A couple of centuries ago, housekeeping was not as easy as it is now.There were no washing machines, detergents, water had to be carried daily from the river, and the dishes did not differ in high-quality non-stick coating. But our ancestors did not lose heart and created their own devices to facilitate household chores. Some of them amaze our imagination, and something is still used as home decor.
Kitchen utensils
Poker, chapel, stag
These devices can still be seen in the villages - where the real Russian stoves have been preserved.
Poker was needed to move wood and coal in the stove. It was made of fireproof metal, usually to order from a blacksmith. Also, some housewives used a wooden burn, which mixed the ash, and sometimes used as a torch to illuminate the hut.
Chapelnik It was a metal hook with a wooden handle. With its help they captured a pan. In Russia it was called chapel, hence the name of the hook.
Chapelnik is one of the few household items that did not die, but was reborn in the modern kitchen industry. Some manufacturers create collections of pans and pots that require only one removable handle. In a modern house, this helps to significantly save space.
Stag or grab used to send cast iron with food to the oven. The hostesses usually had several stags: small, medium and large - for dishes of any size. The grip had a wooden handle and a metal base. With some dexterity, some owners made their own grip without the help of blacksmiths.
Garden
A wide and flat shovel from a single piece of wood. With the help of the gardener, the hostesses took out and sent a pie or bread to the oven.
For its manufacture aspen, linden or alder. When the master found a tree of the right size, he split it into two parts. Then on each part a long board was carved. On it they drew the contour of the gardener and smoothly cleaned it, trying to remove all the nicks. After cutting the subject, it was again stripped.
Such an item of kitchen utensils can now be found in Italian cafes, where, with it, cooks get pizza from the oven.
Millstone
The peasants knew: bread is the head of everything.Therefore, they approached the cultivation and collection of crops responsibly. The peasants grind the collected grain into flour, and usually they used hand millstones. The fixture consisted of two tight-fitting stone circles. At the top was a small hole for falling asleep grain and a handle that rotated the millstone.
Millstones were made of stone, less often - of wood with the inclusion of metal elements. Millstone can also be found in remote villages. But now I use them more often for grinding seeds and nuts, and not for making flour.
Home & Garden Supplies
Pomelo
Unlike the usual broom, the broomstick was used only for cleaning near the furnace and for cleaning it from ash.Outwardly, it looks like a broom: a long stalk to which juniper branches, brushwood, rags or bast are wound.
In Slavic folklore, the pomelo was an attribute of witches or Baba Yaga. Many proverbs and sayings were associated with him.
Trough and Rubel
Were necessary for washing and ironing.The trough was used for washing, feeding livestock, dough or pickles were prepared in it. This word came from "bark", from which the first troughs were made. Later they were made from half the deck, hollowing a recess in the center.
The washed laundry was ironed (rolled) using a ruble. It consisted of a rectangular board with notches and a rolling pin. The fabric was wound on a rolling pin and rolled on the table with the help of a ruble. Linen at the same time softened and smoothed.
Yoke
This household item was seen by everyone. The beam is a curved stick with hooks at the ends. For its manufacture willow, linden, aspen. Buckets of water were carried on the beam. By the way, carrying water on the yoke is not as easy as it might seem. Firstly, this purely female work is physically difficult. Secondly, so that the water from the buckets does not splash, the woman had to walk in a special, smooth gait.
Progress has been moving at all times, so the cast iron has replaced the ruble.It came into widespread use much later due to the high cost. The iron was heated in a furnace or hot coals were poured inside. Cast iron irons weighed a lot: from 5 to 12 kg. It was hard and inconvenient to stroke them in comparison with the ruble, but he could iron the “shaped” linen, while the ruble could only cope with the straight line.
Spinning wheel
An important attribute in the house of every Russian mistress.Women got a spinning wheel as a gift from their fathers, brothers or groom. This household item was appreciated, treated with care. Lopaski and the bottom of the spinning wheels were decorated with painting - in each locality in their own manner. Spinning's work was monotonous and long, often she remained at work deep after midnight. Spinning of threads progressed slowly, so the girls began to master this process and prepare their dowry from an early age.
Chest
Cabinets appeared in houses much later, and initially chests were used to store things.The dowry of the girl was forming in the chest, it was also painted, decorated with carvings. The chest could be a full decoration of the house. It was believed: the more chests in the house, the wealthier the family.
Sickle
It is a metal arc with a wooden handle.The sickle must be very sharp. With it, the peasants harvested.
The first types of sickles had a silicon tip. And that kind of sickle, to which we are accustomed, appeared only in the 18th century.
Many household items now seem ridiculous. But our ancestors, with their help, kept households, engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. Most household items of ordinary peasants can now be found only in museums, but in some villages the older generation still uses grabs, pokers, and stores things in chests. And in many houses you can see the surviving spinning wheels.
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