On the wall you can see a large map of the Samara Luka, and on it are marked the places (villages, mountains, caves, rivers) with which Zhiguli legends and traditions are associated. There are also large photographs depicting some of these places, for example, Mount Strelnaya and Witch Lake near the village of Bakhilovo. The museum is home to mysterious characters, embodied from legends in mannequin images reminiscent of the figures of the famous Madame Tussauds museum. For example, the Mistress of the Zhiguli Mountains. Associated with it is a legend about a spring in the Stone Bowl, a favorite among tourists.
“There is a legend about Stepan Razin’s associate Fyodor Sheludyak, who robbed the Zhiguli Mountains,” says the head of the museum Anastasia Ishmaeva. - Once the tsarist troops forced Fedor to climb to the top of the mountain. He had no choice but to jump down from the stone cliff. But he did not crash, but ended up with the Mistress of the Zhiguli Mountains. For a long time he lived in a dungeon, but his stone bondage did not please him. And so he died of melancholy. And since then, the Mistress of the Zhiguli Mountains has been crying, and her tears flow into the Stone Bowl.” And here is another mythological creature - Shishiga, who, according to legend, lives in swampy places near the Witch Lake. Despite his “advanced age,” Shishiga loves to play pranks and makes fun of unwary travelers. Like the ancient Greek sirens, she sings beautifully and takes advantage of this, luring travelers deeper into the forest and leading them off the beaten path. When a person begins to panic and call for help, these Zhiguli “mischief girls” giggle sarcastically, climbing into the bushes. Another character of the museum is the mythical Iron Wolf, whose body is protected by armor. He has no tail - legend says that he lost it in one of the battles. “According to legends,” says Anastasia, “the Iron Wolf lives in adits near the village of Shiryaevo and guards lakes with fresh water. It was believed that since ancient times these creatures lived in harmony with people and helped them.” Another interesting character (judging by the name, a “relative” of the Iron Wolf) is the Wolfhound. He stands in the museum in a threatening pose, with bared teeth. According to legends, Volkodir lives in the Shiryaevsky ravine and guards the borders between Good and Evil. Legend has it that a magic stone is hidden in his mouth. Whoever gets it will become the strongest man on Samarskaya Luka. Apparently no one has succeeded in doing this so far.
The same character is embodied in numerous student works created from wood. They are stored here, in the locker. There are so many works - so many different views on this mythological creature.
Who hasn’t heard about the mysterious treasures of Ataman Stepan Razin, hidden somewhere in Zhiguli? According to some legends, these treasures are guarded by a huge Zhiguli bear. This character, standing on his hind legs, is also available as a mannequin in the museum. Next to him is the mythical Wooden Eagle, one of the attributes of the fairy-tale performance that is played here from time to time. The performance is called “How Tsarevich Vasily sought the Bird of Happiness.” The script was prepared by the museum staff themselves based on Zhiguli legends. The performance takes place on the museum stage, and everyone can take part in it after a short preparation and getting into their roles. If desired, the script can even be supplemented - if, of course, it turns out interesting.
The Magic Wooden Eagle serves in this improvisation performance as a means of transportation for Tsarevich Vasily. And among other heroes are the fabulous Bogatyr, the Mistress of the Zhiguli Mountains, Shishiga, Marya-Krasa and, finally, Stepan Razin, who, with the help of a magic sword kept in the museum, fights with the Wolfhound and defeats him. Here guests can hear Zhiguli tales and legends. In them, plants, stones and everyday objects are often endowed with magical powers and help the heroes in difficult situations. By the way, on Samarskaya Luka there are plants that are not found in any other corner of the world. You can learn about some of them here in the museum. One of the artists living in Zhigulevsk created life-size porcelain and donated different types of Zhigulev orchids to the Zolny Museum.
While some guests are preparing for the performance (changing clothes and learning roles), and others are looking at the museum exhibits, others can go to the “interactive” windows in the corridor, in which Shishiga, the Mistress of the Zhiguli and other fairy-tale characters are visible. There are tables lowered near the windows, and here you can give full rein to your imagination by drawing your vision of these heroes using gouache on Volga talisman stones. And then you can take these talismans as a souvenir. Here these painted pebbles are called “wishing stones.”
This most beautiful place in the middle reaches of the Volga hundreds of years ago it received the name “Samarskaya Luka” - from the word “bend”. The most famous is the northern, elevated part of this Volga peninsula, which has long been called the Zhiguli Mountains. Due to the unique diversity of natural landscapes, as well as representatives of the flora and fauna living on its territory, Samarskaya Luka is now included in the UNESCO catalogs as a natural and historical monument of world significance, subject to full protection (Fig. 1-7).
Secrets of underground labyrinths
But it is less known that the Volga bend has long been included in another list of world attractions, which was compiled by international organizations that study mysterious and anomalous phenomena on Earth and beyond. Anomalists believe that Samara Luka with the Zhiguli Mountains is one of those 10-12 points on the map of Russia where unusual and in many ways mysterious processes manifest themselves tens of times more often than in other areas of the planet.
From the analysis of Zhiguli legends and tales that Samara folklorists began to collect back in the 19th century, one can draw a very definite conclusion: with local mysteries and “miracles” local residents We became intimately acquainted hundreds of years ago, when Russian people first began to settle in the Middle Volga. Coastal villages such as Shiryaevo and Usolye were founded back in the 17th century (Fig. 8-10).
By the time Catherine II ascended the throne (Fig. 11)
There were already dozens of villages on Samara Luka, including the still existing Rozhdestveno, Vypolzovo, Podgory, Shelekhmet, Sosnovy Solonets, Askuli and others. However, the free life of the local men ended quite quickly: in the middle of her reign, the All-Russian autocrat gave her favorite Grigory Orlov (Fig. 12)
The entire Samara Luka along with villages.
Over hundreds of years of communication with the wild Zhiguli nature, local peasants have more than once encountered the mysterious and incomprehensible. And since any mystery always greatly excites the human soul, the memory of such meetings was preserved in subsequent generations in the form of legends and tales. One of the very first collectors of Zhiguli folklore was Dmitry Nikolaevich Sadovnikov (1847-1883), a Russian poet, folklorist and ethnographer (Fig. 13).
He was born in Simbirsk, where he studied at the gymnasium, where he later served as a teacher. Sadovnikov became the compiler of the most complete and scientifically best collection, “Riddles of the Russian People,” which was published in St. Petersburg in 1876. Subsequently, he published a number of books about Volga folklore, including collections of his own poems based on folk texts. Sadovnikov’s most famous poetic work is considered to be a poem about Stepan Razin “Because of the Island on the Rod,” which was later set to music and quickly became a truly folk song.
After his sudden death, his unique work “Tales and Legends of the Samara Region” (1884) was published in the journal “Notes of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society”. This was the very first printed review of the folklore of our province, in which a significant part was occupied by records of legends and myths, recorded from the words of residents of villages and hamlets lost in the Zhiguli Mountains.
Sadovnikov immediately noted that local stories and epics are replete with the most incredible miracles. Although some of the Zhiguli folk legends have something in common with the Ural, Bashkir, Mordovian and Tatar tales, most of them have no analogues in the oral folk art of the peoples of all European Russia.
Particularly interesting was the collective character from these legends - the so-called underground elders (Fig. 14).
According to legends, this is a mysterious caste of hermits who live in caves unknown to the human eye and have hidden knowledge, as well as amazing abilities. Outwardly, they look like handsome gray-haired old men who can unexpectedly appear and disappear right before the eyes of a lonely traveler. And at the same time, anomalists have information that legends about the same elders can be found not only in Zhiguli, but also in a number of other places in Russia, which are among the so-called “geographical points with increased anomaly.”
