Daily leisure activities of provincial townspeople of Kazan and Vyatka provinces at the turn of the XIX – early XX century: balls, masquerades, dance evenings

Everyday life is a problem that requires detailed study. It is in the way people's leisure activities were organized that the prerequisites for the formation of the worldview and worldview of the people are revealed. Women's daily life at the turn of the XIX – early XX century is worthy of a separate study, because during this period there is a rethinking of the gender issue, which allowed a woman to be on an equal footing with a man in a difficult period of national history. The purpose of the research is to study the leisure everyday life of provincial townspeople at the turn of the XIX – early XX century on the example of archival materials of the Kazan and Vyatka provinces. Leisure activities are often determined by how representatives of the upper classes spend their free time. They are the ones who lay the foundations of etiquette, fashion, rules of summing up, places to visit and much more. The following methods were used in the study: analysis of historical literature in the aspect of the problem under study; comparative method, which is an analysis of various sources from the point of view of their comprehensive consideration; selective method used for a more detailed study of the issue under consideration. Scope of the results: the research material can be used for a more in-depth study of women's everyday life, the study of the evolution of the gender issue, in the process of a comprehensive study of the history of the Kazan and Vyatka provinces, as well as the history of Russia as a whole. The daily life of the townspeople of the Kazan and Vyatka provinces is an issue that has not been fully studied, a lot of archival materials were out of the field of view of researchers. The author focuses on how girls occupied themselves at the turn of the century. It is noted that balls, dance evenings and masquerades were a favorite form of leisure. During these events, an unspoken hierarchy in society was established, deals were made, etc. Women had to carefully select their toilet when attending such events, which took place in various clubs. Clubs have become the center of public life not only in the capital, but also in provincial cities.