VERTOGRAD

SEVEN SIGNS BY WHICH IN Rus' A GIRL WAS DISTINGUISHED FROM A HUSBAND'S WIFE

By headdress

Down the line

By earrings

Along the spit

By ornament and color of clothing

Paneva and zapona

Up the skirt

By the wedding ring

Publications in the Traditions section

The most unusual headdresses of Russian wives

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

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

Kokoshnik. Photo: lebrecht.co

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

In Rus', girls wore rather simple-shaped headbands and wreaths (crowns), leaving the crown and braid open. On the wedding day, the girl’s braid was unraveled and placed around her head, that is, “twisted.” From this ritual the expression “to entice a girl” was born, that is, to marry her to yourself. 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 off her braid to potential suitors, but a bare-haired wife would bring shame and misfortune to the whole family. The hair, styled “woman-style,” was covered with a cap that was pulled together at the back of the head—a warrior or volosnik. On top they put on a headdress, which, unlike a girl’s, had a complex design. On average, such a garment 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 include Vladimir and Tver in northern Rus', and Tula and Ryazan in southern Russia. Moscow itself was influenced by the cultural traditions of both regions.

Women's peasant costume in 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 trade with foreign merchants was active. Until the beginning of the 20th century, in southern Russian villages they wore the oldest type of Russian costume - a checkered ponyova (a waist-length garment like a skirt) and a long shirt, the decorated hem of which peeked out from under the ponyova. The silhouette of the southern Russian outfit resembled a barrel; it was combined with magpies and kichkas - headdresses distinguished by a variety of styles and complexity of design.

Kika horned

The horned kichka is the headdress of peasant women in the Bogoslovshchina district of the Mikhailovsky district of the Ryazan province. The end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries. Photo: Ryazan Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve.

Peasant woman of the Ryazan province in a horned kitty. 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 dates back to the images of female pagan deities. In the minds of the Slavs, horns were a symbol of fertility, so only a “manly woman” could wear them. In most regions, a woman received the right to wear a horned pussy after the birth of her first child. They wore a kika both on weekdays and on holidays. To hold the massive headdress (the horns could reach 20–30 centimeters in height), the woman had to raise her head high. This is how the word “boast” appeared - to walk with your nose in the air.

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

Ryazan horns
I will never quit.
I will eat only chaff,
But I won’t throw my horns!

Kika hoof-shaped

Festive costume of a young peasant woman from Ostrogozhsky district, Voronezh province. The end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century. Photo: Zagorsk State Historical and Art Museum-Reserve.

"Human" was first mentioned in a document of 1328. Presumably, at this time women were already wearing all sorts of derivatives of the horned kick - in the form of a bowler hat, a shoulder blade, and a roller. It grew from a horned and kitty in the form of a hoof or horseshoe. The solid headband (forehead) was covered with richly decorated material, often embroidered with gold. It was attached over the “cap” using a cord or ribbons tied around the head. Like a horseshoe suspended 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 Voronezh women's costume - the gold-embroidered kika looked like the most expensive decoration. Many hoof-shaped kicks from the 19th century have been preserved, collected in 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 from the Novosilsky district of the Tula province. Photo: Fund of the Russian Ethnographic Museum (REM).

Costume of a peasant woman from 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 kick and what is considered a magpie. Confusion in terms, coupled with the great variety of Russian headdresses, has led to the fact that in literature the magpie often means one of the parts of the kika and, conversely, the kika 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 complex headdress for a married woman. A striking example of this is the Tula magpie.

Justifying its “bird” name, the magpie was divided into side parts - wings and back - tail. The tail was made of pleated multi-colored ribbons sewn in a circle, which made it look like a peacock. Bright rosettes rhymed with the headdress and were sewn onto the back of the ponya. Women wore this outfit on holidays, usually in the first two to 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 the sundress. It was first mentioned in the Nikon Chronicle in 1376. Initially, sundresses shortened like a caftan were worn by noble men. Only by the 17th century, the sundress acquired the familiar look and finally migrated into the women's wardrobe.

The word “kokoshnik” appears for the first time in documents of the 17th century. “Kokosh” in Old Russian meant “chicken”. The headdress probably got its name because of its resemblance to a chicken comb. It emphasized the triangular silhouette of the sundress.

