Roll for winter fun. The best accessories for winter holidays

We are all looking forward to the beautiful winter to enjoy the New Year and Christmas holidays, invigorating frosty air and sparkling snow. When the landscape outside the window is more like a fairy tale, you don’t want to stay at home. Yes, and you don’t need to, rather run into the fresh air, into the street, where you are probably waiting for skis, sleds, ice slides, snowballs, ice fortresses and other exciting snow fun.

How to prepare for snow adventures?

Each of us will never forget that magical feeling and mood of childhood, when we, as children, went out onto a snow-covered street and rejoiced at a snow-white picture. Surely, you also want your children to fully enjoy the winter joys and fun. But in order for the snow adventures to be a joy to the child, it is necessary to prepare for them in advance, especially since winter is not only positive emotions and joy from the long-awaited snow and frost, but also a reason to temper the baby

Recovering towards snow fun in winter, make sure that your child's clothes are warm and do not let the cold air through. Warm and comfortable jumpsuit, jacket, boots, hat and mittens - such equipment is exactly what a child needs for winter outdoor games. It is better if the baby has more than one such "combat kit" so that it is possible to change shoes or clothes if they get wet from the snow. Let your children's wardrobe have a lot of mittens and mittens so that the child can change them in time, and his hands are always warm and dry.

In winter, snow fun delights not only children, but also adults, because with age you don’t have to deny yourself the pleasure of enjoying snowy weather, and even better, enjoy the winter with the whole family.

Snow fun in winter - sled relay

Traditional sledding can be turned into an exciting competition. To do this, the participants are divided into two groups and lined up in two parallel rows in front of the start line. As soon as the leader gives the appropriate signal, two players from each team: one on a sled, and the second, carrying the first, run to the finish line as quickly as possible. Distance length may vary. Well, if it is about 50 meters, so that the guys can accelerate properly and show what they are capable of. At the finish, the participants change places: the one who was carrying the sled is transplanted, and the one who was being transported takes the place of the carrier. After that, the guys return to the team, and they are replaced by another pair. The team whose members complete the distance the fastest wins.

Snow houses

Snow fun in winter is not only about making snowmen and playing snowballs. You can have a great time building unusual houses out of snow. In order for the construction to succeed, it is better to do it immediately after a snowfall or when a thaw has come, because it is easy to sculpt all kinds of figures from sticky, soft and pliable snow.

From snow, you can easily build not only a fortress, but also a whole labyrinth. Bricks are made from snow, from which the walls of buildings are subsequently folded. In order for the bricks to be the same size, you will need special forms in the form of wooden boxes that do not have a lid and bottom.

Such boxes should be detachable: the transverse wall, together with the longitudinal one, should be folded with the help of loops that can be made from ordinary leather straps. For construction snow houses and other “architecture made of snow” will need not only such boxes, but also special rammers in the form of planks. To get a brick, you need to fill the box with snow, then tamp it down, then open the box and - the brick is ready. The walls of these unusual bricks are smooth and beautiful, which will allow you to realize any "architectural idea". From many of these bricks, you can build a real house of the Snow Queen.

snow colors

An amazingly interesting and exciting snow fun in winter can be colored snow, which can be easily made from ordinary snow-white and fluffy snow. For this, you will need half a glass of water and some food coloring (like the one we use to dye eggs on Easter Eve). Water and pigment must be mixed. To get a real artist's palette, you'll need a few dyes. Sprinkling these homemade paints on the snow cover, you can get colored snow, from which you can sculpt snowmen, animals and other various figures.

Winter is a great time of the year for winter activities and adventures that not only kids can participate in, but also their parents. Editorial

In ancient times, the Gods themselves walked the earth, all sorts of miracles then happened in the world, came to life. Life on earth was beautiful and plentiful. People revered nature, she answered them kindly: fresh spring, warm summer, fertile autumn and icy winter gave. There were joys for every season. It’s not like today, when people are cut off from the earth, forests and fields are only seen in pictures, they spend the winter without snow in a dusty city.

