Patterns of Life32-3

By: T.J. Z

Lesson Questions

• How was Russia society organized?

• How did religion support the social system?

• What Daily activities shaped peasant life?

Vocabulary

• Icon- A religious painting of Jesus, Mary, or a saint

• Mir (Meer)- A village commune• Serf- Peasants who worked for nobles

and had almost no rights

Russian Society• In the late 1700’s, after the

enlightenment in Europe and America, many Russians became European

• Started talking French and dressing as the French did

• Autocratic czars prevented any real reform from occurring

• Nobles owned the land• Serfs worked for the Nobles• Nobles never changed their

ways leaving the serfs desperately poor

• Nobles spent winters in either Moscow or St. Petersburg

• In the summer, they went back to their country estates so the serfs could work for them

The Russian Orthodox Church• Supported political and

social order• Gov’t Appointed officials

and financially supported them

• Every peasants home had an icon

• Peasants were the main followers of the church

• They were baptized young, married by Church Law, and received blessings as they lay dying

Peasant Life• The Mir was the center of peasant life• If a boy was called to serve in the army, he would be

gone 25 years• Families were patriarchal, extended families, the

oldest man had the final word• Women were lower than men and could not inherit the

land• Arranged marriages based on property• Lived in a small wooden house that had one large

room an 1 or 2 storage rooms• They ate very abundant foods• In the 1800’s they added potatoes and tea to their

diet