In the old days, the headdress was the most significant and elegant item of women's costume. He could tell a lot about his owner - about her age, family and social position and even if she has children. About the most unusual headdresses of Russian women - in the material of the Kultura.RF portal.

In Rus', girls wore quite simple headbands and wreaths (crowns), leaving the crown and braid open. On the day of the wedding, the girl's braid was untwisted and laid around the head, that is, “twisted”. From this rite, the expression “wrap the girl”, that is, marry her to yourself, was born.

The tradition of covering the head was based on the ancient idea that hair absorbs negative energy. The girl, however, could take risks by showing the scythe to potential suitors, but the bare-haired wife brought shame and misfortune to the whole family.

The hair laid "like a woman's" was covered with a cap that was pulled together at the back of the head - a warrior or hairdresser. From above they put on a headdress, which, unlike the girl's, had a complex design. On average, such a headdress consisted of four to ten removable parts.

HEADDRESSES OF THE RUSSIAN SOUTH

The border between the Great Russian North and South ran through the territory of the modern Moscow region. Ethnographers attribute Vladimir and Tver to northern Rus', and Tula and Ryazan to southern Russia. Moscow itself was influenced by the cultural traditions of both regions.

The female peasant costume of the southern regions was fundamentally different from the northern one. The agricultural south was more conservative. The peasants here generally lived poorer than in the Russian North, where there was an active trade with foreign merchants.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, in the southern Russian villages they wore the oldest type of Russian costume - a plaid poneva (belt clothing like a skirt) and a long shirt, the decorated hem of which peeked out from under the poneva.

In silhouette, the South Russian outfit resembled a barrel; magpies and kichki were combined with it - headdresses that were distinguished by a variety of styles and complexity of design.

KIKA HORNED

The word "kika" comes from the Old Slavonic "kyka" - "hair". This is one of the oldest headdresses, which goes back to the images of female pagan deities. In the view of the Slavs, the horns were a symbol of fertility, therefore only a “married woman” could wear them.

In most regions, a woman received the right to wear a horned kiku after the birth of her first child. They put on a kiku both on weekdays and on holidays. To keep a massive headdress (horns could reach 20–30 centimeters in height), a woman had to raise her head high. And so the word “boast” appeared - to walk with your nose up.

The clergy actively fought against pagan paraphernalia: women were forbidden to attend church in horned kicks. By the beginning of the 19th century, this headdress had practically disappeared from everyday life, but in the Ryazan province it was worn until the 20th century. Even a ditty has been preserved:

Ryazan horns

I will never throw.

I will eat one chaff

And I will not throw my horns!

KIKKA hoofed

"Chelo kichnoe" is first mentioned in a document of 1328. Presumably, at that time, women already wore all kinds of derivatives of the horned kick - in the form of a bowler hat, spatula, roller. It grew out of a horned and kichka in the form of a hoof or horseshoe.

A solid headpiece (frontal part) was covered with richly decorated fabric, often embroidered with gold. It was fastened over the "hat" with a cord or ribbons tied around the head. Like a horseshoe hung over front door, this headdress was designed to protect from the evil eye. All married women wore it on holidays.

Until the 1950s, such "hooves" could be seen at village weddings in the Voronezh region. Against the background of black and white - the main colors of the Voronezh women's costume - the kika embroidered with gold looked like the most expensive piece of jewelry. Many hoof-shaped kiks of the 19th century have been preserved, collected on the territory from Lipetsk to Belgorod - this indicates their wide distribution in the Central Black Earth region.

SOROKA TULA

In different parts of Russia, the same headdress was called differently. Therefore, today experts cannot finally agree on what is considered a kika and what is a magpie. The confusion in terms, multiplied by the great variety of Russian headdresses, has led to the fact that in the literature the magpie often means one of the details of the kiki and, conversely, the kiki is understood component magpies.

In a number of regions, from about the 17th century, the magpie existed as an independent, compound headdress of a married woman. A striking example of this is the Tula magpie.

Justifying its "bird" name, the magpie was divided into lateral parts - wings and back - tail. The tail was pleated multi-colored ribbons sewn in a circle, which made it look like a peacock. Bright rosettes rhymed with the headdress, which were sewn onto the back of the ponyova. Women wore such an outfit on holidays, usually in the first two or three years after the wedding.

Almost all magpies of a similar cut kept in museums and personal collections were found on the territory of the Tula province.

HEADDRESSES OF THE RUSSIAN NORTH

The basis of the northern women's costume was a sundress. It was first mentioned in the Nikon chronicle of 1376. Initially, sundresses shortened like a caftan were worn by noble men. Only to XVII century the sundress acquired a familiar look to us and finally migrated to the women's wardrobe.

The word "kokoshnik" is found for the first time in the documents of the 17th century. "Kokosh" in old Russian meant "chicken". Probably, the headdress got its name due to its resemblance to a chicken scallop. He emphasized the triangular silhouette of the sundress.

According to one version, the kokoshnik appeared in Rus' under the influence of the Byzantine costume. It was worn primarily by noble women.

After the reform of Peter I, who forbade the wearing of the traditional national costume among the nobility, sundresses and kokoshniks remained in the wardrobe of merchants, bourgeois women, and also peasant women, but in a more modest version.

In the same period, the kokoshnik in combination with a sundress penetrated into the southern regions, where for a long time it remained an outfit for exceptionally rich women. Kokoshniks were decorated much richer than magpies and kiks: they were sheathed with pearls and glass beads, brocade and velvet, galloon and lace.

COLLECTION (SAMSHURA, MORSHEN)

One of the most versatile headdresses of the 18th-19th centuries had many names and tailoring options. It was first mentioned in written sources of the 17th century as samshura (shamshura). Probably, this word was formed from the verb "smumble" or "smumble" - to speak indistinctly, and in a figurative sense - "knead, reap." In the explanatory dictionary of Vladimir Dahl, samshura was defined as "the Vologda headdress of a married woman."

A collected or “wrinkled” hat united all the dresses of this type. A low wrinkle, similar to a cap, was part of a rather casual costume. The tall one looked impressive, like a textbook kokoshnik, and was worn on holidays. Everyday collection was sewn from cheaper fabric, and a scarf was put on top of it. The collection of an old woman could look like a simple black cap. The festive attire of the young was covered with a gable ribbon, embroidered with precious stones.

This type of kokoshnik came from the northern regions - Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka. Loved by women Central Russia, came to Western Siberia, Transbaikalia, Altai. Along with the subject, the word itself also spread. In the 19th century, under the name "samshura" in different provinces they began to understand different types headdress.

