Four seasonal incarnations of the Slavic god of the sun: Kolyada-Yarilo-Kupaila-Svetovit
It is well known that the ancient Slavic calendar was built according to the phenomena of the four seasonal incarnations of the pagan god of the sun - Kolyada-Yarilo-Kupaila-Svetovit, tied to four astronomical solar events of the year:
- the weak winter sun-baby Kolyada - is born renewed in the morning after the Night of the Winter Solstice,
- on the Day of the Spring Equinox, the young man Yarilo turns into a stronger sun,
- in a day Summer Solstice turns into a mighty sun-Kupail's husband,
- in a day autumnal equinox turns into an aging and weakening wise autumn sun, the old man Svetovit, dying at sunset before the Night of the Winter Solstice, in order to be reborn in the morning as a renewed sun-baby Kolyada, again gaining its solar power.
It is known that in different times and in different places the Slavs used different calendars - from ancient times between the then tribes and peoples of Eurasia and North Africa there was a constant culture Exchange. Slavic New Year in ancient times fell on the 12th Night of the great Yule - Solstice (see below), then on the Day of the vernal equinox, already in Christian times - on the Day of the autumn equinox.
This explains the tradition of Christmas in Christianity, connected by ancient pagan analogy with the dying of the old sun and the birth of a new sun in three days.
So what did the Slavs celebrate in winter?
Sacred Yule of the Druids/Magi
Sometime in pre-Christian times among the "barbarian" peoples of Europe, incl. among the Slavs, there was a single religion of the Druids (Magi), in which the main holidays were 4 astronomically important days- summer and winter solstice and spring and autumn equinoxes.
Of all the festivities of our ancestors, Yule is undoubtedly the most important, the most magical, the most sacred and the most powerful.
The origin of the word "Yule" is lost in the mists of time. Most likely, it goes back to the Indo-European root Yule (Yul, Yul) (Yel tree approx. ed.) with the meaning “rotate”, “spin”, “wheel” (our word yule comes from this root, as well as the Christmas tree - evergreen Yule tree). Perhaps it means "turning time", "turning of the year", "time of sacrifice" or "dark time".
The Christmas tree is an evergreen tree of the sacred Yule.
The holiday of the Druids Yule (Yule) in ancient Russian tradition is called the Solstice.
Among the Slavs, the Solstice was also called Kolyada - after the name of one of the main Slavic gods, the sun god Kolyada, whose Christmas was celebrated on the day after the night of the winter solstice (2nd Yule Night), when the sun began to "go to summer".
The name Solstice comes from the obsolete verb "to return" (modern "to return"), from this root and the name of the rotating device - "gate"), (rotation according to the sun ed.) and means the return of the renewed sun to our world, its transition from winter for summer.
Everyone knows the words "carols", "carols". If we turn to the etymology of these words, then they are based on "kolo" - the sun. Let us recall: Kolaksay is the Sun-king, one of the hypothetical ancestors of our people, according to Herodotus. The calendar (earlier: kolodar) is a gift from the sun. Kologriva is the solar horse of the god Kryshnya. Conjure - perform miracles using solar energy.
Inextricably linked with the sun and rolled to us from time immemorial Kolobok - Kolo-god, that is, the solar deity. And familiar to everyone since childhood, seeming simple and uncomplicated, the fairy tale turns out to be a part of folk wisdom, carefully conveyed from long-dead ancestors to descendants who have forgotten the truth. This is a story about Kolyada's journey in our world.
Kolyada is a solar divine, born annually by the Great Mother, the Mother of all things (Lada, Maya Zlatogorka, Ma-Divia, she had different names different peoples). Kolyada is the son of Dazhdbog, one of his faces, not the sun itself, but a symbol, the face of the winter, newborn sun. It is not for nothing that a little boy is often depicted on modern postcards - the New Year, people forgot about the ancient solar god, but his image boldly marched through the millennia, for the people's memory is indestructible.
The cycle is the cycle of the sun in our world, when he is born as an innocent baby Kolyada, in the spring he is embodied by the ardent violent power of the young man Yarila, in the summer - the soft life-giving energy of her husband Kupail, in the fall the sun grows old along with the Ovsen personifying him, and dies to be born again Kolyada.
