Urban legends and beliefs as a form of representing everyday experience of provincial merchants in late 19th — early 20th centuries
Inga V. Maslova, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor
Yelabuga Institute, Kazan Federal University, Yelabuga, Russia, imaslovainga@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0914-0707
Abstract
Based on the analysis of folklore verbal creativity recorded by Russian ethnographers of the 19th century, the article studies the impact of beliefs and urban legends on the everyday life and behavioral practices of provincial merchants. The study made it possible to reveal the interconnection of urban folklore with the sociocultural reality of the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries, expressed by the life space symbolized through special actions, things, words. Beliefs as a common genre of folklore among merchants were associated with the theme of money and wealth. Beliefs about fiat ruble, mortgage coins contributed to the formation of symbolic practices used in everyday life, referring to tradition and continuity of generations. The results of the study prove that urban folklore reflected the practices of business and intra-family communication that developed in the merchant environment as well as changes in the urban infrastructure, brought to life by the entrepreneurial activities of the merchants.
Keywords
History of everyday life, folklore, merchants, urban legends, beliefs.
For citation:
Maslova I. V. Urban legends and beliefs as a form of representing everyday experience of provincial merchants in late 19th — early 20th centuries. Vestnik of Orenburg State Pedagogical University. Electronic Scientific Journal, 2023, no. 3 (47), pp. 217—227. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32516/2303-9922.2023.47.14.
1. Agafonov N. Ya. Kazan’ i kazantsy: arkheologiya, istoriya, etnografiya, byt religioznyi, domashnii i obshchestvennyi, biografii, vospominaniya, memuary, pis’ma, predaniya, legendy, skazaniya starozhilov, genealogiya, nravy, obychai, pamyatniki, iskusstvo, kul’tura, prosveshchenie, literatura, poeziya, bibliografiya, bytovye mestnye belletristicheskie ocherki, etyudy i prochie materialy iz kazanskoi zhizni [Kazan and natives of Kazan: archeology, history, ethnography, religious, domestic and social life, biographies, memoirs, letters, legends, tall stories, tales of old residents, genealogy, customs, monuments, art, culture, education, literature, poetry, bibliography, everyday local fiction essays, sketches and other materials from Kazan life]. Kazan, Tipolit. I. S. Petrova Publ., 1906. 113 p. (In Russian)
2. Azhaev V. N. Daleko ot Moskvy [Far from Moscow]. Gorky, Gor’k. obl. gos. izd-vo Publ., 1949. 700 p. (In Russian)
3. Akol’zina M. K. Kul’tura povsednevnosti kupechestva provintsial’nykh gorodov Tambovskoi gubernii v pervoi polovine XIX veka [Merchants’ daily life culture in provincial towns of Tambov Province in the first half of the 19th century]. Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta — Tambov University Review. Ser. Humanities, 2019, no. 181, pp. 156—161. (In Russian)
4. Bannikova E. V. Povsednevnaya zhizn’ provintsial’nogo kupechestva (na materialakh gubernii Urala doreformennogo perioda) [Everyday life of the provincial merchants (based on the materials of the provinces of the Urals in the pre-reform period)]. St. Petersburg, Poltorak Publ., 2014. 440 p. (In Russian)
5. Belova O. Nerazmennyi rubl’ v pover’yakh i magicheskikh praktikakh slavyan [Magic ruble in the beliefs and magical practices of the Slavs]. Antropologicheskii forum, 2013, no. 18 Online, pp. 230—242. Available at: https://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/018online/belova.pdf. (In Russian)
6. Boiko V. P. Kupechestvo Zapadnoi Sibiri v kontse XVIII — XIX v.: Ocherki sotsial’noi, otraslevoi, bytovoi i mental’noi istorii [Merchants of Western Siberia at the end of the 18 — 19th centuries: Essays on social, sectoral, household and mental history]. Tomsk, Tomskii un-t Publ., 2007. 424 p. (In Russian)
7. Burd’e P. Sotsial’noe prostranstvo: polya i praktiki [Social space: fields and practices]. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Aleteiya Publ., 2005. 576 p. (In Russian)
8. Volkova A. I. Vospominaniya. Dnevnik (1884—1902 gg.) [Memories. Diary (1884—1902)]. Moscow, Gos. publ. ist. b-ka Rossii (GPIB) Publ., 2015. 381 p. (In Russian)
