Доклад на тему: "Как раньше одевались на Руси" к учебнику Spotlight ,8 класс

      A report on the topic: How they used to dress in Russia”

Our ancestors lived in a mystical world full of peculiar beliefs and traditions. A particularly vivid reflection of the people's ideas about the structure of the world and moral principles is the traditional costume that accompanies a person at all stages of his life.

Modern science knows so much about ancient Russia and at the same time so little: it is still not known for certain where and how the ancestors of the Slavs, who later formed the Russian state, came from, many details of their traditions and beliefs. And yet, archaeological finds give us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the life of our distant ancestors.

Now, speaking of the national Russian outfit, most people imagine a woman in a sundress with a cocoanut or a man in a blouse with a balalaika. Of course, such an opinion also has the right to life, but the reality is much broader and deeper, because the history and features of traditional costumes are closely interrelated with the people's idea of the world order, moral norms and religious views, which were closely intertwined in the minds of our forefathers.

    Features of the Russian national costume

Due to a certain geographical location and beliefs of the inhabitants of ancient Russia, the clothes they were accustomed to had a number of special recognizable characteristics:

• Layering, which is logical in our climatic conditions. Both men's and women's outfits consisted of several elements that were worn one on top of the other and could be combined with each other depending on the season;

• Loose fit of things;

• Active use of amulets and other "protective" elements in the decoration of clothing;

• The use of natural materials and dyes, folk love for the color red ("red means beautiful");

• The presence of mandatory elements – a belt and a headdress, which vary depending on the status of the person.

These are common characteristics for most of the territories that are now considered to belong to ancient Russia. However, each of the areas had its own characteristics.

Women's traditional attire

Special attention was paid to the social status of a woman when choosing clothes. So the outfit of a girl (who has not yet "dropped the first blood"), a girl (unmarried) and a woman had significant differences, with the exception of a shirt, which traditionally had a length up to the feet and was covered with special elements on top. The children's set of things, most often, was a simplified copy of an adult, but the option for an unmarried and married lady could completely differ from each other.

Girls, most often, wore a cufflink, a rectangular piece of fabric that folds in half, with a hole for the head. Husbands' wives wore a skirt wrapped around the body, tied with a drawstring.

to strangers, and the husband's wife – two braids, usually laid on her head like a crown. Traditionally, a married woman covered her head with a shawl or other headdress (shawl, shawl, kika, ubrus). Interestingly, the ribbon woven into the girl's braid symbolized the perfect choice of the groom and signaled the imminent.

Winter women's clothing was complemented by warmer elements, depending on the region, it could be fur coats (a festive version of brocade), ploughshares (a long element of a cloth outfit), soulguards (a universal piece of clothing, regardless of the social status of the owner) and, of course, fur coats. Women also warmed themselves in the cold season by wearing wool stockings.

The basis of women's clothing was also a chemise, only long, up to the feet. The upper shirt was richly decorated. In addition to jewelry, the amount of material spent on the product could indicate wealth. Hence the fashion for long sleeves.

Foreigners at the end of the XVII century wrote that Russian women "wear shirts woven with gold on all sides, their sleeves, folded with amazing art, often exceed 8 or 10 cubits in length; sleeve assemblies, continuing in interlocked folds to the end of the arm, are decorated with elegant and expensive wrists."

 Poneva, a kind of skirt made of several pieces of fabric, was used as outerwear. Poneva is the oldest version of outerwear, but it reached the XIX century only in the southern provinces, in the north it was early (from the XIV century) and actively replaced by a sundress.

 Women's festive costume: shirt, poneva, curtain apron. Voronezh province, Biryuchinsky district. The end of the XIX — beginning. XX century

A sundress or a fur coat (both terms, according to researchers, of Oriental origin) represented first men's, and then only women's clothing in the form of a one–piece dress (with sleeves or more often without sleeves) or a high skirt with straps. The sundress could be overhead (worn over the head) or hinged (buttoned in front).