Kolyada- the second incarnation on earth of the god Vyshnya, according to the Book of Kolyada. And the Vyshen is a god. The Most High is the Most High, God the Father. And in ancient times the Slavs winter holidays dressed up and decorated not at all a Christmas tree and not a pine, but a cherry. And not smart. Why is this tree called cherry? Yes, because it is dedicated to the Most High God, this is his tree, donated to people to quench their thirst and for treatment (I hope everyone knows about the healing properties of fruits, leaves, even its branches). Decorated with ritual baking, it symbolized the Tree of the World, growing through all the worlds and our entire Universe with its stars and planets. And the process of decorating cherries was performed as a sacred rite. By these actions, people seemed to help the Most High God create the Universe. Tsars, princes and wise men came with gifts to bow to the newborn Kolyada, they tell the Holy Russian Vedas, and a star led them. And he brought people the highest wisdom: he gave the Slavs the Star Book.
In the light of the foregoing, it is no longer surprising that Kolyada's birthday was celebrated on the night of December 24-25 (Christmas night from January 6 to 7 BC). Yes, it completely coincides with the Nativity of Christ, also the son of God and the incarnation of God on Earth, and these coincidences confirm that all the religions of the world are based on a single religion, and God is one for everyone, they only pray to him, calling different names. And Jesus Christ, indeed, lived, only he is not the god of the Jews, but the universal Sun God, the Son and Incarnation of the Most High, the Holy, that is, the Bearer of Light.
Celebrations in honor of the newborn god were called Christmastide (from the word "light"), they were accompanied by games and fun, ritual caroling (a wish, and therefore, planning for the next year of all kinds of blessings), fortune-telling, because these days the worlds of Rule, Reveal and Navi are especially close to each other and there is an opportunity to look into the future. Herds of mummers go from house to house, they always wear a star on a long stick, symbolizing the star that indicated the birth of a god, they lead a goat (dressed up person), symbolizing the goat that Kolyada's mother had to turn into when dark forces overtook her, still in a burden. During the winter festivities, there was not even any military action, there was an unspoken truce, as during the Olympic Games.
If we return to the Vedas, then further they will tell about the adventures of Kolyada, our Kolobok. He had to go through a lot of adventures, defeat a lot of enemies, and Boroskun tore apart, and Halu the Dragon strangled, and without counting the various undead, he drove away the Black God with Viy, who were trying to attack Sacred Iriy. And why in the fairy tale Kolobok is eaten by a cunning fox? Red fox, autumn. Most likely, this episode symbolically depicts the whirl and dying of the sun in autumn. Only we know that it will be reborn anyway.
Let's take another fairy tale, probably the first fairy tale from our childhood. “Ryaba Hen”, simple and short, it is clearly imprinted in the brain so that people can pass on esoteric knowledge to their descendants, even if they are not always aware of its true meaning. The egg itself is a symbol of nascent life, not yet revealed to the world of the Universe. When God created the world, there was a Golden Age on earth, the soil itself gave birth, food was in abundance, the weather favored the development of man, there were no cataclysms. Here is the golden egg laid by the Pockmarked Hen. But, alas, people did not appreciate the gift of God.
And when a person is dissatisfied with something, then it is taken away from him. People are trying to "break" the golden egg, i.e., their actions are destructive, harmful to the world around them. But having lost what they had, "the grandfather is crying, the woman is crying." Grandfather and Baba are the symbolic names of our ancestors. Only late do you repent and regret the lost paradise. Since you have not saved the Golden Age given to you, you will live in a world open to suffering. This will be a simple egg, which the hen promises to ungrateful owners. The fairy tale is over, but I so want to believe that we will not repeat the mistakes of our distant ancestors and one day we will deserve a reward: to live again in the Golden Age. Well, the magic hen can once again lay a golden egg for people.
I would like to remember in these New Year's days and one more hero folk tales, Santa Claus, an essential attribute of the winter holidays. We are accustomed to the image of a tall old man in a warm long fur coat, with a staff in his hand and a bag of gifts in the other. In fairy tales, he first tests a person, then rewards according to the purity of his spirit, vile and vicious can take his life. Who is behind this in such a familiar way?
