The revival of interest in national traditions, which can be observed recently, has attracted attention to the clothes of people of past centuries, especially since many details have long disappeared from everyday life. For example, Poneva is a women's skirt, which was an integral part of the Slavic women costume, and now they have almost forgotten about it.
What is ponev
The correct sound of this word is “ponyova”, and in some places they said “ponyava”. Its origin is now forgotten. But most historians and linguists believe that poneva is a cloth, a piece of cloth, a veil, and once it was called not clothes, but matter. Although there is another interpretation that raises the name "Ponev" to the word "bride", more precisely, "bear the bore." Perhaps this point of view is correct, since this oar skirt was worn by married women or girls enrolled. It was worn over the bottom of the shirt and had a length of up to the ankles, and sometimes to the calves, to demonstrate embroidery on the lower shirt.
A bit of history
The hinged skirt, assembled on a belt, has a very ancient origin. Once in the distant past, the first clothing was the skin of an animal, and then - a piece of cloth wrapped around the hips.
In the old days, among the Slavic peoples, Poneva was an integral attribute of women's clothing and a kind of symbol of the difficult fate of a husband's wife. The mother gave the first reluctance, and often it was a special rite, a kind of initiation, symbolizing the girl's entry into adulthood. In some areas, the ritual of putting on this skirt was performed by the girlfriends of the girl, and sometimes the brother.
But later, somewhere around the century since the XVth century, Poneva began to be considered exclusively peasant clothing, and women of low origin and villagers began to be scornfully called the word “nurse” in the circles of the nobility and especially the merchants.
And in the 19th century, donning of poneva even in the villages finally became symbolic. During the matchmaking, or immediately after it, the girls were still wearing this skirt, but it was rarely worn in everyday life.
Simplicity and convenience
What did the poneva look like? The photo shows well that it was a simple rectangular piece of fabric. He wrapped around his hips and tied with a lace - a dubber (or dubber) in front or side. The ends of the skirt could be tucked, for example, while working in the field or in order to boast of rich embroidery on the shirt. This method of wearing a ponev was called a “bag”.
Russian Ponev is simple and functional. On the one hand, for its manufacture does not require special skills and talents. On the other hand, these are very comfortable clothes. A denim skirt was sewn, most often woolen. Although sometimes a woolen thread was used only for ducks, hemp or linen were used as the basis. Such clothes were warm, which is important in a cold climate. But the simple simplicity of the cut was bathed in rich decor, which served not only as decoration, but also had complex symbolic meaning.
Signs and Symbols
In the past, people's lives were filled with various symbols. Sacred signs important to humans were applied to utensils, cut out on the dunes of houses, and embroidered on rushnyks. By jewelry, charms and amulets, one could understand the social status of a person, his affiliation with the family, marital status and even age.
The traditional costume is no less symbolic. Poneva is an important part of women's clothing, it was decorated with symbols of life and fertility, solar signs and floral ornaments.
Material for ponev necessarily had a pattern - a cage of different colors. The intersection of vertical and horizontal stripes, forming squares or rhombuses, is the oldest agricultural symbol of fertility, a sign of a sown field. It can most often be seen in jewelry and embroidery of women's clothing.
Poneva was richly decorated with braid. She was sewn along the hem and sidewalls sometimes in several rows. It embroidered floral ornaments and solar signs in the form of crosses, rotts and birds. Sometimes the braid was made of branded fabric, that is, woven with patterns. She was a source of pride, because everything was done with her own hands.
Older women paired multi-colored braid from their ponies, leaving one narrow strip.
Pony species
Ponev's skirt had four varieties, depending on the nature of the cut.
- Three-hollow, consisting of three non-sewn panels, which were fastened with a belt-archer. According to costume historians, such a skirt was originally when the device of the loom did not allow to weave a wide fabric.
- Swing, in the people they called "raznopolka". In this case, three pieces of fabric were sewn into one rectangular fabric. These ponevs were worn with a cut on the side or in front.
- Deaf - three pieces of matter were sewn together “deafly”, that is, the ponev was turned into an ordinary skirt.
- Deaf with a flash. Proshva is the fourth piece of fabric, usually from a different material and a different color. It was usually inserted into the front of the poneva, made shorter and decorated with braid or lace. It turned out something like an apron. Sometimes the stitch was covered with embroidery.
Color and its meaning
Poneva is not a simple skirt. By the color of the material and the cell, one could understand the origin of the woman. So, in the Tula, Tambov and Ryazan provinces, where the Vyatichi tribe lived in antiquity, ponevs were preferred in dark blue, and to the north of Ryazan - black. The stripes forming the cells were woven colored or white. But in the area of the city of Kasimov red ponevs prevailed in a blue cage. Ponevs wore the same color in the Oryol, Smolensk and Voronezh regions.
The color of the stripes forming the cells could be different, but there were always white, black, and red stripes — three basic colors respected by the Slavs.
Poneva do it yourself
In the past, every woman knew how to sew stitching; she did not need a pattern for this. Indeed, what can be the pattern of an ordinary rectangular, albeit composite, cloth? The only, and even that little trick is to insert a gashnik belt in the upper part of the skirt. It turned out a kind of restraint.
Such belts can be twisted from woolen or linen threads in the form of a cord or from a thin braid decorated with tassels.
If nevertheless it is not clear how the ponev is hidden, the photo will help to figure it out. It shows the patterns of two types of skirts: with stitching and simple swinging. In the first case, the crosshair is indicated by oblique crosses, and a dash belt was inserted along the dash line.
Embroidery, beads, and necessarily lace or lace are suitable for ponev decoration, although it was rarely used in such skirts before: it was too expensive for peasants, and they did not everywhere lace their lace.
Despite the fact that Poneva was mainly casual clothing, it also performed aesthetic functions. A variety of embroidery, patterned canvas and bright combinations of red, blue, white and green colors made this skirt a real work of decorative art.