Hustad A. M. The North Russian ...

Hustad A. M. The North Russian Lament in the Light of the Religious Songs of the Old Believers 1981, SLAVICA, Збірн ...

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//-->ANNE-MARGRETHE HUSTADThe North Russian Lamentin the Light of the Religious Songs of the Old BelieversDownloaded b ["Queen's University Libraries, Kingston"] at 08:23 1 September 2013y8“Sub specie aetemitatis et sub specie religionis”When studying the north Russian Lament and the background of thosewho carried on the tradition, one feature in particular stands out, namelythe strict moral attitude of the Old Believers, the Raskolniks, and the pre­judices which their moral code entailed.The lament is an ancient phenomenon in most cultures. Best knownwithin our own culture is perhaps the lamentations of Jeremiah in the OldTestament, with its “Sursum corda” (Jer. Ill : 41). But the traditions them­selves are of much greater age. Probably the oldest written sources are tobe found in theRigveda,the AssyrianGilgamesh,in the PersianZendandalso in Egyptian burials. In Greece, this tradition—already ancient—foundits expression in the tragedies with thethrenosof the leader of the chorusand also in the women’s chorus. As part of the culture which Rome in­herited from the Greeks we also come across the laments (elegies) in theworks of Vergil and Catullus. Of a different character altogether, are thelaments found in the older Germanic and Anglo Saxon literature, in theNiebelungenliedand theBeowulf.Here the cry for vengeance is often themotive, never the appeal for sympathy and comfort demanded in thecultures of the East. In these the lament was a role imposed upon the sor­rowing and suffering individual by a strict and authoritarian society inorder that society itself could play its part as the good helper and comforter.We can agree up to a point with the Russian social philosopher Cerny-sevskij when, in another connection, he cynically characterizes the singingof laments as “rational egotism” (Cemysevskij 1950, p. 283). But we mustnot approach the singing of laments with cynicism.The most important functions of lamentations were:1. To safeguard the memory of the dead by praise and tokens of respect.In this lay also a certain insurance against the return of the deceased toseek vengeance on the family.2. Social care, both economic and from a psychological point of view.3. As means to release possible bitterness in the minds of the grieving.4. To teach the younger generation a highly regarded tradition.Scando-Slavica, Tomus 27 198148Anne-Margrethe HustadThe laments wereobrjadnyeandbytovye(either of a ritualistic nature orfor everyday life). The former were obligatory at funerals and weddingsand also, from around 1700 at the merciless recruiting drives (zabory,provody).These latter had tragic and severe consequences for the Russianfarming families who watched husbands, sons and brothers conscriptedto 25 years of military service. They might perish from the treatment metedout in the service before their time was up. The laments again and againrecall that to part from the recruit was more bitter than a parting at adeathbed: “Kak detina toska — neugasimaja, i kak živa éta razluka pušcemertvoj” (Barsov 1882).The second group of laments,bytovye,was traditionally sung when greatafflictions occurred, such as storms and bad weather, landslides and floods,fire and shipwreck, pestilence and famine. Thesebytovyelaments are lessstrictly tied to the traditional framework but give in their formal freedoman even stronger lyrical description of the everyday life of the people. Theywill stand as a living source for ethnography and cultural history.The specific Russian singing of laments has accompanied both sectarianand political emigrants outside Russia’s border. In our time they havebeen recorded in Siberia, Canada, USA, Brazil and Japan. As early as thelate Middle Ages there were traces of laments along the hanseatic com­mercial routes from the east, traces which have persisted until our owntime in north Europe.Laments were an indispensable element in the life of the Russian peoplethroughout the social scale, in town and in the country until Peter I bannedthem on a specific occasion in his own family in 1715. It nevertheless didnot prevent the populace from singing heartrending laments when he him­self died ten years later. The singings of laments meanwhile, had long beena thorn in the flesh of the Church which rightly detected a heathen legacyin the custom. This was particulary the case at the traditional commemora­tive festivals(jpominki)on the graves at Whitsuntide. Then the graves werecovered with tablecloths, food and drink were served and laments rang outnaming the deceased as the guest of honour at the