What agricultural crops were grown by the ancient Slavs?

Content

1 What was the farmer in Russia, and what was his way of life. Types of agriculture.
2 Farmer of Ancient Russia
- 2.1 Farmer's tools of labor.
3 Slavic agricultural rites.
4 The emergence and development of farming systems
5 Tools
6 Cultivated plants
7 Annual cycle of agricultural work
- 7.1 Plowing
- 7.2 North
- 7.3 Haymaking
- 7.4 Harvest
- 7.5 Harvest storage
8 Notes (edit)
9 What was the farmer in Russia, and what was the way of his life. Types of agriculture.
10 Farmer of Ancient Russia
- 10.1 Farmer's tools of labor.
11 Slavic agricultural rites.
12 What was the farmer in Russia, and what was his way of life. Types of agriculture.
13 Farmer of Ancient Russia
- 13.1 Farmer's tools of labor.
14 Slavic agricultural rites.
15 The emergence and development of farming systems
16 Tools
17 Cultivated plants
18 Annual cycle of agricultural work
- 18.1 Plowing
- 18.2 North
- 18.3 Haymaking
- 18.4 Harvest
- 18.5 Harvest storage
19 Notes (edit)
20 What was the farmer in Russia, and what was the way of his life. Types of agriculture.
21 Farmer of Ancient Russia
- 21.1 Farmer's tools of labor.
22 Slavic agricultural rites.

There were no shops in Ancient Russia, so food had to be grown by ourselves. The land in Russia has always been fertile, the main territory of the land was black soil, and it was a sin not to use it. Agriculture was discovered by women. They loosened the ground near the house with whatever came under their hands, with sticks, bones, stones, and put the seeds of wild plants in the holes formed. Later, the plants became domesticated and fully adapted for human consumption.

By the way…

Over time, more and more territory was required for sowing, and it had to be cleared and dug up, thus men also joined in agriculture. They sowed cereals and cereals in the fields, as well as hemp and flax, which were used to make ropes and fabrics.

What was the farmer in Russia, and what was the way of his life. Types of agriculture.

In ancient Russia, a peasant farmer was very hardworking, worked tirelessly. They put on the clothes that they sewed themselves. The clothes were loose and comfortable for both work and leisure. They ate what the land gave. They ground the grain and baked the first bread. They paid tribute in grain and cloth, paid taxes.

The peasants were divided into feudal-dependent and free. Feudal dependent peasants should not be confused with slaves. Slaves were completely subordinate to the owners, and the peasants paid taxes to the feudal lords, but at the same time they had their own house, their own income, a plot of land and livestock. Initially, free farmers, commoners in Ancient Rus were called smerds, but over time they also fell into partial feudal dependence. With all this, they retained legal freedom. If the stinker took a kupa (loan) from the prince, then it passed into the category of purchases, of the lower class of peasants. The purchases were supposed to work for the feudal lord for free until they worked out their debt in full. An even lower class of peasants were called slaves. Serfs are the same as slaves who are completely dependent on the principality and do not have any rights. In 1723, servitude was abolished by Peter the Great.

Do you know what type of farming prevailed among the Eastern Slavs? The most predominant farming systems among the Eastern Slavs were called the slash-and-burn system and the fallow. Which system the farmers used depended on natural and climatic conditions. The slash-and-burn system prevailed in the north in the Taiga. It consisted in the fact that in one year trees were cut down and allowed to dry. In the second year, dry trees were burned, and grain crops were sown in this place. Ash served as a fertilizer. By the way, modern land workers also use ash as fertilizer.For several years the land gave a good harvest, but later it had to be allowed to rest.

Perelog was the southern farming system. The peasants could rid the plot of weeds for several years. When the land was depleted, they moved to another territory, and this area was left to "rest" for 10 years. This type of farming is also called arable farming and it was used on the territory of steppe forests.

On what territory the sowing took place depended on what the ancient farmers cultivated. In the south, buckwheat, millet, spelled, and wheat were grown. In the north, the field was sown with oats, barley, millet, winter rye and spring wheat. With the development of agriculture in Ancient Russia, they began to plant not only cereals, but also vegetables. Most of all, rutabagas, beets, carrots, potatoes, pumpkin were grown, then legumes appeared. As mentioned above, not everything that was grown was eaten. Flax and hemp were used to make fabric. All these cultures are the main agriculture of the Eastern Slavs.