KOKOSHNIK PSKOV (SHISHAK)

The Pskov version of the kokoshnik, a wedding headdress shishak, had a classic silhouette in the form of an elongated triangle. The cones that gave it its name symbolized fertility. There was a saying: "How many cones, so many kids." They were sewn on the front of the cone, decorated with pearls. A pearl mesh was sewn along the lower edge - lower it. Over the shishak, the newlywed wore a white shawl embroidered with gold. One such kokoshnik cost from 2 to 7 thousand silver rubles, therefore it was kept in the family as a relic, passed from mother to daughter.

The Pskov kokoshnik was most famous in the 18th-19th centuries. The garments created by the craftswomen of the Toropetsk district of the Pskov province were especially famous. That is why shishaks were often called Toropetsky kokoshniks. Many portraits of Toropchan women in pearl dress, which glorified this region, have been preserved.

TVERSKY "HEEL"

The cylindrical “heel” was in vogue at the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century. This is one of the most original varieties of kokoshnik. They wore it on holidays, so they sewed it from silk, velvet, gold galloon, and decorated it with stones. Under the "heel", similar to a small cap, a wide pearl bottom was put on. She covered the entire head, because the compact headdress itself covered only the crown. "Heel" was so common in the Tver province that it became a kind of "calling card" of the region.

Artists who worked with "Russian" themes had a special weakness for him. Andrei Ryabushkin depicted a woman in a Tver kokoshnik in the painting "Sunday" (1889). The same dress is depicted on the "Portrait of the wife of the merchant Obraztsov" (1830) by Alexei Venetsianov. Venetsianov also painted his wife Marfa Afanasyevna in the costume of a Tver merchant's wife with an indispensable “heel” (1830).

By the end of the 19th century, throughout Russia, complex headdresses began to give way to shawls, reminiscent of the ancient Russian shawl - ubrus. The very tradition of tying a scarf has been preserved since the Middle Ages, and during the heyday of industrial weaving it received new life.

Factory shawls woven from high-quality expensive threads were sold everywhere. According to the old tradition, married women wore headscarves and shawls over the warrior, carefully covering their hair. The labor-intensive process of creating a unique headdress, which was passed down from generation to generation, has sunk into oblivion.

The headdress in Rus' was an integral part of the women's wardrobe. Hair was necessarily braided, and the head was covered depending on social status. A headdress could say a lot about its owner - her marital status, status in society, territorial affiliation.

Girlish attire

A girl's braid could be made by a metal hoop attached to the back of the head, with temporal rings and various forehead decorations.

But a hoop covered with fabric, decorated with embroidery, plates, beads, pearls and stones was called a crown.

Usually crowns were worn on holidays and at weddings.

The hoop and the crown are the transformations of the wreath, which is well known to us - the oldest girl's jewelry in Rus'.

The female headdress in Rus' was organically connected with the hairstyle and complemented it.

Also, a girl could decorate her hair with a bandage - a strip of silk, brocade, velvet or woolen fabric covering her forehead or crown. The bandage was tied under the scythe, and wide embroidered ribbons descended on the girl's back.

The headdress was completed with embroideries, pearls, flowers. Bandages were worn mainly by peasant women, more often they were worn on holidays, and sometimes for a wedding - instead of a crown.

Attire of the married

After marriage, women completely covered their hair, and the more multi-layered the headdress was, the more prosperous its owner was considered.

One of these hats was kick (kichka) - high female decoration, consisting of a back of the head - a cloth covering the shoulders;

povoynika - fabric twisted around the head;

the headman - the frontal part and the headband - pearl mesh or fringe.

Kichki were different in shape, they resembled horns, hooves and even a shovel. Ladies wore "horned" kitties, the front part of which was filled with ornaments, and the headband was trimmed with gold.

Horns in Rus' were considered a talisman for the mother and, according to legend, protected the child from dark forces and the evil eye. The height of such horns sometimes reached 20 cm, so it was customary to walk in a horned kichka with your head thrown back.

Boast - walk with your head held high.

It is interesting that the name of this dress can be found in architectural dictionaries, it means an elevation on the front of the ship. Subsequently, the kichka was replaced by simpler hats - magpie And new.

Magpie was considered one of the richest headdresses and consisted of a large number parts, from 8 to 14.

The basis for the dress was the kichka, the back of the head and the magpie itself, which was an elevated crown.

The magpie was called a sazhen if it was sheathed with precious stones and winged if ribbons with ties were sewn to it from the sides.

Decorations for such decoration were artificial flowers, beads and jewelry.

"If you look at the back of a woman's head in this dress, it's like looking at a sitting bird with bent wings", - wrote the Penza author Krotkov at the end of the 19th century.

povoynik- a scarf or towel that was previously worn under the kitch to cover the head. However, walking in the same dress in public was considered bad manners.

To remove a headdress from a married woman in Rus' was considered a terrible insult. Hence the expression "goof off", that is, to remain with an uncovered head.

However, in the second half of the 19th century, the headdress became an independent piece of clothing, displacing the magpie and kiku. Most often, warriors were worn by peasant women to protect their hair from tangling and pollution.

A festive warrior was sewn from silk, satin or velvet and decorated with beads or precious stones.

History of the kokoshnik

The history of the kokoshnik is full of secrets and mysteries, says Dmitry Savitsky. And no one knows the exact time of the appearance of this headdress.

Kokoshnik - an old Russian headdress in the form of a fan or a rounded shield around the head. Kichka and magpie were worn only by married women, and the kokoshnik was worn by unmarried women as well. Kokoshnik is a light fan made of thick paper, sewn to a cap or hair; it consists of a removed headman and a bottom, or a headman and a hair, with a descent behind the ribbon. In the 19th century existed in the merchant and peasant environment (mainly in the northern provinces), and in pre-Petrine Rus' - and in the boyars.

The name "kokoshnik" comes from the ancient Slavic "kokosh", meaning chicken and rooster. Characteristic kokoshnik - a comb, the shape of which was different in different provinces. So, for example, in the Pskov, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov and Vladimir lands, kokoshniks resembled an arrowhead in shape. In the Simbirsk province, women wore kokoshniks with a crescent. In other places, headdresses similar to kokoshniks were called "heel", "tilt", "gold head", "horn", "kokui", or, for example, "magpie".

Kokoshniks were made on a solid base, decorated on top with brocade, braid, beads, beads, pearls, and for the richest - with precious stones.

Kokoshniks were very diverse in design and character of decorations. At the same time, their main feature was that they tightly covered the woman’s head, covering her hair, braided into two braids and styled in a wreath or bun.

