06.07.2017 18:11

We are all descendants of the ancient Slavs - the very same ones who gave the world beliefs about magical creatures, living everywhere. We all, to one degree or another, have an idea about the folklore heritage of our ancestors, and therefore we have heard that a house spirit lives in every house, rules the forest, and a bannik lurks in the bathhouse of a village house. But did you know that there is an owner in the courtyard of the house?

According to the Slavs, each territory has its own spirit, which plays the role of owner and guard. Therefore, it is believed that in the courtyard of every house there is its own owner - the spirit-courtyard.

Who is the yard man?

Any courtyard is located near the house, and, accordingly, these places have a connection with each other. The house is run by the spirit of the house - the brownie, but the servant keeps order on the street. At the same time, the brownie and the courtyard not only know each other, but are also relatives - according to legend, the brownie is the older brother of the courtyard.

Therefore, these home perfumes are similar in many ways. Like the brownie, the yard appears to people in the form of a little man who, like other representatives evil spirits, is furry. Some legends say that the yard has animal legs - for example, a goat's, a cat's or a chicken's.

However, descriptions appearance The spirit of the yard often differs - there are stories that the yard spirit looks like a cat or a creature with a chicken head, and many others. It is often said that the spirit has glowing eyes and crooked claws. So, speculations vary, but in any case, this spirit is described as a hairy creature of small size.

In addition, they say that at night the servant can take the form of the owner of the house. So it’s better not to walk around the yard at night - you never know who you might meet and pretend to be...

The character and lifestyle of a courtyard

As you know, all representatives of evil spirits are evil creatures. Even if they protect their place of residence, protect their home and family from harm and keep order, their “unclean” essence still asks to come out. Therefore, the courtyard is characterized by a difficult temperament and even aggression.

Actually, the elder brother of the yard spirit, the brownie, is a more good-natured creature. If the brownie often simply causes mischief, usually without causing much harm to the owners of the house, then the character of the yard can be compared rather with - like the mentioned spirit, the yard is an unkind and even evil creature.

The courtyard usually lives in a barn, side by side with the owner's animals. However, he does not love all animals. It is believed that the yard spirit is only friends with a goat and a dog, but can also love cats - it is not for nothing that these animals have always been considered mystical. But he is not very friendly towards other animals. What he hates most is animals white, but the birds don’t listen to him at all.

He does not like yard animals and newborn animals - and therefore all small and weak ones should be protected from him so that nothing happens.

Just as the brownie keeps order in the house, so the courtyard monitors the state of affairs at court. The location of the yard can be judged by how things are going on the farm and how the livestock looks. If the animals are healthy and look well-groomed, it means that the yard owner loves the family and the animals living here. Then he will help them in everything - feeding and cleaning the animals, keeping the courtyard clean and combing the horses' manes, weaving ribbons into them. But if the yard servant is not friendly towards you, then expect trouble, because in this case the spirit will cause a commotion in the yard. They say that it happens that sometimes the yard may not like all the livestock, but only a specific animal. If he doesn’t like someone, then he begins to mock the poor animal, dirtying it, sending it sick, tangling its fur and putting manure in the feeders. In this case, in the old days, all that was left was to get rid of such an animal - it was believed that there was no point in keeping it at court, since the courtyard spirit would still harass it and kill it.

It is believed that during the day the yard servant rests on a spruce or pine branch, basking in the sun, and at night, as befits an evil spirit, he wanders around the yard.

So that the yard doesn't mess up

As we have already noted, the yard spirit has a difficult temperament, and therefore one can always expect various pranks and even serious damage from him. And therefore among the Slavs there have always existedconvictions on how to appease or even rein in the servant.

It is believed that, like the brownie, the courtyard is supposed to be appeased by bringing him dinner and delicacies. At the same time, you should treat the yard servant with respect, ask him to help people, and not harm them.

The mood of the servant is strongly influenced by the situation in the family and household. In order for a servant to be kind and supportive of people and livestock, a number of rules of behavior must be followed. Namely - not to quarrel and not to swear, not to stir up dirt, and at night - to sleep, and not to go to the bathhouse and not to work. And women should not go into the yard with their hair down, because in the old days such a hairstyle was considered indecent. Actually, the rules of behavior are simple - they just call people to order and the right image life. If everything is in order with people, then the servant will be merciful to them.

However, it happens that the yard spirit is angry not even about the case. In such cases, he needs to be appeased with treats and kind words, calling for cultural behaviorju. And if it doesn’t work out kindly, then you asked for it yourself. Maybe the servant is the owner of the yard, but you still need to have a conscience. So if the yard servant has become loose, then you can ask the brownie to rein in his younger brother, and also swear at the yard man, or even whip the air in the yard with a whip. You should also purchase a talisman - which protects against the machinations of evil spirits.

By the way, the yard spirit is inclined to enter into conflicts not only with people. There are many stories that tell that yard spirits, in principle, have a quarrelsome disposition, and therefore regularly quarrel with each other. Therefore, the owners of the house can suffer dirty tricks not even from their own servant, but from a neighbor who can cause outrages - for example, out of envy. There is little point in interfering in such cases - they say that courtyards usually sort things out among themselves. At the same time, it is believed that it is better not to allow other people's animals into your yard - in the guise of a cat, someone else's yard may come to visit you and cause mischief.

A fragment of a painting by a talented artist

Vladimir Valentinovich Chernikov

So, as you can see, the yard is not an easy creature, but you can make friends with him. You need to take care of your servant and try to get along with him, and sometimes even educate him. And if you are going to move somewhere, then you should invite with you not only, but also the yard servant - after all, no matter how restless he is, he still takes care of you and your possessions, loves you in his own way and tries to support your well-being.

It is interesting that the Russian people have set aside a special day when the courtyard spirit is revered - November 21.

So, dear readers of the women's magazine "100 Worlds", if you live in a private house or like to relax in the summer at the dacha, then you should take note that your yard is not as empty as you think. It may well be that someone lives there. So respect your yard servant, as well as the brownie, live together and maintain order in the household. And don’t walk around the yard at night again, don’t anger the spirits...

