maksimov, S.V. Year in the North / S.V. Maksimov. - Arkhangelsk: North-West. book. publishing house, 1984.

Nikolskaya, R.F. Karelian cuisine / R.F. Nikolskaya. - Petrozavodsk: Karelia, 1989.

Cheremukhina, L.A. Northern Cuisine / L.A. Cheremukhin. - Arkhangelsk: AVF-book, 2008.

The world of the Russian North has always been perceived as special, full of secrets and mysteries. It was not only nature that made him so, but also people. Strong characters were brought up in a harsh climate. That is why Pomors (or Pomortsy) managed to carry their uniqueness through the centuries without losing it under the pressure of inexorable time.

If you want to put a resident of the Arkhangelsk region in an awkward position, ask him a question about whether he considers himself a Pomor. Most people will not be able to give an intelligible answer, since some of them believe that all the inhabitants of the north of Russia are, by definition, Pomors, while others are sure that the Pomors lived a very long time, were different from other peoples, and now they are nowhere to be found.

Judging by the 2002 All-Russian Population Census, about 6,500 people considered themselves Pomors. And in 2010, only 3113 people identified themselves as such. Pomorie includes Murmansk, part of Karelia and Komi, but the "capital" is Arkhangelsk.

Valuable crafts

The first who settled the modern north of Russia after the glaciers came down were the Sami. In memory of themselves, they left rock paintings, stone labyrinths and parking lots with various household items on the shores of the White Sea. Perhaps they are the direct ancestors of the Pomors.

Novgorodians began to explore the north in the 9th century. At first, they settled there little and reluctantly - the lands were rather poor. But after 988, when Russia began to accept Christianity, many people went north because they did not want to give up the beliefs of their ancestors.

An interesting fact is that even in the 19th century there were a very large number of people in Pomorie who professed paganism or preserved some elements of pagan rituals and beliefs in everyday life. That is why various amulets of Pomors have come down to us. From the 12th to the 15th centuries, Pomorye was a colony of the Novgorod Republic, and later it was annexed to Moscow.

Also, after the church schism of the 17th century, those who were against the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, the Old Believers, moved to the north. Until now, in the villages of the Russian North, you can meet communities of Old Believers who carefully preserve their traditions.

The Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church unites about 250 religious communities and groups in Russia and about the same number abroad. Pomors-Old Believer communities can be found all over the world - from the Baltic countries and the former republics of the USSR to the USA, Argentina and Canada.

Peculiarities of the Pomor culture "Pomors are the steel of the Russian land" Count S. Yu. Witte. Based on materials Site © "Pomors Community" Compiled by Bolshakov S.V.

Pomors is a distinctive self-name (ethnonym) of the indigenous ethnic community of the European North of Russia (Pomorye). The ethnonym Pomors arose no later than the 12th century on the southwestern (Pomor) coast of the White Sea, and during the centuries. spread far to the south and east from the place of its origin. The ethnogenesis of the Pomors was due to the merging of the cultures of the proto-Pomors, mainly the Finno-Ugric (Chud) tribes of the White Sea region and the first Old Russian colonists, who actively settled the territories of Zavolochye. In centuries Pomorye was a colony of Veliky Novgorod. In centuries Pomorye was a vast economic and administrative region along the shores of the White Sea, Lake Onega and along the river. Onega, Northern Dvina, Mezen, Pinega, Pechora, Kama and Vyatka, up to the Urals. By the beginning of the 16th century. Pomorie joined Moscow. In the 17th century, in 22 counties of Pomorye, the bulk of the population was made up of free “black-eared” peasants. In the 19th century, Pomorie was also called the Russian North, the European North of Russia, etc.

