If it was the 19th century, the pages of the periodicals would now be filled with touching, sometimes mystical, sometimes naive stories about the wonderful stories that happened on Christmastide - between Christmas and Epiphany. What kind of genre is this and is it a thing of the past so irrevocably?
In the center of attention on Christmastide days - the Bethlehem Nativity scene, the journey of the Magi, the adoration of the shepherds, the star above the cave … The whole universe froze, seeing the birth of a wonderful baby. And this event, which happened more than two thousand years ago, is not just remembered as a fact of the past. It is experienced by us today - and today's light of Christmas in our lives is reflected in Christmas tales.
From medieval mystery to literature
The tradition of the Christmas story goes back to the medieval mysteries. These were dramas on biblical themes. The implied three-level organization of space (hell - earth - heaven) and the general atmosphere of a miraculous change in the world or a hero passing through all three stages of the universe in the story's plot passed from the mystery to the Christmas story.
In Russia, the predecessors of the literary Christmastide story were oral stories, or bylichki, usually told in villages on Christmastide evenings.
Christmastide, the period from Christmas to Epiphany, was considered one of the largest and noisiest holidays of the peasant life, combining exuberant fun and man's fear of the forces of darkness. According to popular beliefs, evil spirits at this time acquired a special power and freely walked the earth. However, by all accounts, they could not only harm, but also possessed knowledge of the future; overcoming fear, the man tried to learn from them his fate. In order for the spirits to answer the most interesting question - and this is usually the question of future marriage - there were many fortune-telling. Often they were accompanied by terrible stories - about fortune-telling that came true, about the betrayal of the betrothed, about a collision with evil spirits. Elderly, experienced women told them to young fortune-tellers. Then the echoes of such plots will pass into a literary Christmas story. Most often in these stories, mysterious visitors from the other world are face to face with a person. “If in the famous“Terrible fortune-telling”by A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky or in the“Hussar saber”by K. Barantsevich fortune-telling indeed has a fatal effect on the fate of the heroes, then in the anonymous“Yule story”published in 1892 by the children's almanac“Bylinka”, fortune-telling with a mirror turns into just a funny adventure,”writes Maya Kucherskaya in the preface to the collection of Christmastide stories.fortune-telling with a mirror turns into just a funny adventure,”writes Maya Kucherskaya in the preface to the collection of Christmastide stories.fortune-telling with a mirror turns into just a funny adventure,”writes Maya Kucherskaya in the preface to the collection of Christmastide stories.
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From the western world to Russia
Charles Dickens is considered to be the founder of the genre of the Christmas story, who set the basic tenets of the “Christmas philosophy”: the value of the human soul, the theme of memory and oblivion, love for “a man in sin,” childhood. In the middle of the 19th century, he composed several Christmas stories and began to publish them in the December issues of his magazines "Home Reading" and "Round the Year." Dickens combined the stories under the title "Christmas Books". A Prose Christmas Carol: A Haunted Yule Tale, The Bells: A Tale of the Spirits of the Church Clock, The Cricket Behind the Hearth: A Tale of Marital Happiness, The Battle of Life: A Story of Love, The Possessed, or Deal with a Ghost - all these works are densely populated with supernatural creatures: both angels and various evil spirits. The tradition of Charles Dickens was adopted by both European and Russian literature. A striking example of the genre in European literature is also considered to be "Girl with matches" by G. Kh. Andersen. Miraculous salvation, the rebirth of the evil into good, the reconciliation of enemies, the forgetting of grievances are popular motives of Christmas and Yuletide stories.
From the eighteenth century to the future
In Russia, the first Christmastide stories appeared on the pages of the unique magazine of the 18th century "And that and sio". Its publisher, M. D. Chulkov, placed here a wide variety of materials on ethnography: songs, proverbs, sayings. At the same time, for Easter, a household sketch was printed describing the Easter festivities; for Christmastide - the texts of sublime songs and, of course, Christmastide bylichki. Chulkov retold them with a considerable amount of irony, inserting his own remarks and explanations.
The people's world became really interesting to writers a little later. The romantics of the 19th century appreciated any originality both in a foreign culture and in their own. Romantics were fascinated by the mystical aura of Christmas time, which allowed them to develop plots in a direction close to romanticism - fantasy, mystery, contact with otherworldly forces, aestheticization of horror. City stories about encounters with ghosts, sessions of black magic have already been added to the descriptions of terrible fortune-telling. However, soon such phenomena began to be described in an ironic manner, and often ghosts turned out to be nothing more than the result of inventive practical jokes.
