Featured thee strangest antique russian icon

what the hell is this? I think the break is naturally occurring in the wood I dont think it was damaged... if so then it happened hundreds of years ago because the edges are "healed" - appreciate any insights - thanXies

 

I would not call it an icon. I trust you already know that the picture is St George and the dragon, right? City mark for Moscow in silver, but this is obviously not silver.

I can see there are letters above his head, but have no clue what they all are or what they might say. No clues about the holes?

 

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(Sniped by Bakersgma re: St. George and the Dragon!)

 

Maybe an artist was inspired with the shape of some found wood and made a handheld candle holder with a windscreen. Decorative of course.

 

Think it says St. George.

 

The wood looks old. In the really old days, the Russians made a lot of things out of wood because it's what they had. We'd need someone with knowledge of the Orthodox church who would know what it was used for.

 

@IvaPan

 

This is not an icon as such, and is not related to Orthodox rituals. This is a device for harvesting crops, decorated with an icon of St George, I am going out now but later will provide more information on the item. My Granny used to have the same thing only without the icon.

 

The device was used by the peasants as a wooden glove when harvesting with sickle to protect the right hand from the blade of the sickle. The glove is put on the first three fingers of the right hand, and the sickle is operated by the left hand, the elongated and bent wooden part is used to grab a bunch of wheat stalks (or the crop that is harvested) that are then cut with the sickle just below the grab point. I myself as a girl have used similar to harvest lavender, as it was time when wheat was machine harvested.

No idea if the item shown here is Russian, it can well be Bulgarian or any other Balkan. On the protection shield of the item the image of St. George slaying the dragon is painted, I suppose to guard the owner who might have been called "Georgi" and St. George was his guardian saint.

Here is a link to a Bulgarian museum item with pictures:
http://museumperushtitsa.com/en/und...cultural-tools-through-the-eyes-of-a-traveler

Ah, about the break - the thing should not have it, it is broken.

It says "St. George" in Cyrillic above the head of the saint on the icon. Typical for Orthodox icons.

 

Usually when some weird "whatzit" comes to the board, its function is discernible after the explanation.

It's not that I don't believe you, IvaPan. I do! But I'm willing to bet that whoever originally invented that thing was greeted at its first showing with as much bewilderment as I!!!

 

Well, I have used this item myself and know very well what it is. B.t.w. it is quite wisely designed and needs just a little practice to get used to it, having in mind what the blade of the sickle can do to human fingers or palm (I have seen this, too).
No one is forced to believe me
The name of the tool is palamarka - here is wiki on this, unfortunately without an English version.
https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Паламарка
If you search it in Internet even in Latin, many images of it will popup.
It is well known to BG folk as it also has a vulgar slang meaning related to the form of the protruding part. Many people using this word don't even know what the tool is and what it is used for.

B.t.w the function of palamarka can be discernible after explanation only for people who have some knowledge or experience with old time peasant life and know something about manual agricultural work. I can understand the bewilderedness here as times are so different now.

 

LOL! My manual agricultural work consists of watering pots of Johnny Jump-Ups, and picking daisies and Queen Anne's Lace by the roadside. I DO know what a scythe is and how it works. And when I was little, Dallas let me ride any of the machines with which he worked the fields.

That's it.

 

that is AMAZING - never in a million years would I have guessed that it was a glove - IvaPan thank you so much for imparting your knowledge - AMAZING

 

ohhh - so where it says St George - is that in Russian? and do we have any idea when these were in favor?

 

is bulgarian and russian written the same way? I'm confuzzled >giggle<

 

Yes, both Bulgarian and Russian use Cyrillic, but in Russian the name is spelled "Георгий" - Georgiy, while in Bulgarian it is without the last letter "й" - y, i.e. "Георги" "Georgi".
From what I see on photo 4, the tool here has the Bulgarian spelling.
Here are some icons of St. George in Russian:
икона святой георгий
And here are some in Bulgarian
икона свети георги
I don't know if you are able to see the difference.

FYI, Cyrillic was invented in Byzantine by two Greek clerics (Cyril and Methodius) for political purposes but was first adopted as official alphabet in Bulgaria in 9th century A.D. and after that was spread to Russia. It is a long story though.

 

Which "these"? Icons or tools? Such tools were used in 1970s-1980s in Bulgaria, too, but I would guess that this tool was made before 1944, and even earlier as icons were not welcome in Bulgaria after the communists came to power (1944).
If it is Russian, then before 1917.

 

The wooden glove was my thought. Here is a similar item that was still being used to harvest wheat when we lived in Turkey in the early 1960's. Tractors did not come on the scene there until around the time we left in 1966. The one rclinftl posted looks like the one finger hole was just worn out.

 

Yes, palamarka was used up to 1990s in Bulgaria but not for wheat or other cereal crops as these were harvested with combines since 1950s. I sure know it being used for harvesting lavender in 1980s.

I am not sure though for which hand was palamarka - right or left. I somehow recall it being for the right hand, and the sickle in the left hand.