Inside the house. The Izba

Here you can see the classical example of a peasant dwelling of the XIXth and the beginning of the XXth century. There is a big stove without a chimney here. When the stove was being stoked smoke rose from the mouth of the stove to the ceiling, got colder and then lowered along the walls to the shelves, pushed off from them and then went out through the special vent above the door and through the wooden chimney. The soot accumulated on the ceiling and the upper parts of the walls.

This kind of heating was called “a black one” and had some disadvantages. First of all, there was always a danger of fire. Children and old people suffered from pulmonary and eye diseases. Soot fell from the ceiling and it was difficult to keep tidiness inside.

But due to a great number of advantages this kind of heating was widely spread during the XIXth – at the beginning of the XXth centuries in the south-west of the Arkhangelsk region. Peasants needed less firewood to heat the stove, the air in the smoked room was very warm and it was easy to dry clothes, footwear and nets. The walls, penetrated with smoke, were protected from rotting and wood destroying insects.

Opposite the stove you can see the Red corner. Red meant “beautiful”. There were icons in the corner and it was decorated with embroidered towels. It was the most sacred place in the house and the table was put there. They put bread on the table all the time to ensure prosperity and well-being in the house. Everybody had his own place at the table. The master of the house sat in the corner, under the icons as it was the most respectable place. His sons sat next to him on fixed built-in benches. His daughters and daughters-in-law sat on the attached bench. There was a kind of symbolism here: daughters left the house after wedding but sons stayed in it. The hostess sat on the edge of the attached bench, closer to the stove so that she could easily serve food. She cooked food in a women’s corner behind the stove where kitchen utensils were kept.

In the North and it is getting dark early especially in winter. In the XIXth century there was no electricity and people needed lighting. For this purpose a torch of splinters was used. A bench was filled with water and wet sand to avoid fire. A 5-6-year-old child was responsible for substitution of chips.

The master of the house also had a lot of work to do. His work left much waste, that is why he worked in the corner near the door. He sewed felt boots, plaited bark and carved wood.

When the hard day was over everybody went to sleep. Peasants slept on the built-in benches or on the floor, laying out boards and mattresses of hay.