According to many testimonies, underground elders from different regions of our country constantly communicate with each other. This is, for example, how these mysterious underground hermits are described in the novel “In the Woods” by P.I. Melnikov (Andrey Pechersky) (Fig. 15):
“The Kirillov Mountains part... Leopard-shaped elders come out, bow to the navigators at the waist, ask them to take their bow, kiss in absentia to the brothers of the Zhiguli Mountains...” It is worth adding that the Kirillov Mountains are located in Nizhny Novgorod region, near the holy lake Svetloyar, which is also considered one of the most pronounced anomalous zones Russia.
In all legends, mysterious elders act as guardians of peace in the area under their care. At the same time, hermits strive to preserve the local nature intact, and sometimes come to the aid of victims of attacks by robbers or unjustly offended people. However, it also happens that the elders go “to the people” to convey some important information, in their opinion. These are not necessarily predictions about some great and tragic events, although there is evidence that, for example, they informed people about the coming First and Second World Wars. Sometimes elders provide the world with very “ordinary” information, usually of a moral or even environmental nature.
There is one interesting fact, which can also be compared with reports of underground hermits. In the guidebook of Kuibyshev local historian A.V. Sobolev (Fig. 16)
“Zhigulevskaya Around the World”, published back in 1965, contains the following lines: “In the area of the village of Perevoloki, at the end of the 19th century, caves were discovered, the entrances to which had the semblance of doors. Caves with windows, niches in the walls, a ceiling with a vault... Similar caves surrounded the neighboring village of Pecherskoe (its name comes from the word “cave”), where peasants found gravestones with Arabic inscriptions... During the excavations, stone cellars and iron chains were found... »
Of course, now the scientific world does not yet have 100% reliable information about the existence of some special human race in the dungeons of Samara Luka. But couldn’t the above legends, as well as archaeological finds, be a reason for the interest of future researchers?
The Sorcerer's Cunning Apprentice
Another local legend adds original intrigue to these epics about mysterious underground elders. According to him, in very ancient times, when there was not a single human habitation in these places, a certain magician and sorcerer - a white sorcerer - settled in the depths of the Zhiguli (Fig. 17).
He left people to find the path to eternal happiness, and in the mysterious underground silence he practiced magic, which resulted in the appearance of magical things never seen before. Among such miracles, for example, was an amazing flying boat, glowing in the dark, on which the magician more than once flew over the mountains, which greatly amazed people. Then he came up with a perpetual clock with ringing bells, which could only be started once every hundred years. But the most wonderful invention of the sorcerer was a magic furnace that could turn stones into gold.
The old-timers of these places, who lived by hunting, fishing and beekeeping, were at first openly afraid of the mysterious inhabitant of the Zhiguli dungeons. The sorcerer himself very rarely showed himself to people, and most often this happened during times of some difficult trials. For example, one day a multitude of steppe nomads came to the banks of the Volga, who had previously plundered and burned many Trans-Volga settlements. Peaceful fishermen and hunters fled in fear deep into the Zhiguli Mountains at the sight of the conquerors. And then the wizard, in order to save the villagers from the wild horde, at nightfall flew out to meet the aliens in his flying boat, which emitted mysterious green rays. Seeing something incomprehensible and sparkling right above them, the nomads fled in horror back to their steppe, and since then they no longer dared to enter the forested Zhiguli region.
Legends also say that with the help of his witchcraft, the underground sorcerer managed to extend his life to several thousand years, but was never able to achieve complete immortality. That is why, once he felt his last hour approaching, the sorcerer decided to interrupt his seclusion and took on a student so that he could continue the work he had begun. However, to his misfortune, this magician and wizard did not know people well, since the student he invited turned out to be envious and greedy. Of all the mysterious machines, he most liked the wonderful furnace that turned stones into gold. The student was in such a hurry to become the master of the Zhiguli dungeons that one day he could not stand it and, seizing the moment, threw not a block of stone, but his teacher into the mouth of the magic machine. But when he grabbed the gold bar that came out of the furnace, into which the unfortunate sorcerer turned, the killer unexpectedly fell ill with a strange disease, which in just a few days turned the young guy into a bald old man coughing blood, who soon died in terrible agony.
Since then, as legend says, the amazing creations of the deceased sorcerer have been hidden in the depths of the Zhiguli Mountains. Finding them is incredibly difficult, because there is only one door to the dungeon, and it opens only once every hundred years, but only to a good person. The one who finds this dungeon must wind a magic clock, and as a reward has the right to take as much treasure from the cave as he can carry. According to legend, the entrance to the mysterious temple was once found by Stenka Razin and Emelka Pugachev, and it was then, after visiting the underground kingdom, that they acquired both strength and gold in order to raise the people against the dominion of dark forces.
But if we translate into modern language all the names from ancient legend, then we will be surprised to discover that these miracles are now well known to each of us. Judge for yourself: the sorcerer's flying boat is very reminiscent of an aircraft - something like a modern helicopter. This is exactly what, according to the descriptions, some types of UFOs look like, which eyewitnesses regularly observe in the Samara Luka area. An eternal clock, which lasts for a hundred years on one winding, can be any mechanism with an isotope power source, and a furnace that turns stones into gold is, of course, a nuclear reactor, where some chemical elements are transformed into others.
As for the strange illness, from which within a few days the insidious student of the sorcerer first withered and then died in agony, it is very similar to an acute form of radiation sickness. After all, it is known that a person really dies very quickly from a powerful dose of radiation, and this, unfortunately, has been proven more than once during nuclear explosions and accidents. However, whether such miracles actually exist can only be found out after new research. underworld Samara Luka.
Mistress of the Zhiguli Mountains
Back in the 19th century, folklorists drew attention to the fact that most epics and legends of the Samara region converge on the same legendary character - the Mistress (or Sorceress) of the Zhiguli Mountains (Fig. 18).
According to legend, she lives in mysterious caves in the depths of mountain range(Fig. 19, 20, 21),
Only sometimes appearing on the surface and showing itself to people.
If at this time she meets a good fellow, then the hostess can invite him to her underground palace, promising fabulous riches and eternal life. However, until now, all the fellows who met the sorceress have refused these benefits, and therefore the underground mistress has been mourning her melancholy and loneliness for thousands of years. These tears flow from the rock into the Stone Bowl tract (Fig. 22, 23),
Where is the only water source of the Zhiguli Mountains.
And the legends also say that the underground sorceress was served by mysterious creatures - strange white dwarfs. In the tales they are called “underground miracles.” It is also said about them that these creatures are “so transparent that trees can be seen through them.” They could suddenly disappear in one place - and immediately appear in another. Like the elders, the dwarfs could, as if from underground, suddenly appear in front of a tired pedestrian in order to lead him straight to the house, and then, having done their good deed, before his eyes, as if disappear into thin air.
In the legend recorded in the middle of the 19th century by the already mentioned folklore collector D.N. Sadovnikov, local residents describe them as follows: “A small man, with a bony body, skin covered with scales, with huge eyes, a deadening gaze and a mysterious ability to move consciousness from body to body.” Last words, apparently meant that the underground inhabitants had telepathic abilities.
The first settlers of Samara Luka were wary of the ruler of the Zhiguli dungeons, her transparent servants, and the mysterious elders, and therefore did not risk unnecessarily wandering through the forests. However, people were regularly convinced that the sorceress and her retinue had a peaceful disposition, since they never offended people.
Some other phenomena from local folklore are also associated with the Mistress of these places - in particular, the so-called “Mirage of the Peaceful City” (Fig. 24).
