The Great Russian tribe is not only a well-known ethnographic composition, but also a unique economic system and even a special national character, and the nature of the country has worked a lot on both this system and this character.

It remains for us to note the effect of the nature of Great Russia on the mixed population here formed through Russian colonization. The Great Russian tribe is not only a well-known ethnographic composition, but also a unique economic system and even a special national character, and the nature of the country has worked a lot on both this system and this character. The Upper Volga region, which makes up the central region of Great Russia, still differs in noticeable physical features from Dnieper Rus'; six or seven centuries ago it was even more different. The main features of this region are: the abundance of forests and swamps, the predominance of loam in the soil composition and the web network of rivers and rivers running in different directions. These features left a deep imprint both on the economic life of Great Russia and on the tribal character of the Great Russians.

In old Kievan Rus, the mainspring of the national economy, foreign trade, created numerous cities that served as large or small centers of trade. In Upper Volga Rus', too far from coastal markets, foreign trade could not become the main driving force of the national economy. That is why we see here in the 15th - 16th centuries. a relatively small number of cities, and even in those, a significant part of the population was engaged in arable farming. Rural settlements gained a decisive advantage over cities here. Moreover, these settlements differed sharply in their character from the villages of southern Rus'. In the latter, constant external dangers and a lack of water in the open steppe forced the population to settle in large masses, crowding into huge villages of thousands, which still make up distinctive feature southern Rus'. On the contrary, in the north, the settler, in the midst of forests and swamps, had difficulty finding a dry place on which he could, with some safety and comfort, put his foot down and build a hut. Such dry places, open hillocks, were rare islands among a sea of ​​forests and swamps. On such an island it was possible to build one, two, or even three peasant households. That is why a village of one or two peasant households was the dominant form of settlement in northern Russia almost until the end of the 17th century. Around such small scattered villages it was difficult to find a significant continuous space that could be conveniently plowed. Such convenient places around the villages were found in small areas. These areas were cleared by the inhabitants of the small village. It was an unusually difficult job: it was necessary, having chosen a convenient dry place for arable land, to burn out the forest that covered it, uproot stumps, and raise virgin soil. The distance from large foreign markets and the lack of exports did not give the cultivators the incentive to expand the plowing that was so difficult for them. Cultivation on the Upper Volga loam was supposed to satisfy only the urgent needs of the cultivators themselves. We would be mistaken if we thought that with the poverty of the population, with the abundance of unoccupied land, the peasant in ancient Great Russia plowed a lot, more than in the last or present century. Household arable plots in Great Russia in the 16th - 17th centuries. In general, there are no more plots according to the Regulations of February 19. Moreover, the methods of cultivating the land at that time imparted a mobile, restless, nomadic character to this arable farming. By burning the forest in the novi, the peasant imparted increased fertility to the loam and for several years in a row reaped an excellent harvest from it, because the ash serves as a very strong fertilizer. But this was forced and transient fertility: after six or seven years the soil was completely depleted and the peasant had to leave it for a long rest, to let it fallow. Then he moved his yard to another, often distant place, raised another new building, and installed a new “repair on the forest.” Thus, exploiting the land, the Great Russian peasant moved from place to place and all in one direction, towards the northeast, until he reached the natural borders of the Russian plain, the Urals and the White Sea. To make up for the meager income from arable farming on the Upper Volga loam, the peasant had to turn to crafts. Forests, rivers, lakes, and swamps provided him with a lot of land, the development of which could help supplement his meager agricultural income. This is the source of the peculiarity that has characterized the economic life of the Great Russian peasant since time immemorial: here is the reason for the development of local rural crafts, called handicrafts. Lying, basting, fur hunting, beekeeping (forest beekeeping in tree hollows), fishing, salt making, tar smoking, ironwork - each of these activities has long served as the basis, a nursery for economic life for entire districts. These are the features of the Great Russian economy, created under the influence of the country’s nature. These are 1) the scattered nature of the population, the dominance of small towns and villages, 2) the insignificance of peasant arable land, the smallness of household arable plots, 3) the mobile nature of arable farming, the dominance of portable or fallow farming and 4) finally, the development of small rural crafts, the increased development of forest, river and other lands.

Next to the influence of the country’s nature on the national economy of Great Russia, we notice traces of its powerful effect on the tribal character of Great Russia. Great Russia XIII - XV centuries. with its forests, swamps and swamps, at every step it presented the settler with thousands of small dangers, unforeseen difficulties and troubles, among which it was necessary to find oneself, with which it had to constantly struggle. This taught the Great Russian to vigilantly monitor nature, to keep an eye on both, as he put it, to walk, looking around and feeling the soil, not to venture into the water without looking for a ford, developed in him resourcefulness in small difficulties and dangers, the habit of patiently struggling with adversity and deprivation . In Europe there is no people less spoiled and pretentious, accustomed to expect less from nature and fate and more resilient. Moreover, by the very nature of the region, every corner of it, every locality posed a difficult economic riddle to the settler: wherever the settler settled here, he first of all needed to study his place, all its conditions, in order to look out for land, the development of which could be the most profitable. Hence this amazing observation, which is revealed in the Great Russian folk signs.

