Eastern Slavic Research
Please note this is currently a research dumping ground so I don't misplace useful things I have found. Perhaps you may find something of use to you as well.
In having to refocus my life, my mind wandered back to a conversation I had with Mistress Rhiannon and Master Bedwyr last fall at FF&F. The cliff-note version is this: how to build your personal skill set around what your persona would have known and done in their day to day life.
I chose an occupational by-name for a reason. My persona is married, and middle class. I live in what is now the Vladimir Region, home to Rostov, Suzdal and Vladimir. I had access to trade goods from many different areas of the world even though I lived in the lower city where the tradesmen and traders along with craftsmen would have been found. There is a great diorama in the Kiev Museum that demonstrates how early 10th century cities were broken up into the Kremlin, the upper city and the lower city.
In my home I would have spun, I could have woven some of the garments worn by myself and my family. I came from a rural area originally, moving to the city for greater opportunity with my husband. I still wear the poneva, which is more commonly seen in the country but is seen often enough in the lower city. The high fashion of the upper city shows a Byzantine influence, so the women of the upper classes do not wear the utilitarian poneva.
Goods always have to be contained within boxes, bags or baskets, so I earn extra money for my family by making bags to hold goods. *stopping here* More to come as I ponder this.
The first thing I really needed to define before fleshing out my persona was what defines a Slav.
The name Slav itself is related to the word "slovo" meaning word or speech., defined as "people who speak the same language".
If you look to the Russian Primary Chronicle, there is a Biblical explanation of how the Slavs split into three groups, which is based on the stories of the sons of Noah (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) and subsequently the fall of the tower of Babel as an explanation for how one spoken language became many as the Slavs migrated across eastern Europe.
Another popular explanation lies embedded in the folktales, considered an origin story of the Slavs is the Polish folktale of the brothers Lech, Czech and Rus, who leave their crowded homeland to seek better lives for their people by traveling to the North, the West and the East. The legend makes sure to point out that this tale takes place when all the Slavic peoples spoke a single language, before the linguistic split. Interestingly this tale is also told in a Czech legend dating to an 11th Century Source (Wielkopolska Chronicle), and has only 2 brothers in the tale. Rus may have been added to the tale sometime in the 13th Century.
The East Slavs
https://lamusdworski.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/lech-czech-and-rus/
Ancient Suzdal was an important trading point during the time of Yaroslav the Wise's Sons. One grave at the Shekshovo Cemetary (Dated X-XI c) that of a 29 year old woman contained items from many lands including Byzantine and Arab coins and many items from Finnish and Slavic tribes.
Shekshovo Cemetery
http://nep2014.com/middle-ages/suzdal/
Gaigovo Burial Textile Group
https://www.academia.edu/30371327/Kochkurkina_Orfinskaya._Archaeological_textiles_of_the_10th_to_the_12th_century_from_the_Gaigovo_barrow_group_Russia_Leningrad_oblast_._Archaeological_Textiles_Review_No._58
Russian Costume
http://slavmoda.com/jenskiy-kostum-xiii-veka/
https://books.google.com/books?id=9a68DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=suzdal+necropolis+-site:pinterest.*&source=bl&ots=XrmGC74nma&sig=YwelxXmzN3TGbmrgOlcpdjBtYik&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi27JqYkLzeAhUKhOAKHQOQD9g4KBDoATAGegQIAxAB#v=onepage&q=suzdal%20necropolis%20-site%3Apinterest.*&f=false
Archaeological Textile Review - every issue is available for download
https://www.atnfriends.com/index.htm
Folktales:
Slavic, East European & Eurasian Folklore Association
http://www.seefa.org/Links.html
https://lamusdworski.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/lech-czech-and-rus/
Possament pictures
https://thepixstate.com/bj-524-birka-textile-fragment/421227371370615335/
Rushnyk
http://rushnychok.org.ua/e-index.html
Misc. Wikipedia stuff I will toss later:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Russia
Please note this is currently a research dumping ground so I don't misplace useful things I have found. Perhaps you may find something of use to you as well.
