Month of the Russian folk calendar

Russian name of the month Listopad - speaks for itself, displaying the main event observed in Nature (naturally, on the territory of Western and Eastern Rus'). Historically, this month is significant in that on October 4, 1582, the Julian style was replaced by the Gregorian style, and the next day was already considered October 15.

The Latin name for this month, October, was the number octo (eight) - in accordance with the serial number. This month was patronized by the ancient Italian goddess Opa (Ops). Initially, Ops was revered as the goddess of harvest and fertility, and with the flourishing of ancient Roman culture, she acquired the function of the patroness of wealth. For this reason, Gaius Julius Caesar kept the state treasury in the temple of this goddess. Also, there is every reason to believe that it was Opa who served as the image of ancient Greek Europe (the mythical daughter of Agenor, sister of Cadmus), that is, the name of the continent - Europe.

In Russian paganism, the analogue of the ancient Italian goddess Opa is - ancient Russian goddess Siva. The bearer of the collected fruits, Siva, was one of the most revered goddesses and was part of the supreme pantheon of Western Rus'. Many attempts at interpretation in the description of this goddess mistakenly call her consonant with Siva - I live, apparently because of the fruits depicted in her hands, offering a purely consumerist approach to the fact that harvested it is a symbol of life, while for the fruits themselves it is only death (as food for humans). In reality, the ancient Russian Siva (literally - Winter) is only the Goddess of Death. Therefore, in the Russian Tradition, the appearance of Death is always grey-haired, but unlike many other world cultures, it does not have a bias towards “necromancy”, but performs its sacred functions only in accordance with the Law of its Father (King Cold) and, if it brings premature Death is only in the Name of Life. On the other hand, among the interpretations of the Russian Tradition, one can come across descriptions of Siwa, but under the name of Mary, which in turn is also incorrect, as in the case of Zhiva. Mara - among all indigenous European peoples is a purely personal spirit (the same as the soul), appearing at the moment of death for each individual creature, and not the Goddess of Death herself - who controls all maras.

Fall of November marks two particularly significant sacred celebrations - the Intercession (of the King of Cold) and Parents' Day - Grandfathers (the Day of Honoring the Ancestors and those taken by the goddess Siva, among others). The very concept of Grandfather comes from the Celtic Did - the name of the Progenitor (according to ideas similar to the Greek Hercules).

After the yellowing of the leaves in October, which in most Slavic countries is called Zhovten, beautiful life the foliage ends and its fall begins - leaf fall.

And in all Slavic countries, except Russia, the name of this last month of autumn is called very simply and logically - Listopad.

And in different Slavic languages ​​- Belor. Listapad; Ukrainian Leaf fall; Czech, gender, words - Listopad, this month has the same name, since leaf fall actually occurs at this time. Where else is more logical?

Everything with this name of the month is clear and understandable - leaves fall from all the trees and only conifers remain green. Why is this happening? Yes, it’s very simple - with the onset of cold weather, the plants do not have enough water and if the leaves remained on the tree, it would dry out. And so, having shed its leaves, it seems to fall into suspended animation, conserving its strength until next spring.

Is there a similar phenomenon in subtropical zones? Yes, trees there also shed their leaves with the onset of dry seasons. I saw a similar phenomenon during our mountain trek in Laos - in one valley the entire trail was covered with large yellowed leaves of trees from the plane tree family.

Leaf fall - the eleventh month of the year Gregorian calendar. People also use the following names for this month: breasttruss, leaf fall, padolist, bratchini. The word November, the ninth month of the old Roman calendar (November), which began in March, has stuck with Russia, despite the transition to the Gregorian calendar.

This month did not go unanswered by poets and writers, and simply by people comparing it - the penultimate month of the year - with their own lives, which are approaching the end.

And, of course, this month there are a lot of holidays - even too many. Where would we - the “Russians” - be without them? You can start celebrating holidays from world day men, an accountant, a student, quality, a philosopher and even the memory of victims of road accidents to the bailiff, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Santa Claus, rocket scientists with tax officials, marines and ending with the Soviet day of Vosra - November 7!

But, in the intervals between these holidays, you can still see a fascinating spectacle of the cycle of earthly life - autumn leaf fall! If you observe carefully, you can see how, at the slightest vibration in the air, a leaf is carefully separated from the branch. Freezing for a moment, he begins his last path to the ground.