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

After the reform of Peter I, who banned the wearing of traditional national costume among the nobility, sundresses and kokoshniks remained in the wardrobe of merchant women, bourgeois women, and peasant women, but in a more modest version. During the same period, the kokoshnik, in combination with a sundress, penetrated into the southern regions, where for a long time it remained the outfit of exclusively rich women. Kokoshniks were decorated much more richly than magpies and kiki: they were trimmed with pearls and bugles, brocade and velvet, galloon and lace.

Collection (samshura, morshen)

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

Women's costume with a “collection” headdress. Oryol province, con. XIX 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 “shamshit” or “shamkat” - to speak indistinctly, and in a figurative sense - “to crush, to reap.” In Vladimir Dahl's explanatory dictionary, samshura was defined as “the Vologda headdress of a married woman.”

All attire of this type was united by a gathered or “wrinkled” cap. A low morshen, similar to a cap, was part of a more casual costume. The tall one looked impressive, like a textbook kokoshnik, and was worn on holidays. The everyday collection was made from cheaper fabric, and a scarf was worn over it. An old woman's collection might look like a simple black bonnet. The festive dresses of the young were covered with braided ribbon and embroidered with precious stones.

This type of kokoshnik came from the northern regions - Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka. He fell in love with women in Central Russia, ended up in Western Siberia, Transbaikalia, and Altai. Along with the subject, the word itself spread. In the 19th century, the name “samshura” began to mean different types of headdress in different provinces.

Pskov kokoshnik (shishak)

Women's festive headdress - “Kokoshnik”. Pskov province, end of the 19th century. Photo: Russian Ethnographic Museum Foundation.

Women's festive costume. Pskov province. Photo: Russian Ethnographic Museum Foundation.

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

The Pskov kokoshnik became most famous in the 18th–19th centuries. Particularly famous were the headdresses created by the craftswomen of the Toropets district of the Pskov province. That is why shishaki were often called Toropets kokoshniks. Many portraits of Toropchan women in pearl headdress, which glorified this region, have been preserved.

Tver "heel"

Women's hats - “heels”. Tver province. Late XVIII - early XIX centuries. Photo: State Historical Museum Foundation.

The cylindrical heel was in fashion 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 made it from silk, velvet, gold braid, and decorated it with stones. Under the “heel”, which looked like a small cap, a wide pearl bottom was worn. It covered the entire head, because the compact headdress itself only covered the top of the head. The “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 particular weakness for him. Andrei Ryabushkin depicted a woman in a Tver kokoshnik in the painting “Sunday Day” (1889). The same dress is depicted in “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 the obligatory “heel” (1830).

By the end of the 19th century, throughout Russia, complex headdresses began to give way to shawls that resembled the ancient Russian scarf - 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-made shawls woven from high-quality, expensive threads were sold everywhere. According to the old tradition, married women wore scarves 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.

If you plunge into ancient times, you can see the whole variety of women's headdresses in Rus'. All kinds of shapes and intricate embroideries speak of the high skill of the people and the amazing culture of that time. Much from that distant life is borrowed by designers to this day.

Antique fashion

Oddly enough, from year to year antique items are becoming increasingly popular and are in great demand among real fashionistas. For many, grandma’s chest becomes a treasure trove of stylish and unusual things, which, after restoration, adequately fulfill their intended purpose.

Of course, we no longer wear them due to inconvenience and impracticality. But simplified long sundresses and dresses are still pleasing to the eye. If we talk about, then you can be sure that the vintage items on the shelf will definitely not get dusty. They are at a high level of modern fashion.

One of the most popular accessories today are antique scarves. These luxurious hats complement modern fur coats, sheepskin coats, and coats very favorably. Beautiful patterns add a certain charm to the image and draw us to the distant past, which has so skillfully become the present.

Today, hats similar to the fur hat that was worn in the old days are extremely popular. Everyone knows and many people love the hat with earflaps, but in ancient times it was called malakhai. It was worn by coachmen in winter. But in the old days, noble people wore a stolubunets - a tall fur hat.

It is extremely difficult to list all the variety of hats in the old days. It is enough just to see how popular this headdress is in our time, and there is absolutely no doubt about its authority.

Fashion in the old days was very diverse, and by the way people were dressed, one could easily recognize what class a person belonged to. Today fashion has become more democratic; the choice depends on preferences and financial capabilities.

