Russian folklore
The organization of early Slavic society seems largely to have been based in small towns run by a group of people rather than a single leader,[2] and had a strong emphasis on one's family unit.
[8] Russian soil is generally too thin for robust agriculture, rainfall is infrequent and inopportunely timed in much of the area, and the growing season is relatively short.
Additionally, there is thought to have been a notable focus on the feminine element in early Slavic culture, with a subsequent shift to a more patriarchal society as Christianity got a foothold in the area.
[3] Despite the superficial eradication of pagan belief, animism and ancestor worship survived in rituals, stories, charms, and practices in peasant life.
The struggling new government, which had to focus its efforts on establishing a new administrative system and building up the nation's backwards economy, could not be bothered with attempting to control literature, so studies of folklore thrived.
Finnish scholars collected comparable tales from multiple locales and analyzed their similarities and differences, hoping to trace these epic stories' migration paths.
[12]: 46 Once Joseph Stalin came to power and put his first five-year plan into motion in 1928, the Soviet government began to criticize and censor folklore studies.
[13]: 157 To keep folklore studies in check and prevent inappropriate ideas from spreading amongst the masses, the government created the RAPP – the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers.
The RAPP specifically focused on censoring fairy tales and children's literature, believing that fantasies and "bourgeois nonsense" harmed the development of upstanding Soviet citizens.
In 1934, Maxim Gorky gave a speech to the Union of Soviet Writers arguing that folklore could, in fact, be consciously used to promote Communist values.
Apart from expounding on the artistic value of folklore, he stressed that traditional legends and faerie tales showed ideal, community-oriented characters, which exemplified the model Soviet citizen.
[15]: 55 Folklore, with many of its conflicts based on the struggles of a labor oriented lifestyle, was relevant to Communism as it could not have existed without the direct contribution of the working classes.
[12]: 47 Also, Gorky explained that folklore characters expressed high levels of optimism, and therefore could encourage readers to maintain a positive mindset, especially as their lives changed with Communism's further development.
The Union handpicked and recorded particular stories that, in their eyes, sufficiently promoted the collectivist spirit and showed the Soviet regime's benefits and progress.
[13]: 160 Responsible for advocating a sense of Soviet nationalism, these organizations ensured that the media published appropriate versions of Russian folktales in a systematic fashion.
[12]: 46 Apart from circulating government-approved faerie tales and byliny that already existed, during Stalin's rule authors parroting appropriate Soviet ideologies wrote Communist folktales and introduced them to the population.
[13]: 161 As the performers of the day were often poorly educated, they needed to obtain a thorough understanding of Marxist ideology before they could be expected to impart folktales to the public in a manner that suited the Soviet government.
Besides undergoing extensive education, many folk performers traveled throughout the nation in order to gain insight into the lives of the working class, and thus communicate their stories more effectively.
[13]: 164 These new Soviet faerie tales and folk songs primarily focused on the contrasts between a miserable life in old tsarist Russia and an improved one under Stalin's leadership.
[3] There have been several attempts to classify European folklore, and one notable system was begun by Finnish folklorist Antti Arne, and later developed by Leningrad professor N. P.
[3] Other wedding traditions, like eating eggs, singing bawdy songs, and throwing grain over the newlyweds were originally intended to secure fertility and prosperity for the couple in the years to come.
Grow numb you too, teeth of God's humble servant (name stated), like in a corpse; make him strong, Lord, stronger than a stone.
In Russian fairy tales, Baba Yaga flies around in a mortar, wields a pestle, and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs.
Andrea Johns identifies Baba Yaga as "one of the most memorable and distinctive figures in eastern European folklore," and observes that she is "enigmatic" and often exhibits "striking ambiguity.
"[1] Johns summarizes Baba Yaga as "a many-faceted figure, in capable of inspiring researchers to see her as a Cloud, Moon, Death, Winter, Snake, Bird, Pelican or Earth Goddess, totemic matriarchal ancestress, female initiator, phallic mother, or archetypal image".
[19] Like the leshy, the polevoi has variable size based on his surroundings, and might be tall as the uncut grass in the summer and tiny as the field stubble after the harvest.
Some of the most common animals found throughout many folktales and Russian fairy tales (Skazki), are foxes, sheep, goats, roosters, bears and wolves.
The Indrik is described as a gigantic bull with legs of a deer, the head of a horse and an enormous horn in its snout, making it vaguely similar to a rhinoceros.
Sister Alenushka and Brother Ivanushka is a classic Russian fairy tale that tells the story of two siblings who go on a dangerous journey to find firewood for their family.
The eldest two princes, however, fail to marry a bride despite their efforts, while the youngest one manages to win the love of a talking frog or toad by promising to be her husband and to bring her to his father's palace.
