What kind of life did the Slavs lead? Brief message about the Slavs. Religion of the ancient Slavs

A story about the life of the ancient Slavs will help you learn basic information about these peoples. The life and everyday life of the ancient Slavs will briefly help you compile a report.

“Life of the Ancient Slavs” report

The Slavs are the ancient indigenous people of Eastern Europe. It is one of the largest groups of ancient Indo-European culture. From archaeological excavations it became known about the ancient Slavs at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Famous historians of the 6th century divided the population into three groups - Antes (eastern), Wends (western) and Sklavens (southern). They settled from the Elbe and Vistula rivers to the Dnieper region and from the Carpathians and the Black Sea region to the Baltic states.

The main occupation of the Slavs was agriculture. It shaped the way of life, culture, way of life, and faith. The population believed in the higher powers of nature. Harvest, livestock, welfare - all this depended on the gods. The Slavs considered Dazhbog, the patron saint of the sun, to be the supreme deity. Also among the famous gods were Svarog and Kolyada - patrons of the sky, Yarilo - the god of spring, Lada - the goddess of happiness and others. Subsequently, such a faith would be called paganism.

The Slavs considered nature to be alive and life-giving. They believed that the forest was the home of goblin, and that mermaids lived in the water. Grandfather Domovoy was for the tribe the personification of the spirit of their ancestors. After all, the Slavs revered and protected their traditions.

The original place of settlement Slavs usually considered the Carpathian region, from where they spread to the north, south and northeast and were divided into 3 groups: eastern or Russian, western (Czecho-Moravians, Poles and Polabian Slavs) and southern (Bulgarians and Serbs).

During the 7th – 9th centuries, the Slavs formed separate states - Czech, Moravian, Polish, Bulgarian, Russian and, somewhat later, Serbian. The stories of Western European, Byzantine and Arab writers who knew the Slavs, chronicles, as well as oral traditions and songs preserved from the times of paganism, give us ideas about the life and religion of the Russian pagan Slavs. The Slavs lived a tribal way of life. They were divided into several small tribes that lived separately from one another.

These tribes were as follows: Ilmen Slavs - on the shores of Lake Ilmen, Krivichi - along the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, Volga and Dnieper, Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Western Dvina, Radimichi - on the banks of the Sozha, Vyatichi - on the Oka, Northerners - on the Desna and Seim, Drevlyans - on Pripyat, Polyana - along the middle reaches of the Dnieper, Buzhans - along the Bug, Tivertsy and Ulichi - along the Dniester and Prut, White Croats - in what is now eastern Galicia.

Each of these small tribes consisted of separate clans that lived separately and owned a special part of the land, which was possible given the sparse population and vastness of the lands occupied by the Slavs. Each clan was ruled by a ancestor (elder, prince) and jointly owned all family real estate until, over time, separate family property was formed. For matters concerning the whole tribe, all its clans met at a general meeting - a veche, and the right to vote belonged only to the ancestors. Mutual discord between the clans also manifested itself at the gatherings.

The Slavs lived sedentary lives, engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and beekeeping; They also conducted barter trade with their neighbors. Their dwellings were simple wooden huts, built in safe places - in forests, near rivers, swamps and lakes. They also had cities, consisting of the same huts and surrounded by a rampart or fence, where their veche gatherings took place and where they defended themselves in the event of an enemy attack.

The Slavs were distinguished by their tall stature, ruddy complexion, brown hair and gray eyes; These people were strong, strong, resilient. They ate animals, fish and birds, millet, buckwheat, and milk; honey was his favorite drink; clothing consisted of linen dresses and animal skins; weapons were spears, arrows, darts, swords and shields. Peace-loving towards neighboring peoples, they had frequent disputes among themselves. In wartime, the Slavs knew how to bravely defend themselves and used various military tricks. Of their pagan customs, the customs of bloody revenge and hospitality are remarkable; Valuing freedom above all else, after a certain period of time they released their captive slaves.