Subsequently, the term Pomorye began to blur, the ethnonym "Pomors" began to be replaced by the impersonal term "northerners", however, despite the active processes of assimilation of Pomors in the Great Russian ethnos (the ethnonym Great Russians arose in the 19th century), Pomors have retained their ethnic (national) self-consciousness to this day. This fact, in particular, is confirmed by the data of the All-Russian population census of 2002, where Pomors indicated their ethnicity in the column "nationality" (census registry code 208 "nationality - Pomors"). The signs of the ethnic community of Pomors are: ethnic (national) self-consciousness and self-name (ethnonym) "Pomors", common historical territory (Pomorye), common culture of Pomorye, common language (Pomor "speaking"), ethnic (national) character, ethnic religious worldview ( Pomeranian Old Orthodox Church), community of traditional economy and other factors.

The culture of Pomorye is unique and differs significantly from the culture of the peoples of central Russia. This is largely dictated by kinship with the cultures of the peoples of the northern countries. In Pomorye, the most expedient and artistically significant forms were developed - hipped temples, which reached great heights. The eight-slope pyramid - a "tent", placed on an octagonal "cage", turned out to be stable both during the draft of the building and against strong winds. These temples did not belong to the Byzantine tradition. The highest church hierarchy looked at them with disapproval. But the people continued to build in their own way. Tent buildings "wooden top" not only survived for centuries in Pomorie, but also created a new tradition, became a favorite form of national architecture, switched to stone buildings and proudly rose above Moscow itself.

Yozy (or az) is a fence of inclined poles, characteristic of the Pomeranian culture, which was not used anywhere in Russia, except for Pomorie. It is curious that the same fences are common in Scandinavia, which speaks of the common origins of our northern cultures. Yozami Pomors fenced pastures to protect livestock from forest animals. Unlike the Great Russians, the Pomors did not enclose their houses with fences or high fences, since there has never been theft in Pomorie. Leaving the house, the Pomor put a “fence” at the door - a stick, a batozhok, or a broom, and this was enough so that none of the neighbors would enter the hut until “the owners were not back.” Pomors never kept chain dogs to protect the house.

Pomeranian customs A lot about the characteristic features of any nation can be told by its customs, rituals, and special signs. The Pomeranian tradition is well known not to throw rubbish into either the river or the sea. The coast-dwellers also treated the fishing grounds in a special way. On each tone - a hut on the sea or river, where a family or several families lived and hunted in the summer - there was a cross "for prey" - so that fish could be caught better.

During the summer fishing, when families "sat" on the tone, any passer-by was met by the hostesses and fed to satiety. To treat a random person is a blessing, it was not only a manifestation of hospitality, but also a spell of good luck and prosperity. When making a purchase and sale, some thing (“egg”, “fish tooth knife”, hat) was passed from hand to hand, symbolically sealing the deal. Special ceremonies were devoted to the departure of hunters for dangerous hunting. In the church they ordered a prayer service "for health", they baked and gave with them special food "supper" and "technician". The presence of a special name and its connection with tribal traditions ("technician" was baked by the mother-in-law) most likely testifies to the ritual meaning attached to this food. Memories of hunting were preserved in lullabies: a cat is promised "a white squirrel for a cap, a sesame testicle for a toy" for cradling a baby. A sea animal was called a kunzhui, and a seal cub was called a squirrel.

Various information about the life of the Pomors is brought to us by a large group of toponyms, which are based on the word cross. Behind each of them are some events, tragic or joyful: vows given in a difficult hour of life. The cross was usually cut from logs, and when installed, it was oriented strictly to the cardinal points, regardless of whether it was a votive cross or just a nautical sign. The cross was positioned so that the person praying, standing facing the inscription on the cross, thereby turned his face to the east, and the ends of the crossbar indicated the direction of north and south. Pomors will take an unusually rich catch, miraculously survive in a storm - and thanks to Nicholas the Wonderworker they put an end to it. In Pomorye, votive crosses are common (locally, cherished, reciprocal, promised). They were placed on a vow after returning from the sea or after an illness near houses, on the seashore, near the Don huts.

The calendar, which the Pomors usually took with them for fishing or on the road, was a four-sided, six-sided wooden or bone bar up to half a meter long. On it, lines and notches indicated simple days and days of holidays. Holidays were symbolic. For example, the days of the solstice were marked by high and low sun. The day when the cold rolls back to the north - by sleigh, the arrival of birds - by a bird.