9. Gorod v etnokul’turnom prostranstve narodov Kavkaza: materialy X Kongressa etnografov i antropologov Rossii [City in the ethno-cultural space of the peoples of the Caucasus. Proceed. of the X Congress of ethnographers and anthropologists of Russia]. Moscow, IEA RAN Publ., 2014. 234 p. (In Russian)
10. Grushetskii N. Kolduny i ved’my, domovye, leshie, rusalki, chary i nagovory, primery i pover’ya: Ocherki narodnykh sueverii [Sorcerers and witches, bogies, goblins, mermaids, charms and hexes, examples and beliefs: Essays on folk superstitions]. Moscow, Tip. M. E. Konusov Publ., 1898. 72 p. (In Russian)
11. Dal’ V. I. O pover’yakh, suever’yakh i predrassudkakh russkogo naroda [About the beliefs, superstitions and prejudices of the Russian people]. St. Petersburg, Moscow, 1880. 148 p. (In Russian)
12. Zelenin D. Otchet o dialektologicheskoi poezdke v Vyatskuyu guberniyu [Report on a dialectological trip to the Vyatka province]. St. Petersburg, Tip. Imp. Akad. nauk Publ., 1903. 189 p. (In Russian)
13. Zelenin D. Pesni derevenskoi molodezhi (Zapisany v Vyatskoi gubernii) [Songs of rural youth (Recorded in the Vyatka province)]. Vyatka, Gub. tip. Publ., 1903. 87 p. (In Russian)
14. Zelenin D. K. Narodnye prislov’ya i anekdoty o russkikh zhitelyakh Vyatskoi gubernii [Folk proverbs and anecdotes about the Russian inhabitants of the Vyatka province]. Vyatka, Gub. tip. Publ., 1904. 54 p. (In Russian)
15. Izvestiya Imperatorskogo obshchestva lyubitelei estestvoznaniya, antropologii i etnografii, sostoyashchego pri Imperatorskom Moskovskom universitete [Proceedings of the Imperial Society of Lovers of Natural Science, Anthropology and Ethnography, which is attached to the Imperial Moscow University]. Vol. 1. Moscow, Universitetskaya tip. Publ., 1865. 134 p. (In Russian)
16. Komleva E. V. Tema detstva v epistolyarnykh kompleksakh russkikh kuptsov kontsa XVIII — XIX veka [The Theme of Childhood in the Epistolary Complexes of Russian Merchants of the Late 18th — 19th Century]. Istoricheskii kur’er — Historical Courier, 2021, no. 1 (15), pp. 37—51. Available at: http://istkurier.ru/data/2021/ISTKURIER-2021-1-04.pdf. DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2021-1-4. (In Russian)
17. Krinichnaya N. A. Russkaya mifologiya: Mir obrazov fol’klora [Russian mythology: The world of folklore images]. Moscow, Akademicheskii Proekt, Gaudeamus Publ., 2004. 1008 p. (In Russian)
18. Lavrent’eva L. S., Smirnov Yu. I. Russkii narod: kul’tura, obychai, obryady [Russian people: culture, customs, rituals]. St. Petersburg, Paritet Publ., 2014. 445 p. (In Russian)
19. Leskov N. S. Nerazmennyi rubl’ [The Magic Ruble]. Leskov N. S. Svyatochnye rasskazy [Christmas stories]. St. Petersburg, Moscow, T-vo M. O. Vol’f Publ., 1886, pp. 32—51. (In Russian)
20. Magnitskii V. K. Pover’ya i obryady (zakupki) v Urzhumskom uezde Vyatskoi gubernii [Beliefs and rituals (purchases) in the Urzhum district of the Vyatka province]. Vyatka, Gub. tip. Publ., 1883. 58 p. (In Russian)
21. Maslova I. V. Otrazhenie predprinimatel’skoi deyatel’nosti kupechestva v Baikalo-Amurskom regione v putevykh zametkakh D. I. Stakheeva (konets 1850-kh godov — 1860-e gody) [Reflection of the Entrepreneurial Activity of Merchants in the Baikal-Amur Region in the Travel Notes of D. I. Stakheev (Late 1850s — 1860s)]. Istoricheskii kur’er — Historical Courier, 2022, no. 3 (23), pp. 24—34. Available at: http://istkurier.ru/data/2022/ISTKURIER-2022-3-02.pdf. DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2022-3-2. (In Russian)
22. Perkhavko V. B. Istoriya russkogo kupechestva [History of Russian merchants]. Moscow, Veche Publ., 2008. 509 p. (In Russian)
23. Stakheev D. I. Za Baikalom na Amure. Putevye kartiny [Behind Baikal on the Amur. Travel pictures]. St. Petersburg, Tip. K. Vul’fa Publ., 1869. 347 p. (In Russian)
24. Stakheev D. I. Starye gody (Iz vospominanii moego detstva) [Olden days (From the memories of my childhood)]. Stakheev D. I. Glukhie mesta [Godforsaken places]. St. Petersburg, Tip. A. Morigerovskogo Publ., 1866, pp. 269—284. (In Russian)
25. Stakheev D. I. Uezdnyi gorod [Provincial town]. Stakheev D. I. Dukha ne ugashaite. Izbrannye proizvedeniya [Do not quench the spirit. Selected works]. Kazan, Tatarskoe kn. izd-vo Publ., 1992, pp. 373—388. (In Russian)
26. Khusainova R. M. Nechistaya sila v russkikh narodnykh skazkakh [Evil spirits in Russian folk tales]. Vestnik Bashkirskogo universiteta, 2014, no. 1, pp. 164—169. (In Russian)