Anastasia Cherkasova, women's site "100 Worlds"

“I would like to draw the attention of the city authorities to the fact that cows are roaming the streets with might and main. Not only do they get in the way vehicle, so they also take up the sidewalks. And who will clean up after them? And in general, we still don’t live in a village, we’re not accustomed to cattle...

I would like to know how much longer the cows will graze on Lesnoy’s lawns? When will local livestock breeders be required to graze their animals on certain pastures, outside city streets and under supervision?”

There have been many such letters and calls over the past week. And photographs of stray cows were sent from every district of the city. We asked all the callers one question: what do you think needs to be done to stop horned animals roaming the streets of the city?

Readers suggested organizing a corral, for example, on the territory veterinary clinic. The caught cows are placed there, and returned to the owner only after paying a fine, preferably a very substantial one. Others believed that the presence of a shepherd could improve the situation. But you won’t find a good shepherd during the day with a fire, and those who were hired for this work, as a rule, turned out to be lovers of heavy drinking...

The townspeople also proposed branding or “tagging” of all large cattle with the aim of more effective control behind him. This is successfully practiced in many cities across the country and our region. The tag helps identify the owner of a stray animal. And then law enforcement officers deal with negligent owners on the spot who are too lazy to take the cattle out to pasture...

First Deputy Head of Administration Mikhail Kashu talks about how the “horned problem” is being solved in Lesnoy today.

As it turned out, the cows, freely walking around the city, are “registered” in villages 1 and 2, and places for their grazing are designated in the village of Tayozhny and on the territory of the city - in the area of ​​​​the bypass road. The places where pets can be driven are determined in the same way. However, the owners of the cows continue to behave extremely mismanagement and irresponsibly, releasing the animals alone, unattended, to graze on their own on the city streets...

— Security inspector environment Together with the local police commissioner, three livestock owners were identified who allowed uncontrolled walking of farm animals,” says Mikhail Vasilyevich. — In relation to these owners, administrative violation protocols were drawn up under Article 39 of the law Sverdlovsk region"On administrative violations." Cow owners should remember: specified measures will apply to all negligent livestock owners.

In addition, citizens who release an animal without an identification mark (tag, collar) violate the Landscaping Rules in force in the urban district “City of Lesnoy”. Including on this basis, measures will be applied to them administrative penalty, Mikhail Kashu emphasized in conclusion.

Dvorovoy is one of the spirits of the ancient Slavs who lives next to a person. The Slavs had several such spirits - others. The courtyard, as the invisible owner of the yard, was especially revered and was considered one of the spirit helpers of man.

The yard owner is the owner of the yard, who lives in a barn and lives with livestock. Judging by the descriptions of the courtyard, in different regions countries represented it differently. There is information that the yard is younger brother the brownie, the brownie's friend, and sometimes the brownie and the yard seem to be real rivals. Sometimes the yard and the brownie are not different at all, but are presented as one household spirit that watches over both the house and the yard.

The life, health and well-being of animals, the strength and reliability of the farm depend on the yard and the attitude of the owner of the house towards him. If the owner honors and thanks the yard spirit in everything, then the farm will only grow stronger and grow, but if the owner does not pay any attention to the spirit’s help, then over time the farm will become more and more unprofitable and in the end may completely collapse. The courtyard loves order, cleanliness and harmony in the family. This spirit can get angry and seriously harm the owners of the house if they do not keep cleanliness, do not look after the livestock in the barn, if they swear in the barn and in the yard, or if they go out to work in the yard at night, thereby disturbing the peace of the yard servant.

And yet, the courtyard cannot be represented as an unkind spirit who constantly causes mischief and brings problems. First of all, the courtyard is a person’s main assistant and is inclined to help him in everything. The yard servant especially loves cattle, cows, goats, horses, and so on, and best friends The yard's residents are dogs and cats. Beliefs have been preserved that in those yards where the owners revere the yard spirit, the cattle are always well-fed, healthy, clean and even combed. The courtyard cares for domestic animals, combs the mane of horses, and sometimes braids the mane, as recorded by ethnographers who visited different regions countries where belief in household spirits is still strong. There is a belief that for some reason the cattle may not be liked by the farmer, and he may harass and torment them, chase them around the yard all night, knock the horses' manes into tangles, take away their food, and so on. Then it was believed that a horse, cow, goat, sheep or other livestock was “not suitable for the courtyard”, “not suited to the courtyard”, “not suitable for the courtyard”. They tried to get rid of such cattle as soon as possible, sell or give it away, or use it for meat, since sooner or later the farmer would kill it anyway.

The courtyard was represented in different ways. The most common description is that of a small, furry man. A yard-serf is also often represented as a big cat or a cat with uncharacteristic features - without a tail, with big head and other oddities. In the descriptions of the courtyard there is also such an appearance as a small man with the legs of a cat, chicken or goat. There is also this description: “A little bigger cat. And the body looks like a cat's, but there is no tail. The head is like a man’s, the nose is humpbacked, pre-humpbacked, the eyes are huge, red, like fire, and above them there are black, large eyebrows, a wide mouth, and in it two rows of black teeth, a red and rough tongue, hands like a man’s, only the claws are curved . All overgrown with hair, it looks like a gray cat, but the legs are human.”

So that the servant would always be supportive of the household and animals, he was greeted in the mornings and said goodbye to him in the evenings, praised for Good work, brought treats, congratulated and treated them on holidays. The yard holiday is considered to be November 21, which after the baptism of Rus' received the name Michaelmas Day. On this day, the servant is congratulated and a festive dinner is brought to him directly to the barn.

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According to the beliefs of the Russian North, every house has an owner - a brownie. Rarely does anyone have the chance to see him, but he is the one who is able to turn life in the house both into joy and into a series of misfortunes. "Polit.ru" publishes a fragment of the chapter "Masters of Spaces and Spirits of Nature", dedicated to the brownie and included in the book Elena Levkievskaya "In the land of brownies and goblins. Characters of Russian mythology" (M.: OGI, 2009). The book about Russian mythological creatures is written in a bright and exciting manner especially for children of primary and secondary age. school age. It introduces legends, customs and traditions common in Russian folk culture.