The custom of covering the hair of a married woman has been known to all Slavic peoples of Eastern and Western Europe since ancient times and is associated with pre-Christian religious ideas. In the Russian village, it was customary to believe that a woman with an uncovered head could bring misfortune to the house: cause crop failure, loss of livestock, people's illness, etc.

Kokoshniks were usually made by professional craftswomen, sold in village shops, city shops, at fairs, or made to order. Peasants carefully kept kokoshniks, passed them on by inheritance, they were often used by several generations. Kokoshniks were considered a great family treasure.

The kokoshnik was considered a festive and even a wedding headdress. It was embroidered with various ornamental amulets and symbols of marital fidelity and fertility, so the kokoshnik was not only an adornment for a woman, but also her amulet.

In the Simbirsk province, it was first worn on the wedding day, and then worn on major holidays until the birth of the first child. Kokoshniks were made in cities, in large villages and monasteries by special craftswomen-kokoshniks. They embroidered expensive fabric with gold, silver and pearls, and then stretched it on a solid (birch bark, later cardboard) base. The kokoshnik had a cloth bottom. The lower edge of the kokoshnik was often sheathed with undercuts - a net of pearls, and on the sides, above the temples, a cassock was fastened - strings of pearl beads falling low on the shoulders. Such a headdress was very expensive, so kokoshniks were carefully preserved in the family and passed on by inheritance.

The ornament of the headdress of the kokoshnik necessarily consisted of three parts. A lace - a metal ribbon - outlines it along the edges, and inside each part an ornament - a charm - is embroidered with a "gimp" (twisted wire). In the center is a stylized "frog" - a sign of fertility, on the sides - S-shaped figures of swans - symbols of marital fidelity. The back of the kokoshnik was especially richly embroidered: a stylized bush symbolized the tree of life, each branch of which is a new generation; often a pair of birds was located above the branches, a symbol of the connection between earth and sky and a mating couple, in the paws of birds - seeds and fruits. Thus, the kokoshnik not only adorned the heads, but was a female amulet.

Later kokoshniks in the form of a cap are ornamented simply with a beautiful ornament of the wedding symbols "grapes and roses", which appeared in embroidery under the influence of urban fashion, and personified in the popular mind "sweet berry and scarlet flower".

The female headdress in its forms and decor, more than other parts of the costume, retained archaic features, contained numerous temporary layers. Hats were kept in families from generation to generation and were an indispensable part of the dowry of a bride from a wealthy family.

Peter I, by his decrees, forbade the hawthorns to wear this headdress. But the kokoshnik survived among the peasantry as an attribute of festive or wedding clothing.

In the Catherine era, interest in Russian history and Russian antiquities revived.

Passion for Russian antiquity becomes fashionable at court. Attention is also shown to the female boyar and royal costume of the Moscow Rus' XVII V. The fashion includes a court dress resembling a sundress and complemented by a kokoshnik and a long pleated shirt. A description of the costume of Catherine II, dating back to 1863, has been preserved: “The Empress was in a scarlet-velvet Russian dress, studded with large pearls, with a star on her chest and a diamond diadem on her head ...”.

The war with Napoleon, having stirred up an unprecedented wave of Russian patriotism, returned interest in everything national in literature, poetry, and clothing. In 1812-1814, red and blue Russian sundresses with an empire waist and filigree buttons in front entered the European fashion. In the portraits of that terrible time, they depict English women, and Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna, wife of Alexander I, and even French women. The pro-Russian movement in fashion has returned to secular society a kind of old kokoshniks.

In 1834, Nicholas I issued a decree introducing a new court dress, complemented by a kokoshnik. It consisted of a narrow open bodice with long sleeves "a la boyars" and a long skirt with a train.

By the end of the 19th century, these dresses were often sewn in St. Petersburg by the workshop of Olga Bulbenkova from velvet of various colors and brocade (for the empress and grand duchesses) with white satin inserts. The pattern of luxurious gold embroidery was predetermined by decree in accordance with the position of the lady at court. The order of wearing these dresses was preserved in Russia until the abdication of Nicholas II in February 1917.

I would like to finish with the verses of Vladimir Sadovnik:

Russian beauty,

How good!

Smiling with happiness

You have a soul.

Russian beauty,

You are not dearer!

Looking for, trying in vain

All over the earth.

Your thoughts are clear

The world does not understand.

You are a beautiful wife

And such a mother!

You are not a shiny thing

Mannequin Doll,

You give a real soul to your neighbors to everyone.

Your heart is pure

There is no profit in it

The eyes are radiant

They radiate light!

Russian beauty,

Always be like this

Though the enemy does not like

Holy side!

What is the essence behind the shape of the kokoshnik

Have you ever wondered why some of the headdresses, such as kokoshniks, have such a rather unusual shape? After all, if we consider the kokoshnik from a pragmatic point of view, then with its help it is impossible to protect ourselves from the Sun, rain or snow, which means that a completely different meaning was originally invested in it. Then which one?

At present, thanks to the creation of special technical devices, it has become possible to obtain an image of the human biological field, which is a combination of radiation from the human body in a very wide frequency spectrum. In fact, a person continuously resides in a special energy cocoon, which most people under normal conditions do not perceive with their eyesight. Comparing the images of the human biological field obtained with the help of these technical devices with the shape of the kokoshnik, it is easy to notice a completely obvious similarity between them. Therefore, it is logical to assume that the kokoshnik is a material aspect of the luminosity of the human biological body, locally isolated in the head area.

It can be assumed that in ancient times, when a person had the ability to see the subtle planes of the existence of matter, there was no need for this kind of headdress, since a girl or woman was naturally perceived as radiant, but since the time when people for the most part lost the ability to see the biological field surrounding a person, it arose in the creation of certain elements of clothing, with the help of which it would be possible to form and transmit to a blind person information about internal state woman, her integrity and perfection. Therefore, the kokoshnik not only repeats the shape of the biological field of a healthy woman, but also due to its color (white with shades of blue, light blue, purple, etc.), as well as various decorations and decoration elements, contributes to the non-verbal transmission of information about the degree of her spiritual perfection.

In this regard, you can also pay attention to how kings and kings used to be called - a crowned person. So called because the crown (or crown) also symbolizes the human aura or halo. Traditionally, the crown or crown was made of gold or other precious metals and decorated with precious stones, which on the material plane was supposed to symbolize the development of the corresponding energy center in this person(crown chakra).

Commentary by Alexander Doroshkevich

The value of hats for our Ancestors

Not so long ago, literally 50-200 years ago, people's buildings and clothes had a completely different look and were much richer and more elegant than at present. Now a person is surrounded by multi-storey building-boxes made of glass and concrete with low ceilings and small rooms, and clothes are unisex, monotonous and also multi-storey.

