Features of a particular culture give rise to national symbols. They are the property of the people and are sacredly saved, transmitted from generation to generation. Belarusians have such symbols. One of them is a national costume. And today he can be seen at various events. Girls in Belarusian national costumes will certainly attend official ceremonies on a national scale. Folk groups and some pop singers perform in these clothes.
Thus, the Belarusian national costume (see photo below) is the most distinctive and valuable component of the cultural heritage of the people.
Key Features
As a result of the research, it was found that in Belarus there are about thirty varieties of folk costumes. These clothes can be seen in some villages of the country. Belarusian national costumes are still kept in grandmother's chests as a family heirloom. Linen aprons and shirts, sleeveless jackets, hats and skirts - all this surprises us with their beauty, artistic measure, harmony and expediency.
Belarusian national costumes have their own characteristics. They are distinguished by compositional completeness and masterly processing of all details, as well as a combination of practicality with decorativeness.
The artistic image that the Belarusian national costume creates is complicated by ornamental decorations. These are applications and lace, patterned weaving and embroidery, which are located on the sleeves, collar, apron and headgear.
Fabrics
In former times, Belarusian national costumes were sewn from cloths woven from wool and linen, as well as from nettles and hemp. Due to this diversity of the starting material, both coarser and finest fabrics were obtained (for shirts). Often nobles made suits of overseas material. He was brought from the West and East. The peasants wove the canvas themselves. They stained it with the help of buds and tree bark, the roots of herbs and plants, berries and wildflowers.
The Belarusian national costume has an extraordinary stability of traditions. This is one of its most important distinguishing characteristics. Over the centuries, such clothing has maintained an unchanged cut of individual objects, its shape and some attributes passed down from generation to generation since pagan times. For hundreds of years, the fabric manufacturing technology has remained unchanged.
Men's suit
The national clothing of a strong half of humanity included:
- shirt with embroidery on the bottom and collar;
- trousers;
- vest;
- Legs (waist clothing).
The Belarusian men's national costume is not particularly difficult in its cut. A linen shirt was sewn in the form of a tunic with a low stand-up collar and long sleeves. There were no pockets in it. Instead, there was a small leather handbag that was worn over the shoulder. The shirt, which was always worn out, was belted by a colored belt.
Another detail of the national men's costume of Belarusians is the portki. For the poorer people they were sewn from flax. Rich men put on one more pants - silk.
An important detail of the Belarusian national costume is a braverka. This is a single-breasted jacket for men, sewn from homespun cloth. On the front there are two patch pockets and the same number of welt pockets. The back is modeled with an undercut yoke and decorated with a strap.
Side and collar are turn-down. The straight sleeve below is often trimmed with a button patch. In the late 19th - early 20th centuries. such a jacket was worn only by small gentry and wealthy peasants.
A part of the Belarusian national costume was a summer men's sleeveless jacket. She was called kamizelka (from the word "camisole"). They sewed such a sleeveless jacket from homespun cloth.
In winter, Belarusians wore sheepskin casings. Wealthy people lined them with expensive fabric and decorated them with appliqués and embroidery. The richest preferred to wear fur coats. There was also outerwear sewn from cloth. They called it differently: “kireya” or “smelling”, “epancha” or “burka”.
Hats for men
This detail of national clothes was very diverse. In summer, Belarusians wore a straw fleece, and in winter - an ablavukha fur hat. In the offseason, a tinker made of felted wool saved from the cold. Often sewn hats from domestic sheepskin.
Belarusian men often wore an ablavukha in winter weather. This cap with earflaps was sewn not only from sheepskin, but from rabbit, as well as fox fur. There was a dark cloth on top of the ablavukh. From below, four “ears” were sewn to such a headdress. Two of them (front and back) were tied at the crown, and the side ones were tied under the chin. From the second half of the 19th century among Belarusians the cap was spread. That was the name of the headdress, which has a varnished visor.
Women costume
Unlike men's, these clothes were very diverse. The Belarusian national women's costume could consist of different items. There are four main sets of such clothes. Among them:
- with an apron and a skirt;
- with an apron, skirt and garset (sleeveless);
- with a skirt that is sewn with a bodice-corset;
- with an apron, sleeveless jacket and pane.
Belarusian national costumes, which include the first two sets, are known throughout the country. The rest were worn only in the territories of the northeastern and eastern regions.
Women's Belarusian national costume (photos are presented in the article) provided for wearing a poneva over a shirt. This detail consisted of three cloth pieces sewn together. From above, they gathered together with a cord, which was pulled together under the stomach or at the waist. Poneva could be swing (open side or front), as well as closed. The colors of this part of the costume could be different. Often I didn’t decorate the ornament.