Late evening in a peasant hut. Time is running by midnight. We fell asleep after have a hard day master and hostess. Children sleep on the stove. There was a cat curled up on the rug near the stove. In the barn, a cow is regularly chewing hay, horses are dozing, and sheep have calmed down. Silence and peace reign over the peasant estate. But someone is awake. Some strange little old man (only about a meter tall), overgrown with a gray beard, appears at the door of the stable. He is dressed in a white shirt with a red belt, homespun pants and bast shoes. Slowly, like a businessman, he walks around the cattle, carefully throws fresh hay to the cow, and scoops up the food right under her face. Then he goes to the horses, cleans and strokes them, combs their manes, braids their manes, so small and tight that it is almost impossible to undo them. Out of pranks and mischief, he wraps bundles of hay around the sheep's hooves - the old man does not like sheep, he is a painfully stupid beast.

Having dealt with the cattle, the old man walks around the entire yard. A woodpile has scattered in the corner - the old man picks up the scattered firewood and neatly stacks it. Here is a tub lying on its side - the children were playing during the day and turned it over. The old man puts the tub back in place. Then, walking silently, he enters the house, looks around the hut, the people sleeping in it and nods his head with satisfaction - everything is in order. The house is clean. The stove, as expected, is closed with a damper at night - so that warmth and wealth do not drain from the family. On the stove there were washed pots for borscht and porridge and milk cups lined up in a row. On the table - as it should be - bread and salt, covered with a clean towel. But the cat was out of place - he lay down right in the old man’s path. For this he received a severe punishment. The old man mercilessly kicked the cat in the side with his bast shoe. And he, meowing dazedly and sleepily, instantly jumped onto the bench and hid in the far corner. That's better. Will not lie down on the road next time. Having looked around the room, the old man goes behind the stove. There in the peasant hut is cabbage roll- stairs leading to the underground. Creaking the steps, sighing and muttering something under his breath, the old man goes downstairs and disappears into the darkness, slamming the underground lid behind him.

This old man is the brownie, the mythological patron of the family and the entire estate. In all places in Russia they believed that every house should have its own brownie. It is he who, being invisibly present on the farm, ensures the well-being of the family, the health of people and the fertility of animals.

The brownie is associated with a certain family. He is the spirit of a deceased ancestor, the head of the clan and its owner. Brownie - sole representative“another world”, which was perceived not as an “evil spirit”, but as an older member of the family. Unlike the rest of the evil spirits, he is not even afraid of the cross or prayer. But they are unbearable for all demons.

Like all mythological creatures, the brownie is most active in the evening, after sunset, and at night. At this time, he walks around the house and yard, appears near the cattle, and makes himself known with various sounds and noises. The brownie likes to live underground, behind the stove, on the stove or under the stove (for this in some places they call him patrimony or wards), in the attic or in the back corner of the house, that is, in those places that are traditionally perceived as the abode of the souls of deceased ancestors.

The master or hostess lives in the corner, behind the curtains, everywhere. He hears everything we say. The house is guarded. The brownie from those who lived here is someone’s soul, maybe a father, mother or brothers. If you don’t respect him, he’ll beat you up and you won’t sleep. He is the master of everything. The same cattle - she got a calf, but did not ask the owner - the calf will be so worn out, exhausted, as if it had been rolled around. If they move, they ask the brownie to come with them. Whether he will go or not is his business.(Arkhangelsk region, Archives of the Russian State University for the Humanities)

The brownie has two main tasks - to look after the house and the livestock. Therefore, he can be seen in the stable sitting on manger- feeder for livestock. He also loves to walk around the yard. A yard on a peasant estate is not at all the same as a city yard. In the city, the yard is the part of the street in front of the house where children play and pensioners sit on benches. The peasant's yard is a covered outbuilding to the hut. It forms a single whole with the residential part of the house. It is separated from the residential part of the hut by a wall or corridor. People live in the hut, and in the yard there are cattle, hay is stored, household utensils are laid out on the shelves, and horse harnesses hang. This is where the brownie grandfather likes to be. After all, one of his main responsibilities is to care for the livestock.

Keeping order in the family and looking after the cows and horses at the same time is difficult even for mythological creature. Therefore, in some places in Russia, a division of labor occurred among household spirits. There, there are two spirits per household - the house spirit and the yard spirit. The brownie lives in the house and is responsible for the family and household. The yardman lives in a barn or yard and is responsible for the livestock. However, in most cases, only one spirit is responsible for the entire household - the brownie, who can sometimes be called the yard spirit.

The behavior of a brownie directly depends on the attitude of people towards him and on the harmony in the family. If harmony reigns in the family, the owner is hard-working, the hostess keeps the hut clean and the family well-fed, then they don’t forget the brownie - they respect him, feed him, and when moving to new house carried with them. The brownie pays the owners with the same coin. With his kind attitude, the farm is prosperous, the livestock is well managed and prolific, the children are healthy.

- Yes, only he always understands how they relate to him. If a person thinks well of him, then he will receive only good things from his grandfather: help in the household and good health in the family.(Nizhny Novgorod region, Korepova 2007, 14) .

The best way to appease a brownie and gain his favor is to feed him well. His favorite food is hard, crumbly porridge. Food used to be cooked in clay pots. And the pots were without lids. To prevent borscht and other liquid dishes from boiling over, the neck of the pot was coated with dough. In a hot oven, the dough was baked into a crust and served as a lid. When the pot was placed on the table, this crust was simply pierced with a spoon and eaten. The pots of porridge were not covered with dough, so the appetizing, rosy top of the porridge came out of the pot. This elite was the share of the brownie. They put it behind the stove, on the stove (it was also called pole) - the protruding part of the stove where the dishes usually stood. Generous owners gave the brownie a whole pot of porridge for the holidays - eat it, master. For such generosity, the brownie paid handsomely - he looked after the livestock, looked after the farm, protected it from evil people, warned the owners of the danger.

One of our peasants built a winter hut in Grassy Pad. Graze the cattle there... He drove the cattle. And before that I asked the brownie:

“Master, master, let me in and please my cattle.”

At night I cooked a full pot of porridge, didn’t touch it myself, but put it on the brownie’s pole. Here you go. He drove the cattle into the yards, began to live and graze. And one day it rained. He got wet all over, drove into the courtyards in the evening, went, warmed up and fell asleep. He was sleeping, suddenly someone shook him by the shoulder:

- Master-master! But your bulls broke your corral and went up the hill!