Let's look at the clothes of the past 18-19 centuries, at the headdresses. It is known that men evaluate women by looking down at them, while women look at a man from the bottom up. Now hats are not in fashion, in cold weather we put on hats and fur coats to protect ourselves from the cold. And before there were hats very interesting and mandatory to wear.

Dance Ensemble "Slavitsa"

Firstly, they performed a protective function, not only from the cold, but also from energy pollution.

Like clothes, the headdress of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers (as well as great-great-great-great-great-and further, further, into the depths of centuries) served, among other things, for social communication. Every resident of a city, village or community was oriented in women's and men's clothing, in the symbolism of embroidery and in the general arrangement of clothing elements much better than we, modern ones, are oriented in models mobile phones. By clothes and headdress (and especially women's headdress), anyone passing by, not even personally acquainted with this woman, understood who was in front of him, what social status this woman had and what her marital status was.

A young girl, ready for marriage, wore a special girl's dress, which showed her hair to others in all its glory - the primordial symbol of female power in Rus'. He represented, most often, a red ribbon tied around the head and converging under the scythe into a kind of bow. Marriable girls had the right to braid their hair (most often one, married women braided two) and wear their hair open for public viewing. And when a girl got married, a special ceremony took place - farewell to the scythe. This does not mean at all that the young wife's hair was cut off at the root. Just from that day on, after saying goodbye to the braid, after marriage, the hair of an already married woman went forever under a scarf, becoming invisible to others. In general, only women who had not lost their virginity could put a braid on display, lower it down their backs. There were, however, special cases, especially solemn, when a woman could let her hair down over her shoulders - the funeral of her parents (I remind you that death was not considered such a grief before), a wedding, especially large Slavic holidays. In the event that a woman had illegitimate children, or lost her innocence, she lost the opportunity to wear a braid on her back or show the top of her head. If a woman was seen in a dissolute lifestyle, the community could cut her bangs to mark the woman's "occupation" in this way.

Hiding your hair from someone else's gaze, being married, was considered so necessary and important that even the father-in-law could not see them from now on (peeping at the son's wife in the process of changing her scarves - day to night) could end in a big family scandal. Only other women, in the bath, could see all the female power, which now, after marriage, belonged to a single man. Married women already braided two braids, laying them over their heads in a variety of ways, which they carefully hid under a scarf. And if a woman, wife, mistress, did not hide her hair well, then the “esoteric” owner of the house, brownie, could begin to take revenge on her for this, arranging some special nasty things. Indeed, by showing her hair, a woman, as it were, took away her energy support and nourishment from her husband, shared her feminine power, which should rightfully belong to only one man. “Lighting up the hair” was not only a disgrace, but also an energetically unpleasant act that could lead to various troubles in the personal and “economic” life of the family and the woman. They believed that a woman (not a marriageable girl) with an open head has access to evil spirits. In Slavic mythology, mermaids and witches, representatives of evil spirits, walked with loose hair.

Authentic Russian hats

Oddly enough, but the names of the most popular in modern Russia headwear borrowed from foreign languages- as, of course, and the dresses themselves. The “hat” was borrowed from French back in the Middle Ages, the “hat” came to us from German language simultaneously with the return of Peter the Great from his famous European voyage, and the “cap”, of course, is nothing more than a Russified English cap or German Kappi (in turn, borrowed from Latin). As for the truly Russian headdresses, of them, perhaps, only the kokoshnik is known to the general public for certain - in its many varieties, but above all the one that the Snow Maiden and Vasilisa the Beautiful wear without taking off, coupled with the inevitable light brown braid to the waist. And the older generations, probably, will only imagine the Orenburg shawl, which actually spread in the European part of Russia only in the 19th century.

Meanwhile, in pre-revolutionary Russia, there were at least fifty types of traditional headgear - primarily, of course, women's - and the variety of bizarre styles, shapes, materials and decorations is one of the most interesting pages the history of Russian costume and Russian fashion in its true, popular sense. Unfortunately, this page has not yet been written: a separate monograph exploring the history and geography of the Russian headdress does not yet exist, despite the fact that many eminent Russian ethnographers were engaged in it - as an integral part of the costume.

Variety of women's headwear

Since ancient times, girls have had a metal hoop as a headdress. Temporal rings and forehead metal ornaments were attached to it. Each Slavic tribe had its own, special ones: bracelet-shaped among the Krivichi, seven-lobed among the Vyatichi, spiral among the northerners, etc. Sometimes archaeologists even determine the boundaries of the settlement of certain tribes by the types of temporal rings. Such rings were fastened at the temple to a metal hoop or even woven into the hair, put on a ring on the ear, etc. Of the festive attire, even then the girls had a kind of kokoshnik, a bandage, (“brow”) and a crown, and of the decorations - temporal rings, a headband, pendants, plaques, buckles.

The female headdress of a married woman assumed a complete "covering" of the head. In the X-XI century, this is a kind of head towel, which was wrapped around the head, the so-called povoi. Somewhat later, such a canvas will be richly decorated and will become a trim. In the XII-XV centuries, women from the rich and noble classes used a whole combination of several dresses: a warrior, an ubrus and on top - a kichka or a round hat with fur around the edges (especially in winter). The front part of the kiki later becomes removable and gets the name of the ochelya (although according to some historians, the ochelye could have existed before, and dressed directly on the povoy). The ochelie is especially richly decorated with pearls, beads, etc. In women, jewelry was no longer attached to the hair (as was the case with girls), but directly to the headdress. At first, these were various temporal decorations, and by the 14th-15th centuries, cassocks became the most common.

Less rich and noble women in the 11th-12th centuries and later often wore magpies and less expensive ubruses, without richly decorated kichka. As for scarves, they began to use it as an independent women's dress somewhere from the 17th century. Then he begins to displace the robes and head towels, becoming the main dress.

Symbolism Mokosh

From the symbolism of the World Duck Mokosh, sitting on the top of the withers of Veles-Baal, the national headdress of Russian women, the kokoshnik, got its name. In pre-Petrine Rus', the kokoshnik existed in the boyar environment and below, and with the advent of Peter I, it remained only in the merchant and peasant environment and so lived until the 19th century.