The life and customs of the Pomors are reflected in various sayings, for example: Whoever has not been to the sea has not poured his fill to God. Lent - sit on the reins by the sea. A horse and a man are an age-old shame [to be dishonored - to suffer, to experience great difficulties associated with absence from home], a woman and a cow are centuries-old brownies.

Pomors and Saami have a common custom of naming rivers, lakes, tonis and islets by the names of people who drowned in these reservoirs or near them. Clumsy, like a flattened toad, a fish roaring, emitting a terrible roar when it is hooked on a hook, dried and put under the bed when someone gets sick from the "pricks". Pomors-Old Believers did not drink alcohol at all. The age-old custom of the Pomors is not to offend orphans whose fathers were killed by the sea. Of all the acts of the funeral rite, we note the insufficiently known custom of placing a stone and a broom in the red - God's corner after death. Then this broom is burned. Sign: if after the wedding the young people go to the wedding feast under a fur (“fur coat”) blanket, their life will be comfortable. In Pomorye, an embroidered neckerchief is the first gift from a bride to a groom - it is called “grooms handkerchief”. There is a custom to smear the matchmakers with clay in case of refusal. If the pearls worn by a woman begin to fade, they say that she will be ill. The pearl itself gets sick - it goes out. There were people in Pomorie capable of curing pearls.

There has always been a respect for bread. Previously, in Pomorie, you will not meet children with a piece of bread. Someone jumped out of the feast, chewing a piece - father or grandfather: "Where did you go to bite, sit down," and even the offender will say: "You will sit for an hour." And sits, does not dare to object. Bread was cut only while standing. “I didn’t cut bread when I was sitting.” No one touches food before the eldest, grandfather or father gives a sign to this - knocks with a spoon on the edge of a bowl or countertop. Finished the meal the same way. The fisherman on duty poured the fish soup into bowls. The fish was served separately on a wooden tray. They began to sip the soup and “drag” the fish at the sign of the foreman, he knocked with a spoon on the edge of the tabletop.

Pomeranian New Year September was the most festive month for the Pomors: it was the time of the cessation of field work for the black-mossed Pomorie, the time of the return of industrial fishermen from the sea and the beginning of the autumn Pomeranian trade. When the reformer tsar Peter I postponed the start of the new year from September 14 (September 1 O.S.) to January 1, the Pomors, who did not recognize most of the tsarist reforms, refused to keep the chronology according to the new calendar. True Pomors still adhere to this tradition and celebrate their New Year in September. In Russia, of all the peoples, only the Pomors have preserved the tradition of celebrating the New Year with a holiday and the Margaritinsky Armenian. Therefore, the holiday is called the Pomeranian New Year. Pomors in 2006 celebrate the beginning of the new summer in 7515 according to their calendar. Thus, if in Russia the New Year is traditionally celebrated twice (in January - new and old), then about the Pomeranian capital we can say this: “New Year is here - three times a year!” By the way, the Russian Orthodox Church has not yet recognized the Peter the Great calendar reform, and in all liturgical books "the following of the new summer remains the same."

The heart of the fair It is curious that back in the 90s of the XX century, the authorities of Arkhangelsk tried to revive the Margaritinsky trade, but to no avail. They did not know that the “main fair” of Pomorye cannot be revived without the New Year holiday associated with it since ancient times. As a result, until the end of the 20th century, Arkhangelsk remained "a city without a fair." But the desire of the indigenous people of Arkhangelsk to return the trade traditions taken away from them was great, so six years ago, the townspeople, at the prompt of the Pomor elders, restored the New Year - their traditional autumn harvest, trade and charity festival, “the heart of the Pomor Fair”. Figuratively speaking, before they managed to revive the Margaritinsky Fair, the "resuscitators" had to start its "heart" - otherwise nothing worked. That is why the “main fair of the Arkhangelsk region” celebrates in 2006 the fifth anniversary of its revival, and the Pomor New Year, which has been associated with it since ancient times, is already six years old.