He jumped off. He ran out: it’s true, the courtyards are empty. He mounted his horse and up the hill. And already at the top I caught up and turned around. Then again somehow... He sleeps and hears:

- Master, your winter hut is on fire!

I woke up: what a disaster! - everything was on fire!

- Grandfather, the brownie, would help me put out the fire.

And immediately things went better, I extinguished it soon, and somehow nothing burned. (Eastern Siberia, Zinoviev 1987, 79-80).

The brownie is respected and obeyed. They remember that the invisibly present brownie sees everything, knows everything and can severely punish household members for laziness, swearing, and dirt in the house. He especially dislikes domestic quarrels in the family. In retaliation for the disorder, he shows aggression and causes damage to the household - he breaks dishes, tears clothes, breaks and scatters things, tortures livestock, beats a cat, crushes sleeping people and pulls off their blankets. If one of the household quarrels, they say to him: “I’ll tell the brownie, he’ll give you rules on how to live with people.” He doesn’t like it when the owners take poor care of the livestock - then he can reprimand.

There was a barn here. One old woman said: “I walked this year at night and watered the cattle at the wrong time. People have already begun to go to bed, and I’ll go water the cattle. Once I come, and he sits in the manger and says: “Do you really have time, Martha, to come during the day?” “I,” he says, “look: it’s like my grandfather. He sits so shaggy. I thought: “My grandfather was left lying on the bed. Why did he come here?” She opened the doors and was sitting in a manger. After that, I no longer went out to water the cattle at night. We have to do everything on time.”(Vologda region, Belozerye, 107)

The seniority of the brownie is emphasized by its names. Most often he was simply called master. They also called him respectfully: grandfather, grandfather-grandfather, grandfather-domoveyushko, brownie father, brownie father, domovushko-father, brownie-clan, grandfather-brother, brother, hostess-master, hut highway, breadwinner. But these names also indicate his mythological status - the ancestor of the clan. People call “grandfathers” and “parents” not only living relatives. This is how all deceased family members were designated. That's why Russians have annual memorial days are called " parent's Saturdays", among Ukrainians and Belarusians - "grandfathers", among Poles - "dziadami", that is, "grandfathers".

Although the brownie is the master of the house, he is still “not his own spirit,” “undead.” He belongs to world of the dead. But the dead are always dangerous for their living relatives. Therefore, the brownie was not only revered, but also feared. He was sometimes called the other half, neighbor, neighbor, neighbor father, emphasizing the brownie’s belonging to the “other”, “neighboring” world.

ABOUT marital status Brownies are spoken differently. According to some, the brownie is lonely - he has neither a wife nor children. According to others, the brownie has a wife housewife or housewife, who looks like the mistress of the house. Address her respectfully, calling her mother-hostess or the housewife of the brownie and believing that she, together with her brownie husband, manages all the affairs in the house. Favorite hobby Housewives - spin yarn at night, left by the mistress without blessing. Only such spinning is not of much use - the housewife will either tangle the yarn or lick it off, so that there will be almost nothing left on the spinning wheel.

When you go to bed, you must not leave the spinning wheel without anything. Towards nightfall I said: “Housewife, don’t touch my spinning wheel.” Let her lie here.” We also need to remove the spindles so that it doesn’t spin. Otherwise, if you leave a spindle and a little yarn, it will all be licked off, they say.(Arkhangelsk region, Levkievskaya 2001, 474).

In many places in the Russian North, not only do they not doubt the family status of the brownie, but they also know the composition of his family. It completely replicates the composition of the human family that lives in this house. If the owner of the house has two sons and three daughters in his family, then the brownie has the same number of sons and daughters of the same age as a person. Usually a brownie is a man, a peasant, the hope and support of the house. But if there are only women in the family and no men, then the brownie in such a house is a woman, housewife. She looks like the lady of the house older woman in family.

In the usual Everyday life the brownie is invisible. He is invisibly present in the house, making himself known either with a strange noise behind the stove, or with steps in the attic, or with coughs and sighs in the underground. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, it opens with a creak. Entrance door- but there is no one behind her. Out of nowhere, a pot falls off the shelf. They think the cat is to blame, but at this time she is walking in the yard. The owner remembers exactly that she left her jacket on the bench - grab it, but it’s not there. She searches and searches, but for some reason she ends up on the stove. This is how a brownie manifests itself.

Grandfather Brownie lived in our house. They used to shout at him: “Grandfather is a brownie! And grandfather is a brownie!” To hear it, they heard it: it rustled, but to see it, they didn’t see it.

Sometimes the light would blink or the door would open and close at night. So this is all supposedly a brownie walking around. I often hear steps in the hallway. Otherwise, something will disappear from the house, and everyone will say: “Brownie, he stole the tea.”(Nizhny Novgorod region, Korepova 2007, 21).

You can still see the brownie. Most often this happens by accident, and the person does not immediately understand that in front of him is a brownie grandfather. He always appears and disappears unexpectedly. The appearance of the brownie is changeable and unstable. He may seem like a person, an animal, or some incomprehensible creature. In human form he is most often represented short an old man with a long gray beard. They say he has a shaggy head and shaggy arms. He is dressed in ordinary peasant clothes - a white or red shirt, belted with a red belt, blue trousers, bast shoes or felt boots. There is a hat on the head. Only the color and dilapidation of the brownie’s clothes indicate his belonging to the “other” world. Red, white and blue colors characteristic not only of the clothes of the brownie, but also of other otherworldly creatures. His “old fur coat,” “tattered hat,” and hemmed felt boots are also signs of “that world” to which the brownie belongs.

- Is there a brownie in the hut?

- There is also a brownie. There is tea in every home. Here, by God, I remember it now. When I was little, I saw him in the old hut. Mom went to the store and sat me on the stove<...>Play on the stove, don't get off it. And I was sitting once, but it was light<....>I looked, but I don’t know what I looked at: in the second room the door was open, and on the floor there was cabbage lying under bags. A small man sits astride a head of cabbage. He sits in bast shoes, in white onuchas, and his hat is drana-drana. I remember the hat was really bad<...>The guy is not very old, just very small. The curtain is pulled! I can't breathe. Scary, but interesting. I look, but he’s not there. Mom came, I tell her. And she says: “And don’t be afraid of anything, because you saw a brownie, so why were you afraid?”