Slavic languages ​​have largely retained their original names of months associated with weather phenomena, the agricultural calendar, pagan holidays or other completely understandable phenomena. Unfortunately, some languages ​​(Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian) have abandoned their native twelve months and use Latin. Most likely, such a transition is associated with the adoption of Orthodoxy and the fight against pagan remnants in the minds of the people. Such survivals were often reflected in the names of the months and the organization of the ritual year. Due to the fact that the Bulgarians, Russians and Serbs had a fairly continuous state history- these names of the months (Latin, although these languages ​​most likely came from Greek) are firmly entrenched in the language.

Other languages ​​- for example, Croatian, Ukrainian, Czech, experiencing a period of revival in the 19th century, associated with the philosophical ideas of romanticism, deliberately abandoned foreign names for the months in favor of the original Slavic ones. As a matter of fact, the regional peculiarities of the use of the names of the months determined some minor peculiarities in various Slavic languages. So, without paying attention to Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian, which use the familiar Latin months.

January: leden – in Czech – everything is clear, the name of the month comes from the root led (Russian ice); Polish styczeń, Croatian sječanj and Ukrainian sіchen come from the verb “to cut” and are apparently associated with snowstorms, which usually mercilessly whip the face this month; Belarusian studzen is a cold month, and Slovenian prosinec is a month in which it is cold, right up to the point where the skin turns blue, but the origin of the Upper Sorbian wulki róžk is not entirely clear. However, it is worth noting that January in Slovenian is December in Czech (also prosinec).

February: the climate of Slovenia is again one month behind the Slavic brothers and the second month of the year among the Slovenes comes from the same root as the first month among the rest of the Slavs - svečan; most of the Slavs called February the fierce month (Ukrainian lyuty, white lyuty, Polish luty); Croatian veljača – probably associated with the pagan holiday of the Great Night, which falls in mid-February, and Czech únor, researchers associate with the verb nořit (se) – to dive and connect the name of the month with winter fishing; The Upper Sorbian mały róžk is still not entirely clear, although it is definitely less than January.

March. In many Slavic languages ​​it is associated with the collection of birch sap: Ukrainian. berezen, white Sakavik, Czech. březen; in the Slovenian language, the third month of the year is associated primarily with the drying of the earth sušec; Upper Sorbian March denotes the turn of the year towards summer, nalĕtnik for summer, and Croatian ožujak is associated with the verb to lie and probably denotes the last month of peasant rest before field work; At the beginning of spring, the Polish language lost ground and used the Latin word, reworked to suit the peculiarities of Polish phonetics marzec [mazhets].

April is a month associated with the awakening of nature. In Ukrainian (kvіten) and Polish (kwiecień) the name of this month is associated with flowering, in Czech (duben) with the appearance of oak leaves, in Croatian (travanj) and Slovenian (mali traven) April is the month of grass germination. Particularly prominent here are the Belarusian language, where the name of this month emphasizes the general beauty of nature (krasavik) and Upper Sorbian, where the name of April jutrownik comes from the word jutro - tomorrow and probably means the imminent arrival of summer.

May. This month causes Latin relapses in Polish (maj) and Belarusian (May) languages. In Czech it has a delayed symbolism of flowering (květen). In the Upper Sorbian language the theme of the flowering of nature is concretized before the flowering of the rose (róžowc). Ukrainian (traven) and Slovenian (veliki traven) languages ​​continue in May the theme of the appearance of grass on the ground, and the Slovenian language literally continues this theme from April. Only the Croatian language stands out against this background due to its originality (svibanj) and is associated with the setting of dogwood fruits (Croatian svibovina).

June. The first month of summer shows some climatic differences between the areas of settlement of the Slavs. If among the Croats it is associated with the flowering of the linden tree (lipanj), then among the Slovenians the rose (rožnik) also blooms, which bloomed last month in the Upper Sorbian language. Basically, the Slavs called June the red month, either because of the general beauty of nature, or because of the ripening (redness) of the first berries. Hence the Ukrainian cherven, the Polish czerwiec, the Czech červen and the Belarusian cherven. The Upper Sorbian language again stands out from the crowd of its peers, calling June smažnik, which means hot, frying.

July. In Ukrainian (lipen), Belarusian (lipan) and Polish (lipiec) it is associated with linden flowering. The Czech continues the theme of ripening berries (červenec) in July, and the Croats (srpanj) and Slovenes (mali srpan) this month have already taken up the sickle and begun the harvest. The origin of Upper Sorbian pražnik is associated with the beginning of distillation and fermentation of fruit and berry crops.

August- traditional harvest time in the Czech Republic (srpen), Poland (sierpień), Ukraine (serpen), Belarus (zhniven) and Upper Sorbian also (žnjec). These countries have joined Slovenia, which has been reaping for the second month (veliki srpan), and the Croats are already transporting grain in August (kolovoz = kolo (circle, wheel) + voz).

