Rowan - thin, curly, scarlet. Reflection of this beauty in folk art

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

This relatively short tree is found in Europe, Asia and North America. Rowan… Thin as a girl's waist, with bright red clusters of berries, burning with scarlet fire against the background of white snow - this tree looks spectacular in summer, autumn and winter.

Maybe that's why mountain ash is so loved in Russia, where it grows almost everywhere - near houses, along roads, in deciduous and coniferous forests and forest plantations.

Magical properties of mountain ash

People love this tree very much. Rowan is mentioned in many folk songs and legends.

Popular rumor ascribes magical properties to this tree - it is believed that it can endow a person with the gift of divination. Obviously, this is why in some places the mountain ash is also called the "witch tree".

Here she is - rowan. A thin twig with carved leaves can protect from other people's spells and protect against diseases and witchcraft. Masters of painting on wood from Khokhloma rarely do without her image in their products.

Rowan leaves are attached to the shepherd's staff as a talisman that protects livestock from the evil eye and attacks by wolves.

Catholicpriests and Old Believers make crosses from its wood. Previously, rowan boards were sheathed on the stems of ships, and its logs were laid in the foundations of wooden churches and other places of worship.

It is believed that the Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ, was crucified on a cross made of mountain ash, so another property is attributed to the mountain ash tree - to drive away death and disease from a person.

Folk song as a means to look into the depths of the human soul

The best way to know the soul of any people inhabiting our land is to help a folk song. It has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. A simple peasant or worker could come up with it, and a gentleman or a priest could sing it. And vice versa, romances composed by venerable composers are picked up by ordinary people and eventually become folk art.

Actually, the writer of a truly folk song does not pretend that his name has been preserved for centuries. Words come from the heart, are born as a result of experienced deep emotional impulses. Maybe that's why they resonate in the soul of another person, and over time, a seemingly simple work becomes a masterpiece of folk art. The foregoing fully applies to many genres that have undergone folklore processing. This is the song "Thin Rowan".

The story of the creation of the song "Thin Rowan"

In 1864, self-taught poet Ivan Zakharovich Surikov wrote a simple poem about his favorite folk tree - mountain ash. At that time, the young man was only 23 years old, but he was already more than three years old.years was married to an orphan girl from the poor class. What was the reason for writing the poem is unknown, but in its lines the pain from unrequited love and the inability to connect the hearts of "oak" and "rowan" is clearly read.

An unknown author put the poem to music, the song was to their liking and in a slightly modified, folk version has survived to this day. Until now, if they begin to sing at a feast, then someone will definitely sing “Oh, curly rowan”, “Ah, this red rowan”, “Thin rowan” or another song that mentions this unusual tree.

Folk song about mountain ash performed by famous artists

The words "What are you standing, swaying, thin rowan …" more than once sounded from the lips of the famous folk singers Lyudmila Zykina and Nadezhda Kadysheva. The song has also entered the men's repertoire - it is beautifully performed by Yuri Gulyaev and Shura. “Thin Rowan” sounds no less beautifully performed by the duet - Alexander Mikhailov and Taisiya Povaliy, as well as musical groups - the vocal-instrumental ensemble “Singing Guitars” and the Moldavian VIA “Norok”.

It is interesting to listen how a simple and uncomplicated melody, in which the performer puts a piece of his voice and worldview, acquires a new, different sound. Apparently, this is the secret of truly folk songs.