Our ancestors believed that long hair for girls and women serve as a guard and a store of light energies. Every woman took pride and pride in her hair, fearing that a dashing man would not take possession of a single hair. After all, he who holds a lock of hair in his hand, and holds the fate of their owner. Girls with long hair were considered beauties, their braids were valued above any trinkets.
Braid braid among different Slavic peoples
Faith prescribed to women not to cut hair. But everything is not as simple as it might seem at first glance: the hairdresses of our great grandparents are deeply symbolic. For example, it was customary for young girls to cut their hair, and only a couple of years later they began to weave the first pigtail. With such a hairdo, they had to walk for several years, it also symbolized the fact that the girl was married. With one scythe went and those who did not find their half (old maidens). But before the marriage, the hair was divided in two: the couple's two - and the scythe now too. The ceremony of plaiting the braid was accompanied by the change of the children's wardrobe to an adult - more chaste, closed, decorated with female obverse symbols. In various regions of Russia, when combing, special attributes were used, proverbs and jokes were invented. For example, in Zaonezhye long hair in girls wove in a scythe along with a ribbon - a symbol of readiness for marriage. And Belarusians sentenced: "Casa - dzyavochaya beauty." Bulgarians, however, greased long hair of girls with grape juice and only after that began to weave, whispering: "It grows a stall, it grows and an orcas" ("Vine grows, grows and a scythe"). Serbs and Croats smeared braids with fat snakes, so that they grew long, like snakes.
Scythe in folklore
Of course, folklore did not ignore the maiden braid. A lot of proverbs about hair came to this day. For example, the translation of the phrase "To drink a scythe" is found in practically all languages of the Slavic group. Denotes this phrase girl's party before the wedding. But the mocking phrase "To scrape the scythe" could be glued to the one that sat up in the girls and, therefore, never divided the hair in two. Long-haired beauties also found their reflection in painting. The famous Russian artist Boris Olshansky depicts beautiful ancient goddesses with flowing hair or luxurious braids. He also writes to mere mortals who imitate celibates with their appearance. Andrei Ramnev depicted in the paintings later, already Christian rituals associated with braiding. For example, his famous "Splitting of the Spit" shows how the long hair of the girls was divided in two by a parting on the eve of the wedding. And Vasilyevskaya simply-hairless Mermaid, perhaps, is famous for the whole world as a symbol of the mythology of the ancient Slavs. No less famous was Vasnetsovskaya Alyonushka, who was tinkering with a red braid waiting for the 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 works of many modern photographers. Did not pass the attention of the braid and the performers of folk music: Helavisa (group "Mill"), Pelageya, Masha Arkhipova (group "Arkona"). After all, today, as in ancient times, the braid is the main ornament of every girl.