Here all the characteristic, often elusive phenomena of the annual turnover of Great Russian nature are captured, its various climatic and economic accidents are noted, and the entire annual routine of the peasant economy is outlined. All seasons of the year, every month, almost every day of the month appear here with special aptly outlined climatic and economic physiognomies, and in these observations, often obtained at the cost of bitter experience, both the observed nature and the observer himself were clearly reflected. Here he observes his surroundings, and reflects on himself, and tries to tie all his observations to the calendar, to the names of saints and to holidays. The church calendar is a memorial book of his observations of nature and at the same time a diary of his thoughts on his economic life. January is the beginning of the year, winter is the middle. Since January, the Great Russian, having suffered through the winter cold, begins to make fun of her. Epiphany frosts - he tells them: “Cracks, cracks - the water baptisms have passed; Blow, don’t blow - it’s not for Christmas, but for the Great Day (Easter).” However, January 18 is still the day of Athanasius and Cyril; Afanasyev’s frosts make themselves felt, and the Great Russian sadly confesses to premature joy: Afanasy and Kirillo are being taken by the snout. January 24 - the memory of the Monk Ksenia - Aksinya - half-bread, half-winter: half the winter has passed, half of the old bread has been eaten. Sign: like Aksinya, like spring. February is sideways, the sun is hot from the side; February 2, Candlemas, Sretensky thaws: winter and summer met. Sign: snow on Candlemas - rain in spring. March is warm, but not always: and March is getting worse. March 25 Annunciation. On this day, spring overcame winter. The bear gets up at the Annunciation. Sign: as is the Annunciation, so is the saint. April - in April the earth is humming, windy and warm. The peasant pays attention: the time of hardship for the tiller is approaching. Proverb: April wheezes and blows, promises warmth to the women, but the man looks for something to happen. And winter supplies of cabbage are running out. April 1 - Mary of Egypt. Her nickname: Marya-empty cabbage soup. I wanted sour cabbage soup in April! April 5 - Martyr Fedul. Fedul the windy. Fedul arrived, a warm wind blew. Fedul pouted his lips (bad weather). April 15 - Apostle Puda. Rule: expose bees from the winter omshanik to the beehouse - flowers appear. On St. Get the bees out of hiding. April 23 - St. St. George the Victorious. The economic and climatic relationship of this day since May 9 has been noted: Yegoriy with dew, Nikola with grass; Egory with warmth, Nikola with food. Here it is May. Winter supplies are gone. Ah May, the month of May, not cold, but hungry. But the chills are creeping in, and there’s no real work in the field yet. Proverb: May - give the horse hay, and climb onto the stove yourself. Sign: if there is a rain in May, there will be rye; May is cold - a grain-bearing year. May 5 - Great Martyr Irene. Arina-seedling plant: seedlings (cabbage) are planted and last year's grass is burned out so that the new one does not interfere. Proverb: Arina is out of thin air. May 21 - St. Tsar Constantine and his mother Helen. Flax contacted Alena by consonance: for Alena, this flax and plant cucumbers; Flax for Alena, cucumbers for Konstantin. In the same way, among the sayings, jokes, economic signs, and sometimes even “hearts of sorrowful notes”, the other months run through the Great Russian: June, when the bins are empty in anticipation of a new harvest and which is therefore called June - ah! then July - sufferer, worker; August, when the sickles are warmed up at hot work, and the water is already cold, when at the transfiguration - the second one saved, take mittens in reserve; behind it is September - September is cold, but full - after the harvest; then October is muddy, doesn’t like wheels or runners, you can’t travel on a sleigh or a cart; November is a chicken coop, because on the 1st, on the day of Kozma and Damian, women slaughter chickens, which is why this day is called chicken name day, chicken death. Finally, here comes jelly December, the collapse of winter: the year ends - winter begins. It's cold outside: it's time to sit in the hut and study. December 1 - the prophet Nahum the literate: they begin to teach the children to read and write. Proverb: “Father Naum, bring it to mind.” And the cold gets stronger, biting frosts set in, December 4 - St. Great Martyr Barbara. Proverb: “Varyukha is cracking - take care of your nose and ear.” So, with the calendar in his hands, or, more precisely, in his tenacious memory, the Great Russian went through, observing and studying, the entire annual cycle of his life. The Church taught the Great Russian to observe and count time. Saints and holidays were his guides in this observation and study. He remembered them not only in church: he took them from the temple with him to his hut, into the field and forest, hanging on their names his signs in the form of unceremonious nicknames, which are given to bosom friends: Athanasius the clematis, Samson the haymaker, which in In July the rain rots the hay, Fedul the windy one, Buckwheat sharks, March Avdotya - wet the threshold, April Marya - light the snow, sparkle the ravines, etc. endlessly. The Great Russian features his meteorology, his economic textbook, and his everyday autobiography; in them all of him was cast, with his life and outlook, with his mind and heart; in them he reflects, and observes, and rejoices, and grieves, and he himself laughs at both his sorrows and his joys.

The folk signs of Great Russia are capricious, just as the nature of Great Russia reflected in them is capricious. She often laughs at the most cautious calculations of the Great Russian; the waywardness of the climate and soil deceives his most modest expectations, and, having become accustomed to these deceptions, the prudent Great Russian sometimes loves, headlong, to choose the most hopeless and imprudent decision, contrasting the whim of nature with the whim of his own courage. This inclination to tease happiness, to play with luck is the Great Russian maybe. The Great Russian is sure of one thing - that he must value a clear summer working day, that nature allows him little convenient time for agricultural work, and that the short Great Russian summer can still be shortened by untimely, unexpected bad weather. This forces the Great Russian peasant to hurry, to work hard in order to do a lot in a short time and get out of the field just in time, and then remain idle throughout the fall and winter. Thus, the Great Russian became accustomed to excessive short-term strain of his strength, got used to working quickly, feverishly and quickly, and then resting during the forced autumn and winter idleness. Not a single people in Europe is capable of such intense labor for a short time as a Great Russian can develop; but nowhere in Europe, it seems, will we find such a lack of habit of even, moderate and measured, constant work as in Great Russia. On the other hand, the properties of the region determined the order of settlement of the Great Russians. Life in remote, secluded villages with a lack of communication, naturally, could not accustom the Great Russian to act in large unions, friendly masses. The Great Russian did not work in an open field, in front of everyone, like an inhabitant of southern Rus': he fought with nature alone, in the depths of the forest with an ax in his hand. It was silent, menial work on external nature, on a forest or wild field, and not on oneself and society, not on one’s feelings and relationships with people. That’s why a Great Russian works better alone, when no one is looking at him, and has difficulty getting used to working together together. He is generally reserved and cautious, even timid, always on his own mind, uncommunicative, better with himself than in public, better at the beginning of a business, when he is not yet confident in himself and in success, and worse at the end, when he has already achieved some success and will attract attention: self-doubt excites his strength, and success drops them. It is easier for him to overcome an obstacle, danger, failure than with. withstand success with tact and dignity; It’s easier to do great things than to get used to the idea of ​​your greatness. He belongs to that type of smart people who become stupid from the recognition of their intelligence. In a word, the Great Russian is better than the Great Russian society. It must be that every nation is naturally destined to perceive from the surrounding world, as well as from the destinies experienced, and to transform into its character not just any, but only certain impressions, and from here comes the diversity of national patterns, or types, just as unequal light sensitivity produces diversity colors. In accordance with this, the people look at their surroundings and what they experience from a certain angle, reflecting both in their consciousness with a certain refraction. The nature of the country is probably not without participation in the degree and direction of this refraction. The inability to calculate in advance, figure out a plan of action in advance and go straight to the intended goal was noticeably reflected in the Great Russian’s mentality, in the manner of his thinking. Everyday irregularities and accidents taught him to discuss the path traveled more than to think about the future, to look back more than to look forward. In the fight against unexpected snowstorms and thaws, with unforeseen August frosts and January slush, he became more cautious than prudent, learned to notice consequences more than set goals, and cultivated the ability to sum up the art of making estimates. This skill is what we call hindsight. The saying that a Russian man is strong in hindsight completely belongs to the Great Russians. But hindsight is not the same as hindsight. With his habit of hesitating and maneuvering between the unevenness of the path and the accidents of life, the Great Russian often gives the impression of indirectness and insincerity. The Great Russian often thinks in two ways, and this seems like double-mindedness. He always goes towards a direct goal, although often not well thought out, but he walks, looking around, and therefore his gait seems evasive and hesitant. After all, you can’t break through a wall with your forehead, and only crows fly straight, as the Great Russian proverbs say. Nature and fate led the Great Russian in such a way that they taught him to take a roundabout route onto the straight road. The Great Russian thinks and acts as he walks. It seems that you can come up with a crooked and more tortuous Great Russian country road? It was as if a snake had slithered through. But try to go straighter: you will only get lost and end up on the same winding path. This is how the action of the nature of Great Russia affected the economic life and tribal character of the Great Russians.