I've been here ever since. And I started giving him food<...>What from dinner, milk in a mug<...>I did eat. I’ll put everything behind the stove - in the morning it’s gone or it might get bitten.

- Did he live behind your stove?

- Maybe behind her, or maybe in the closet. Or maybe on the dryer. The owner of the house - wherever he wanted. I kept talking to him. I’ll bring you some food: “This is for you, brownie grandfather.” Otherwise he won't eat<...>I heard him climbing through barrels and vats at night. Maybe he was testing something, or maybe he tried it.(Nizhny Novgorod region, Korepova, 2007, 18-19).

He is also shown to be a middle-aged man, whose hair and beard are the same color as his human owner. And this is understandable. After all, the brownie is the mythological double of the owner of the house. Therefore, he often appears before household members in the guise of the owner himself or an older family member. This similarity between the human master and the spirit host causes all sorts of misunderstandings. The owner will go to a fair in a neighboring village or go to mow distant meadows. Everyone knows for sure that he is not at home. Suddenly the housewife accidentally looks out the window - what is it! - her husband is carrying an armful of hay across the yard for the cattle. And the clothes he’s wearing are the same ones he wore when he left. When did he manage to return? And why didn’t he tell her anything? She calls him through the window - but he only silently, with an angry look, hides in the stable. She runs after him, opens the barn door - and there’s no one there! What kind of obsession? - the hostess cannot recover from amazement. In the evening the owner - his wife - returns to him: “Did you carry hay around the yard for the cattle this afternoon?” - “What are you talking about!? I’ve been mowing all day almost right next to the forest. How could I come back?” - “How can it be, because I saw you with my own eyes - both the clothes were yours and the color of your hair!” After thinking a little, the couple come to the conclusion that it was the brownie who carried the hay in the absence of the owner. And he was angry because he didn’t like it when people noticed him.

There was an incident. Once a woman is walking, and she comes out of the barn, carrying an armful of hay, like her father-in-law. She called out to him, and he bent down, slammed a brick into the door, and it shattered. Baba barely had time to run into the hut. He looks and his father-in-law is sitting in the hut. She rushed to him in fear, and he said to her: “Be baptized, baby, this is a yard servant.” (Novgorod region, Cherepanova, 1996, 42).

Often a brownie is described as something shaggy, shaggy, overgrown with fur or hair. And this is no coincidence. Wool and hair in folk tradition symbolized wealth and fertility. When building a new house, wool, grain and money were placed in its foundation so that the house could live richly. The bride and groom at the wedding table were seated on a sheepskin coat with the wool turned outward - also for rich life. Therefore, if the brownie is shaggy and overgrown with wool, then the family lives in abundance. The poor brownie is naked.

The brownie appears as an indeterminate creature. Something soft, gray, covered with fur will run across the floor and disappear into a dark corner - either a cat, or a bear cub, or a fluffy ball will roll. He turns into both a cat and a dog.

People saw him as a small gray dog. Yes, she, this little dog, runs around the house, the yard, the attic, that’s it. You can also see him as an old man, but this is only from a dream. You open your eyes - and he is here, and then he disappears. (Nizhny Novgorod region, Korepova 2007, 20).

The brownie, if he wants, can take on any form. But he has two favorite and permanent incarnations - the weasel and the snake. At the same time, the image of the brownie is bifurcated - he is seen both as a person and as an animal. In relation to people, he manifests himself in human form. In relation to livestock - in an animal. The small animal weasel, which can often be seen in the barn near the horses, is one of the incarnations of the brownie grandfather. What color is the weasel in the barn, what color do you keep the cattle. Then he will be well behaved, will always be healthy and fertile. If the owner makes a mistake and gets a horse or cow of the wrong color, there will still be no benefit. The weasel will torture the poor animal, ride it at night, tangle its mane until it completely wears it out.

After all, the brownie grandfather himself is a weasel, such an animal. The ears are black. She doesn’t like new cattle, she’ll curl her mane. But I didn’t like gray sheep, so she kept chasing the sheep until nightfall... She climbs on her back and chases her. This was the brownie, the weasel.(Arkhangelsk region, Cherepanova 1996, 45).

A snake that lives in a stable, in a yard, or under a house is also considered a house spirit and the embodiment of the soul of a deceased ancestor. It is strictly forbidden to kill her. Otherwise, all the livestock will die, and the family will be haunted by failure. The house snake is especially fond of cows. There are rumors that she allegedly chooses one cow, wraps herself around her hind leg and sucks her milk. But this is only good for the cow. The house snake's favorite cow becomes smooth, healthy, and begins to give so much milk that it can fill you with milk. They say that in one family they killed such a house snake and mistakenly took it for poisonous snake. On the same day, the cow she loved also died.

Well, I came here to milk the cow. Early in the morning. I have a black cow like this. Well, I look: a gray viper is curled up just along the ridge - and this gray viper lies. I didn’t milk anything. And it’s not that I was afraid. But I once heard that you can’t beat a snake in the yard. You can’t, you can’t, this is a courtyard. Yes, well, that means she went home. She waited for about twenty minutes - that’s all. She's already gone. And I calmly milked the cow.(Novgorod region, Traditional folklore, 278).

Whether livestock will be kept on the farm depends entirely on the favor of the brownie. If a brownie has a cow or horse “to his liking”, “to his liking”, it will always be well-fed, smooth, well-groomed, clean with shiny, healthy hair. The brownie himself pours food for his beloved cows and horses, and carries hay from the hayloft for them. It is at this work that he is most often caught by surprised owners, who immediately have no idea who is carrying the feed for their livestock.

Yes, my mother also told me: her father went to put food for the cows. Cows or horses. They also had horses in the old days; we had sixteen cows. Here. I went to put it in the yard. He comes and says:

- Some guy is putting [food] there!

He returned home - he was scared. Speaks:

“Lord, who is this,” he says, “he’s laying it on our horses!”

And his mother says to him:

- Be baptized, the brownie is laying it!

