RED ROAD AND BLACK ROAD

Thunder Horse

There are many roads in life, but there are two that are the main ones - the Red Road and the Black Road. They correspond to the good and bad in life, and this choice people have to make in life repeatedly. The red road is a good road, a good position and the right choice. This road is difficult because of the dangers and obstacles that hinder our journey through life. Black road - bad road, bad position and incorrect choice. The black road is wide and easy to walk on. The Red Road and the Black Road seem to us in life not as roads, but as the personification of right and wrong, good and bad, light and dark.

The Lakota did not know the desire to accumulate material wealth. They never had a craving for acquisitiveness, the Lakota collected resources to survive difficult periods or help those in need. Generosity has its rewards, and its absence has its consequences. For nomadic people it was impractical to stockpile too much, as it only meant lugging even more things around when moving camp—three or four times a year. The more you had, the more you had to carry.

Truth serves as a guide along the roads we walk in life. There are many signs on the Red Road. But if you choose the Black Road, there is only an illusion of truth. We can be influenced by the truth or its illusion. Sometimes the truth is like breathing, you can't see it, but you can see its consequences. Truth is also like the rising and setting of the sun. We see how the sun rises above the horizon in the east in the morning, and sets below the horizon in the west in the evening. Because of Earth rotates, it seems that the sun "rises" and "sets". In reality, the sun does neither. Living a modest life and helping others, a person walks the Red Road.

The truth is a conclusion from trial and error in life, lessons that we have learned. For example: “Without evil, good would be more difficult to comprehend”, or “War does not happen without losses”, or “A bird in the hands is worth two in the bushes”. We have received some benefit from the former illusions. In some cases, the truth is painful, but without it there is only an illusion. The truth is that the Lakota still walk the earth. And the truth is that the Lakota weathered this traumatic change, becoming wiser and stronger. And the illusion is that the Lakota were defeated by stronger, better and more moral people who have great rights given to them by God. The truth is that the Lakota were overwhelmed by the outnumbered - more people, better armed and hungry for more and more and sought to deprive the Lakota of everything they had. But the illusion is that the Lakota are a conquered people.

Life goes on, still moving in circles. The sun rises every morning, and with it comes a new opportunity, a new hope. No matter what the day was and no matter how many victories are made, each new day is a chance to put everything in its place, correct a mistake, achieve a new goal and take one more step on your way. Each new day is a chance to be reborn, renewed and given another opportunity to be part of the circle of life, knowing that this is a life journey, not a race, and that a person does not walk it alone.

In order to walk along the Red Road, one has to experience hardship and suffering, therefore one should comprehend humility. This is an opportunity to stand naked in front of the Great Mystery in everything related to your misdeeds, cowardice, inability to compassion and pride. For to walk the Red Road means to understand that you can achieve more. And you understand that when you do something good, it happens with the help of Great Mystery and therefore you are grateful... In order to walk along the Red Road, you need to know that you are on an equal footing with all living beings. It should be understood that if you were born as a human, this does not give you any advantage or superiority over other beings. Every creature has spiritual knowledge, and the river knows more than you. The wind is more aware than you. The animal peoples (Buffalo People, Eagle People, Beaver People, etc.) have the greatest wisdom, and YOU can learn from each of them, because they have something that you do not have. They have no evil intentions. They do not seek revenge, but seek justice. You have the right given by the Great Secret to walk the Red Road: you have the right to pray; have the right to dance; have the right to think; have the right to defend; there is a right to have a conception of the Mother; have the right to dream; have the right to see; have the right to teach; have the right to learn; have the right to grieve; there is a right to happiness; have the right to correct mistakes; there is a right to the truth and there is a right to communicate with spirits. In order to walk along the Red Road, you should know and honor your Ancestors and call on them for help. We must understand that there are good and evil miraculous forces. It must be understood that evil exists, but it is cowardly and often disguised. Remember that there are evil forces that are constantly looking for a way to become stronger at your expense.

Walking along the Red Road, you are less afraid of making a mistake, because you know that life is a path, an uninterrupted circle, a sacred hoop. You can make mistakes and correct your mistakes if you have humility, because if you cannot be humble, you will not know where and when you made a mistake. If you walk the Red Road, you know that any sorrow leads to a better understanding. Not all terrible tragic events can be explained, but they can be useful. In order to walk the Red Road, one must be able to find beauty in everything. In order to walk along the Red Road, you need to understand that one day you will pass into the world of spirits and you will not be afraid of anything.

Having passed half of earthly life,
I found myself in a dark forest
Lost the right path in the darkness of the valley
(Dante. The Divine Comedy. Translation by M. Lozinsky)

The road is a universal metaphor life path person. In my consultations, I have often encountered the fact that people spontaneously begin to describe their current or past life stage as a kind of road. And often this metaphor is more accurate than many words. It is convenient to use such a metaphor as a way of understanding a person's life path. And sometimes I invite my clients to imagine the main stages of their lives in the form of different roads. This can be done both in the imagination and through special cards. Such a view often helps to see some general patterns and trends. Often this opens up a lot of opportunities for understanding the current problem. This can be especially useful in situations where a person feels lost and disoriented - he does not know where to go next. This is an important question, one of the main ones in life, and to answer it you often need to look into the past: where did a person go before that? Where has he already been? How satisfied is he with the path he has taken?