Previously, winter was not a hindrance to joy. Most happy holidays it was carried out in the cold season. It’s time for business, and an hour for fun - while there is no work in the fields, you need to have time to work up for the whole year. In the winter, young people will gather in the village, during the day they walk and play, in the evening they sit together in one hut, myths and legends of the ancient Slavs are listening. The stories of those, oh, and there were many! The same as the bylichki of grandfather Matvey, which are told in the book "Gods and People". We listened to them with delicious tea and berry jam and all the time asked the old people to tell one more fairy tale. But everything has its time: the evening was ending, and it was time to go home.

The next day, again, guys and girls gathered on the street. They sang funny songs, rode down the ice slides, played games and got to know each other, looked closely. At that time, a lot of couples formed. Weddings will go later, after Vodokres. In the meantime, the guys showed their prowess to the girls in games and competitions. Winter fun is dashing and fun. Small children have nothing to do in them, good fellows inadvertently get hurt, carried away by the game. Therefore, the kids with their grandfathers stayed at home, helped with the housework and everyone asked for more myths and legends of the ancient Slavs tell. Boys and girls at this time gathered for fun.

It took the longest time to prepare for the game of capturing the snow fortress. In some villages, real mansions were built for her from ice and snow. All the guys were engaged in the construction of the fortress for several days, and then the youth from the neighboring village were invited to visit them. Everyone came to such a game as if it were a big holiday. The girls dressed up, showed their beauty, looked out for suitors. And the guys in front of them were brave with might and main. At first, they sang funny ditties, made fun of their opponents, told how they would be broken with one hand, knocked over with one snowball. Then the assault on the fortress began. The guests attacked, the hosts defended. Oh, and it was fun! The guys diverged in earnest, the game turned into a real battle. The girls looked out for their sweetheart, sometimes they threw snowballs themselves, helping to protect the fortress.

After the game, guests from the neighboring village were invited to the house for gatherings. Guests came with goodies so that everyone could not only play, but also feast on. At the evenings there were already other amusements: they played and danced. The guys kept trying to come up with such a game so that the girls would kiss them, but they themselves were not against it.

This is how this winter time is described in the book "Gods and People" by the publishing house "Northern Fairy Tale":

Yes, these four days and nights were in the boundless power of Morena And now Morena, watching from her crystal palace how people are preparing to meet Kolyada, the God of the young Sun, turning Nature for the summer, just did not purr and lick her lips, anticipating how she have fun playing your games with people. And from Yavi, a song calling Kolyada was already heard:

Kolyada-Solstice,
Stand at our gates.
Disperse the darkness
Return to Yav red day.
Ignite with fire, Kolo exhale,
Take away, Colo, grief, and give the light more pain!
Goy! Kolyada! Glory!
Sunshine turn around
Fire up the red!
Get out on the road
Drive the winter!
Goy! Kolyada! Glory!

In the afternoon, they prepared a large fire - “Steal”, in which not even logs, but whole logs, were lit by night. One such log was specially prepared for a special action. It had to be dragged burning around the entire village and returned back to Krada.

This time, the log, “Balda,” as they called it in the village, was safely dragged along the snow path, also arranged in advance, and returned burning to the fire.
- Glory! Glory! - joyful cries were heard - the year will be successful!
"How wrong you are!" Morena chuckled and continued to watch the celebration.
On earth, in Yavi, the holiday was gaining momentum. The boys and girls, breaking into pairs, took an oath of allegiance - the “Fire Curse”, when they jump over the fire without unclenching their hands. Noisier and louder were the songs and shouts heard through the streets. At one end of the village sounded:
Kolyada was born
Behind the river behind the fast ...

And at the other end low male voices sang:
Oh, Kolyada, Kolyada!
We came to glorify, but to glorify the owners.
And the hostess is well-healthy.
Your kids: sons, daughters -
Ninety bulls, one and a half hundred cows.

It was boys and girls who went to “carol” singing songs under the huts and getting “generous” for this - kalachi, sausage circles and any other food.
Having collected full bags, the youth went to have fun in the largest hut, and who did not fit, then in other huts, smaller.
- Now it will be soon, - Morena said to herself, - That's when I'll have fun!

