Beggary and beggar women in Russian peasant community of European Russia (second half of XIX - early XX century)

The essay examines the life of beggar women in European Russian peasant community which is under-investigated. Beggars belonged to the marginalized part of peasantry society because life circumstances dumped them to the social border. Material of multivolume "Russian peasants: Living. Everyday Life. Mores: Materials of "Ethnographic Bureau" of Prince V.N. Tenishev”, which is the most comprehensive and systematic source on the life of Russian peasants at the turn of XIX and XX centuries, is widely used in the article. The author also uses information about different aspects of Russian peasant beggar women’s life which can be found in ethnographic literature (mostly before 1917). The causes of beggary’s existence in Russian peasantry society, the attitude of peasants and the community as a whole to the phenomenon of beggary are examined; the categories of beggar women with different socio-psychological attitudes and their social, religious and ritual functions are presented. The author uses the methodology of age symbolism, including the normative criteria of age, social-aged stereotypes and subculture. Local peculiarities of the existence of beggary are marked.