Reference: a glossary of the Russian folk calendar and costume

Reference

This glossary briefly explains Russian words that appear across the reference, transliterated and glossed for readers who did not grow up with them. The definitions are deliberately simple: they help you understand what is being discussed and do not replace ethnographic studies. If you know a word from family stories with a different meaning, that is not a mistake: folk speech has always been varied.

An old word is like the key to a chest: until you know what it means, you will not find out what was kept inside.

— Editors' view

Calendar

Svyatki: The Russian Yuletide: the festive days from Christmas to Epiphany, 7 to 19 January in the New Style calendar. A time of carolling, mummers, evening gatherings and winter fun. Ethnographers describe fortune-telling on these days as a feature of old village life.
Maslenitsa: The last week before Great Lent, with pancakes, guests, sledging down hills and seeing off the winter. The date moves and depends on the date of Easter.
Zaklichki: Short spring calling songs addressed to the sun, spring, rain or birds. They were usually sung by children.
Kupala night: The night to 7 July in the New Style calendar, or 24 June in the Old Style: the time of the Ivan Kupala festival, with round dances, flower wreaths and summer festivities.
Zhatva (harvest): Reaping the grain from the fields. Its end was marked with a shared meal and customs of giving thanks for the harvest, which varied from place to place.

Costume

Kokoshnik: A festive women's headdress on a stiff base, decorated with embroidery, pearls or beads. More on a separate page of the reference (in Russian).
Sarafan: A long women's garment with shoulder straps, worn over a shirt, somewhat like a pinafore dress. Festive sarafans were sewn from fine fabric and trimmed with braid.
Poneva: A women's skirt made of several panels of heavy, usually woollen cloth, worn over a shirt. Its look and pattern varied from area to area.
Embroidery: Decorating fabric with a pattern made with needle and thread. It adorned shirts, towels and tablecloths; patterns were passed down from mother to daughter.

Crafts

Folk painting: Decorating objects of wood, clay or metal with designs applied by brush. Tableware, spinning distaffs, chests and children's toys were all painted.
Carving: Creating a pattern or figure by cutting away material, most often wood. Window frames, ladles, spoons and spinning distaffs were often carved.
Pottery: Making tableware and other items from clay and then firing them. Pots, jugs and bowls were needed in every home.
Weaving: Making cloth by interlacing threads on a loom. Homespun linen was used for clothes, towels and rag rugs.

Where these words appear

Guides
How to record your elders' stories and build a family archive of customs: steps, mistakes, a checklist. Plus the article catalogue.
Questions
Short answers about holiday dates, costume, crafts and how to keep customs alive in your own family.
Collections
Reading paths: the winter holiday cycle, celebrating with children, and crafts for complete beginners.
Sections
The four themes of the reference: holidays of the year, folk costume, crafts and family traditions.
Kokoshnik (in Russian)
A note on the old address and the story of the kokoshnik: what this headdress is, what it was made of and where you see it today (in Russian).
Festival safety (in Russian)
A note on the old address and a safety guide: how to enjoy a day at an outdoor folk festival without trouble (in Russian).

Questions
Short answers about holiday dates, costume, crafts and how to keep customs alive in your own family.
Guides
How to record your elders' stories and build a family archive of customs: steps, mistakes, a checklist. Plus the article catalogue.
Sections
The four themes of the reference: holidays of the year, folk costume, crafts and family traditions.
Collections
Reading paths: the winter holiday cycle, celebrating with children, and crafts for complete beginners.

Sources

Encyclopaedic dictionaries of folk culture and everyday life
Ethnographic publications on the Russian folk calendar

Customs are described in general terms as of the date this material was prepared. The same holiday was kept differently from village to village and from family to family, so what your older relatives remember may well differ from what is written here, and that is perfectly normal.