Their family life was based on the obedience of the younger members of the clan to the ancestor, the children to the father; upon the death of the father, power over young children passed to the mother. Their marriage customs were threefold: the bride was kidnapped (kidnapped) or bought, the marriage was concluded by mutual consent; There were cases of polygamy. Although the Slavic woman was in complete submission to her husband and performed heavy household work, she was very attached to her husband and, according to some news, after his death she voluntarily went to be burned along with his corpse.

Not understanding the forces and phenomena of nature, but aware of their strong influence on the success of agriculture, the Slavs worshiped them as good and evil gods (see articles Russian paganism and Slavic mythology). So they idolized the sun under the name of Dazhdbog or Khors, thunder and lightning under the name of Perun, who was at the same time considered the god of war and enjoyed special veneration, Volos or Veles, who, being at first a solar god, later became the patron of agriculture, the defender of trade, the guardian of herds, the inspirer of singers and guslars, and the wind under the name of Stribog. In addition to the main gods, the Slavs had many secondary ones: goblin, mermaids, merman and brownies (souls of deceased ancestors). They honored their gods with holidays that consisted of animal and even human sacrifices, prayers, fortune-telling, and ending with a feast and games. The main holidays were in honor of the sun god: Kolyada or the birth of the sun around our Christmas, Krasnaya Gorka on Fomina's week, Semik on Thursday 7 weeks after Easter, and Kupala on the night of June 23-24.

Mermaids emerge from the water in front of Trinity. Painting by K. Makovsky on the theme of Russian pagan subjects. 1879

The Russian pagan religion did not achieve such development as that of other peoples (for example, the Greeks); it consisted in direct worship of the forces and phenomena of nature, but the Russian Slavs did not have personification of these forces and phenomena, their representation in certain images. The Russian Slavs also did not have public service to the gods, temples and priests; each ancestor was at the same time a priest, and family members prayed at home mainly to the patron saint of the family - the brownie. Although they stood out from among the people Magi and magicians, who mainly knew pagan prayers and spells, practiced fortune telling and were respected for that, but they did not have the significance of priests. Believing in the afterlife, the Slavs imagined it as a continuation of the earthly one; the dead were burned or buried in graves and a funeral service was performed for them, i.e. feast combined with various games. A monument to this pagan life of the Slavs remains folk poetry - conspiracies, slander, omens, proverbs, riddles, songs, fairy tales, epics, which have been passed down from mouth to mouth since ancient times and are still preserved among the people.

Pages of Russian history. Life of the ancient Slavs.

1. Our ancestors
2. Appearance of the Slavs

4. Dwellings of the Slavs
5. Beliefs of the Slavs
6. Spirits, nature deities
7. The beginning of the settlement of the Slavs

1. Our ancestors

In the middle of the first millennium AD, in the vastness of Eastern Europe there were dense forests, marshy swamps, deep rivers and small rivulets. This territory was inhabited by the Eastern Slavs, from whom Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians descended. The Slavs lived in tribes. Tribe consisted of several genera. Genus - These are several families living together. Our ancestors, the Eastern Slavs, lived along the banks of the Oka, Volga, Don, Dnieper, and Western Dvina rivers.

Names of Slavic tribes: Polyans, Dregovichi, Slovenians, Drevlyans, Northerners, Rodimichs, Volynians, Vyatichi, Ulichs, Krivichis, etc..

2. Appearance of the Slavs

The Slavs were strong, tall, hardy people.

Slavic clothing —men consisted of a long shirt woven from linen and decorated with embroidery, pants, a belt and leather shoes. Leather shoes were like a boot with a soft leather sole or simply a piece of leather wrapped around the foot and secured with rope. Of course, in the summer we did without shoes at all. Women's clothing included a long linen dress, also decorated with embroidery. Jewelry made of metals, glass, amber and semi-precious stones was worn only on special occasions during holidays and wedding ceremonies.

