National composition of foreign Europe. General characteristics of foreign Europe

No matter what anyone says, the Russians are a great nation that is developing modern world plays quite a significant role. And given its centuries-old history, it is worth thinking about what wisdom is present in this nation, and what contribution it has made to the overall progress of mankind. Today, many people, most often politicians, unreasonably belittle the “Russian” nation. Let's look at the stages of its development and formation, so that later no one will have any doubts about its significance in the history of mankind.

The nation “Russians” as an ethnographic group

Let's start, perhaps, with a presentation of dry facts. It is believed that Russians, or as they have been called since ancient times, Rusichi, belong to the ethnographic Slavic group. It goes without saying that the definition of any nation, as such, is based on territorial affiliation, general moral and cultural values, as well as some general physiological similarities.

In general, the “Russian” nation belongs to the Slavic branch of human development, but in the general understanding it is a Caucasian type of race (one of the most numerous among the entire population of our planet). Let us consider all aspects of its origin and evolution from several points of view.

Russians are a European nation: anthropology

If we talk about the nation itself, the first emphasis should be placed on some distinctive features of the same appearance, which differs quite greatly from some other nations.

First of all, it is necessary to note some external signs by which a Russian (Slav) can be distinguished from all other representatives of humanity. Firstly, there is a predominance of brown-haired people over blondes and brunettes. Secondly, these people are characterized by reduced eyebrow and beard growth. Thirdly, representatives of this nation have a moderate facial width, weak development of the brow ridges and a slightly sloping forehead. Fourthly, we can note the presence of a moderate horizontal profile with a high nose bridge.

But this is all a purely scientific approach. The nation “Russians” should be considered not only from the point of view of some kind of physiology or belonging to the place of residence, but rather from the point of view of culture, epic and consciousness. Agree, Russians, Scandinavians or Americans may have different understandings of the same issue. All this is due to history.

A story we don't know about

The fact that Russians live on the Eurasian continent, unfortunately, misleads many. It wasn't always like this. In light of recent discoveries, it is worth tracing the history of the nation.

Of course, the mention of such a mythical country as Hyperborea may seem utopian to some. It is believed that it existed as an island state similar to Atlantis, but only in a place today called the Arctic. After global cataclysms that occurred approximately 12 thousand years ago, representatives of that race, due to a sharp cooling, began to migrate south, populating the current Central and Eastern European territories. In addition, this supposedly vanished civilization gave the world a huge heritage - Vedic wisdom. Even skeptics have no doubt about this fact.

Over time, that people divided and mixed with other representatives of humanity, but the main cultural and physiological differences from other nationalities remained, uniting into a race that today is commonly called the Slavs. It includes three main nationalities, which are then divided according to certain ethnic characteristics: Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. But such a division happened much later, when there was a single nation “Russians”.

But that's not all. Some modern historians claim that Russians are a nation of slaves. This can only be attributed to the dominance of the Soviet past. However, many of these “writers” would do well to delve into history. In fact, if anyone doesn’t know, the nation of slaves is the name given to the Jews who, under the leadership of Moses, made the exodus from Egypt. So, there is no need to confuse different things.

Russian folk tales and folklore

The “Russian” nation itself, its traditions and the way of life of those times are associated with the emergence of a kind of folklore. Of course, fairy tales and legends in the form national epic Every nation has a wisdom passed down from generation to generation, but it is Russian wisdom that has a rather interesting character.

Of course, it is not as heavily veiled as, for example, however, any more or less literate person knows from childhood that “a fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it...” What is most interesting is that in some fairy tales contain real information about the past, despite some abstract or non-existent images. Researchers of five lakes with healing water near the settlement of Okunevo in the Omsk region claim that they have come to understand that fairy tales contain a hidden meaning that may implicitly point to real things or events that took place in ancient times. It’s not for us to judge whether this is true or not, nevertheless...

But what's most interesting! Ershov, who wrote his fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse” when he was less than 19 years old, composed it in this very place, and the cauldrons in which one had to swim represent the sequence of all the lakes entering the water (in his time only three main lakes were known) .

What did the Russian give?

In general, let no one be offended, the Russians are the titular nation, which in the near future will lead all of humanity. Russia (Western Siberia) will become not only the main cultural, but also the religious center of the whole world. By the way, one of such legendary prophets as Edgar Cayce spoke about this. And recently, an interpreted verse was found in the quatrains of Nostradamus.

As for cultural heritage, no matter what anyone says, it is simply impossible to argue. Look, almost all the classics of literature or music include the names of Russian figures. And what can we say about such sciences as physics and chemistry? Only Lomonosov and Mendeleev are worth anything.

Misconceptions and speculation about Russian people

Unfortunately, in Western society one can often find certain associations with a type of nationality. For example, the nation “Russians” is often associated with a bear playing the balalaika (usually drunk).

Yes, people love to drink from the “green snake,” but our people never drink on their own. Look, it’s not without reason that they suggest “thinking for three”?

On the other hand, even the tradition of serving bread and salt when welcoming a guest or stranger at home has also become almost international. And this is only the most famous, but if you dig deeper, you can find so many interesting things in history and everyday life that you will have to spend whole years and even decades on the description.

Aryan legacy

Of course, one can argue that Russians are the best nation, however, from the point of view of respect for other nations, this is incorrect. There was already one person in history who put the nation above everyone else. This refers to Adolf Hitler. He believed that the ancient Aryans from the already mentioned Hyperborea were the forefathers of the Germans.

Russian nation today and tomorrow

In the light of recent discoveries, it turns out that the Fuhrer was completely wrong. The Aryans were the ancestors of the Slavs, who later spread across the Eurasian continent, but certainly not the Germans, who are more similar to the Scandinavians or Anglo-Saxons.

However, if we talk about the Russian nation today, even if it cannot yet lead the world movement for cleansing from filth, nevertheless, this day is not far off. If you have any doubts, read the predictions of those who were never mistaken - Wang and Edgar Cayce. Indeed, according to their statements, it is Russia and the “Russian” nation that will become the stronghold that will provide refuge for a saved civilization.

Instead of an afterword

Even biblical sources in modern interpretation claim that peace will come only when there is a unification and this is the West and the East, and the role of the East is assigned specifically to the Russian people. And no “Uncle Sam” can stop this. The reason, alas, is banally simple: by that time the USA simply will not be on the world map. And isn’t that why the States are trying so hard to put pressure on Russia (and maybe even “bite off” part of the territories that do not belong to them for their survival?). I just want to answer: “Don’t wake up the sleeping Russian bear!” Because, you know, he can not only play the balalaika or drink vodka, but he will also crush anyone who dares to poke his head into his den. And if he is also in a sleeping state, then certainly no American special forces will help.

The population of modern Foreign Europe is characterized by high homogeneity in terms of national composition. The majority of the peoples living here represent the Indo-European language group. But the actual ethnic composition of the region is quite complex, so interethnic relations often become strained here.

general characteristics

The population of this region is estimated at approximately 700 million people. The indigenous peoples of Foreign Europe represent the Caucasian race. But over the years, due to many factors, representatives of other nationalities have actively moved here.

Experts count about 60 nationalities in the region, so the map of the peoples of Foreign Europe is diverse. Both historical and natural factors played a role in the formation of such diversity. In any case, the residence of large national groups on the flat territory was very convenient.

