#russian folklore
The Princess Who Never SmiledorThe Unsmiling Tsarevna: There was once a princess named Euna who never smiled or laughed. Her father promised that whoever made her smile could marry her, and many tried, but none succeeded.
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‘folk hero ian usmovets stopping an angry bull’ - evgraf semenovich sorokin (1849)
A discussion video based on the art school discourse messing up twitter at this point in time.
I have never seen a Motanka with a head like this. Love it.
For others: Motanka is a Ukranian folk tradition, a protective talisman. Similar to the Russian Bereginya, these dolls were made without faces, believing that a face would inspire a soul within (possibly a malevolent one). They were given to children, newlyweds, and pregnant women to safeguard against disease, insomnia, and misfortune. Bereginya was made by female relatives, and was more potent if made by more than one. The fabric to make it must be torn, not cut, from the clothes of the makers.
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Soul
egg tempera on wood, 80x100 cm
Zhukov’s House - typical peasant house in Northern Russia
Enjoyed doing this research a lot. There is so much new things I found out about traditional Russian houses. The architecture is full of rituals and symbols intertwining with practicality, the need to conserve heat at any cost. Russians believed cold, death and evil comes from the North, so they would only build openings in the South part of the house. These days this is common sense for an architect, northern windows do in fact lose heat. And how about the house having a literal head, four legs (the corner stones), and a heart (the stove)!
This particular house is displayed in Vologda Open Air Museum Semenkovo. They have a wonderful 3D tour of many houses on their website. I couldn’t have done such detailed research and drawings without it.
Polianitsa(Russian: поленица, поляни́ца, паленица, паляница) in Russian folklore and epic poems is a female warrior (bogatyrsha) akin to the Amazons. Many of the more well-known polianitsas are wives to the famous male bogatyrs, such as Nastasya Mikulishna, the wife of Dobrynya Nikitich.
The female bogatyrs match the men in strength and bravery with stories detailing instances where they save their husbands and outwit the enemies. If a man wanted to marry polianitsa he should have defeated her in a honorable fight to deserve her respect. Some polianitsas beat the most famous bogatyrs.
They are often seen working with the heroes in tales that mention their presence or riding free with their sisters-in-arms.