The name "kokoshnik" comes from the ancient Slavic "kokosh", meaning chicken or rooster. The kokoshnik was made on a solid base, decorated on top with brocade, braid, beads, beads, pearls, for the richest - with precious stones. Kokoshnik (kokuy, kokoshko) is made in the form of a fan or a rounded shield around the head, it is a light fan made of thick paper, sewn to a cap or hair; it consists of a removed headman and a bottom, or a headman and a hair, with a descent behind the ribbon. Kokoshnik is not only a women's headdress, but also an ornament on the facades of buildings in the Russian style.

On fig. Kokoshniks, from left to right: 1 - kokoshnik of the Arzamas district of the Nizhny Novgorod province, Russian Museum; 2 - Russian kokoshnik; 3 - Russian kokoshnik with the image of Makoshi, stylized as a bee; 4 - a large helmet made of bronze, Etruria (7th century BC), National Museum "Villa Giulia", Rome.

The shape of the kokoshnik resembles a crown in front, and a duck on the side. Numerous Russian words of the same root also lead us to the last meaning: koka, koko - an egg, kokach - a pie with porridge and eggs, kokosh - a mother hen, kokish - the first regular goose wing feathers, for writing, kokotok - a finger joint, kokova - knob, upper tip, head, carved decoration on the ridge of the hut, copper heads on sledges, wagon goats, etc.

Rice. The development of the image and symbolism of the kokoshnik, from left to right: 1 - the Slavic god Veles with a duck-Makosha on his head; 2 - Egyptian goddess with two birds on her head; 3 - King Khafre (Chefren) (mid-26th century BC), Egypt; 4, 5 - Russian kokoshniks.

The presented figure shows the development of the image and symbolism of the Russian kokoshnik. First, we find a deep religious mythology hidden in the image of the Makoshi duck, located on the head of Veles. In the image of Veles, the duck directly sits on his head. Next, we see an Egyptian goddess wearing a headdress made from two birds. One of them spread over the head, starting to form the back canopy of the kokoshnik - an elegant magpie (note that the bird's name has been preserved). Another bird in the nest continues to sit on its head. In the image of King Khafre, the first bird has already turned into a simple magpie canopy, and the upper one has slid closer to the king's neck. On Russian kokoshniks (4 and 5), the headdress has almost completely lost its bird features, but the symbolism itself has remained. The shape of the nest, which is formed by the cap-headman, also remains. The silhouette of the duck resembles the very front of the kokoshnik. In fragment 4, we also see that the upper part of the kokoshnik resembles a bird, spreading its wings down - on its head. Kokoshniks end with a back part - forty.

Another Russian national headdress, the kichka, also drew its symbolism from the stellar Slavic religious cult of the Makoshi duck (Pleiades constellation), located on the head (nape) of Veles (Taurus constellation).

Rice. The development of the image and symbolism of the kichka, from left to right: 1 - Veles in a horned and circular headdress with a star-duck-Makosha in the center; 2 - Egyptian god in a horned headdress and with a circle; 3, 4 - on an Egyptian fresco, the horns turned into two feathers of Maat (Makoshi) with the sun inside; 5 - Russian kichka, Tambov province (19th century); 6 – pattern fragment; 7 – Scythian-Koban figurine from Dagestan (6th century BC); 8 - horned kichka - a wedding headdress of a Cossack-nekrasovka (beginning of the 19th century); 9 - horned Makosh, Russian embroidery; 10 - Russian kichka.

The figure clearly shows the development of the image of the Slavic god Veles, holding a Makosh duck with a nest on his head. On fragments 3 and 4, the horns turn into feathers (ostrich), which symbolize the Egyptian Maat (Russian Makosh). There is a pattern on the kichka (5), which is shown on a larger scale in fragment 6. It is completely similar to the Egyptian two feathers and the sun between them. For the dating of the Mokosh cult, see paragraph 5.3.3.1. ch. VI. We only note that the oldest sculptural image of Mokosh is dated to the 42nd millennium BC. and found in Rus', in the village of Kostenki, Voronezh region. Therefore, we have the right to attribute the origin and development of the cult of Mokosh in Rus' to the Slavs, and consider the Egyptian use of this Slavic cult of Mokosh-Maat as its continuation, brought to the Nile Valley by proto-Russian settlers. The Protorians brought to Egypt the cult of the Slavic god Veles-Baal, whose horns turned into two feathers in Egypt.

It was this filling, corresponding to Slavic religious mythology, that the kichka carried. This Russian headdress imitated the horns of a cow, which symbolized the fertility of its mistress. Horned kichka was worn by young married Russian women, changing it in old age to a hornless one. Slavic married women for a long time (to this day!) retained the method of tying a scarf, when its angular ends stuck out on their foreheads in the form of small horns. They also imitated the horns of a cow and symbolized the productive period in a woman's life.

We also note that in Russian and other Slavic embroideries, Makosh has always been depicted and is depicted as horned. “Horned” is also called the two moose-calves accompanying her. This is Lada and Lelya, reflecting the cosmic essence of the Slavs, they are on starry sky- Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

All of the above also applies to other traditional Russian headdresses - hats with earflaps, scarves and scarves.

Rice. The development of the image and symbolism of a hat with earflaps (third and fourth words) and a scarf (far right).

In particular, the word "shawl" comes from the Russian "field", which is the original patrimony of Mokosh. The etymology of the word "kerchief" directly comes from the name of Makoshi. Academician B.A. Rybakov derived the name of this goddess from the Russian mokos, where the first syllable means "Mother", and the second - "lot, fate, fate." Since Makosh contains both the Share and the Nedolya, the scarf - the diagonal part of the whole shawl-field (clothes, towel) - corresponds to the Share and fertility. What in the dictionary of V. Dahl is confirmed etymologically, for example, mowing chickens. foal. The Russian word kosous refers us to a duck with an oblique wing - a carpenter, a shelf rolled out in gooseneck, a cornice.

Coca - this is what they call in Tver an incomplete cob, a spindle with an open yarn, and a chiseled stick for winding threads and weaving belts and lace is called a bobbin. This again brings us to the symbolism of Mokosh, whose attributes are the spindle, threads and the weaving process.

In addition to the thread of life associated with the duck and its laid egg, Makosh also spins the thread of death. The latter meaning is also enshrined in words with the root cook: cock, cock something - beat or smash, clap, hit, cock someone - lower. tamb. beat, beat with fists, kokshila - a fighter, a bully, cocoon someone, cocoon - beat; kill to death, deprive of life, cokov - cool and harden, harden, freeze, freeze, kokoven sib. or kok-kokoven - a cold, from which everything ossifies, ossifies, numbs.

By the way, here we have come to the etymological concept of the meaning of the word bone - root ko- + suff. -st = "Makosh / fate / basis is."

