About Dachas

   The word “dacha” drives foreigners into a stupor. Not only is it impossible to pronounce, it is also not clear what it is.
Let’s figure it out.

   The word “dacha” appeared in the 18th century, at the time of Peter 1, from the word “give.” It was then that he allotted land to his courtiers outside the city, where they built luxurious palaces and parks.

   In the 19th century, the dacha became a resting place for the Petersburg nobility.

   They went there for the whole summer, held meetings, performances, balls. There artists, poets, composers met. Fans, hats, light dresses were in demand.

   The poorer nobles rented the dilapidated buildings from the peasants and themselves brought them into proper form. The city was stuffy and dusty in summer, everyone tried to get out of the city. Dacha villages began to grow overgrown with shops and restaurants. Theatrical troupes came to entertain the tourists. Cabbies delivered belongings. With the development of railways, it became easier to get there, because the heads of families still had to attend services in the city. Nothing was grown in such dachas, even the cultivation of flowers was considered a servant’s business. The dacha was exclusively for recreation. Walking, riding on a swing. and boats, swimming in ponds. The country life of that time is well represented in the works of Russian writers Chekhov, Bunin and others. Many paintings, plays and musical works were written at the dachas. The daughters were married at the balls. The country life concerned only nobles,

In the 20th century, after the 1917 revolution, all dachas were withdrawn in favor of the proletariat. Sanatoriums and rest houses were made of them. Such a house could rest 50-70 people.
In the middle of the 20th century, during the reign of Stalin, private dachas were allowed only to the elite. Officials, authoritative scientists, composers and writers. Nothing was grown on them. They were used only for recreation. In the 50s, ordinary citizens had a chance to get its six acres in gardening.

By the end of the 20th century, 80-90s, when food and money shortages began, the task became a breadwinner; fruit trees, vegetables, berries were planted on it. Then the ban on the size of houses was lifted, and wealthier townspeople began to build 2-3-storey cottages. It was during this time that the dacha helped many families solve food problems at the expense of their harvest.

The main difficulty was still transport. The dachas were far away, and you had to walk for a long time from the train, with a backpack and hoes. In those days, in the 90s, Brazilian and Mexican TV series were popular (“Slave Izaura”, for example), and dachas became called “hacienda”.

The dacha life was modest. Water was taken from wells and wells, the toilet was a hole in the street with a wooden house on top. Only electricity was supplied. TV antennas and telephones were not even thought of at that time. The furniture was transported old, which had served its time in the city, things were In an era of perpetual shortage, nothing was thrown away, the dacha served as a staging post for everything that was no longer used in the city.

   Here they not only worked, but also had a rest. The dacha life was conducive to closer communication with neighbors. They made friends with families. Shared recipes for procurement, exchanged seeds, gardening literature, which was not so easy to get.

   The atmosphere of simplicity and sincerity characterizes this time.
But the harvest had to not only grow, but also preserve. In conditions of a shortage of lids for cans and seamers, we had to twist ourselves out. We borrowed juicers from each other, straightened old tin lids, which were not yet screwed in. Apples were wrapped in newspapers.

   The light textile industry did not please with variety. The clothes were standard and the same for everyone. Headscarves were tied on women, and men made homemade hats from newspaper.

In the 90s, after the collapse of the USSR, dachas went on the free sale. A huge market of more interesting and comfortable dachas with all communications was formed. A new class appeared, “new Russians” who got rich in a dubious way, competed among themselves in the size of the house and the wealth of decoration.
Nowadays, more and more people seek to acquire a house in nature, near a lake or a forest. The construction of cottage settlements with paved roads and communications is developed. As a result, a full-fledged “second home” is obtained, which can cost less than an apartment in the city. in the country house there is only a place to relax with a flower garden, and only the older generation continues to grow something, more for pleasure than out of necessity. It is also interesting to come up with a variety of decor for the site.