feast. The Church, withits Christian view directed at life after death, took umbrage at this clearsurvival of a forefather cult in which the dead in the family are foreverpartakers in the life on earth. From the time ofStoglav(1551) a regularquestion in the confessional was whether one had sung laments or comittedany similar outrage!The reciters of laments, or wailers, were specially gifted women (voplinicy)from the locality. Often the gift persisted within the family and passed frommother to daughter. However, it was expected of a Russian woman that sheScando-Slavica, Tomus 27 1981Downloaded b ["Queen's University Libraries, Kingston"] at 08:23 1 September 2013y8The North Russian Lament49could sing laments. A young bride must learn from an experienced womanthe appropriate lamentations for her wedding. But whether at funerals,weddings or recruiting drives the principal local woman wailer always ledthe ritual of lamentations in all its facets and she it was, who directed thewomen’s chorus. More often than not she could also recite on behalf ofthe family and of the neighbours. An exception to this are the women in theLena district in Siberia who were generally themselves the performers(Azadovskij 1922). The principal wailer with her strong personality andthorough knowledge of the immediate surroundings was at times of griefa wise comforter, excerting moral influence on the life and conduct of herfellow beings.These were the established moral claims of the Old Believers (Russianstarovercy,Finnishvierolaiset)in north Russia, in Russian and FinnishKarelia, with an impact also in Finnish laments proper. The Old Believersconsidered themselves the only true believers,pravoslavnye(Pentikainen1978, pp. 100-20).During the hundred years and more sincefolklorebecame a field ofresearch in its own right, there has been a shift of emphasis in the meaningof the word itself: folklore. In 1850 the investigation would concern itselfwith thelorepart, whereas in the 1950s the emphasis was on thefolkele­ment. Today there is a general acceptance within folklore research that oneof the most important factors in the growth and dissemination of a tradi­tion is the personal attitude to life and experience of the bearer himselfand the way in which he has been formed by circumstances. This theoryexplains the firm basis of the folk poetry which theysubconsciouslyre­created and spread, in theconsciousbelief that an old tradition had beenpassed on, unchanged, to a younger generation. The change in emphasisin the word folklore has given and is providing rich new fields for researcheverywhere. As for the laments and the women wailers, valuable researchhas been done in the east Finnish area. As recently as in 1976, professorPentikainen’s study of the Old Believer wailer Marina Takola excited greatinterest (Pentikainen 1978). Previous researchers have written about LarinaParaske and Anna Sjustajeva. The folklore scholar Martti Haavio (Haavio1937, pp. 3-39) has been successful in identifying himself closely with thevery essence of the laments, but then he was himself one of Finland’s greatlyrical writers, writing under the pseudonym of P. Mustapaa.In Russia interest naturally centers around the three great women wailersof the last century: Irina Fedosova (1833-1896), Natal'ja Bogdanova (1855—1937), both from Olonec and Agrafena Kijukova (1855-1930) from Arch­angel. The repertoire of these gifted women consisted of a great deal more4 -8 1 2 5 8 4Downloaded b ["Queen's University Libraries, Kingston"] at 08:23 1 September 2013y8Scando-Slavica, Tomus 27 198150Anne-Margrethe Hustadthan their improvised laments which of all folkpoetry remains peculiary thewomen’s domain. They were also the disseminators of folk tales and legends,riddles and proverbs, of ballads and heroic lays (byliny) but above all, theyfavoured the religious songs(duchovnye stichi, geistliche Lieder).The OldBelievers knew best how to conserve this unique genre of folk poetry, anddid so by adapting according to the needs of their own moral code. Sincethe 18th century the religious songs have excerted a remarkable influenceon the north Russian and Finnish laments, an influence which is worthyof investigation. The Russian and Finnish women wailers we have men­tioned, were as people quite different in personality but were sociallylinked together as Old Believers. They all possessed a rare artistic qualitywhich they could readily express in improvisations. None of them couldread or write but each of them had recourse to an excellent memory. WhatIrina Fedosova said about herself to the researcher Barsov holds for themall: “Ja gramotoj ne gramotna, zato ja pamjat'ju ja pamjatna” (Barsov1872, p. 315).The remarkable similarity between north Russian and east Finnish la­ments has