E-mail: kuchko@inbox.ru Тel.: +7 (342) 239-64-35
15, Bukirev str., Perm, 614990, Russian Federation
PhD in Philology, Researcher, Laboratory of Theoretical and Applied Folklore Studies, Perm State National Research University
The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation grant, project 20–18–00269, “The Mining Industry and Early Factory Culture in Language, Written Folk Texts and Folklore.”
This article briefly traces the history of the extraction, distribution and use of Russian pearls based on historical and ethnographic sources. Pearls have been an important and widely used material in Russian culture since ancient times, known not only to the upper classes and clergy, but also to other segments of society, including the peasantry. Most pearls came from local sources, although trade routes brought some from other sources. The article focuses on those spheres of pearls’ existence where they came into contact with the peasantry and entered everyday life — into traditional jewelry and decorative art, especially in the field of women’s festive costume, and into folk art, where pearls have high symbolic value. Pearls were extracted from river mollusks, especially in Russian North. Except for a short period in the first half of the eighteenth century, pearl harvesting was free, most often carried out by an individual or family. Pearls were marketed by resellers or sold at fairs separately or in products with them. The latter included jewelry and festive costumes embroidered with pearls. In the ritual sphere pearls had minimal use.
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