In the Vedas of the Slavs, in the songs of the things of the Gamayun bird, it is directly indicated that Beles was Frost in the winter, while Vila (his wife) was the Snowstorm-Vyuzhnitsa. And it was they who blinded themselves a daughter - the Snow Maiden. How did the "cattle god" become a kind Santa Claus?
Yes, Veles is the hypostasis of the Almighty, the patron god of wild animals and livestock, but, in addition, he is the god of wisdom, love, wealth, the patron of songs, legends, poetry. The ancient Slavs often depicted his idol with a cornucopia in his hands. Naturally, after the end of autumn affairs, in free winter time, festivities began, for which they expected a generous god with gifts. If the first week of Christmas time is dedicated to Kolyada, at that time they were guessing and wishing a generous harvest on next year, then the second was intended for Veles, they called it that - “Veles days”.
Until now, on the night of January 13-14, we celebrate the New Year according to the old style, which other countries cannot understand. January 14 is the day of St. Basil of Sebaste, the patron saint of cattle.
Let's trace: Veles - Vlas - Vlasy - Vasily. And just like thousands of years ago, on this evening, mummers go home, dressed in animal and animal masks, hung with bells, among which are obligatory a bull mask and a bear mask, symbols of the god - the patron saint of wild and domestic animals. Rites are described when 12 elders from different settlements converged, dressed in bearskins and conducting a long and diverse action, consisting of incantation rites and a game battle of two parties of mummers, Veles priests were called "survakars".
It is impossible to kill the memory of the people, ancient traditions, rituals, fairy tales have come down to us from such depths of centuries, which is difficult to imagine. And once they have reached, then the significance of the wisdom of the people is, indeed, indescribably great. And we must study it, realize it and pass it on to future generations.
Let's go back to Yule.
Among the many magical meanings, the celebration of the pagan Yule-Solstice also reminds people that each of us, one way or another, participates in all, without exception, the processes taking place in the universe.
According to the modern calendar, Yule begins on the night of December 19-20 - this is the Initial Yule Night ("zero" night in a row).
Then comes the 1st Night (maternal), 2nd (Winter Solstice Night), 3rd ... and so on until the final most magical 12th Yule Night (New Year's).
These thirteen nights, from the first sunset to the last dawn, are a gap between two years, a sacred period during which there is neither the usual time nor the usual boundaries, when the lot of the gods is made and the spindle of the goddess of Fate, Urd, rotates.
On these nights, all worlds converge on earth: gods and goddesses descend to earth, trolls and elves talk to people, the dead come out of the Lower Worlds; those of the people who often communicate with the Other World leave their bodies for a while and join the riders wild hunt(oskorei - "riders of Asgard"), or become werewolves (werewolves) and other spirits.
Yule is the time of a sacred holiday and a common feast, in which all members of the clan (clan) gathered together for 13 days by the evening of the Beginning Night to meet the sun that had risen from darkness again and see the reborn world.
They believed that failures and grief await those who remain at this time alone or among strangers, outside their kind.
In addition to communication, festivities and feasts, many pagan religious rites were performed at this time, contributing to the unity of the clan, understanding it as a single whole, ensuring a successful future for the whole clan and each member.
Some elements of the Yule holiday were preserved in Christian Christmas - for example, an evergreen tree (decorated Christmas tree), symbolizing life that will continue after the winter cold, a Christmas wreath (originally a Yule wreath)
According to tradition, Yule lasts 13 Nights, which are called "Nights of Spirits", which is preserved in their German name, Weihnachten. Nights are counted from zero, from the Starting Night.
The initial Yule Night (“zero”, from December 19 to December 20 according to the modern calendar), mainly went to meet relatives who were coming to the holiday in the evening (they were on the way during the day), placing them in their homes for the upcoming 13 days, conversations of members of the clan, sometimes who have not seen each other for a year, acquaintance with new members of the clan. Sacred rites on this night, as a rule, were not performed, therefore it was considered "zero".
In ancient times, among the Anglo-Saxon tribes, the First Night of Yule was the night before the winter solstice (it happens on December 21 or 22, depending on the year), i.e. before the longest night of the year. According to Bede the Historian, this night was called "mother's", and if earlier it was dedicated to rituals associated with diss and Frigga, as well as honoring the mothers of families, now it looks like an evening "with the family."