What a pity that these traditions are not preserved today! Guys no longer build snow fortresses, they do not follow their play of beautiful girls in folk attire. I so want to find myself in this world at least for a while, to touch its pure and simple joys! Maybe it will turn out in your life to embody something from your native traditions.

Where to find stories about folk winter festivities, we will tell you, but how to bring them to life, decide for yourself. There is an updated book "Gods and People" in the "Northern Tale". In it not only myths and legends of the ancient Slavs told, more folk holidays with their living traditions are described. Grandfather Matvey narrates, as always, and he, you yourself know, is a great master of narration.

Author: Mikhail Shemyakin Form: Mazarin Design: Winter fun Diameter: 265 mm Hard porcelain Decoration: hand-painted drawing by Mikhail Shemyakin Imperial Porcelain Factory. "Winter Fun" reveals one of the themes of the "World of Drops" series, where

Author: Mikhail Shemyakin Form: Mazarin Design: Winter fun Diameter: 265 mm Hard porcelain Decoration: hand-painted drawing by Mikhail Shemyakin Imperial Porcelain Factory. "Winter Fun" reveals one of the themes of the "World of Drops" series, where

Author: Mikhail Shemyakin Form: Mazarin Design: Winter fun Diameter: 265 mm Hard porcelain Decoration: hand-painted drawing by Mikhail Shemyakin Imperial Porcelain Factory. "Winter Fun" reveals one of the themes of the "World of Drops" series, where

Author: Mikhail Shemyakin Form: Mazarin Design: Winter fun Diameter: 265 mm Hard porcelain Decoration: hand-painted drawing by Mikhail Shemyakin Imperial Porcelain Factory. "Winter Fun" reveals one of the themes of the "World of Drops" series, where

Christmas is over, but winter is still in full swing. Maria Molchanova talks about how our ancestors had fun during the cold season.

The ways of entertainment in the winter season in traditional Russian culture were mainly ritual or ritualized activities that correlated with such important milestones in the calendar as Christmas time and Maslenitsa, as well as games that were not directly related to the ritual sphere. Both the first and the second developed in the predominantly young people participating in them physical strength, endurance, dexterity, patience, certain skills and abilities, and in addition moral, psychological, intellectual qualities: courage, attentiveness, ingenuity, initiative.

Males were more active in the games and usually organized entertainment. Games and festivities during the holidays were held with a large gathering of people. During the game action, girls and boys got the opportunity to demonstrate their dignity to the community, including peers of the opposite sex and their parents, which was important for the formation of public opinion and, accordingly, marriage couples.

Folk festivities on Maslenitsa

The favorite winter entertainments included riding from the mountains and on horseback. They were sports competitions for speed, agility, range and the ability to control horses and sledges. Skating at Christmas time and Maslenitsa was recognized as the most important, because among the people they were perceived as brides and grooms. Shrovetide skating took place against the backdrop of the widespread custom of honoring the newlyweds, which is characteristic of this holiday. The review of brides and grooms symbolically opened new season wedding games. It is no coincidence that it was during this period that public ridicule and “punishment” of those who did not marry and did not marry in the previous year took place. Riding from the mountains and on horseback during Maslenitsa was also attributed magical meaning: the future flax harvest was associated with them.

For skiing from the mountains, natural slopes were used - descents from hills or descents to reservoirs that were flooded with water. In some Russian villages and cities, they preferred to build rolling mountains - reels. They were built mainly by young men: they harvested logs and installed the structures of rolling mountains, and when filling the mountains, they poured water on each other. They tried to decorate the slides in various ways: they planted Christmas trees, installed lanterns and even ice sculptures.

Christmas celebration in traditional costumes

Shrovetide skating was held throughout the week. From the mountains, they usually rode on mats, animal skins, armfuls of straw, threshed sheaves, straw rugs, and stumps of wood. In addition, they made or put in order for the season special devices, large and small sleds, sledges, benches, sledges or half sledges, boats, ice floes, chunks, goats, skates; sticks for repulsion could serve as an auxiliary tool for riding them.

