Provincial Russia . big administrative or culturalcentre, and in three Governments there is nozemstvo. The great bulk of the landlords arePoles, who are out of touch with, and despise, thepeasants. All these causes contribute to retardintellectual progress. In this backward state of the White Russiansit is natural that the economic and religious ideasof a former age still obtain. Thus the big family system, nowhere surviving in Great Russia, is stillcommon here in spite of adverse conditions, suchas the impoverishment of the people and an ever-increasing scarcity of land and difficulty in find
Provincial Russia . big administrative or culturalcentre, and in three Governments there is nozemstvo. The great bulk of the landlords arePoles, who are out of touch with, and despise, thepeasants. All these causes contribute to retardintellectual progress. In this backward state of the White Russiansit is natural that the economic and religious ideasof a former age still obtain. Thus the big family system, nowhere surviving in Great Russia, is stillcommon here in spite of adverse conditions, suchas the impoverishment of the people and an ever-increasing scarcity of land and difficulty in findingwork. A big family sometimes comprises fifteenadult males and thirty or even fifty members. Thehead of the household, called hatska by the grown-up men and women, and dyadska by the children,directs the common labour, controls the money,and looks after the behaviour of the familygenerally. He is the counterpart of the Serviandomachin and the Great Russian boWiak or bigone. He is surrounded with marks of WHITE RUSSIA 113 At table he sits in the place of honour in the cornerunder the ikons. Before bread is broken he saysgrace. At the other end of the table is the mis-tresss place. On one side sit the women and onthe other the men, in places of seniority. The firstto eat is the master of the house, and the othersbegin to eat in order after him. He plays the mostimportant part at festivals, especially at the timeswhen honour is paid to the dead. It is he whosummons their souls to the meeting, pours out winefor them, and sets it on the window-sill for them toquench their thirst by night. Nowadays, however,his power is more limited than formerly. Unfair-ness, inexperience, idleness or drunkenness, lead tothe dissolution of the family, or the transference ofthe mastership to a younger member. When ason complains of his father to the village council,generally the fathers side is taken. But often bothare punished, the son because he does not obeyorders, the father because h
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Keywords: ., bookauthorstewarth, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