From the article by Konstantin Leontyev “Literacy and Nationality”.
We have read and heard a lot about the illiteracy of the Russian people and that Russia is a country where “barbarism is armed with all the means of civilization.” When the British, French and Germans write and say this, we remain indifferent or rejoice at the inner horror for the distant future of the West that is heard under these lines that are written without meaning.
Unfortunately, such an unreasonable concept about Russia and Russians also exists among those peoples who are connected with us by tribal affinity, or faith and political history. Chance forced me to live on the Danube for quite a long time. Life on the banks of the Danube is very instructive. Not to mention the proximity of such large national and political units as Austria, Russia, Turkey, Serbia, Moldova and Wallachia - a visit to one such area as Dobrudja cannot pass without leaving an impression on an attentive person.
In this Turkish province live under the same government, on the same soil, under the same sky: Turks, Tatars, Circassians, Moldovans, Bulgarians, Greeks, Gypsies, Jews, German colonists and Russians of several kinds: Orthodox Little Russians (who moved here partly from the Zaporozhye Sich, partly later during the times of serfdom), Great Russians-Old Believers (Lipovans), Great Russians-Molokans and Orthodox Great Russians. If we add here the shores of Moldova, which are so close - Izmail, Galati, Vilkovo, etc., then the ethnographic picture will become even richer, and in Moldavian cities, in addition to the above-mentioned Russian infidels, we will also find eunuchs in large numbers. Among the cab drivers, for example, who carry phaetons around Galati, there are a lot of eunuchs. The same thing, as we hear, happened until recently in Iasi and Bucharest.
A systematic, comparative study of the life of the tribes inhabiting the banks of the lower Danube could, I am sure, produce remarkable results. Circumstances did not allow me to do this, but I am already satisfied with what life itself has given me without careful and correct research. I especially value two results achieved: a living, visual acquaintance with the Russian commoner, transferred to foreign soil, and also acquaintance with the views of our political friends on us and on our people.
In Dobruja, two old people recently died - one a rural Bulgarian; the other is a Tulchin fisherman and Old Believer. Both were extremely remarkable as representatives: one of the narrow Bulgarian, the other of the broad Great Russian nature. Unfortunately, I have forgotten their names; but if anyone doubted the truth of my words, then I could immediately make inquiries and present the very names of these peculiar Slavs. Both were very rich for common people. The Bulgarian was nearly 80 or even 90 years old. He lived in his village without a break. He worked tirelessly; His huge family lived with him. He had several sons: all married, of course, with children and grandchildren; the eldest of the sons were themselves already gray-haired old men; but these gray-haired old men also obeyed their father like children. They did not dare to hide a single piastre they earned from their patriarch or spend it without asking. The family had a lot of money; most of them were buried in the ground so that Turkish officials would not get to them. Despite all their prosperity, this huge family ate only onions and black bread on weekdays, and ate lamb on holidays.
Our Old Believer lived differently; he was childless, but he had a family brother. This brother constantly complained that the old man gave and helped him little; but the Old Believer preferred his comrades to his relatives.
He had a large fishing team. By winter, fishing ended and the old Great Russian distributed his huge earnings in his own way. He counted out the fishermen, released those who did not want to stay with him; gave something to my brother; he bought provisions, vodka and wine for the whole artel and supported all the young people, who remained with him for the whole winter without compulsory work. With these comrades, the healthy old man caroused and had fun until spring, spent all his money and again in the spring began to work with them. So he spent his entire long life, objecting to his brother’s complaints that “he loves his guys”! We often saw an old fisherman in the Khokhlatsky quarter of Tulcha; he sat down in the middle of the street on the ground, surrounded himself with wine and delicacies and exclaimed:
- Little Ukrainians! come make me happy!
Young Little Russian women, who, although stricter in morals than their northern compatriots, love to joke and have fun, ran to the gray-haired “communist”, sang and danced around him, and kissed the cheeks that he offered them.
All this, we note by the way (and very opportunely!), did not prevent him from being a strict executor of his church charter.
It is also interesting to add that an old Polish nobleman, an emigrant in 1936, told me with delight about the Old Believer fisherman; and the Greek merchant spoke with respect about the stingy Bulgarian farmer.
Both Greeks and Bulgarians in spirit home life they are equally bourgeois, equally disposed to what the Germans themselves called philistinism.
Whereas the sweeping knightly tastes of the Polish nobleman come closer to the Cossack breadth of the Great Russian.
I do not want to humiliate the Bulgarians by this and excessively elevate the Great Russians. I will only say that the Bulgarians, even the “indigenous” - rural in spirit, are less original than ordinary Great Russians. They are more like any other respectable villagers.
The serious and modest qualities that distinguish the Bulgarian people can give them a unique role in the Slavic world, so diverse and rich in forms.
But a “creative” genius (especially in our time, which is so unfavorable for creativity) can only ascend to the head of such a people, which is both diverse in its very depths and completely unlike others. This is precisely our Great Russian Great and Wonderful Ocean!
Perhaps someone would object to me that Russians (and especially real Muscovites), precisely because they are riotous and too inclined to be “St. Petersburg residents,” are little inclined to capitalize, and capitalization is needed.
To this I will give two examples: one from Little Russia, the other from the Great Russian environment:
The Birzhevye Vedomosti recounts the following incident that recently took place in Poltava. Peasants dressed in common folk style appeared at the local treasury - a husband and wife. Both of their sexes were swollen from some kind of burden. The husband turned to the official with a question: can he exchange old-style credit cards for new ones?
- How many of them do you have? - asks the official.
- How can I tell you?.., really, I don’t know myself. The official smiled.
- Three, five, ten rubles? he asks.
- No, more. My wife and I counted all day but couldn’t count...
At the same time, both showed stacks of banknotes from under the counter. Naturally, suspicion arose regarding the acquisition by the owners of such a sum. They were detained and the money was counted: it turned out to be 86 thousand.
-Where did you get the money?
“Great-grandfather folded, grandfather folded, and we folded,” was the answer.
According to the investigation, the suspicions against them were not justified and the peasant was exchanged money. Then they return to the treasury.
- Do you exchange gold, goodness?
- We change. How much do you have?
- Two boxes...
These peasants live in a simple hut and are illiterate."
But they will tell me: “this is not very good”; It is necessary that the money does not lie around, like this Ukrainian or the old Bulgarian patriarch, it is necessary that it goes into circulation. If these people were literate, they would understand their mistake.
But in response to these words, I will take a new fact into my hands and hit with it those poor Russians who are unable to sympathize with me.
One Old Believer, Philip Naumov, still lives in Tulcea. He doesn't know how to read; can only write numbers for his accounts. He not only does not smoke or drink tea and wears his shirt untucked, but he is so firm in his rules that, often visiting taverns and coffee houses to treat people of different faiths and nations who enter into trade deals with him, he, treating them, does not touch anything himself. He never drinks even wine and vodka, which are not persecuted by the Old Believers. He does not like to invite anyone to his place, because, having invited, one must treat, and having treated, one must break, throw away or sell the dishes desecrated by non-Orthodox people (even Orthodox ones). He has several hundred thousand piastres of capital in constant circulation, several houses; of them, one large one on the banks of the Danube is constantly rented to people with means: consuls, agents of trading companies, etc. He himself and his family, with a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter and son, live in a small house with a Russian-style gate and decorated it beautifully and the original white walls of this house have a wide blue and brown checkerboard stripe at half the height. /
He is very honest and, despite the severity of his religious distance from the Gentiles, he is reputed kind person. For many of his transactions he does not give receipts; the guests, when they pay him for the house, do not require a receipt from him - they believe him anyway. On top of all this, he was one of the first in Tulcea (where there are so many enterprising people of different tribes) to plan to order a steam engine from England for a large flour mill and, probably, his wealth will triple after this if this ends successfully.
One very learned, educated and in all respects worthy Dalmatian, an official of the Austrian service, with whom I was familiar, always looked at F. Naumov with amazement and pleasure.
“What I like about this man (the Austrian told me) is that, with all his wealth, he does not at all want to become a bourgeois; but remains a Cossack or a peasant. This is a Great Russian trait.
A Bulgarian or a Greek, as soon as he opened a grocery or haberdashery shop and learned to read and write, he now took off his oriental clothes (always either stately or elegant), bought from a Jew on the corner a clumsy frock coat and trousers of a style that had never been worn in Europe, and in a cheap tie (or even without a tie) with dirty nails, he went to make visits to his troubled wife, European visits, in which the sparkle of the conversation consists of the following: “How is your health? -- Very good! - How is your health? -- Very good! -- And yours? -- Thank you. - What are you doing? - I bow to you. - What are you doing? - I bow to you. - And what is your wife doing? “Bows to you.”

