In the middle of the XIX century. the book of the famous scientist A.V. Tereshchenko "The Life of the Russian People" was published and almost immediately became a bibliographic rarity - the first attempt in Russia to scientifically develop ethnographic material. However, it has not yet been reprinted, although at one time it was read by both specialists and commoners. The seven parts that make up this work surpass many well-known works on a similar topic in detail and volume, but at the same time they are elegantly written and accessible to the perception of any, even the most inexperienced lover of Russian antiquity.