After reading headings 40 and others on the topic of provisioning within Carolyn Pouncy’s translation of the Domostroi, a number of comparisons to western culture become apparent.
The primary takeaway from the provisioning sections of the Domostroi is its clear relation to western culture at the time. At the time of the writing of the Domostroi the opinions and teachings within represented well the cultural beliefs of Europe at the time. While the Domostroi alludes to culture and societal beliefs at the time of its writing, the majority of the teachings within are more closely aligned with survival techniques.
A large portion of the survival techniques in the provisioning section teach the reader on good business practices. The Domostroi tells the reader to break bread and salt with merchants for preferential treatment moving forward, showing how important proper hospitality was in Russian culture. The Domostroi teaches that with proper hospitality a household will be more likely to receive quality goods and first choice from merchants. This emphasizes the nature of superstition within Russian culture, particularly of note when the Domostroi mentions how a Household Master who cares for the sick and old will find himself stray of sin with a successful home.
In breaking down the Domostroi with a Contemporary American lens the effective teachings within the Domostroi of this section come into view. Certainly the subjugation of women as presented by the Domostroi is abhor-able by modern standards, but the teachings on provisioning for a winter in order to maintain the livelihood of your peasants holds true. The teachings may be dated, but for the time of its writing the book likely taught hundreds of households how to properly make it through the winter with the lives of all those within maintained.