HeaddressFor Russians it has always been an important part of the toilet. We know that in the 14th century, men (both townspeople and peasants) wore the same hats. These were fur, felted or wicker hats, resembling a cap, the brim of which turned away and occupied almost the entire crown. Richer men wore good quality hats, for example poyark hats, made from the soft wool of a young sheep of the first shear. On holidays, young people decorated their hats with ribbons. Often worn in wintermalachai- sheepskin boots, which the villages sewed themselves.

In the 14th century, the Moscow prince was given a golden skullcap. He ordered a sable edge to be sewn onto it. This is how the style of headdress, well known from the paintings of artists, became traditional for a long time.

In the 15th century, small round hats began to be worn -mattresses (skufji). At the same time, a fashion appeared to cut hair “in a pot”. By the 16th century there were already several “hairdressers” in Moscow. They were located right in the open air. One of them was located on what is now Red Square, not far from St. Basil's Cathedral. No one removed the cut hair and covered the ground with a carpet near such a “hair salon”. If there was no money for a haircut, then you could get a haircut at home: something, and there were enough pots in every 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 (on the street, a headdress was required). Despite the demands of Metropolitan Philip, Ivan the Terrible refused to take off his skufia even in church. Skufia were of different colors, decorated with embroidered silk and even pearls (only the monks had them black).

However, the most common headdress remainedhood, and simply put -cap. At the bottom of the cap there were flaps on which buttons were attached for beauty -cufflinks(this is probably where the word comes fromstud). Sometimes the lapels had fur trims. The caps were made from felt, felt, velvet - in general, according to their abundance. Boris Godunov, for example, mentions among his possessions “a fat cap; it has eight strings and five buttons on the holes.”

In the 17th century appearednowruz(a type of cap) - a hat with a small brim, 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) crown. The murmolka had fur flaps, similar to blades, which were fastened to the crown with two buttons. Murmolkas were sewn from silk, velvet, and brocade.

We have already said that our ancestors put on as much clothing as possible to show their wealth and nobility - two ports, a zipun, a caftan, etc. The same thing happened with hats. They put on a skufia, a cap on it, and on top -gorlat hat. It was called Gorlatnaya 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 city nobility were ordered to wear wigs and hats, as was fashionable in Europe. These innovations did not affect ordinary people. Later, the common people developed their own fashion - forcaps(caps with a visor), and caps and murmolkas disappeared from use.

Hats and their parts are usually listed as part of the dowry. In 1668, in the city of Shuya, three volosniks were described: “A volosnik with edging, edging with nizan grains (pearls - M.R.) in half with stones and with emeralds and with yakhonta and with grains; gold hairline with trim, trim sewn with bit gold trimmed; golden hairline, stitching embroidered with drawn gold from grain; double chain lining.” In the same city in 1684, apparently, the family of the feudal lord was given three dowries kokoshnik: “kokoshnik nissan on worm-shaped satin; kokoshnik embroidered with gold on taffeta; taffeta kokoshnik with silver braid.” In 1646, among the property of the townsman - Shuyanin, there were, by the way, “8 forty embroidered with gold... the kitch is expensive green, the headband is embroidered with gold.” In 1690, a Moscow will mentioned a “nizana kokoshnik with a yakhonta with an emerald.” In 1694, in the city of Murom, among the dowry of a girl from the Suvorov family - “a lowered kokoshnik, 5 sewn kokoshniks with braid, 5 satin and damask linings, lowered trim, chain trim.” In 1695, A.M. Kvashnin gave his daughter 11 kokoshniks - 3 ceremonial ones and 8 simpler ones. The daughter of A. Tverkova from the city of Kashin also received the kokoshnik as a dowry. In 1696, guest I. F. Nesterov gave his daughter a “pearl kokoshnik with a stone.” The differences here are more likely social than territorial: magpie and kika - among the townspeople, kokoshnik - among the feudal lords and the upper class of merchants. If we remember that in the middle of the 17th century. Meyerberg depicted a Moscow peasant woman in a kitty-shaped (expanding upward) headdress, it can be assumed that in the central Russian lands - the former Moscow and Vladimir principalities - at least in the 17th century. was women's kitty headdress. Kokoshniks They were also part of the toilet of noble and rich women everywhere. We said earlier that in the northern Russian lands some kind of headdress on a rigid basis existed until the 13th century. But Kika and the parts of the headdress that accompanied it, which were mentioned above, were probably more widespread and therefore even in the 16th century. entered into such an all-Russian guide to the organization of family life, which was Domostroy. So, a traditional, very complex headdress, which was not removed even at home, was characteristic of the entire period we are considering and was retained by some social strata also much later, for almost another two centuries. When going out into the street, a woman put on a scarf or (for the wealthy) a cap or hat over this headdress. Sources know, in addition to the general name cap and hat, also special terms that denoted women's street hats of various styles: kaptur, triukh, stolbunets and even cap. Women's hats They were round, with small brims, richly decorated with cords of pearl and gold threads, and sometimes with precious stones. Hats They were made of fur, mostly with a fabric top. The stolbunets hat was tall and resembled a man's gorlat hat, but it tapered towards the top and had an additional fur trim at the back of the head. The Kaptur was round, with blades that covered the back of the head and cheeks, the triukha resembled modern earflaps and had a top made of expensive fabrics. Sometimes a scarf - a veil - was tied over a fur hat, so that its corner hung down the back.