naturally led to debate between Russian and Finnish folkloristsfrom their different points of view. In this context it is important to knowabout the geography involved and also to understand the historic per­spective, lest we forget that national feelings are of fairly recent date.Frontiers, arbitrarily established according to the changing fortunes of warof kings and sovereigns did not prevent the free movement of people asdo our modern border controls. There would remain a continuous inter­course between good neighbours with a lively exchange also of ideas. Thatwas the process which in Russia and Finnish Karelia and in Pomor'eproduced the fruitful interaction which gives the stamp of beauty to the folkpoetry in these regions. What further eased the process was the influencesince the early Middle Ages in Finnish Karelia of the Greek OrthodoxChurch. The distinctive quality of this church found its particular expressionin east Finland and established itself differently in the popular mind fromthe Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches in south-west Finland.The religious song is the only oral tradition in Russian folk poetry whichhas firm roots in literary sources, in particular from the New Testament,the Lives of the Saints and the Legends of the Martyrs as well as from theGreek Apocrypha. How this genre of folk poetry was spread, which groupwithin society became the bearers of this tradition and how the traditionwas reshaped gradually as the various needs became apparent, is a farreaching subject. The present study concerns the movement northwardsof this genre into the north Russian tradition. I will therefore discuss theScando-Slacica, Tomus 271981Downloaded b ["Queen's University Libraries, Kingston"] at 08:23 1 September 2013y8The North Russian Lament51northern religious songs only, recorded'among others by Rybnikov andHilferding around 1860. Incidentally, these collectors regarded many ofthese songs as genuineby liny.Most of them were collected as early as 1840by the Slavophil scholar Kireevskij and after his death in 1856 arrangedand edited by P. V. Bezsonov (1861-1864).The religious songs are somewhat older than the earliest written docu­ments, the Adam song (PlacAdama)of around 1400. Because their sourceis the medieval religious literature they form their own category within folkpoetry. No less characteristic is the spread of this tradition. The songs werecarried by vagrant beggars,kaleki perechozie,who were for the most partblind or crippled and who would sing for their supper on the open roadand from house to house. More often than not they would turn up at themonastries and cathedrals at the time of the great Church festivals whenlarge crowds had gathered. It was as a tradition very much alive that thereligious verses accompanied the Old Believers on their flight to the north.These older songs have been calledstarsiein contrast to the songs whichwith their later form and structuré have been given the name ofmladsieandwhich travelled west and south. That these are also calledkantyorpsalmyindicates how the process of their development was influenced by theRoman Catholic Church. Also in these regions the verses acquired theWest European rhyme and meter, the syllabic as opposed to the alliterationof thestarsieand the Russian tonic verse.The religious songs were composed at a time when people must show theirbelief through deeds. Itmustnotbeforgotten that by distributing charities onewas not only buying ones own salvation. Equally important it gavethe beggarhis right to demand charity.Thesekaleki perechoziewere everywhere calledthe “servants of the Lord”,Raby Bozie.People generally considered themto be the true successors of Christ. From the early Middle Ages there hadalso been among the wealthy a religious urge to seek ascetism and to makepilgrimages a Christian duty. Dressed in rags and without food or shelterthe rich would follow the example of Christ and his disciples. This providesthe story line in numerous variants of two songs recited in the north: thesongs about Iosif CareviS and the songs about Aleksej Bozij Celovek(‘Joseph the Sovereign’s son’ and ‘Aleksej, Man of God’).The laments are also strongly influenced by the heroic songs,byliny.Thisoral tradition was firmly anchored among the reciters of both sexes along thecoast of the White Sea, along the rivers of the Pomor'e region and aroundthe great lakes of Ladoga and Onega.The religious songcan also be adramatic epic, as is always the case withbyliny.But much more often it is agenuine lament where ritual characteristics of expressions and the wordScando-Slavica, Tomus 27 1981Downloaded b ["Queen's University Libraries, Kingston"] at 08:23 1 September 2013y8 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]