According to legends, sometimes an extraordinary vision appeared before the peasants of the villages of Askuly, Sosnovy Solonets, Anurovka and some others in the morning fog. According to the stories of the villagers, it looked like a fantastic city with ancient houses, towers and fortress walls, as if hanging in the air against the background of a foggy haze. Usually this performance lasted only a few minutes, and then it disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Of course, popular rumor attributed the appearance of such “pictures” to the magical charms of the Mistress of the Zhiguli Mountains, who sometimes entertained herself and entertained local residents in this way.
The mirage of the “Peaceful City” was first mentioned in his book in 1636 by the Holstein traveler Adam Olearius. Another name for the same phenomenon is “Fortress of Five Moons”, “White Church”, “Fata Morgana” and so on. However, sometimes on the Volga bend you can see other mirages, which local residents call the “Temple of the Green Moon” (a ghostly structure in the form of an amazing iridescent tower), and the “Waterfall of Tears”, which popular rumor associates with the famous spring Stone Bowl, as well as disappearing lake, which is located in the Elgushi tract (Fig. 25).
Such mirages most often manifest themselves near the Molodetsky and Usinsky mounds, as well as in the area of lakes that stretch between the villages of Mordovo and Brusyany. According to many observers, here at dawn a ghost town, only to disappear again after a minute or two. Those who have seen this mirage say that it resembles a fairy-tale castle with a white fortress wall and turrets on which white flags flutter.
This mirage is also mentioned in the collection “Pearls of Zhiguli”, published back in Soviet times - in 1974. Here it is said about him this way: “And when the sun rises in the east over the Volga, the palaces and walls of the Peaceful City become visible above the river. And it stands as before, and waits for people to need its wealth.”
By the way, geological data suggests that in ancient times waterfalls could actually exist in a number of points in the Zhiguli Mountains. In this regard, researchers attribute the described phenomena to the group of so-called “chronomirages”. They are supposed to be reflections of the realities of the distant past projected into the present.
In the same series, we should mention such a mysterious phenomenon of the Zhiguli Mountains as “pillars of hard light” suddenly appearing in the night air (Fig. 26, 27, 28).
Outwardly, they look like luminous vertical columns up to several meters long and up to a meter in diameter, suddenly appearing in the air over certain areas of the terrain. One of the last reports of such a “pillar” came in 2005 from the area of the village of Podgory. By the way, occasionally in such places observers see not glowing, but... black columns, also hanging in the air.
This phenomenon is most often observed over the eastern part of Zhiguli, and not only in Podgory, but, for example, also in the Shiryaevsky ravine, in the area of the Kamennaya Chasha spring. The earliest story about this Zhiguli mystery in the form of a local tale is again mentioned by Dmitry Sadovnikov. This is what he wrote down from the words of old-timers of the Zhiguli village of Shiryaevo (dating from 1870 to 1875).
“The Shiryaevsky man Ivan Mukhanov went to the forest after Ilyin’s day to get firewood, but was delayed. That's when the twilight caught him. He was greedy, he loaded a lot of wood - the little horse could barely trudge. Well, Ivan doesn’t lose heart, the road is familiar. He hums a song under his breath, and makes sure that the wheel doesn’t slide into the hole. And night had already fallen over the mountains, getting darker and darker with every step. The first stars appeared. Well, Ivan thinks: “There are still seven miles to the house, no more, I’ll get there before midnight, and I’ll unload the cart tomorrow.”
Then suddenly the horse jerked and began snoring. “Are they really wolves?” - Ivan shuddered. Only suddenly he accidentally glanced to the left - fathers, the light is over the mountain! Did he really think he lost his way and drove past his village? I looked around. Although it is dark, the road is clearly visible. And the horse sensed the proximity of the house and began to almost run. You know, the village is nearby, only about three miles left.
And the light above the mountain flares up and stands like a pillar. Now he was already behind. Goosebumps ran down Ivashka’s back - the devil must be trying to lead him astray. Thank God, the horse made it down the hill in an instant. Ivan doesn’t remember how many times he was baptized; the last time he received a sign was when he entered the gate. And then I heard from the old people that this is the mistress of the Zhiguli Mountains after Ilya’s day, she goes out at night for a walk, and the light from the door of her underground room stands like a pillar over the mountain all night.”
This Zhiguli tale echoes the reports about “pillars of hard light” collected by the non-governmental research organization Avesta. This is how young scientists-enthusiasts named their group back in 1983, who decided to devote themselves to studying the age-old mysteries of the Samara region. And the guys chose this name for their organization because “Avesta” is the name of the ancient sacred book of wisdom. And although now most of the “Avesta people” are already under fifty, and many of them occupy respectable positions, these people still remain to this day the same fans of the study of Zhiguli anomalies as they were a quarter of a century ago.
For more than a quarter of a century, “Avesta people” have been studying the unofficial history of the Volga region, hidden in folk tales, legends and myths. In their opinion, legends, epics and tales are good because they, being the work of the common people, are not always pleasing to the authorities, and therefore for centuries they retain in people’s memory those facts and observations that do not fit into the official point of view and cannot be explained from the perspective of neither the dominant religion nor the dominant science.
Below are some observations of “pillars of hard light” recorded by Avesta researchers from the words of eyewitnesses.
May 1932. Early Sunday morning. In the pre-dawn twilight, an observer (his first and last name has not been preserved), located on the outskirts of Samara, saw a strange “ray of solid light” that appeared over the mountains on the opposite side of the Volga. The beam had no visible source. For some time it hung in the shape of a pillar over the mountains and over the Volga, then sharply sank down onto the water, causing clearly visible waves. After contact with water, the phenomenon disappeared.
August 1978. Summer camp “Solnechny” in the area of the village of Gavrilova Polyana (eastern outskirts of Zhiguli). At about 11 p.m., during the evening formation of children, a vertical column of light appeared in the sky, which was seen by about 200 children. For several minutes he hung motionless over the mountains, then began to fall down. Further evidence is contradictory - the vast majority of eyewitnesses simply lost sight of the object, but several people claimed that bright rays shot from the object in different directions (including in the direction of the camp). After that he disappeared from sight.
End of August 1988. Several observers on the embankment in Samara saw green spots of light over the Volga and distant Zhiguli around midnight. They appeared in the air one after another, then disappeared just as quickly. The spots looked like ellipses and vertical stripes.
This is the kind of information that Avesta collects. Its representatives travel almost every year to Samara Luka and the Volga Islands to study the mysteries of the Zhiguli. And almost every summer season the Avesta dossier is updated with descriptions of observations of some phenomena.
This is how Oleg Vladimirovich Ratnik, vice-president of Avesta, comments on reports about the Zhiguli “pillars of hard light” (Fig. 29),
Teacher at the Samara International Aerospace Lyceum.
I was able to personally observe the phenomenon described above, and it happened, as already mentioned, in August 1998. Our research group at that moment was in the Kamennaya Chasha tract in the Shiryaevsky ravine. After midnight we suddenly saw “something” appear over the mountains. We didn’t notice the object right away; it seemed to condense out of thin air, and with every minute it glowed brighter and brighter. When they noticed it, it looked like a typical “pillar of hard light” from a local legend.
By the way, residents of Zhiguli villages also simply call it “candle”. Imagine a long cylindrical shining blob hanging in the air against the backdrop of a forested mountain range at night - and you will get a rough idea of what you see. It was difficult to judge the size of the object at that time, since it was not possible to determine the exact distance to it. Still, some members of our group estimated its length from 5 to 10 meters, diameter - about half a meter. From the moment the observation began, the “column of hard light” constantly moved slowly in the direction from the mountains to the valley and after about an hour it melted into the air as slowly as it appeared.
It was here and precisely on this day that we came because it was precisely at this point in space-time that there was the greatest likelihood of encountering a mysterious phenomenon. And we calculated it based on an analysis of local legends and tales that ethnographers and folklorists have been collecting on Samarskaya Luka for about a hundred years. To be honest, we didn’t really hope that we would be able to notice anything, but, as you can see, our group was lucky that time.
