In their everyday life, the peasants used wooden utensils. The most famous household item is a spoon. Spoons were made by special masters — lozhkari (the same word was used for musicians who played on spoons). Softwood, most often linden, was used to make a spoon. The block was split into blanks — "buckles". When making a spoon, it was the easiest job. In the future, the expression arose from here, that is, to do light work or do nothing. The buckles were hewn with an axe, outlining the rough outline of the future product, and then the finished spoon was cut out with an adze, a chisel and a knife. It took a good craftsman about half an hour to make one spoon.
The spoons came out light and comfortable from under the master’s hand. You could slurp hotter without burning your lips. The spoons were very different: small, large, short, long, ladles, etc. The spoon was a very personal item, so each family member had his own, often named. They went on a visit or on a long journey with their spoon.
Spoons were made all over Russia, but the Nizhny Novgorod province was considered the center of the spoon craft. At the beginning of the twentieth century, about 100 million spoons were produced per year in her Semenovsky District alone.
The spoons were taken to Siberian fairs. They were delivered in special baskets, which the customers emptied in just a few hours. Painted spoons were especially popular. The brilliance of gold and cinnabar was probably associated with regal luxury. But such spoons were used only on holidays, and on weekdays they were content with unpainted ones.
Now it is a souvenir that, like the matryoshka doll, has conquered the whole world. In many art schools, they teach painting spoons by purchasing wooden blanks to order. The use of spoons as a musical instrument has not been forgotten. This type of creativity is widely used by Russian folk ensembles.