He saw it, but whether it really happened, I don’t know. That's good, good. Each one has a brownie watching over their animals. Is it true or not, but they said: there is always this brownie

And even when I come, the braid is braided right on the horses. The braid is braided as if by hand! And don’t unravel his brownie’s braid! If you unravel it, he won't like it. Don't touch it.(Novgorod region, Traditional folklore, 231).

The brownie cleans the fur of his beloved horse, combs the mane and tail, and, as a sign of special affection, braids it at night.

My grandfather had a white horse. And if the brownie loves the cattle, he will do everything for it, and if he doesn’t love it, he will destroy it. So, the horse was white. It used to be that grandfather would come to the stable, and the horse would have hay. “Dad, did you put it down?” - "No, not me." And another time the horse’s braid is also braided. The grandfather hid and looked: the man looked like he was so tall and approached the horse, and he put some hay on him and braided his hair. So the grandfather went home and said that the brownie was putting down hay.(Cherepanova 1996, 42).

The brownie loves horses and, as a sign of love, braids their manes. Arriving at the barn the next morning, the owner will just throw up his hands - the horses have all their manes in small braids. The braids that the brownie braids in a horse's mane are difficult to undo, and it is not recommended to do this - the brownie may become angry with the owners and dislike such a horse. Then at night he will torture her, ride her until the horse is covered in sweat. And if the brownie doesn’t like the cattle, expect trouble. It’s better to sell such an animal right away, it won’t be of any use anyway - the brownie will destroy it.

The attitude of a brownie towards livestock depends on whether he likes the color of the animals. If the cattle is wasting away, losing weight, and in the morning it turns out to be wet with sweat, it means that it was “not suitable for the yard”, “not suited”, “not suitable”. He tangles the horse's mane into tangles, takes away its food, and puts manure in the feeder.

We had four horses. The brownie didn’t like one person and that’s all. In the morning the men come: all the horses have oats sprinkled on them, their manes are braided (he braids them small, small braids). And this one is all steamed up and snores. Well, the men decided to watch for him. They took it, hung the leaky bucket under the oats, and hid behind the stack. And the brownie came and started pouring oats, but the bucket was full of holes. He'll throw it into the haystack, at the men. Oh, they got scared and ran away.(Vladimir province, Maksimov I, 38)

Since the well-being of the livestock depended entirely on the mercy of the brownie, before buying a new horse or cow, they tried to find out what color of cattle he preferred. Much is known about this different ways. On Holy Thursday you can go up to the attic with a candle - at this time the brownie usually sits near the chimney in the form of a cat or dog. What color his wool will be, this is the color you need to buy the cattle.

In other cases, they stayed in the barn at night, covering themselves with a harrow, and looked at the color of the brownie's hair - the same color the new cow or horse should be. The brownie himself can express wishes regarding the color of the livestock.

One owner, in order to find out the brownie's opinion about a new horse, hid in the barn behind the manger for the night and saw the brownie jump out of the hayloft, go up to the horse and begin to spit in its face, and scoop out the food from its left paw. The owner was frightened, and the brownie grumbled to himself, but so much so that you could hear: “I would buy a piebald mare with a white rear!” We listened to it and bought it. Again the owner hid in the barn and saw how the brownie in a shaggy hat and a yellow scroll approached the horse, examined it and said: “This is a horse!” This one is worth feeding, otherwise I bought some kind of nag.” And the brownie began to stroke her, combed and braided her mane and began to rake oats right under her face.(Vladimir province, Maksimov I, 38-39)

Having bought a new horse or cow, it is certainly presented to the brownie. How else! A good owner should know what is going on in his house. The new cattle are brought into the yard, they bow in all directions and ask the house owner to take it under his protection.

When you bought a cow, when you brought it, you must ask the priest, the hostess, for permission to bring it into the yard. When the cow approached the yard, I took a clod of earth from under its hind hoof and threw it across the entire yard, there are words there, you say: “I was visiting, I came to visit.” Then... from the north side you begin to bow to four sides, saying that “Mother hostess, father hostess, here is a little beast for you. We will dress her and feed her, and you love and protect her.” You repeat three times. And if she doesn’t love you, she may get sick and disappear.(Levkievskaya 2001, 434).

The brownie is presented not only with a new animal, but also with a new family member. He is informed about an addition to the family.

Grandma was in charge of this business. The eldest housewife used to be considered in the family. So she kept telling the owner about it. What was born in the family [ new person]. To love and help. The family has arrived.(Arkhangelsk region, Levkievskaya 2001, 409).

The brownie is able to foretell the future. He lets family members know about upcoming events in their life - marriage, illness, death of loved ones, leaving home, fire. But he communicates this not directly, but by signs. Usually the brownie is invisible, but if suddenly, without reason, it appears to a person, expect changes in life. And these changes will not always be good.

I was lying on the stove and suddenly I felt that the floorboards were creaking and someone was breathing. I was silent, hid, and realized that it was a brownie. He climbed onto the stove, sat next to me and silently left. I kept wondering what this was for, and in the morning my mother fell seriously ill.(Nizhny Novgorod region, Korepova 2007, 44).

Before the death of one of the family members, before a war or a fire, the brownie howls, groans, sighs underground, knocks and makes noise at night, and does not allow one to fall asleep. So he makes it clear to the owners that trouble awaits them. When you hear a brownie, you need to ask: “For better or for worse?” The brownie will answer.

The brownie cries and groans like a human being. This is both for good and for bad. My son’s wife was ill, and then two of my cows died. I cried like that before, just like a person. I asked him: “For better or for worse?” And he quietly answered: “For worse.”(Korepova 2007, 41).

The brownie predicts future events not only with sounds. He falls on a sleeping person at night and begins to choke him. At this moment you need not to get confused and ask: “For better or for worse?” The brownie will immediately let the person go and whisper in his ear what awaits him ahead - bad or good.