To summarize:

Thus, we came to the conclusion that the headdress in Rus', as well as in other territories of the spread of Slavism (Europe, pre-Semitic Greece, Sumer and Egypt):

1) was a Slavic religious cult object;
2) reflected the cosmic symbolism of the Slavic religion, namely, the location of the constellation Pleiades-Makoshi-duck (who patronized Rus', in particular Moscow), at the withers of the Taurus-Veles-bull;
3) symbolized the fertility phase of Slavic women;
4) if the dress contained elements similar to horns, then they symbolized Veles;
5) the rest of the headdress symbolized the Makosh duck and its nest.
This purpose of headgear in most cases remains to this day.

Reconstruction of ancient women's headdresses

Vladimir kokoshnik, early 20th century.

Headdress of a meryanka, a resident of the Alabuga settlement of the 7th century. n. e.

Kostroma women's festive dress - "tilt". (Galich Mersky)

Mari women's headdress "shurka"

Udmurt women's headdress "aishon"

Erzya women's headdress "pango"

Women's headdresses in the paintings of artists

K.E. Makovsky

M. Shanko. Girl from the Volga, 2006

A.I. Korzukhin. Hawthorn, 1882

M. Nesterov. Girl in a kokoshnik. Portrait of M. Nesterova 1885

K.E. Makovsky. Boyar at the window with a spinning wheel

K.E. Makovsky. Portrait of Z.N. Yusupova in Russian costume, 1900s

A.M. Levchenkov. hawthorn

HeaddressRussians have always been an important part of the toilet. We know that in the 14th century, men (both townspeople and peasants) wore the same headdress. These were fur, felted or woven hats, reminiscent of a cap, the brim of which turned away and occupied almost the entire crown. Richer men wore good-quality hats, for example, bright hats, made from the soft wool of a young sheep of the first shearing. On holidays, young people decorated their hats with ribbons. Often worn in wintermalachai- sheepskin coats, which were sewn in the villages themselves.

In the 14th century, the Moscow prince was presented with a golden skullcap. He ordered to sew a sable edge to it. So for a long time the style of the headdress, well known from the paintings of artists, became traditional.

In the 15th century, they began to wear small round hats -tufi (skufii). At the same time, there was a fashion to cut hair "under the pot". By the 16th century, there were already several "barbershops" in Moscow. They were located directly under the open sky. One of them was located on the present Red Square, not far from St. Basil's Cathedral. The cut hair was not removed by anyone and covered the ground near such a "barbershop" with a carpet. If there was no money for a haircut, then “under the pot” it was possible to get a haircut at home: something, but there were enough pots in each household.

One of the customs brought to Rus' by the Tatars is to wear a hat not only on the street, but also at home (a hat was mandatory on the street). Despite the demands of Metropolitan Philip, Ivan the Terrible refused to remove the skufya even in church. Skufs were different color, decorated with embroidered silk and even pearls (only among the monks they were black).

However, the most common headdress remainedcowl, but simply put -cap. At the bottom of the cap were lapels, on which buttons were attached for beauty -zapon(this is where the word probably comes from)stud). Sometimes the lapels were with fur trims. Caps were made from felt, wool, velvet - in general, according to prosperity. Boris Godunov, for example, among his property mentions "a sazhen hat; it has eight straps and five buttons on the holes."

In the 17th century there appearednowruz(a kind of cap) - a hat with small fields, decorated with buttons and tassels. In the same century, they began to wear the so-calledMurmolki- hats with a flat, widened downwards (like a truncated cone) tulle. The murmolka had fur lapels, similar to blades, which were fastened to the crown with two buttons. Murmolki were sewn from silk, velvet, brocade.

We have already said that our ancestors put on as many clothes as possible to show their wealth, nobility - two ports, a zipun, a caftan, etc. The same thing happened with respect to headdresses. They put on a skuf, a cap on it, and on top -throat cap. It was called throaty because it was made from delicate fur taken from the neck of a sable.

Abrupt modificationmen's hats began during the reign of Peter I. By his order, all the city nobility were ordered to wear wigs and hats, as was fashionable in Europe. Ordinary people these innovations did not affect. Later, the common people had their own fashion - oncaps(caps with a visor), and caps and murmolkas disappeared from everyday life.

Publications in the Traditions section

The most unusual headdresses of Russian wives

In the old days, the headdress was the most significant and elegant item of women's costume. He could tell a lot about his owner - about her age, family and social status, and even about whether she had children. About the most unusual headdresses of Russian women - in the material of the Kultura.RF portal.

Women's holiday costume. Nizhny Novgorod province. Photo: narodko.ru

Kokoshnik. Photo: lebrecht.co

Women's holiday costume. Bryansk province. Photo: glebushkin.ru

In Rus', girls wore quite simple headbands and wreaths (crowns), leaving the crown and braid open. On the day of the wedding, the girl's braid was untwisted and laid around the head, that is, “twisted”. From this rite, the expression “wrap the girl”, that is, marry her to yourself, was born. The tradition of covering the head was based on the ancient idea that hair absorbs negative energy. The girl, however, could take risks by showing the scythe to potential suitors, but the bare-haired wife brought shame and misfortune to the whole family. The hair laid "like a woman's" was covered with a cap that was pulled together at the back of the head - a warrior or hairdresser. From above they put on a headdress, which, unlike the girl's, had a complex design. On average, such a headdress consisted of four to ten removable parts.

Headdresses of the Russian south

The border between the Great Russian North and South ran through the territory of the modern Moscow region. Ethnographers attribute Vladimir and Tver to northern Rus', and Tula and Ryazan to southern Russia. Moscow itself was influenced by the cultural traditions of both regions.

The female peasant costume of the southern regions was fundamentally different from the northern one. The agricultural south was more conservative. The peasants here generally lived poorer than in the Russian North, where there was an active trade with foreign merchants. Until the beginning of the 20th century, in the southern Russian villages they wore the oldest type of Russian costume - a plaid poneva (belt clothing like a skirt) and a long shirt, the decorated hem of which peeked out from under the poneva. In silhouette, the South Russian outfit resembled a barrel; magpies and kichki were combined with it - headdresses that were distinguished by a variety of styles and complexity of design.

Kika horned

Horned kichka - a headdress of peasant women of the Bogoslovshchina district of the Mikhailovsky district of the Ryazan province. Late XIX - early XX centuries. Photo: Ryazan Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve.

A peasant woman in the Ryazan province in a horned kichka. Photo: Fund of the Russian Ethnographic Museum (REM).

