One of the most common types of shoes in Russia were bast shoes. You can make them from almost any material. Any peasant could make bast shoes for himself and his family. Their advantages are obvious: they "breathe", do not rub their leg, corns cannot be filled in them. And the holiday painted bast shoes were also beautiful. Their only minus is a short service life. The bast quickly wore out and wiped. The bast shoes fell into disrepair in 3-4 days.

Bast bast shoes

How to weave bast shoes in the old days

Bast shoes always depended on where they were created. Externally, shoes from different provinces could be distinguished by the type of weaving and materials. They were woven from all kinds of bark suitable for knitting, but linden bast bast shoes were valued more than others. In the northern regions birch bark was consumed, in the south one could find shoes made of elm and oak. The cheapest were models from willow. The names of each type of bast shoes came from the material: elm trees, broom, hairy. Another type of everyday bast shoes is the feet. It was convenient to work in them in the yard, as they easily put on a bare foot and did not require tying. Such bast shoes stood at the threshold of the hut and allowed you to quickly go to the sennik, stable or chicken coop.

Russian bast shoes

There were several types of weaving bast shoes: straight grille, oblique grille, crustaceans (rare weaving for rainy weather). Bast shoes were divided by the number of bast that were used in the manufacture - 5, 6 or 7. The more stripes, the denser the lattice and the warmer the shoes. For better thermal insulation, the sole was knocked out with leather or weaved bast shoes in two layers. Such techniques not only insulated models, but also made them more durable and beautiful.

In addition to the fact that bast shoes were everyday shoes of the peasantry, there were holiday models that were decorated in various ways. They were woven from the best bast, cut into smaller strips to create a unique pattern. In the manufacture of them, painted strips were woven into them, colored threads - the materials depended on the imagination and experience of the master. Such shoes were priced and worn only in special cases - at a wedding or major patronal holidays, as well as at a fair or in a city.

Who wore bast shoes and when?

The first mention of bast shoes dates back to the X century. Even then, the peasants procured shoes not only for personal use, but also for exchange, because not all trees grew suitable trees and there were craftsmen. So these shoes spread to the territory inhabited by the Slavs and became traditional for them.

The peasantry appreciated all the positive qualities of bast shoes, because they had to spend days in the field, where the convenience of shoes is of particular importance. Quality bast shoes did not rub their feet, quickly dried out in rainy weather, and their cost was so low that even the poorest farmers could afford them. In almost every family, men knew how to weave bast shoes, the boys learned this from childhood. While bast shoes were a favorite among farmers, artisans and city dwellers practically did not wear them, and there was nowhere to make them in the city. Therefore, such popular peasant shoes were not widespread in large settlements. For many centuries, until the beginning of the XX century. bast shoes were considered not only comfortable shoes, but also a symbol of Russia, because the Slavs, in their mass, lived in villages and worked with the land.

Bast shoes nowadays

Nowadays, bast shoes can only be found in souvenir shops. There are practically no real masters, and shoes in its traditional form, suitable for wearing, are not easy to find. But there are analogues of bast shoes from various materials: from raffia, birch bark, pine needles and even from newspaper tubes. Designers create many interesting and colorful models from different fibers, which have strength and an interesting texture.

Newspaper souvenir bast shoes

What were bast shoes made of? The very first mention of this shoe?

1. At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia was often called the country of marsh, putting a shade of primitiveness and backwardness into this concept. Bast shoes, which have become a kind of symbol, included in many proverbs and sayings, have traditionally been considered the shoes of the poorest part of the population. And it is no coincidence. The whole Russian village, with the exception of Siberia and Cossack regions, walked in bast shoes all year round. It would seem that the story of bast shoes is a complex topic. Meanwhile, even the exact time of the appearance of bast shoes in the life of our distant ancestors is still unknown.

   It is generally accepted that bast shoes are one of the most ancient types of shoes. In any case, archaeologists find hook bones for weaving bast shoes even in Neolithic sites. Does this give reason to believe that even in the Stone Age people may have woven plant fiber shoes?

   The widespread use of woven shoes has created an incredible variety of varieties and styles, depending primarily on the raw materials used in the work. And weaved bast shoes from the bark and sub-roots of many deciduous trees: linden, birch, elm, oak, broom, etc. Depending on the material, wicker shoes were called differently: birch bark, elm trees, oak trees, broom trees The most durable and soft in this a number of bast bast shoes made of linden bast were considered, and the worst willow twigs and bastards, which were made from bast.

