Russia is |
Russians are an Eastern Slavic people, the majority of the population of the Russian Federation.
The term “Russian language” has several meanings:
– the written language developed on the basis of Ancient Russian dialects under the strong influence of the Common Slavic literary language (the so-called Old Slavic) which fulfilled literary functions in the Kievan and Moscovite Rus;
– the complex of all the dialects and subdialects that the Russians have used and continue using;
— the common Russian language, the language of mass media and schools, the state language.
Its writing system is a version of the Cyrillic alphabet.
On the vast territory populated throughout historical periods, separate groups of the Russian people were formed, which had their own cultural, class or religious particularities. This has to do with the complicated ethnic history of the Russian people, which stipulated the development of language and other differences within the single Russian mass that kept the common self-designation. Within the European part of Russia, the Northern Russian and Southern Russian historical cultural areas were distinguished first of all, with the central part of the country between them.
The traditional forms of material culture (household economy, house, clothes, food and utensils, household items) before the beginning of the 20th century reflected the regional specifics of the inhabitancy of the Russians. That being said, already in the 16th century there were class differences distinguishable within the culture, expressed in the use of new forms, often connected with the particularities of the development of the city culture, with influence of other ethnicities and of Western Europe. Since the 18th century, this specific feature was exacerbated as the result of using new forms of manufacture, new materials and professional labor. Presently the household culture of the Russians is mostly unified, the differences are currently preserved in the food traditions.
The central part of Russia (to the south of Moscow) is the territory where the specific traits of the Russian food culture were formed. One of them is the preference for the “black” rye bread over the “white” wheat one. Wheat flour was used for festive baking (pies - rolls, rategai, coulibiacs, pancakes, etc.) Grits and flour were also used to prepare the shchi soup, which since the 19th century included cabbage and meat. Since the 18th century, potatoes were actively included into the national diet; they are used for both first and second courses. Various vegetables and eggs were added into grits- and potato-based food. Dairy products were used (milk, sour cream, soured milk, curd, butter). Meat (mostly beef, pork or mutton) and poultry (chicken and geese) were rarely seen on a dinner table.
The use of vegetables for food (pumpkin, beetroot, tomatoes, marrow squash, pepper, eggplants) is more characteristical for the south of Russia than for the center and the north. Besides shchi, the borshch soup was also popular, which contained many different components. By early 19th century, the wheat plantings increased. Wheat becomes increasingly usual as compared with rye and is cultivated by Russian settlers in several regions of Siberia, due to which wheat bread supplants rye bread (the Altai and Minusinsk steppes).
The diet of the northerners was based on bread and fish until early 20th century. Barley and oats were considered to be the main bread cultures; however, rye bread was also used actively. Flour and grits were used to make semi-liquid dishes. Vegetables were also used: turnip, radish, onions and garlic, as well as berries, mushrooms, nuts and wild herbs. Fish was pickled, or sometimes eaten raw. Meat was used more often than in other regions, and not exclusively by the well-off.
For all the territories inhabited by the Russians it was traditional to use honey for food, to make various malt drinks (beer, home brew, wine).
From olden times, the economy of the Russians was based on agriculture, which developed with the settlement of various territories and acquired specific features at various regions depending on the natural conditions. Besides successes in farming, people pursued such occupations as crafts, businesses, mining enterprises and creation of large-scale industry. During the industrial era, scientific research reached a high level, the system of general and professional education was formed.
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