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| Part 1 The Mari folk art has its roots in olden times when the ancient Mari nationality was coming into being. Embroidering has been the most popular folk art and is notable for the variety of forms as well as for the creative imagination of the Mari women. The earliest embroideries appeared at the end of the 18th century. In the past every woman could embroider and her abilities and diligence were judged by her embroideries. Embroidery required great skill. Patterns had to be arranged on the definite surface in such a way that symmetry order shouldn’t be broken. The Meadow Mari dress was covered with the so-called carpet embroidery, i. e. linen was completely covered with patterns and no free space was left. The Mountain Mari embroidery differed from that of the Meadow Mari and had much in common with the embroidery of the neighboring Chuvash region. Folk traditions are used in the work of the stitched and embroidered article-producing factory called “Truzhenitsa” (Woman worker) in the town of Yoshkar-Ola. Table-cloths, table-napkins decorated with the national embroidery easily harmonize with any modern interior. The best articles manufactured by the “Truzhenitsa” factory are very popular with the people. They are demonstrated at numerous national and international exhibitions and often win prizes and medals.
Part 2 Wood has been the most favourite material for the folk arts. Wood is used to build houses, to make tools, furniture, boats, carts, toys. The Mari people use birch bark and lime-tree bast to make different in size and form boxes and baskets, bags, salt-cellars, snuff-boxes, etc. Oak is used to make rings for baking bread, beehives, cradles for babies. Basket work from withe (ивовый прут), twigs of mountain-ash (рябина), bird-cherry tree, roots of fir-tree is still very popular with the Mari people. They wattle (плести) chairs, arm-chairs, sofas, tables, etc. Using a great variety of methods craftsmen make not only necessary house-hold articles, but genuine works of applied art. Nowadays the development of the folk arts is paid much attention to. The Mari people try to keep the traditions of their fore-fathers because as D. S. Likhachev wrote: “Care for the folk art is a happy duty of each citizen of our big multi-national Motherland”.
Ex. 2. Read the text and do the tasks after it. Mari wood-carving Wood-carving is one of the most wide spread types of amateur folk arts of the Mari people. This art was closely connected with every day life, with the desire to decorate the house, the household articles; with the life of the Mari nation itself and with the traditional mentality, and world outlook. The favourable conditions of the land (the large amount of forests) provided the wide usage of wood for construction of houses and creation of utility articles. Wood possesses rich natural properties. It is available, mild and easy in processing. In free from farming work period the ancient Maris cut, gouged, turned all sorts of household items. Wooden things with the images of animals and birds were considered to be symbols – guarders or mascots. The most favourite was the image of a horse. It was due to its specific role in the life of a farmer. The image of a horse in the Mari mentality used to symbolize the family, house, fertility. The house head, being put on the roof of the house, “guarded” it from all troubles and misfortunes. The architectural carving among the Mari craftsmen doesn’t have old traditions. It appeared on mass scale as a means of house decoration only in the late 1900-s. The carved decorations were typical for each house of that time. The main attention was paid to the design of pediment, façade and window jambs. The Mari people also liked to decorate the columns of the gates, which are not preserved now. All kinds of carving are represented by the geometrical ornament. It consists of straight lines, triangles, circles, rhombs and their combinations. The wood-carving as the house decoration has remained in northern and north-eastern regions of the Republic (in Novotoryalsky, Mari-Tureksky, Sovetsky, Sernursky Regions). A lot of motifs in the wood-carving date back to the ancient traditions. The most popular one was a multi-petal flower or a rosette, which symbolized the sun. This “sunny” rosette composed the principal part of the decoration. Also popular were the ornaments consisted of wavy stalks and luxuriant leaves. Tracery carving appeared much later. It was done in the technique of cutting, when the motif was observed against the transparent background. This kind of carving was dominant in Kozmodemyansk Region. The eaves, window jambs, pilasters were richly decorated with the help of these “wooden lace”. The craftsmen widely used the elements of the Mari national ornament in their work. In areas close to Tatar Republic, the pieces of the Tatar ornaments appeared. Carving was also used for decorating hand-made tableware: bowls, cups, spoons, ladles. Preserving their utility functions, they also became the unique works of art. The carvers were exclusively men. They preferred to work with mild sorts of trees: a lime tree, an apple-tree, an aspen, an alder-tree. The main tools for wood processing were an axe, a knife, a fretsaw, a chisel and a gouge. The most favourite female activity was painting chestnuts. Let’s have a close look at one of such trunks. All the walls and its cover are painted in blue colour. The front wall and the cover are decorated with vegetable motifs. In the middle of each composition – a branch from an apple-tree in blossom. It is repeated in all the four corners of the cover. The whole painting is framed by two straight white lines. In conclusion, it should be said, that wood carving is closely connected with ethnic, moral sense of the Mari nation and acquires particular meaning at present.