“The Great Russian is sure of one thing - that he must value a clear summer working day, that nature allows him little convenient time for agricultural work, and that the short Great Russian summer can still be shortened by untimely, unexpected bad weather. This forces the Great Russian peasant to hurry, to work hard in order to do a lot in a short time. It’s time to get out of the field, and then remain idle throughout the fall and winter.

So the Great Russian became accustomed to excessive short-term strain on his strength, got used to working quickly, feverishly and quickly., and then relax during the forced autumn and winter idleness. Not a single people in Europe is capable of such intense labor for a short time as the Great Russian can develop.; but nowhere in Europe, it seems, will we find such an unaccustomed attitude to even, moderate and measured, constant work as in Great Russia.

On the other hand, the properties of the region determined the order of settlement of the Great Russians. Life in remote, secluded villages with a lack of communication, naturally, could not accustom Great Russians to act in large unions, friendly masses. The Great Russian did not work in an open field, in front of everyone, like an inhabitant of southern Rus': he fought with nature alone, in the depths of the forest with an ax in his hand. It was silent, menial work on external nature, on a forest or wild field, and not on oneself and society, not on one’s feelings and relationships with people. That’s why a Great Russian works better alone, when no one is looking at him, and has difficulty getting used to working together together. He is generally reserved and cautious, even timid, always on his own mind, uncommunicative, better with himself than in public, better at the beginning of a business, when he is not yet confident in himself and in success, and worse at the end, when he has already achieved some success and will attract attention: self-doubt excites his strength, and success drops them. It is easier for him to overcome an obstacle, danger, failure than with. withstand success with tact and dignity; It’s easier to do great things than to get comfortable with the thought of your greatness....

In the fight against unexpected snowstorms and thaws, with unforeseen August frosts and January slush, he became more cautious than prudent, learned to notice consequences more than set goals, and cultivated the ability to sum up the art of making estimates. This skill is what we call hindsight. The saying that a Russian man is strong in hindsight completely belongs to the Great Russians. But hindsight is not the same as hindsight. With his habit of hesitating and maneuvering between the unevenness of the path and the accidents of life, the Great Russian often gives the impression of indirectness and insincerity. The Great Russian often thinks in two ways, and this seems like double-mindedness. He always goes towards a direct goal, although often not well thought out, but he walks, looking around, and therefore his gait seems evasive and hesitant. After all, you can’t break through a wall with your forehead, and only crows fly straight, as the Great Russian proverbs say. Nature and fate led the Great Russian in such a way that they taught him to take a roundabout route onto the straight road. The Great Russian thinks and acts as he walks. It seems that you can come up with a crooked and more tortuous Great Russian country road? It was as if a snake had slithered through. But try to go straighter: you will only get lost and end up on the same winding path. This is how the action of the nature of Great Russia affected the economic life and tribal character of the Great Russians....