Men's hats also underwent in the XIII-XVII centuries. significant changes. The hairstyle itself has also changed. In the 13th century. Loose hair cut just above the shoulders was in fashion. In the XIV-XV centuries. in the north of Rus', at least in the Novgorod land, men wore long hair, braiding it in braids. B XV-XVII centuries. hair was cut “in a circle”, “in a bracket” or cut very short. The latter, apparently, was associated with wearing at home a small round cap that covered only the top of the head, like an eastern skullcap - tafya or skufya. The habit of wearing such a hat dates back to the 16th century. was so strong that Ivan the Terrible, for example, refused to take off his taffe even in church, despite the demands of Metropolitan Philip himself. Tafya or skufya could be simple dark (for monks) or richly embroidered with silks and pearls. Perhaps the most common form of the cap itself was cap or kalpak- tall, tapering at the top (sometimes so that the top curled and sagged). At the bottom of the cap there were narrow flaps with one or two holes, to which decorations were attached - buttons, cufflinks, fur trim. Caps were extremely widespread. They were knitted and sewn from different materials (from linen and paper to expensive woolen fabrics) - bedroom, indoor, street and front. In the will of the early 16th century. An interesting story is revealed about how the Russian prince Ivan took various family jewels from his mother, the Volotsk princess, “for temporary use” - including earrings from his sister’s dowry - and sewed them onto his cap, but never gave them back. This cap must have been a very elegant headdress for a dandy. A century later, among the property of Boris Godunov, a “fat cap” was mentioned; it has 8 cuffs and 5 buttons in the hole.” Kolpak or, as it was called then, hood was widespread in Rus' in ancient times. A type of cap was in the 17th century. nauruz (the word itself is of Iranian origin), which, unlike the cap, had small brims and was also decorated with buttons and tassels. The margins of the nauruz were sometimes curved upward, forming sharp corners, which miniaturists of the 16th century liked to depict. G.G. Gromov believes that the Tatar cap also had a pointed top, while the Russian headdress was rounded at the top.

Men's hats had round brims (“brim”) and were sometimes felted, like later peasant hats. Such a hat with a rounded crown and small, curved brim, which apparently belonged to an ordinary citizen, was found in the city of Oreshka in the 14th century layer. Among the wealthy segments of the population in the 17th century. Murmolki were common - tall hats with a flat crown, tapering upward, like a truncated cone, and with fur flaps in the form of blades, fastened to the crown with two buttons. Murmolki were sewn from silk, velvet, brocade and additionally decorated with metal agraphs.

Warm men's hats were fur hats. Sources call three or malachai — hat with earflaps, the same as for women. The most ceremonial was the throated hat, which was made from the neck of the fur of rare animals. It was tall, widening at the top, with a flat crown. Along with gorlat hats, worm hats are also mentioned, that is, made from fur taken from the belly of the animal. Just as it was customary to put on one piece of clothing on top of another during formal exits (for example, a zipun - caftan - a single-row jacket or a fur coat), they also put on several hats: tafya, a cap on it, and a gorlat hat on top of it. Clerics of various ranks wore special headdresses (various types of hoods). The prince's hat remained an important regalia of the rulers.