3. Occupation of the Slavs, tools and household items

The ancient Slavs were engaged hunting, fishing, beekeeping (collecting honey from wild bees), cattle breeding, agriculture, construction, pottery, gathering.

The men were hunting for bears, wild boars, roe deer. In those days there was a lot of game in the forests. Blacksmiths forged weapons and necessary tools.

The female half prepared food, weaved, spun, sewed, and tended to the garden. There were also skilled healers who prepared medicinal potions from herbs.

The Slavs were engaged in agriculture together. To plow the land, the Slavs had to cut down the forest. The trees were burned and the ash fertilized the ground. The land was plowed with a plow, loosened with a hoe, and then sown. A man with a sieve walked and scattered grains across a plowed field. They did not sow in the wind. To cover the seeds with soil, the field treated with a harrow - drying agent . The plot was sown for 2-3 years, until the land was fertile and gave a good harvest. Then they moved to new areas.

All knowledge, skills and experience were passed on from generation to generation - from father to son, from mother to daughter.

4. Dwellings of the Slavs

The time was restless, residents of neighboring villages often fought among themselves, so the Slavs usually settled in places surrounded by steep slopes, deep ravines or water. They erected earthen ramparts around the settlements, dug ditches, and erected palisades. And it was convenient to build houses on such land.

The Slavs built log huts or settled in semi-dugouts, half of which went into the ground. Livestock was kept in pens and sheds.

The furnishings in the huts were very simple: wooden benches, tables, a stove made of stones or clay... There were no pipes in the huts. They heated it black. Smoke came out through small windows and doors.

Utensils included clay pots and frying pans.

5. Beliefs of the Slavs

The Slavs believed that all natural phenomena were controlled by gods:

• One of the main gods was Perun - god of thunder and lightning . He was a formidable god; he was also considered the god of war. Wooden idols made from mighty oak were erected in his honor. The idols stood in the open air, and next to them there was a stone on which sacrifices were made to this god. And this place was called the Temple of Perun.
• Yarilo - deity of awakening nature, patron of the plant world. Yarilo - identified with the sun
• Svarog – god of the sky
• Dazhdbog - son of Svarog. God of the harvest, keeper of the keys of the earth.
• Veles – patron god of animals, especially domestic ones.
• Stribog - god of the wind.
• Makosha - Mother of a good harvest, goddess of the harvest, giver of blessings.

To make the gods kinder to people, the Slavs organized holidays in their honor. Many of them have survived to this day:

• Dedicated to the main god - the Sun - Maslenitsa .
• The biggest holiday is Midsummer's Day, or Ivan Kupala , took place on the night of June 23-24.
• July 20, at Perun's day , the boys and girls did not lead cheerful round dances, did not sing songs - they prayed to the formidable deity for mercy.

6. Spirits, nature deities

The Slavs populated their native, familiar world with the most fantastic creatures. They believed that the house was guarded by a brownie. , mermaids and mermaids live in rivers and lakes, and goblins live in the forest. There were other nature spirits - good and evil. The Slavs turned to the souls of their ancestors for protection from evil forces, for advice, and asked them for help and a good harvest.

7. The beginning of the settlement of the Slavs

Over time, the Eastern Slavs began to settle into new territories. The resettlement was peaceful. The Slavs did not impose their customs on their neighbors - the Finno-Ugric tribes. They acted together against common enemies.

By the 8th century, the tribes of the Eastern Slavs united into tribal unions. Each union was headed by a prince.

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15.02.2014

The ancient Slavs, whose morals and customs formed the cultural basis of most of the Eastern European peoples, once stood out from a large Indo-European group of tribes. In ancient times, this vast community of people settled throughout Eurasia, giving rise to many famous peoples. So, the ancient Slavs once united from among the Indo-Europeans, leading a single economic system, similar in language and social structure. During the 4th-6th centuries BC. The Slavs took part in the great migration of peoples, as a result of which they colonized the lands of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, subsequently dividing into three branches of the Slavs - Western, Eastern and Southern.