The most diverse ethnic composition is characteristic of the Alps and the Balkans, where mountainous and rugged areas predominate.

The French people formed on the territory of the Paris Basin. The Germans chose the North German Lowland as their main region.

Rice. 1. Family in national German costumes

Main linguistic groups of the population

On the territory of modern Foreign Europe there are many different states. The bulk of them belong to a single-national group, when the state border coincides with the historically formed ethnic one.

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Among the most famous multinational states are Spain, Belgium, Serbia, Great Britain and Belgium.

The corresponding table shows that many European peoples speak languages ​​from the Indo-European family.

The following language groups belong to Indo-European:

• German (represented in English, Norwegian, German and Danish);
• Celtic (Irish);
• Romanskaya (French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian);
• Baltic (Latvian, Lithuanian).

Slavic languages ​​are also popular in the region. They are divided into:

• Eastern - Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian;
• Southern - Serbian, Slovenian;
• Western - Czech and Polish.

On the territory of modern Foreign Europe there are people who speak such unique languages ​​as Finnish, Greek, Albanian. They are very different from the traditional European dialect.

Rice. 2 Map of the peoples of Foreign Europe

Today in Europe, the majority of the population speaks excellent German. It is the main one for six states of this region and is a state one not only for Germany.

Formation of ethnic composition

Ethnic composition European population was formed under the influence of many factors. But the main role was played by migrations that covered this territory in the period from the 16th to the 20th century. This was mainly due to the influence of politics.

Thus, people began to emigrate en masse to European territory due to the revolution that happened in Russia in 1917. Then more than two million people changed their original place of residence. Since that time, there has been a Russian diaspora in almost every European country.

Rice. 3 International students

In more early period the population changed their place of residence due to destructive wars. Due to constant hostilities on the territory of one country or another, the gene pool of modern Europe is very fragmented and multinational.

What have we learned?

Representatives of various nationalities of the world live in modern Foreign Europe. The diversity of languages ​​of Foreign Europe is related by belonging to a single language family - Indo-European.

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Nowadays, more than 60 peoples live in Foreign Europe. The colorful ethnic mosaic was formed over several millennia under the influence of both natural and historical factors. Vast plains were convenient for the formation of large ethnic groups. Thus, the Paris Basin became the center of education of the French people, and the German nation was formed on the North German Lowland. Rough mountain landscapes, on the contrary, complicated interethnic ties; the most variegated ethnic mosaic is observed in the Balkans and the Alps.

One of the most pressing problems modern - interethnic conflicts and national separatism. Confrontation between the Flemings and Walloons in the 1980s. almost led to the split of the country, which in 1989 became a kingdom with a federal structure. For several decades now, the terrorist organization ETA has been operating, demanding the creation of an independent Basque state in the Basque territories in the north and southwest. But 90% of the Basques oppose terror as a method of achieving independence, and therefore the extremists do not have popular support. Acute interethnic clashes have rocked the Balkans for more than ten years. One of the main factors here is religious.

They have a significant influence on the ethnic composition of Europe. From the 16th to the beginning of the 20th century. Europe was a region of predominantly emigration, and in the second half of the last century - mass immigration. One of the first waves of mass emigration to Europe is associated with the 1917 revolution in Russia, from where more than 2 million people left. Russian emigrants formed ethnic diasporas in many European countries: France, Germany, Yugoslavia.

Numerous wars and conquests have also left their mark, resulting in most European nations having a very complex gene pool. For example, the Spanish people were formed on the mixture of Celtic, Roman, Arab blood that lasted for centuries. The Bulgarians bear in their anthropological appearance the indelible signs of 400 years of Turkish rule.

In the post-war period, the ethnic composition of Foreign Europe became more complex due to increased migration from third world countries - former European colonies. Millions of Arabs, Asians, Latin Americans and Africans flocked to Europe in search of a better life. During the 1970-1990s. there were several waves of labor and political emigration from and republics of the former Yugoslavia. Many immigrants not only took root in Germany, France, Great Britain and other countries, but also assimilated and are included in official statistics these countries along with the indigenous population. A higher birth rate and active assimilation of alien ethnic groups lead to a change in the appearance of modern Germans, French, and English.

National composition of the states of Foreign Europe

Countries of Eastern Europe is a natural territorial area located between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas. The bulk of the population of Eastern Europe are Slavs and Greeks, while in the western part of the continent Romance and Germanic peoples predominate.

Eastern European countries

Eastern Europe is a historical and geographical region that includes the following countries (according to United Nations classification):

• Poland.
• Czech Republic.
• Slovakia.
• Hungary.
• Romania.
• Bulgaria.
• Belarus.
• Russia.
• Ukraine.
• Moldova.

The history of the formation and development of Eastern European states is a long and difficult path. The formation of the region began in prehistoric times. In the first millennium AD, there was an active settlement of Eastern Europe by people. Subsequently, the first states were formed.

The peoples of Eastern Europe have a very complex ethnic composition. It was this fact that became the reason that conflicts on ethnic grounds often occurred in these countries. Today, Slavic peoples occupy a predominant place in the region. Read more about how the statehood, population and culture of Eastern Europe were formed.

First peoples in Eastern Europe (BC)

The Cimmerians are considered to be the very first peoples of Eastern Europe. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus says that the Cimmerians lived in the first and second millennium BC. The Cimmerians settled primarily in the Azov region. Evidence of this is the characteristic names (Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmerian crossings, Cimmeria region). The graves of the Cimmerians who died in clashes with the Scythians on the Dniester were also discovered.

In the 8th century BC there were many Greek colonies in Eastern Europe. The following cities were founded: Chersonesos, Feodosia, Phanagoria and others. Basically all the cities were trading cities. In the Black Sea settlements, spiritual and material culture. Archaeologists to this day find evidence confirming this fact.

The next people inhabiting eastern Europe in the prehistoric period were the Scythians. We know about them from the works of Herodotus. They lived on the northern coast of the Black Sea. In the 7th-5th centuries BC, the Scythians spread to the Kuban, Don, and appeared in Taman. The Scythians were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, and crafts. All these areas were developed among them. They traded with the Greek colonies.

In the 2nd century BC, the Sarmatians made their way to the land of the Scythians, defeated the former and settled the territory of the Black Sea and Caspian regions.

During the same period, the Goths, Germanic tribes, appeared in the Black Sea steppes. For a long time they oppressed the Scythians, but only in the 4th century AD they managed to completely oust them from these territories. Their leader, Germanarich, then occupied almost all of Eastern Europe.

Peoples of Eastern Europe in antiquity and the Middle Ages

The kingdom of the Goths did not last long. Their place was taken by the Huns, a people from the Mongolian steppes. From the 4th-5th centuries they waged their wars, but in the end their union fell apart, some remained in the Black Sea region, others went east.

In the 6th century, the Avars appeared; they, like the Huns, came from Asia. Their state was located where the Hungarian Plain is now. Until the beginning of the 9th century, the Avar state existed. The Avars often clashed with the Slavs, as evidenced by the Tale of Bygone Years, and attacked Byzantium and Western Europe. As a result, they were defeated by the Franks.