 It is assumed that the sundress had an "urban" origin and was only gradually borrowed from rural areas. The sundress was decorated with braid, lace, precious buttons and (relatively rarely) embroidery. Sundresses were often wrapped in fur, or even made with fur, so distinguishing with a fur coat turns out to be quite problematic.

Today it is considered that a sundress is a lighter, fur–free garment. In any case, a chemise and a sundress were usually not enough. Women, especially the noble ones, had to wear more clothes, regardless of the weather conditions.

 The most common women's outerwear was a summer jacket – a loose, not too long-brimmed, wide-sleeved top dress. The sleeves of the summer jacket were decorated with additional special patches made of other material. "Letnik kamchat worm-eaten velvet with gold is green," is how it is described in the source.

A sundress, poneva or skirt could be complemented with a shower jacket or a body jacket. The prototype of the famous Soviet padded jacket was worn over a sundress and was similar in cut, but shorter. The sleeves were narrow, and sometimes they were missing altogether.The jacket was hinged, with many buttons, often assembled from behind in many assemblies, covering the waist with a magnificent ring. Unlike the late quilted jacket, the padded jacket was considered rich, elegant clothes, sewn from silk and other expensive fabrics and even received mention by Ivan the Terrible as a vain thing.

        Men's suit

The basis of men's attire was also a shirt, but of a shorter length – about to the knees - in combination with ports – long trousers that were tied with a trigger. Ordinary people at any time of the year were content with canvas shirts (often wearing one over the other), the nobility also used a special "upper" shirt, which had a cut extending to the bottom.

 The so–called "zipun" was put on over the shirt – a conventionally homemade garment, and only then - a well-known caftan.

In winter, men of all classes used a retinue to protect themselves from frost – this is outerwear, insulated depending on geographical location - it was typical for the central part of Russia to "tuck" a retinue with fur. Interestingly, the famous "kalita", i.e. purse, was usually worn by men over their clothes, tying it to the retinue.

Shirts at the collar, cuffs and hem were provided with embroidery, the original meaning of which was to protect against the penetration of evil spirits. The same meaning was given to a narrow belt, with which the shirt was intercepted at the waist. With the spread of Christianity, pagan symbolism was gradually discarded, and embroidery turned into an element of decoration. Also, the edges of clothing and inserts were often made of another, brighter and more expensive material.

 In general, the evolution of the costume followed the path of increasing the number of clothes. By the 13th century, koshuli upper shirts, tops or finials were already known. At the same time, the shirt turned into the actual underwear. Shirts, especially the upper ones, were decorated depending on the wealth of the owner. Pearls and gold embroidery were mainly used.

 Representatives of the military class also wore chain mail or, more economically, a kuyak (a leather cape with metal stripes). A stereotypical type of Russian shirt is considered to be a kosovorotka. However, a tunic–like shirt – a chemise, a soroca, a shirt - did not always have an oblique collar. Direct was also widespread. Trousers or ports were narrow, tucked into shoes, and held on a shoelace.

Footwear

Most of our ancestors wore bast shoes, which they themselves wove from birch bark, pre-wrapping their feet with onuchas, or boots. The material for boots was usually morocco or leather (which is why they were quite expensive to produce), so not every man or woman could afford such a luxury. Boots, as a certain luxury item, were often richly decorated.

Despite its low wear resistance (in summer, bast shoes rarely lasted more than a week), these shoes had a number of advantages compared to wooden shoes worn by commoners in a number of European countries.

So, bast shoes had a very low cost, were convenient and easy to manufacture. On the other hand, the need for a huge amount of bast for the manufacture of these shoes caused serious damage to forestry. Bast shoes continued to be actively used by peasants up to the 30s of the XX century.

Leather pistons were similar to bast shoes in shape and method of wearing. They were also dressed over onuches (footcloths) and fastened at the ankles with straps. Chobots, chereviki and boots were more common in cities. Chobots and chereviki were short, without tops, could have an incision in the front or gathered around the leg on a cord.

Embroidery and amulets

The inhabitants of ancient Russia paid special attention to protection from unwanted influence. Women embroidered patterns on clothes with their own hands, turning to the gods with certain requests, and the type, shape and color of the embroidery carried a special sacred meaning.