In old Kievan Rus, the mainspring of the national economy, foreign trade, created numerous cities that served as large or small centers of trade. In Upper Volga Rus', too far from coastal markets, foreign trade could not become the main driving force of the national economy. That is why we see here in the 15th - 16th centuries. a relatively small number of cities, and even in those, a significant part of the population was engaged in arable farming. Rural settlements gained a decisive advantage over cities here. Moreover, these settlements differed sharply in their character from the villages of southern Rus'. In the latter, constant external dangers and a lack of water in the open steppe forced the population to settle in large masses, crowding into huge villages of thousands, which still constitute a distinctive feature of southern Rus'. On the contrary, in the north, the settler, in the midst of forests and swamps, had difficulty finding a dry place on which he could, with some safety and comfort, put his foot down and build a hut. Such dry places, open hillocks, were rare islands among a sea of ​​forests and swamps. On such an island it was possible to build one, two, or even three peasant households. That is why a village of one or two peasant households was the dominant form of settlement in northern Russia almost until the end of the 17th century.....

Great Russia XIII - XV centuries. with its forests, swamps and swamps, at every step it presented the settler with thousands of small dangers, unforeseen difficulties and troubles, among which it was necessary to find oneself, with which it had to constantly struggle. This taught the Great Russian to vigilantly monitor nature, to keep an eye on both, as he put it, to walk, looking around and feeling the soil, not to venture into the water without looking for a ford, developed in him resourcefulness in small difficulties and dangers, the habit of patiently struggling with adversity and deprivation . In Europe there is no people less spoiled and pretentious, accustomed to expect less from nature and fate and more resilient. Moreover, by the very nature of the region, every corner of it, every locality posed a difficult economic riddle to the settler: wherever the settler settled here, he first of all needed to study his place, all its conditions, in order to look out for land, the development of which could be the most profitable. Hence this amazing observation, which is revealed in the Great Russian folk signs."

Who are the Great Russians, and why are they so great? :)) and got the best answer

Answer from color of the sky[guru]
the size of your country

Answer from Valery Garanzha[guru]
count how many there are and compare... By the way, I am a Little Russian


Answer from Eugene[guru]
VELIKORUSY (VELIKOROSSY) - the most numerous of the three branches of the Russian people (Great Russians, Little Russians, Belarusians), usually called simply Russians. The Great Russians, like the Little Russians and Belarusians, descended from a single ancient Russian nationality that emerged in the 6th-13th centuries. According to many historians, the names “Russians”, “Great Russians”, “Rus”, “Russian Land” go back to the name of one of the Slavic tribes - the Rhodians, the Rosses, or the Russians. From their land in the Middle Dnieper region the name “Rus” spread to the entire Old Russian state, which included, in addition to the Slavic, some non-Slavic tribes. The formation of the Russian people is associated with the struggle against the Mongol-Tatar yoke and the creation of a centralized Russian state around Moscow in the 14th-15th centuries. This state included the northern and northeastern ancient Russian lands, where, in addition to the descendants of the Slavs - the Vyatichi, Krivichi and Slovenians, there were many immigrants from other regions. In the XIV-XV centuries. these lands began to be called Russia in the 16th century. - Russia. Neighbors called the country Muscovy. The names “Great Rus'” as applied to the lands inhabited by the Great Russians, “Little Rus'” by the Little Russians, and “White Rus'” by the Belarusians appeared in the 15th century.


Answer from Gennady Kodinenko[guru]
Song Yanwei, Dalian Polytechnic University (China) National character is a set of the most significant defining features of an ethnic group and nation, by which representatives of one nation can be distinguished from another. A Chinese proverb says: “As the land and river are, so is the character of man.” Each nation has its own special character. Much has been said and written about the secrets of the Russian soul, about the Russian national character. And this is not accidental, because Russia, having a long history, experiencing a lot of suffering and changes, occupying a special geographical position, having absorbed the features of both Western and Eastern civilizations, has the right to be the object of close attention and targeted study. Especially today, at the turn of the third millennium, when, in connection with the profound changes that have occurred in Russia, interest in it is increasingly increasing. The character of the people and the fate of the country are closely interconnected and influence each other throughout the entire historical path, so there is a noticeable increased interest in the national character of the Russian people. As the Russian proverb says: “When you sow character, you reap destiny.” National character is reflected both in fiction, philosophy, journalism, art, and in language. For language is a mirror of culture; it reflects not only real world surrounding a person, not only the real conditions of his life, but also the social consciousness of the people, their mentality, national character, way of life, traditions, customs, morality, value system, attitude, vision of the world. Therefore, a language must be studied in inextricable unity with the world and culture of the people speaking the given language. Proverbs and sayings are a reflection of folk wisdom; they contain the people’s idea of ​​themselves and, therefore, the secrets of the Russian national character You can try to understand it through Russian proverbs and sayings. By limiting the scope of the article, the author does not pretend to list all the features of the Russian people, but only dwells on typical positive features. Hard work, talent. Russian people are gifted and hardworking. He has many talents and abilities in almost all areas public life. He is characterized by observation, theoretical and practical intelligence, natural ingenuity, ingenuity, and creativity. The Russian people are great workers, creators and creators, and have enriched the world with great cultural achievements. It is difficult to list even a small part of what has become the property of Russia itself. This trait is reflected in Russian proverbs and sayings: “Happiness and work live side by side”, “Without work you cannot pull a fish out of the pond”, “Patience and work will grind everything down”, “God loves work”. The Russian people value work very much: “Gold is learned in fire, and man in work,” “Talent without work is not worth a penny.” Russian folklore also speaks about the existence of workaholics: “The day is boring until the evening, if there is nothing to do,” “Living without work is just smoking the sky,” “It’s not the concern that there is a lot of work, but the concern that there is none.” Working people are not envious: “Don’t blame your neighbor when you sleep until lunchtime.” Proverbs condemn the lazy: “It’s a long time to sleep, but it’s a long time to get up,” “He who gets up late doesn’t have enough bread.” And at the same time they praise the hardworking: “He who gets up early, God gives him.” Only honest earnings were valued by the people: “Easy to get, easy to live,” “A free ruble is cheap, an acquired ruble is expensive.” And in raising young people, preference was given to work: “Teach not by idleness, but teach by handicraft.” Love of freedom One of the basic, deep-seated properties of the Russian people is love of freedom. The history of Russia is the history of the struggle of the Russian people for their freedom and independence. For the Russian people, freedom is above all. The word “will” is closer to the Russian heart, understood as independence, freedom in the manifestation of feelings and in performing actions, and not freedom as a conscious necessity, that is, as the possibility of a person expressing his will on the basis of awareness of the law. For example, proverbs: “Even though the lot is hard, everyone has their own will”, “One’s own will is more valuable than anything”, “Liberty is more valuable than everything”, “Will is more valuable than gold”