In the seventh century, the Khazar state was formed. North Caucasus, the Lower and Middle Volga, Crimea, and the Azov region were in the power of the Khazars. Belenjer, Semender, Itil, Tamatarkha are the largest cities of the Khazar state. In economic activity, the emphasis was placed on the use of trade routes that passed through the territory of the state. They were also involved in the slave trade.

In the 7th century, the state of Volga Bulgaria appeared. It was inhabited by Bulgars and Finno-Ugrians. In 1236, the Bulgars were attacked by the Mongol-Tatars, and in the process of assimilation, these peoples began to disappear.

In the 9th century, the Pechenegs appeared between the Dnieper and Don, they fought with the Khazars and Russia. Prince Igor went with the Pechenegs against Byzantium, but then a conflict occurred between the peoples, which developed into long wars. In 1019 and 1036, Yaroslav the Wise struck blows at the Pecheneg people, and they became vassals of Rus'.

In the 11th century, the Polovtsians came from Kazakhstan. They raided trade caravans. By the middle of the next century, their possessions extended from the Dnieper to the Volga. Both Rus' and Byzantium took them into account. Vladimir Monomakh inflicted a crushing defeat on them, after which they retreated to the Volga, beyond the Urals and Transcaucasia.

Slavic peoples

The first mentions of the Slavs appear around the first millennium AD. A more accurate description of these peoples occurs in the middle of the same millennium. At this time they were called Slovenians. Byzantine authors talk about the Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula and in the Danube region.

Depending on the territory of residence, the Slavs were divided into Western, Eastern and Southern. Thus, the southern Slavs settled in southeastern Europe, Western Slavs- in Central and Eastern Europe, eastern - directly in Eastern Europe.

It was in Eastern Europe that the Slavs assimilated with the Finno-Ugric tribes. The Slavs of Eastern Europe were the largest group. The eastern ones were initially divided into tribes: Polyans, Drevlyans, Northerners, Dregovichi, Polochans, Krivichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Ilmen Slovenes, Buzhans.

Today, the East Slavic peoples include Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians. The Western Slavs include Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and others. The South Slavs include Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Macedonians and so on.

Modern population of Eastern Europe

The ethnic composition is heterogeneous. We will consider further which nationalities predominate there and which are in the minority. 95% of ethnic Czechs live in the Czech Republic. In Poland - 97% are Poles, the rest are Gypsies, Germans, Ukrainians, Belarusians.

Slovakia is a small but multinational country. Ten percent of the population are Hungarians, 2% are Gypsies, 0.8% are Czechs, 0.6% are Russians and Ukrainians, 1.4% are representatives of other nationalities. 92 percent consists of Hungarians or, as they are also called Magyars. The rest are Germans, Jews, Romanians, Slovaks and so on.

Romanians make up 89%, followed by Hungarians - 6.5%. The peoples of Romania also include Ukrainians, Germans, Turks, Serbs and others. Among the population of Bulgaria, Bulgarians are in first place - 85.4%, and Turks are in second place - 8.9%.

In Ukraine, 77% of the population are Ukrainians, 17% are Russians. The ethnic composition of the population is represented by large groups of Belarusians, Moldovans, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, and Hungarians. In Moldova, the main population is Moldovans, with Ukrainians in second place.

The most multinational countries

The most multinational among the countries of Eastern Europe is Russia. More than one hundred and eighty nationalities live here. Russians come first. In each region there is an indigenous population of Russia, for example, the Chukchi, Koryaks, Tungus, Daurs, Nanais, Eskimos, Aleuts and others.

More than one hundred and thirty nations live on the territory of Belarus. The majority (83%) are Belarusians, followed by Russians - 8.3%. Gypsies, Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Moldovans, Germans, Chinese, Uzbeks are also in ethnic composition population of this country.

How did Eastern Europe develop?

Archaeological research in Eastern Europe provides a picture of the gradual development of this region. Archaeological finds indicate the presence of people here since ancient times. The tribes inhabiting this area cultivated their lands by hand. During excavations, scientists found ears of various cereals. They were engaged in both cattle breeding and fishing.

Culture: Poland, Czech Republic

Each state has its own peoples. Eastern Europe is diverse. Polish roots go back to the culture of the ancient Slavs, but great importance Western European traditions also influenced it. In the field of literature, Poland was glorified by Adam Mickiewicz and Stanislaw Lemm. The population of Poland is mostly Catholic, their culture and traditions are inextricably linked with the canons of religion.

The Czech Republic has always maintained its originality. Architecture ranks first in the cultural sphere. There are many palace squares, castles, fortresses, historical monuments. Literature in the Czech Republic began to develop only in the nineteenth century. Czech poetry was “founded” by K.G. Maha.

Painting, sculpture and architecture in the Czech Republic have a long history. Mikolas Ales, Alphonse Mucha are the most famous representatives of this trend. There are many museums and galleries in the Czech Republic, among them unique ones are the Museum of Torture, the National Museum, and the Jewish Museum. The richness of cultures, their similarities - all this matters when it comes to friendship between neighboring states.

Culture of Slovakia and Hungary

In Slovakia, all celebrations are inextricably linked with nature. National holidays of Slovakia: the holiday of the Three Kings, similar to Maslenitsa - the removal of Madder, the holiday of Lucia. Each region of Slovakia has its own folk customs. Wood carving, painting, weaving are the main activities in rural areas in this country.

Music and dance are at the forefront of Hungarian culture. Musical and cultural events often take place here theater festivals. Another one distinctive feature- Hungarian baths. The architecture is dominated by Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque styles. Hungarian culture is characterized by folk crafts in the form of embroidered items, wood and bone items, and wall panels. Cultural, historical and natural monuments of world significance are located everywhere in Hungary. In terms of culture and language, neighboring nations were influenced by Hungary: Ukraine, Slovakia, Moldova.

Romanian and Bulgarian culture

Romanians are mostly Orthodox. This country is considered to be the homeland of European gypsies, which has left its mark on the culture.

Bulgarians and Romanians are Orthodox Christians, so their cultural traditions are similar to other Eastern European peoples. The most ancient occupation of the Bulgarian people is winemaking. The architecture of Bulgaria was influenced by Byzantium, especially in religious buildings.

Culture of Belarus, Russia and Moldova

The culture of Belarus and Russia was largely influenced by Orthodoxy. St. Sophia Cathedral and Boris and Gleb Monastery appeared. Decorative and applied arts are widely developed here. Jewelry, pottery and foundry are common in all parts of the state. In the 13th century, chronicles appeared here.

The culture of Moldova developed under the influence of the Roman and Ottoman empires. The proximity in origin with the peoples of Romania and the Russian Empire had its significance.

Russian culture occupies a huge layer of Eastern European traditions. It is represented very widely in literature, art, and architecture.

The connection between culture and history

The culture of Eastern Europe is inextricably linked with the history of the peoples of Eastern Europe. This is a symbiosis of various foundations and traditions, which in different time influenced cultural life and its development. The trends in the culture of Eastern Europe largely depended on the religion of the population. Here it was Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Languages ​​of the peoples of Europe

The languages ​​of the peoples of Europe belong to three main groups: Romance, Germanic, Slavic. The Slavic group includes thirteen modern languages, several minor languages ​​and dialects. They are the main ones in Eastern Europe.

Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian are included in the Eastern Slavic group. The main dialects of the Russian language: northern, central and southern.

