Ancient images in folk art are our heritage

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

In the school curriculum, an important place in the study of national culture is occupied by ancient images in folk art. Fine arts (fine arts) begin to be taught from primary school, and one of the first topics is devoted to the symbols that our distant ancestors embroidered on clothes, carved on wooden utensils, depicted on jewelry and clay pots. These images served not only as decoration - they carried a sacred meaning.

Spiritualization of images

Encoded in architectural compositions, household items, works of art and folklore texts, ancient images in folk art reflect the ideas of our ancestors about the world around us. The outstanding scientist Nikolai Kostomarov considered ancient symbols to be a figurative manifestation of moral ideas with the help of objects of physical nature endowed with spiritual properties.

Academician Vernadsky noted that the life of a given era and a given people is manifested in the works of folk art, and thanks to this, one can study and understand the soulpeople. He recognized the deep symbolism of artistic creativity, which gives us the Cosmos, passing through the consciousness of a living being.

Main looks

Examples of sacred symbols and their meaning in an accessible form are presented in the school theme "Ancient Images in Folk Art" (Grade 5, Visual Arts). This is a geometric ornament, images of the sun, eggs, Tree of Life, sky, water, mother earth, images of animals and others.

• The sun personified the womb of the Universe.
• The Tree of Life is the center of the universe, the hierarchical structure of being.
• The egg is a symbol of life, the celestial sphere from which stars and planets arise.
• The image of the Earth was associated with the image of the mother-nurse.
• Sky, earth, water, animals and plants, fire, manifestations of nature (wind, rain, snow, etc.) were depicted with the help of ornaments.

Sun

This is the most ancient image in folk art. The sun was considered the center of the world and the source of life, it symbolized heavenly spirituality, often acquiring the image of individual gods. The cult of the Sun was worldwide. In the Ipatiev Chronicle of 1114, it is indicated that "The sun is the king, the son of Svarog, the hedgehog is Dazhbog." According to other sources, Svarog was considered the god of the sun.

The sun is the "Eye of God", which is endowed with the epithets "holy", "righteous", "clear", "red", "beautiful". Later, the Sun occupies a special place in the celestial hierarchy next to the Almighty: clearmonth, bright sun and Heavenly God. Let us recall the teaching of Vladimir Monomakh, who pointed out the need to give “the morning Praise to God, and then to the rising sun.”

In the school textbook about ancient images in folk art (grade 5) it is said that the Sun was designated by our ancestors allegorically in the form of rhombuses, round rosettes and even horses (they symbolize the coming of spring). They were decorated with women's hats, belts, beads, pastries, wedding loaf, pysanka eggs, ceramics, etc.

Tree of Life

This is no less ancient image in folk art than the Sun. The Tree of Life symbolizes the trinity of the world, the world tree, the mythical bird - the creator of the Existing. It unites heaven (branches), earth (trunk) and the underworld (roots). The Tree also means genus - hence the name "family tree", "roots of the genus", "native roots".

The image of the Tree of Life has, perhaps, the most complex ornamental structure. This is a bizarre pattern depicting a sprawling tree, with leaves, large fruits and flowers. Often the tops of the ornamental tree are crowned with images of magical guardian birds (hence the expressions "blue bird", "bird of happiness"). Canonically, the Tree is depicted as growing from a bowl (vessel), thus indicating the origins of its roots from the sacred bosom (receptacle of the world, the universe). The well-known folklorist Xenophon Sosenko noted that the idea of the World Tree “is considered by the people as the first peacemaking factor.”

Mother Earth

Earth has always been associated with the female image of the mother, becauseThe earth is the provider. The goddess of fertility is found in many world cultures. Ancient images in the folk art of Mother Earth were personified with a large-breasted woman. She can give birth to children, and “give birth” to the harvest. Until now, archaeologists have found figures of female wooden idols set in the fields.

On ornamental images, Mother Earth almost always stands with her hands raised to the sky, and instead of a head, a rhombus can be depicted - one of the symbols of the Sun. This emphasizes the dependence of the crop on the heat of the sun and the sky (rain).

Sky

According to ancient beliefs, the Sky seemed to be the core of the universe, a symbol of the cosmos, that is, order and harmony, the source of life. The semantics of the word "heaven" among many peoples means "number", "harmony", "middle", "order", "navel", "life" (in particular in Latin, English, Latvian, Hittite, Irish, Welsh). Ancient images in folk art endowed the Sky with special power: often the interpretation of the word "sky" is consonant with the concept of "God".

Our distant ancestors believed that the Sky is a river along which the bright sun travels. Sometimes a cow was identified with Heaven, which was considered a celestial being and was called the "heavenly cow." The sky seemed to people a hemisphere, a dome, a lid, a vessel that protected them. Images of the sky were marked on painted eggs, shirts, towels, carpets, etc.

Ornament

Since ancient times, pottery, woven, embroidered, drawn, wicker, carved wooden and stone household itemsdecorated with various ornaments. The patterns had ideological semantics and compositionally consisted of simple elements: dots, zigzags, curls, straight and spiral lines, circles, crosses and others. Among the main groups and types of ornaments (geometric, floral, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic), researchers distinguish a group of symbols of celestial bodies (sun, moon, stars, etc.).

It was in the form of ornaments that ancient images were most often depicted in folk art. The central place in such compositions was usually occupied by astral signs of heavenly fire, stars, the sun and the month. Later, these deified elements were transformed into a floral ornament.

Conclusion

Sun, Tree of Life, Mother Earth, Sky, Month - these are the main ancient images in folk art. The discussion of their meanings both in the school lesson and among scientists develops into a fascinating controversy. It is enough to imagine yourself in the place of an ancient ancestor to understand what an indelible impression the majestic sunrise and the bottomless depth of the sky above your head, the violence of the elements and the pacifying fire of the hearth make. All this beauty, grandeur, wildness, our forefathers captured in the ways available to them for future generations.