In this article, I would like to give a quick overview of the symbolic meaning of the road.

In the most general sense, the road connects various points in space. Today, archaeologists date the very first roads to the fourth millennium BC and associate their appearance with the development of wheeled and pack (that is, using the resources of people and animals) transport. Look at one of the preserved Inca roads to Machu Picchu (the territory of modern Peru):

It can be seen that this road was of very high quality for its time. Before the construction of such roads, there should have been more simply equipped paths between different villages. That is, roads have accompanied mankind for many thousands of years. And everything that accompanies the lives of all people for many thousands of years gradually becomes something deeply internal for each person, Carl Jung called such images archetypal. And the image of the road is also an archetype, that is, the topic that all people have been facing for a long time. Then the road, on the one hand, can be a connection between different points, and on the other, it can reflect deeply inner experiences.

For a resident of some ancient village to follow the road meant to leave his native village and go to another. Hence one of the main symbolic meanings of the road - the road is the border between one's own and another's world. A border is something that connects and separates at the same time.

Human life, the path we are following, is also a kind of border (space, territory) between our own and the other world. Speaking of two worlds, we can think of the journey from birth to death. And almost all religious traditions deal with the journey of the soul to the afterlife.

Within the framework of his life, a person has the opportunity to make another “journey” from his world to the world of another. It is the process of separating from your parents, in other words, it is the process of growing up. Modern society offers more and more opportunities to increase the length of childhood. Perhaps this is a reaction to modern stage development of society - a consumer society. Maybe that's why in modern world the rites of passage (initiation) that existed in all cultures have lost their power. In the very general view these rituals assumed that the growing member of the tribe at the appointed time should leave his tribe and for some time, being in this "other world", he had to go through a series of trials, and the elders of the tribe introduced him to the mythology of their tribe. An important component of these initiation rites was the symbolic encounter with death. In the course of this rite of passage great changes took place in inner life man, for him, initiation was the path that takes him from childhood to adulthood. Therefore, at the end of the initiation, the person returned to his village already completely different, adult and ready to create his own family. Therefore, the rites of initiation well reflect another important symbolic meaning of the road - it is a symbol of transformation, overcoming, realization and liberation. The well-known aphorism “when you return from a trip, you will never be the same” is rooted here.

In the culture of many peoples, one can find a common universal mythological plot in which a certain hero, often the most ordinary person, begins his journey and in the process of this journey he encounters various trials and miraculously transforms his inner qualities and views of the world. His life becomes more conscious. Joseph Campbell called this mythology "the hero's journey". This story is found in many myths of various peoples, for example, in a series of stories about the Buddha. But this plot is found not only in myths and fairy tales, but also in the work of modern authors. It can be traced in the plots of films " Star Wars”, “The Hobbit”, “Harry Potter”, “The Lion King” and many others. In these plots, we are faced with the symbolism of the road as a life path, a symbol of transformation, becoming, the road as a metaphor for finding one's place in life. From the point of view of Joseph Campbell, this other world, where the hero finds himself, corresponds to the unconscious. In this sense, as soon as the hero overcomes the first threshold, he enters the territory of his own unconscious and begins to find allies in this world, to transform something, to overcome something, to fight with someone, to find something. From this point of view, for the hero who has gone his own way, his own unconscious becomes more explored. With a successful passage, he becomes the ruler of two worlds. And here we come to the symbolism of the road as a way to oneself, a way of self-knowledge. Therefore, in many fairy tales, the hero sets off on a journey.

Speaking of the road, we are faced with an existential theme. The road we are on often offers us a choice of where to go next. And the way we choose will determine what we become. In this regard, every time in a situation of choice, we are faced with a choice between different options of our Self, potential variants of Self. And when we choose and walk the path, we will translate this potentiality into reality. Some of these potential selves will become real, while the rest of the selves will remain unrealized. And here we are faced with the theme of not only freedom (which road to take?), but also responsibility. Responsibility to myself (which way I go, I will become one), but also social responsibility (deciding to go down some road, I make it more trodden, and it will be easier for others to follow it too). From this position, the road is a good metaphor for designating the basic existential givens of being: awareness of finiteness (the road of our life will someday end), lack of meaning (we are not told what the meaning of this or that road is, we ourselves give meaning to which path we choose ), freedom (we can choose any road or pave our own), responsibility (deciding to go down one road, at that moment we cannot go down another; by choosing one, we abandon the other), existential loneliness (since we are formed in the process of our path, then in order for someone to fully understand me, he must go exactly my way the way I did. That is, he must live life the way I lived it, and this is impossible. In this regard, we can only be understood by others to a certain extent.)

It turns out that the road with its symbolism sends us to the questions of our being. And then this image can help us in finding answers both to vital questions and in orientation how we want to develop further. Communication with a psychologist through the image of the road can be surprisingly fruitful for working with the topic of psychological maturation, overcoming periods of crisis, for working with existential topics, for modeling your future.

The article was written by psychologist Roman Levykin (Record for a consultation:
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Signs on the road: when is the best time to hit the road

On Friday, it is better not to go on a long journey: there will be no road. - On Friday, it was not recommended not only to go on the road, but also to do some work, especially for women.