"Mother's Night" is the night before the winter solstice. The next night the sun will go down to its lowest point. It's the end of the year. All the annual work is finished, the bins are full. Time to take stock and thank the gods and house spirits for their assistance in all matters throughout the year. Time to free yourself from all worries and anxieties to meet the new life cycle. This is a dark, feminine time.
In 12 nights, the New Year will be born. Mistresses put things in order in the house, decorate it and gather the family around the hearth. They praise the Goddesses. Mother opens the gates of the Other World to let new life into our world.
All housework must be completed by the evening of that day, the Yule wreath must be made and the whole house must be decorated with Yule greens (spruce branches). If possible, the whole family should go to the bath or sauna (at least just wash) in the afternoon, so that the souls and bodies are cleansed.
A wreath of spruce or pine branches with 8 candles should be prepared and placed on the mantelpiece or in a place that is the "heart" of the house.
Candles in a Yule wreath should burn all night, and if possible - until the 12th Night ( New Year's Eve).
In general, December 20-23 are the so-called "Days of the Serpent", when the Sun passes the thirteenth zodiac constellation of Ophiuchus.
Night of the Winter Solstice - 2nd Yule Night (according to the modern calendar, it is celebrated on the night of December 21-22).
This is the most important night of the Yule holiday - the winter solstice occurs (December 21 or 22). This is the most long night in the year when the Sun descends to its lowest point, and during which spirits become the real rulers in this world.
On this night they lit the Yule fire and guarded the house from evil spirits; on the same night the most sincere oaths and promises were made. They also believed that one should not be alone on this night - after all, then a person is left alone with the dead and the spirits of the Other World.
3rd - 11th Yule Nights. In the following days and nights of Yule, endless merry feasts were replaced by the performance of rituals, and rituals by feasts and festivities. The time of sleep and wakefulness of the participants in the festivities lost their usual order.
Yule ends on the most magical Twelfth Night of Yule - this is the modern New Year's Eve from December 31 to January 1 (actually, on the thirteenth, as evidenced even by its Old Norse name, Threttandi, since the account is kept from the "zero" Starting night) - then January 1 is the old Germanic calendar.
The next day (modern January 1, starting from the completion of New Year's Eve - this is the first day of the New Year before sunset) was considered the "Day of Fate" - everything that was said and done on January 1 before sunset determined all the events of the coming year (hence our “as you meet the New Year, so you will spend it”). It was believed that there are no more sure signs than the signs of this day, especially those that were revealed during the magical "Twelfth Night" (from dusk to dawn); and the strongest words are those that are spoken on this Night.
And now all the peoples of Europe, including the Slavs, retain a special "magic" perception of the meaning of the magical New Year's Eve - the pagan Twelfth Night of Yule, which came to us from ancient times.
After the Day of Fate, having slept well, on the morning of January 2, the members of the family, during the 13 days of Yule, all together, from the baby to the elder, shoulder to shoulder solemnly, cheerfully and festively met the appearance of the renewed sun to the world (the morning of the day after the winter solstice) and the New Year, joint rituals "spun" in the right direction the spindle of the goddess of Fate, protecting themselves from evil spirits dark nights, having duly propitiated their pagan gods (symbolizing ancient ancestors), now packed their things and went to their homes and their business.
Control dictation with a grammar task in the 6th grade for the 1st quarter.
Everyone knows that spruce has long been the most common tree in our area. In contrast to the dry-loving and light-loving pine, spruce usually grows in damp, low-lying places. In dense shade spruce forest only a few plants grow.
Spruce enjoys special love among people. Not without reason, on New Year's winter days, festive Christmas trees are arranged for children, and Santa Claus with a long beard walks around the decorated spruce.
But spruce in the forest in freedom is especially good. A tree seems fabulous, decorated with snow, reflecting moonlight on its branches.
In good years, when fir cones spruce branches are hung, squirrels remain to winter in the forest. Climbing onto a branch of a tree, holding a cone in their front paws, they eat resinous seeds.
In spring, the wind spreads winged light seeds from ripe spruce cones. From scattered seeds, young growth grows. Through its green prickly thicket it is difficult to get through. Few of these young trees survive. The strong win by shading the weak. The young forest is growing.