   Often bast shoes were named according to the number of bast bands used in weaving: five, six, seven. At seven barks, winter bast shoes were usually woven, although there were instances where the number of bast reached twelve. For strength, warmth and beauty, the bast shoes were weaved a second time, for which, as a rule, hemp ropes were used. For the same purpose, sometimes a leather outsole (undercut) was sewn. For the festive exit, written elm bast shoes made of thin bast with black woolen (rather than hemp) headbands (that is, braid that fixes bast feet) or elm reddish sevens were intended. For autumn and spring work in the yard, high wicker feet, which did not have a turn at all, were considered more convenient.

   Shoes were not only woven from bark of wood, thin roots were also used, and therefore bast shoes woven from them were nicknamed root roots. Models made from strips of fabric and cloth flats were called lashes. The bast shoes were also made from hemp rope, kurpa, or coleoptera, and even horsehair from horsehair. Such shoes were often worn at home or walked in in hot weather.

   The technique of weaving bast shoes was also very diverse. For example, Great Russian bast shoes, unlike Belarusian and Ukrainian, had oblique weaving, oblique lattice, while in the western regions there was a more conservative type of direct weaving, or direct lattice. If in Ukraine and Belarus bast shoes began to weave with a sock, then Russian peasants made a braid with a backdrop. So the place of occurrence of one or another woven shoe can be judged by the shape and material of which it is made. For example, Moscow models woven from a bast are characterized by high sides and rounded heads (i.e. socks). The northern, or Novgorod, type was often made of birch bark with triangular socks and relatively low sides. Mordovian bast shoes, common in the Nizhny Novgorod and Penza provinces, wove from elm bast. The heads of these models were usually trapezoidal in shape.

   Few people in the peasant community could not weave bast shoes. A description of this craft has been preserved in the Simbirsk province, where lycoders sent whole artels to the forest. For a tithe of linden forest rented from a landowner, they paid up to one hundred rubles. They shot a bast with a special wooden speck, leaving a completely bare barrel. The bast produced in the spring was considered the best, when the first leaves began to bloom on the linden, so most often such an operation destroyed the tree (hence, apparently, peeling the well-known expression as sticky).

2. bast shoes weaved from salome
3. La # 769; bird (singular la # 769; sweat) low shoes, common in Russia in the old days, but, nevertheless, widely used in rural areas until the 1930s, gossip made of wood bast (linden, elm and others) or birch bark. The bast shoe was tied to the leg with laces twisted from the same bast from which the bast shoes themselves were made.
   One of the first mention of bast shoes is found in the Tale of Bygone Years (XII century). Bast shoes were also common among Belarusians, Karelians, Finns, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Tatars, Ukrainians.
4. From ancient times wicker shoes in our country was widespread. Bast shoes were made from deciduous plants: linden, oak, elm, birch, rakita and others. Accordingly, the products were called: oak trees, elm trees, birch bark, and broom plants. The strongest and softest were the bast bast shoes, which were woven from linden bast, the worst were willow twigs and buds, they were made of bast. Winter bast shoes weaved from seven bast bands and weaved with hemp ropes. Sometimes they even sewed on a leather outsole. For milder seasons, bast shoes were made of wood in 5-6 bast strips. For the festive exit, hand-written elm products were made, on which only the thinnest bast went with a black woolen braid fixed to the legs. For chores, high wicker feet were used without any decoration. Not only tree bark, but also thin roots went into the bast material. Such bast shoes were called root crops. They were also made from strips of fabric (lash), from hemp rope (torso), from horsehair (hairy). Such shoes were usually worn in hot weather or walked in at home.
5. from birch bark or another tree I don’t know for sure.
6. From linden bark.
7. Bast shoes are made and made of bast.

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For some reason bast shoesare considered a purely Russian type of casual shoes. But this is far from the case. Of course, in different countries they were woven in different ways and not only from bast. But the principle of weaving shoes was used by Karelians, Finns, Mordvinians, Tatars, Chuvashs. A similar type of shoe was also among the Japanese (Warajis), Indians of North America, and even Australian Aborigines.

According to the name of bast shoes - this light and cheap shoe - the participants in the medieval peasant war in Norway got their nickname. They wore bast shoes from birch bark, for which they were dubbed birkebeiners (“birch-footed” or “lapotniki”).

Cheap and cheerful

Why are bast shoes so widespread in Russia? First of all, they were cheaper than good-quality leather shoes. Weaved bast shoes most often from linden bast, which in the forest could be harvested in large quantities.