This is connected with the cult of Paraskeva Friday, which is often associated with Fate. And there is no need to test Fate again. An interpretation related to fast Friday is also possible (it is no coincidence that Wednesday, another fast day, is mentioned in a similar situation).

Signs on the road

From the word "where?" the road will be unhappy. Those who, out of foolishness and narrow-mindedness, ask: "Where are you going?" must be answered: "For the Kudykiny mountains." - It has always been believed that if your plans are known to another, then this is an extra hindrance. So, a pregnant woman hides the very fact of pregnancy from strangers for a long time.

Households prefer not to tell anyone when the birth is expected before the birth of the child.

To say where you are going is to endanger the purpose of the journey with the evil eye. Therefore, the word "mountains" arose: they say, so far away that you can't even see. At the same time, his word is returned to the questioner, which, due to this, no longer has power.

Going on a long journey in the rain, which went unexpectedly, is a good path. - It was believed that rain (heavenly water) washes away all diseases and sorrows.

Since pagan times, the perception of rain has also been preserved, as heavenly milk, feeding the earth and everything growing on it. In ancient times, the Earth was identified with the feminine principle, the Sky - with the male, fertilizing. All this taken together and remained in belief.

Soles itch - to the road, legs burn - to the path. - Rather, this is not a belief, not a sign, but a joke. Although a person who already knows what lies ahead long haul may well experience similar sensations.

If you stand on your left foot, there will be no way. - This superstition, like many similar ones, comes from the belief that a tempter, the devil, stands behind a person’s left shoulder, and a guardian angel behind his right.

That is why the words "right" and "truth" are so close. Even more ancient roots lead to the following explanation: praying to the sun in the morning, that is, turning his face to the east, a person on the left felt the cold of the north (evil forces), on the right - the warmth of the south (good forces).

In essence, all the signs, beliefs and superstitions associated with the left side are based on this: left hand not served at a greeting; spruce feet can not start the day; through left shoulder spit so that trouble does not happen.

If someone sets off on a journey and suddenly it starts to rain - to a safe path. If someone is called by the name of the person who left, then this person will be angry when he arrives. They do not sweep the floor when a person dear to you has left, so as not to block his way to your house.

What not to do before the road

Before a long journey, you need to hold on to the corner of the table - this is good luck. - Only an echo of the Slavic belief has come down to us, which said: when setting off on the road, you need to kiss the table. This attitude is associated with reverence that has existed for centuries and is reflected in folklore (“How many at the table, so much in the Kingdom of Heaven”, etc.).

The table was considered such an important symbol of the house that in the old days, when selling a house, they left a table in it (for the house and the table are inseparable). And going on a journey and touching the corner of the table, they received the blessing of the house for a successful journey and a safe return.

Before a long journey, you need to sit down and be silent. This is a good path. - It is quite logical, because it is at these moments that a person once again thinks about whether he took everything with him? Silence helps you focus.

Before a long journey, not my hair - you will call trouble. - Of course, the attitude to hair is clearly expressed here, because, according to the beliefs of the ancients, life force lies in it.

The hair motif is reflected in all major events human life: a strand of baby's hair is rolled up in wax; a child cannot be cut before a year; on certain days, a pregnant woman is not allowed not only to cut her hair, but also to wash it, etc.

It was believed that thrown hair could cause damage, deprive of health, so they warned against throwing hair anywhere. After washing your hair, part of the hair remains in the water, part on the comb, which is not welcome before the road: all hair should be with you.

Sew up something before the road - you won’t see good luck. - According to the ancestors, this "sewn luck."

Tips for protection on the road

Protection on the road: Wormwood

Take wormwood with you - the path will be safe. - AT this case wormwood is recommended as one of the most effective means of protecting against the evil eye. The smell of wormwood itself has a positive, cleansing effect. In some places, brooms are made from wormwood and swept with them in the house, "so that the witch cannot enter and so that the sorcerer is frightened." For the same purpose as wormwood, almost all plants with a pungent odor are used: dill, garlic, onion, oregano, coriander, violet, cumin, thyme, mandrake, mint, etc.

Road protection: Thistle

If you take a thistle with you on the road, it will save you from temptations. With a decoction of thistle stalks, it is good to rub the sides and back with a cold.

Thistle protects the house from witches, and people from damage. - Thistle, also known under the names: murat, sow thistle, thistle, repets (species cirsium and carduus) - prickly weed grass. Frightening properties are attributed to her because of the thorns.

It is believed that everything piercing (needles, pins), directed with a point at an evil person, deprives him of the ability to induce damage, since his gaze stumbles upon a sharp one. The grass got its name because of the confidence of people that it is the best thing to drive devils with it. A respectful attitude to the thistle as a talisman was recorded not only among the Slavs, but also among other European peoples.

Protection on the road: Elderberry

If you go on a journey with an elder staff, then neither evil people nor wild animals. -Such an attitude towards elderberry was recorded by researchers not only in Russia, but also in England, Germany, Scotland and other countries.

This is based on its healing properties and beneficial smell. An infusion of elderberry flowers cures fever. An elderberry branch is carried with them from the evil eye. Naturally, these features are transferred to the staff, which can also physically protect the traveler.

Signs about meetings on the road

A dog will run across the road - there is no harm in that, but do not expect much good either. - What is the sign, such is the explanation: on the one hand, the dog looks like a wolf, on the other, it is a friend of the house.