(I.Sokolov-Mikitin)
Exercise:
Control and measuring materials in geography in the 6th grade for the 1st quarter
Test in geography in the 6th grade for the 1st quarter (1, 2 options). Textbook "Geography. Geography. Grades 5 - 6". Authors: O.A. Klimanova, V.V. Klimanov, E.V. Kim and others....
The final control dictation with a grammar task in the 6th grade (according to the textbook by S.I. Lvova)
The dictation tests students' knowledge on the topics: "Spelling of adjective suffixes and participles", "Spelling of pronouns", "Not with different parts speech", "Use b", "Isolation in the letter partici...
The high peaks are decorated with garlands of purple cones, which are pecked by nimble crossbills, feeding on spruce seeds. Bears build their lairs in dense spruce forests. White hares hide under low hanging branches.
Spruce enjoys special love among people. Not without reason, on New Year's winter days, festive Christmas trees are arranged in cities for children, decorated with beautiful gifts, and Santa Claus walks around the decorated spruce with a long gray beard tied to it.
But spruce in the forest in freedom is especially good. On winter starry and moonlit nights, snow glistens on its branches. A tree seems fabulous, decorated with snow, reflecting starlight and moonlight on its branches.
In spruce and mixed forests hazel grouses live, troublesome thrushes build their nests. In harvest years, when branches and tops of fir trees are hung with fir cones, squirrels remain to winter in the forest. Climbing onto a branch of a tree, holding a cone in their front paws, they gnaw and pour its scales onto the snow, eat resinous seeds.
In spring, the wind spreads winged light seeds from ripe spruce cones. At the edges of the spruce forest, green spruce young growth grows from scattered seeds. Very beautiful, cheerful young Christmas trees. They grow quickly, and it is difficult for a person to get through their green prickly thicket. Only a few of these young trees remain alive. The strong win, shade the weak, and the young forest grows.
Very good and beautiful clean pine forest. You used to walk or ride along the old pine forest - like tall, clean, huge candles, the trunks of old trees rise above your head. The ground is covered with last year's fallen needles. Long knotty roots stretched across the sparsely traveled sandy road. Low hummocks are overgrown with gray soft moss. In some places, the leaves of lingonberries are green. The rays of the sun make their way through the high, green peaks carried away into the sky. Light golden bunnies play on tree trunks covered with cracked thick bark. It smells of resin and earth. Quiet in the old pine forest. Occasionally a hazel grouse will take off, a woodpecker will fly over the road. Green curly peaks bathe in the high sky.
There are now few pure pine forests left. Separate old pines survived. Like fabulous giants, they stand in the middle of a young growing forest.
In the summer we picked berries in pine forests - lingonberries and blueberries, strong-legged mushrooms and slippery butterflies. Here and there, pinkish fragile hats of russula were visible. Birds of prey - hawks and eagles - settle and build nests on tall old pines.
The growing small pine forest is also good. One by one, young pines covered with green needles closely huddle together. In the shade of these trees in spring and summer, you need to look for mushrooms. early spring morels grow here, beautiful yellow mushrooms in summer.
On swampy, hummocky places grows undersized swamp pine. You walk through such a pine swamp - you can’t see the end-edge of soft moss hummocks showered with ripening cranberries. Every now and then swamp white partridges flutter out from under their feet, a heavy capercaillie will break, fly.
Pine is definitely one of the ancient trees. A pine tree grew when there were no green ones on earth deciduous forests. It is not for nothing that capercaillie, also the oldest birds on earth, feed on hard pine needles.
Pine can be seen in high mountains Caucasus and in the far cold north, on the very border of the bare desert tundra. Pine wood is highly valued. Residential buildings, bridges and outbuildings were built and are being built from pine logs. Pine resin is also valued, which is collected by cutting the pine bark.
Once traveling through Zaonezhie, through untouched by man, dense forests, I saw pine trees that died at the root of their natural death. The resin-impregnated trunks of these trees rose above the tops of the living forest that surrounded them.
Dear friends! Congratulations on the first day of winter!
Winter has come! meet her
With nice mood,
Dream about something new
With special inspiration!
And strive for happiness with your heart,
Hopes come true
And take a closer look at life
Let everything you like about it!
Winter has come, which means everything is ahead of us - fluffy thaws and prickly frosts, playing snowballs and admiring the patterns on the windows ... We will feed the birds, drink tea with honey, lazily doze in the mornings ... Winter is like a blank canvas, and with the onset of this time year, I congratulate you and wish you to live happily and not be sad about anything!
