Now, when you see a whistle in your baby's hands, you probably frown in displeasure, in anticipation of an unpleasant sound. Meanwhile, this subject deserves deep respect: in dry summers, when the earth was heated to deep cracks, our ancestors resorted to using this primitive artifact. A little gnarled and painted in a childish way, this lump of clay burned in a Russian oven with the soul of the master embedded in it could, according to the ancient Slavs, work miracles: cause rain and change the direction of the wind.
Ritual whistles, according to archaeologists, people began to make as early as the 8th century BC. The earliest of them were difficult even to identify: just lumps of clay with strange holes. The pottery works of later times already had the shape of a bird - more suitable for the turbulence of the air inside the clay lump, which makes it "sing". The whistle was made everywhere in Russia. However, the ancient talisman did not remain only in the form of feathered assistants - it spread throughout the cities and villages in different guises: funny round lambs, phantasmagoric horses with three legs, bulls and deer with branched horns and even grew into a completely independent unique symbiosis of man and animal or bird …In all folk pottery, the tradition of sculpting a whistle in the form of a bird Sirin (a woman in a kokoshnik with the body of a bird) and Polkana: men in a traditionally Russian caftan with a beard and with the body of a horse, has been preserved.
The magic value of the whistle was great. It is now known to us only as an infant's fun, and even then it is more historical, obsolete than modern. In the old days, in addition to resorting to the help of this talisman during a drought, every spring there was a ceremonial holiday: "dance whistle", in which the whistle was the main character. They honored the newly born sun with melodious whistles and folk amusements. It is from this action that the famous Dymkovo toy, which originated as a craft serving the "whistle dance", has its history. This is not surprising. The whistle that is born in the depths of this uncomplicated Russian souvenir, made by hand and according to all the rules, according to popular beliefs, has truly magical properties - it "works" in the same sound range as the sounds made by the wind,that's why he arrives at the call of the "younger brother". In addition, all evil forces that encroach on human dwelling are afraid of this subtle whistle. No wonder in the old days babies were instructed to whistle at the cockerels to the lambs for fun - the more often the unreasonable heir blows into the clay lump: the stronger the protective forces of the house.