Is Erofeich an honest person? Ask something easier... Hugo Karlovich is honest, and Erofeyich, he is not honest, he is... a saint. In Rus' we have no honest people, but we have all saints.
L. Anninsky
“The lifetime and posthumous adventures of the German mechanic Hugo Pectoralis in Russia (From the history of Leskov’s texts)”
Among the problems considered in this work, the topic of the national character of the Great Russian (the ethnocultural Russian population of Russia) is the most sensitive, since it relies to the greatest extent on the opinions of individual (but very authoritative) representatives of historical science - N. M. Karamzin, S. M. Solovyov, V. O. Klyuchevsky and literary criticism - L. Anninsky. At the same time, the basis for relying on the views of precisely these representatives of areas of science and culture that are far from the professional status of the author are the views of the largest domestic psychiatrists - P. B. Gannushkina, E. K. Krasnushkina, P. M. Zinovieva.
Based on this, two concepts should be defined - national temperament and national character. Following V. O. Klyuchevsky, the national temperament will be further understood as “living conditions and spiritual characteristics, which are developed in the human masses under the obvious influence of the surrounding nature,” and by national character - “ historical figure a people that has become a state and is aware of its political significance.” Thus, the concept of national character reflects the modern (state) stage of the historical formation of the individual (idealized Ego-image, self-concept) and includes the folk (ethnic) temperament as its basis. It seems that the category of constitutional psychotypes discussed above corresponds to the characteristics of the national temperament, while the category of narcissistic (mental, idealistic) neuroticism corresponds to the characteristics of the national character of the Great Russian (ethnocultural Russian). In other words, the features of a national (more correctly, ethnocultural) character are transmitted by historical succession from generation to generation, inheritance, upbringing, “historical tradition.” Perhaps in modern conditions there is a transition to new stage formation of personality - general humanistic, planetary. Perhaps the exploration of outer space will lead to the formation of an even more comprehensive personality type. However, at present, the national character of the Great Russian (ethnocultural Russian) is a historical reality and attempts to ignore it underlie many of the difficulties of our time.
It seems appropriate to consider some conditions of the “historical legend” that shapes the character of many generations of Great Russians (ethnocultural Russians).
Two historical stages of its formation can be distinguished - history Ancient Rus' and the history of Muscovite Rus' (Moscow State). Both of these stages, from the point of view of the formation of a national personality type, can be characterized as chronic severe stress (CSS) of survival over more than a thousand years of history of the Slavs.
However, the factors of this stress at the two historical stages are completely different.
One category of factors - the geopolitical conditions for the survival of Slavic culture, language, ethnic groups - throughout the millennium is characterized by the pronounced severity of climate, geography, and hostile environment. As a result of this, by blood East Slavs significantly more descendants of the Huns (Attila) and Mongols (Genghis Khan) than of Vladimir Monomakh. But the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh came to reign in Suzdal (and then to Moscow), brought an army (army) and brought with them the culture of Ancient (Kievan) Rus', along with the Old Church Slavonic language and writing, and the Orthodox Christian religion.
The development of vast expanses with a harsh climate, unreliable agriculture, low population density at the junction of Byzantine Orthodox (urban) and nomadic (steppe) cultures formed the ancient Russian epileptothymic folk temperament, whose heroes are the holy defenders of the Russian land epic hero Ilya Muromets and the martyr commander, in the words of N.M. Karamzin, the “ill-fated, truly courageous” Prince Alexander Nevsky.
This is how the outstanding Russian psychiatrist E.K. Krasnushkin described the polarity of the epileptotamic nature: “... from slavish obedience, servility, awe and respect for the strongest, recognition of their power and authority, since this affirms his material well-being and does not violate the inert and narrow selfish interests and the order of his life... to an aggressive position of self-affirmation in life, to a fanatical apostolate for truth and justice, to the recognition of himself as the only and infallible authority, to the desire to rule and control others, to the assertion of his rights in the most extreme cruel way, murder of one’s neighbor... The main core of the epileptotic psyche, the affirmation and defense of one’s “I” in the world, permeates all of it ideological content. The religion of the epileptothymic is a religion of profit, of insurance... The epileptothymic either builds a plan to conquer the whole world, like Napoleon, or dreams of destroying it to the ground, like Verkhovensky in “The Demons of Dostoevsky.”
And further:
“But, as if, the entire historical past of Russia, with its raids by the Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians, etc., the three-hundred-year yoke of the Tatars, the gathering of Rus', the centuries-old Asian despotism of the kings, with its Ivan the Terrible, the dungeons of the Malut Skuratovs, oprichina, boyars , serfdom. ., Domostroevsky family life, etc. cultivated next to panic fear of a spontaneous enemy raid - fearlessness, this is the true madness of the brave Russian people, next to submission to fate and the strongest - readiness for furious protest, reconciliation with the fragility of physical existence and a passionate desire for ensuring it as fully as possible, etc. - in other words, in every possible way set the psyche for self-defense or cultivated the traits of epileptothymia.”
It seems, however, that at present the situation is more sad.
The second historical stage in the formation of the national character of the Great Russian began with the development of the Moscow State (Muscovy). This development, as we know, was extremely successful, often ahead of its European neighbors. This continued until the tragic page in the history of Moscow Rus' - 1565, the very beginning of the twentieth year of the reign of Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible (as in V.O. Klyuchevsky - N.P.).
Already in the first years of his reign, the previously liberating policy of uniting Russian lands into a single Moscow state was replaced by an imperial policy of conquest and annexation. Moscow began to turn into the Third Rome - a gigantic empire. It is interesting to note that E.K. Krasnushkin, analyzing the story “Life” from N. Gogol’s collection “Arabesques,” believed that Ancient Egypt(in N. Gogol’s description) - schizothymic, cheerful Greece - cyclothymic (syntonic), and iron Rome - epileptotic, chanting the thirst for power, glory and conquest.