Winter promises us all fun
And joyful entertainment
And the holiday of New Year's days,
Meet the winter you soon!
May happiness come with her to fate,
Let not bad weather threaten the soul,
Let fate become brighter in an instant,
And sadness will melt forever!
Winter is a real miracle, if only because frosty patterns and snowflakes are different from each other ... Congratulations on December 1! Be always warm, prosperous and well-chosen company! Smile more, take vitamins and believe that everything will be fine!
Today to joy in the morning
Winter time has come
And happy first day of winter for you
Congratulation verse from us!
Open your soul to winter
Bringing luck to you
So that fate smiles at you
So that happiness was in full in her!
We marvel at winter
Like a dream come true
Like a fairy tale in reality
And we are happy because of it!
May the coming winter
A fighting mood will come to you,
He will help you create your dreams.
And more fun, better life!
On the first day of December, an amazing casket of winter opened, and we look at this magic, wrapping ourselves warmly and rejoicing that it has come real winter… Nature has fallen asleep, and we have such a premonition that winter promises a lot of interesting things! I wish you not to miss anything good and meet every day with a smile and new strength!
Winter draws its halls in our world with silvery and sugar-white snow, and if you think carefully, is it worth it to be sad that the warmth has long passed, and spring is not yet close? We think this winter will be just wonderful, especially for you!
The soul is waiting for the winter with hope,
After all, the New Year comes with her,
And the hour of fairy tales comes,
Happy winter, we congratulate you!
May you remember winter
Ideas will arise new darkness,
New dreams are born
Adding beauty to life!
May the first day of winter bring joy to all of us and remind us that there is a wonderful word of happiness on earth. Let's feel happy and give this joy to other people. May good never leave us in moments of weakness and give hope for a happy resolution of problems.
From the bark of birches in the north of our country, light bast shoes, comfortable bags were woven, in which they carried clothes and water for long harvests. Fragrant tar was driven from the bark of birches, beautiful high tueski were made.
SPRUCE
Everyone knows this most common tree in our area, covered with green needles. In contrast to the dry-loving and light-loving pine, spruce usually grows in damp, low-lying places. In the dense shade of the spruce forest, only a few plants grow; there is no hope of picking many mushrooms here in the summer. Birds huddle in dense thorny branches of spruce, nimble squirrels build their nest houses. In deep and warm nests, red-breasted crossbills take out and feed their chicks in the fierce cold of winter.
Spruce is especially good in winter, when heavy caps of white pure snow hang on its spreading branches-paws. The high peaks are decorated with garlands of purple cones, which are pecked by nimble crossbills, feeding on spruce seeds. Bears build their lairs in dense spruce forests. White hares hide under low hanging branches.
Spruce enjoys special love among people. Not without reason, on New Year's winter days, festive Christmas trees are arranged in cities for children, decorated with beautiful gifts, and Santa Claus walks around the decorated spruce with a long gray beard tied to it.
But spruce in the forest in freedom is especially good. On winter starry and moonlit nights, snow glistens on its branches. A tree seems fabulous, decorated with snow, reflecting starlight and moonlight on its branches.
Grouse live in spruce and mixed forests, busy thrushes make their nests. In harvest years, when branches and tops of fir trees are hung with fir cones, squirrels remain to winter in the forest. Climbing onto a branch of a tree, holding a cone in their front paws, they gnaw and pour its scales onto the snow, eat resinous seeds.
In spring, the wind spreads winged light seeds from ripe spruce cones. At the edges of the spruce forest, green spruce young growth grows from scattered seeds. Very beautiful, cheerful young Christmas trees. They grow quickly, and it is difficult for a person to get through their green prickly thicket. Only a few of these young trees remain alive. The strong win, shade the weak, and the young forest grows.
PINE
Very good and beautiful clean pine forest. You used to walk or ride along the old pine forest - like tall, clean, huge candles, the trunks of old trees rise above your head. The ground is covered with last year's fallen needles. Long knotty roots stretched across the sparsely traveled sandy road. Low hummocks are overgrown with gray soft moss. In some places, the leaves of lingonberries are green. The rays of the sun make their way through the high, green peaks carried away into the sky. Light golden bunnies play on tree trunks covered with cracked thick bark. It smells of resin and earth. Quiet in the old pine forest. Occasionally a hazel grouse will take off, a woodpecker will fly over the road. Green curly peaks bathe in the high sky.
