CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

From the nearby village of Kozliatievo, it is the most spectacular of the Bois wooden churches.

The. A small trail covered with planks leads to an old isba of the th century. This isba was inhabited by a family of fairly affluent peasants. Traditionally, these houses were built together, with the help of neighbours, and the end of the work was celebrated by a large meal. A few pieces and a hard egg wrapped in the foundations guaranteed the spirit of the home, the Domovoï, a small old man who lives near the stove and leaves only at sunset. Every evening, even today, they leave bread, milk and some candy.

The two right-wing coffres were also used to rest in front of the windows while looking at the time. It was in the covered yard that the working tools were stored, most often in wood (a harrow, a plough, and a kind of long wooden beater with which flax was used in the region). The livestock lived far enough from home and often on the edge of the water, because the homes burned easily. However, despite the fire risks and the maintenance that it requires to prevent it from pourrisse, the wood is very good for the Russian climate: freshness inside in summer, heat kept in winter. A traditional isba consists of two large rooms separated by an vestibule (séni). On the right, the main part was a kitchen, a living room and a bedroom where the family lives in winter. In summer, when this room, where you were cooking on the stove, became too hot, the family would install in the room on the left by entering. In this room, where you slept in the summer, you also stored personal objects and work tools: a safe, a bed, a weaving loom, a spinning machine, wooden dishes and braided bags of birch bark. The lapti, these summer shoes, made up of birch bark, were also to be used in winter for the entire family in different sizes (a pair of lapti used in approximately one week, the peasant with a large family had something to look after during the long winter evenings). In the winter room there were no beds or chairs until the mid th century. The bench near the windows, called the red or beautiful bench, was intended for visitors. He went to the "red corner", reserved for the icon and place destined for the patriarch of the family. Women were not entitled to it, their place was on the «shelf» or the «women's bench» next to the window, because they needed light to get off. In the evening, the woman slept her child in the cradle (right by entering), and looked after the lighting. The family that lived in this isba had neither oil lamp nor candles and was lighting with loutchina, dried birch pieces, this burning wood faster and with less smoke than others (to avoid fires, one surrounded wet sand). On the right of the entrance, there is a large trunk in which the farmer tajani his tools and his wife was not allowed to open. This type of trunk is called a konik because of the sculpture that it is often decorated and which makes the head of a horse, kon '.

At night it served as a bed. It was covered with furs since there were no mattresses or blankets. Left of the entrance, the stove occupied all the space. Behind the curtain, a niche in the stove served as a room for grandparents, an ideal place to heat its rheumatism and tell children stories. In winter, the hens lived under the stove in a hot light, accompanied by the newborn calf. The many children were sleeping in the false ceilings they had on the stove and where they épiaient the adults… Meals were prepared in the oven on the other side of the stove. it was loaded with wood and the peasant soup soup was put on the embers. Sometimes, after removing the embers, there was a straw and there was a sick child sleeping there, where it was not cooked, in theory in much better health according to the sauna principle.

The stove plays a very important role in peasant life and Russian stories, such as those of the old witch Baba Yaga who likes to cook children in the oven. The corner of the stove was the kingdom of the peasant that found it within reach: of the clay cream and a baculot to boil water without necessarily reviving the fire of the stove. In the center of the baculot passes a metal pipe, in which we introduce fire, which brings the water to boil, and some pine apples whose good smell released by heat will accompany the tasting of tea.

At the time of the meal, the patriarch typed on the table with his wooden spoon (the only cover used), which meant that you could start eating. We were used in a large single dish and if the children ate more meat than soup, they were entitled to the same spoon on the forehead.

In summer, young girls and boys slept in barns, where they could escape the authority of their parents. The bath was mandatory for the entire peasant family, and the one who wanted to escape it ran the whip. The first to take the bath was the father, then the grandfathers and boys, then grandmothers and girls, and finally the mother. The bath (bania) behind the house was a small wooden construction with a stove inside; there were large stones on which we poured cold water to get steam. Even today, the Russians are going to the bath, passing part of the day in return between the icy water of the river and the heat of the bania, stinking with branches of birch to circulate the blood, assisted of course a few skewers and good vodka rasades. If you ever take a moment to bania, be vigilant, because the spirit that dwells with him could, if he is unhappy with your attitude, give you dizziness. Young girls to marry went to the bath to know their future and their future husband. To the great amusement of the boys in the village, each was held, half-naked, near a tiny window that allowed to evacuate the steam. If a hairy hand affected her, the husband would be very rich, if it was a imberbe hand, the husband would be very poor, and if she received a stroke, he would be nasty…

The isba that has just been seen, interesting though it is, is a more folkloric character than a real village interior (which it is indeed advisable to visit: the Russians are very welcoming and open their door quite easily. If you know how to use diplomacy, without offence or imposing on you, and with a few thousand rubles for this purpose, you may also take some pictures).

A little further, and always following the small board path, we arrived at another house dating from the beginning of the th century, which belonged to a rich peasant family. On the ground floor of the house, the family had a weaving shop where the village women came to work in winter. That's where they could meet the sister soul, because the men came to support them in their task by singing and playing music after the work of the fields. To improve their situation, the farmers were going to sell the fabrics manufactured in these small weaving workshops in town.

Although more luxurious than the previous one, this house did not have running water, because at the beginning of the th century there were no technical means for digging to access an underground source, often very deep in Russia. It was therefore necessary to fetch water from the fountain or the well. There are several kinds of wells, some with a long balancier and a crank, others with a large wheel, like the one you can see in this museum, indispensable when the water was at a deep depth (up to 40 m). The peasants grimpaient in the wheel, walked inside to rotate it and buckets went down to the water. In winter, the ice had to be broken first. Linen washed at home was rinsed to the river.

In the covered courtyard of this house of weavers are two sleds, wooden supplies, hives, and tools. The family is rich, on the floor, the summer room in the storage room, for furs and clothes. There is a keyring of a young girl, which starts to be made at the age of 8. Very spacious, the séni (the vestibule) was used in summer to sleep in beds located above the staircase.

Another staircase leads to the attic, where you never put hay due to fires, but sawdust as thermal insulation. This is where used felt clothes and felt are stored, and medicinal plants were dried. The living room bears the brand of city influence, because the farmer separated the kitchen from the room and brought new furniture (a cupboard, chairs and objects of incredible luxury such as the oil lamp and especially this German sewing machine). There is also a bed with pillows that date from the beginning of the th century and which mark an evolution compared to the previous isba. The weaving shop on the ground floor of the house is currently in restoration.

Behind the house, a small square of choux recalls today's concerns, as is the store of souvenirs (watercolours, matriochkas, balalaïkas, painted wood…) where light lights up as soon as a tourist approaches, then turns off when it back path. In front of the shop, two young men play backgammon: we must be distracted and, despite the awareness of the place, this campaign is not the most frequented in Russia.

At the bottom of the area where the museum is located, there will be two th-century windmills, characteristic of the Souzdalie, unlike the rest of Russia where water mills can be seen.