And it happened to me twice. The first time I was a girl. And at night I went to bed. Here’s a dream: it came, first it fell on my leg, then on my chest, then it grabbed me by the throat... I think I won’t sleep anymore, I won’t sleep. No, it closed my eyes again. It closed - and then it began to choke me tightly again. I woke up - in the morning, that’s it, my brother comes to me early and says: “Anya, we’re going home, my father is dying.” I came to a relative and said: “I’m going home, I felt like this at night, it was choking me a lot.” He says: “Why didn’t you ask - for better or worse?” I say: “How did I know?” After all, I didn’t know anything, I was a girl. And then I remembered, by itself, as soon as it comes, you’ll get the hang of it. You ask: “For better or worse?” And this is the news. To whom he will say for good, to whom - for bad.(Arkhangelsk region, Levkievskaya 2001, 432).

Calling a brownie yourself to find out the future is a great insolence, for which he can severely punish. This was only decided upon extreme cases. For example, during the war, when there were no letters from my husband from the front for a long time. Then the women called the brownie to find out if the husband was alive. Not every woman will dare to do this. To do this, you need to be not only brave, but also very skillful. After all, calling the landlord is a whole science. You need to go to the barn at night, in the dark, where he usually sleeps. Then say Right words and don’t be afraid when the straw stirs in the corner of the barn - it’s a brownie crawling out. Then you need to politely ask a question - the brownie will answer it. Some, frightened by the rustling and rising straw, ran away from the barn in horror. A disturbed brownie in vain can beat you and even strangle you for this.

One went to the owner to ask about her husband. Well, I disturbed the owner. She didn’t wait for him, she began to move the straw away, and the barn began to move. He lives in a barn for the winter, in warmth. She ran. She had two small children and slept on the stove in the winter. She came running and lay down in the middle between the guys. [The next day she told everything to her brother]: “Oh,” says Ivan, “I went to the barn yesterday, and I was so scared, brother.” - “Why didn’t you wait for the owner? You should have waited for him. He would tell you: “Well, what do you need?” He has such a scary voice. You would say: “Is my husband alive?” He would answer you. Pray to God that you have angelic children all around you, otherwise he would have killed you, grabbed you by the throat, and that’s all. Otherwise she would have said: “Father the owner, tell me whether the owner is alive or not, whether he will come from captivity or not, I have two children.” And he began to move, blowing up the straw, the straw was blowing up, and you ran away.”(Arkhangelsk region, Levkievskaya 2001, 436).

The family lives in their own house, and everything in it is good and safe. Only with time an old house became dilapidated and cramped. It is necessary to build new housing and arrange a housewarming party there. What is the most important thing when moving to a new home? Should I take my table, chairs, cabinets, kitchen utensils with me? No, it's all profit. Can buy new table and new pots, new curtains and new clothes. But you can’t buy a new brownie, because brownies are not sold in the store. The most important thing for housewarming is to take the brownie's grandfather with you from the old home. Without him, there will still be no good life in the new home, everything will go topsy-turvy, failure will follow failure.

There is a brownie in every house. Many people only think that he does not exist. I'll tell you one story. We moved from one house to another. They wanted to be closer to their son. All things have been transported. We started living in a new house. Only all sorts of bad things happened. My grandfather broke his leg, at night thieves climbed through the roof to us, tied us up with my grandfather, collected money, and then beat us. And a lot more happened. And I remembered that I forgot to call my brownie. My grandmother always told me that you shouldn’t leave a brownie. What to do? Need to go. I went there and talked to the new owner. While she went to put the kettle on, I quickly called the brownie: “Brownie, brownie, come home with me.” After that everything became fine. At night, sometimes, I hear him shaking himself like a dog. This means that nothing was left for him to eat on the table.

And it’s very bad for a brownie without his family. The brownie, left in the turmoil of moving, lonely and unhappy, cries at night in the old house. On his own, without a special invitation, he cannot follow people to a new house. So he toils, poor thing, in an empty hut, howls, moans, and does not let his neighbors sleep.

We burned out. Let's go to new apartment, but the brownie was not invited. I went to graze the flock, and a woman, a neighbor, said that the brownie grandfather was screaming in my old house: “Oh, she left me alone, and I have nowhere to live.” I went and called: “Brownie-brownie, come with me but you have a new residence, otherwise you will be left alone.” He came over to me.(Nizhny Novgorod region, Korepova 2007, 51).

To prevent such incidents from happening, the owner must take care in time to transfer the brownie to a new place of residence. To do this, they open a hole in the underground or approach the stove and call: “My brownie, come with me!” After this, they take some thing from the old household - a broom, a broom, a poker, a mitten, an old bast shoe, transfer it from the former home to the new one and put it under the stove there. Sitting on this thing, the brownie moves to a new house. Previously, in the 19th century, peasants even tied a string to an old bast shoe and dragged it with them to a new hut. In this bast shoe, like in a carriage, the brownie moved to his new possessions. There were more complex ways translation of the brownie. In the old house, on the eve of moving, the housewife put the dough in a kneading bowl. The next day the family moved to a new hut and took with them a kneading bowl of dough. The first thing the housewife did in her new home was bake bread from this dough. The bread was kneaded in the old house and baked in the new one. Bread has always been a symbol of wealth and prosperity. After all, this is main meal person. Just as bread passed from the old house to the new, so did the brownie grandfather - the giver of this prosperity - move with him to the new house.

In addition to your own brownie-benefactor, a stranger, or, as they used to say, a “nasty” brownie, may appear in the house. “Nabrogy” - from the word “to wander”, “to wander”. Someone else's brownie is dangerous for the family and for the household. He behaves in the house like an evil and hostile spirit. For a home, a stranger brownie is a real disaster. He harasses and destroys livestock, destroys farms, and harms households. Where do the “nabrozhie” brownies come from? For the most part, they come from those brownies that the owners forgot when moving to a new house. If the old house with the brownie left there is empty, he yearns and howls. But if another family moves into this house, then the embittered brownie begins to do dirty tricks on her. After all, for him this family is a stranger, it is not related to him.

