Construction traditions and ritual of the northern wooden architecture

The empirical base of this work was the material of 34 expeditions, which were surveyed 368 settlements of the Arkhangelsk, Vologda regions, Karelia. The history of the Russian wooden architecture is largely the history of the wooden architecture of the European (Russian) North. The author proceeds from the synonymous meaning: Russian and European North. “The country of architects” in such a way Igor Grabar called the Russian North. Pine, spruce, larch, aspen were the main construction materials used. Folk architects highly valued wood as a building material, its abundance and cheapness, its ability to keep heat in the house, its durability and, at last, its ability to be used for erecting wooden structures within a short period of time and practically in any season. The carpenter could make practically everything with an axe: “Let a peasant have an axe and he will fix even a clock”. Besides an axe, a scraper for dressing logs, an adze for grooving, a chisel and glade for punching logs and bars entered a set of carpenter tools. A hammer, a sledge hammer and a line bar were also used in a building practice. Besides, rather diverse nail tools and hardware were used. But their cost was high enough, therefore peasants preferred building without nails, applying wooden nails - “dowels”, or using a minimum number of iron nails. From ancient times there existed special “wood-chip bazaars” in Russia where dismantled houses, barns and bath-houses, small church buildings were sold. The socialization of carpentry, which took place in the North, gave rise to opposition: holy/evil. Representations of carpenters who built dwelling or outbuildings included unclean, “witchcraft” semantics: “with the carpenters who cut the house, we must be honestly, so that they “don't speak” the houses on the owner head”. On the contrary, the temples builders were considered holy people, endowed with divine power. The choice of trees was great importance for construction not only in practical, but also in its sacred meaning. There were a whole series of trees not used for construction. Cultured trees, groves and stones were the object of veneration and sacrifice, the place of sacral rites and the analogue of the temple. The trees grown by man and located within the farmstead carried a sacred meaning, it was forbidden to use them during construction. The tree planted near the house embodied the idea of continuity of the family, as well as the house itself. If one thing ceases to exist, the other object partially compensates for the loss. Traditional construction rituals acted as an integral sign system, it helped the Northern peasants to preserve their sacred values. The choice of trees was determined by every day, pragmatic property of various breeds with the mythological and Christian beliefs combination.

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