Life of a Russian peasant: barn. What are suseki and mshanik?

Contrary to popular belief, the home of the Russian peasant was not limited to a hut. This concept included the yard, which was necessarily fenced, and outbuildings, and a barn. What is a barn today is known, alas, not all of our contemporaries.

A pledge of well-being

So, the meaning of the word barn and its definition. Barn in the translation from the Persian dialect - a cold warehouse. In Russia, it was a separate structure, which was located at a distance from the hut, but certainly in the sight of the household.

What is a barn for peasant life? In those days, they talked about how full the barn was, the peasant's pockets were so full. And this was the purest truth!

Wheat, barley, rye and oats - in general, the entire grain stock for a year was stored in a barn. What is the harvest for a peasant family? This is their life, their confidence in the future and the hope for a full life. That is why the barn was located some distance from the hut.

If there is a fire, the family will lose housing, but the food will remain intact, which means that the hungry death to the fire victims is not terrible.

For the same reason, a lock was hung on the barn. Inside were located suseks, which along the entire perimeter were equipped with a barn. What are susseki? It's simple, these are large boxes for storing cereals.

Cellar: construction and purpose

A cellar was set up under the barn. It stored perishable products, as well as vegetables: carrots, potatoes, beets, radishes ... The main thing is that the cellar and barn are above the spring flood, otherwise they could not be flooded.

For the cellar they first dug a deep foundation pit. The deeper the pit, the better the reserves were stored. In the winter, the vegetables were not frozen in the cellar, and in summer the milk was not sour.

So that the earth walls of the cellar did not fall off over time, they were laid out with oak logs. Of them, also erected and overlapping - not without reason in Russia oak was considered and is still considered the most reliable and strong material.

Outside, the roof of the cellar was covered with dry earth. To pass into the inner part of it, there was a man-made lizard, followed by footsteps in the belly of the storehouse. On the eve of the onset of fierce frosts, the manhole was further insulated with straw and hay into the cellar.

The furnishings of the cellar were practically the same as what the barn looked like. All products were also stocked in suseks, which were placed along the walls.

On the peasant farmstead, in addition to the cellar, there were also sheds and a rig, a cattle shed, a mishmash, a bathhouse, an exit and a barn. What is mshanik? This is a shed, the cracks in which are embedded in moss. The richer the farmstead was, the greater the number of farm buildings it housed.

Peasant Compound

The lion's share of the structures was cut with an ax. The saw was used extremely seldom. In addition to the buildings, the term peasant court included such concepts as a garden, a threshing floor, an orchard and, of course, a large or small but compulsory allotment of land.

The most important buildings were built from oak logs. Of these, in addition to the cellars, wells and mills were built. For everything else, wood was used for alder, birch and aspen.

As such, the foundation of peasant buildings was not. The huts were additionally reinforced with pillars, which were used as huge stone boulders or stumps.