A sign for business During the Pomor New Year in 2006 in Arkhangelsk, the Pomors will again, according to the ancient custom, pass the fiery procession of the Pomors in Ozhey (pilots) from the gates of Gostiny Dvor and light a special fire on the raft on the waves of the Northern Dvina - the unique Pomor Margaritinsky lighthouse (there are more such custom none of the peoples in the world have). The floating lighthouse is a symbolic image of the trading heart of the Margaretin Fair, the Commercial Sea Port of Arkhangelsk and a symbol of Pomeranian happiness. If the Lighthouse flares up immediately and burns hot and bright, Arkhangelsk entrepreneurs will have success in the coming year. If it does not light up for a long time or goes out, the Arkhangelsk business, and all Arkhangelsk residents, will face major problems. The lighthouse is lit by the oldest Arkhangelsk pilots. Then, according to tradition, a salute from the city cannon sounds, and Pomor fireworks begin - an old Arkhangelsk tradition that has been around for several centuries. It is worth emphasizing that lighting a fire for the New Year and fireworks is not an invention of modern screenwriters and directors, not a festive remake that many Russian cities suffer today, but an ancient tradition of the capital of Pomorie. For example, fireworks for the New Year, arranged during the Margaritinsky Fair, is an original Arkhangelsk custom, because the first New Year's fireworks and fireworks in Russia were launched in Arkhangelsk three centuries ago.

Arkhangelsk is the birthplace of fireworks! If you are asked which city in Russia is the birthplace of domestic New Year's fireworks, you can safely answer - Arkhangelsk. Yes, yes, it was not Moscow or St. Petersburg, but it was the trading sea city on the Northern Dvina that laid the foundation for the Russian tradition of celebrating the New Year with fireworks, fireworks and other "fiery fun". Few people know that it was here in Arkhangelsk in 1693 that Peter the Great fired his first salute in honor of the coming New Year! “Allow me,” one of the readers may object, “there are historical facts. For example, it is known that Peter I visited Arkhangelsk three times, but not in winter, but during summer navigation! What New Year's fireworks are you talking about? However, let's remember another historical fact: in 1693, the New Year in Russia (New Year) was celebrated not in winter, but in autumn, on September 14th. And it was at this time that young Peter I visited the capital of Pomorye for the first time in his life. In Arkhangelsk, Peter celebrated the New Year, which then began on September 14 (1 O.S.),” Academician Alexander Morozov writes about this event. - There was a solemn service, salute from cannons and small weapons, from a yacht and foreign ships.

It is curious that during the Margaritinsky fair, which traditionally began in Arkhangelsk from the September New Year, Peter I, according to the overseas custom, arranged the first New Year's fireworks in Russia on Cape Purnavolok - "he let down rakits and granades on the Aglitsky bridge." The aforementioned "Aglitsky Bridge" is one of the three sea berths (there were also Galanskaya and Ruska bridges), located right next to the Arkhangelsk Gostiny Dvor. The English pier was the northernmost of the three, and was located approximately in the place where the entrance to the Pur-navolok hotel in Arkhangelsk is located today. It was a wide wooden platform on larch piles, protruding from the shore for several tens of meters towards the Northern Dvina. It is worth noting that this pier was built by the British before the founding of Arkhangelsk in the middle of the 16th century.

Fireworks over the Dvina It is not difficult to imagine an enchanting picture - on a high English pier, in the light of mica lanterns and torchlights, you can see the figure of young Peter, who is trying to light the "rocket" presented to him by Hamburg merchants - a new-fangled rocket in Europe for the production of fireworks. Finally, he succeeds and, to the joyful exclamations of the townspeople crowded on the shore and floating in boats, the first New Year's rocket in Russia soars into the dark September sky. A deafening roar is heard and over the white towers of the Arkhangelsk Gostiny Dvor, over ship piers and masts of foreign ships, the first New Year's fireworks in Russia are scattered with sparks with crackling and smoke. It is possible that it was in Arkhangelsk, which struck the young tsar with its foreign spirit, that Peter first decided to arrange a new year in a European manner throughout Russia. It is no coincidence that six years later he issues a corresponding decree on the transition of the country to the European chronology and orders salutes and fireworks to be arranged everywhere.