The word "kika" comes from the Old Slavonic "kyka" - "hair". This is one of the oldest headdresses, which goes back to the images of female pagan deities. In the view of the Slavs, the horns were a symbol of fertility, therefore only a “married woman” could wear them. In most regions, a woman received the right to wear a horned kiku after the birth of her first child. They put on a kiku both on weekdays and on holidays. To keep a massive headdress (horns could reach 20–30 centimeters in height), a woman had to raise her head high. And so the word “boast” appeared - to walk with your nose up.

The clergy actively fought against pagan paraphernalia: women were forbidden to attend church in horned kicks. By the beginning of the 19th century, this headdress had practically disappeared from everyday life, but in the Ryazan province it was worn until the 20th century. Even a ditty has been preserved:

Ryazan horns
I will never throw.
I will eat one chaff
And I will not throw my horns!

Kika hoofed

Festive costume of a young peasant woman in the Ostrogozhsky district of the Voronezh province. Late 19th - early 20th century. Photo: Zagorsk State Historical and Art Museum-Reserve.

"Chelo kichnoe" is first mentioned in a document of 1328. Presumably, at that time, women already wore all kinds of derivatives of the horned kick - in the form of a bowler hat, spatula, roller. It grew out of a horned and kichka in the form of a hoof or horseshoe. A solid headpiece (frontal part) was covered with richly decorated fabric, often embroidered with gold. It was fastened over the "hat" with a cord or ribbons tied around the head. Like a horseshoe hung over the front door, this headdress was designed to protect against the evil eye. All married women wore it on holidays.

Until the 1950s, such "hooves" could be seen at village weddings in the Voronezh region. Against the background of black and white - the main colors of the Voronezh women's costume - the kika embroidered with gold looked like the most expensive piece of jewelry. Many hoof-shaped kiks of the 19th century have been preserved, collected on the territory from Lipetsk to Belgorod - this indicates their wide distribution in the Central Black Earth region.

Magpie Tula

Festive costume of a young peasant woman in the Novosilsky district of the Tula province. Photo: Fund of the Russian Ethnographic Museum (REM).

Costume of a peasant woman in the Tula province. Photo: Fund of the Russian Ethnographic Museum (REM).

In different parts of Russia, the same headdress was called differently. Therefore, today experts cannot finally agree on what is considered a kika and what is a magpie. The confusion in terms, multiplied by the great variety of Russian headdresses, has led to the fact that in the literature the magpie often means one of the details of the kiki and, conversely, the kiki is understood as an integral part of the magpie. In a number of regions, from about the 17th century, the magpie existed as an independent, compound headdress of a married woman. A striking example of this is the Tula magpie.

Justifying its "bird" name, the magpie was divided into lateral parts - wings and back - tail. The tail was pleated multi-colored ribbons sewn in a circle, which made it look like a peacock. Bright rosettes rhymed with the headdress, which were sewn onto the back of the ponyova. Women wore such an outfit on holidays, usually in the first two or three years after the wedding.

Almost all magpies of a similar cut kept in museums and personal collections were found on the territory of the Tula province.

Headdresses of the Russian North

The basis of the northern women's costume was a sundress. It was first mentioned in the Nikon chronicle of 1376. Initially, sundresses shortened like a caftan were worn by noble men. Only by the 17th century did the sundress acquire a familiar look and finally migrated to the women's wardrobe.

The word "kokoshnik" is found for the first time in the documents of the 17th century. "Kokosh" in old Russian meant "chicken". Probably, the headdress got its name due to its resemblance to a chicken scallop. He emphasized the triangular silhouette of the sundress.

According to one version, the kokoshnik appeared in Rus' under the influence of the Byzantine costume. It was worn primarily by noble women.

After the reform of Peter I, who forbade the wearing of the traditional national costume among the nobility, sundresses and kokoshniks remained in the wardrobe of merchants, bourgeois women, and also peasant women, but in a more modest version. In the same period, the kokoshnik in combination with a sundress penetrated into the southern regions, where for a long time it remained an outfit for exceptionally rich women. Kokoshniks were decorated much richer than magpies and kiks: they were sheathed with pearls and glass beads, brocade and velvet, galloon and lace.

Collection (samshura, wrinkle)

Headdress "collection". Novgorod province. Late XVIII - early XIX centuries Photo: Fund of the State Historical Museum.

Women's suit with a headdress "collection". Oryol province, con. 19th century Photo: Fund of the Russian Ethnographic Museum (REM).

One of the most versatile headdresses of the 18th-19th centuries had many names and tailoring options. It was first mentioned in written sources of the 17th century as samshura (shamshura). Probably, this word was formed from the verb "smumble" or "smumble" - to speak indistinctly, and in a figurative sense - "knead, reap." In the explanatory dictionary of Vladimir Dahl, samshura was defined as "the Vologda headdress of a married woman."

A collected or “wrinkled” hat united all the dresses of this type. A low wrinkle, similar to a cap, was part of a rather casual costume. The tall one looked impressive, like a textbook kokoshnik, and was worn on holidays. Everyday collection was sewn from cheaper fabric, and a scarf was put on top of it. The collection of an old woman could look like a simple black cap. The festive attire of the young was covered with a gable ribbon, embroidered with precious stones.

This type of kokoshnik came from the northern regions - Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka. I fell in love with women in Central Russia, ended up in Western Siberia, Transbaikalia, and Altai. Along with the subject, the word itself also spread. In the 19th century, different types of headgear began to be understood under the name "samshura" in different provinces.

Kokoshnik Pskov (shishak)

Women's festive headdress - "Kokoshnik". Pskov province, late 19th century. Photo: Fund of the Russian Ethnographic Museum.

Women's holiday costume. Pskov province. Photo: Fund of the Russian Ethnographic Museum.

The Pskov version of the kokoshnik, a wedding headdress shishak, had a classic silhouette in the form of an elongated triangle. The cones that gave it its name symbolized fertility. There was a saying: "How many cones, so many kids." They were sewn on the front of the cone, decorated with pearls. A pearl mesh was sewn along the lower edge - lower it. Over the shishak, the newlywed wore a white shawl embroidered with gold. One such kokoshnik cost from 2 to 7 thousand silver rubles, therefore it was kept in the family as a relic, passed from mother to daughter.

The Pskov kokoshnik was most famous in the 18th-19th centuries. The garments created by the craftswomen of the Toropetsk district of the Pskov province were especially famous. That is why shishaks were often called Toropetsky kokoshniks. Many portraits of Toropchan women in pearl dress, which glorified this region, have been preserved.

Tver "heel"

Women's hats - "heels". Tver province. Late 18th - early 19th centuries Photo: Fund of the State Historical Museum.