The Christmas story, despite the diversity and multiplicity of texts belonging to different eras and by different writers, is nevertheless very easily recognizable. In its most general form, you can define the Christmastide story as a story about a miracle that happened during the winter holidays.
Heart warming holiday
No wonder the action of most of the stories takes place on Christmas night, when heaven and earth worship the Baby lying in the nativity scene. At this time everything is transformed, evil hearts soften, and the songs of angels become audible to people. Likewise, in Christmastide stories, not only the action of evil spirits is apparent to man. Angels, the Mother of God and Christ Himself take an active part in the events of our life. Both in Europe and in Russia special almanacs with such stories were published for the holiday. Here, evil spirits and angels found themselves under the same cover.
The mysticism of the Incarnation called to look back at those miracles that are happening on earth, and to create at least a small miracle yourself. In many stories, fear of the unknown turned into a feeling of tenderness and pity in relation to the weak and defenseless. “The first Christmas tales of this type appeared in Europe, and it is no coincidence: the Catholic and Protestant West has always felt the need to bring sacred events and characters as close to itself as possible, so the celebration of Christmas quickly acquired not only religious, but also everyday, domestic significance here. The pitiful Christmas-tide stories very successfully adapted and translated the holiday from the spiritual into the spiritual human language,”says Maya Kucherskaya. Such, for example, are the stories of Dickens, reflecting the purely English ideals of comfort and home. The specificity of the Dickensian tradition demanded a happy, even if not logical and implausible ending, affirming the triumph of goodness and justice, reminiscent of the gospel miracle and creating a wonderful Christmas atmosphere.
Stories usually begin with a description of injustice, incompleteness, and crisis. The freezing orphans, the poor, driven to despair, were choking with tears, the travelers wandered in the storm. The ghosts slid like a vague shadow, the betrothed with a terrible smile looked at the bride from the shimmering mirror space, the lonely old man with remorse recalled the years he had lived, the unfortunate lover thought about suicide, the felled Christmas tree yearned for a free life in the forest. But it can be seen that because this happened on the night before Christmas, on the great night of salvation, there were no unconsolated people left. By the grace of Providence, the orphan met her benefactor, and the poor man received an inheritance, and the traveler through the blizzard heard the ringing of a bell. A miracle enters the life of people. In contrast, realistic works were often created,which combined evangelical motives and the main genre specificity of the Christmastide story with an enhanced social component. Among the works of Russian writers, written in the genre of the Christmas story, - "The Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree" by FM Dostoevsky.
Leskov - Russian Dickens
A whole book of Christmastide stories was created by NS Leskov. The writer said in the story “Pearl Necklace” (1885): “From the Christmastide story it is imperative that it be timed to coincide with the events of the Christmastide evening - from Christmas to Epiphany, so that it is somehow fantastic, has some kind of moral, even like a refutation harmful prejudice, and finally - so that it certainly ends with fun. " The total number of Leskov's Christmas-tide stories is up to twenty-five works. Already in his early novels and stories, Leskov introduced episodes dedicated to Christmas and Christmastide. The first work with the subtitle "A Christmas Story" - "The Captured Angel" - appeared in 1873, the last Christmas story "Empty Dancers" was created two years before his death, in 1893. In December 1885, the writer combined twelve stories into a special Christmastide collection. More than once he argued about the foundations of the theory of this genre. For example, the story “The Darnter”, revised for the Christmas collection, begins like this: “It's an unwise wish to promise everyone new happiness in the new year, but sometimes something like that comes. Let me tell you a little event on this topic, which has a very Christmastime character. " The genre is discussed in the first paragraph of the unfinished Christmas story "Malanyin's Wedding": "I will tell you, esteemed readers, a little story, formed according to all the rules of a Christmas story: it has a very sad beginning, a rather confusing intrigue and a completely unexpected merry ending."The story “The Darnter”, revised for the Christmas collection, begins like this: “This is an unwise wish to promise everyone new happiness in the new year, but sometimes something like that comes. Let me tell you a little event on this topic, which has a very Christmastime character. " The genre is discussed in the first paragraph of the unfinished Christmas story "Malanyin's Wedding": "I will tell you, esteemed readers, a little story, formed according to all the rules of a Christmas story: it has a very sad beginning, a rather confusing intrigue and a completely unexpected merry ending."The story “The Darnter”, revised for the Christmas collection, begins like this: “This is an unwise wish to promise everyone new happiness in the new year, but sometimes something like that comes. Let me tell you a little event on this topic, which has a very Christmastime character. " The genre is discussed in the first paragraph of the unfinished Christmas story "Malanyin's Wedding": "I will tell you, esteemed readers, a little story, formed according to all the rules of a Christmas story: it has a very sad beginning, a rather confusing intrigue and a completely unexpected merry ending."The genre is discussed in the first paragraph of the unfinished Christmas story "Malanyin's Wedding": "I will tell you, esteemed readers, a little story, formed according to all the rules of a Christmas story: it has a very sad beginning, a rather confusing intrigue and a completely unexpected merry ending."The genre is discussed in the first paragraph of the unfinished Christmas story "Malanyin's Wedding": "I will tell you, esteemed readers, a little story, formed according to all the rules of a Christmas story: it has a very sad beginning, a rather confusing intrigue and a completely unexpected merry ending."
