Krzczonow Costume

Hello all, I'm dedicating this posting and the following to my friends Karen M. and Ted Zed. Today i will be venturing into the world of Polish Costume. I will be talking about the costume from the region around the town of Krzczonow, marked in red in this map.

For the sake of those of you who may be unfamiliar with Polish orthography, Krz is pronounced 'ksh', like a bus door opening, czo is pronounced  'cho' as in chocolate, and ow is pronounced 'oof' like someone punched you in the stomach. So Krzczonow is pronounced 'Ksh-cho-noof', except that you only get one syllable for each vowel, so try to pronounce Kshcho as one syllable. This is often called the Lublin Costume as it is the best known costume from Lublin Province. It is not from the city of Lublin.

I have a couple of personal ties to this costume. In college I was a dancer with the Oakland University Slavic Folk Ensemble, and in my time we had a Polish Choreographer teach us a Polish Set. We made these costumes. This costume is a good one for an amateur group, as it is relatively well known, colorful, attractive, and easily made from materials that you can go out and buy, as opposed to say the Zakopane or Lowicz costumes which are beautiful, but require specific sorts of cloth that is not easy for people outside Poland to obtain. Also i have been long fascinated in figuring out how the particular embroidery is done, but that is a topic for the next posting.

Here are a couple of images to help you get acquainted with this costume.

In this last photo, the woman on the right is wearing the 18th century costume which i will not be covering in this posting. The woman's costume is based on the chemise, although it is  not as prominent as it is in many eastern European costumes. The cut is identical to womens shirts in western Ukraine, with two separate body sections for front and back, an 'inset' przyramek in Polish, sewn on top of the body pieces, the opening then gathered into the collar, which in this case is a sort of wide 'sailor collar', and sleeves sewn perpendicularly. Here is the cut of the woman's chemise and other costume pieces.

The chemise is embroidered on the cuffs, collar, shoulder pieces, and sometimes around the front opening with particular Kzczonow embroidery, later replaced by cross stitch.

The Skirt is sewn of store bought wool, in 'quiet colors', a quick glance at the various images indicates a wide range of colors. There is usually a band of velvet or other dark cloth on the bottom hem, a short 'brush fringe' on the hem itself, it is very full and rather long, coming to the top of the low, typically Polish lace-up boots.

In the center of the skirt are sewn several different bands of ribbon of different colors, widths and designs, 

usually forming a palindromic effect, with a particularly wide and patterned ribbon forming a center, and symmetrically placed ribbons of other colors above and below. There seems to be a minimum of three to five ribbons, although many more are often used. 

The apron is unique, in that it is basically a short version of the skirt, gathered into a waistband and wrapping completely around the body. It is also sewn with several ribbons, and is usually edges with lace.

again, a couple of images to give you a good idea.

 

The bodice is the typical Polish lace up type, known as a gorsetka. The cut is shown on the bottom right of the diagram above that shows the cut of the chemise. It has lappets around the bottom, very typical for Malopolska, and it is decorated with rows of ribbons sewn on vertically to either side of the front, and around the bottom edge just above the lappets. The lappets are edged with ribbon. The gorsetka itself is made of a dark quiet color, like black or burgundy. Here are a couple of examples.

Of course, several necklaces would be worn to complet the costume. For unmarried girls, the hair was worn in braids which were wrapped around the back of the head. A headress in the shape of a horseshoe was worn on the back of the head, covered with artificial flowers, and with ribbons falling down behind. At her wedding, this would be replaced by a full cap of artificial flowers, with beads and ribbons around the edge, as seen in the colored photo above. Here is a photo showing the hair arrangement.

In cooler weather women would often wear a short jacket, the kaftanik instead. This was also considered to be appropriate for women 'of a certain age'. This custom was widespread in Poland and elsewhere. I am running long, so i will devote a separate posting to the mens and womens kaftan.

The Mens costume is based on a shirt which has a cut identical to the womens, except the collar is smaller, and the shirt itself is shorter. It is worn outside the pants. It has embroidery like the womens, but with no or less extensive embroidery on the shoulder. Here is a diagram of the cut. The pants were linen in summer, but for cooler weather or special occasions they were made of black or other dark material.