1. Wood-carving is one of the amateur folk arts of the Mari people which was closely connected with the traditional mentality and world outlook. 2. The great amount of forests promoted the development of wood-carving. 3. Wooden things were considered to be the mascots and showed the material position of the house’s host. 4. The house head, being put on the roof of the house, proved that the family had a house. 5. The architectural carving among the Mari craftsmen has old traditions. 6. All kinds of carving are represented by the geometrical ornament. 7. The wood-carving as the house decoration has remained all over the Republic. 8. Tracery carving appeared in the 19-th century. 9. Tracery carving prevailed in Kozmodemyansk Region. 10. Carving was used only for decorating houses. 11. The carvers were both men and women. 12. The carvers preferred to work with a lime tree, an apple-tree, an aspen, a birch.
Ex. 3. Render the text in English. Обработка дерева Традиционным для горных марийцев являлся промысел (craft) по изготовлению деревянных тростей (walking stick). Распространение он получил в конце 1890-х годов. Основоположником этого промысла был Тимофей Барышкин, который служил в армии в Дагестане и освоил (to learn) там изготовление раскрашенных (painted) и лакированных (lacquered) тростей. Первым мастером-кустарем (handscraftsman) был житель Козьмодемьянска Федор Дмитриевич Калашников, который делал трости из карельской (Karelian) березы, яблони, клена (maple). В начале XX века трости изготавливали жители 17 населенных пунктов (settlements) Горномарийского района. Трости ценились как оригинальный волжский сувенир и как модная и удобная для прогулки вещь. В настоящее время изготовлением деревянных тростей, расчесок и украшений занимается мастер из города Козьмодемьянска А.П. Лашутов. Его работы часто отправляются в художественные салоны (art workshops) г. Москвы. Ex. 4. Read the text and complete with a/an or the if necessary. Beauty is somewhere near (after G. Levenshtein) As for the utility objects, I was attracted by (1…) bowls or ladles with long handles which were usually decorated with various ornaments and their tops – with zoomorphic (2…) figures. I found out that such (3…) bowls are kept in (4…) museum named after A. Grigoryev in Kozmodemyansk. I made up my mind to apply to its (5…) director N.V. Prosvirin. We descended into the cellar where the shelves were full of different utensils. The ancient Mari people ate (6…) liquid hot food from big deep bowls and scooped it with wooden spoons. They also used bowls and dishes of different size, sometimes very large (67 cm in diameter). For drinking there were small cups – ladles. I saw them on (7…) one of the shelves. They were (8…) very delicate and graceful. Their handles were crowned with the figures of a horse or a bird. I looked at them with (9…) admiration. It goes without saying, when you drink from such (10…) ladle, you both quench your thirst and get aesthetic pleasure and delight. Today, when you hold a spoon, made from stainless steel or faience, you can’t experience such feelings. At the top of the ladle there is (11…) figure o f a horse or a duck. However, if a duck had been known as the Mother of the world in Finno-Ugric world since ancient times, the figure of a horse appeared much later. Here in (12…) museum I also saw a big ladle, called skobkar – a big vessel in the form of a swimming bird, which was aimed at containing home-made beer and honey. Its title originated from the way it was produced. To get such a ladle a craftsman had to scrape a tree. It was (13…) most picturesque item among the table ware. At (14…) dinners it was taken around the table and was (15…) its decorative centre. The motif of a bird was the most favoutite in the folk art. The bowl was carved from the tree root and the craftsman formed the ladle as the bird’s head that was proudly raised. Ex. 5. Read the text and do the tasks after it. Wooden Mari architecture The architectural and compositional peculiarities of the wooden architecture of the Mari people were formed in close connection with natural surroundings (a river – a ravine – a sacred grove – a cemetery) and according to the arrangement of the rural farmstead which included a house, a yard, a summer kitchen (“kudo”), a shed, a closet, a barn, a bath-house, a kitchen garden, a threshing floor. In this natural spatial organization the integral attribute was a boarder-line. More often the function was fulfilled by a ravine with a spring, a river, a ditch, a sacred grove or a gate. The peculiarity of this architectural ensemble was stipulated by historic experience, environment and national psychology and ethnic originality. It was also influenced by the