Farmer of Ancient Russia

Agriculture is hard work and it is impossible without various inventions designed to help in this difficult matter. People began to create tools to help themselves. Those devices that were used in Ancient Russia have come down to us, but over time they have been modernized and improved. The quality and quantity of the future harvest directly depended on what tools were used in agriculture. The tools of labor used by ancient farmers include: plow, hoe, sickle, ax and others. Let's understand in more detail.

Farmer's tools of labor.

Sickle. This tool was used to harvest grain crops. Harvesting such a crop was called the harvest. Consisted of a steel, rounded like a month, a thin blade and a short wooden handle.
Spit. The scythe is an agricultural tool for cutting grass. Has a long and sharp knife, slightly curved inward, made of steel. The handle of the braid is long, made of wood.
Hoe. Now this tool is called a hoe. It has a long wooden handle and a paddle located perpendicular to the handle. The shoulder pad was square in shape and made of sturdy metal. It was used to chop off weeds right at the root, in other words for weeding. A pickaxe was used to work in hard ground.
Plow. The plow was indispensable for plowing the land. The plow was used to turn the topsoil. Most often it was made of metal. Initially, the plow was pulled by the farmers themselves, later they began to use horses for this.
Sokha. Plowing tool. The plow consisted of a thick long wooden plank with two metal teeth at the edges. The working wooden part of the plow was called rassokha, and the iron teeth were called openers. The plow was attached to the shafts into which the horse was harnessed. This tool is somewhat similar to a plow, but the plow does not turn the ground, but shifts it to the side.
Spade. A device similar to a modern shovel in Russia was called a spade, now such a word is outdated, but the shovel continues to exist and is used in agriculture to this day. Previously, the spade was completely wooden, with only a metal tip. Later, a completely iron, pointed digging part was attached to a wooden long handle, which is called a handle. This name was formed from the word to step up, step on the foot.
Rake. The rake was and is still used today to break up clods of already plowed soil. With the help of this tool, weeds and other unnecessary items were collected from the cultivated soil, and the mowed grass was also raked into one part. The Old Russian rake consisted of a wooden block, which was called a ridge. Holes were made in the ridge, into which iron teeth were inserted. A long wooden handle was attached to this base.In Ancient Russia, rakes were hand or horse-drawn, in the modern world there are rakes for a tractor. By the way, such a popular expression “to step on a rake” means to make a stupid mistake, because if you step on the ridge of a rake, you can get a handle on the forehead.
Pitchfork. It is an agricultural tool used to collect and load hay. Also, this tool was used to puncture the soil, with the help of which its supply of oxygen was increased. The pitchfork consists of a metal piercing part, with several teeth (from three to seven pieces) and a long wooden handle. By the way, in Christian mythology, the pitchfork was considered an instrument of the Devil and devils, used to torture sinners in hell. This belief came from the images of the ancient gods, Neptune or Poseidon, which came down to the first Christians, who were perceived as the Devil, and the trident as a pitchfork. The ancient pagan Slavs did not have such associations, and the pitchfork was perceived exclusively as a tool of labor.
Chain. A chain is two sticks connected to each other that had mobility, the first long stick was a handle, and the second short one was a thresher. Such a device was used to thresh grain or separate grains from chaff. This tool was used not only in Ancient Russia. By the way, on the basis of the flail, military melee weapons appeared - a mace or a battle flail, and the famous Japanese edged weapons - nunchucks.
Harrow. The harrow was used in the slash-and-burn farming system, helping to avoid drying out the earth and collecting weeds. Created from wood.

Since in the era of Ancient Rus people were pagans, a huge part of their life was occupied by rituals and rituals. These traditions and agriculture were not spared. The Slavs believed that the rituals helped to appease the gods, and guaranteed them a good harvest. As a rule, rituals were performed on the days of spring holidays.

Slavic agricultural rites.

