Bow in Ancient Russia and in general in the ancient world meant not only a sign of humility and obedience to another person, but made the bowing person defenseless, because in this position the enemy could easily remove the head of the one who was bending down from his shoulders. Therefore, in Russia, they bowed only to those whom they knew well, for whom they had a sense of respect and reverence. For all other people, the Russians had their own rules of etiquette.
Greetings in pagan Russia
How the pagans met each other and what the pagans said to each other in Russia is not known for certain, since there are no literary sources on this score. Indirectly, linguistic scholars judge greetings by epics and legends. They believe that the exclamation “Goy thou!”, Which epic heroes sometimes address to other people, and sometimes to the forces of the elements, can be translated as “You are ours, of our bloods” (as the Russian linguist-Russianist Vladimir Kolesov believes) or, as other researchers believe, “You exist (live) now, be alive and further!”, since the word “goy” means “to live”, “to exist”, and “you” is the verb “to be”, “to be”.
Many modern scientists believe that it is the reconstruction of Vladimir Kolesov that is correct, since it organically fits into the generic traditions of paganism and goes into the past with them, and new customs - Christian ones - come in its place.
Greetings and wishes of Christian Russia
Scientists judge about greetings in Russia in the X-XIII centuries by the apocrypha of the XIII century "The Legend of our father Agapius", which, although it was translated from Greek, could be supplemented with purely Russian words and expressions. This is the only literary monument of that time in which greeting phrases have been preserved. In the work, the character Agapius, meeting people on his way, greets them with the phrases "Walk good and wake up the path", "Wake up the path", which can be translated as a wish for a good path; in response, people ask Agapius about his health: "Agapia, have you eaten?" or “Have you good, Agapie?”, which is clearly a form of greeting, since in response Agapy does not start talking about health, or they say: “Listen to you, your God, good old man”, which in modern Russian means nothing more than "Your words would be in God's ears."
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Greetings in the form of wishes of health "You will be healthy!" or "Hello!" are known from written sources only since the 16th century, but even in those days the word "greet you" was often used as a congratulation on something, as a pronunciation of toast, "health resort".
From greetings to bows
All greeting and farewell words, as well as thanksgiving were accompanied by indispensable bows. This is confirmed by birch bark letters from the excavations of Ancient Novgorod, in which the author first bows to the person to whom he writes, and then calls by name: "Worship from Charitaine to Sfia …" or "Worship from Pelageya ka Alfimie …". However, these inclinations were by no means always in Russia; and our ancestors did not bow to everyone.
Who was not bowed to
According to military etiquette in the ancient world, bowing meant, first of all, the superiority of another person over the bowing person, and therefore, the princes never bowed to anyone (the exceptions were their parents or spiritual mentors), the prince's warriors did not bow before the peasants or ordinary townspeople, peasants, in in turn, they did not bow before the slaves, who were among the Slavs up to the XII-XIV centuries. Sometimes, they did not bow to those who were poorer in order to show their arrogance.
They did not bow to the enemies, regardless of their rank, so that they would not in any case decide that in front of him was a resigned enemy. The phrase "go to the full" has always meant for a Russian a certain amount of not only humility, but also humiliation. But the phrase of Prince Svyatoslav "I'm going to you" - always meant a head held high.
They did not bow to the "nasty", that is, to the Gentiles: Tatars, Khazars, Turks, Arabs and other representatives of alien religions.
They did not bow to strangers either, unless it immediately became clear from their appearance that a prince, a noble warrior, or a very rich person was standing in front of the person. When meeting with non-believers or strangers, Russians usually limited themselves to nodding their heads in greeting.
Men did not bow to women and small children, since they considered themselves superior to them, the exception could be a mother, grandmother, aunts, or adult children to whom the parent was obliged to do something.
They never bowed to murderers and thieves, traitors to the people and apostates, but they could bow to the holy fools "for Christ's sake."
Who was bowed to
Christian customs, entering the life of the pagans, softened morals, accustoming them to humility and order. According to the Izbornik rules of 1076, a person who fears God, with a bowed head, who speaks quietly, thinks about God, honors his elders, obeys his prince, and is not ashamed to bow to "everything, chosen in the image of God," was considered decent. In Orthodox Russia they often bowed: as a sign of greeting, as a sign of farewell and as a sign of gratitude. The woman always met and saw off the guests with a bow, the children, even whitened with gray hair, had to bow low to their parents and old relatives. It was customary to bow at the sight of priests, monks, elders, to bow low, or even to bow to the ground, it was necessary at the meeting of princes, kings and nobles. They bowed, taking money on credit and giving it away - as a token of gratitude. However, researchers of etiquette in Russia believe that the main thing the Russians considered not the rules (etiquette), but the ethics of their actions and were guided by common sense.
Maya Novik