Sledding in pairs involved choosing a partner

Going up the mountain, young people tried to dress up. In the Ryazan region, girls and young women, as well as children, were tied up with homespun sashes and towels. Teenagers and young men went up the mountain in polished boots, often wearing holiday costumes. They rode one by one, two by two or in large groups. Each rider sought to demonstrate his dexterity, dexterity, ability to drive a sled or stay on his feet. Before the eyes of the gathered people, they tried to drive as far as possible, with greater speed, and also not to turn to the side and not fall. The peasants said: "The mountain is our prowess."

The skating of girls and women was especially closely watched, since the future flax harvest was directly dependent on their dexterity and ability to control the sled. The rolling of girls and women on the bottoms of spinning wheels had ritual and magical significance; they contributed to a good harvest of flax, and in some areas - and millet. In the Vologda province, during single skating, guys on goats flew up to boats with girls and, colliding with them, tried to knock down the ice so that they would slide worse. Such behavior on the hill was considered a special way of courtship, a manifestation of sympathy for the girl.

Joint skating in pairs assumed the choice of a partner: the guy invited the girl he liked. In a number of places, tradition required that a guy ride the same girl no more than three times. Usually the girls lined up near the mountain, waiting for an invitation to ride, after which the young people climbed to its top. Rolling down on a small sled, the guy sat the girl on his knees, and she hugged him by the neck, while he demonstrated his ability to control the sled: to drive smoothly and not roll over.

Skating, as a rule, ended with a kiss. When riding in companies, large sleds were most often used. It was considered especially daring to jump into the sled when it was already rolling down the mountain. A group of young people rode on their feet in a “skid” or “yur”, that is, in a chain, clasping each other with their arms. Such skating was a test not only of personal qualities, but also of a person’s ability to act in a team.

Sychkov F.V. Skating from the mountains

Those who did not marry last year were ridiculed at Shrovetide skating

Skating on Maslenitsa took on an unprecedented scale; not without reason in some places Maslenitsa was called a “rolling spell”. In these skating - congresses - the population of the entire district took part. They started in the middle of the day. They rode one or several, along or around a settlement, usually a central one, as well as between settlements or at fairs. The youth prepared for these trips in advance. Girls and boys dressed in the best: fur coats and hats, embroidered shirts, bright sundresses made of expensive fabrics and shawls, new felt boots. Girls certainly whitened and blushed their faces. The guys prepared the best painted or carved sledges for departure, covered them with carpets or fur capes, polished the horse harness, pulled out the best arcs - heavy, gilded, painted, in addition, they cleaned and decorated the horses.

Traditional Russian sleigh

Another group of festive winter amusements are games, the main participants of which were only young men. Sometimes entertainment took the form of ritual excesses. A characteristic feature of Christmastide was jokes, pranks, fun that did not fit into generally accepted norms. Some comic fun was timed to coincide with Shrovetide, as well as Clean Monday. Among them is the skating (bathing) of girls in the snow, known in a number of places under the name "salt the girls", "freeze the girls". An important part of the men's games was a competitive element that characterized equestrian competitions, troika competitions, climbing a pole, ball games, fistfights and fights, as well as military sports games "taking a snow town".

V. Surikov “The capture of a snowy town, 1891

Another men's pastime during the winter was the ball game. On the last day of Maslenitsa, young men and men, having gathered on an ice-covered river, were divided into two groups of twenty to thirty people. Then they drew two lines for which it is necessary to throw a heavy leather ball. To achieve the goal, it was allowed to use various techniques: drive the ball with your feet, throw with your hands, push and push opponents. When one of the players took possession of the ball and threw it over the line with speed and dexterity, a fight began, which ended in a real battle with bloodshed. The fight for the ball is a rather tough game, since losing was recognized as a great shame. The vanquished were called "kilovniki" for a whole year - a nickname very offensive for any man. The winners enjoyed universal respect, and the girls noted them with special attention. The ball game was also accompanied by the rite of redemption of a young wife from the male population of her ancestral village.