Of course, bast shoes were less durable shoes than boots. Not without reason did the Russian proverb say: “On the road to go, weave five bast shoes”. In winter, some bast shoes were worn for no more than 10 days, and in the summer, in the very strada, a peasant slipped some bast shoes in four days. On average, about 50-60 pairs of bast shoes were worn out by one villager per year.

The technique of weaving bast shoes in each of the regions of Russia was different. For example, Great Russian bast shoes, unlike Belarusian and Ukrainian, had oblique weaving - “oblique lattice”, while in the western regions they preferred direct weaving, or “direct lattice”.

If in Ukraine and Belarus bast shoes began to weave with a sock, then Russian peasants made a braid with a backdrop, so that a knowledgeable person could immediately determine from which edges the master. Moreover, in each locality there was also its own material, from which bast shoes were woven, and the “style”.

For example, Moscow and the provinces adjacent to the Mother See were characterized by bast shoes made of bast, with high sides and rounded heads (socks). The northern, or Novgorod, type of bast shoes was most often woven of birch bark, with triangular socks and relatively low sides. Mordovian bast shoes, common in the Nizhny Novgorod province, wove from elm bast. The heads of these models were usually trapezoidal in shape.

Often, bast shoes were named for the number of bast bands used in weaving: five, six, seven. In seven bast winter bast shoes were usually woven, although sometimes for especially chilly the bast number reached 12. For strength, warmth and beauty, the bast shoes were weaved a second time, for which hemp ropes were used. For the same purpose, sometimes a leather outsole (undercut) was sewn.

For the holidays - “on the way out” - there were written elm bast shoes made of thin bast with black woolen (rather than hemp) headbands (that is, braid securing bast shoes on the legs) or elm reddish sevens. For autumn and spring work in the courtyard, peasants considered high braided feet, which did not have a turn at all, more convenient.

Bast shoes were worn with footcloths, or, as they were called, onuchi. From the bast shoes up and around the lower leg, in the manner of an ancient Greek sandal, there was a bast lace, which was fastened below and kept the footcloth from unwinding. Nevertheless, with long walking periodically had to change shoes and rewind stray footcloths.

Bast industry

Most often, peasants themselves made bast shoes for themselves. Few people in the village environment could not weave such shoes. But there were villages where bast shoes were made not only for their needs, but also for sale.

The description of this craft in the Simbirsk province is preserved. Lycoders went to the forest with whole artels.

They shot a bast with a special wooden speck, leaving a completely bare barrel. The best was considered the bast obtained in the spring, when the first leaves began to bloom on the linden. Therefore, most often such an operation ruined a tree (hence the well-known popular expression “peel off like sticky”).

Before weaving bast shoes, a bast must be soaked in warm water for a day. Then the bark was scraped off, leaving a bast. From a bum — from 40 to 60 bundles of 50 tubes in each — approximately 300 pairs of bast shoes were obtained. Thus, the peasant could weave from two to ten pairs per day.

Sometimes the manufacture of bast shoes was put, so to speak, on the "industrial track". So, at the end of the 19th century in the village of Smirnov, Ardatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, up to 300 people were engaged in this business, and each of them prepared about 400 pairs of bast shoes in winter. In the village of Semenovsky, not far from Kineshma, bast shoes for 100 thousand rubles were made. And from the village of Myt, Shuysky district, Vladimir province, up to half a million pairs of bast shoes went to Moscow.

Nowadays, only members of folklore ensembles wear bast shoes, but some artels continue to make them - for sale as souvenirs.

Victor TSVETKOV

Weaving from a bast is one of the oldest crafts in Russia. In the Vyatka region, as in other regions of the country, peasants have long used bast for weaving primarily bast shoes. It’s bast shoes, which have become a kind of symbol, included in many Russian proverbs and sayings, traditionally considered shoesthe poorest. And it is no coincidence. The whole Russian village, with the exception of Siberia and Cossack regions, walked in bast shoes all year round.

Therefore, the widespread use of woven shoes has created an incredible variety of varieties and styles, depending primarily on the raw materials used in the work. And weaved bast shoes from the bark and under-root of many deciduous trees: linden, birch, elm, oak, rakita and others. Depending on the material, wicker shoes were called differently: birch bark, elm trees, oak trees, broomsticks ... The strongest and softest in this row were the bast bast shoes made of linden bast, and the worst willow twigs and bast shoes, which were made from bast.

Often bast shoes were named according to the number of bast bands used in weaving: five, six, seven. At seven barks, winter bast shoes were usually woven, although there were instances where the number of bast reached twelve. For strength, warmth and beauty, the bast shoes were weaved a second time, for which hemp ropes were used. For the same purpose, sometimes a leather outsole (undercut) was sewn. For the festive exit, written elm bast shoes made of thin bast with black woolen (rather than hemp) headbands (that is, braid that fixes bast feet) or elm reddish sevens were intended. For autumn and spring work in the courtyard, peasants considered high braided feet, which did not have a turn at all, more convenient.

