The social and age group of old maids is considered, and the specifics of their position in Russian peasantry in the late XIX — the early XX c. are revealed. On the base of the historical and ethnographical data collected by the informers of the Ethnographic office headed by Prince V. N. Tenishev’s and other resources the author reveals the reasons of the peasant maids celibacy, shows the maids’ role in family life, the attitude of the other members of a family and society towards them. The local peculiarities of this phenomenon are pointed out.read in PDF>>>