At the same time, scientific data say that this phenomenon does not belong to the realm of mysticism at all, but, on the contrary, has a completely realistic, natural basis. In particular, Samara physicists believe that such a vertical glow of air can appear during its ionization, and this, in turn, usually occurs in the area of powerful electromagnetic or radiation radiation.
What exactly could be the source of such radiation in Zhiguli, experts have yet to figure out. However, the latest geological research in the Middle Volga region shows that our region is included in the zone of distribution of underground deposits of uranium and radium. In particular, in the Samarskaya Luka area, rocks with an industrial content of radioactive elements lie at depths of 400-600 meters from the surface of the earth. It is quite possible that in the Zhiguli Mountains there are “windows” through which this natural radiation periodically breaks out, after which layers of ionized luminous air appear above the mountain ranges.
Secrets of ancient ore miners
Another Zhiguli mystery turns out to be closely connected with the phenomenon of “hard light” - the legend of treasures buried here in ancient times (Fig. 30).
But to understand this connection, you first need to remember Goethe’s Faust, namely those lines where Mephistopheles gives the scientist precise instructions on the methods of searching for treasures hidden underground (Fig. 31).
Here we will read the following:
“And if your lower back aches,
And the bones ache and bruise,
Break the floorboards quickly
And dig here - there’s a treasure underneath you.”
It turns out that in a number of places Samara region This recommendation of Mephistopheles, on completely scientific grounds, can be used to search for rare and precious metals - for example, silver. Analyst of the Avesta organization, candidate of technical sciences Sergei Markelov knows this for sure (Fig. 32).
Small deposits of non-industrial silver in our region have been known for hundreds of years. In any case, some folk craftsmen from the Mordovian villages of Shelekhmet, Podgory, Vypolzovo and other neighboring villages, even under Count Orlov, were able to excavate silver veins in the thickness of the mountains, and then even smelt white metal from this ore. In any case, Samara ethnographers are well aware of locally produced silver jewelry.
It should be said right away that such deposits of precious metal are very rare for our region. Against this background, it is extremely surprising that the amateur miners of the past were able to recognize the right place in the earth’s crust, so that they could then dig a mine here, albeit a small one, and then extract silver ore from it.
However, if we recall the above lines from Faust, then an explanation for such insight of ancient geologists can be found quite easily. Indeed, it has now been scientifically proven that large accumulations of metals underground, as well as underground veins containing metals, significantly affect the electromagnetic field of the Earth.
In turn, such an altered field affects any living organism. This effect can be very diverse, including the way it is described by Goethe. By the way, the widely known method of dowsing is based on this effect (Fig. 33)
(now called dowsing), with the help of which ancient ore miners found metal deposits back in ancient times.
Treasures were searched for in Zhiguli and other places in Samara Luka back in the 18th century, continues Sergei Alexandrovich. - They were associated either with Stenka Razin, or with his legendary friend Atamansha Manchikha, after whom the mountain near the village of Podgory was later named. It was believed that it was in these places that Manchikha and her gang once buried a countless number of chests with treasures looted from the rich. However, despite numerous attempts at treasure hunting, local “gentlemen of fortune” have never managed to find a single chest.
But meanwhile, the laws of physics tell us that underground treasures need to be looked for precisely in those places where the above-mentioned “pillars of hard light” were noted above the mountains. As evidence from recent years shows, this phenomenon is no longer in the realm of legends - it has been reliably proven that the “pillars” actually exist.
Explain this from a physics point of view a rare event can be done quite easily. The “pillars of light” have a clear electromagnetic nature. They appear over those areas earth's crust, where a polymetallic vein running at some depth or an underground water flow makes a sharp bend. It is at such break points that the structure of the earth's electromagnetic field changes sharply, leading to the ionization of the air above this area and its subsequent glow.
And in some, very rare cases, the same ionization can lead to the fact that at a given point in space, light rays will not be scattered, but absorbed. This is where not “light”, but “black” columns appear. Remember: a fluorescent lamp also has completely black areas, within which light quanta are absorbed.
All these assumptions about ancient treasure hunters and silver veins in the Zhiguli Mountains still largely remain only assumptions. But here is one very real fact confirming that silver deposits in the Samara region are far from fiction. Two kilometers from the village of Podgory, in mountain valley, there is a deep well called Silver. The local population has been taking water from it for centuries, not without reason considering it very tasty, and even moreover, healing. And not so long ago, scientists from the Avesta group took water samples from this well, and then subjected them to chemical analysis. The result looks truly sensational: the silver content in this water exceeds the norm by more than 100 times!
So, in fact, somewhere in the depths of the Zhiguli underground water washes a silver vein, becoming saturated with this noble metal? Or maybe it still flows not through a silver mine, but through the treasure chests of the legendary chieftain Manchikha?
There were reports of deposits of precious metals in the Samara region during Soviet times. Here is an excerpt from an article by geologist A. Plakhov, published in the Volzhskaya Kommuna newspaper in September 1935: “... In the summer, at the mouth of the spring, all the rocks and soil were covered with white silvery mold. Soon I managed to extract 25 grams of pure mercury and some gold and silver from a piece of found pyrite (weighing 250 grams) during decomposition. Then one day I discovered small inclusions of gold in a piece of ore.”
In these lines, the researcher described an abandoned mine near the village of Trubetchina, Syzran district, Kuibyshev region, where, according to his information, precious metals were found even in pre-revolutionary times. Of course, the ore miners of that time were unable to establish their industrial production in the “Syzran Klondike,” but in a number of cases they were as lucky as Plakhov: in some pieces of ore they found inclusions of real gold and silver.
Although everyone is well aware that the territory of the Samara region is composed of sedimentary rocks, and there should supposedly be no metal deposits here, real life has already refuted these classical canons of the Earth sciences that have been established for decades. After all, the famous naturalist P.S. Pallas (Fig. 34),
Having visited the territory of the modern Samara region in 1768, in his book “Travels in different provinces of the Russian Empire” he pointed out copper deposits in the upper reaches of the Sheshma and Zay rivers, which flow through the current Klyavlinsky and Shentalinsky districts of the Samara region. The scientist wrote that in the local sandstones “there was thin copper ore, usually containing a lot of sand and clay.” And before him, even under Peter I (Fig. 35),
As follows from a report in the Vedomosti newspaper in 1703, they tried to smelt copper from the same ore on the Sok River. However, due to its poverty, the developers were never able to obtain an industrial amount of metal.
And in Zhiguli, during the quarrying of building stone, layers with such veins, consisting mainly of copper bicarbonates, which are better known under the name of the minerals malachite and azurite, were repeatedly exposed. In particular, in the 60s, while developing the Yablonevskoye deposit of limestone and dolomite, excavators discovered a powerful copper-bearing vein about 700 meters long. Gray-green malachite crystals and blue-blue azurite crystals were clearly visible in it.
In the same vein they also found minerals with a high content of iron, copper, aluminum, chromium, lead, molybdenum, nickel, and even such rare and exotic metals for the Middle Volga region as germanium, rhenium, tungsten, silver and gold. Then, over the course of several years, such strange layers, although of less thickness, were found more than once in the Zhiguli limestones. The very fact of these finds was kept secret for about fifteen years - until at the end of the 70s of the last century, geologists came to the conclusion that the Zhiguli metal veins had no industrial significance. That is why this geological phenomenon was described in a small brochure published in a tiny edition.