If a black cat crosses the road, you will not see good luck that day. To get rid of this, you need to: turn around its axis, that is, start the path anew; break the rod, that is, open the road closed by the cat; To cross fingers; grab the button.

If you meet a bald horse or a pig - don't expect good luck on the way. - A "bald horse" is a horse with a long white patch on its forehead. The belief is based on the negative consequences of any meeting with the "marked" (including people).

About the pig folklore researcher SV. Maksimov writes that this superstition among the people has already completely disappeared and “only crayfish sellers are afraid of meeting with a pig, convinced by experience that the pig smell kills them, that is, they fall asleep.”

To meet a monk is unfortunately. Having met a monk, immediately make a fiddle in your pocket, otherwise trouble awaits. - Kukish (gestural mate) acts as a talisman.

S.V. Maximov in his Winged words"explains this as follows:" An unkind meeting with a priest, and a deacon, and the poor was considered bad even much earlier than the teachings appeared, and remained so until our living times.

A meeting with clerics has been considered unfortunate since the time when pagan Russia, not always by exhortation, but more often by violence, converted to Christianity and was baptized in water and driven away in church ... Time has changed this superstition: a meeting with a monk is now considered among the happy " .

If you meet a man first in the morning - good luck, a woman - bad luck. - One of the reasons lies in the fact that it was believed that a woman (especially an old one) can jinx it much more often than a man.

Another reason lies in the talkativeness of women, who will then begin to talk about who they met, how he was dressed, where he was going.

If you meet a man first in the morning - good luck, etc. And this will certainly affect your plans (in the worst case, it will reveal a hidden secret).

If someone comes forward with a full bucket, make way for him.

The mystical meaning of this: one should not cross the road of one's own luck, which is thus reported from above. It does not matter what is in the bucket: water or milk, berries or sand, the main thing is that it is not empty.

Someone is walking towards them with empty buckets - to an empty day, empty chores. Pop, yes girl, but empty buckets towards - to bad news.

This belief, like many others associated with the concept of "meeting" ("Take the first godfather you meet", etc.), is based on the fact that the meeting is given to a person from above and determines his fate.

This means that every meeting is a sign of Fate, which cannot be avoided. In the second belief, a “girl” (maiden) is added to the priest and empty buckets already mentioned earlier.

It was a meeting with a girl, a maiden, an unmarried woman that was considered unfavorable, and an exceptionally favorable meeting with a pregnant woman and those who carry something filled.

Accordingly, empty buckets in the hands of anyone they meet are perceived as a warning from above about an impending failure, misfortune.

When you leave the house, any meeting on the porch is not good. - It is believed that the counter in a certain way crosses the road to the intended business, cuts off the path.

A sign that is very disturbing to suspicious natures: based on the confidence that any meeting is destined by Fate, a person then, against his will, spends a lot of energy unraveling the meaning of this first meeting, which really affects the case.

Meeting when leaving the house is both a possible forbidden question “Where are you going?” Dooming your plans to failure, and a simple unplanned delay leading to being late.

Accidentally meeting a funeral procession on the road is good luck. - This strange belief took root on the basis that it used to be customary to hand over the so-called “roadway” to the first person you met on behalf of the family of the deceased: a piece of canvas, bread, a candle and a coin.

It was believed that the one who accepted all this symbolically forgives the sins of the deceased. In gratitude, the deceased in the next world will be the first to meet this person and will be his guardian, protector and mentor.

Hence the belief that the one who first goes to meet the funeral procession is happy: he has already secured a good attitude towards himself in the next world. However, in some areas there is a diametrically opposite belief.

If on the day of the exam you meet an old man with a wand on the street - to big trouble.

If someone else is following in your footsteps, then he takes strength from you, who is walking in front. - The trace left by man and animals has always been endowed with mystical power. It was believed that on the trail left, you can not only learn a lot about the walker, but also, following the trail behind him, bring damage to him, take away his strength.

Physically, this is due to the fact that walking on the beaten path spends own forces much less than the one who paves the way.

The mystical explanation lies in the fact that, by deliberately trampling down traces, a person is deprived of his own trace, made unprotected (an analogue is a person without a shadow). In some areas, especially in Ukraine, there is an even darker belief: if you follow in someone's footsteps, then someone in the family of this person will soon die.

Dream about the road

If a patient in delirium sees a road, it means that he will die soon. - Of course, the essence of the sign is based on a simple association of the road and the "last path" that the patient thinks about or anticipates.

Signs on the road: if you had to return

If for some reason you returned halfway - before a new exit, look at yourself in the mirror and show yourself your tongue. You can look under the rug, rug - also helps. - Mystically, the sign is based on the fact that the returnee must certainly deceive or frighten the evil spirits (and it nests just under the rug or looks into the mirror from behind the left shoulder).

At the same time, make it clear that they are not afraid of her. Some symbolically change something in their clothes or appearance: they put on a different tie, brush their hair again. Thus, it turns out that this is a different person.

Notes on the road. Return

Who, returning home, stumbles, quarrels with his family. - To stumble is not a good sign at all, because it is interpreted as third-party interference.