However, it was in February 1565 that Ivan the Terrible created the oprichnina, a state within a state, designed to ensure the goals of imperial policy in conditions of an objective shortage of resources.
All subsequent history Russian state is (and in many ways remains) the history of the oprichnina imperial state. The uniqueness of the oprichnina, this state within a state, was expressed primarily in the fact that for it the ethnic group of the metropolis was no different from the ethnic groups of the conquered outskirts. On the contrary, the principle “Beat your own, others will be afraid” has guided the policy of the Russian Oprichnina Empire since the time of Ivan the Terrible.
For more than 400 years, this state has been characterized by two qualities that make it uniquely tenacious and hostile to its people:
focus on imperial goals, which obviously deplete the resources of the country and population, alien to the ethnic groups (and superethnos) of the country, but beneficial to the oprichnina - an initially international formation;
the existence and virtual omnipotence of the secret state police, cultivating lawlessness and terrorizing its own people in order to preserve the oprichnina “state within a state.”
In fact, the entire history of the Russian state is history civil war. Three times this war between the oprichnina state and its own people took the most merciless forms: this happened under Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov-Lenin. It is interesting to note that in the biographies of these three rulers there are similar episodes of regicide and usurpation of power, and in anthropology - signs of individual mental degeneration. It is also characteristic that their state activities were based on historically understandable varieties of the same utopian - reformatory affective idea. However, even in the most favorable periods of its history, the Russian state remained the only viable oprichnina empire in world practice (for example, the enlightened Tsarina Catherine the Second believed that “the state should be formidable for its own and respectable for strangers”). In the second half of the 19th century, Kozma Prutkov wrote his “Project for the Introduction of Unanimity in Russia,” a satire on the far from worst product of oprichnina imperialism - the dominance of the bureaucratic apparatus.
It seems that by the middle of the 19th century. there was a constitutional consolidation of the CLS of survival in the conditions of the imperial oprichnina and the formation of narcissistic neuroticism (intrapsychic “civil war”) in the mentality of the Great Russian (ethnocultural Russian). This consolidation was only facilitated by the epileptothymia of the Russian (East Slavic) folk temperament. It was the phenomena of internal discord, narcissistic neuroticism of the Russian national (ethnocultural) nature that JI described. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky, but in its fullest form its tragedy was reflected in the work of N. S. Leskov.
It is not for nothing that some proverbs are so characteristic of the mentality of the inhabitants of Moscow Rus' (in the expression literary critic L. Anninsky, “dense, irrational, cunning and cruel Muscovy”): “Moscow does not believe in tears”, “Don’t renounce money or prison”, “Don’t believe, don’t be afraid, don’t ask”, “Beat your own, be afraid of strangers” there will be."
It is no longer constitutional, but a historically inherited procedural accumulation of irrationality of thinking in conditions of chronic frustration of the needs of self-determination, the manifestation of frustration regression of the affect of anxiety constitutes the psychodynamic basis of narcissistic neurosis (structural neuroticism) of the oprichnina. These phenomena are reflected in the works of the great Russian poet Sergei Yesenin (“Confession of a Hooligan”, “Moscow Tavern”, “Soviet Country” - “I know that sadness cannot be drowned in wine, / The soul cannot be cured / With desert and breakaway...”). This is the narcissistic (neurotic) specificity of the national character of the Great Russian (ethno-cultural Russian).
His clinic (intrapsychic split) was reflected in his work by N. S. Leskov. L. Anninsky defines this split this way: “Loose, moist, soft and viscous as opposed to hard, clear and cold (iron) - this is the figurative code (N. M. Leskov’s story “Iron Will.” - Ya. P.) .., the source and meaning of the drama .., sides of one spiritual reality.”
Thus, the problem of the national character of the Great Russian (ethnocultural Russian) has two sides - the initial epileptothymia of the ethnic folk temperament, which is based on the thousand-year geopolitical history of the Slavs, is combined with the historically inherited procedural accumulation of narcissistic structural neuroticism (constitutional autistic personality deformation). The reason for the accumulation of neurotic interpersonal destructiveness is the more than 400-year existence of the oprichnina imperial state in Russia.
The metaneurosis of individual mental degeneration deserves additional consideration as a threat to the foundations of human society.
It is easy to notice that the idea of ​​metaneurosis of individual mental degeneration constitutes the pathos of the metatheory being developed and is based on E. Kretschmer’s concept of the typolopia of constitutional continuums.
The essence of the pathophysiological aspect of psychoaggression is the sharpest objectively determined fluctuations in affect from grief (despair) to timid hope (ignored anxiety-threat). In other words, there is either suffering (pure syntonic affect) or a frustration-regressed affect of anxiety. Constitutional psychodynamics brings to the fore either the processes of autistic personality transformation (narcissistic neurosis itself) and secondary organ neurosis and neurosis of substance abuse (phenomena of regression neurosis), or (and in any case - as the psychopathological consequences of the emergency progress) leads to the initiation of metaneurotic (psychobiological) processes: psychosomatosis and individual mental degeneration (epileptoid psychopathization of personality).
The last process - the worsening of epileptoid demented psychopathy - has become, unfortunately, characteristic of modern Russia and continues to be aggravated by social ill-being through psychoorganic disorders, intoxication and inflammatory lesions of the brain in the situation of CHD survival, especially when superimposed on it by the experience of an emergency - TPS and CHD.
Its essence is the steady increase negative qualities epileptoid affect, i.e. a return to the historically lived qualities of the ethnic Slavic temperament and, thus, to the primitive atavistic characteristics of interpersonal relationships and social organization.
According to F. Minkovskaya’s definition from 1923 (cited from 74. - N.P.):
