Biudzhet vremeni rossiiskogo pravoslavnogo krest’ianstva vo vtoroi polovine XIX – nachale XX v.

Abstract

The article by B.N. Mironov on the count of working and leisure time of Russian peasants is a reworked scholarly account written as a response to criticisms voiced in M.I. Vasiliev’s essay published earlier in Etnograficheskoe obozrenie (no. 3, 2014). The author explicates in more detail the ways in which the time budget of Russian peasants was reckoned and organized, and explains its specific logic. He shows that the number of non-working days in Russia during the so called Reform Period of the 19th century had grown from 96 to 123, while the time spent on work remained essentially unchanged, amounting to about 154-157 days. He argues that the Russian Orthodox Christian peasants had in fact more holidays than other Christian (non-Orthodox) groups of peasants living in Russia or elsewhere in Europe of the time. The article is followed by comments by M.I. Vasiliev, who does not agree with B.N. Mironov’s methods of interpreting historical and statistical data regarding the workload and holidays of the peasants; and O.V. Kirichenko who argues that, while the statistical data presented in the article seem to be correct on the whole, some of the conclusions deducted from those appear to be unwarranted and not enough attention is paid to the cultural load and meaning of holidays and non-working days. B.N. Mironov responds to the commenters and explains their disagreements with the differences arising from taking ethnographic or sociological stances in examining the issues discussed.