Christmas agricultural rites. In the first week of Christmastide, fasting was observed, in the second week, people wondered. Christmastide lasted from 7 to 19 January.
Shrovetide rituals. Such ceremonies were held at the end of winter on Shrovetide from March 21, this is the day of the vernal equinox. The Slavs took the first pancake out into the yard and laid it on the ground. It was a gift to the gods Vesna and Yarila. Thanks to this, the sun warmed up the fields faster and stronger.
Cleansing rites. It was believed that a lot of wickedness was going to gather during the winter, and it was necessary to get rid of it. First, people washed their homes and themselves, collected all the garbage and burned it in the yards, the smoke from the fires was supposed to drive away evil spirits. Then the fields were showered with ashes from these bonfires. It is not surprising that they received a good harvest from this ceremony, because ash is an excellent fertilizer. Willow branches were placed along the edges of the field, since for the ancient peasants it was a sacred plant, because the pussy willow gave its first buds earlier than other plants.
Red hill. In the spring everything bloomed, birds flew in, the sun was shining. The first grass appeared in the fields and hills, and this created a certain contrast. Hence the name "Red Hill", red means beautiful. The crops were rolled in an egg, read conspiracies and sprinkled with bone meal. Flour was supposed to protect the future harvest from hail. The egg was buried in the field as a symbol of fertility.
Sacrifices. The pagans considered the earth to be alive, she was their deity, and they thought that when plowing, they hurt her. Therefore, the land had to be appeased. For this, bread was inserted into the furrows, and after the end of the sowing season, they walked around the fields with food and mash and had a feast. Early spring was associated with the return of birds, so the Slavs caught the bird as a symbol of spring and ate it. It was believed that, in this way, it was best to use the forces of spring.
Kolosyanitsa. The girls took food and walked to the birch, arranged a feast around it, sang songs, and danced in circles. They believed that birch has the power of fertility, and they wanted to use its power in the fields.
Rites dedicated to the deities Kupala and Yarila.When the time of the harvest came, bonfires were kindled and the fields were bypassed, reading conspiracies. This was done in honor of Kupala, who was considered the god of abundance and harvest. The bonfires were designed to drive away evil spirits from the already ripe fruits. God Yarilo, was considered the god of the sun, and the sun was of great importance for the ancient Slavs and thanks to him crops grew.
Harvest feasts of zhinka (beginning of harvest) and rezinka (end of harvest). At this time, evil spirits were driven out. They baked ceremonially bread from the first and last sheaf of the harvest. The grains were stored at home and mixed with soil during the next sowing.

In the 21st century, such rituals have become a relic of the past, and special machines are used to cultivate large areas. Nevertheless, we cannot belittle the work of our ancestors, because they gave us the beginning for the development of modern technology. And the ancient Slavic holidays are observed to this day, just for the sake of fun and as a tribute to the traditions of our history.

More Slavic rites here

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Agriculture among the Slavs was the basis of their economy, which influenced the Slavic calendar, cuisine, life and mythology. The Slavs rested mainly in winter (kolyada, Christmastide, Shrovetide), while summer was a time of harvest (suffering). The Slavs were engaged in agriculture mainly for their own subsistence and it almost never bore a commercial nature.

The emergence and development of farming systems

Since ancient times, the Slavs have been engaged in plowing, slash-and-burn agriculture. The field (Polish. Pole) was cleared for arable land with the help of fire, and then plowing and sowing began.

Tools

In the development of new living spaces by people, in everyday life in general and in the slash-and-burn method of farming in particular, the ax played a key role. With the help of an ax and fire, a new field for plowing was cleared of trees and other vegetation.

Among the tools for loosening and digging up the earth, the Slavs widely used a hoe, a spade and a shovel. These hand tools were most widely used in gardening.

Fields with a sufficiently large area of land were loosened with the help of draft implements of plowing - a ral, a plow (Polish. Socha), or a plow. To carry out this type of work, the Slavs attracted oxen or horses.

Traditionally, the harvesting of grain crops by the Slavs was carried out by means of harvesting with a sickle (Polish Sierp). The sickle harvest is reported in ancient Russian written sources of the early 13th century; it is depicted in miniatures and frescoes.

Mowing for harvesting grain crops began to be used only in the 18th century in connection with the issuance of a decree by Peter I "On sending peasants to various grain-growing places to teach local inhabitants to remove bread from the field with scythes." But even after the decree was issued, the scythe could not take the place of the sickle in agriculture, where the sickle was not only used, but also continued to be constructively refined until the middle of the 20th century. Oblique mowing was carried out mainly during haymaking, which is reflected in the term.

Bunches of ears were knitted into sheaves and threshed with flails (Polish Cep).