Often there was a vest worn with the costume, either black or white with buttons and pocket patches of the opposite color, as seen in this old photograph.

Over this was worn a long heavy overcoat, as seen in some of the images.  But what has come to be worn most often is a jacket, called the kaftan as it is the most unique to this costume. The cut is shown above, It was decorated with rows of ribbons down the front and around the waist, with bands of black cloth overstitched and with reverse applique.Again, I will have to take a seperate posting to talk about this. I will close with this photo of a wedding group.

Thank you all for reading. If you have any requests for research, or comissons to make costumes or embroidery, please let me know.

Thank you,

Roman K.

Here are a couple of links to  sites showing more of this and other Polish costumes.

This is the famous Polish Song and Dance Ensemble Mazowsze, perfoming their Lublin Suite, featuring this costume.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ypug6wCC1c

Here is a link to the Folk Dance Ensemble 'Slowianki', of the Jagiellonian University in Poland website, showing some very good photos of this costume and others. I would like very much to be able to see them perform, oh well. Click on the images to enlarge

http://www.slowianki.uj.edu.pl/galeria.php?send=1&gal=16&id=stala

Here is one of their photos, just to give you an idea.

OK, i found a video of Slowianki doing dances from this region; they are pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LDsXsk30BI&feature=related

And here is a link to a company in Krakow called Perfekt, who make and sell Polish [and some other] Folk Costumes for stage groups and others. They are quite good for stage costumes, although not the equivalent of having one made in the village, which would be very difficult.

.http://www.perfekt.krakow.pl/stroje/lublin



Thank you very much again

Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals.

Roman K.
Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Janusz Swiezy, 'Stroj Krzczonowski' from the series Atlas Polskich Strojow Ludowych, Poznan, 1952

Elzbieta Krolikowska, 'Polski Stroj Ludowe' [The Polish Folk Dress] sic, Warsaw, 2000

Majka and Hunt, 'Polish Folk Costumes', Halifax, 1991

Stanislaw Gadowski, 'Stroj Ludowe w Polsce', Warsaw, no year shown

Aleksander Blachowski, 'Hafty Polskie Szycie', Lublin 2004

Kazimierz Pietkiewixcz, 'Haft i Zdobienie Stroju Ludowego', Warsaw, 1955

Costume of the Anatri Chuvash

Hello all. Today we are going to cover the folk costume of the Anatri Chuvash. The Chuvash live in the mid-Volga region, like the various peoples we have been covering. They live in the Chuvash republic, which is indicated in dark blue on the map above, south of the Mari, shown in red, north of the Mordvin Republic, shown in brown, and west of Tatarstan, shown in bright green. In fact, they also live scattered over a wide area south and east of the Chuvash Republic as well, as shown by the following map.

In these other areas, they live in enclaves surrounded by Tatars, Bashkir, Moksha and Russians. The capitol of the Chuvash Republic is Cheboksary, and this is their flag.

The Chuvash, unlike the other Volga peoples we have so far addressed, are a Turkic People, but one that has been seperated from the other Turkic peoples for a very long time. Their language occupies a separate branch from all other extant Turkic languages, and their culture and folk art makes it clear that they have been in close contact with the Finnic Peoples of the Volga for a long time as well. The costume we will address today is that of the lowland, or Anatri Chuvash, who live in the southeastern part of the Chuvash Republic, as well as some of the scattered areas shown in the map. Here is the costume of a couple of young unmarried Anatri Chuvash.

As you can see, the girl's costume is based on the chemise, as we would expect, with the addition of an apron, ornaments hanging from the sash, neck and shoulder, and a helmet shaped headdress covered in beads and coins, which is called a tukhya, which sometimes has a point on top. This seems to be a very ancient Turkic custom, the headdress for girls in Turkmenistan is similar, and the Kazakh and Kirghiz equivalent seem to be derived from the same.This may be connected with the very old Turkic legend of the Princess Gulaim and her fourty maiden warriors, known as the Kirk Kiz. [Sounds like a Disney Movie waiting to be made.]

