Types of folklore. Types of Russian Folklore

The theme of oral folk art in Russian literature is extremely diverse, there are numerous genres and types of folklore. All of them were formed gradually, as a result of the life and creative activity of the people, manifested for several hundred years. At present, there are specific types of folklore in the literature. Oral folk art is the unique layer of knowledge on the basis of which thousands of classical works were built.

Interpretation of the term

Folklore is an oral folk art, endowed with ideological depth, highly artistic qualities, it includes all poetic, prosaic genres, customs and traditions, accompanied by verbal artistic creativity. Folklore genres are classified in different ways, but basically there are several genre groups:

1. Labor songs - formed during the work, for example, sowing, plowing, haymaking. They represent a variety of cries, signals, tunes, parting words, songs.
2. Calendar folklore - conspiracies, signs.
3. Wedding folklore.
4. Funeral lamentations, recruitment prichety.
5. Unordered folklore are small folklore genres, proverbs, fables, omens and sayings.
6. Oral prose - legends, legends, bylichki and byvalshchiny.
7. Children's folklore - pestles, nursery rhymes, lullabies.
8. Song epic (heroic) - epics, poems, songs (historical, military, spiritual).
9. Artistic creativity - magic, household tales and tales about animals, ballads, romances, ditties.
10. Folklore theater - rake, den, raskazheniya, presentations with dolls.

Consider the most common types of folklore in more detail.

Labor Songs

This is a song genre, the distinctive feature of which is the obligatory accompaniment of the labor process. Labor songs are a way of organizing collective, public work, which sets the rhythm with a simple melody and text. For example: "Wow, let's draw closer, so that it becomes more fun." Such songs helped to start and finish the work, rallying the working squad and were spiritual assistants in the people's hard physical labor.

Calendar folklore

This kind of oral folk art refers to the ritual traditions of the calendar cycle. The life of a peasant working on land is inextricably linked with weather conditions. That is why there was a huge number of rites that were performed to attract luck, prosperity, a large number of livestock, successful farming, etc. The most revered calendar holidays were Christmas, Shrovetide, Easter, Baptism and the Trinity. Each celebration was accompanied by songs, proclamations, conspiracies and ritual actions. Remember the famous custom of singing songs to Kolyada the night before Christmas: "The stool is not a problem, Kolyada is knocking on the house. Christmas is coming to the house, it brings a lot of joy. "

Wedding folklore

In each separate place there were their own kinds of folklore, but mostly they were lamentations, sentences and songs. Wedding folklore includes song genres that accompanied three main rites: matchmaking, farewell of parents with the bride and a wedding celebration. For example: "Your merchandise, our merchant, is simply a miracle done!" The ritual of transferring the bride to the groom was very colorful and was always accompanied by both lingering and short cheerful songs. At the wedding, the songs did not stop, they mourned the bachelor life, they desired love and family well-being.

Unordered folklore (small genres)

This group of oral folk art includes all kinds of small genres of folklore. However, such a classification is ambiguous. For example, many of the species relate to children's folklore, such as pestries, lullabies, riddles, nursery rhymes, teasers, etc. At the same time, some researchers divide all folklore genres into two groups: calendar-ritual and non-order.

Consider the most popular types of small genres of folklore.

The proverb is a rhythmic expression, a wise saying that carries a generalized idea and has a conclusion.

Signs - a short verse or expression, telling about those signs that will help predict the natural phenomena, the weather.

A proverb is a phrase, often with a humorous bias, illuminating the phenomenon of life, the situation.

The verdict is a small verse-reference to the phenomena of nature, to living beings, to surrounding objects.

Pagoda - a small phrase, often rhymed, with difficult words for pronunciation, is intended to improve the diction.

Oral prose

To oral prose are the following types of Russian folklore.

Legends - a story about historical events in the folk retelling. Heroes of the legends are myth-epic heroes, warriors, kings, princes, etc.

Legends - myths, epic narrations about heroic deeds, people, fanned with honors and glory, as a rule, this genre is endowed with pathos.

Sheepskins - small stories about the meeting of the hero with some "evil spirits", real cases from the life of the narrator or his acquaintances.

Byvalshchiny - a brief summary of what really happened once and with someone, while the narrator is not a witness

Children's folklore

This genre is represented by a variety of forms - poetic, song. Types of children's folklore - something that accompanied the child from birth until his maturation.

Pestushki-short rhymes or songs, accompanying the very first days of the newborn. With the help of them they nursed and fostered children, for example: "Singing, singing a nightingale, pretty, but prigozhenky."

Sweets - small singing poems, designed to play with the kids.

Potyagushki, brambles,

Rotok - dialect,

Handles - snags,

Footstools.

Заклички - poetic, song appeals to nature, animals. For example: "The summer is red, come, bring some warm days."

Pribautka is a small poem-tale, humming to the child, a short narrative about the world around.

Lullabies are short songs that parents sing for the night to a child for lulling.

Riddle - poetic or prosaic proposals that require a clue.

Other types of children's folklore are counters, teasers and fables. They are extremely popular in our time.

Song epic

The heroic epic demonstrates the most ancient kinds of folklore, it tells about the once happened events in the song form.

Bylina - an old song, told in a solemn, but unhurried style. He glorifies folk heroes, heroes and narrates about their heroic deeds for the good of the state, the fatherland of the Russian. For example, the bylinas about Dobryna Nikitich, Volge Buslaivake, and others.

Historical songs are a kind of transformation of the epic genre, where the style of presentation is less eloquent, but the poetic form of the narrative is preserved. For example, "The Song of the Wise Oleg".

Artistic creativity

This group includes epic and song genres, created in the spirit of folk, artistic creativity.

A fairy tale is a short or long epic narrative, one of the most common genres of oral folk art about fictional events, heroes. All this folklore, types of fairy tales in it there are the following: magic, household and fairy tales about animals. Fairy tales reflect those ideas about the world, good, evil, life, death, nature, which were in the people's environment. For example, good always defeats evil, but in the world there are miraculous mythical creatures.

Ballads - poetic songs, genre of song and music creativity.

Jokes are a special kind of epic narrative about comic situations from people's lives. Initially, they did not exist in the form in which we know them. These were stories, finished in meaning.

Fables - a short narrative about impossible, incredible events, what was fiction from beginning to end.

Chastushka is a small song, usually a quatrain with humorous content, telling about events, incidental situations.

Folk theater

Street performances were very common among the people, the subjects for them were various genres, but most often dramatic.

The vertep is a kind of dramatic work intended for a street puppet theater.

Rajok - a kind of picture theater, the device in the form of a box with changing pictures, the stories told while reflecting oral types of folklore.

The presented classification is most common among researchers. However, it is worthwhile to understand that the types of Russian folklore mutually complement each other, and sometimes do not fit into the generally accepted classification. Therefore, when studying the issue, a simplified version is most often used, where only two groups of genres are singled out: ritual and non-ordinary folklore.