Notes on the road. Items on the road

Finding a nail or something else sharp on the road is a nuisance. - The original meaning is in relation to amulets and damage. If a person himself wants to protect himself from damage, from misfortune, he directs everything sharp against the alleged enemy (for example, needles stuck in the door; a knife at the threshold with a point outward).

If something sharp is directed towards the traveler, it means that he is “pierced” in a mystical way, deprived of strength. True, almost all folklorists have heard a clarification: troubles await the traveler only if the object is pointed at a person with a point, and if, on the contrary, away from him, then this is to the memory of loved ones about him.

Notes on the road. Uninvited guest

An uninvited guest in the yard - and trouble in the yard. Beware of an uninvited guest. - A belief that is difficult to understand at first, because the Russian people have always had a friendly attitude towards guests. The roots of the belief are still in the time when Russia was under the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars.

Enslavers ("uninvited guests") behaved like masters, entered any house and took everything they liked, most often girls. Naturally, this remained in the historical memory of the people and turned into a stable belief.

As for the “uninvited guest” apart from these difficult pages of history, the attitude towards him still remains difficult, with a negative bias, since he violates the plans of the owners, puts them in an awkward position.

Notes on the road. To come back

If you want to return to the area you like, throw a coin into the nearest body of water. - Water in Slavic legends is characterized by mystical symbolism, primarily cleansing and life-giving (“dead water” - purification, “living water” - re-creation, revival).

Water is the boundary between this and that light, all of it is ultimately from heaven. Throwing a coin into the water means appeasing it, appeasing it, showing your respect so that it does not interfere with the return. And at the same time - as if to leave a part of yourself in this place (remember the belief about a thing forgotten in a strange house: you will definitely return there).

Road, - and, feminine.
1. A strip of land intended for movement, a communication route. Asphalt, highway, dirt, country road High road (dirt road between large or distant from each other settlements; obsolete). Side of the road. On the road (near the road).
2. The place where you need to go or drive, the route. On the way to the house. Don't know the way. Ask about the road. get lost on the road (also figurative meaning.: same as going astray). to give way to someone (let pass, pass; also figurative meaning.: give someone the opportunity to grow, develop). open the way for someone somewhere figurative meaning.: to give an opportunity to act, to advance in some area). Stand in someone's way or get in someone's way (also figurative meaning.: to hinder, hinder someone in something). Cross (cross) the road to someone (also figurative meaning.: prevent someone, get ahead in some business; colloquial).
3. Travel; stay on the road. Tired from the road. Take food for the road. There were many interesting things along the way. I overslept the whole way (during the whole journey).
4. figurative meaning. Way of action, direction of activity. Labor is the road to success. Be on the good (right, bad) road. Go your own way (on the chosen path).
Whose (whom) paths diverged about those who followed different life paths.
The road of life ( high) the path across Lake Ladoga, along which during the blockade of Leningrad in 1941-1943. communicated with the city.
On the way to
1) during the journey. On the way I saw a lot of interesting things;
2) with whom, in the same direction, along the same path, along the path (in 1 significant.). Let's go together, we're on the road;
3) with whom (what), about the coincidence of goals, tasks of some activity, along the way (in 2 significant.). I'm not on the road with a hack.
There and the road to whom ( colloquial disapproving) let him go, it's not a pity.
diminutive noun path, and feminine. and the path, and feminine.(to 1 significant.).
adjective road, - th, - th (to 1 and 3 significant.). Road construction. Road suit.

Word usage examples road in the context

. wide sandy road with old shady lindens leads to the hill on which stands the village church.
. To the proletarians road the party is practically closed.
. me this horseshoe road like a memory.
. So road so wide that three carts will part, you can’t go wrong here. - Shumilov P. R. The word about the dragon
. The hideout was good, but road there is very dangerous.

Maintaining communication between cells in a prison is a holy cause. It is considered normal for prisoners to take risks for the sake of other people's contacts. Oral messages, notes and small things can be transmitted.
One of the simplest are the "legs" - a balancer or even sometimes a controller. During the distribution of food, while this process is going on, you can talk with such a prisoner, convey some information in words, or even transfer a baby or "load". As you might guess, this method is not the most optimal - most likely, everything that the balander hears will be known to the godfather (opera). Therefore, in this way, as a rule, only neutral information is transmitted - a request to help with a smoke or tea, a search for certain people. At the time of food distribution, there is always a controller near the balancer and the whole process takes place with his tacit consent, for which the godfather gave him permission accordingly. Cigarettes, and other little things can often be transferred by the controller itself. How to be able to negotiate and what kind of "decree" in prison. Communication methods depend on the structure of the prison itself - either it is one building, or several, where windows open. When placed in one building, and even a well, with windows facing inward, everything is somewhat simpler. When placed in several buildings, and even significantly remote from each other, it is more difficult. In this case, you can not do without the help of household services.

Information can also be transmitted by several more channels. Firstly, when people from different buildings are taken to the courts, investigative actions are collected at the assembly, where the exchange takes place. Even necessary people do not fall into one box, as a rule, you can shout something through the door. They can punish, but usually passes. Here, in the boxes, you can leave some notes with a pencil on the walls - usually this is how they report their whereabouts (for example: Vasya Khersonsky, x. The walls of the boxes in the courts, where the defendants are kept during breaks, and even the walls of paddy wagons, are also written on.