Here is another view of a tukhya, showing more closely the decorative coins and jewelry.

You will notice that the girl's chemise is ornamented with minimal embroidery, but has applique of red ribbon And if you look closely at this photo, you will notice that the design on the chest is asymmetrical, which is often the case for the Chuvash girl's costume, and very unusual elsewhere.  Here is an old photo of some Chuvash children in everyday clothes, notice the distinctly asymmetrical design on the chemise of the girl on the left.

And here is a modern example, this is the work of the well known embroiderer, Evgenia Zhacheva. This girl is holding some of the embroidery for which the Chuvash are famous.

In contrast, the woman's chemise is embroidered, as in this example drawn by Max Tilke from a museum specimen in Germany. You will notice the rosettes embroidered over the breasts, these are very typical, only found on the chemises of married women, and are known as keske.

As you can see, the tunic is of the typical cut of the region. The keske are very famous, and were often cut out of chemises and exhibited in Russian and other museums. Here i will pet one of my peeves, that the collectors would cut right next to the embroidery, so that the placement was lost, and the cloth ravels.

[unprintable expletive] Here is an example of such collected keske, of which the designs were many, as you can see.

Here is another example of the woman's chemise worn alone, the keske being very visible.

And here is an example of a woman in full dress, with apron and the headcloth known as the surpan wrapped around the head over an embroidered headpiece called the masmak. You will also notice that she is wearing footcloths and birchbark shoes over them. This was worn by those who could not afford boots.

Here is an example of an embroidered apron, although, as you can see from the above photos, sometimes the apron was made of cloth with woven designs.

Another type of woman's headress was more widespread and is known as the khushpu. This takes many shapes, and may look similar to the tukhya, but is always open on top, and has a long piece which hangs down the back. It is worn over the surpan, which is wrapped around the head, with both ends hanging in back. Here are front and back views of a full woman's costume.

You will also notice the beaded, embroidered and coin covered ornaments hanging from the neck and the sash, as is so typical  of this region.

The Mens costume,  as for the other peoples in the mid Volga region, consists of a shirt, linen or woolen pants, a woven sash, and footwear, as shown in the photos above and here

You will notice that the shirt opens on the right side, opposite that of the Russians, and the same as the old Persian shirts, although shirts that open in the center are also known. Here is a schematic drawn by Max Tilke of a shirt, closeup view of the embroidery, as well as part of a keske. This was also drawn from a museum specimen in Germany.

On special or ceremonial occasions, men would wear a caftan over the shirt, which was highly embroidered, and had designs made by applique of red ribbon, as in the following example. He is a accompanied by a girl in full costume holding a bridal veil over her head.

Thank you once more for visiting my blog, this will conclude the series on the Volga peoples. The Tatars and Bashkir also live in this area, but their costumes are derived from central Asia, as they arrived in the region much later, although they undoubtedly mixed with the indigenous people who lived there previously.

I am always open to suggestions as far as subjects to research, or commissions to make or embroider folk costume pieces or other items.

Take these traditions and create from them, do not let them be forgotten.

Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals.

Roman K.
:Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
V. Nikolaev et al 'Chuvash Tume Avallakhran Payanlakha' [The Chuvash Costume from Ancient to Modern Times] Cheboksary, 2002
Evgenia Zhacheva, 'Chuvash Terri' [Chuvash Embroidery], Cheboksary, 2006
E. Medzhitova et al. 'Chuvash Khalakh Iskusstva' [Chuvash Folk Art], Cheboksary, 1981
Max Tilke, 'East European Costumes' London, 1926
N. Kalashnikova et al,  'National Costumes of the Soviet Peoples' Moscow, 1990
T. Razina et al, 'Folk Art in the Soviet Union',  Leningrad, 1990
L. Molotova et al, 'Folk Art of the Russian Federation', Leningrad, 1981

Kabachi, the Pride of Udmurtia

Hello All, As i mentioned in my last post about North Udmurt costumes, i am dedicating this posting to the kabachi. The kabachi is the single most distinctive piece of Udmurt costume [apart from the Aishon]. I will return to the Aishon at a later date. The kabachi is a rectangular piece of cloth tied around the neck that covers the front of the chemise, and over which the kaftan is worn, so that the embroidery is displayed on the chest. See my previous posting on North Udmurt Costume for more details. Here are a couple of drawings of women wearing the kabachi. These drawings are from the book 'Udmurtskiy Narodnyj Kostium' by L. Molchanova.

