The Tajik national costume is very comfortable and beautiful. It is for this reason that it remains in demand and popular in our time, when many abandon national traditions, preferring to dress in clothes that are universal for the whole world. In this article we will talk about the main features of such a costume in Tajikistan, about the possibilities to combine ethnic style with European.
Key Features
The Tajik national costume is about the same in style throughout the country, but at the same time there are unique features in almost every district. The main differences are in color, embroidery, the presence of a variety of decorations. Of course, today, young people and the urban population are more and more inclined towards universal European clothes, but due to their versatility, the Tajik national costume continues to be popular, primarily among more conservative rural residents.
It is worth emphasizing that both women's and men's clothes of Tajiks are very similar in their cut. Mostly it is free, well-hiding figure and tunic-like. The fact is that the majority of the inhabitants of this people are adherents of Islam, and in this religion the excessive tightness of clothing over the body is not welcome.
Tajik national costume is especially bright. Clothing plays an important role, it is a reflection of the well-being of the person who wears it. It is believed that the more luxurious the outfit, the more all kinds of expensive and rich details in it, the richer its owner.
Fabrics
Separately, it is worth mentioning about the tissues that are used. Tajiks traditionally live in very hot climates, which are not easy to tolerate. It is for this reason that Tajik suits, the photos of which are in this article, use silk or cotton fabrics.
There are a number of national Tajik materials. To them it is necessary to carry alcohol. This is a special iridescent striped fabric that can be of almost any color. Alocha consists of silk and cotton.
There is also snipe fabric - this is semi-silk fabric, which, as a rule, is patterned or striped. And finally, brocade - silk fabric with silver and gold threads.
An important point: since the traditional Tajik national costume (the photo is presented in this material) is multi-layered, the bottom layer of clothing is most often sewn from cheap fabric in order to save money. But already on the top layer they let in more expensive matter to emphasize their status, even if it is not too high.
Brocade
We will tell you more about the most popular and famous Tajik fabric - brocade. It was she who began to be widely used outside this country; it has been used in many countries of the world for several centuries.
The main feature of brocade is that it is a heavy fabric made on the basis of silk, with a special pattern. This pattern is made of metal threads with silver, gold or alloys of other metals. Usually this metal thread is wound onto silk, linen or cotton ducks. Of the ancient world-famous designers who worked with brocade, one can recall Anna-Maria Gartwaite, whose active work fell on the XVIII-XIX centuries.
Brocade in Europe and many other countries was used for sewing court clothes of nobles, as well as church vestments. For the latter purposes, this fabric is widely used until now.
Men's clothing Tajiks
The photo of male and female Tajik national costumes clearly shows what their similarity and difference are. But first things first. The basis of the men's suit among the representatives of this nation is a cotton shirt, which is called "kurt". They rely on harem pants, a bathrobe and a wide belt.
A shirt for a Tajik man’s national costume, the photo of which you will find in this article, is sewn from a large and one-piece piece of fabric. It should be as wide as possible and not restrict movements. It is customary to wear it outstretched with a long and narrow strip of fabric, some for this purpose use a special scarf, which is folded in a special way diagonally. It is interesting that such a scarf immediately performs several functions, at the same time being a belt that supports the harem pants, preventing them from falling, and also serves as a kind of pocket that is always at hand for a Tajik man.
It is noteworthy that just by the belt you can often determine the status of a person, how wealthy he is. For example, young and poor guys wear belts twisted from several scarves with standard embroidery belbog or myenband, which is located on the edges. But the rich and successful men who can afford it put on beautiful and wide velvet belts that embroider with gold thread. They are called kamarband.
Trousers
A mandatory detail of the Tajik men's national costume (the photo only confirms this) is bloomers. Their Tajiks are called Ishton or Ezor.
They are sewn as wide as possible, but at the same time they should taper to the bottom.
Bathrobe
Tajik men put on a dressing gown over their shirts (called a chapan). It has a special loose and swinging cut, most often striped. Tajiks, who traditionally lived in the mountains, preferred to wear chapans made of unpainted wool, on which an ornament was embroidered in the gate area.
It is important that the bathrobe is quilted. In the Tajik men's national costume, this is a winter version of clothing. In our time, classic chapans have long become real museum exhibits that can be found only in private collections or large state collections of national heritage.
They were replaced by modern chapans, which are sewn from velvet. It is interesting that the main advantage of a classic chapan, which they try to preserve by all means today, is that it retains heat in the cold winter, and when it is hot in the summer, it keeps a refreshing cool.
It was customary for Tajiks to give such dressing gowns for the holidays, some important events in their life. For example, for a birthday, a wedding, and it happened that they even presented for a funeral.
There was a tradition according to which the bride’s brother did not allow her sister to go to her husband’s house until the groom’s relatives gave him a chapan.