In the 1930s, even greater secrecy hung over the exploration of aluminum deposits on Samarskaya Luka. It turned out that the most powerful layers of this mineral lay (and still lie!) at shallow depths near the village of Ermakovo on Samarskaya Luka - where a vast dacha area now lies. And since smelting aluminum from any rock requires a lot of electricity, the proximity of a hydroelectric power station to an alunite mine promised to provide the country with fantastically cheap metal - its cost could be an order of magnitude lower than at leading foreign plants.
In 1942-1944, drilling work was carried out near the village of Ermakovo in order to determine the reserves of the mineral and the exact aluminum content in it. And then it turned out that the alunite deposits on Samarskaya Luka were very insignificant - the thickness of the layers did not exceed half a meter. In addition, they found many silicon compounds, the cost of purifying the metal from which negated the cheapness of its extraction and transportation. That is why they decided to postpone the idea of aluminum mining on the banks of the Volga. And after the discovery of huge bauxite deposits in Siberia in the 50s and the construction of aluminum industry giants here, the question of developing Middle Volga aluminum was finally removed (Fig. 36).
Nevertheless, it should be recognized that the subsoil in the Middle Volga region, including Samarskaya Luka, still remains poorly studied to this day. This means that new geological research in our region can present scientists with many more surprises.
Day 3. Zhiguli Mountains
The Zhiguli Mountains are a beautiful place: with their rocks, cliffs, steep cliffs, deep ravines, ravines, forests descending to the foot of the Volga.
There is a legend about this unusual and mysterious place, where the Zhiguli Mountains and the Volga came from to form the Samara Luka. The Samara Luka is remarkable and interesting in that the Volga, with its enormous mass and strength of the water flow, did not break through the isthmus composed of soft rocks in the Perevolok area, but goes around the Zhiguli Mountains in a huge loop (marked with a blue line on the map)
According to one of the legends, a long time ago there lived two inseparable brothers: Sokol (left bank of the Volga) and Zhigul (right). Each of them was known as a brave and courageous warrior. Any girl would consider it an honor to become a wife to any of them. The brothers just didn’t even think about getting married. They both fell in love with the beautiful Volga the sorceress and they forgot to think about anyone else. It was as if a witch had intoxicated the knights with an intoxicating love potion. She turned their heads with her beauty and gentle voice, and she herself thought only about the Caspian Sea. Caspian was wise and handsome; he had long been beckoning the Volga to him, promising love and riches, and she decided to run away to him.
Zhigul and Sokol found out about this and became angry with the deceiver. They locked the sorceress, and so that the captive would not escape, Falcon put his dog to guard the dungeon. The brothers argued about who would marry Volga, but how to walk down the aisle without the bride’s consent. And Zhigul and Sokol decided to get an answer from the Volga. Let her choose a husband from among them, but if she doesn’t, she won’t see the white light.
Volga was saddened. She asked for time until the morning to think, and when night came, she sang sadly. The words poured out like magic, rang in the night, began to cry, and it was not noticeable that the brothers began to fall asleep. Zhigul fell asleep, Falcon fell asleep, and only the faithful guard dog did not close his eyes. He looked and sniffed everything, and growled at the young witch as soon as she moved. By morning, the witch’s drowsiness overcame the watchdog too.
But Volga had only taken one step when the guard dog raised his head and managed to bark: “Tip-Tyav!” Then the young sorceress rushed between the awakened brothers. It turned into a wide river, Zhigul and Sokol became high mountains, and the dog Falcon became steeper at the foot of its petrified owner. No one could stop the beauty now. Its stormy waves swept far away and flowed into the arms of the wise Caspian Sea. After all, for the sake of his beloved, he became the deep sea.
Since then, the hero brothers have stood like this, separated by the Volga River, and his faithful dog, which is still called Tip-Tyav, lies at Falcon’s feet.
1. Mount Tip-Tyav (in the legend Zhigul). An old limestone quarry is visible on the mountainside. Now work at the abandoned quarry has been moved higher along the Sok River 
2. Sulfur Mountain (in the legend Falcon). Sulfur Mountain, 250 meters high above sea level, got its name from Sulfur Town, formed in 1720 for sulfur mining. Sulfur reserves are now depleted 
3. Zhigulevskie Gate is the narrowest place on the middle Volga. The width of the river, sandwiched by mountains, is 925 meters. Before the Great Patriotic War, the construction of the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station was planned here, but after the war the construction was moved upstream 
4. Camel - a mountain on the banks of the Volga between the village of Shiryaevo and the village of Gavrilova Polyana. Famous training place for rock climbers and mountaineers 
5. The Zhiguli Mountains are growing. According to various estimates, their height increases by about 1 cm per 100 years 
6. Upstream from Shiryaevo there are old abandoned quarries 
7. On Samarskaya Luka, between the villages of Shiryaevo and Bogatyr, the Grushinsky festival is held annually in the summer 
8. Limestone quarry on Lipovaya Polyana near the village of Bogatyr 
9. Open pit and currently operational 
10. The mined crushed stone is immediately sent to barges through the cargo pier
11. Bogatyr is a working village on the banks of the Volga. Received its name from the lime factory of the same name located under the mountain 
12. Many legends and traditions are associated with the Tsarev Kurgan. Some say that the Tatar prince Mamon with seven Tatar kings sailed up the Volga. He wanted to go through and conquer all of Russia, but he suddenly died. The warriors, of whom there were a huge number, carried the earth onto his grave with hats and shields, and therefore a mound was formed 
13. Samara Luka, thanks to the many mines, adits, and caves in the mountains, still serves as an excellent shelter. It is known that in the early 1990s, a group of criminals escaped from the colony and hid in one of the Luka caves for almost a whole year before the police were able to discover their place of residence.
Located in the Middle Volga, the bend of the great Russian river, the northern part of which is occupied by the Zhiguli Mountains, is considered by ufologists around the world to be one of the points on the map of Russia, where unusual and in many ways mysterious processes manifest themselves tens of times more often than in other areas of the planet. However, among the old-timers of this region, various kinds of secrets no longer cause surprise.
.jpg)
Local tales and epics abound with the most incredible miracles, and it is not surprising that Samara researchers of their native language began recording them back in the 19th century. At the same time, folklorists even then noted that although some of the Zhiguli folk legends have something in common with the Ural, Bashkir, Mordovian and Tatar tales, most of them have no analogues in the oral folk art of the peoples of all European Russia.
Particularly interesting is the collective character from these legends - the so-called UNDERGROUND ELDERS. According to legends, this is a mysterious caste of hermits who live in caves unknown to the human eye and have hidden knowledge, as well as amazing abilities. Outwardly, they look like handsome gray-haired old men who can unexpectedly appear and disappear right before the eyes of a lonely traveler. There is information that legends about the same elders can be found not only in Zhiguli, but also in a number of other places in Russia, which are among the so-called “geographical points with increased anomaly.”
According to many testimonies, underground elders from different regions of our country constantly communicate with each other. This is how, for example, these mysterious underground hermits are described in the novel by P.I. Melnikov (Andrey Pechersky) “In the forests”: “The Kirillov Mountains part... Leopard-shaped elders come out, bow to the navigators at the waist, ask to take their bow, kiss in absentia to the brothers of the Zhiguli Mountains...” It is worth adding that the Kirillov Mountains are located in the Nizhny Novgorod region, near the holy LAKE SVETLOYAR, which is also considered one of the most pronounced anomalous zones in Russia.
In all legends, mysterious elders act as guardians of peace in the area under their care. At the same time, hermits strive to preserve the local nature intact, and sometimes come to the aid of victims of attacks by robbers or unjustly offended people. However, it also happens that the elders go “to the people” to convey some important information, in their opinion. These are not necessarily predictions about some great and tragic events, although there is evidence that, for example, they informed people about the coming First and Second World Wars. Sometimes elders provide the world with very “ordinary” information, usually of a moral or even environmental nature.