There are now few pure pine forests left. Separate old pines survived. Like fabulous giants, they stand in the middle of a young growing forest.
In the summer we picked berries in pine forests - lingonberries and blueberries, strong-legged mushrooms and slippery butterflies. Here and there, pinkish fragile hats of russula were visible. Birds of prey - hawks and eagles - settle and build nests on tall old pines.
The growing small pine forest is also good. One by one, young pines covered with green needles closely huddle together. In the shade of these trees in spring and summer, you need to look for mushrooms. Morels grow here in early spring, beautiful yellow mushrooms grow here in summer.
On swampy, hummocky places grows undersized swamp pine. You walk through such a pine swamp - you can’t see the end-edge of soft moss hummocks showered with ripening cranberries. Every now and then swamp white partridges flutter out from under their feet, a heavy capercaillie will break, fly.
Pine is undoubtedly one of the oldest trees. Pine grew when there were no green deciduous forests on earth. It is not for nothing that capercaillie, also the oldest birds on earth, feed on hard pine needles.
Pine can be seen in the high mountains of the Caucasus and in the far cold north, on the very border of the bare desert tundra. Pine wood is highly valued. Residential buildings, bridges and outbuildings were built and are being built from pine logs. Pine resin is also valued, which is collected by cutting the pine bark.
Once traveling through Zaonezhie, through dense forests untouched by man, I saw pine trees that died in the bud of their natural death. The resin-impregnated trunks of these trees rose above the tops of the living forest that surrounded them. Strong winter winds had long since broken off their dead, bare branches, but the resin-soaked trunk stood firm, perhaps for tens and hundreds of years. Some trunks of fallen dead trees, covered with green moss, lay on the ground. I had a hard time getting through them. Now there are very few such untouched forests left, and hardly anyone has seen the trunk of a dead pine standing on the vine, soaked in resin.
LINDEN
As a child, I fell in love with the tall green lindens that surrounded our village garden. A wide linden alley was once planted by a feudal landowner, whose name has long been forgotten in our village. We loved to play under the tall lindens, to watch how life awakens in the young garden in the spring. In the green tops of the lindens birds sang, starlings and thrushes whistled. On clear days, secretive golden orioles flew from tree to tree, and owls nested in the deep hollows of old lindens, calling to one another in terrible voices at night.
At the very beginning of summer, lindens bloomed with golden flowers, the whole garden was filled with a sweet honey spirit. The bees buzzed over the flowering tops of the lindens.
In summer, Ivan da Marya flowers spread under the lindens in a wide carpet, and on tall thin stems, a light summer breeze swayed purple bells. I watched insects crawl at the roots of lindens, red earth bugs, how butterflies fluttered over the flowers. In the middle of summer, strong white mushrooms grew under the lindens. In the harvest year, we picked a lot of these mushrooms, mother salted them and pickled them for future use.
Under a lonely, spreading linden tree that grew in front of our village house, in hot summer days on the wooden table and benches we dined and drank tea. I loved to climb this old linden tree, sit in the shade of the green tent, read books and dream of distant travels. I remember this old linden tree for the rest of my long life.
The once beautiful tall lindens, along with other trees, grew almost everywhere in Russian forests. White pure linden wood was highly valued. Skillful craftsmen sharpened beautiful wooden utensils from light, pliable wood, carved spoons. From lime clean boards in the villages they made countertops for dining tables. The bark of old lindens was torn off from fallen trees, soaked in water, and bast and matting were made from linden bark. Bast shoes were woven from the thin bark of young linden forest in the villages, dried linden bast was stored for the whole long winter. Now you will not see adult large lindens in our forests. Only in the distant Trans-Urals did I see free-growing tall lindens in the dense forests.
Linden is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful, cheerful and tender trees. Linden sweet honey has long been famous. Linden foliage is good and tender. In autumn, lindens shed their yellowed leaves before other trees, and fallen yellow leaves lie in a dry, rustling carpet near the roots of bare trees. You used to walk along the fallen linden leaves rustling under your feet, admiring the familiar trees that were preparing for a long winter.
