Russian Holidays - Russian Stove Day

From what distant times and why it was customary to celebrate the day of this ingenious multifunctional design on May 19 is unknown. But definitely, if such a date did not exist, it would be worth inventing it and declaring it an official holiday, paying tribute to the stove, which for several centuries helped the Russian people winter in warm houses, cook food, treat illnesses, and disinfect their homes. The first stoves in Rus' appeared in the 9th - 10th centuries AD. Heater stoves, similar to a primitive hearth, built without any fastening solution from unprocessed boulders, were used to heat houses and cook food. In the 15th century, the stove design underwent significant changes. In the huts, on the elevated surface - the guardianship, they began to install adobe chicken stoves, which were a vault with thick walls. A hole was left at one end of the vault - through it they placed dishes in which to cook food, and laid firewood. Due to the risk of fire, it was impossible to light a strong fire in such structures; they “smoked” over low heat, they did not have a chimney - the smoke came out into the street through the upper porch of the entrance doors. Later, they began to cut a fiberglass window in the wall under the ceiling. If the stove was not heated, the window was covered (closed) with wooden shutters. They heated in black, but did not pollute the walls of the rooms. Our wise ancestors, using deciduous trees as fuel, achieved complete combustion of firewood, soot settled only around the fiber window. It was the chicken stove that became the ancestor of the famous Russian stove. At the beginning of the 17th century, wooden stove pipes appeared, which increased the productivity of stove structures, while simultaneously increasing the risk of fires. Peter I banned the construction of chicken stoves and wooden chimneys, first in St. Petersburg (1718), then in Moscow (1722). Peter's decree led to the improvement of the technology for constructing furnaces. As a result, in the 18th century, the white Russian stove appeared and firmly established itself in Russian homes. A pipe installed directly on the stove body led all combustion products directly to the street. Among the heating appliances existing at that time, the Russian stove turned out to be unrivaled: its simplicity and versatility of design, versatility and high heat capacity ensured its wide recognition in Russia and in foreign countries. It gained national love and respect for its safety, good heat retention (slow cooling), high level of efficiency - 68% (in furnaces with flooding - lower heating level - 80%), long service life (more than 30 years), the possibility of use in medical and hygienic purposes, for sleep and rest. The stove heated the living space, food was cooked in it, berries, mushrooms, and herbs were dried. They washed themselves in ovens, took steam as if in a bathhouse, “baked” newborn babies, and warmed up sore joints and backs. They slept on them, communicated - in the evenings, climbing onto the stove floors, children told all sorts of stories - the stove added mystery, giving scope to children's imagination. The Russian stove was heated from September to May. Probably, Russian Stove Day is celebrated on May 19 precisely because by this time the cold weather in Rus' was receding, and the stove was no longer heated, giving it a summer rest. Let's support folk traditions and remember with a kind word the home worker - the white Russian stove, let's marvel at the ingenuity and ingenuity of Russian craftsmen, may there be a great many of them on Russian soil.