In Ukrainian there are Carpathian dialects, southwestern and southeastern. The language was influenced by the long proximity of Hungary and Ukraine. The Belarusian language contains a southwestern dialect and a Minsk dialect. The West Slavic group includes Polish and Czechoslovak dialects.

Several subgroups are distinguished in the South Slavic group of languages. So, there is an eastern subgroup with Bulgarian and Macedonian. Slovenian also belongs to the Western subgroup.

The official language in Moldova is Romanian. The Moldovan language and Romanian are, in fact, the same language of neighboring countries. That is why it is considered state. The only difference is that the Romanian language borrows more from Russia, while the Moldovan language borrows more from Russia.

Foreign Europe includes the territory of Europe to the west of the borders of the Russian Federation with a total area of ​​about 6 million square meters. km. The geographical zoning of Foreign Europe is determined by a combination of wide lowlands (the eastern part of the East European Plain, the Central European, Lower and Middle Danube Plains, the Paris Basin) and a number of mountain ranges (the Alps, the Balkans, the Carpathians, the Apennines, the Pyrenees, the Scandinavian Mountains). The coastline is heavily indented and has a large number of bays convenient for navigation. Many rivers flow through the region, the longest of which are the Danube, Dnieper, Rhine, Elbe, Vistula, Western Dvina (Daugava), and Loire. Most of Western Europe is characterized by a temperate climate, Southern Europe– Mediterranean, for the far north – subarctic and arctic.

The vast majority of the population of modern Europe speaks languages ​​of the Indo-European family. The period of existence of the common Indo-European language dates back to the 5th–4th millennium BC. At the end of this period, the migration of their speakers and the formation of separate Indo-European languages ​​began. The geographic location of the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans has not been precisely established. Various hypotheses place it on the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, and the Black Sea region. In the 2nd–1st millennium BC. Indo-European languages ​​spread throughout Europe, but as early as the 1st millennium BC. peoples of non-Indo-European origin survived: the Etruscans in Italy, the Iberians on the Iberian Peninsula, etc. Currently, only the Basques living in the north of Spain and adjacent areas of France are native speakers of a language that dates back to the pre-Indo-European era and is not related to any other modern languages.

During the settlement throughout Europe, separate groups of languages ​​of the Indo-European family were formed: Romance, Germanic, Slavic, Celtic, Greek, Albanian, Baltic, as well as the now non-existent Thracian.

Romance languages ​​go back to Latin, which spread in the first centuries of our era throughout the territory of the Roman Empire. They speak like this numerous nations the southwest and west of Foreign Europe as the French (there are 54 million people in Foreign Europe), Italians (53 million people), Spaniards (40 million people), Portuguese (12 million people). The Romance group includes the languages ​​of the Walloons of Belgium, the Corsicans inhabiting the island of Corsica, which is part of France, the Catalans and Galicians of Spain, the Sardinians of the Italian island of Sardinia (in a number of classifications they are considered a group of Italians), the Romansh (Friuls, Ladins and Romans) in northeastern Italy and southern Switzerland, Franco-Swiss, Italo-Swiss, San Marino, Andorran, Monegasque (Monegasque). The Eastern Romance subgroup includes the languages ​​of Romanians, Moldovans, and Aromanians, who live dispersedly in the countries of the Balkan Peninsula.

The languages ​​of the Germanic group are widespread in Central Europe, where Germans live (more than 75 million people). On German Austrians, German-Swiss, and Liechtensteiners also speak. In Northern Europe, the peoples of the Germanic group include the Swedes (about 8 million people), Danes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Faroese; in the British Isles - the English (45 million people), the Scots - a people of Celtic origin who have now switched to the English language, as well as the Ulsters - the descendants of immigrants to Ulster from England and Scotland; in the Benelux countries - the Dutch (13 million people), the Flemings (live in Belgium and adjacent areas of France and the Netherlands), the Frisians (live in the north of the Netherlands), and Luxembourgers. Until World War II, a significant part of European Jews spoke Yiddish, which was formed on the basis of German dialects. Currently, the Hebrew language of the Semitic group of the Afroasiatic family is widespread among Jews. In addition, in everyday life they communicate in the languages ​​of the peoples among whom they live.

The peoples of Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe speak languages ​​of the Slavic group. The languages ​​of Ukrainians (43 million people) and Belarusians (10 million people), together with Russian, form the East Slavic subgroup; Poles (38 million people), Czechs, Slovaks and Lusatians of East Germany - West Slavic; Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Montenegrins, Slovenes, Bulgarians, Macedonians - South Slavic.

Languages ​​of the Celtic group, in the 1st millennium BC. widespread in Europe, they are preserved in the British Isles, where the Irish, Welsh and Gaels (northern Scots who have not switched to English) live. The language of the Bretons, the population of the Brittany Peninsula (France), is also Celtic.

The Baltic group includes the languages ​​of Lithuanians and Latvians, the Greek group includes the languages ​​of the Greeks, and the Albanian group includes the languages ​​of the Albanians. The language of the European Gypsies, whose ancestors migrated to Europe from Asia, belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-European family.

Along with the Indo-Europeans, peoples living in Foreign Europe speak the languages ​​of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic group. language family. These are Finns (about 5 million people), Estonians (1 million people), Sami, whose ancestors penetrated from the east into the Baltic Sea region in the 2nd millennium BC, as well as Hungarians (12 million people) - descendants nomads who settled at the end of the 9th century. on the Danube Lowland. In Southeast and Eastern Europe live Turks, Tatars, Gagauz, Karaites, whose languages ​​belong to the Turkic group of the Altai language family. The language of the Maltese (more than 350 thousand people), formed under the influence of Arabic, belongs to the Semitic group of the Afroasiatic language family.

The population of Foreign Europe belongs to the large Caucasian race, within the boundaries of which it forms the Atlanto-Baltic, White Sea-Baltic, Central European, Indo-Mediterranean, Balkan-Caucasian small races.

Farming. The peoples of Foreign Europe belong to the HKT of arable farmers. In the mountainous zone on small plots of land until the 20th century. elements of manual farming were preserved. For example, the Basques used the “laya” tool, dating back to the Neolithic era, to loosen the earth, which consisted of two sharp rods attached to a wooden handle.

The Apennine and Iberian Peninsulas were characterized by a light, wheelless plow of the Roman (Italian) type, suitable for cultivating rocky, infertile soils. To the north, a heavy asymmetrical plow with a wheeled limber was common, which dates back to the Celtic cultural tradition. The peoples of Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula used the Slavic plow with a runner. In this zone, archaic arable tools were preserved longer. The peoples of the Balkan Peninsula back in the 19th century. They used a light plow with a symmetrical plowshare, which, unlike the later plow, did not have a wheeled plow or a moldboard.

In the Middle Ages, European agriculture was characterized by two-field and three-field crop rotations, and the forested areas of Eastern and Northern Europe with low population densities were also characterized by slash-and-burn agriculture, which persisted in Finland until the beginning of the 20th century.

In the XVIII–XIX centuries. An industrial revolution took place in Europe, which also affected agricultural production. The centers for the invention and implementation of new agricultural technologies and tools during this period were England and Flanders, whose economies differed early development capitalist relations. Here in the middle of the 18th century. They began to use the lightweight Brabant (Norfolk) plow, which increased the depth of plowing and reduced the number of weeds on the field, agronomic knowledge developed, and multi-field crop rotation systems were introduced, which were subsequently introduced and improved in other European countries.

