Russian peasants were called peddlers, whose main source of income consisted in the profits obtained as a result of trade. They sold a wide variety of goods, mainly all kinds of household items - cheap jewelry, combs, mirrors, clothing items, various materials, cosmetics, books, etc.
Instructions
Step 1
The name "peddlers" comes from the knapsacks made of bark, which are boxes, in which the peasants carried their goods from one settlement to another. The richer peddlers transported their goods in carts. Every year they went from home to various parts of Russia and traveled throughout its territory - from the southern borders to Siberia.
Step 2
The peddlers received their goods from merchants as a reward for their particular resourcefulness and accuracy. As a rule, the majority of peasant traders did not have their own capital. But if there was at least some money, peddlers went to the Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow fairs and bought goods there. In early September, the peasants left their homes and went to trade in Little Russia, the western and Polish provinces, to the remote regions of Siberia and the Caucasus.
Step 3
Trade was carried out at fairs, as well as delivery and delivery of goods to homes. The peddlers returned to their homes by the beginning of summer. Leaving home, the peasants could load ten or more boxes belonging to different merchants on one common cart and followed it in a crowd. Therefore, peddlers were also called walkers.
Step 4
Another name for peddlers - "ofeni" - according to one of the versions, the most probable and widespread, appeared in connection with the fact that the so-called Greek merchants who came from Athens, who moved to Russia in the 15th century.
Step 5
Every woman dreamed of finding new places of sale for goods, making capital and having clerks who could be sent to trade in different countries. Among peddlers there were also “rich men” who had up to ten or more salesmen. They were hired for a fee of about 120 rubles a year, while the grubs were the master's. Some peddlers managed to move to a sedentary trade and become real merchants with their own shops.
Step 6
Upon returning home, the owner of each artel appointed a day for the collection of clerks and workers, and pay calculations were made. Those who served well were hired again and were marked by a raise in salary, the best workers became his assistants, the poorly served were removed from affairs. If the peddlers brought in a lot of profits, the owner arranged a treat on the street to the artel. Such a festival could last up to two days and was accompanied by songs and horseback riding.
Step 7
Despite the difficulty of the trade, most of the people were inveterate wanderers, and vagrancy became a necessity for them. During the trips of peddlers, their close relatives were engaged in household chores - farming, sowing, paying taxes.
Step 8
From the middle of the XIX century. the commercial trade of peddlers gradually became unclaimed. This happened in connection with the construction of railways and other means of communication in Russia. Residents of villages and cities have the opportunity to visit shopping and factory centers, the need for goods from the boxes of the people has disappeared. The last peddlers disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century.