Settlement of the tribes of the ancient Slavs

For the first time, the Byzantine chronicles of the 6th century AD began to mention the Slavic people, speaking mainly about the tribes living in the Balkans, and thanks to Nestor the chronicler, today we know the tribes and lands of the Eastern Slavs. The distribution of the tribes was as follows:

• The Krivichi lived in the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper and Western Dvina and to the north;
• The Polyans lived in the Middle Dnieper region, on the territory of modern Kyiv;
• Tivertsy and Ulich in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Bug region and the mouth of the Danube River;
• Vyatichi in the upper reaches of the Oka and downstream;
• Slovenia in the lands from Volkhov to Ilmen;
• The Dregovichi inhabited Polesie, from Pripyat to the Berezina;
• Drevlyans, along the banks of Teterov and near the Uzh River;
• Radimichi between Iput and Sozh;
• Northerners near the Desna;
• The Dulebs, aka Volynians, Buzhans lived in Volyn;
• Croats on the slopes of the Carpathian mountains.

Life of the ancient Slavs

Numerous excavations and scientific works helped clarify the life, customs and traditions of the Slavs. It became known, for example, that for a long time the ancient Slavs did not depart from the traditions of the patriarchal way of life and the communal-tribal system. Families were united into clans, and those into tribes. Public life was governed by venerable elders, who assembled a veche (council) to resolve all important issues. Time brought isolation of family activities, and the clan structure gradually turned into a communal way of life (rope).

The Slavs were a sedentary people and were engaged in agriculture, plowed fields with plows drawn by oxen and horses, harvested useful plants and were excellent at various crafts - hunting, fishing, and also raised some livestock and owned crafts. The Slavs were very active in the extraction of wax and honey - beekeeping.

It is believed that the development of trade gave impetus to the emergence of cities among the ancient Slavs. Many tribes began to have their own centers. The Ilmen built Novgorod, the glades - Kyiv, the mother of Russian cities, the northerners - Chernigov, the Radimichi - Lyubech, and the Krivichi founded Smolensk. Slavic settlers settled in fortified settlements - settlements along the banks of rivers that fed the Slavs and served to move by water. Military squads invariably appeared in cities, into which Slavic warriors united, and Princes became the leaders of the troops. The emerging government gradually gained more and more influence, becoming sovereign rulers in their lands. For example, the Varangians Askold and Dir founded a principality in Kyiv, Rurik reigned in Novgorod, and Rogvolod reigned in Polotsk.

Religion of the ancient Slavs

The ancient Slavs, whose morals and customs, as well as their ideas about the world, were pagan, deified nature, dead ancestors and believed in the existence of all kinds of gods. The Slavs called the sky Svarog, whose celestial phenomena were considered its children, Svarozhich. For example, Perun, Svarozhich, was a thunderer and was highly respected by the Slavs. In addition to mastering lightning and thunder, he was the god of war, patron of Slavic warriors. The Sun and Fire were revered for their power, life-giving or destructive. For example, the kind Dazhbog gave light and warmth, and the angry Khors could burn crops and nature with heat and fire. Stribog ruled over the winds.

Our ancestors attributed dominion over all natural phenomena and processes to the divine will, trying to win the favor of the gods through various sacrifices and holidays. Magi, sorcerers - Slavic priests, knew how to recognize the will of the gods, and had religious power in their tribes. Moreover, anyone who wished could make a sacrifice to the gods himself. In later times, the Slavs began to create numerous idols from processed wood, which served as reflections of their gods. Christianity, adopted in the 10th century by Prince Vladimir, spent many years eradicating paganism in Rus', and, nevertheless, the faith and traditions of the Slavs have been preserved to this day, in the form of folklore, folk signs and all kinds of holidays.
Video: Slavic holidays

From history books we know that the Slavs are one of the largest ethnic communities in the Old World. However, it is not entirely clear who they were or where they came from. Let's try to study this meager information bit by bit, and also dwell on more reliable facts about the life, way of life, culture and beliefs of these tribes.