Cultivated plants

The main agricultural crops were wheat (Polish Pszenica), rye (rye), barley (Polish. Jęczmień), oats (Polish. Owies), from which the Slavs baked bread (Polish. Chleb, including ritual loaf) and pancakes, and also made porridge (Polish. Kasza). Cabbage (Polish Kapusta), peas (Polish Groch) and turnips were also grown. Subsequently, the turnip among the Slavic peoples was replaced by potatoes. From the Mediterranean Greeks, the Slavs borrowed not only writing and religion, but also some agricultural crops (beets and buckwheat).

Annual cycle of agricultural work

Plowing

North

Haymaking

Harvest

The agricultural cycle ended in late summer - early autumn with various harvest festivals (roast, skits). The month of harvest fell on August and was called sickle

Harvest storage

The crop was stored in granaries (first in grain pits, and then in barns and sheds).

Notes (edit)

Painting by Russian artist-itinerant

Ivanova S.V."Housing of the Eastern Slavs", 1909

Slavic settlements were usually located along the banks of rivers and lakes in places suitable for farming - their main occupation. It was originally extensive in nature. In the steppe and forest-steppe regions, they burned grass, fertilizing the soil with ash, and used it to the point of depletion. Then the site was thrown, until the natural grass cover was restored on it. This farming system is called fallow.

In the forests where it was used

slash (slash-and-burn) system: trees were cut down and left to dry until next year, then they were burned along with uprooted stumps. The resulting fertilized area, as in the fallow system, was used until depletion.

The set of agricultural crops differed from the later one: rye still occupied a small place in it, wheat predominated. There were no oats at all, but millet, buckwheat, and barley were known. They cultivated flax, hemp, as well as vegetables - turnips, radishes, onions, garlic, cabbage.

Along with agriculture, a large place in the economy of the Eastern Slavs was occupied by animal husbandry... The Slavs bred cattle, pigs, cows, goats and poultry. And the bones found during excavations confirm that the Slavs bred horses, the meat of which was rarely eaten (they were used mainly for riding and as draft force).

The forests that covered the territory of Eastern Europe were abundant in animals, and in the rivers there were a lot of fish. Therefore, the Slavs hunted wild boar, bear, fox, hare. On the hunt they took a bow with arrows and a spear.

Pike, bream, catfish and other fish were caught in the rivers. The fish were caught with hooks, nets, seines and a variety of wicker devices. Development fishing, of course, contributed to the fact that the Slavic settlements were located along the banks of the rivers.

An auxiliary role in the economy of the Eastern Slavs was played bee-keeping - collecting honey from wild bees. It was not just collecting honey, but also taking care of the hollows - "beards", and even their creation.

According to archaeological data, we can judge to some extent about the life of the ancient Slavs. Their settlements located along the banks of rivers were grouped into a kind of "nest" of 3 - 4 settlements. Several families lived in each village; sometimes they numbered in the tens. The houses were not large, like semi-dugouts: the floor was a meter or a half below ground level, wooden walls, an adobe or stone stove heated in black, a roof plastered with clay and sometimes reaching the ends of the roof to the ground.

Based on site materials

By the end of the reign of the Prophetic Oleg, almost all the tribes of the Eastern Slavs and a number of other ethnic groups entered the Old Russian state. Moreover, each of them continued to preserve the traditions of their ancestors, beliefs and customs.

Prince Oleg obeyed the meadows, Novgorod Slovenes, Krivichi, Drevlyans, Radimichi, Northerners and, in part, Tivertsy. In addition to the Slavs, Finno-Ugric ethnic groups lived within the state of Rus - Chud, Merya, All and Murom, natives of Scandinavia, the ancestors of the Ossetians - the Alans, the ancestors of the Poles - the Lendzians and others. Russia as a state association declared itself on the international arena in treaties with Byzantium at the beginning of the 10th century, but in the cultural sense it was not united, as evidenced by archaeological research and descriptions of the rituals of its inhabitants.

Ancient settlement of the Slavs. Russia IX-XII century.

Settlements and settlements. The bulk of the population of ancient Russia lived in unprotected settlements located in low places hidden from the human eye. In the 9th century, fortified settlements became the main settlements. They occupied places convenient in defensive and at the same time economic relations along the banks of rivers and lakes or at the confluence of two rivers. The settlements were built up with dugouts, and sometimes with extended ground houses, where several families of the same clan lived.The buildings were located along the perimeter of the settlement, and communal buildings for various purposes and a small reservoir were located in its center. A large area served as a corral for the community herd.

