Our ancestors believed that the long hair of girls and women served as a talisman and a repository of light energies. Each woman took care and was proud of her hair, fearing that a dashing person would not take possession of a single hair. After all, the one who holds a lock of hair in his hand also holds the fate of their owner. Girls with long hair were considered beautiful, their braids were valued above any trinkets.
Weaving braids among different Slavic peoples
Faith commanded women not to cut their hair. But everything is not as simple as it might seem at first glance: the hairstyles of our great-great-grandmothers are deeply symbolic. For example, it was customary for little girls to have their hair cut, and only by the age of twelve they began to weave their first pigtail. With such a hairstyle, they had to walk for several years, she also symbolized that the girl was marriageable. Those who never found their soul mate (old maids) also walked with one scythe. But before marriage, the hair was divided in two: there are two spouses - and braids now too. The rite of braiding was accompanied by a change in the children's wardrobe for an adult - more chaste, closed, decoratedfemale protective symbolism. In various regions of Russia, when combing, special paraphernalia was used, proverbs and jokes were invented. For example, in Zaonezhye, girls' long hair was woven into a braid along with a ribbon - a symbol of readiness for marriage. And the Belarusians used to say: "Kasa is a fucking beauty." The Bulgarians, on the other hand, smeared the long hair of the girls with grape juice, and only after that they began to weave, whispering: “The vine grows, it grows and the braid” (“The vine grows, the braid also grows”). Serbs and Croatians smeared their braids with snake fat to make them grow long, like snakes.
Scythe in folklore
Of course, folklore did not ignore the girl's braid. Many proverbs about hair have survived to this day. For example, the translation of the phrase "drink the scythe" is found in almost all languages of the Slavic group. This phrase denotes girlish gatherings before the wedding. But the mocking proverb "To pull the scythe" could stick to the one that sat up in the girls and, therefore, did not divide her hair in two. Long-haired beauties found their reflection in painting. The famous Russian artist Boris Olshansky depicts beautiful ancient goddesses with flowing hair or luxurious braids. He also writes ordinary mortals, imitating the celestials with their appearance. Andrei Ramnev depicted in the paintings later, already Christian rituals associated with braiding. For example, his famous "Splitting the Braid" shows how girls' long hair was parted in half the day before.weddings. And Vasilyevsky simple-haired Mermaid, perhaps, is famous all over the world as a symbol of the mythology of the ancient Slavs. No less famous was Vasnetsovskaya Alyonushka, pulling her red braid in anticipation of her unlucky brother on the bank. And modern artists are inspired by long-haired girls. Photos with long and flowing hair, with braids and high hairstyles can be found in the work of many modern photographers. Folk music performers did not ignore the scythe: Helavisa (Melnitsa group), Pelageya, Masha Arkhipova (Arkona group). Indeed, today, as in ancient times, the braid is the main decoration of every girl.