geographical position, the direction of nation’s economy, its history and by many other factors. The Mari settlements appeared spontaneously, but the common sense and natural intuition helped to make them organic and harmonic. The most wide spread type of the Mari settlements are villages. They have been reported in historic papers since the 17-th century. The Mari farmstead usually consisted of two parts: the front part – a yard with all necessary buildings and the back one, comprising a kitchen garden and a threshing floor. The yard occupied nearly half of the territory of the farmstead; the number of buildings was various. It included a dwelling house, a closet, a barn, a summer kitchen, a mow, a cattle shed. The farmstead was usually in the form of a rectangle. The place for it was thoroughly chosen. There are a lot of folk signs connected with this process. The site is suitable for a new house if the branches of a nut-tree are easily broken. If they are bent, the place is bad for this purpose. Sometimes a bucket with water was left on the chosen place. If the feathers of birds were found in the water in the morning, the place was believed to be a good one for building a house. The Mari people also came to the place at sunrise and at sunset. If the air in the morning and in the evening was warm there, the place could be chosen for a happy life. A few words should be said about a specific building – a summer kitchen (in the Mari language it is called “kudo”). Its destination changed in the course of time. Originally it was used as a sacred place. It was a traditional building aimed at carrying out sacred rituals. They say “a house spirit” lived there. Later it transformed into a summer kitchen. In the formation of an architectural look of the Mari estates the dominant significance has one-story and two-storey barns. The gallery of the second floor is attached with the help of a staircase. Usually behind the garden there is a kitchen garden and a threshing floor. We can also mention a special device – a light construction for drying sheaves. It was built of thin poles and it rose above the deep pit, at the bottom of which a fire was made. The compositional center of many Mari farmsteads was a tree or a group of trees of cult purpose. They were distinguished by size and beauty. Among the trees (lime-trees, birches, mountain ashes, and bird cherry trees) family praying and sacrifice ceremonies were held. The whole architectural ensemble was organically added by pagan cemeteries, where the funeral repasts took place in honour of the dead ancestors. Alongside the sacred groves, the springs, natural phenomena were the objects of worship among the Mari people (e.g. the Hill called Chombulat in Sovetsky Region). In the creation of the whole architectural complex an important part was assigned to the gates and barriers. The wellbeing of a host was judged by them. So, the folk Mari architecture is a historic, ethnographic, architectural and decorative phenomenon. It is explained by ancient traditions and original national peculiarities.
Ex. 6. Read the text and do the tasks after it. The Ethnographic Museum in Kozmodemyansk The Ethnographic Museum in the open air in Kozmodemyansk was opened in summer 1983. This event was timed to the 400th anniversary of Kozmodemyansk. The total area of the Museum is more than 5 hectares. More than 60 different buildings are on its territory. Coming into the yard through the gates you see a house. The fore-house is used for living in winter and a store-house for living in summer. Under the house there is a cellar for storing vegetables. If you like risks you can walk down the stairs into the complete darkness. They say the cellar is haunted by a wicked ghost. You’ll get a fair doze of thrill and unforgettable experience. In front of the house there is a cottage for cooking meals. It’s a kind of a summer kitchen. Further you can see a shed for cattle. A bee garden is very popular with tourists. Drinking tea with honey is part of the fun. The museum is proud of the mill with 4 wings moving due to the wind. There are 3 wells on the territory of the Museum. You are recommended to drink the pure water. A few drops will be enough to understand how tasty it is. There are also 2 bath-houses made of wood. The oldest building is a two-storey barn. It was used for storing grain, flour, meat. Home-made things: mittens, gloves, socks, embroidered towels, valenki are exhibited here. The Museum is being expanded with the new exhibits. Young people learn a lot about the past, about the life of their ancestors. The Ethnographic Museum is a must for all visitors arriving at Kozmodemyansk.
Ex. 7. Make up the right form of the word to suit each gap. |