Every decent prisoner is obliged to be interested in such samples of wall graphics, especially fresh ones, and upon returning to the hut, report everything that he could remember. The walls of the bathhouse and walking yards usually serve as such a kind of "bulletin board". Periodically they are painted over, but you can’t keep track of each one. Often the walls in such places are tried to be made unsuitable for writing with the help of the so-called "fur coat" - rough relief plaster. But they still write - only you have to do it very small. Such recordings are a passive way of transmitting data, more or less calculated at random. The second way of transmitting information, already active, is communication, which takes place both by voice and by letter. Letters in the vocabulary of the prisoner are called "babies", "fry" (probably because of their minimal size).

All communication can also be divided into monologues and dialogues. There are also whole "chats" - when the question is submitted to the entire prison or building or corridor - depending on the opportunity provided by their device. The phenomenon is rare and is carried out only on especially important issues, when the issue of the danger of subsequent repressions is often ignored - these are usually issues of rebellion, other forms of protest (hunger strike, mass complaints).

Monologues - "announcements", i.e. announcements about some events. About the appointment or election of the beholder and his whereabouts, about the search, about recognizing (announcing) someone as a bitch, rat, chicken, rooster, balabol. This is often done when someone is "broken" from the hut for a heavy joint. After such an announcement to the whole prison, he is unlikely to be accepted into any hut, except for "offended" or "Cop". Such announcements can also be made in the form of "runs" - written messages that travel from hut to hut and are read out into the voice. In the same way, thieves' runs are moving - original prescriptions and instructions on concepts and their interpretation, thieves' life. Such runs are written by crowned lawyers, signed by them, and travel between zones and prisons. Those who rewrote also sign - who, when, where. True, it is not possible for mere mortals to establish who actually wrote them and who corrected them - maybe he scribbled operas at his leisure ...

Shouts, conversations between huts are quite an individual matter, depending on the construction and procedures ("decrees") in the prison. Somewhere for one sound they can immediately send to the punishment cell, but somewhere this is quite a common thing. You can talk through tails or through the brakes (door).

You can also talk with the help of some simple devices that reduce the risk of being heard in the corridor. This is primarily a "trombone", i.e. regular metal mug. You can experience its effect even at home (I remember that in childhood my brother and I sometimes listened to "concerts" that took place behind the wall at our neighbors - I did not know then that I would have to "play around" in adulthood). A mug or cup (the latter is worse) is placed with the open side against the wall, and the ear is applied to the bottom. If you turn the tool the other way around and firmly attach it to your lips, you can "shout" even a meter-long wall. It is especially easy to speak through the heating pipes in this way - then you can communicate not only with the neighboring chamber. The trombone is applied to the battery and forward - the audibility is quite tolerable. To get in touch, there are conditional signals - several blows to a wall or a pipe. Communication takes place according to the rules of single-channel communication - in order, only when transmitting the "handset" they usually say not "Receive", but "Speak" or something else.

Another way is to talk through "caburs" - holes in walls or ceilings. They are picked with improvised means - handles from spoons or instep supports from soles, metal strips from shkonars. They first agree with the neighbors about the coordinates of the point (for example, ten (match) boxes from the window, seventeen from the floor) and move simultaneously from two sides. At the next big raid, they close up, and everything starts from the beginning. Good enough time. Through the cabins there is also the movement of goods. Sometimes the cabins are big enough, even big enough to shake hands.

Sewer pipes are also used for communication. The riser passes from top to bottom through all floors and to it from two sides - two adjacent chambers, drains from toilet bowls and washbasins converge. To talk on such a "telephone" (that's what this method of communication is called), you need to remove the water plug from the glasses or the toilet. For this, a rag is used, with which water is soaked and then the rag is twisted into a container or washbasin. This type of activity, by the way, is not considered "in the wrong", despite direct contact with a taboo subject. If there is an offended person in the hut, then this is entrusted to him, but if not, then normal boys are not forbidden either. It's a general matter. When there is no water, then, leaning almost close to the point, you can safely carry on a dialogue even after several floors. "Pipe" is also heavily used for the transfer of goods. To do this, you must first "get caught", i.e. set the road - stretch the cord through the pipe from chamber to chamber. At the beginning, a "hedgehog" is made, which is several connected fragments of toothbrush handles or plastic cases of fountain pens, which are bent over the fire in the most bizarre way, forming hooks and spirals. If you need to catch up with the neighboring camera, then such hedgehogs with cords of sufficient length tied to them on both sides are thrown at the point and then, at a prearranged signal - hitting the wall - they are simultaneously drained with a large amount of pre-prepared water. Hedgehogs go into a common pipe and, under the influence of a stream of water, hook and twist each other. It remains only to carefully pull them into one of the chambers and the road is ready. If you need to get caught on different floors, then the upper ones first lower the "hedgehog" to the desired height, and the lower ones drain the water. Then a tightly packed and sealed in cellophane cargo is tied to the road (cord) and transported to its destination. After use, they leave a control - a thin cord, which is fixed and left until the next time. If necessary, an already working strong “cord” is tied to the control and the load or kids are driven. Thus, most often they contacted the punishment cell and suicide bombers - there were no other roads there, due to increased control. In Kaliningrad, the main enemy of this method of transmission was not the administration (which could not resist it in any way), but ... rats. They put their paw on the transit and removed the tribute, attacking the cargo, instantly gnawing through the cords. For them, traveling by sewer pipes was not difficult, and sometimes they "surfaced" in the middle of the night in the toilet bowl and could pull carelessly left food.