There is one interesting fact that can also be compared with reports of underground hermits. In the guidebook of the Kuibyshev author A. Sobolev “Zhigulevskaya Around the World”, published back in 1965, there are the following lines: “In the area of the village of Perevoloki, at the end of the 19th century, caves were discovered, the entrances to which had the semblance of doors. Caves with windows, niches in the walls, and a vaulted ceiling.
.jpg)
Scientists from the Samara non-governmental research organization “Avesta” have been studying anomalous phenomena that are regularly observed in the vicinity of the Zhiguli Mountains for about three decades. Strange as it may seem, researchers regularly find an explanation for such phenomena in... local folklore.
How did Samara Luka come into being?
By now, Avesta scientists have already collected a lot of evidence for the original hypothesis, the essence of which is as follows. The steep bend, located in the middle reaches of the Volga and called the Samara Luka, owes its appearance to... the engineering activity of an alien intelligence.
Here is what the president of Avesta, engineer Igor Pavlovich, says about this:
- Have you ever thought about such a geographical riddle: why the Volga River, in its middle course, suddenly needed to go around the small (only about a hundred kilometers long) Zhigulevskaya mountain range? It would seem that, in accordance with the laws of physics, river waters, instead of creating this kind of “loops,” should shorten their path and head east of the Zhiguli, along the places where the bed of the Usa River now passes. But no - this mountain range, tiny by geographical standards, composed of soft limestones and dolomites, has been demonstrating unprecedented resistance to the Volga waters flowing into it every second for millions of years now...
The Avestans suggest that in the depths of the Zhiguli Mountains, at great depths, a certain technical device, at one time created by an ancient supercivilization, has been working for many millions of years. This device creates a kind of force field around itself, which precisely prevents the flow of water flows through the mountain range. That is why the Volga, throughout all these millions of years, has been forced to go around the Zhiguli Mountains, making a strange bend in the form of a semicircle in its middle course, which is now called the Samara Luka.
Most likely, this hypothetical geomachine is a kind of cluster of force fields - electromagnetic, gravitational, biological or others not yet known to us. It is these fields that have been helping the Zhiguli limestones (which, as is known, are very susceptible to erosion by water) for more than ten million years, keep the ancient river bed in a stable position, preventing even a slight displacement.
The question arises: why does a hypothetical extraterrestrial civilization need all this? Apparently, in order for the underground energy complex to operate uninterruptedly for millions of years, feeding the extra-spatial channel connecting their world with the earth's surface. Such a channel can play the role of a kind of television camera through which a distant civilization sees everything that happens on our planet. Proof of this is the strange mirages that are regularly observed in the sky over Samara Luka, as well as over some other points on our planet.
.jpg)
Geological confirmation
Igor Pavlovich’s words are commented on by Sergei Markelov, associate professor of Samara Aerospace University, candidate of technical sciences, analyst of the Avesta group.
Reading in one of the scientific collections published by Moscow State University in 1962, an article about geological structure Volga-Ural region, I discovered a strange pattern in it. It depicted a cross-section of the earth's layers in the Samara Luka area, which turned out to be very similar to the contours of... a giant capacitor! Everyone can easily remember from a school physics course how this electrical device works: an electric charge accumulates between parallel metal plates, and its magnitude is limited only by the breakdown strength of the gasket between the plates.
In the earth's crust under Samarskaya Luka, the role of such plates is played by parallel electrically conductive layers, between which there are limestones and dolomites. The dimensions of this capacitor are amazing - its length is about 70 kilometers! In fact, here we see the material embodiment of the same energy geomachine that Igor Pavlovich spoke about above.
.jpg)
As calculations show, between the plates of the “Zhiguli capacitor” it can
an electric field with gigantic intensity parameters exists for a long time. If necessary, the electric charge can be easily used for a variety of purposes. By the way, as can be seen from the design of this gigantic “device”, not a single sensor located outside the “storage* will be able to show the presence of electricity deep in the earth’s crust in this area.
Geological data suggest that the very existence of such a colossal underground capacitor is a unique phenomenon in the crust of our planet. None of the venerable geologists has ever encountered such a structure of earth layers. One can, of course, talk about the natural origin of this unique geological object, but with equal probability one can talk about the role of an unknown mind in its emergence.
According to the hypothesis put forward, the activity of a hypothetical underground geomachine in the Zhiguli Mountains region, apparently, causes mysterious phenomena in these places - chronomirages. Local peasants observed ghostly cities, castles in the air and flying islands in the skies hundreds of years ago, and during this time numerous epics and legends were based on them. Here is one such description, from the Avesta collection:
“A certain luminous square suddenly appeared on the clouds, and inside it appeared an image of a stepped pyramid. She stood on some kind of plateau that dropped steeply down. Below the mountain there was a valley crossed by a river. In this case, the line of sight was inclined to the valley plane by approximately 15 degrees. The impression was that the valley, river and pyramid were observed from an airplane flying at an altitude of 8-10 kilometers.”
The most famous of these phenomena is the mirage of the Peaceful City, which is most often reported by tourists vacationing near the Molodetsky and Usinsky mounds. Other ghosts from the same series are the Fortress of Five Moons, the White Church, Fata Morgana and others. These anomalies are sometimes observed among the vast lake labyrinths that stretch between the villages of Mordovo and Brusyany, in the very south of Samara Luka. According to observers, here at dawn a ghostly city can suddenly appear in front of an astonished traveler, only to disappear again after a minute or two.
.jpg)
Traces of a Vanished People
By all indications, the hypothetical alien intelligence in its activities on our planet relied on a certain terrestrial civilization, which, in exchange for cooperation, received from the aliens technical knowledge incredible at that time and unprecedented materials, traces of which archaeologists regularly find in the most unexpected places. What exactly this cooperation was and why extraterrestrial intelligence needed it, researchers have yet to unravel.
However, the aliens, as it turns out, were not always able to help their earthly partners. Thus, from ancient legends it follows that the peninsula of Samara Luka, surrounded by water on almost all sides, several thousand years ago became the last stronghold of a certain great race of fire worshipers. Pressed by hostile tribes, these people eventually reached Zhigulevsky mountain range, where they were able to reliably hide from persecution in hard-to-reach caves and mountain gorges. The strange underground people, references to which can be found in Zhiguli legends and traditions, apparently represented the remnants of that same great ancient race, which for thousands of years faithfully served the alien intelligence.
Information about a mysterious civilization, very developed for its time and completely unexpectedly disappeared from the face of the earth, is quite consistent with the time of its existence on Southern Urals, on the territory of modern Chelyabinsk region, the hypothetical city of Arkaim, which, apparently, was the largest cultural and economic center of this ancient people. For example, the Arkaim people knew metallurgical production well thousands of years ago, which indicates high level their knowledge.
According to archaeological data, in the second millennium BC, Arkaim, for a still unknown reason, literally ceased to exist in one day. Following this, the one that gave birth to it very quickly disappeared from the vastness of the East European Plain. mysterious civilization. It is the remnants of these fire-worshipping tribes that are believed to have taken refuge in the caves of Samarskaya Luka in order to subsequently found that same underground race here. However, this is again just a hypothesis.
.jpg)
.jpg)
The Volga is "boiling"
Municipal Educational Institution of the USSR No. 1
Fairy tales and legends of Zhiguli.
Subject: Literature.
Leaders: Svetlana Valentinovna Panasenko.
Members of the project team: Tatyana Ionova, Maria Seliverstova. (7 V)
City of Togliatti.
