Barn

The ancient Russian name is the granary , the storehouse of life, among the Slavs associated in ritual and magical practice with ensuring productivity and fertility. The word is common among the Eastern and Southern Slavs (among the Western Slavs it corresponds to the words with the roots syp- and klad- : Czech. Sýpka, skladiště , Slovak. Sýpka , Polish. Skład ). Often, peasant buildings (for example, Belorussian stadola ) were intended both for storage and for drying and threshing grain crops (see Ovin , Threshing-ground ). In the barn, magical actions were carried out, mainly associated with stubborn (see Harvest ), New Year's, and sometimes wedding rituals ^[1] . The very word barn ( Anbor , cf. Pers. انبار : warehouse ) in the proper sense (as a repository) is already found in the Timurid poet Alisher Navoi (XV century) ^[2]

In Russia, barns were intended mainly for storing grain and other crops. From the inside, the barns were divided into branches, which were called bins or bastards ( serifs ).

The small barns after construction were covered with clay or resin , after which they were filled with water . If water did not flow out, they cut down the door and put up the roof , after which the barn was dried.

In the Arkhangelsk region , the practice of constructing the so-called barn towns was widespread - a group of barns were built near the main village, mainly with grain or furs. Barn towns were a kind of insurance in case of fires that destroyed entire northern estates (that is, a house with a two-story courtyard closely attached). The worst thing in the event of such disasters was the loss of seed grain, and with the help of the reserve stock it was possible if you did not get on your feet, then at least not starve to death. Furs were the local currency.

Also in the Russian North , the construction of exit barn was practiced. Small buildings of no more than 4-5 m² in area were intended for storage of a 1-2-week supply of products in case of agricultural work far from the village.

In Soviet times, it was crowded out by sheds (small non-residential buildings and extensions intended for storing small stocks of food, utensils and tools) and elevators , large grain storages that appeared in the countryside as industrialization and collectivization took place.

• Barn
• Crib
• Riga (building)

• Opolovnikov A.V. Russian wooden architecture. - M., 1983
• Andrei / Ternovskaya O. A. // Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary: in 5 volumes / under the general. ed. N. I. Tolstoy ; Institute of Slavic Studies RAS . - M .: Int. Relations , 1995. - T. 1: A (August) - G (Goose). - S. 104-105. - ISBN 5-7133-0704-2 .

• Barn // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Barn // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.