Similar traditions have been preserved in many modern Tajik families. For example, even in the XXI century, on the first day of the wedding, young people go out to guests in chapanas, and not in modern suits. At the same time, almost no one wears these gowns today, of course, today. Modern Tajik men are increasingly trying to combine the traditional clothing of their people with European. For example, they combine in their suit a jacket with harem pants or classic trousers with a chapan.
Women costume
The traditional national women's costume includes long shirt dresses, which are called kurts, as well as two-layer harem pants of the maximum free cut. Shirts should be sewn in this way: their sleeves expand to the bottom, while embellishing them. They are called in this case in different ways, depending on the type of collar.
In ancient times, it was often customary to sew gussets in such shirts (so-called wedges or inserts) of a different color. It was believed that this has a magical meaning. There was even a legend that such an outfit made a woman prolific, which was extremely appreciated in large Tajik families.
Particular attention was paid to the shape of the neckline of the female collar. She could be used to determine whether a girl is married or free. Young girls had dresses with a horizontal neckline and ties at the ends of the cut. But as soon as a woman got married, she always began to wear a dress with a vertical neckline, which was decorated with embroidered braid.
Together, the girls' underwear had spacious white dresses with a standing collar. Interestingly, the cutout at the upper dress was positioned so as to demonstrate embroidery on the collar of the lower dress. But no more than this, no other elements of the lower dress should have been seen.
Outerwear for women
The outer clothing in the Tajik women's national costume is a quilted robe, which is also called tsoma. It is of the same tunic-like cut, as was customary for men. An alternative was the Munisak, which was somewhat different in cut from tsoma. For example, he did not have a sewing collar, and under the sleeves there were always assemblies.
Starting from the 19th century, older women began to wear munisaki without braid and lining, and only hem them with a narrow strip of fabric that is different in color.
Burqa
Of great importance in the Tajik women’s national costume, the photo of which you will find in this article, has a burqa or, as she was called in these places, faranjas. Mostly Tajik women wore it when they came to a big city, where there were many unfamiliar and strangers.
In a Tajik suit for girls, the burqa symbolized her chastity, purity, purity, loyalty and modesty. Nowadays, she has become a mandatory attribute of the bride’s outfit. Moreover, it is believed that the burqa is able to protect a pregnant woman from the dark forces. In the end, it is this element of the costume that allows a woman to feed a child in public, which is very important in the first months of a baby’s life.
Hats
A classic headdress for men is a skullcap. When it gets too cold, warm fur hats replace it, and they often wrap their heads with woolen scarves. Popular in our time is turban. It is customary to wear it over a skullcap or hat.
For a woman, the most common national dress remains a special headdress, which consists of three components. This turban, hat and scarf, which is called the lacak. Sometimes these elements can be used independently and separately from one another.
At a wedding, it is customary to decorate the bride’s head with an embroidered scarf that covers her chest, face and neck. Nowadays, you can increasingly meet a woman in a skullcap (tozi), in the old days this was not accepted.
Footwear
For men and women who live in cities, soft boots called maxi are considered traditional. They are usually worn with leather galoshes. Also popular were lightweight boots with a hard back and soft toe called ichigi. They were made of goat skin, they were distinguished by their durability.
In the village, it was customary to wear high-heeled boots, as well as wooden shoes with three legs, in addition to light shoes. They were called Kafshi Chubin.
Jewelry
It is noteworthy that Tajiks very successfully combine national jewelry with modern ones. Women often wear pendants, rings, necklaces and earrings. Jewelry can be found not only on the ears and neck, but also on the headgear. There are brooches, pendants and beads.
Traditional jewelry hammered and forged. They come in silver, differing in particular massiveness. Usually the fair sex at the same time wear at least three to four jewelry.
Jewelry is also worn by men. In some regions, they decided to wear beads with pendants, and in others, earrings and headbands indicated that they belonged to a particular ethnic group. But that was before, now only women wear jewelry.
Colors
Of great importance are the colors in the Tajik national costume. For example, the groom went to the wedding in a body shirt, trousers. The collar at the shirt should have been vertical, a robe was worn on top, and two embroidered shawls on top.
So, one shawl was necessarily colored and silk, and the second - white and cotton. A skullcap with a square top was put on her head, and boots made of necessarily yellow chrome on her legs.
The value of ornaments
An important role is played by ornaments in national Tajik clothing. For example, a guldast ornament is considered traditional, which literally means "a bouquet of flowers." Moreover, each pattern and color has its own meaning. So, red is a symbol of the sun, and green is nature.
The ornament depicted in the panel "Markhamat" was especially common in the north of the country. The triangles embroidered on it meant a symbolic image of the mountains and were a kind of amulets, and the circle meant the sun. Traditionally, national Tajik jewelry - forged and hammered, made of silver, and are distinguished by some massiveness. It is considered normal to wear 3-4 jewelry at the same time, or even more!