Traditionally, embroidery was placed on the edges of clothing (along the line of the collar, sleeves, hem) to protect against the forces of evil. Usually, red threads were used in children's clothes, while for adults they could vary: so women could add black to red to protect against infertility, blue and green to men's attire, as a talisman against death. In addition, special attention was paid to the "generic colors" that were present in the clothes of representatives of the same family.

Our distant ancestors paid special attention to the belt – this element of clothing was considered mandatory, had a deep meaning, and moreover, to appear in public "unbuttoned" was the deepest dishonor (hence, by the way, the expression "unbuttoned" - to become licentious). The belt served as protection from the "evil" force, did not allow it to approach the human body, and also had healing and "fruitful" properties - no wonder in the traditional wedding ceremony, the groom and the bride were tied with a sash to consolidate the marriage.

Amulets were also important elements for preserving health, vitality and attracting the grace of the gods of the Slavic pantheon. Depending on the area, they could be different, representatives of both sexes wore them on the belt and neck, women also used temporal rings. Usually, a woman had more amulets than a man, hence the love of modern representatives of the fair sex for jewelry.

Traditionally, women's amulets helped in procreation and its preservation, and men's were responsible for luck in hunting and battles. In pre-Christian times, amulets were most often made by the "bolshukha" - the eldest woman of the family, after which the most powerful amulets were considered to be made by the hands of his wife.

As follows from the above, our distant ancestors lived in a mystical world full of peculiar beliefs, ideas, threats and moral principles. It is not surprising that clothes, which are now just a utilitarian object for us or, at most, a means of self–expression, had a much more serious meaning for them, changing with a person - from birth to death. Moreover, by looking at the outfit, it was possible to get an idea of the geographical place of residence, life path and status of a particular person. And even now, hundreds of years later, based on the elements of the costume of our predecessors, it is possible to draw conclusions and better understand the realities of that time.

Hats

In ancient times, headdresses were extremely important. Since the head was closest to heaven, it was believed that it should be decorated according to its status.

In ancient Russian images, we can often see men with their heads uncovered. However, the researchers prove that this was how the lower social position of a person was depicted. In reality, it was humiliating to go without a hat.

 The idea of the magical power of hair gave rise to the custom of hiding a married woman's hair from prying eyes. To be bare-haired was a disgrace. The design of the female headdress was due to this circumstance.

First, a cowberry or a cowl was put on, which was a light soft cap made of colored cloth. A handkerchief of the same color was tied on the back of the head with a bandanna. Over everything they put on a headdress – a towel-covered, richly embroidered headdress.

 Instead of an ubrus, a kika (or kichka, magpie, kokoshnik) could be dressed – a symbol of marriage. The kika had a soft crown surrounded by a rigid, upward-expanding valance. Sometimes a handkerchief was put on over kiki, so that the forehead was visible.

 Thus, a married woman was forced to wear a complicated, closed headdress all her life. Its size, style and availability of jewelry depended on fashion and wealth. He could be festive or casual, very tall or with horns. And on top of all this splendor, cloth, cloth or fur hats and hats could also be mounted.

The men's headdress along with the hairstyle changed a lot in the XIV century. If long hair was previously in fashion, now they began to cut it short, "in parenthesis" or "under the pot". The most popular headdress was a cap in the manner of an oriental skullcap, the so-called "tafya" or "skufya".

A cap with lapels or fur trim could be worn instead of or over the taffia. Buttons, tassels, pearls, stones or other jewelry were sewn on the lapels.

 Instead of, and sometimes on top of (!) a taffeta and a cap, men could also wear a fur hat. The boyar's gorlatny hats were especially famous – tall, bulky, with an expanding top and a flat crown, made of rare animal fur.

The most famous princely hat is the so-called "Monomakh's hat", which has absorbed the eastern, local and Christian traditions of "cap building". This is how one of the most important regalia of the Moscow Grand Duke appeared, which became a model for later royal headdresses.