Traditionally, grains (wheat, barley, oats, and rye in cooler areas), legumes, vegetables, and root crops (turnips, rutabaga) were grown in Europe. In the 16th–19th centuries. There was the introduction of new crops, including corn, potatoes, tobacco, and sugar beets imported from the New World.

Currently, grain farming is developed in the southern part of Foreign Europe, including Ukraine. In the more northern zone Agriculture focused on growing potatoes and vegetables.

The climatic conditions of Southern Europe are favorable for agriculture, where olives, citrus fruits, and rice are cultivated, which appeared in Spain and Italy under the influence of the Arabs, and on the Balkan Peninsula - the Turks. Viticulture and related winemaking have long been developed here. The grape culture has become widespread among European peoples and is grown in the north as far as Germany and the Czech Republic, and in small quantities even in England.

Among the peoples of Northern Europe - Icelanders, Norwegians, Swedes, Finns - agriculture was less important due to the harsh climate and infertile soils. Livestock farming, fishing, and various crafts played a major role in the economy of this region.

Animal husbandry (breeding cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs) is practiced everywhere in Europe. It is most significant in mountainous regions inconvenient for agriculture (Alps, Carpathians, Apennines, Balkans). Transhumance livestock farming with vertical movement of the herd with the change of two or three pastures per season was the main occupation of some groups of the population of the Alpine zone, where large cattle, as well as the Polish Gurals in the Beskids, the Moravian Vlachs of the Czech Republic, the Transylvanian Hungarians, and the Aromanians of the Balkan Mountains who were engaged in sheep breeding.

In a number of cases, the predominant development of livestock farming was determined by trade benefits: meat and dairy farming in Denmark and North-West Germany; sheep farming in England, where sheep's wool became an important export item. Sheep farming has also acquired particular importance on the Faroe Islands, whose climate is extremely unfavorable for agriculture.

Fisheries had highest value for the inhabitants of the Atlantic coast. The Portuguese, Galicians, and Basques caught cod, sardines, and anchovies. The main catch of Dutch fishermen was herring. The peoples of Northern Europe - Norwegians, Icelanders, Faroese, Danes - have long practiced sea fishing (cod and herring fishing) and whaling. In particular, the Faroese fished for pilot whales, a whale whose migration routes pass by the Faroe Islands.

The Finns had developed lake and river fishing, as well as hunting. Most northern people In foreign Europe, the Sami were engaged in reindeer herding, hunting and fishing.

Housing depended on climatic conditions and the availability of building materials. Due to the fact that forests have been cut down in many areas of Foreign Europe, frame structures of houses and brick buildings have spread here. Wood is widely used in construction to this day in Scandinavia, Finland, the Baltic states, and Belarus.

The southern part of Foreign Europe is characterized by the southern European type of house, which developed from a room with a fireplace, and subsequently additional residential and utility rooms were added to it. A Southern European house can be one-story or have several floors. Its most common variant - a Mediterranean house consists of two floors, the lower of which is utility, the upper is residential. The house is distributed throughout the Mediterranean from Portugal to Turkey. Houses were built from brick and stone; on the Balkan Peninsula, right up to deforestation, log-cutting equipment was also used. The estate (house and adjacent outbuildings) often had a closed quadrangle plan with an open courtyard. The yard could have economic functions (the Italians of the Alpine zone kept cattle in such a yard) or it could be a place of rest (the Spaniards of Andalusia).

Along with Mediterranean houses, the Albanians had residential stone towers - “kuls” (square or rectangular in plan), which also had a defensive function.

In Central and Southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Northern France, a house of the Western Central European type is common. Initially, this house consisted of a middle room with a fireplace and a bread oven (a door led into it from the street) and two side rooms. Subsequently, the number of rooms increased, utility rooms were added to the house, forming a verb-shaped or quiet courtyard. One-story (France, Belgium) and two-story (Germany) versions of this type are known.

Northern Germany, the Netherlands, Alsace and Lorraine are characterized by a house of the Northern European type, which developed from a single-chamber building with a gate in a narrow wall. Its main part was occupied by a threshing floor, along the side walls there were stalls for livestock, and on the wall opposite the gate there was a living area with a fireplace. Later, a wall appeared that separated the utility room from the living space, although back in the 17th century. There were houses without such a wall. The same type of house was brought to modern England by the ancestors of the English - the Angles and Saxons, who moved to the British Isles in the 6th century. When agriculture in England lost its importance, the threshing floor turned into a hall - a spacious front room.

In Germany, the construction of houses is of frame construction, known by the German term "half-timbered". In such buildings, the supporting base is sections of dark wooden beams visible from the outside of the house. The space between the beams is filled with adobe material or brick, then plastered and whitewashed.

Half-timbered construction is also used in the construction of houses of the Western Central European type.

Home of Western and Eastern Slavs, part of the Austrians and Hungarians belong to the Eastern Central European type. Its basis was a single-chamber building of a log or pillar structure with a hearth or stove (hut/hut). The entrance was through a cold extension (canopy). Since the 19th century a cage-chamber was attached to the dwelling, which in the past was an independent building. As a result, the dwelling acquired the following layout: hut - canopy - hut (chamber). The hearth and the mouth of the stove, the body of which was located in the hut, were moved into the canopy, thereby becoming warm and turning into a kitchen. Log buildings are more ancient. In the Czech tradition, the gaps between the logs were plugged with moss and covered with clay, which was painted in various colors. Sometimes the walls of the log house were completely whitewashed. From the 16th century In Western Poland and the Czech Republic, frame technology (half-timbering) spread under German influence.

Finland, Northern Sweden, and Northern Norway were characterized by the North Scandinavian type of housing - a log building with a gable roof, consisting of a living room with a stove, a clean room and a cold entryway between them. The house was covered with boards, which were usually painted dark colors.

In Southern Sweden, Southern Norway and Denmark, houses of the Southern Scandinavian type dominated, consisting of a middle living room with an oven and hearth (in Denmark only with a stove) and two rooms on the sides. The frame (cage) technique, similar to German half-timbering, predominated.

The northern and southern Scandinavian types were characterized by a closed type of courtyard, in the southern zone it was also quiet or with a free arrangement of buildings. In Finland, Northern Sweden and Norway there were two-story log cages and barns. In Finland, a bathhouse (sauna) was obligatory for the construction of a manor.

Original types of housing were formed among peoples living in mountainous conditions, where there was a need to combine residential and utility premises on a small area of ​​terrain. In the Alpine mountains, the area inhabited by the Bavarian Germans, Austrians, and the peoples of Switzerland, such is, for example, the Alpine type of house - a huge two- (or three) storey building with a gable roof, combining residential and utility rooms. The lower floor was usually built of stone, the upper floors were made of logs (alternatively, they had a frame structure). Along the front wall at the second floor level there was a gallery with wooden railings, which was used for drying hay. The Basques of the Pyrenees Mountains are characterized by a special type - the Basque house. This is a massive two- or three-story square building with a gable flat roof and a gate in the front wall. In ancient times, such a house was built from logs, from the 15th century. - made of stone.