Many of Leskov's stories, when first published (usually on December 25), provided the genre subtitle "Christmas story" or "Christmas story": "The Captured Angel", "At the End of the World", "White Eagle", "Christ Visiting a Peasant", "The Beast", "Pearl Necklace", "Robbery", "Wastelands". Sometimes the "Christmas" nature of the narrative is already visible in the title ("Christmas Eve at the Hypochondriac's", "Christmas Eve in the Carriage (Traveling with a Nihilist)", "Offended at Christmas") (by the way, all of them were also published on December 25). In connection with the publication of Leskov's collection of 1886 "Christmas stories", some of his works were reworked by the author in such a way that they began to be interpreted as Christmas stories ("The Spirit of Madame Zhanlis", "Little Mistake", "Old Genius", "Zhidovskaya Kvyrkollegiya", "Deception "," Selected grain ").
Although Leskov's hero asserts that the plot of the Christmas story should be fantastic, nevertheless, The Pearl Necklace is a realistic story: the curmudgeon and the usurer suddenly turns into a generous donor. The fantastic background can be replaced by some unexpected plot move.
An ordinary miracle
We have already said that Christmastide stories often begin with a description of the misfortune and difficulties of human existence. The grandmother, barely making ends meet, has nothing to please her grandchildren for the holiday ("Christmas tree"), the mother is not able to buy a gift for the child (P. Khlebnikov, "Christmas present"), there is no money for a Christmas tree and the inhabitants of the St. Petersburg slum (K. Stanyukovich, "Yolka"), a gifted young man
We undeservedly oppress our stingy uncle (P. Polevoy, "Slavelytsiki"), a forced peasant, at the whim of a master, must kill his favorite bear (NS Leskov, "The Beast"), having lost a train ticket, the old woman cannot get to her dying son (A. Kruglov, "On Christmas Eve"). However, there is always a way out, all obstacles are overcome, glamor is dispelled.
A miracle is not at all necessarily associated with events of a supernatural order - a visit to angels or Christ (although there is such a thing), much more often it is a miracle of everyday life, which can be perceived simply as a lucky coincidence of circumstances, as a happy accident. However, for stories based on the gospel system of values, coincidences are not accidental: in any successful combination of circumstances, both the author and the heroes see gracious heavenly guidance.
It is interesting that harmony is sometimes acquired even at the cost of death, and the author usually does not leave the hero on her doorstep, entering the heavenly abodes with him - the description of his “posthumous” bliss, as it were, balances the hardships of earthly existence. For the little hero F. Dostoevsky, death itself becomes the door to the country of his cherished desires, where he finds everything that he really lacked in reality - light, warmth, a luxurious Christmas tree, a loving gaze of his mother. It was “The Boy at Christ's Tree” that became, perhaps, the most famous Russian Christmas-tree story.
Christmastide of the XXI century
Today is the time to remember warm and touching stories. It is especially important that these stories were never hidden in separate "children's" and "adult" sections of magazines and almanacs. These are stories for family, home reading. Before the miracle there are no children and adults, young and old. Christ will not have a conflict between fathers and children at the feast. News from this bright world - stories about why it is the Christmas tree that is decorated at Christmas (because only it stands in the forest forever green, which means that it indicates eternal life), why all people and even all animals are in a hurry not only to worship the Divine Child, but also to help those who got lost on the way to His den.
Here it is, the purpose of the Christmas story is to strengthen the festive atmosphere in the readers' homes, tearing them away from everyday worries, at least on Christmas Day to remind about all those who are “toiling and burdened”, about the need for mercy and love.
ALEXANDER KUZMICHEVA (SOPOVA)