Agriculture of the Slavs. The main occupation of the population of Russia was agriculture. The Slavs cultivated rye, wheat, barley, millet, flax, hemp. Garden crops such as turnips, cabbage, beets, carrots, radishes and others were grown. Natural and climatic conditions dictated the peculiarities of arable farming. On the southern fertile lands, the "fallow" prevailed: the fields were sown for several years until they were completely depleted, and then they were abandoned and "shifted" to new plots. The southern Slavs used a plow, a wooden plow with an iron ploughshare, and a ral with a metal tip. In the northern, forest lands, slash-and-burn agriculture took place. Initially, the forest was cut to make way for arable land. When the trees dried up, they were burned, and the resulting ash was used as fertilizer. They fed from such a field for two or three years, and then they had to develop a new territory. In their work, farmers used an ax, a hoe, a two-toothed plow, and a knotted harrow. The harvest was harvested with sickles. The grain was threshed with flails and ground with hand millstones. The Slavs bred pigs, cows and sheep. They used oxen in the south and horses in the north as draft animals.

Fishing in Russia. In ancient Russia, fishing was widely practiced. In the rivers pike, carp, pike perch, bream, catfish, sturgeon and other fish were found in abundance, which were caught with nets, seines, tops and fishing rods. During excavations of settlements of the 9th-10th centuries, the usual finds of archaeologists are bones and scales of various fish, special pits that served to store fish prepared for future use, clay sinkers, bone needles for weaving nets and iron fish hooks.

Hunting of the Northern Slavs. Hunting among the northern tribes was of great importance. Judging by the archaeological finds, the prey of the hunters were such animals as elk, reindeer, roe deer, bear, wild boar, and hare. The Kiev prince and local rulers received tribute from the population with furs, therefore, hunting for fur-bearing animals developed: beaver, lynx, fox, marten, otter. Bow and arrows, snares and crossbows, which were placed on animal paths, served as hunting tools. Wild birds were caught with the help of "weights" - large nets that were stretched high above the ground in places where birds migrated.

Forestry. Bortnichestvo was an extremely widespread forestry of the Eastern Slavs. A tree with a hollow inhabited by forest bees was called a bord. Anyone who found a wrestle in the forest could declare himself its owner, putting on it his distinctive sign - "banner". Honey and wax were important subjects of the grand ducal trade, and therefore the princes received tribute from the volosts with them.

There were no shops in Ancient Rus, so food had to be grown by ourselves. The land in Russia has always been fertile, the main territory of the land was black soil, and it was a sin not to use it. Agriculture was discovered by women. They loosened the ground near the house with whatever fell under the hands, with sticks, bones, stones, and put the seeds of wild plants in the holes formed. Later, the plants became domesticated and fully adapted for human consumption.

By the way…

Over time, more and more territory was required for sowing, and it had to be cleared and dug up, thus, men joined in agriculture. They sowed cereals and cereals in the fields, as well as hemp and flax, which were used to make ropes and fabrics.

What was the farmer in Russia, and what was his way of life. Types of agriculture.

The peasants were divided into feudal-dependent and free. Feudal dependent peasants should not be confused with slaves. Slaves were completely subordinate to the owners, and the peasants paid taxes to the feudal lords, but at the same time they had their own house, their own income, a plot of land and livestock. Initially, free farmers, commoners in Ancient Rus were called smerds, but over time they also fell into partial feudal dependence. With all this, they retained legal freedom. If the stinker took a kupa (loan) from the prince, then it passed into the category of purchases, of the lower class of peasants. The purchases were supposed to work for the feudal lord for free until they worked out their debt in full. An even lower class of peasants was called slaves. Serfs are the same as slaves who are completely dependent on the principality and do not have any rights. In 1723, servitude was abolished by Peter the Great.

Do you know what type of farming prevailed among the Eastern Slavs? The most predominant farming systems among the Eastern Slavs were called the slash-and-burn system and the fallow. Which system the farmers used depended on natural and climatic conditions. The slash-and-burn system prevailed in the north in the Taiga. It consisted in the fact that in one year trees were cut down and allowed to dry. In the second year, dry trees were burned, and grain crops were sown in this place. Ash served as a fertilizer. By the way, modern land workers also use ash as fertilizer. For several years the land gave a good harvest, but later it had to be allowed to rest.