Calendar of the Dnieper Slavs

The invasions of nomadic hordes, wars and frequent fires led to the loss of most written monuments of the times of Kievan Rus. Only a few of them accidentally survived the centuries and survived to the present day, to tell about the events of distant times, about the way of life, customs and beliefs of the Dnieper Slavs. Carefully reading these monuments, we can draw certain conclusions about the chronology in Russia in the pre-Christian era.

Among the few monuments of ancient writing, the Tale of Bygone Years is especially interesting - a collection of historical chronicles, acts, teachings and stories compiled around 1113 by Nestor the monk of the Caves Monastery in Kiev( the second and third editions of the Laurentian and Ipatiev Chronicles have reached us), Ostromir Gospel, written in 1057, and several later chronicles.

Already long before the adoption of Christianity the Dnieper Slavs developed their own time counting system, names of months, days of the week. At the heart of this account, as with other peoples, lay the rhythmic phase change of the moon. By how the ancient chroniclers described solar eclipses, how they compared the visible sickle of the Sun with the sight of the moon on a particular day after the new moon, we can conclude that the phases of the moon were fixed in Russia very carefully. In particular, in the annals we read that "the sun aky is young a month was"( 1065), "as a young man the second day"( 1321), "as the month of the fourth day"( 1140), "5 days a month "," as 10 days a month "(1460).About the solar eclipse of 1230 in the Laurentian Chronicle it is said that the Sun has the form "aki month 3 days", whereas for the compiler of the Novgorod first chronicle it is "aki at 5 nights a month".The eclipse of 1236 in the Kiev region was ring-shaped. According to the Holy Trinity, the Sun that day was like a "month of four days", according to Novgorod - "aky month was at 6 nights."This, in particular, enabled D.O. Svyatsky and astronomer MA Vil'yev( 1893-1919) to establish in each particular case the place where this or that record was made.

The great attention paid to the observations of the moon is also evidenced by the presence of ancient names of the lunar phases: the new moon was called "boundary", the young crescent is "new", the first quarter is "the new crossroad," the phase of about 10 days is "subspaces", the full moon is "polonium ", the phase of about 17 days -" damage ", the last quarter -" old rehab ", the old sickle -" vetokh. "

Two Old Slavonic names of the months are found on the pages of the Ostromir Gospel. So, on the l.210( v.) Read: "The selector of the cirques begins from the seventh millennium to the month of Augustus, the reckless glow."On L.256: "Mtsa enoiara prosminca rekomagoago. ..".The remaining names are borrowed from the Roman calendar. In a number of other ancient manuscripts, the Slavic names of the months are given, which are partially preserved in modern Ukrainian and Belarusian languages ​​(Table).

Table. The name of the months in the Old Slavonic, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages ​​

most
Modern	common	Modern	Modern
Russian	Slavonic	Ukrainian	Belarusian
name	name	name	name
January	-sectional	Very	Studzen
February	Fierce	Lyuty	rency
March	Berezozol	Berezen	Sakavik
April	Colors	Quartz	Handsome
May	Trawl	Traven	May
June	Cherven	Cherven	Cherven
July	Lipiec	Lipen	Lipen
August	Serpen	Serpen	Zhniven
September	Veresen	Veresen	Vorasen
October	Listopad	Zhovten	Kastrychiik
November	Gruden	Listopad	Listopad
December	Jelly	Breast	Snezan

Apparently, these names were closely related to the change of the seasons and the corresponding change of economic work. So, the name of the month "seed" went, apparently, from the word "cut" - to cut the forest. After all, Pridneprovsky Slavs had to cut down forests in winter to prepare new areas for crops. It was also called the "blueprint", by the time of the appearance of blue in the sky after a continuous autumn-winter cloud cover. Fierce - the month of the greatest snowstorms and frosts, birch, birizozol - the time when a tree cut down in winter, mostly birch, was burned and turned into ashes. In the north of Russia, March was called "dry"( the drying time of the felled forest was meant), and the next month, April, was called berezozole, respectively.

Quiet( bloom) and grass - the time of flowering and rapid growth of grasses. The name of the month is a worm( worm) derived from the word worm;at this time people gathered harmful gardens in orchards and vegetable gardens. In the north, June was called "isok" - sometimes the chirping of grasshoppers. Lipen( lipec) - the time of flowering lindens, serpent - the harvest time, when the main tool of labor was a sickle. Veresen is the time of blooming of heather - a low evergreen shrub common in Polissya, in the forests and partly in the forest-steppe.

Zhovten and leaf fall are the names of two months, respectively, at the time of yellowing of the foliage of trees and its falling off. The Belarusian name "kastryshchk" comes from the bonfires( lignified parts of the stems) of cannabis. In the north of Russia cold snapping was faster, therefore already in November there was called a breast from frozen hummocks( "piles") on the roads. The name jelly speaks for itself. ..