The technique of weaving bast shoes was also very diverse. For example, Great Russian bast shoes, unlike Belarusian and Ukrainian, had oblique weaving - “oblique lattice”, while in the western regions there was a more conservative type - direct weaving, or “straight lattice”.

While in Ukraine and Belarus, bast shoes began to be woven with a sock, then Russian peasants made a braid with a back, so the place of occurrence of one or another woven shoe can be judged by the shape and material from which it is made. For example, Moscow models woven from a bast are characterized by high sides and rounded heads (socks). The northern, or Novgorod, type was often made of birch bark with triangular socks and relatively low sides. Mordovian bast shoes, common in the Nizhny Novgorod province, wove from elm bast. The heads of these models were usually trapezoidal in shape.

Few people in the peasant community could not weave bast shoes. A description of this craft has been preserved in the Simbirsk province, where lycoders sent whole artels to the forest. For a tithe of linden forest rented from a landowner, they paid up to one hundred rubles. They shot a bast with a special wooden speck, leaving a completely bare barrel. The bast produced in the spring was considered the best, when the first leaves began to bloom on the linden, so most often such an operation destroyed the tree (hence the well-known expression “peel like sticky”).

Carefully taken bast were then tied up in hundreds in bunches and stored in the hallway or in the attic. Before weaving bast shoes, a bast must be soaked in warm water for a day. Then the bark was scraped off, leaving a bast. From the bail - from 40 to 60 bundles of 50 tubes in each - approximately 300 pairs of bast shoes were obtained. The speed of weaving bast shoes was also different and depended on skill, so the peasant could weave from two to ten pairs per day.

To weave bast shoes, we needed a wooden block and a bone or iron hook - kochedyk. A special skill was demanded by weaving a sanctuary, where all bast were brought together. The masters tried to tie the loops so that after holding the turn, they did not twist the bast shoes and did not labor their legs on one side.

The Russian proverb testifies to the fragility of wicker shoes: “Go on the road, weave five bast shoes”. In winter, some bast shoes were worn for no more than ten days, and in the summer, during the working season, the peasant put on bast shoes for four days.

Skillful Vyatka craftsmen sold their goods at fairs in whole carts.

With the development of industrial production of footwear, its cheapening, the need for bast shoes disappeared. In the second half of the twentieth century it was already difficult to find a master who could know how to weave them. In the 1970s, an attempt was made to solve this problem in the Kirov production association for the organization of homework "Umelets". Several craftsmen worked at the enterprise, who made souvenir bast shoes of various sizes in small batches, including miniature 1 - 2 cm.

At present, a center for the production of bast shoes is actively operating at the People’s House Charity Fund, operating in the urban-type village of Kilmez.

Today, bast shoes are a great souvenir reminding us of the life and craft of our ancestors. Particular - practical - interest is shown in ancient Russian shoes by participants of various folklore groups and individual individuals involved in the reconstruction of ancient life.

Acquires bast and symbolic meaning - representing all the positive that was in the old Russian rural way. It is no coincidence that the festival of folk arts and crafts organized and annually held since 2009 in Kilmezi was called the Vyatka Lapot.

Who weaves modern bast shoes? First of all, Kilmez craftsmen who collaborate with the People’s House charity foundation are Ekaterina Ivanovna Rukhlyadyeva, Mikhail Vasilievich Medvedev, German Mikhailovich Anisimov. It begins to get involved in the fascinating process of weaving from the bast and the young generation prepared by them.

Bast shoes

Bast shoes (bast shoes)

A man weaves bast shoes. Lubok of the XVIII (?) Century.

A similar type of shoe was used by North American Indians. 12th Century Sandals

Lapti (units h - bast) - low shoes, common in Russia in the old days, and which was widely used in rural areas until the 1930s, woven from wood bast (linden, elm and others), birch bark or hemp. For durability, the sole was braided with a vine, a bast, a rope or hemmed with leather. The bast shoe was tied to the leg with laces twisted from the same bast from which the bast shoes themselves were made.

Lapti, and under the other name “leuchki”, were also distributed among Belarusians, Karelians, Mordovians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Finns, Chuvashs. A similar type of shoe was used by the Japanese, North American Indians, and even Australian Aborigines.