You can clearly see the kabachi worn under the kaftan. I put one photo of a kabachi in my previous post.
The embroidery is usually of one or both of two kinds, the first is a design executed in Holbein or outline stitch in black, after which areas are filled in with slant stitch, usually in red. The other is embroidery executed in darning, brick or counted satin stitch,  mostly in red or black. Or both kinds may be combined in the same piece. Here is an example of the first kind.
Notice the motif of the 8 pointed star. This is a very widespread motif, being found in folk embroideries of Norway and Palestine and many places in between. I myself grew up thinking it was a specifically Ukrainian motif.
Here is a photograph of an unfinished piece, with the outline stitch in place, but the filling not yet done.

You will notice the diamond shaped intrusion of a different design and stitch on the bottom of the composition. This seems to be very common, here is another example. I do not know if there is any significance to this; if someone out there is more familiar with Udmurt Embroidery, please feel free to inform me.

The repetitive chevrons on this piece remind me of the dresses embroidered in Palestine.
There are some kabachi that do not follow this type of composition, like this one.

this is a more unusual one. By the way, some of my sources insist on translating the name of this garment as 'chemisette'. When doing research in texts that are translated into English, one has to be very careful about taking translations literally. Do not assume that what they mean is the same as how you understand the word.
The shoes shown in the illustrations at top are woven out of birchbark, and are called Lapty in Russian, Lychaky in Ukrainian, and Koot in Udmurt. these are often translated as 'sandals' as are similar shoes resembling moccasins made of leather by peasants all over Europe. But the word 'sandal' conjures up a very wrong image. So be careful. Here is one executed completely in Darning stitch. Notice that this technique
does not include outlining the design.


There is a large admixture of black in this one, as also in the following one.


Notice that this one also has a horizontal design at the bottom, as do a couple of the previous ones.
I will finish with one last example.

I guess this was a lazy posting, but there is not much to say about these except to look at them and be inspired to go out and make one's own composition. I could not possibly get across the amazing artistry of folk embroidery except by showing images.
As always, thank you for reading, i hope you are inspired to go out and make something,
not from a 'project' where someone gives you step-by-step instructions on how to make something which they have already made. But to take old ideas and techniques and the universal human trait of creativity,
and make a new contribution.  None of these embroiderers whose work i have shown today copied any of the others' design exactly.
I am always open to suggestions as to subjects to write about. If, for example one of you would like to find out the folk costume or embroidery style of a precise region, please let me know. If it is within Europe or the former Soviet Union, i have a good chance of being able to answer.

Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals. I also choreograph and teach folk dance.

Roman K.

Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

S. Lebedeva 'Udmurt Kalyk Dyskut' ; 'Udmurt Folk Costume Izhevsk, 2008

L. Molchanova 'Udmurtskyj Narodnyj Kostium' Izhevsk, no year

S. Lebedeva 'Udmurt Kalyk Puzhyiaton' ; 'Udmurt Folk Embroidery' Izhevsk, 2009

Max Tilke, 'East European Costumes' London, 1926

K. Klimov, 'Folk Arts and Crafts in Udmurtia, Izhevsk, 1988

T. Kriukova, 'Udmurt Kalyklen Kiuzh Ustolykez' [Udmurt Decorative Applied Folk Art] Izhevsk, 1973

K. Kulikov, 'Vozrozhdennaia Drevnost' [Rebirth of the Ancient, the Folk Decorative Applied Art of Udmurtia] Izhevsk, 2005