In the old days, any more or less wealthy family had some special things passed down from generation to generation. Family relics of noble people are family decorations, portraits of famous ancestors in massive frames and some unique interior items, often made to order. In peasant families, offspring often received wedding rings, precious metal products, and simply something beautiful, rare or valuable for a particular family. Has this tradition survived today and what things inherited from the ancestors deserve special attention?
Traditions of antiquity deep …
The history of Russia is interesting and full of a wide variety of events. At the same time, the attitude to antiques is changing in almost every generation in our country. There are practically no truly ancient items inherited in Russian families. If some valuable items were left with the original owners after the 1917 revolution, during the USSR they were transferred to museums, confiscated by the authorities or sold for a minimum cost voluntarily. Nevertheless, many people are sensitive to things related to certain memories. Therefore, many of us have family heirlooms, often something interesting (for transmission to descendants) is also attempted to create modern families, literally with their own hands.
What are relics?
You will be surprised, but if you ask a few people what things are most valuable and special for their families, you can get a variety of answers. Someone keeps a great-grandmother's “happy” wedding dress, the other person is most proud of the collection of stamps donated by his father, while the third one preserves some valuable handmade items created more than a hundred years ago. What is a heirloom? The definition of this concept can be formulated as follows: it is some kind of material object that is inherited between blood relatives and is of particular value to members of this family. Accordingly, relics can be expensive things, and very cheap, but at the same time of personal interest to the owners. Often, personal letters, some scientific works or literary works are stored and even transmitted to posterity for years.
Home archive
In many Russian families, to some extent, there are photographs of ancestors, some letters and diplomas, and maybe even awards from grandfathers and grandmothers who participated in the Great Patriotic War. What to do with all this wealth? First of all, keep in mind that photographs and video / audio recordings have a certain storage period. Therefore, if you have printed photos, it makes sense to scan them. Be sure to do this business, even if it does not seem to you significant enough. The cost of digitizing and restoring images is low, but in the future, these materials can help you find lost relatives and will certainly interest your children. Even if you don’t know what family heirlooms are, don’t be too lazy to make a family tree. To do this, talk with the oldest living relative and write down all the information about your ancestors. If you like this idea, you can try visiting the archive, making official inquiries and learning more about your family’s past. There is a place for an extra notebook or piece of paper in any home, and the collected information will be incredibly interesting for your children.
Parsing Grandma's Chest
What to do with old things? The issue is relevant for many who today inherit or simply do home repairs, disassembling the farthest corners of the mezzanine. It is difficult to leave “for your own memory” even the complete atmosphere of one room. When analyzing the inheritance from your beloved grandmother or cousin, you should initially separate the trash from "not trash" and decide further what to do with the second part. Today, antiques are many items made during the Soviet Union, and if desired, they can be profitably sold to lovers of antiquity. But is it worth getting rid of all the "wealth"? Heirlooms should be of value to its owner. And if you like certain things left from someone from relatives, feel free to take them to yourself. But, of course, this rule should be abandoned if the vase presented by the late grandfather openly annoys you and does not fit into the interior. In this case, the “unloved” thing should be taken to the cottage or transferred to someone else from relatives.
How to store family heirlooms?
A place for special things related to the history of your family can be found in any home. If you inherited something of value and rarely used, the best option for storage is a safe or renting a cell in a bank. Items that are unlikely to interest potential robbers and can be used in everyday life, you can keep in sight in your apartment. Do not forget that vases, dishes, paintings, interesting figurines are all examples of family heirlooms. If you have inherited photographs, letters and some little things that you prefer to just keep and revise from time to time, it makes sense to put all these values in a separate big box.