Who are they?

Let's try to find out who the Slavs are, where they came from and why they left their homeland. There are several versions on this issue. Some historians believe that they did not come from anywhere, but lived here since the creation of the world. Other scientists consider them to be descendants of the Scythians or Sarmatians, while others attribute them to other peoples who emerged from the depths of Asia, including the Aryans. But it is impossible to draw precise conclusions; each hypothesis has its own shortcomings and blind spots.

It is generally accepted that the Slavs are an Indo-European people who found themselves in the Old World during the Great Migration. He lost contact with his family due to the long distance and went his own way of development. But many adherents have the theory that this ethnic community came from Asia after the Flood, along the way assimilating with the local inhabitants and founding centers of civilizations - the Etruscans, Greeks and Romans, and then settled the Balkans, the banks of the Vistula, the Dniester and the Dnieper. believes that the Slavs came to Rus' after

The name of the ethnic group is no less controversial. Some researchers are convinced that Slavs mean “literate people who speak words,” others translate the name as “glorious” or look for its origins in the name of the Dnieper - Slavutich.

The main activities of our ancestors

So, we found out that the Slavs are nomadic tribes that settled down. They were united by a common language, beliefs, and traditions. What were the occupations of the Slavs? There are no options here, of course, this is farming. In forested areas, the site first had to be prepared by cutting down trees and uprooting stumps. In forest-steppe areas, the grass was first burned, and then the ground was fertilized with ashes, loosened and seeds were planted. The tools used were a plow, a plow, and a harrow. Among the agricultural crops they grew millet, rye, wheat, barley, peas, hemp, and flax.

The remaining occupations of the Slavs were aimed at the production of tools for agriculture (blacksmithing), as well as for meeting household needs (pottery). Animal husbandry was highly developed: our ancestors raised sheep, horses, goats, and pigs. In addition, they used the gifts of the forest: they collected mushrooms, berries, honey from forest bees, and hunted wild birds and animals. This is what they traded with their neighbors, and marten skins are considered to be the first money.

Culture

The quiet life of the Slavs was conducive to the development of culture. Agriculture remained the main occupation of the community, but decorative and applied crafts also developed (weaving, jewelry, wood, bone and metal carving, cooperage, leatherworking). They also had the beginnings of writing.

Our ancestors lived in communities and made important decisions at a general meeting. The community owned meadows, arable land, and pastures. But each person could have his own property and livestock. At the head of the tribal union was the prince, who relied on the patrimonial boyars. These were respected people who were elected during the national assembly, then they turned into the local nobility.

In everyday life, the Slavs were unpretentious, easily enduring the vagaries of weather and hunger. But they remained proud, freedom-loving, brave and loyal to their community, their family. The guest was always greeted with bread and salt, offering the best that was available in the house.

Troubled neighbors

The Slavs settled between Europe and Asia, in lands with a unique supply of resources and fertile soil. They occupied a vast territory almost painlessly, since there was enough space for everyone. But the riches of the land attracted robbers. The restless neighbors of the Slavs - the nomadic Avars, Khazars, Pechenegs and Polovtsians - constantly raided villages. Our ancestors had to unite against them and jointly beat the uninvited guests. This taught them military skills, constant readiness for danger, frequent changes of habitat, and endurance. But the Slavs themselves were non-warlike, friendly, they respected the rights of others, and never had slaves.

Instead of a conclusion

Before Prince Vladimir baptized Rus', the Slavs were pagans. They worshiped the forces of nature, built temples and created idols, and made sacrifices (not human) to them. The cult of ancestors, including the dead, was especially developed. Christianity allowed the ancient Russian state to become closer to Europe, but at the same time it stole a lot. Objects of material, spiritual and cultural value were destroyed, and what distinguished the Slavs from other peoples was lost. A certain symbiosis appeared, which, although it had elements of the previous culture, was formed under the influence of Byzantium. But that, as they say, is a completely different story...