Pomeranian sayings Each hut has its own rattles, each hut has its own rattle, each village has its own everyday life, and everywhere everything is ours - Pomeranian. You won’t go into the karbasa slotted into the sea, and you won’t heal in a hut blown by the wind. According to the yard, yes, they judge the economy” (to tell - a hayloft, a building for storing various things for commercial, agricultural and household purposes). You can’t eat a threesome, you won’t pull it at work. There is no fish more stupid than lumpfish, but he knows how to dress up. And joy and sorrow Pomor - all from the sea. The Barents Sea should be called the Pomeranian Sea, the Pomors settled in it. The sea hardens both the body and the heart. Cold windmills are no joy. You will leave the platoon with the mind, but there is no mind - you will lie down at the bottom. Fear at sea teaches to think, fear takes away understanding. Pomor is strong with his father's science, friends and his work. To plow the sea - you can’t see peace with your hands. The hour of death comes to the sea, but forever lies in the ground pulls.

Musical Traditions In the White Sea region, metal bells spread quickly and widely and acquired the value of a musical instrument no less than a signal instrument. There were no folk musical instruments here: rattling, plucked, and bowed, common in Novgorod, Pskov, Moscow, on the Dnieper, on the Volga and the upper Dvina. Pomors knew only whistles, whistled and shepherd's horns.

Clothing and footwear The national Pomeranian clothing is in many respects similar or completely identical to the clothing of the Komi and Nenets peoples. The functional and aesthetic features of the clothes of the northern neighbors are dictated by climatic conditions and the similarity of the culture of the indigenous Finno-Ugric peoples of the North. The main materials for its manufacture were the skins of fur and sea animals, livestock and pet hair. The very conditions of life and work of the Pomors made demands on clothing and footwear for their increased strength, "windproof" and "waterproof". The best things to tell about themselves are the things themselves. Here are the main ones: Boot covers - men's work and industrial footwear made of leather. These are soft leather boots with long (up to the knee or thigh) tops. Sewn on a straight block, i.e. without distinguishing between right and left boots. The soft leather sole was sewn together with the boot, after which the boot turned inside out. If the shoe covers reached the thigh, the top was fixed on the leg with the help of straps, and the edge of the shoe cover was tied to the belt;

Malitsa - outerwear for men and women made of deer fur or young seal skins. Made with fur inside; Sovik - outerwear made of deer fur with a round hood, cut with fur on the outside. In frosts, the owl was dressed over a malitsa. Stockings - legs with a double heel and a sole;

Buzurunka - a shirt tightly knitted from thick wool, elongated, covering the waist, a collar "under the neck", a long sleeve "on the wrist", that is, on the cuff. Solid color or patterned in brown wool; Sleeveless jacket - from the skin of a seal, with fur outside, fabric lining. The clasp is in front, from the throat to the bottom, wooden or bone buttons, both homemade, cord loops. Does not get wet - “The rain rolls down on her with tears”; "Shell" on the head - a hat, usually fur, but sometimes leather with fur, and cloth on fur with a fur trim around the face to the beard;

Skufeyka - a winter hat made of cloth, quilted. Usually worn by guys; Strupni are leather shoes that resemble modern slippers. They were sewn from a single piece of leather without a separate sole. A strap was tied to the leg. Summer shoes with and without fabric lining; A hat - a slap in the face - a double-sided fur fawn hat with long ears.

The northern lands were among those few regions of Russia where salt was mined. Written sources that have come down to us testify that salt production in Zavolochye was well established. So, the Solovetsky Monastery had about 50 varnits, which employed up to 800 permanent and about 300 temporary employees. Salt-workers of the Dvina land and the Vologda region produced up to poods of salt per year and supplied many regions of the Moscow state with this product for more than two hundred years.