2011
annotation
Traditions, tales and legends perfectly describe Russian nature, soul, character. Volga fairy tales are the contribution of the souls of many generations. We decided to convey to you only a few, knowing full well that no life would be enough to describe them all. We think that today the time has come for complete, uncensored reprints of our folklore collections, many of which have been considered “hidden literature” for many years. This is all the more timely now, when interest in folk art in all its diversity of manifestations is gradually increasing, and folklore is once again entering the life of not only the village, but also the city. At such a time, “feeding” with authentic folklore material collected in our area is absolutely necessary! That is why we invite you all to enter the amazingly native world of Samara and Zhiguli tales and legends.
Problematic question: do the majestic Zhiguli cars really not have their own legends?
Purpose of the work: to find and study the legends of Zhiguli.
Find texts of popular legends of the Zhiguli Mountains;
Analyze the texts of legends;
Collect information about the places where legends and traditions of the Zhiguli were created.
Main part.
Legends and traditions of Zhiguli.
"Falcon and Zhigul."
There lived two brothers: Sokol and Zhigul. They were never separated.
The falcon had a guard dog. She protected the brothers' peace. The falcon strictly ordered that the dog keep vigilant guard, drive away animals and birds and dashing people. But Sokol punished him even more severely so that his faithful dog would not let the Volga get close.
Oh, the Volga is greedy and self-willed! She wants to break out into the open space and run straight, the shortest route to the sea. She's cunning, but she can separate the brothers.
There had been a struggle between them for a long time. Volga flirted with the brothers and got closer and closer to them. She often sent her servants - waves - on reconnaissance. They sneaked up, touched and licked the sides of the brothers.
The guard dog ran forward and barked loudly, waking up Falcon and his brother Zhigul. The brothers woke up and drove away the waves. They were returning back. And Volga again wondered how she could get close to her inseparable brothers.
She learned that Falcon loves beauties. It was a great joy for him when they climbed onto his steep shoulders and powerful chest. The beauties picked yellow flowers, which immediately turned red in their hands. The falcon was proud that he had the magic of giving the flowers that grew on his shoulders any colors and smells. And if the dog suddenly began to bark at the beauties, he would beat it so that it wouldn’t bark at someone it shouldn’t.
Volga found out about all this. She dressed up as a beauty the likes of which neither Sokol nor Zhigul had ever seen. And she went to her brothers. Both were extremely happy. But the dog doesn’t bark - he’s afraid that Sokol will hit her again.
Volga sees that the brothers are enchanted by her beauty. She became emboldened, took a deep breath, tensed up, and hit with all her might, hitting so hard that the brothers began to crack and scatter in different directions... The dog only managed to yelp - “yap-yap.” These sounds fell on the top of the Falcon and froze there. And the dog flew from a strong shake into the waters of the Volga, which was already rushing, laughing and frolicking, between the two brothers...
So now Sokol and Zhigul stand, separated by the mighty and capricious Volga.
“By a handful” (legend)
During one of his campaigns, the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible once stopped in the Zhiguli Mountains. He wanted to count his army.
The king ordered each warrior to throw a handful of earth into the same place. When the army carried out the royal order, a giant mound was formed from handfuls of earth.
And they began to call it Tsarev Kurgan
“Cliffs over the Volga” (legend)
It was a long time ago, a very long time ago. In those days, in place of the Zhiguli Mountains there was a vast plain. Countless herds grazed on it, ears of bread as tall as a man.
People lived well here. But it so happened that the neighbors who wandered beyond the Volga were seized with envy. They had robbed foreign lands before. And then they decided to raid the Volga, to capture the civilians who lived along its banks.
They sailed up in canoes. And they were just about to land when they heard a menacing shout: “What do you want here, enemy people?” Leave before it's too late! ,
The aliens looked around in fear. And they see: two people are standing on the shore - a good fellow named Mikula and his friend Daritsa. The enemies became emboldened. What do they mean by two people? They have a whole army. And they began to shoot from bows at the Russian hero and his girlfriend. They shot a whole cloud of arrows at them.
And then they looked closer and gasped. They saw a miracle: in front of them were not people, but two high cliffs with sheer cliffs. They stood on a steep bank like an impenetrable wall.
At this time, Volga seemed to take a deep breath. It rose in a powerful wave and began to capsize the enemy canoes one after another. They drown in stormy waves. Someone is called for help. But no one heard them. Only from time to time the same menacing shout was heard: “What do you want here, enemy people?” Leave before it's too late!
Many greedy and cruel nomads died then in the Volga waters. And those who survived hurried to the east, where they came from.
And since then, two glorious cliffs have stood on the steep bank of the Volga. One is called the Molodetsky Kurgan, and the other is the Maiden Mountain.
“You, mountains, Zhiguli mountains” (folk song)
You mountains, the Zhigulevskie mountains,
You, the mountains, didn’t create anything.
Yes, you, mountains, gave birth to white, flammable stones,
A fast river runs from under a pebble,
Like the name of this river was Volga-Mother,
How wide is TV, the Volga, was it overflowing,
Have you, Volga, drowned all the mountains, all the mountains and valleys,
The Volga left often a bush of willows,
Like there’s a nest built on that bush,
In this nest the falcon is young and clear,
The falcon sits high and high and looks far away,
He looks far away and into an open field,
In an open field and everything is clean,
there is a little green in the green field.
Fairy tales and legends of the Samara region
Zhiguli has long been called the nest of freedom, the land of legends. From all over Russia, rebellious and desperately brave people flocked here, like springs to the Volga. All this is told not only in chronicles and works of historians, but also in legends, tales, traditions, songs composed by a brilliant word-maker - the people. It is with sadness and regret that we have to say that the legends and traditions in which the Zhiguli are glorified, the unique beauty of their nature, and their eventful history are little, offensively little known to the modern reader. Only a few legends are widely known and are often used by people in the form of songs. How many amazingly vivid legends and tales have become the property of archives and museums...
Volga river
Volga (ancient - Ra, in the Middle Ages - Itil), the largest river in Europe - basin area 1360 thousand sq. km.
It originates on the Valdai Hills, flows into the Caspian Sea, forming a delta with an area of 19 thousand square meters. km. The average water consumption near Volgograd is 7240 m3/s. The Volga receives about 200 tributaries, the largest being the Kama and Oka. Due to the construction of a cascade of hydroelectric power stations with reservoirs, the flow of the Volga is highly regulated. The largest hydroelectric power stations are Volzhskaya (Kuibyshevskaya), Volzhskaya (Volgogradskaya), Cheboksary. The Volga is connected to the Baltic Sea by the Volga-Baltic waterway, to the White Sea by the North Dvina water system and the White Sea-Baltic Canal, to the Azov and Black Seas by the Volga-Don Shipping Canal, and to Moscow by the Canal named after. Moscow. In the Volga basin there are nature reserves: Volzhsko-Kama, Zhigulevsky, Astrakhan; natural national park Samara Luka. As a result of anthropogenic impacts, the environmental situation has sharply deteriorated; a search is underway for scientifically based ways to restore the natural complexes of the Volga.
Starting at the gentle hills of Valdai, the Volga collects water from a huge basin that occupies almost a third of the Russian Plain and pours it into the Caspian Sea. In length - 3688 km - the Volga ranks first among the rivers of Europe and surpasses all the rivers of the world that flow into inland water bodies.
The deep Volga tributaries serve as roads to the ridges of the Urals, the dense forests of the North, and the fertile plains of the steppe strip. Among the many rivers flowing into the Volga are Tvertsa, Medveditsa, Mologa, Sheksna, Kostroma, Unzha, Oka, Kerzhenets, Sura, Vetluga, Sviyaga, Kama.
The Kama is one of the most important river routes in our country; its length exceeds 2000 km. Oka is slightly inferior to it, stretching for almost 1500 km.
Gardens and riverside neighborhoods of Tver, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Samara, Saratov, Volgograd, Astrakhan look into the Volga waters.