Young lindens are still being planted in parks in big cities. Lindens easily take root and grow quickly. Their fresh green foliage adorns the noisy city streets, pleases the eye of the city tired person.
ASPEN
As a child, I really liked the tall, slender aspens that grew near our village house.
I liked the bitter smell of aspens, the fluttering of green foliage on high peaks. Even on the quietest, windless summer day, aspen leaves trembled. Covered with a greenish bitter bark, the trees seemed to be living beings - they seemed to be whispering, talking among themselves.
The aspen forest is especially good on clear autumn days. The foliage is purplish red and yellow. Fallen leaves spread under the trees like a clean carpet. Here and there, reddish caps of late mushrooms - aspen mushrooms are visible under them. Some belated forest flowers are still blooming here and there. A tall, yellowed fern rustles underfoot, and it smells even bitterer in the aspen forest.
Beautiful aspen forest in winter. Against the background of dark firs, a thin lace of bare aspen branches intertwines.
Take a good look - how good, how beautiful the aspen!
Night and diurnal birds nest in the hollows of old thick aspens, naughty squirrels lay down their stocks for the winter. From thick aspen logs, people hollowed out light shuttle boats, made troughs. White hares feed on the bark of young aspens in winter. The bitter bark of aspens is gnawed by moose. Capercaillie swindlers keep in the aspen forests in early spring and autumn. In summer, mushrooms grow here - tall boletus, strong boletus and fragile russula. You used to walk through an aspen forest - and suddenly, unexpectedly, unexpectedly, with a noise, a heavy capercaillie would break and fly. A white hare will jump out and run almost from under the very feet.
It is rare to see a continuous aspen forest. Aspens usually grow next to birches and dark spruces. In such mixed forests, there are especially many mushrooms and forest berries. Birds fly from tree to tree. With a noise, a hazel grouse will flutter and whistle. Ripe lingonberries blush on moss hummocks under the trees.
MAPLE
In the green Russian forest there is hardly a tree more picturesque than a maple. The wide palmate leaves of the maple are beautiful, its trunk is smooth and clean. Its wood is strong and durable. Maple usually grows in community with other birch, aspen, oak, and alder trees. Strong and tight maple branches. Like a spring, they bend under the hand.
Cheerful green maple loves sunny bright light. Its peak is illuminated by the rays of the sun. On clear summer days, I liked to rest under the spreading clean maple. Smells like earth and flowers. Ants run briskly along the warm, sun-warmed earth, butterflies flutter over the flowers.
Beautiful maples are planted by people in city parks, they decorate paths, banks of ponds. Maples are especially beautiful in early autumn. Purple and golden maple leaves shine in the rays of the sun. There is something festive, cheerful in this tree that adorns our native forests.
Winged maple seeds scatter far. These seeds are carried by the wind through the fields and meadows. Where a winged seed falls on a convenient place, a young, thin living maple grows the next year.
ALDER
Not all people love alder. Unsightly dark green thickets of young alder are called weeds. Abandoned meadows and fields are overgrown with young alder, the soil under the alder becomes swampy, countless mosquitoes and other harmful insects are bred.
But there is something charming in the alder when it grows in freedom. A special kind of alder growing in damp places near rivers and forest streams is called black alder. Thick slender trunks of black alder stretch into the sky. Its twisted roots rise from the trunk high above the ground. In some remote places, under such alder roots, beavers make their homes. From thick and slender trunks of black alder, wide boards were sawn, from which skillful carpenters made elegant furniture, caskets, tables. Now there is very little black alder left in the forests.
Large spaces are overgrown with gray small alder. Such a gray alder is suitable only for brushwood and firewood, which are almost as good as birch firewood. Alder firewood burns well in stoves, they can be used for heating all the long winter. A decoction of alder bark in the past, in the villages, women painted canvases, from which they sewed beautiful sundresses.
Hares hide in alder thickets, hazel grouses live and feed. In old alder trees, woodpeckers hollow out neat hollows for their nests. Busy magpies make their hidden nests in high alder bushes, thrushes sing and crackle. Often dense thickets of forest sweet raspberries grow in alder forests, and blueberries ripen on moss hummocks.
WILLOW
Green willow grows along the banks of small forest rivers, along streams and old ditches.
