Chastushka
Encyclopedia
A Chastúshka is a traditional Russian
or Ukrainian
folk
poem
which makes use of a simple rhyming
scheme to convey humorous or ironic
content. The signing and recitation of such rhymes were an important part of peasant
popular culture
both before and after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
. The name originates from the Russian word части́ть ("chastit"), meaning "to speak rapidly."
The basic form is a simple four-line verse
making use of an ABAB, ABCB, or AABB rhyme scheme
. An analogous example of such poetry in English might be the familiar children's rope-skipping rhyme:
Usually humorous, satirical
, or ironic in nature, chastushki are often put to music as well, usually with balalaika
or accordion
accompaniment. The rigid, short structure (and, to a lesser degree, the type of humor used) parallels the poetic genre of limericks
in British
culture.
Sometimes several chastushki are delivered in sequence to form a song. After each chastuska, there is a full musical refrain without lyrics to give the listeners a chance to laugh without missing the next one. Originally chastushki were a form of folk entertainment, not intended to be performed on stage. Often they are sung in turns by a group of people. Sometimes they are used as a medium for a back-and-forth mocking contest. Improvisation is highly valued during chastuska singing.
.
Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, chastushki varied considerably in content from region to region. In some areas hit particularly hard by the grain requisitioning
of the Soviet regime during the Civil War
, such as Riazan, peasant chastushki tended to be bitterly hostile. In other places, particularly those in close proximity to Moscow
, "Soviet chastushki" favorable to the Bolshevik
government were sung and recited.
In the early 1920s chastushki were used by Young Communists
in organized village gatherings as a form of anti-religious propaganda
, subjecting the church and the rural clergy to ridicule using the traditional rural poetic form. Scholar Lynne Viola provides one such example of an anti-religious Soviet rhyme, rendered here in literal English translation:
Given the difficult economic circumstances of the Soviet peasantry in the late 1920s and 1930s, chastushki overwhelmingly took an anti-government form, with the singing of anti-Soviet couplets
a common practice at peasant festivals of the period. Following the assassination of Communist Party leader Sergei Kirov late in 1934, chastushki sprung up relating the killing to a recent decision to terminate bread rationing, including this literal translation of one example provided by scholar Sheila Fitzpatrick
:
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
or Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
folk
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
poem
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
which makes use of a simple rhyming
Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
scheme to convey humorous or ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
content. The signing and recitation of such rhymes were an important part of peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
both before and after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
Form
A chastushka (plural: chastushki) is a simple rhyming poem which would be characterized derisively in English as doggerelDoggerel
Doggerel is a derogatory term for verse considered of little literary value. The word probably derived from dog, suggesting either ugliness, puppyish clumsiness, or unpalatability in the 1630s.-Variants:...
. The name originates from the Russian word части́ть ("chastit"), meaning "to speak rapidly."
The basic form is a simple four-line verse
Quatrain
A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...
making use of an ABAB, ABCB, or AABB rhyme scheme
Rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme between lines of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme. In other words, it is the pattern of end rhymes or lines...
. An analogous example of such poetry in English might be the familiar children's rope-skipping rhyme:
Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.
Usually humorous, satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
, or ironic in nature, chastushki are often put to music as well, usually with balalaika
Balalaika
The balalaika is a stringed musical instrument popular in Russia, with a characteristic triangular body and three strings.The balalaika family of instruments includes instruments of various sizes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass...
or accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
accompaniment. The rigid, short structure (and, to a lesser degree, the type of humor used) parallels the poetic genre of limericks
Limerick (poetry)
A limerick is a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem, especially one in five-line or meter with a strict rhyme scheme , which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. The form can be found in England as of the early years of the 18th century...
in British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
culture.
Sometimes several chastushki are delivered in sequence to form a song. After each chastuska, there is a full musical refrain without lyrics to give the listeners a chance to laugh without missing the next one. Originally chastushki were a form of folk entertainment, not intended to be performed on stage. Often they are sung in turns by a group of people. Sometimes they are used as a medium for a back-and-forth mocking contest. Improvisation is highly valued during chastuska singing.