Many thousands of years ago, the fires of primitive man burned over the Volga waters. Rough canoes, hollowed out or scorched from tree trunks, lay on the sand near ancient settlements. Even in those distant times, different tribes moved along the river; archaeological finds prove this.
Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD mentioned the Volga, calling it by the ancient name Ra. Over the years the meaning mighty river increased. Since the 8th century, it has already become one of the main trade routes for a vast territory. Ancient chronicles tell how the Russian Slavs descended down the Volga, fearlessly sailed across the Caspian Sea and carried their goods far to the east, to the fabulous Baghdad.
Both during the times of Kievan Rus, and during the times when “Mr. Veliky Novgorod” reached a special peak, the ties of the Russian people with the Volga grew stronger. Cities were built on the banks of the Volga, arable lands were opened up, and forest wilds were developed.
When Kazan fell and Astrakhan surrendered, water roads to the Urals, to fur-rich Siberia, to the vastness of the Caspian Sea, to the countries of Central Asia. Never-before-seen caravans of 500-600 plows, loaded with goods and guarded by archers, were taken onto its waters by the Volga, which became the main route of communication between Rus' and the East.
Gradually the Volgari learned to build strong and light ships. Especially notable among them were the barks that walked along the Volga from the 17th and even in the 19th century. In windy weather they raised sails; and when there was no wind, the barks were pulled against the current by barge haulers, to whose hard work I.E. dedicated his famous painting. Repin.
In the Volga basin there were up to 600 thousand barge haulers in the 19th century. The barge haulage generated by serfdom remained a dark spot in the history of domestic shipping. But barge haulers were not only in the history of Russia. Human labor to move ships on a towline was used in all European countries.
The first steamship in the Volga basin was built in 1816 by craftsmen from the Pozhevsky plant on the Kama. In 1817 he reached the Volga. The Volga Shipping Company began to develop especially quickly after the abolition of serfdom in Russia.
On the Volga, for the first time in the world, bulk oil transportation was widely used. Before this, oil was transported in wooden and metal barrels, which took up a lot of space in ship holds, which was both expensive and inconvenient. Following the oil sailing ships, the Volgars built the world's first iron oil barges, Elena and Elizaveta. The method of transporting oil in bulk, called the “Russian method” in many countries, has spread to all seas and oceans of the globe.
Volga shipbuilding has overtaken the shipbuilding of Western European countries. It was on the Volga that the type of comfortable passenger ship was created, which has survived to the present day without significant changes.
Early 20th century marked a very important event in world shipping. The Vandal oil tanker built by the Sormovsky plant was equipped with internal combustion engines that ran on oil instead of kerosene. In 1903, this ship, the world's first motor ship, went on a voyage.
The following year, the Sarmat was ready, the second ship, significantly improved compared to the Vandal. Then the world’s first towing motor ship “Mysl”, the passenger wheeled motor ship “Ural” and, finally, the famous screw motor ship “Borodino” sailed along the Volga.
Until the beginning of the 20th century. at the height of summer on the Volga, due to shallow water, the movement of steamships above Rybinsk stopped; near Kostroma and Yaroslavl one could find fords. Near some Volga rifts during low water ( average level water after a flood) sometimes several dozen ships accumulated.
Even after the significant dredging work carried out on the Volga before the First World War, the “main street of Russia” still remained in a rather neglected state. There were no specially equipped river ports on it either. Warehouses and storage sheds along the shore, shaky walkways along which, bending under the exorbitant weight of bales and boxes, longshoremen, or, as they were called, hookmen, walked in a line - this is a picture of the old Volga pier.
Already in the first years of the existence of the USSR, changes began on the great river. In the pre-war years, after the construction of the White Sea Canal, the Volga gained access to the North Polar Basin, and the Volga-Moscow Canal connected it with the capital.
The plan for further work on the great river, developed at the direction of the party and government, was called the Greater Volga plan. This plan provided for a radical reconstruction of the river and its best use. The problem was solved comprehensively, so that at the same time shipping conditions were improved, transport connections between the Volga and the seas and main river basins of the European part of the country were strengthened and developed, so that the constructed hydroelectric power stations provided the national economy with cheap energy, and the Volga water was used for irrigation and watering of lands.
The Greater Volga Cascade includes, first of all, eight main waterworks: Ivankovsky, Uglichsky, Rybinsky, Gorky, Cheboksary, Kuibyshevsky, Saratov, Volgograd. The scheme of the Greater Volga also provided for the construction of waterworks on the Volga tributaries - the Kama, Oka, Vetluga, and Sura.
Over the course of two decades, the connection of the Volga basin with all the seas washing the European part of the country was completed to transform the Volga into the highway of five seas: the White, Baltic, Caspian, Azov and Black. These works began with surveys on the route of the White Sea-Baltic Canal in 1931 and ended with the first voyage of Volga ships along the Volga-Don Canal in the summer of 1952. And in 1964, construction of the deep-water Volga-Baltic Canal was completed.
Mistress of the Mountains
In the legends and traditions of the Samara region, the image of a certain guardian – the Mistress of the Mountains – clearly emerges. Like the Mistress of the Copper Mountain of the Urals (known to us thanks to the work of P. Bazhov), she is the mistress of underground spaces, where she allows only selected heroes. Zhiguli fairy tales still tell today that you can get into the “polished holes” of the Mistress. “You can fit into them accurately on all fours. Those who crawled saw at the other end what was desired by the heart. Some are the sea, some are the steppe, some are the mountains or the forest.”
In the 1st millennium BC, in the Middle Volga region there lived tribes in which, as archaeological excavations have established, women occupied a particularly honorable position. They were well armed, took part in military campaigns, and were also priestesses initiated into ancient mysteries. Huge mounds were erected for their burial. One of these mounds was excavated near the village of Gvardeytsy in the Bor region in the 70s of the 20th century. In the grave, along with beads and clay spindle whorls, an iron dagger and arrowheads were found. This is probably where the legends about the Volga Amazon originate.
Lady of the Mountains
The legend “The Testament of Borislavna” reports that “a certain Russian hero Borislavna buried her (mined in the east!) treasures in .
Conclusion.
Samara legends from century to century speak of the cataclysm in which the Zhiguli arose. They also talk about the peoples who lived in our places, about the waves of nomads that swept over Luka in different times. They are very accurate geographically - over 90% of the objects mentioned in the legends actually exist or existed until recently. Legends describe historical events sometimes more accurately than history itself does.
In this regard, it is interesting that in the legends of Samara Luka, the image of the keeper of underground storerooms - the Mistress of the Mountains - persistently and vividly emerges. She, like the Mistress of the Copper Mountain in the Ural tales, owns all the treasures of the Zhiguli subsoil. Most likely, these are echoes of the cult of the Goddess of Fertility, Mother Earth (the earth has always been attributed to the feminine principle), or traces of matriarchy, which for some time was a form of organization among the tribes inhabiting Luka.
One way or another, until the second half of the 18th century, the Zhiguli Mountains were called the Devye Mountains, and on the map of 1459 the mountain region is called the Amazon. And legends, which are no less than half a thousand years old, tell about a group of heroic sisters, to whom “both good fellows and wandering little fellows” came to measure their strength.
Whether this is an echo of Greek civilization, where there were strictly organized communities of female warriors, or, on the contrary, the Greek Amazons had ancestors from the southern Russian and Volga tribes - this question is still unanswered.
List of used literature.
1) http://www.445000.ru/
2) http://www.edc.samara.ru/
Municipal educational institution
secondary school No. 1 Tolyatti
Section: literature
Job title:
Ionova Tatyana,
Seliverstova Maria,
Scientific adviser:
Panasenko Svetlana Valentinovna,
teacher of Russian language and literature