September. Etymologically, perhaps the most incomprehensible of all 12 months. The Upper Sorbian language clearly tells us about the end of the harvest - požnjec (lit. after August). Czech September (září), most likely hunting time říje (rutting season). Croatian rujan is also probably named after the hunting period and comes from the archaic verb rjuti, referring to the mating of animals. The name of September in Ukrainian (Veresen), Polish (wrzesień), Belarusian (Verasen) is traditionally associated with the flowering of heather. And finally, in Slovenian, kimavec has a vague origin.

October. Czech říjen is also related to hunting like the previous září and comes from the same word. Slovenian vinotok and Upper Sorbian winowc are definitely associated with winemaking. And Ukrainian (zhovten) and Belarusian (kastrychnik) with the advent yellow leaves in the crowns of trees. In Croatia, leaves fall this month (listopad). But the Polish październik is associated with the processing of flax and hemp, the name is traced back to paździerze - a word that denoted some kind of by-product of the processing of flax and hemp.

November almost universally associated with the fall of leaves: listopad - in Czech, Polish and Slovenian, leaf fall - in Ukrainian, leaf fall - in Belarusian. Only in Croatian is it a cold month (studeni), and in Upper Sorbian is it a month that turns the year to winter (nazymnik).

December. In Czech (prosinec) and Croatian (prosinac), like Slovenian January, this month is associated with terrible cold; in Belarusian we record the appearance of snow (snejan); in Ukrainian (gruden), Polish (grudzień) and Slovenian (gruden) - this is the month of the first frosts and frozen clods (breasts). And in Upper Sorbian it is the most well-fed month of the year (hodownik), when the bins are still full after the harvest.

So, we see that, unlike the Latin names of the months, dedicated to the gods, originally Slavic - associated with economic activity and weather changes. So they become most interesting material for ethnographers, historians and folklore collectors. In addition, the Slavic names of the months are much closer and more logical than the Latin borrowings.

The other day, when November arrived and the leaves began to fall, the following thought came to me: “Why is November called November in Russian, and, for example, in Ukrainian, “Leaf Fall”...?

After all, these languages ​​have a common origin, but the names are so different....

And here's what turned out:

Names of the months of the Old Russian calendar

The ancient Slavs, like many other peoples, initially based their calendar on the period of change lunar phases. But already by the time of the adoption of Christianity, that is, by the end of the 10th century. AD, Ancient Rus' I used the lunisolar calendar. It was not possible to definitively establish what the calendar of the ancient Slavs was. It is only known that initially time was counted by seasons. Probably, the 12-month period was also used at the same time lunar calendar. In later times, the Slavs switched to a lunisolar calendar, in which an additional 13th month was inserted 7 times every 19 years. The most ancient monuments of Russian writing show that the months had purely Slavic names, the origin of which was closely connected with natural phenomena. The year began on March 1, and around this time agricultural work began. Many ancient names of months later passed into a number of Slavic languages ​​and were largely retained in some modern languages, in particular in Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish, as can be clearly seen from the table.

Names of months in some Slavic languages

Modern names of the months originate from the ancient Romans. Initially, the Roman year began in the spring and consisted of 10 months, which were designated by serial numbers. Later some months were renamed.

January: Latin: Januarius. Named after the god Janus - in Roman mythology - the two-faced god of doors, entrances, exits, various passages, as well as beginnings and ends. The Slavic name "Prosinets" means the rebirth of the Sun. The Little Russian name for January is “juicy”: after gray December, the colors of nature become rich and bright. In the Chuvash language - karlach.

February: Latin: Februarius. Named after the festival of the purification of Februa (Februs is the god of the underworld of the dead, on which the festival of the purification of Februa was held, when the living brought sacrifices to the dead, calling for their protection.). Slavic names: “Sechen” - the time to cut trees to clear the land for arable land, “Bokogrey” - cattle come out to bask in the sun, “Vetroduy” - the winds whip with cold in February. But he still rages - “Lute”. February was also called “low water” (the time between winter and spring). In the Chuvash language, naras (nuras) means “new day,” that is, the first day of the new year.