The cylindrical “heel” was in vogue at the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century. This is one of the most original varieties of kokoshnik. They wore it on holidays, so they sewed it from silk, velvet, gold galloon, and decorated it with stones. Under the "heel", similar to a small cap, a wide pearl bottom was put on. She covered the entire head, because the compact headdress itself covered only the crown. "Heel" was so common in the Tver province that it became a kind of "calling card" of the region. Artists who worked with "Russian" themes had a special weakness for him. Andrei Ryabushkin depicted a woman in a Tver kokoshnik in the painting "Sunday" (1889). The same dress is depicted on the “Portrait of the wife of the merchant Obraztsov” (1830) by Alexei Venetsianov. Venetsianov also painted his wife Marfa Afanasyevna in the costume of a Tver merchant's wife with an indispensable “heel” (1830).

By the end of the 19th century, throughout Russia, complex headdresses began to give way to shawls, reminiscent of the ancient Russian shawl - ubrus. The very tradition of tying a scarf has been preserved since the Middle Ages, and during the heyday of industrial weaving, it received a new life. Factory shawls woven from high-quality expensive threads were sold everywhere. According to the old tradition, married women wore headscarves and shawls over the warrior, carefully covering their hair. The labor-intensive process of creating a unique headdress, which was passed down from generation to generation, has sunk into oblivion.

How could one easily and quickly understand the status of an unfamiliar girl at a time when communication of opposite sexes was strictly regulated.

By headdress

The headdress in Rus' was not only protection from the sun, cold and everything else, but also served as an indicator of status. Unmarried girls could walk with their heads uncovered or with a headdress that left the top of their head open (sometimes even in church). Since everything about the girl was hidden by layered clothes, the open “crown” was designed to emphasize her beauty, to the delight of the good fellows. After the girl got married, her head was covered with a woman's headdress. In the X-XI century, the dress of a married woman was called a “warrior”, reminiscent of a head towel. In the XV-XVI centuries. women began to wear "ubrus" - an embroidered white or red cloth, the ends of which were richly decorated with pearls and went down to the shoulders, chest and back.

Crowns in Rus' were worn exclusively by girls, so the crown is a symbol of girlhood. The crown was a hoop made of leather or birch bark, covered with fabric and richly decorated (beads, bones, plates, embroidery, freshwater pearls and stones). Sometimes the crown could have three or four teeth and a removable front part, which was called an ochelie. When getting married, the girl said goodbye to her crown or the groom kidnapped him. The very word "crown" comes from the Russian "vinit", that is, "to harvest". Harvest is the eternal concern of grain growers, and therefore the spouse received an assistant "for vein" ("for the harvest"), for which he had to pay a ransom to his parents, since they lost their assistant. Hence the participation of the wreath in the wedding ceremony.

Earrings

In Rus', there was a tradition associated with wearing earrings: for girls and married women, they differed in shape and size. The daughter received her first earrings from her father as a gift at the age of five; women kept these earrings all their lives. The unmarried wore elongated earrings of a simple shape, with little or no decor. The earrings of a married woman were more expensive, more complex, richer - in terms of status.

As soon as a girl in Rus' reached a certain age, she began to wear a strictly defined hairstyle - a braid, usually woven from three strands. The first braid is new adulthood. Along with the scythe, other, not children's, but women's clothing was relied upon. A scythe - a girl's beauty, was considered the main external advantage of a girl. Good ones, Thick hair were highly valued because they spoke of strength and health. Those who could not grow a thick braid resorted to vile deceit - weaved hair from ponytails into their braids. If a girl wore one braid, it meant that she was in " active search". If a ribbon appeared in a girl’s braid, then the girl’s status meant “marriable”. As soon as she had a fiancé, and the blessing for marriage had already been received from her parents, instead of one ribbon two appeared, and they were woven not from the base of the braid, but from its middle.

This was a signal to the rest of the boyfriends that their further efforts were in vain, since the girl and her family had already decided on a candidate for husbands.

On solemn occasions, girls of marriageable age wore their hair loose. To communion in church, on a holiday, down the aisle, the girl went "cosmic". In such cases, hair curling was welcomed in wealthy families.

Before the wedding, the girlfriends weepingly unbraided the bride's hair, and she said goodbye to her usual hairstyle as a symbol of carefree girlhood. Upon marriage, the girl was braided with two braids, which were then laid around her head like a crown - a hint of her new, higher family status. A covered head is a document of marriage. Now no one but her husband could see her hair and take off her headdress.

If a girl cut her braid on her own, then, most likely, she mourned the deceased groom, and cutting her hair was for her an expression of deep sorrow and unwillingness to get married.

Old maids were not allowed to wear the clothes of married women. They weaved a braid like girls, covered their heads with a scarf. They were forbidden to wear a kokoshnik, a magpie, a warrior, to wear a ponyova. They could only walk in a white shirt, a dark sundress, and a bib.

According to the ornament and color of clothes

The ornament on the clothes could tell a lot about its owner. So, for example, in the Vologda region, a tree was depicted on the shirts of pregnant women. The chicken was embroidered on the clothes of married women, white swans - on unmarried girls. Blue sundress worn unmarried girls preparing for the wedding or old ladies. But, for example, a red sundress was worn by those who had just married. The more time passed after the wedding, the less red the woman used in her clothes. What did the horned frog mean in the picture of the apron? Horns are a symbol of fertility, confirmation that this girl can give birth. And the frog is a symbol of a woman in labor, in the state of which every self-respecting girl of that time strove to get. So, the horned frog indicated that in front of you was a girl who wanted her first child.

The basis of the women's costume was a shirt. It differed from the male one only in length - up to the feet. But it was considered indecent to walk in one shirt - thicker clothes were put on over it. Unmarried girls wore a zapon - a canvas rectangular piece of fabric folded in half and having a hole for the head on the fold. The zapona was not stitched on the sides, it was shorter than the shirt and was put on over it. The zapon was always girdled.
Married women wore a paneva (or ponyka) over their shirts - a skirt that was not sewn, but wrapped around the figure and fastened around the waist with a cord - a gashnik. Where is the best place to hide? - for the gash! - it's been since then. For the first time, a pony was worn on the day of the wedding or immediately after. The girl symbolically jumped from the bench into the paneva - this symbolized her consent to marriage. Parents, or a brother, tied a panya on it. If a girl didn’t get married, she wore a zapon all her life, she couldn’t put on paneva.

By wedding ring

If it was possible to get close enough to a woman to see if she had a ring on her finger, then they also used this proven method. Orthodox wedding rings were worn on the ring finger. right hand. It was sleek and simple, classic.