In the women's national costume, a shirt with a yoke, with straight inserts on the shoulders or a tunic-shaped one could be present. But here it could not do without embroideries. They certainly adorned the sleeves.
Waist clothing was also very diverse. These were skirts of various styles - summer, sayan, andarak or palatnik. Apron and paneling also belonged to waist clothing.
Skirts in the women's national costume of Belarus were sewn, as a rule, from red and blue-green material, which was decorated with a gray-white cell or transverse and longitudinal stripes. Lace was always sewn on aprons. They were decorated with an embroidered pattern and folds. Sleeveless or garset had appliqués and lace. They attracted attention with decorative stripes and embroidery. Garset was part of the festive attire. It was made of brocade, velvet or chintz of various colors. Sleeveless jackets had either a straight cut to the waist, or were elongated, having wedges.
In cold winters, women wore red or white casing. Sometimes they were warmed and wool scrolls. However, the sheepskin casing enjoyed the greatest popularity among Belarusians. He had a straight fit and a large turn-down collar. The bottom of the sleeves and the hem were sheathed with a strip of sheepskin, applying it so that the wool was outside.
Headwear for women
This detail of the national costume had an important ritual and social significance. The headdress easily determined the woman's age, her family and financial situation. It was used in many rituals and rites. For example, at a bride’s wedding, her girl’s headdress was solemnly changed to female.
Unmarried Belarusians wore multi-colored narrow ribbons and wreaths. Women had to hide their hair under a scarf or curl. In wealthy families, ladies wore hats made of thin expensive linen, decorated with lace, as well as embroidery from silver and gold threads. The poorer women had to be content with scarves from cheap fabrics with simple embroidery. However, the variety of ornamentation remained equally rich.
Clothing of urban residents
Fashion among the peasant milieu was conservative enough. Here Belarusians adhered to grandfathering customs, which helped preserve national traditions for many centuries.
As for the costumes of the townspeople, they had a wide variety of styles and were sewn from various materials. These were products from linen and wool, as well as from imported fabrics.
In winter, Belarusians who lived in the city wore fur coats, short fur coats or in shoulder cloaks made of bear, goat or sheep’s fur. The more affluent sections of society allowed themselves outer clothing from beavers, wolves and fox skins.
Ladies preferred to wear long dresses of European cut, having a fitted style and narrow sleeves. Popular women's jewelry was glass bracelets and rings. Often, urban women wore colts. These are hollow articles in the shape of a star or a circle, inside of which was a piece of cloth dipped in some kind of aromatic oil.
National costume design
The clothes of the Belarusians were usually white. For decoration, it was embroidered with an ornamental red pattern, creating a single image composition. Initially, all the drawings were only geometric.
Then plant elements were included in them. The ornament was obligatory present on the collar, sleeves, apron and headgear. Costumes were made using embroidery, lace and appliqués.
Shirt
It’s not difficult for many women to sew a Belarusian national costume with their own hands. We begin the description of this process with a shirt. To sew this element of the suit, the back and front panels of the shirt must be connected using rectangular inserts - polik. In this case, a rectangular neck should form in the center. Then it is collected in small folds and pulled together so that the cutout covers the neck. Then, a rectangular stand-up collar is sewn into the neck. The section of the sinus, which is formed in front, is covered by a shirt-front. At the next stage, sleeves are sewn into the armholes of shirts. In the upper part they are decorated with a decorative ribbed seam-roller. An assembly is made at the bottom of the sleeves, and cuffs are sewn to them.
Next, the shirt is decorated with embroidery. It should be present on the cuffs and on the upper part of the sleeve, on the mats, shirt front and collar.
Apron
This detail of the Belarusian national costume is sewn from one shelf. The apron is decorated with embroidery consisting of three horizontal stripes, the width of which increases to the bottom. At the top, the apron is folded into a small fold and has an attached belt. Crocheted lace adorns the bottom edge of this costume item .
Skirt
When cutting this waist clothing, two panels are used. They are interconnected, collected at the top in a shallow fold and a belt is sewn. For the skirt, you can take linen or wool fabric in red, blue or green. In this case, the canvas may be plain, checkered or striped.
Brightly embroidered shirt, apron and skirt are the national Belarusian costume for the girl. For the boy, it will consist of a braid with geometric ornaments along the edge of the sleeve, collar and strap, brown trousers sewn from fabric in a small strip, and also a belt in the form of a twisted cord.