One of the oldest crafts in Pomorie was tar smoking. Already in the second half of the 14th century, resin was driven for sale on the estates of the Novgorod boyars on the Vaga. Vazhskaya resin becomes the subject of overseas trade, first of Novgorodians, and then of Muscovite Russia. The resin was used to lubricate shoes, skis, wheels, in shipbuilding, rope production, and leather business. High demands were placed on its quality. An important role in the economy of Zavolochye was played by the mica industry, which developed especially intensively in the 15th century. Mica was used for windows and skylights. In connection with the growth in the number of churches and monasteries, the need for portable lanterns, which are used during the procession, has increased. Mica was also used to decorate the carriages of kings and rich nobles. Russian mica was considered the best in the world and was known in Western Europe and Asia under the name "muscovite". It was very expensive: its price ranged from 15 to 150 rubles per pood. “Mica,” Kielburger reports in his essay on Russian trade in 1674, “is mined between Arkhangelsk and the seashore near Vaigach on a sea ledge and is discovered in rocky high mountains. Everything that is longer and wider than one arshin belongs to the tsarist monopoly and cannot be openly sold by any private person.

Such an unusual craft as pearl fishing has also acquired a wide scope in Pomorie. Pearl shells were mined at the mouths of small rivers: the Solza and Syuzma on the Summer Coast, Varzuga and Ponoi on the Tersky Coast, as well as in the Kolech region. From the mined pearls, local ship kissers selected the tenth, the best, grain "for the great sovereign." These "sovereign" pearls were sent to Kola, and from there to Moscow. And from Varzuga pearls went to the patriarchal treasury. In Pomorie, an unusual love for pearls arose, and from here it spread throughout Russia, in all sectors of society. They were heavily showered with dresses and caftans, hats and shoes. Zavolochye is also the birthplace of mining in Russia. In the work of Marco Polo, which describes Ancient Russia and its inhabitants, one can read: “This country is not a trading country, but they have a lot of expensive furs ... They have a lot of silver ores, they mine a lot of silver.” Lord Veliky Novgorod received tribute from Zavolochye in furs and silver. There is an opinion that it was only Zakamsk silver from the mysterious Yugra and Great Permia. At the same time, we have information that in the 12th century in Russia, searches for silver and copper were carried out, iron was mined, and a grindstone was processed. Miners of ores, "diggers", arranged domnitsa, forges, made metal tools and tools: axes, knives, anchors.

The Chud tribes on the territory of Zavolochye possessed the skills of metal production, as evidenced by the Chud mines - primitive smelting furnaces. As a hypothesis, it can be assumed that these peoples introduced the first Russian inhabitants to the mining business, or at least aroused interest in it. There is information that Ivan the Terrible sent miners to Novaya Zemlya. In Pomorye there were experienced mining specialists: "diggers" and "miners", "smelters" with their own equipment, "tackle" for smelting metals. Subsequently, Pomorie supplied the nascent metallurgical industry of the Urals and Siberia with experienced craftsmen. It should also be noted that "earth blood" - the first Ukhta oil - was delivered in barrels to Moscow to illuminate the streets of the capital back in the days of Ivan the Terrible. And one of the first Russian silver coins was minted in Pomorie, in Arkhangelsk. Since the middle of the 16th century, the extraction and smelting of iron have been greatly developed in Zavolochye. On the "iron fields" meadow, lake and marsh ores were mined, and the "diggers" were Vazhans, Dvinyans, Pinezhans and Mezens. One of the first ironworks in Russia was an enterprise founded in 1648 on the Vaga near Shenkursk by foreigners Marselius and Akemay.

Pomorie abundantly supplied the inner regions of the state with products of its local industry, among which the most important place belonged to fish (especially salmon), salt, lard and skins of sea animals and furs; almost all foreign trade of the state was concentrated in Pomorye; Pomorie served as the main connecting link between European Russia and Siberia in terms of trade.