In having to refocus my life, my mind wandered back to a conversation I had with Mistress Rhiannon and Master Bedwyr last fall at FF&F. The cliff-note version is this: how to build your personal skill set around what your persona would have known and done in their day to day life.
I chose an occupational by-name for a reason. My persona is married, and middle class. I live in what is now the Vladimir Region, home to Rostov, Suzdal and Vladimir. I had access to trade goods from many different areas of the world even though I lived in the lower city where the tradesmen and traders along with craftsmen would have been found. There is a great diorama in the Kiev Museum that demonstrates how early 10th century cities were broken up into the Kremlin, the upper city and the lower city.
In my home I would have spun, I could have woven some of the garments worn by myself and my family. I came from a rural area originally, moving to the city for greater opportunity with my husband. I still wear the poneva, which is more commonly seen in the country but is seen often enough in the lower city. The high fashion of the upper city shows a Byzantine influence, so the women of the upper classes do not wear the utilitarian poneva.
Goods always have to be contained within boxes, bags or baskets, so I earn extra money for my family by making bags to hold goods. *stopping here* More to come as I ponder this.
The first thing I really needed to define before fleshing out my persona was what defines a Slav.
The name Slav itself is related to the word "slovo" meaning word or speech., defined as "people who speak the same language".
If you look to the Russian Primary Chronicle, there is a Biblical explanation of how the Slavs split into three groups, which is based on the stories of the sons of Noah (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) and subsequently the fall of the tower of Babel as an explanation for how one spoken language became many as the Slavs migrated across eastern Europe.
Another popular explanation lies embedded in the folktales, considered an origin story of the Slavs is the Polish folktale of the brothers Lech, Czech and Rus, who leave their crowded homeland to seek better lives for their people by traveling to the North, the West and the East. The legend makes sure to point out that this tale takes place when all the Slavic peoples spoke a single language, before the linguistic split. Interestingly this tale is also told in a Czech legend dating to an 11th Century Source (Wielkopolska Chronicle), and has only 2 brothers in the tale. Rus may have been added to the tale sometime in the 13th Century.
The East Slavs
https://lamusdworski.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/lech-czech-and-rus/
Ancient Suzdal was an important trading point during the time of Yaroslav the Wise's Sons. One grave at the Shekshovo Cemetary (Dated X-XI c) that of a 29 year old woman contained items from many lands including Byzantine and Arab coins and many items from Finnish and Slavic tribes.
Shekshovo Cemetery
http://nep2014.com/middle-ages/suzdal/
Gaigovo Burial Textile Group
https://www.academia.edu/30371327/Kochkurkina_Orfinskaya._Archaeological_textiles_of_the_10th_to_the_12th_century_from_the_Gaigovo_barrow_group_Russia_Leningrad_oblast_._Archaeological_Textiles_Review_No._58
Russian Costume
http://slavmoda.com/jenskiy-kostum-xiii-veka/
https://books.google.com/books?id=9a68DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=suzdal+necropolis+-site:pinterest.*&source=bl&ots=XrmGC74nma&sig=YwelxXmzN3TGbmrgOlcpdjBtYik&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi27JqYkLzeAhUKhOAKHQOQD9g4KBDoATAGegQIAxAB#v=onepage&q=suzdal%20necropolis%20-site%3Apinterest.*&f=false
Archaeological Textile Review - every issue is available for download
https://www.atnfriends.com/index.htm
Folktales:
Slavic, East European & Eurasian Folklore Association
http://www.seefa.org/Links.html
https://lamusdworski.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/lech-czech-and-rus/
Possament pictures
https://thepixstate.com/bj-524-birka-textile-fragment/421227371370615335/
Rushnyk
http://rushnychok.org.ua/e-index.html
Misc. Wikipedia stuff I will toss later:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Russia
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