“I went to the cinema myself in the third grade, and now it’s scary to let her go into the yard,” we talk about daughters and granddaughters. And if you look a couple of centuries ago? What was a ten-year-old girl like then, what did she do, what did she do? How was she doing?
Where and what they taught Russian girls
The peasants had many children and a large farm - they had to feed everyone, survive. We worked with the whole family from morning to sunset - what kind of schools are there? Life was the most severe science. Mom explained to her daughter how and what to do, did it herself, and the daughter watched and learned - both to work in the field and to farm at home. She was trusted to do a lot herself. Already at the age of five, the girl was full of responsibilities: she had to be able to spin, look after poultry, look after younger children. At the age of 10-12, she, getting up neither light nor dawn, milked the cow and drove it out to the pasture. To refuse, to say something against - that was impossible! Disobedience had no place in the family. Father and mother are sacred, their word is law, and for peasant children it was an immutable truth.
Girls in the kitchen
In each hut there was a "woman's kut" - a corner by the stove, where all the women of the house lived, from old women to little ones. It was fenced off with a curtain, men and boys were not supposed to look there. Here they cooked and stored cereals and kitchen utensils - crinkles, bowls, cast iron pots, tuesques. The girls helped the elders in everything: they washed the dishes, cleaned, and cooked.
Promotional video:
The girls kept order in the house
Keeping the hut clean is another duty of girls. They swept the floors, cleaned the benches, shook out the rugs, shaken and changed beds, monitored the lighting - there was no electricity, and it was necessary to make sure that the light was on: the girls changed a torch, lit candles, refueled and cleaned kerosene lamps. Usually girls did the washing, both in summer and in the harsh frosty winter - they carried bales to the river, washed and rinsed there, and then hung the laundry to dry.
Keeping an eye on younger children
Children in families were born in large numbers, and the parents had no time to look after them. From dawn to dawn they toiled in the field, and the children were left to their own devices. But the process was adjusted - the kids were looked after by those who were a little older. Swinging the cradle with her leg, the older sister was simultaneously engaged in useful work - spinning, sewing, embroidering. If necessary, she swaddled, gave a bottle of milk, and instead of a nipple she gave bread, after chewing it.
At the height of the summer hardship, teenage girls were often hired as nannies for money - they could earn 3-5 rubles per season - not bad money! And sometimes they paid with food or pieces of cloth.
Needlework
In those days, all the fabrics for clothes, tablecloths, towels and other things were made by the peasants themselves. Weaving was a common occupation that all women were required to master. They did it in the winter - they got together in a big woman's company, worked, sang beautiful Russian songs. The girls sat with everyone, looked closely, studied. They started small - they wound threads on birch bark spools, ruffled flax and learned to spin threads from it, and combed wool.
At the age of 5-7, each girl already had her own spinning wheel or spindle - her father made them for her. Each treasured her instrument - giving it to someone else was not welcomed - they would ruin it. By the age of ten, the girl was already sitting at the loom, she could make a towel or a belt, which she wore with pleasure. Later, the girl began to prepare her dowry with her own hands.
Fieldwork for girls
At the height of the summer harvest, the girls were taken to the fields. There they collected spikelets, stirred hay with pitchforks, knitted sheaves. The girls grazed goats and cows, geese and ducks, worked in the garden, cleaned the cattle and removed the manure after it. All these things were familiar and natural for a 10-12-year-old girl, she took them for granted and was not indignant that it was difficult for her or she was tired. Everyone worked, from small to large, for those times it was the norm.
Children's joy
Children without games? Of course not! The peasant children also found time to play. The younger ones had homemade rag dolls, for which they sewed outfits, made jewelry, braided pigtails. The elders gathered for gatherings - chatting, singing, knitting, embroidering and sewing. In the summer, we ran to the river, caught fish. Both small and large went to pick mushroom berries in the forest, collected herbs, brushwood. And although I had to grow up early, my childhood was remembered full of events and bright.
Source: magazine "My Fair Lady"