“We are talking about condensed affectivity, sticky, clinging to the objects of the surrounding world and not freeing itself from them to the extent required by changes in the environment: affectivity does not follow the movement of the environment and, so to speak, is always delayed. The epileptoid is a predominantly affective creature, but this affectivity is sticky and not mobile enough. Having difficulty vibrating in unison with people, these people connect affectively primarily with objects: hence the love of order. Not being able to reach many people, they concentrate their affectivity on groups of them, or on general ideas with a sentimental or mystical overtones (universal peace, religion): in their relationships with their own kind, there is no personal stamp, but a general moral assessment prevails: they behave , without realizing it, as bearers of a moral or religious mission; in the intellectual field they are slow; linger on details and lose sight of the whole; changes and new things do not attract them; they love everything lasting and stable; these are workers, but not creators; on the contrary, they diligently preserve traditions and represent a conservative factor. Increasingly, these traits reach a painfully delayed psychism, as well as a sugary and obsessive affectivity and, finally, egocentrism (when affectivity is concentrated on one’s own person, as on the object that is closest and requires the least effort of adaptation). Due to their sugary and sticky affectivity, they often give the impression of fake people without actually being them: affectivity, becoming more and more viscous and accompanied by growing mental slowdown, is less and less responsive to the calls of the outside world; becomes more and more insufficient and eventually leads to real stagnation; the latter creates for the individual an atmosphere that is suffocating, thunderous and saturated with electricity; this is immediately followed by thunder and lightning. Stagnation causes explosive discharges, which the subject is not able to resist; they engulf him suddenly, characterized by surprise, force, causing a darkening of consciousness; the slow ones become excited - then attacks of strong anger, impulsive actions, fugues, prolonged twilight states, visions, mystical ideas - all features whose kinship with epilepsy is not difficult to recognize.”
The increase in constitutional interpersonal destructiveness when moving along the continuum “epileptothymia-epileptoidia-changes in the psyche (mentality) in epilepsy” was described in a similar way by the largest domestic psychiatrists of the first half of the 20th century - P. B. Gannushkin, E. K. Krasnushkin, P. M. Zinoviev, M. O. Gurevich, T. I. Yudin.
According to the previously formulated concept of the “real generation,” we are talking about the prevalence of three psychotypes in the population: epiaffective - increases in the MMIL profile on the sixth, as well as the second to ninth scales, hysteroepileptothymic (skirtoid) - increases in the MMIL profile on the sixth and third scales, as well as schizoepileptothymic - increases in the MMIL profile on the sixth and eighth scales. It should be noted that these psychotypes are inevitably formed in conditions not only of historical conditions (HHS), but also of TIS, as consequences of experienced disasters. The main mechanisms here are the long-term skill of neurotic externalization of cynicism, psychological (and psychochemical) swinging, leading to an increase in rigidity (“stuck”) of negative affect and the pathological development of affecto-epileptoid, hysteroepileptoid and schizo-epileptoid.
Affectoepileptoids most closely correspond to the idea of ​​excitability, explosiveness of viscous affect: such dynamics are described in those sentenced to imprisonment during a long (more than 10 years) stay in places of imprisonment (i.e., in the genesis of affectoepileptoids, survival CHD plays an obvious role). Affectoepileptoids are characterized by an irresistible desire for social reform “at any cost to those around them.” A literary example is the heroes of A. Bester’s works “The Man Without a Face” and “Tiger... Tiger”.
Hysteroepileptoids (skirtoids) - this structurally disharmonious psychotype in everyday life corresponds to the idea of ​​“domestic tyrants” (the demonstrative manifestations of hostility, intolerance, tyranny are stronger, the more dependent the microsocial environment is): the phenomenon of skirtoidism (intolerance to narcissistic resentment characteristic of the culture of mountain peoples) in armed conflicts they make hysteroepileptoids dangerous, ruthless and uncompromising opponents. Literary example-Troekurov in “Dubrovsky” by A. S. Pushkin.
Schizoepileptoids (paranoid personality type) - any long-term existence of this psychotype without manifest delusional disorders under normal conditions is practically impossible due to the extreme nature of the central IPC: on the contrary, in psychopathological emergency conditions this type (even more than the skirtoid type) shows “miracles of survivability” "(Zombie syndrome, 2.2.1.). In the structure of a paranoid personality, there are always affect disorders and disturbances social adaptation. Examples should be sought in the specialized (psychiatric) literature.
Thus, individual mental degeneration (epileptoidization) in any case gives rise to stable psychotypes, with a high degree of probability of being interpersonally destructive. This destructiveness threatens the very foundations of the community.
The historical reality of the Russian state - a more than 400-year-old oprichnina empire - has led to the imposition of an incessant series of TPS on chronic, generation after generation, CHD of survival. The cultivation of an epileptotic narcissistic national character had an underlying reason - the desire for power not as a manifestation of organizational abilities and interests, but as a symbol of belonging to the “circle of the elite” - a neurotic (illusory-virtual) means of maintaining comfort, well-being and self-esteem (a manifestation of ego-mythization).
Its second side has been (since the time of Ivan the Terrible) the uncontrollable desire of those in power (the oprichnina “state within a state”) to educate a “new man” - one who submits without protest or criticism to the order of things imposed “from above.”
On the other hand, the Ash-mythification of the bearers of the power functions of the oprichnina imperial state is mirrored by the Ego-anachoresis (autistic transformation of personality) of the repressed ethno-cultural majority.
In general, the epileptoid (and toxicomanic) metaneurosis of the population of the oprichnina empire, a product of the externalization of more than 400 years of intrapsychic “civil war,” periodically turned into bloody “Russian riots” and ended in our time with social stagnation, a direct indicator of threatening social degradation .
Thus, one should distinguish between the ethnic East Slavic epileptotic temperament and the neurotic national character of the Great Russian (ethnocultural Russian - Muscovite). Ethnic temperament is socially neutral, although it can form the basis for the accumulation of interpersonal destructiveness (neuroticism). Narcissistic neurosis (structural neuroticism) of the Russian national character developed in the conditions of chronic life survival and represents the intrapersonal reality of a citizen of the oprichnina imperial state.
One of the most unpleasant consequences of the structural neuroticism of the Russian national character is the metaneurosis of individual mental degeneration - epileptoidization of the personality. In a real generation, there are three two-radical psychotypes: reformers-affekgoepileptoids, tyrants-skirtoids (hysteroepileptoids) and paranoid schizoepileptoids. All of them are characterized by an extremely high level of interpersonal destructiveness.