As will be clear from what follows, these names were given to time intervals counted in celestial( lunar) months. However, the entire production life of people was associated with the seasonal change of the seasons. Therefore, in their calendar calculations, they were forced to regularly insert an additional 13th month. There are definite indications of this in the work of Kirsa, the deacon of the domesti( i.e., the regent) of the Novgorod Antony monastery, the doctrine, he also knows the person the number of all years ", written in 1136, the Cleric, in particular he writes:, as in a single summer of the book months 12, and the celestial moons emanate 12, and for the summer to remain 11 days and in those days for the 4th summer the moon comes the 13th. .. ».Hence the well-known researcher of the chronicles NV Stepanov concluded that the insertion of the 13th month was made in Russia "for the 4th summer of the inclusive account," which was seven months every 21 years.

It can be assumed, however, that this insertion was made more often, in accordance with the requirements of the 19-year cycle. But it was produced without a certain system, and in different ways in different settlements in Russia, possibly in winter, when the connections between these settlements practically ceased. Because of the confusion in the account of time, this 13th month people did not like( and this dislike to the number 13 has survived to this day), but, perhaps, they were afraid.

This fear, the reasons of which have long been erased in the memory of people, has survived centuries. . Thus, in Ukraine, from generation to generation, it was believed that the month "blackwood" had to "be born and go to the great post".A proverb reached us that "as the month is black, the world will end."In 1769 on the Right-Bank Ukraine a terrible epidemic began and people panicked: a rumor spread that this year it will be the month of blacks. ..

From remote times came to Russia seven weeks - a seven-day week. However, the ancient Slavs associated the names of the days not with the names of the gods, but with the ordinal numbers of the days in this period of time.

Apparently, before the XIII century.in Russia there was no concept of the day as a unit of time. The chroniclers considered time to be days, the night divided "day" and "in a hurry" and referred to the "day" that passed. The clock count began in the morning, so noon corresponded to the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th hour of the day, midnight( or "chastity") - the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th hour of the night.

There are known such moments and time intervals!morning, dawn, dawn, early dawn, sunrise, morning, mid morning, mass, lunch, noon, udene, midday, paebed, evening, night, midnight.

In conclusion, we note that in Kievan Rus was known for the Roman calendar with its reverse count days to calends, non and id. For example, in the "Tale of Boris and Gleb" - a monument of the second half of the XI century.or the first quarter of the 12th century.it is said that Boris's death came "a month of ioulia on day 24, before 9 calends a( in) thick".In the I Novgorod annals under 6644 the arrival of Prince Svyatoslav Olovich in Novgorod is dated as follows: "the month of July in 19, before the 14th of August".The calendar term "Kalanda" is also found in the "Izbornik Grand Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavovich 1073", in which the January calends are dated "Christmas Christ".

The special treatise of "The great scribe of Antioch about the carols, about nones and ideas about his friend's friendship" was known in Russia, probably this is the work of the Constantinople astrologer Ritoria( 5th-6th cc.).This work was included in the Pilot Book of the 11th century.and in its later lists. Distributed in Russia and an essay on the names of months of various ancient peoples, called "John of Damascus about the Macedonian months."

An important role in the Old Russian chronicle and chronography was played by the work of the Patriarch of Constantinople Nikifor( 758-828) "Chronografikon", or "The Chronicler soon", containing a brief chronological list of events of world history "from Adam" to the year of his author's death.

Of course, one of the most important is the question of when and how in Kievan Rus began to use the Julian calendar and how the "transfer" of the names of its months of their ancient folk names related to the lunisolar calendar occurred. After all, the months of this calendar "floated" as it were about certain astronomical moments, in particular with respect to the beginning of spring, which in the X century.accounted for March 15 by the Julian calendar. If the baptism of Rus really took place in 988 on August 1( to which the church tradition relates it), then on this day of the year mentioned it was a full moon. Consequently, at the beginning of August, the 15th of the month of the lunisolar calendar had to be recorded. If they were "sickle", this would explain the existing shift of the traditional names of the months towards autumn. ..

However, there are serious reasons to believe that "the baptism of Rus" was not in 988, but a year or two later, or,on the contrary, before. Secondly, one can not fail to take into account that some popular names of the months, for example, June - "Cherven" and November - "leaf fall" coincide, that is, they are the same for practically all Slavic peoples. This, of course, attests to their closest ties in the past.

Taking into account, undoubtedly, the political, commercial and other ties of Russia with Byzantium( and before that - why not? - with the Roman Empire), close proximity to them, existed in the pre-recorded period, it can be argued that the Julian calendar on the lands that receivedlater the name "Rus", was known and could be used long before the adoption of Christianity in parallel with the traditional lunisolar calendar. It was this assumption that made it possible for BA Rybakov to unambiguously compare the symbolism of the signs depicted on clay vessels of the II-IV centuries.n.e., which were found in the lands inhabited at the time specified by the Slavs, with specific dates for the solar( Julian) calendar.