Cloth. Common elements The complex of men's clothing of the peoples of Foreign Europe included a tunic-like shirt, trousers, a belt, and a sleeveless vest. Until the middle of the 19th century. among the peoples of Western Europe, the trousers were narrow, slightly below the knees, and were worn with short stockings or leggings. In the 19th century Pants of modern cut and length have become widespread. The modern costume of the European peoples has absorbed many elements of the clothing of the 19th century British: jackets, tuxedos, raincoats of modern cut, galoshes, rain umbrellas.

The costumes of the inhabitants of some mountainous regions were original. Such, for example, is the Tyrolean costume typical of the inhabitants of the Alps - Austrians, Germans, German-Swiss, which included white shirt with a turn-down collar, short leather trousers with suspenders, a cloth vest, a wide leather belt, knee-length stockings, shoes, a hat with narrow brims and a feather.

The components of the Highland Scots men's costume were a knee-length checkered skirt (kilt), a beret and a plaid of the same color, a white shirt, and a jacket. The color of the kilt corresponded to the clan, although not all lowland clans had their own colors in the past.

White men's skirts (fustanella) were also worn by Albanians and Greeks, but they were worn over pants.

Men's headdresses were hats, the shape of which depended on the current fashion; in the Mediterranean, also caps. In the 19th century In Europe, soft caps with a visor spread. The ethnospecific headdress of the Basques was the beret.

Typical woman suit consisted of a shirt, skirt, and sleeveless vest. The clothing of Protestant peoples in most cases was distinguished by darker tones.

Archaic versions of women's clothing survived into the 19th century. in Eastern Finland: two unstitched panels were worn over a tunic-like shirt with embroidery, held on shoulder straps. The Bulgarians had a piece of woolen material replacing a skirt, fitting a tunic-like shirt below the waist; among the northern Albanians - the so-called “jublet”, which consisted of a bell-shaped skirt and a separately worn bodice, sleeves and shoulder pads, the joints of which were decorated with fringe.

In certain areas of Foreign Europe, sundresses were common. They were worn in Norway, Eastern Finland, Belarus, and Southern Bulgaria. Shoulder scarves were popular. In particular, on the Iberian Peninsula they wore colorful shawls - mantillas. Headdresses were caps, which could be decorated with lace. Women's hats were also common in the German tradition.

Most peoples' men's and women's shoes were made of leather. In France, Belgium, and the Netherlands they also wore cheap wooden shoes; Belarusians were familiar with bast shoes.

The Muslims of the Balkan Peninsula had specific elements of clothing: women had trousers, over which they wore a skirt, men had a fez, a red cylinder-shaped headdress without a brim, originally common among the Turks.

Of course, clothing depended on the climate. Thus, the men's and women's costume of the peoples of Northern Europe included a variety of woolen knitted items and outerwear made from fur.

Food. Among the peoples of Foreign Europe, bread (both unleavened and sour) made from wheat, rye, corn flour, porridge, and various dough products was widespread. For example, typical for Italian cuisine are pizza - a type of open pie, pasta - various pasta, for Czech - bread dumplings (pieces of soaked white bread, served as a side dish). In modern times, potato dishes have become widespread. Great place Potatoes occupied the cuisine of the Irish, the Baltic peoples, and the Eastern Slavs.

Soups and stews, which were especially varied in Eastern Europe (borscht among Ukrainians, cabbage soup and borscht among Belarusians). Meat dishes they prepared it from pork, beef, lamb, and the Icelanders also made it from horse meat. The practice of making sausages, frankfurters, and smoking hams was practiced. The French along with various types meat (including rabbit and pigeon) was eaten by frogs, snails, and oysters. Among Muslim peoples, pork is a taboo meat. A typical dish for Muslims on the Balkan Peninsula was pilaf with lamb.

Residents of the sea and ocean coasts are characterized by fish dishes - fried or boiled sardines and cod with potatoes among the Portuguese, herring among the Dutch, fried fish and chips among the British.

Cheese making is practiced in many European cultures. A wide variety of cheese varieties exist in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany. In Switzerland at the beginning of the 20th century. Processed cheese was invented. Cheese dishes include fondue (a hot dish of cheese with wine, common in Switzerland and French Savoy), onion soup with cheese (among the French). Known among the Slavic peoples various ways After fermenting milk, residents of the Balkan Peninsula prepare cheese from sheep's milk - feta cheese.

For most peoples, the main non-alcoholic drink is coffee. Tea is popular among the peoples of the British Isles and the Eastern Slavs. The alcoholic drinks of European peoples are varied. Beer is known everywhere; the most famous varieties are produced in the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium and the British Isles. Cider, a low-alcohol drink made from apples, was popular among the Basques and Bretons. Wine is consumed in large quantities in the viticulture zone. Also known are grape and fruit brandies (for example, plum brandy among the Western Slavs), and grain vodka. The British Isles produce whiskey, a strong barley-based drink, as well as gin, a juniper vodka that is also popular among the Dutch.

Islam does not allow the consumption of alcoholic beverages, so coffee is the festive ritual drink of Muslims.

Religion. Most peoples of Foreign Europe profess Christianity, which is divided into several directions.

Catholicism is practiced by the Irish, the peoples of the Iberian and Apennine Peninsulas (Spaniards, Catalans, Portuguese, Galicians, Basques, Italians), France, Belgium (Walloons and Flemings), Austria, the Germans of southern and western Germany, the Austrians, part of the population of Switzerland, the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Slovenians, Croats, and some Albanians.

Protestantism is widespread mainly in the northern part of Europe. Lutherans are the peoples of Finland and Scandinavia, the Germans of eastern Germany; Calvinists - Franco-Swiss, part of the German-Swiss, Dutch, part of the Hungarians, Scots; Anglicans - the English and Welsh (the latter also have small Protestant churches, in particular Methodism).

Orthodoxy is characteristic of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. This branch of Christianity is practiced by Ukrainians, Belarusians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Romanians, Aromanians, Gagauzians, and some Albanians.

Islam spread to the Balkan Peninsula and Crimea during the period when this territory became part of Ottoman Empire. Turks, Crimean Tatars, Bosnians, part of the Albanians, Nomak Bulgarians are Sunni Muslims, part of the Albanians are Shiites belonging to the Bektashite tariqa. Jews and Karaites profess Judaism. Among the Sami of Foreign Europe, who belong to the Lutheran Church, traditional animistic beliefs have also been preserved.

Calendar ritual. Traditional customs and the rituals of the peoples of Foreign Europe have typological similarities, since historically they were closely connected with common agricultural activities. Pagan rituals were partially preserved in the Christian era. Having lost their former meaning, they were included in the rituals of the Christian holiday calendar, or existed in parallel with the church tradition. Catholicism and Orthodoxy were more tolerant of the remnants of paganism. On the contrary, Protestant churches that arose in the 16th century. and those who fought for the renewal and purification of Christianity showed intolerance towards them. For this reason, archaic customs and rituals are less evident in the culture of Protestant peoples.

For many peoples - Catholics and Protestants - St. Martin's Day (November 11) was considered the beginning of the winter season. By this day, agricultural work was completed and cattle were brought in from mountain pastures. Meals were arranged, the obligatory dish of which for many peoples was roast goose. In wine-growing regions, for example, among the Spaniards, Italians, and Croats, young wine was tasted and poured from vats into barrels.