By the 17th century, the turnover of the Arkhangelsk fair reached three million rubles. And if we consider that the population of the entire Russian state by the beginning of the 17th century did not exceed 12 million people, and the entire state income in 1724 was 8 million rubles, then the fair turnover of Pomorie can be considered a very large contribution to the development of the Russian economy. At this time, Kholmogory became the most populated region of the Dvina land. Here, river and sea shipbuilding, sawmilling and flour milling, tar-burning, carpentry were greatly developed, bone-carving craft was born, there were cable, spinning and weaving enterprises, forges and locksmiths.

Here is a list of goods that were traded in Kholmogory, placed in a letter of 1588 by a Dvina tselovalnik (collector of taxes and duties): honey, wax, caviar, oil, lard, copper, tin, lead, “soft goods” (furs of sable, marten, beaver , squirrels, hare), velvet, satin, silk, cloth, dress, cotton paper, incense, incense, pepper, etc. Out-of-town merchants were obliged to stop only in the Kholmogory Gostiny Dvor and trade there. From the same charter we learn that English, Dutch (Brabant) and Spanish "Germans" traded in Kholmogory.

Since time immemorial, the main occupation of the population of the Pomeranian North has been animal and fishing trades. On the seashores and along the banks of the rivers, fish were scattered everywhere, from which the majority of the population of this vast region was fed. Each salmon pit, each fishing camp - "skeya" or hunting site had its own indigenous owners, who could sell their possessions, mortgage them in whole or in shares, rent them out and bequeath them to their descendants or monasteries.

The main document that protected the rights of private owners and owners of the Pomeranian fish and fur trade was the Sudebnik of 1589, written by the “worldly” judges of the Dvina volosts of Pomorye. It differed significantly from the Russian Sudebnik of 1550, since it did not contain the norms of serfdom and was focused on free (black-haired) peasants and industrialists. The Pomeranian quitrent lands from Vaga to Kola, which once belonged to the Novgorod boyars (up to the annexation of Pomorie to Moscow), in the 15th century became the property of the Grand Duke of Moscow. But in essence, the Pomeranian peasants remained the owners of fish and animal industries, who paid a tax (tithe) to the state and disposed of the fishing grounds at their own discretion. This continued until the end of the 16th century, until it seemed to some of the city officials that such a taxation system was not effective enough.

The prototype of quotas By decree from Moscow at the end of the 16th century, a system of so-called "farms" was introduced into the marine industries, which allowed merchants to acquire rights to all the production of industrialists for money. However, instead of the expected replenishment of the sovereign's treasury, the exact opposite happened: almost all the farming quotas were acquired by rich foreign merchants, who immediately seized all the rights to trade in sea animal fat (blubber). Moscow merchants, who used to buy blubber from the Pomeranian industrialists, found themselves in a difficult situation. Therefore, in 1646, they filed a petition to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, in which they complained about foreigners that they “bought off the fat fat so that your sovereign people and all Pomeranian industrialists would not sell this fat to other Germans and Russian people, but take it for themselves at half price, at a third and a quarter of the price, and from that Kolmogory and all of Pomorie ... became impoverished and dispersed apart. And your sovereign patrimony, the city of Arkhangelsk and Kolmogorsk district, and all Pomorie is empty.

Reading this petition, one involuntarily begins to compare the situation described in it with what is happening today in the Russian fishing industry (with the only difference that fish auctions and a quota distribution system appear instead of a system of farming out). The deplorable result of bureaucratic innovations led to the fact that the petition took effect, and already in the same 1646, the devastating for the Pomeranian farms were urgently replaced by the former tithe collection.