There is a brownie. When you move to a new house, you need to invite him with you and take your brownie away. And he will always help. And when you come to someone else’s house and there is someone else’s brownie there, then all sorts of troubles begin there. They might even deaths be. We didn’t take our brownie. And this stranger is already unkind to us. And his own, he’s kind, he helps. He helps ensure that the livestock is well managed, well, in general, all the livestock is kept in the yard. But someone else’s brownie will not help, but the opposite will happen. The cattle will die. Nothing will be done.(Nizhny Novgorod region, Korepova 2007, 54)

Real confusion occurs when, as a result of a move, two brownies are formed in a house at once - the former brownie, left by the old owners, and the newcomer, whom the new residents brought with them. Two brownies cannot get along in one house. They fight all day long, each trying to drive the other out. And this only results in losses and anxiety for the owners. After all, while the brownies are sorting things out, no one is looking after the household. It is impossible to sleep at night - noise, din, running around behind the wall. The only way to stop this disorder - to protect your brownie and drive the stranger out of the house. Otherwise, life in the house turns into a real nightmare.

And when they move to a new house, they take it with them: “Come on, master, let’s go.” Here was a case in the village: a man built a new house in the village, but forgot to call the brownie. So he remained in this house. The new owners arrived with their brownie, and here the two brownies met. The old one drives out the new one. So their enmity began. Sometimes night comes, they go to whip the walls, and there is noise around the house. The owners thought and thought about how to get rid of the old brownie, and came up with an idea: they opened the door and said: “Go away, go away, we have our own owner.” So they drove away. (Nizhny Novgorod region, Korepova 2007, 52).

It also happens that a brownie from another house for some reason does not like its neighbors. He comes into someone else's yard at night, chases and tortures cattle, steals food from them and takes them to his yard, breaks dishes, turns utensils upside down, in general, he does harm in any way he can. If you don’t kick him out of the yard, he will exhaust all the cows and horses and carry all the feed to his cattle.

My old man went to knead the horse [feed]. Suddenly he sees him standing next to him in a white coat and a red belt. In hands with a basket. He dumped the whole mess into his basket and started racing the horse around the barn. The old man took a basket and linden sticks and shouted: “Someone else’s yard servant, go home to your house, and your yard servant, go after your cattle, take a look.” Do not torture your cattle and do not destroy it. And love all your cattle.” He knocks three times with a stick, and the servant leaves.(Nizhny Novgorod region, Korepova 2007, 52-53).

The image of a brownie is known to us from folk beliefs recorded in the 18th-20th centuries. One of the first collectors of Russian mythology of the 18th century. M.D. Chulkov wrote: “...they believe that in every house there lives a devil under the name of a brownie, he walks at night in the form of a man, and when he falls in love with an animal, he fattens it in every possible way, and if he does not love it, the cattle will completely lose weight and die out, which is called unsuitable."

The name “brownie” appeared among the Eastern Slavs quite late (it is assumed that not earlier than the 17th century). But the very image of a brownie, associated with the cult of ancestors, began to take shape a very long time ago - back in the days of paganism.

During pagan times East Slavs They prayed to Rod and the Rozhanitsy. According to scientists, these names were the names of the spirits of the clan and family, “responsible” for its well-being, fertility, and the birth of children. Presumably, these ancient Russian characters symbolized the souls of the first ancestors, the founders of the clan, who looked after living relatives. In any case, the same meals were prepared for Rod and Rozhanitsa as for the souls of the dead. In an ancient Russian teaching of the 12th century, the bishop condemned those who brought bread, cheese and honey as a sacrifice to Rod and the Rozhanitsy, and also poured out libations in their honor: “woe to those who drink to the woman in labor...” The teaching of 1271 mentions those who “cook for the women in labor.” meal."

The deceased ancestors of a clan must provide assistance and protection to their living relatives - this idea was not questioned either during pagan times or much later. Therefore, the wedding plot of the 17th century appeals to the deceased “grandfathers and women” with a request to protect the groom from witchcraft: “... stand, you, grandfathers and women, and my whole family, and guard the newlywed prince and take care of him on water and on land. ..”.

The features of a brownie can also be traced in some descriptions of demons found in ancient Russian books. So in the “Life of Theodosius of Pechersk” (XII century) it is told about demons who live in a stable and torment cattle, not allowing them to eat: “One day from one village a monastery monk came to our blessed father Theodosius and said that in the stable, where the cattle are shut up, is the dwelling place of demons. They do a lot of nasty things there, not allowing the cattle to eat. Many times the presbyter said a prayer and sprinkled the saint with water, but, despite this, those evil demons remained, creating torment for the livestock.” The demons who live in the barn and torment the cattle, not allowing them to eat, are very reminiscent of the brownie who torments the cattle that are “not in the yard” and rakes food from them from the manger. In the book “The Golden Chain” for the year 1400, a certain “demonic hoarder” is mentioned - he is spoken of in a prayer that preserves “from all satanic intrigues and ... from the damned demon hoarder.” According to the researchers, this is the name the Christian scribe gave to the house spirit, which would later receive the popular name of the brownie.

Before buying new cattle, the head of the house asked the brownie what color he wanted. To do this, they went to the barn at night and covered themselves with a harrow, because it was through the harrow that you could see the brownie. But you had to watch alone, otherwise the breadwinner might get angry.

At night, a brownie came to the barn to feed the cattle, then they looked at what color the brownie’s hair was, and what color they bought the animal. A newly purchased horse or cow was placed under the middle beam of the barn and said, “ Hostess-father, water and feed my little animal.”

The answer in the game is Clear your throat.

Slowly, like a businessman, he walks around the cattle, carefully throws fresh hay to the cow, and scoops up the food right under her face. Then he goes to the horses, cleans and strokes them, combs their manes, braids their manes, so small and tight that it is almost impossible to undo them. Out of pranks and mischief, he wraps bundles of hay around the sheep’s hooves - the old man doesn’t like sheep, he’s a painfully stupid beast.

If the brownie liked the animal, he looked after it; if not, he began to torture it. Then the owners had to sell and find something else.
“Grandfather had a white horse, and if the brownie loves the cattle, he will do everything for it, and if he doesn’t love it, he will destroy it. So the horse was white. It used to be that grandfather would come to the stable, and the horse would have hay.

“Dad,” he says, “did you go to bed?” “No,” he says, “not me.” And another time the horse’s braid is also braided. The grandfather hid, looked, the man looked like he was tall, and he went up to the horse, put some hay in it and braided his hair. So the grandfather came home and said that the brownie was laying hay(Novgorod region, Starorussky district, Vidzha, 1990)"