The most common way of communication is external roads along the outer walls of the prison and between buildings using the so-called. horses - homemade ropes and ropes, the manufacturing technology of which is a whole art. The most difficult thing in this business is to get caught and set the road. The easiest way to do this is with cameras located one above the other. The upper ones lower the horse, the lower ones with the help of a hook (a curved plastic handle on a long stick twisted from a newspaper and glued with bread paste, which is called a fishing rod) is pulled inside. To catch up with a neighboring hut on the same floor, you need more ingenuity. If you can stick your hand through the grate, then a weight is tied to the end of the rope and, unwinding it, they throw it onto a fishing rod exposed from a nearby window. It is also possible, having suspended a load on a cord of sufficient length on a fishing rod, to gradually begin to swing until it is caught by a fishing rod from the camera window located diagonally below. Then it only remains to raise the horse to the floor up and the side road is installed. If at least someone has established such a side road vertically, then by passing horses vertically to each other, each floor can establish such roads. During the day, they leave checkpoints - thin cords that can be easily removed if there is a threat of a raid. Controls are still periodically sent off, but new ones are made on the same day. In general, tracking the roads is the sacred duty of the right guys - the lads. No one is interested in how - the roads must be established or ready at any moment. Otherwise, the camera is "frozen" and excluded from the "road map" that the "road builders" keep in their heads, and its population falls under suspicion. When getting from a frozen hut to a normal one, anyone claiming to be a "normal" kid will have to answer why they did not have a connection and what they did to establish it. What is transported along such roads depends on the throughput of the gratings - the size of the holes in them. To counter such a movement, the administration uses several methods. One of them is the installation of metal blinds (“cilia”, “button accordion”) on the outside of the windows, with a gap of no more than 2 cm. Such cilia also close the view, giving the already gloomy cells a gloomy look.

The second option is shields (they are also muzzles). They are all-metal shields, sometimes with a small number of small, about 1 cm, holes larger than the window and fastened opposite the window at a distance of 10-15 cm, thus letting in some air.

Another means of combating such a prison communication system is tin canopies over the windows, which prevent the roads from being installed vertically. The edges of the visors are made serrated, so that the loads get stuck and the cords fray.

Also, gratings with very small cells (“minced meat”) or a chain-link mesh are used for this - this, as a rule, is an additional tool for cilia.

The convict people, for their part, have, of course, devised many antidotes to these measures. Rags are thrown on the visors. The cilia are unbent in strips or pipes broken off from the shkonars, the edges of the walls and window sills are gouged to widen the passage, up to the point that minced meat or cilia are sawn.

There was a certain agreement between the prisoners and the administration - if the hole does not exceed the diameter of a plastic one and a half liter bottle, then they do not seem to notice it. I was struck by the episode when window frames were inserted for the winter. The sergeant came in, looked - "so, where are you chasing horses here?" and showed the convict carpenter - "put the window on the other side." So he did - the window turned out to be where the hole in the mincemeat was cut and the cilia were straightened. Given the terrible overcrowding of the cells, the administration was forced to make concessions, so long as the prisoners did not complain and did not rebel. The prisoners also valued the compromise reached and tried not to be insolent anymore.

Sawing and unbending took place according to the principle "not caught - not a thief", i.e. if you managed to make a road, well done, use it, if you got caught - a punishment cell. From time to time the administration tried to weld these passages, but the convicts, with the tenacity of an ant, gnawed at the bars again and again, defending their piece of freedom. A piece of hacksaw blade ("shark") could be obtained along the same roads from fellow prisoners.

There are other ways - with the help of salt. By the way, salt in large quantities in prison for this reason is still considered a prohibited item and is given to the cell only with the permission of the police department. One of the methods helps to compress sufficiently thick strips of metal of the cilia, forming a larger passage in one place. To do this, a very saturated salt solution is made and a towel urinates in it. Then cilia are tied tightly with them. As the towel dries, it shrinks and this force is enough to bend the metal strips. If necessary, repeat the procedure.

Another way to use salt is to soak a thin, strong cord in a saturated solution. After drying, the salt crystals turn this cord into a good flexible hacksaw blade - a "string", like the one used by plumbers and special forces. In medicine, it is called Gigli's saw. The basis of such a canvas in the prison version is of course less durable and they must be constantly changed, for which they are made in excess. It is quite suitable for sawing thin bars of the lattice - minced meat and even more so chain-link mesh. If, however, a candle is installed near the place of sawing so that it constantly heats the metal, then thicker rods can also be sawn with such a saw. For this, of course, a lot of time is needed, but this is exactly what the prisoner has in abundance. In order to prevent this, in prisons every day or once every few days they carry out "tapping" - a controller with a wooden hammer on a long handle knocks on the bars and shkonars, determining possible fragility in structures by sound.

Cableways are short (with adjacent chambers along the walls) and long - with adjacent buildings. To install a long journey (usually this is done naturally at night), a thin, light control, usually made from a thread of semi-synthetic socks or women's tights (the latter is a big shortage in prison). If socks are used, then, by unraveling them, the synthetic thread (Lycra, polyester) is carefully separated from the cotton thread, and a cord of almost unlimited length is woven using special technology.

