Peasant manor

The concept of a "peasant manor" is broader than just the concept of a peasant yard, since in addition to the house itself with buildings, there is a vegetable garden, a garden, an apiary and an ovine (threshing floor). From the very word "ogorod" (vegetable garden) in Russian it becomes clear that this is what is fenced ("ogorozhen"). The garden was made of poles, and many owners put it in the form of a fence. In the garden, the peasants grew vegetables, as well as dill, parsley, mint, and lemon balm. The peasants attached a front garden to the house, in which there were rowan trees, lilacs, and later they began (following the example of urban ones) to grow acacia and flowers.

There was a sauna in the garden, and baths were also built on the banks of rivers and lakes. Such remoteness of the bathhouse is associated with fire safety. At the end of the XIX century. baths began to be built in a single complex with a house, sheds and a stable, and wealthy owners had a desire to close all buildings with canopies.

The wealthy peasants, in addition to the garden on the estate, had a garden in which there were apple trees, cherries, cherry trees and so on. The garden was often planted together with an apiary.

At the very branch of the peasant estate there were an ovine and a threshing floor, a place where grain was threshed and dried. The barn usually consisted of a pit where a furnace without a pipe was located, as well as an upper tier where sheaves were stacked. According to popular beliefs, ovin is inhabited by ovinnik.

Currently, a "peasant manor" is called a house with buildings and a vegetable garden.

Garden

In the "Explanatory Dictionary of the living Great Russian Language" by V.I. Dahl, the word garden is defined as follows: "A garden is a piece of land planted by human efforts with trees, bushes and flowers, with paths and various kinds of decorations. The garden can be fruit or funny, for walking." Gardening in Russia was called in different ways: gardening, horticulture.

Many legends, legends, superstitions and beliefs are associated with each of the garden trees.

The apple tree and apples are often mentioned in folk tradition as symbols of life and its continuation (remember the rejuvenating apples from the fairy tale). The symbolism of the apple tree is most widely used in wedding ceremonies. In wedding songs, the apple tree represents the bride. Apples in the Christian tradition were forbidden to be eaten before the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Apple Savior) on August 3/19.

Rowan in folk tradition and medicine was used as a talisman. In many places in Russia, it was forbidden to chop or break mountain ash, otherwise either the person himself or one of his relatives would die. In lyrical songs, rowan is associated with a longing woman.

Bird cherry symbolizes youth, girlish beauty, purity and tenderness. She is popularly considered, like rowan, the patroness of lovers. Along with oak and birch, the Eastern Slavs have long considered it a sacred tree. The peoples of the North believed that cutting down a bird cherry was tantamount to killing a person.

Viburnumwas a symbol of a bright holiday, kindness, beauty, love and family happiness, personified modesty and innocence. According to ancient customs, viburnum was considered an indispensable participant in the wedding ceremony, it was decorated with a wedding loaf. The girls wove wreaths from her flowers, embroidered viburnum on towels. Rural girls often washed themselves with viburnum juice to be handsome.

Kitchen-garden

A vegetable garden is a piece of land surrounded by a fence, hedge. In the old days, the garden was called a "vegetable garden", that is, a place reserved for planting vegetables, herbs and root crops. In the south of Russia and Little Russia, a vegetable garden in a field without a hedge, without a fence was called "bashtan". Sunflowers, cucumbers, watermelons and melons were sown on the bashtan.

The garden is often mentioned in proverbs, sayings, ditties, riddles.
"Throw a pebble in the garden" (to do evil).
"Let the goat into the garden" (to put an unreliable person in the case).
"The pig went to the gardeners: for carrots, for turnips, for white cabbage!".
"A wolf is not a shepherd, a pig is not a gardener."

Each garden crop had its own planting time and harvest time. For example, the onion had to be planted before Nikola Veshny (May 9/22). Cucumbers can be planted on borage (May 14/27). On Irina the seedling (May 5/18), cabbage seedlings were planted in the beds, saying: "Don't be skinny, be potbellied; don't be empty, be tight; don't be red, be tasty; don't be small, be great!".

Beet harvesting began with beetroot (August 19 / September 1). Turnips were removed from Ivan the Lean (August 29 / September 11). On the day of Sergius of Radonezh (September 28 / October 8) chopped cabbage.

Ovin (The threshing floor)

Ovin

An ovin is an outbuilding in which sheaves were dried before threshing. The ovin consisted of a pit in which there was a furnace without a pipe and an upper tier where sheaves were stacked.

Ovin is mentioned in proverbs and sayings:
"You can't dry an ovin without fire"
"At least burn ovin, but feed the threshers"
"Burn ovin with fire, but cook braga"
"Did I burn an ovin from God or steal a calf?" (that is, my unforgiven guilt?)
"Like an ovin planted!" (full, a lot)
"Our master has neither rye nor ovin"
"He threshes on five ovins"
"He did not run, but lay in an ovin"
"It is easy to remember, like a sheaf on an ovin"

There are riddles about ovin.
"There is a Frol, and the mouth is full" (ovin)
"There is an Andriukha, a stuffed belly" (ovin)
"There is a wolf, the side is torn out" (ovin)
"There is a wolf, a barrel is snatched out, does not breathe, but bursts?" (ovin)

According to popular beliefs, ovin is inhabited by ovinnik. He was called "the piggy bank", "the piggy grandfather". In some places, he was called "podovinnik" because it was believed that he was sitting in a pit under the dryer, that is, where the fire was lit.

The threshing floor

A threshing floor (gumentso) is a cleared and clay-packed area, often with a canopy and log walls. This outbuilding was used for storing and threshing sheaves. A barn and other peasant buildings were erected near the threshing floor.

Proverbs and sayings about the threshing floor:
"There is on the threshing floor, there will be in the bag."
"There is no bread, so there is a threshing floor for sheep."
"There are three threshing floors, but they are not covered from above."
"What's on the fool’s mind is on the threshing floor, it’s empty.
"Don't buy a threshing floor, buy a mind."
"A rich barn has a smart pig."
"It's good for the pig to be around the master’s threshing floor."
"There is no self-interest for me on someone else’s threshing floor."
"Someone else’s soul is not a threshing floor: you will not look in."
"We have a broom sweeping across the threshing floor, indiscriminately."
"We have a broom sweeping across the threshing floor, without quirks."
"The threshing floor is not a pillar road."
"Mind — two threshing floors, and a bathhouse without a roof."
"As in the threshing floor, so in the war."

According to popular beliefs, a domestic spirit dwells on the threshing floor. He was represented as a furry man with paws and brightly burning eyes. The furiness of the gumennik was correlated with the wealth of the owner: "The Gumennik is a hairy peasant."

On Yuletide or New Year’s Eve, the girls went to the threshing floor to listen: if it was heard that grain was being rowed, then the fortune-teller would live well next year, and if it was heard that they would sweep the empty floor with a broom, then — no, poverty awaits her.