Popular in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic national holiday It was St. Nicholas Day (December 6). Saint Nicholas was represented as a man with a long gray beard, wearing the white robes of a bishop. He rode on a horse or donkey with a bag of gifts on his back and rods in his hand for naughty children. During the Reformation, Protestants, who rejected the cult of saints, moved the giving of gifts to Christmas, and Saint Nicholas was replaced by other characters: the child Christ or, in the German tradition, the Christmas man ( Weihnachtsmann ). Processions of mummers on the eve of St. Nicholas Day have been preserved in the cities of the Netherlands.

An important holiday was Christmas (December 25). Catholics have a well-known tradition of arranging models of the manger in which, according to biblical legend, Jesus Christ was born. Clay or porcelain figurines of the Virgin Mary, Joseph, the Child Christ and other biblical characters were placed in the Christmas manger. In the evening of Christmas Eve (December 24), a meal was held in the house, before which the ritual of lighting the Christmas log was performed. The head of the family put a large log on the hearth, which was supposed to smolder for as long as possible, sometimes, like the Italians, twelve days - this is the name of the period from Christmas to Epiphany, corresponding to the Russian Christmastide. The coals and firebrands of the Christmas log were credited with miraculous powers.

In the 19th century The custom of decorating the Christmas tree, originally known in southwestern Germany, spread throughout Europe.

Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks had beliefs about the first guest (polaznik) associated with Christmas. The well-being of the family in the next year depended on the personality of the visitor, so the polaznik was often chosen from respected men; his function included performing ritual actions: for example, in Poland, the polaznik, upon entering the hut, sat down and clucked, imitating a chicken. Prosperity was also symbolized by the sheaves that the Western Slavs brought to the house on Christmas Eve.

During the Twelve Days, in all European countries, groups of children visited homes, sang songs, and practiced fortune-telling. The festivities ended on the feast of Epiphany (January 6), known in folk tradition like the Day of the Three Kings - the biblical wise men who saw the Star of Bethlehem and came with gifts to the baby Jesus. Processions took place in which masks of three kings (Melchior, Gaspard, Balthazar) participated, who were presented in pseudo-eastern costumes embroidered with stars.

The Carnival holiday, celebrated for several days before Lent, was very popular - in German this holiday is called Fastnacht (“fast night”, meaning the night before fasting). Carnival is characterized by abundant fatty foods and flour products. The symbol of the holiday was a stuffed animal of a large fat man, whom the Spaniards called Don Carnaval, the Italians called the King of Carnival, and the Poles called Bacchus. At the end of the festivities, the effigy was burned at the stake. During the Carnival, there were processions of mummers who put on masks of animals, evil spirits, and dressed in clothes of the opposite sex. In European cities, carnival processions spread in the Middle Ages. Then they had clear regulations, and representatives of craft workshops took part in them. In the past, the holiday also included ritual actions aimed at ensuring good harvest, for example, symbolic plowing. Protestant churches have been around since the 16th century. successfully fought against carnival traditions, considering them a manifestation of paganism. Thus, among the peoples of Scandinavia, professing Lutheranism, only some games and the custom of baking special buns and flatbreads were preserved. In modern Europe, the most famous urban carnival processions are in Cologne (Catholic Germans) and Venice (Italians).

After Carnival, Great Lent began, lasting seven weeks until Easter. A common Christian tradition is the dyeing of eggs. For Easter, many nations prepare roast lamb, symbolizing the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ. In German culture, Easter has acquired features children's party. There was a custom to hide colored eggs in the garden or in the house. If a child found a red egg first, it promised happiness, a blue egg meant misfortune. They said that these eggs were brought to children by hares - animals associated in the popular consciousness with fertility, fertility and wealth, which became one of the symbols of the German celebration of Easter.

May Day (May 1) was associated with the onset of the warm season of the year and summer greenery. On the eve of the holiday, a maypole (a real tree dug up with roots or a decorated pole) was installed at the place where young people were celebrating. During the competition, the May king and queen were chosen - the most dexterous guy and the most beautiful girl, who led the festive procession. Houses were decorated with flowers. In France, the symbol of May 1st is lilies of the valley, which are usually given to girls. The German peoples had ideas about the special danger of witches who flock to sabbaths on the night of May 1 (among these peoples it is known as the day of St. Walpurgis, and the night, accordingly, is Walpurgis). To protect against evil forces, crosses were painted on the barn doors, fires were lit, guns were fired into the air, a harrow was dragged around the village, etc.

St. John's Day (June 24) is associated with the summer solstice. On the eve of the holiday, they burned bonfires, collected medicinal herbs, and told fortunes. It was believed that water on Ivan’s night also acquired miraculous powers. Therefore, in the morning they washed themselves with dew or water from springs. For St. John's Day, the peoples of Scandinavia erected a tree similar to the May one (a pole with various decorations). In many countries, May 1 and St. John's Day are widely celebrated to this day.

The holiday of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (August 15) coincides with the end of the main summer agricultural work. Catholics held solemn processions, the participants of which carried ears of the new harvest to the church for blessing.

The year ended with All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). On the first day it was customary to visit church service, and in the second, to come to the graves of relatives and arrange a memorial meal at home.

The peoples of the British Isles have preserved holidays associated with the ancient traditions of the Celtic peoples. The Christian All Saints' Day (Halloween, November 1) included the rituals of the pagan Celtic holiday Samhain or Samhain (in Gaelic - "end of summer") - a procession of mummers, whose participants carried torches or lanterns made of turnips mounted on long sticks; fortune telling and various games. August 1st was the holiday of Lughnas (on behalf of the pagan god Lugh, and later a character in medieval Irish sagas), which in modern English was called Lammas day (according to one version, from Loaf-mass loaf mass, according to another - from Lamb mass - Mass of the Lambs). On this day, youth festivities took place, the English brought bread from the flour of the new harvest to church, the Irish arranged a common meal, for which they roasted a whole sheep and cooked new potatoes for the first time.

Among the Orthodox peoples of the Balkan Peninsula, the beginning of the cold season, when cattle were driven from mountain pastures and the sowing of winter crops was completed, was considered St. Demetrius's Day (October 26/November 8), and the beginning of the warm season, when cattle were driven out to pastures, was St. George's Day ( April 23/May 6). For Christmas (December 25/January 7), rituals with a Christmas log, the first guest, and dressing were timed. The analogue of the Catholic carnival is known among the Orthodox (including the Eastern Slavs) as Maslenitsa. In Eastern Bulgaria, processions of kuksrov (festively dressed men), dating back to ancient Thracian traditions, have been preserved. The ritual included the kukers going around the village, collecting gifts (grain, oil, meat), ritual plowing and sowing in the village square, the symbolic murder of the main kuker and his subsequent resurrection, and the purifying bathing of the kukers in the river.