History

One of the first mention of bast shoes is found in the "Tale of Bygone Years" (XII century). Describing the victory of the Kiev prince Vladimir the Red Sun, the chronicler quotes one of the governor: who, looking at the captives dressed in boots, allegedly said: “These will not want to be our tributaries; let's go, prince, we’ll look better than the Lapotniks. ”

The following description is based on an article from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia (early 20th century):

In the 19th century, bast shoes were woven from a bast using an iron hook called by chance, and wooden pads. Sometimes, as, for example, in Polesie, L. consisted of only one soles, in most cases, they were given the shape of a shoe, and then they braided the top of the front of the shoe with a bast and attached backs. The free ends of the bend were bent inward again and fixed, which made the edges of the hole even and did not rub their legs. At the edges of the hole, ears were attached from the same bast, so that with the help of belts stuck in these ears, tightening the latter could narrow the hole and thereby attach the bast shoe to the leg. The best material for bast shoes was considered a linden bast, peeled off from the young, not thicker than 1½ points, sticky and notable for its strength. In the northern provinces, for lack of linden, they barked bastily from the birch; such a bast is of little strength, and bast shoes are worn out of it for no more than a week. Vine bast was used only in Polesie. The length of the linden bast is mostly 3 arshins; for a pair of bast shoes there are 32 bast, and one sticky gives 3-4 bast, so for a pair of bast shoes you need 3-4 trees. Since most of the inhabitants of northern and eastern Russia wore bast shoes, the consumption of birch and linden bast and the extermination of the young forest associated with it were very high. There was no accurate record of the production of bast shoes; a significant part of this shoe was made directly by consumers, for the most part the oldest members of the families, for other work already ineffective. Sometimes, however, the production of bast shoes received a significant concentration; so at the end of the 19th century, in the village of Smirnov, Ardatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, up to 300 people were engaged in this business, and each in winter they prepared up to 400 pairs of bast shoes. In the village of Semenovsky, near Kineshma, they produced 100 thousand rubles. bast shoes., diverging throughout Russia. 500 thousand pairs of bast shoes were sent to Moscow from the village of Wash Shuisky Uyezd (Vladimir province).

Typical types of bast shoes, and manufacturing methods

Chuni - bast shoes from ropes (hemp analog).

Bast foot m. bastlet, bastischi m. app. (German. Basteln), short wicker shoes on the foot, ankle-length, made of bast (lechniks), bast (bast, better), less often from bark of a rocket, willow (verzka, willow), tal (bast), elm (elm) , birch (birch bark), oak (oak), from thin roots (root roots), from the shred of a young oak (dubach, chern.), from hemp braids, broken shabby ropes (kurpa, crooks, chun, whispers), horse manes and tails (hairy), finally from straw (straws, chickens.). The personal bast shoe is weaved in 5-12 lines, bunches, on the block, kochedykom, cat (iron hook, pile), and consists of wattle fence (sole), head, heads (in front), earloop, obeshnika (border on the sides) and the head; but bad bast shoes, in a simple braid, without a bonnet, and fragile; the lapel or rim converges on the zapyatnik and, when connected, forms a defender, a kind of loop in which the oborov are threaded. The transverse bends bent on the lash are called Kurts; usually there are ten Kurts in the wattle fence. Sometimes the bast shoe is still poked, they pass along the fence with a bast or a tow; and painted bast shoes are adorned with a patterned sill. (Dahl Dictionary)

In Russian folklore and culture

Nowadays, bast shoes often occupy a central place in the expositions of some museums, and are used on the stage and in sports life. For example, in the city of Suzdal in 2007, the “Sports festival of Lapti” was successfully held, which in 2008 acquired the status of international competitions. And the well-known Kostroma musician and dancer Igor Belov uses bast shoes in one of his spectacular performances, “Taped in Bast Shoes and with Button accordion”. Weaving bast shoes - as developing fine motor skills in children - is used in children's educational institutions, and bast shoes themselves - in children's and adult folklore ensembles.

see also

• Bryl - a straw hat with straight wide brim. An element of traditional men's clothing in Belarus and Ukraine.
• Strohschuh (stroshu) -Traditional Swiss straw shoes.

Swiss straw bast weaving

Notes

References

• I. I. Zvezdin, “Bastard fishing in Baksheev, Malaya Polyana, Rumstikh and Berezniki” “Nizhny Novgorod Collection” edited by A. S. Gatsisky, Volume 7. (1880s). (Modern Dalnekonstantinovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region)
• § 98. Shoes - Chapter VI “Clothing and Shoes” by D.K. Zelenin. "East Slavic Ethnography"