Monopoly "buying". Under Peter I, a duty was levied from the Pomeranian population “for the tenth thousand of cod fish at 16 rubles, and from cod fat (liver. - Auth.) For the tenth pood of 15 altyns.” In January 1703, Tsar Peter I issued a Decree according to which all trades of "blubbers, walruses and other sea animals and fat" were given to a monopoly company headed by A.D. Menshikov and the Shafirov brothers. The decree forbade fishermen and industrialists to trade in commercial prey in addition to the specified "kumpania", and by decree of June 10, 1703, she was given the right to own commercial fishing grounds, which had previously been owned by Pomeranian industrialists. As the historian A. A. Morozov writes, “Company clerks in Arkhangelsk Stepan Okulov and merchant Nikita Krylov, using their monopoly rights, mercilessly pressed the industrialists, forcing them to sell prey (especially cod) at an extremely low price and almost immediately resold it at exorbitant prices on ships . Some "pimps" beat out in this way up to % of the profit. However, the predatory activities of Menshikov's company did not bring the desired economic return for the state, and the revenues of the treasury, contrary to Peter's expectations, sharply decreased. From 1717 to 1720, the company released only 3,400 barrels of cod liver, and 9,391 pounds of dried cod. According to historian S.F. Ogorodnikov, this is much less than was released by free Pomeranian industrialists in 1700 alone.

Particular surname In 1721, Peter I, having made sure that Menshikov's company had failed, decided to give the crafts "to the company of the merchant people, whichever those crafts could increase to spread the sovereign's profits." The "guest" Matvey Evreinov was the first to respond to Peter's call. He turned to the College of Commerce with a proposal to give all the Pomeranian crafts "to him and the children from the beginning of 1722 henceforth into eternal possession." Moreover, on the same monopoly conditions that Menshikov used. In his address, the "guest" behaved truly with "oligarchic scope." In particular, he insisted on imposing the most severe sanctions against the Pomors if they traded in sea production in addition to his family company: “None of the industrialists would sell any fat of walrus and ripped skins, walrus ivory and dry cod past the company to anyone else, - wrote Matvey Evreinov, - and most of all, they did not dare to let them go overseas or to other places under fear of cruel reprisals. and there are so many fish in the seas that "it will be enough to supply all of Europe" and "it is a sin against the nation to give such a treasure to a particular surname." As a result, Evreinov received the rights to the Pomeranian fisheries for a period of "only" 30 years. True, after a few months it became clear that the "guest" could not arrange the extraction of fish and sea animals, so Peter had to urgently cancel all the privileges given to him.

Helped Norway At the beginning of the 18th century, Pomeranian fish and fur trade reached its greatest development thanks to trade with Norway. Since the 15th century, Norway has been a northern province of Denmark, the population of which lived rather poorly. And if it were not for trade with the Pomors, the economy of Norway in those days could have been put to rest. It is today that Russia buys fish from the Norwegians and eats not Pomeranian, but Norwegian salmon. And in 1774, in Finnmarken, off the coast of Norway, 1,300 Pomors hunted on 244 ships. Moreover, the Pomeranian industrialists, according to the report of the Danish governor Fieldsted, “caught more fish than the subjects of the Danish king.” As the historian A.A. Zhilinsky, “Pomors spread their sea and fisheries not only to all corners of the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean: on Novaya Zemlya, on the Kara Sea, on Murman, the Kaninsky Peninsula, Grumant (Svalbard), but even throughout Northern Norway and taught navigation themselves and crafts of the Norwegians.

Useful coast-dwellers Danish official Jens Rathke, who visited the Norwegian city of Tromso at the beginning of the 19th century, wrote the following: “Freedom of trade here, as in other places, gives good results. Unfortunately, the consumption of vodka and tobacco among the population is increasing here, and only the Pomors, who supply the population with flour, are carrying on a useful trade here ... ". As a result, according to Zhilinsky, thanks to trade with Pomorie, Finnmarken, which until 1813 was a remote province, began to flourish rapidly. The closest attention of the Norwegian government is drawn to the development of its marine industries. In the second half of the 19th century, Finnmarken becomes completely unrecognizable.” In Russia, since the end of the 19th century and throughout the entire past 20th century, there has been a sharp drop in the return from traditional sea crafts, the Pomeranian trade is completely destroyed and the traditional way of life of the Pomors is disintegrating. The reason for this, according to the historian Zhilinsky, is a complete misunderstanding on the part of the Russian government of the significance and possibilities of the Pomeranian crafts in the north of Russia. Unfortunately, today, a century later, we have to admit that this misunderstanding and incompetence of officials have not disappeared anywhere.