Some rituals ancient origin were timed to coincide with other church holidays. St. Andrew's Day (November 30/December 13) was celebrated by the South Slavs as a bear holiday - in folk beliefs Saint Andrew rides a bear. For the bear, whose image in the traditional mind was associated with fertility, a treat made from corn cobs and dry pears was left in front of the house. St. Nicholas Day (December 6/19) was considered a family holiday. Serbs and Montenegrins hosted a meal with the participation of all family members, the central dish of which was bread consecrated in the church. Meals were also held on St. Elias Day (July 20/August 2), which acquired the features of a pagan thunder god. On St. John's Day (June 24/July 7), Orthodox Christians, as well as Catholics and Protestants, lit fires, collected herbs, wove wreaths, and told fortunes. Serbs and Montenegrins also performed similar rituals on St. Peter's Day (June 29/July 12).

The rituals of Belarusians and Ukrainians had their own characteristics due to climatic conditions. So, the beginning of the cold period here was considered to be Pokrov (October 1/14). On the Feast of the Trinity, celebrated seven weeks after Easter, houses were decorated with greenery and young trees were placed in front of the entrance. The Orthodox Slavs of the Balkan Peninsula performed a similar ritual as well as Catholics on May 1 (14) (in Orthodoxy - St. Jeremiah's Day). In general, the calendar rituals of the Eastern Slavs - Ukrainians and Belarusians - are characterized by great similarities with Russian ones.

The traditional calendar rituals of the Bosnians and Albanians, despite belonging to Islam, were fundamentally no different from the rituals of neighboring Christian peoples. This was due to their common origin and long-term residence in similar conditions.

St. Dmitry's Day corresponded to Kasym's Day (also a winter holiday), October 26, and St. George's Day corresponded to Khyzyr's Day (April 23). Muslim Albanians celebrated Christmas, which merged in popular culture with the midwinter holiday dedicated to the Winter Solstice (First Snow Day). In particular, they knew the ritual of lighting the Christmas log. The spring holiday of Nauruz (March 22) corresponded to the Christian New Year. On this day, Albanians performed actions aimed at driving out snakes, personifying evil forces: they walked around fields and gardens and created noise, ringing bells and hitting tin with sticks. Their neighbors, the Orthodox of the Balkan Peninsula, performed a similar ritual on the Annunciation (March 25/April 7). A special holiday for the Albanians was Midsummer Day, celebrated at the end of July. Residents of the villages climbed to the tops of the mountains, where they lit fires that burned throughout the night.

Family and social structures. The peoples of Foreign Europe in modern times were characterized by small (nuclear) families. Among Catholic and Protestant peoples, the tradition of primogeniture prevailed, in which the household was inherited by the eldest son. The remaining sons did not receive real estate and went to work for hire. The tradition of primogeniture prevented the fragmentation of farms, which was important in conditions of high population density and limited land resources.

On the periphery of the region - in Belarus, Ukraine, Eastern Finland there were large families. Among such peoples of the Balkan Peninsula as Serbs, Montenegrins, Bosnians, back in the 19th century. existed special kind big family- zadruga, which consisted of a father with married sons (father's zadruga) or several brothers with their families (brotherly zadruga). The Zadruga had collective ownership of movable and immovable property. The position of head (held by a man) could be elective or inherited. The head did not have absolute power: decisions were made collectively. Zadrugs united from 10–12 to 50 people. and more. In the second half of the 19th century. The section began at once.

The Albanians in the mountainous part of Albania until the beginning of the 20th century. there were fisas - tribal associations governed by an elder (he held the position by inheritance) and a gathering of men. Fiss owned land, divided into family plots. According to historical tradition, 12 phises are considered the oldest (“original”, “large” phises), the rest are considered to have arisen later. One fiss could include persons of different confessions.

For a long time, the Highland Scots and Irish maintained a clan structure. Clans were the basis of the military organization of these peoples. The disappearance of clans occurred due to economic reasons and was reinforced by the introduction of relevant laws: in Ireland, clans were abolished by the British in 1605 after the suppression of the uprising local residents, in highland Scotland - in the 18th century, after consolidating the power of the English monarchy. However, among the Scots, the idea of ​​a person's symbolic affiliation with a clan persists to this day.

Ritualism of the life cycle. IN traditional culture young people met at gatherings, fairs, and festivities. Wedding rituals usually included matchmaking, which could consist of several stages. Catholic and Protestant peoples had a tradition of entering into a written dowry agreement during matchmaking - the predecessor of modern marriage contracts.

Remnants of ancient beliefs have long been preserved in folk cultures. For example, in the German tradition, on the eve of the wedding in the bride’s house, or separately at the bride and groom’s house, a polterabend (literally an evening of noise, din) was held. Many guests gathered for the holiday, who made toasts and, after drinking, broke the dishes (especially for such an occasion, cracked cups were kept in the house). It was believed that the noise drove away evil spirits from young people, and a large number of shards promised great happiness to the new family. Also, in order to deceive evil spirits in Spain, there were traditions of kidnapping the bride and groom on the first wedding night or preventing it in every possible way (they released ants onto the wedding bed, sprinkled salt, hid under the bed, guests constantly entered the room during the night).

Traditional wedding festivities could last several days. In a number of countries (Denmark, Scotland) Protestant churches and secular authorities in the XVI–XIX centuries. they tried to regulate the wedding so that the population did not spend a lot of money on it: restrictions were introduced on the number of guests, food served at the table, and the duration of the wedding.

Protestants view weddings as a simple rite, in contrast to Catholicism and Orthodoxy, which consider weddings a church sacrament. Among Protestant peoples, for example, among the Norwegians, young people could begin life together after engagement. The Scots had an “irregular marriage” or “handshake marriage,” which consisted of a verbal declaration by a couple in front of witnesses that they were becoming husband and wife. Such a marriage was not approved by the Presbyterian (Calvinist) church, but from the point of view of popular ideas it was considered valid.

The birth of the child was also accompanied magical actions. In Italian tradition, a woman in labor was laid on the adobe floor near the hearth so that she could be helped by the house spirits living under the hearth. Remnants of the kuvada ritual—the husband’s imitation of labor pains—were noted. For example, in Spain, in the Leon region, a husband climbed into a basket and squatted down, clucking like a chicken. Beliefs were widespread about the connection between a child’s birthday and his future fate. Family meals were held on the occasion of the baptism of a child, the appearance of the first tooth, and the first cutting of hair and nails. In the economically developed regions of Foreign Europe, archaic elements of maternity rituals disappeared quite early due to the spread of rational medicine and the emergence of professional midwives (in England - from the 16th century, in Scandinavia - from the 18th century).

Christians were required to baptize the child. For Muslims, the rite of circumcision was obligatory. Bosnians performed it in the first ten years of a boy’s life (usually at three, five or seven years), Albanians - in the period from 7 to 12 years. The circumcision ceremony was accompanied by a subsequent feast.

In the funeral rites of some Catholic and Orthodox peoples, funeral laments performed by women have been preserved. Sometimes, as, for example, among the Basques, these were professional mourners who received payment for their art. Only the Albanians performed male laments, which were considered appropriate at the funerals of respected men. In some cases, there were ideas about special methods of delivering the deceased to the cemetery: Poles and Slovaks were supposed to hit the coffin three times on the threshold, which symbolized the deceased’s farewell to his home; Norwegians practiced transporting the coffin with the body of the deceased to the cemetery on a sleigh at any time of the year - vehicle pre-wheelie era. European peoples knew the tradition of funeral meals, which was preserved in its most developed form among the Orthodox peoples, who organized such meals on the day of the funeral, on the ninth, fortieth days after death.