Then they make a "gun" - a long tube is rolled up from the newspapers, which is glued with a paste. A "bullet" is made - a paper funnel in diameter corresponding to the diameter of the "gun", at the end of which a small weight of bread crumb and the end of the control are attached. Then the "bullet" according to the principle of an air gun is fired with the force of exhalation in the right direction. With a short distance and guaranteed accuracy, the kids themselves sometimes even "shoot" like that.

If it hits the cilia, there is a possibility that the "bullet" will get stuck there, but at large distances, a "cornice" is arranged on the opposite side - "fishing rods" are put out from two adjacent windows and a cord is pulled between them. Now it is enough to get into the gap between the windows above the "cornice", and the "bullet" falls on it and it remains to drag it inside. In my presence, experienced convicts "shot" the first time at a distance of up to 70 meters, which was between the buildings. Such "guns" were also made with a 90-degree bend - then they can easily establish a connection with the side cameras. In general, the guns should be long enough, and to make them convenient to hide, they were made collapsible - several short tubes - knees, which, if necessary are combined into a long - straight or curved "gun".
For long roads, fairly strong ropes are used, which are made mainly from sweaters. For movement between buildings at a distance of 70 meters, a rope of double length is needed, respectively - 140 meters. Its strength is such that it can easily withstand the weight of a person. They told about the case when the convicts, saving the road, dragged a guard along the wall to the third floor, who tried to tear it off the ground, grabbing it and wrapping it around his hand. And quite shortly before my stay in the Kaliningrad prison, one of the guards was thrown from its roof from the fifth floor, who tried to catch the road with a cat. He crashed to death. Later, crampons with sharpened inner edges of the hooks were used to cut off roads so that the ropes were cut about them, and when reaching the roof, the guards now fastened themselves with safety ropes.

Usually, in a prison, all the methods I have described are used for communication, based on specific conditions. Somewhere the cargo goes through "caburs", somewhere through "pipes", somewhere through the air, somewhere "by feet". Such a system made it possible to deliver any mail in the same Kaliningrad (I even forwarded fairly thick books, only removed the hard cover, sent shoes, clothes) to any prison cell (except for the punishment cell and suicide bombers - roads were made there on certain days) for at most 20 -25 minutes. Never seen such a well-functioning system.

Evening - hours after 20, the most vigorous activity began. "One four zero! One four zero! Let's line up!" (hut numbers are pronounced this way, and not "One hundred and forty" - this method is more reliable, with poor hearing it is easier to distinguish). The road builders started the movement - side roads were built or restored according to the controls, along them the ends of the long ones were transferred from hull to hull, where it was necessary - the roads were "shot". There were several key long roads to which corps mail flowed and then left in batches to another. Often, long roads overlapped each other during the construction process - then it was necessary to transfer them - swap them. The end of the road along short side roads started around - for example, up - two huts, to the right - two huts, down - three huts, to the left - two, up. This whole process was coordinated by experienced road builders, often from the opposite building, who knew better where the overlap occurred and how to get around it. In general, within an hour, all roads, as a rule, were in full combat readiness and worked until the morning - 7 hours. At night, in the light of searchlights, the picture was very interesting - a web of fifteen roads between four buildings, along which something is moving. Sometimes at night the guards raided - they suddenly ran out with cats to the roof or into the yard. The first one who noticed them shouted "Garbage!", then the others picked up this cry, and within less than a minute all the roads, especially the long ones, turned off. At the same time, he could break into one of the key huts with drafts naked, cutting his way through the mass of bodies to tails, the reserve. In the seconds it takes to open the door and get through to the window, the road builders usually managed to throw off the road, destroy the little ones that remained unsent. The work of a road builder was thus associated with self-sacrifice - it was easy to fall under a club or end up in a punishment cell. For such work, they received cigarettes and tea from the common fund, and the prisoners usually gave them something from the programs.

In any case, one cannot count on the reliability of the system and one should write with caution. From time to time, the mail is still intercepted, the cops organize their huts on the road, reading and photocopying the necessary babies (then sending them further so that there is no suspicion), they recruit road builders who read the babies of the necessary recipients. When someone needed to write about something serious (to agree with an accomplice, for example), they set a direct road, if it was technically possible, and communicated without intermediaries.

An interesting system of conditional signals. Three hits on the wall meant "take a horse" or "give a horse", i.e. either accept the cargo or let go of the road so we can send the cargo to you. Two blows - "I accepted the horse" (it was not always used). One hit - "take the horse" - the load is unhooked or attached, you can pull. Several random blows in response to three blows - "expenditure", i.e. means that now I can’t accept - “fuse” or busy. Four strikes - "go out on tails" - talk to the neighbors. Five strikes - go to the "phone". Blows are made measuredly, with a pull. A few quick and often more than five strokes - akin to a strong obscenity when the road workers began to flog the joints. The more impacts and their frequency is higher, the stronger the disturbance. Gratitude to the neighbors for help ("heating") was expressed in a similar way, only the blows were more uniform. With slight variations and permutations, a similar system exists in all prisons. Blows can also be made on pipes, but this is not very convenient, since the sound propagates through them to several chambers, and it is not always clear to whom the message is addressed.