March: Latin: Martius. Named after the god Mars - the Roman god of war and patron of Roman power. The Slavic name is "Dry" - the ground dries from the falling snow. The indigenous Slavic-Russian names of this month in the old days in Rus' were different: in the north it was called dry or dry from the spring warmth, drying up all moisture, in the south - berezozol, from the action spring sun on the birch tree, which at this time begins to fill with sweet sap and buds. “Zimobor” - conquering winter, opening the way to spring and summer, “Protalnik” - this month the snow begins to melt, thawed patches and drops appear. In the Chuvash language - push, that is, an “empty” month free from agricultural work.

April: Latin: Aprilis. Named after the goddess Aphrodite or from the Latin word aperire - to open. The Old Russian names for the month of April were “Brezen”, “Snowgon” - streams run, taking with them the remnants of snow, or also “Blossom”, because that’s when the first trees begin to bloom, spring blossoms. In the Chuvash language - aka, since sowing work began at that time.

May: Latin: Maius. On behalf of the ancient Roman goddess of spring Maia.

The Slavic name “Traven”, “herbal” - a riot of herbs and greenery. Nature is blooming. In the Chuvash language - su - the approach of summer.

June: Latin: Junius. On behalf of the ancient Roman goddess Juno, wife of the god Jupiter, goddess of marriage and birth. In the old days, the indigenous Russian names for the month of June were "Izok". Izokom was the name given to a grasshopper, of which there was particular abundance this month. Another name for this month is "Cherven", from the mealybug or worm; This is the name given to a special kind of dye worms that appear at this time. In the Chuvash language - sertme.

July : Latin: Julius. Named after Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Previously it was called quintilium from the word quintus - fifth, because it was the 5th month of the old Roman calendar, since the year began with March. In our old days, it was called, like June, “Cherven” - from the fruits and berries that, ripening in July, are distinguished by their particular reddishness (scarlet, red). This month is also called “Lipets” - from the linden tree, which usually appears in full bloom at this time. July is also called the “crown of summer”, since it is considered the last month of summer, or also a “sufferer” - from hard summer work, a “thunderstorm” - from strong thunderstorms. In the Chuvash language - uta - haymaking time.

August : Latin: Augustus. Named after Emperor Augustus in 8 BC. Previously it was called sextilium from the word sextus - sixth. In the north of Rus' it was called “Zarev” - from the radiance of the lightning; in the south “Serpen” - from the sickle used to remove grain from the fields. Often this month is given the name “Zornik”, in which one cannot help but see a modified old name “glow”. Also, this month was more famously called “stubble”, I think it would be unnecessary to explain. In the Chuvash language - surla (sickle).

September : Latin: September. From the word septem - seven, because it was the 7th month of the old Roman calendar. In the old days, the original Russian name for the month was "Ruin", from the roar of autumn winds and animals, especially deer. He received the name “Khmuren” due to his weather differences from others - the sky often begins to frown, it rains, autumn is in nature. In the Chuvash language - avan (ovin - a structure for drying bread) - at this time grain was dried.

October : Latin: October. From the word octo - eight. The Slavic name is “Listopad” - well, everything is obvious here. It also bore the name “pazdernik” - from pazderi, bonfire, since in this month they begin to crush flax, hemp, and habits. Otherwise - “muddy”, from the autumn rains that cause bad weather and dirt, or “wedding party” - from weddings that are celebrated at this time in peasant life. In the Chuvash language - yupa (connected with the ritual performed this month).

November : Latin: November - ninth month. The Slavic name "Gruden" comes from piles of frozen earth with snow. In general, in the ancient Russian language, the frozen winter road was called the chest path. In the Chuvash language - chuk (connected with the ritual performed this month).

December : Latin: December. From the word decem - ten. The Slavic name "Studen" means cold month. In the Chuvash language - Rashtav, derived from the term “Christmas”.

Having examined all the names, it is difficult not to notice that the ancient Roman month could have received its name in honor of some outstanding historical figure, the holiday that was celebrated in it, the features of its “character”, and the name of the deities.

Unlike the Latin names of the months dedicated to the gods, the original Slavic ones are associated with economic activity, weather changes, pagan holidays or other completely understandable phenomena.

Today, we Russians, unfortunately, no longer use the Slavic names of the months; we use Latin names that came to us from the ancient Romans. Meanwhile, many Slavic languages, for example, Ukrainian, Belarusian, retained their original names of the months.

In our opinion, the Slavic names of the months are much closer and more logical to us than the Latin borrowings.

It also seems to me that the original Slavic names of the months are more beautiful and more informative...

But....what we have, we have....

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This section contains various interesting information. It happens that some phenomenon or fact interests us, or children ask a question about something.... In order not to lose this information, we save it in the “Interesting” section

Part 1 - Names of months among the Slavs
Part 2 -
Part 3 -
Part 4 -