Content
Chastushki cover a very wide spectrum of topics, from lewd jokes to political satire, including such diverse themes as love songs and Communist propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
.
Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, chastushki varied considerably in content from region to region. In some areas hit particularly hard by the grain requisitioning
Prodrazvyorstka
Prodrazvyorstka , translated as food apportionment or surplus appropriation system, was a governmental program in Russia which obliged peasantry to surrender the surpluses of almost any kind of agricultural produce for a fixed price...
of the Soviet regime during the Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, such as Riazan, peasant chastushki tended to be bitterly hostile. In other places, particularly those in close proximity to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, "Soviet chastushki" favorable to the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
government were sung and recited.
In the early 1920s chastushki were used by Young Communists
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
in organized village gatherings as a form of anti-religious propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, subjecting the church and the rural clergy to ridicule using the traditional rural poetic form. Scholar Lynne Viola provides one such example of an anti-religious Soviet rhyme, rendered here in literal English translation:
All the pious are on a spree,
They see god is not at home.
He got drunk on homebrewed liquor,
And left to go abroad.
Given the difficult economic circumstances of the Soviet peasantry in the late 1920s and 1930s, chastushki overwhelmingly took an anti-government form, with the singing of anti-Soviet couplets
Couplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
a common practice at peasant festivals of the period. Following the assassination of Communist Party leader Sergei Kirov late in 1934, chastushki sprung up relating the killing to a recent decision to terminate bread rationing, including this literal translation of one example provided by scholar Sheila Fitzpatrick
Sheila Fitzpatrick
Sheila Fitzpatrick is an Australian-American historian. She teaches Soviet History at the University of Chicago.-Biography:Sheila Fitzpatrick attended the University of Melbourne and received her DPhil from St...
:
When Kirov was killed,
They allowed free trade in bread.
When Stalin is killed,
They will disband all the collective farms.
Examples
Many folk chastushki are lewd or laden with vulgarities. The following are some relatively printable examples, with slightly loose English translations that attempt to give an approximate feeling of the chastushka's rhyme and meter, and the general meaning:- KolkhozKolkhozA kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...
life:
- Птицеферма у нас есть,
- И другая строится.
- А колхозник яйца видит,
- Когда в бане моется.
-
- Here we have a chicken farm,
- The hens keep busy hour by hour,
- But the only "eggs" the farmhand sees
- Are between his legs in the shower!
- BolshevikBolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
political and anti-religious propaganda:
- Знаем Ленина заветы.
- Кулаки, попы - наш враг
- Призовет их всех к ответу
- Большевицкий красный флаг.
-
- Lenin's words still ring today:
- The Kulaks and priests tell evil lies!
- But we shall make our enemies pay
- Wherever the Bolshevik's red flag flies.
- Parody of Soviet peace propaganda:
- С неба звездочка упала
- Прямо милому в штаны,
- Пусть бы всё там разорвала,
- Лишь бы не было войны.
-
- Out of the sky a star fell down,
- Right into my boyfriend's pants,
- But let his junk be all torn up,
- Just don't let a war break out.
- This one appeared when daylight saving timeDaylight saving timeDaylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
was introduced in the Soviet Union:
- Время сдвинули на час
- На Советском глобусе
- Раньше хрен вставал в постели
- А теперь в автобусе
-
- Time got shifted an hour ahead
- Everywhere in the "Soviet sphere"
- The morning woodErectionPenile erection is a physiological phenomenon where the penis becomes enlarged and firm. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular and endocrine factors, and is usually, though not exclusively, associated with sexual arousal...
used to hit me in bed, - But now on my bus ride, IT is still here!
Further reading
- Emil Draitser, Making War, Not Love: Gender and Sexuality in Russian Humor. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.