Catherine Dolgorukov

Getting around

Four-day coach journeys between capitals

Traveling between St. Petersburg and Moscow by stagecoach took four days of constant travel before the railway was completed.

Daily life

Low rates of peasant literacy and education

Literacy among serfs was extremely low, with estimates not exceeding 1%. Education was largely confined to home training by local sextons or clerks, often limited to reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.

What people wore

Peasant women's daily and festive attire

Peasant women wore a woolen skirt called a ponyova over a linen shirt, and they protected their hair with headdresses like the soroka, as showing hair was shameful for married women.

Music

The origins of the Russian garmon

In 1839, a Tula gunsmith purchased an imported harmonica for 40 roubles and used it to create the garmon, an instrument that became central to Russian village celebrations.

At the table

Meal Customs in Peasant Households

Peasant families frequently ate from common dishes without individual cutlery, often eating in a set order led by the head of the household. Hygiene was minimal; dishes were typically rinsed in cold water after use rather than thoroughly washed.