National Udmurt costume

The national Udmurt costume is for its owner a kind of shell that protects from external troubles. The very first clothes of the Udmurts had a style very similar to modern tunics. The material for tailoring was woven by hand: linen was used in the north, and hemp in the south. Livestock breeding enabled the Udmurts to use sheep wool as a raw material, from which woolen fabrics were woven. The traditional South Udmurt shortderem is a shirt or dressing gown sewn from homespun woolen fabric.

The color scheme of the national Udmurt costume consisted of white, gray, ocher, brown, red and indigo. Dyes were obtained from minerals and plants, and over time, the Udmurts began to use aniline dyes imported by the Turks who traded with Udmurtia. It should be noted that in the northern regions of Udmurtia, only two options were used: white and gray. In the southern part, the colors were more colorful and saturated, which is associated with the location of trade routes, which were much more numerous in the south than in the north. It is noteworthy that, often, the whole street could walk in red or green clothes, sewn from the same fabric.

The appearance of satin and silk fabrics did not go unnoticed by the Udmurt craftswomen.They made beautiful shirts and dresses. Girls who could not only weave and sew, but also had good taste, could rightfully be called fashion designers. When creating a costume, they marked it with a special mark: a bunch of threads (chuk). Other craftsmen could copy the costume, but they had to indicate whose invention it was.

It is worth noting that the child did not have his own clothes until a certain age. The first clothes of a baby are mother's shirt if a girl was born and father's shirt if a boy was born. Almost until the age of three, children wore the clothes of their elders. Attention is drawn to the fact that this was done not at all for reasons of economy, but because clothes worn and washed many times are much softer than new ones.

Over time, the national Udmurt costume began to recede into the background. Gradually, homespun fabrics began to be replaced by factory ones. This happened in the post-war years, when they began to pay for labor in cash, and not in products. Manual work during this period ceased to be in demand and was considered a sign of a lack of prosperity in the family. Despite this, homespun linens have been preserved in many Udmurt houses, which have now regained their former value.

The male Udmurt national costume was very similar to Russian. It consisted of a white or later of a colorful canvas shirt to the knees (kosovorotka), which was picked up by a woven belt with beautiful patterns or a belt. Symbols associated with the occupation were embroidered on men's shirts. On holidays and for prayer, they wore a wide rainbow woven puto belt and trousers with a large step, which were most often sewn from blue and white striped fabric.In winter, men wore caftans, which in the festive version were cut off at the waist and gathered, and in the everyday version they were uncut and without gathers, but fitted.

The main feature of the female Udmurt costume is its detailed differences depending on which part the woman lives in: in the north or in the south.

The female national costume of the northern Udmurt, as a rule, cannot do without a tunic-like shirt (derem), a removable bib with embroidery (kabachi), a swinging robe (shortderem), a woven or woven belt, and an apron without a breast (azkyshet). A bib with embroidery could have a festive purpose, for daily wear and for rituals. Its purpose determined the character and richness of embroidery. The wedding bib was decorated with an eight-pointed star (tolez). As a rule, clothes were sewn from white linen canvas and embroidered with red threads.

The national clothes of the southern Udmurt were made of colorful fabric. White sets of clothes were used only for weddings. One of the variants of the southern costume is a trapeze dress with narrowed sleeves. A beautiful wide frill is sewn along the bottom of the dress. The chest is decorated with a removable breastplate with silver coins. In another version, this is a colorful shirt, to the central fabric of which oblique side wedge-shaped parts were sewn, sleeves with wedges and quadrangular gussets, and a small stand-collar in such a suit was fastened with a hook or button.

During their first pregnancy, Udmurt women wore a red plaid dress. People said that the more cells, the more children the future mother will have. Original patterned amulets were necessarily embroidered on the apron.This outfit was quite spacious cut and for a very long time those around could not guess that the woman was in a position.

The headdress of an Udmurt woman could tell about her marital status. In girlhood, young Udmurt women wore round or oval hats made of canvas (takya), which were sheathed with red cloth, beads and coins. Also, the girls covered their heads with bandages made of calico or canvas, decorated with embroidery, ribbons, sequins and scarves. In another type of outfit, there was a headband with a voluminous bow made of a scarf.

Women who were already married and lived in the north, in addition to scarves and headbands, tied an embroidered towel, and the southern Udmurt women wore a headband, which was decorated with beads and coins along the bottom, complete with a head towel, a cone-shaped aishon headdress and a syulyk coverlet. The patterned ends of the towel played the role of a dorsal decoration. Women's costumes intended for festive festivities were decorated with beads, coins, shells, from which necklaces and earrings were made.

Bast shoes served as everyday shoes for men and women. Women put them on knitted patterned stockings and socks, and men put onuchi under bast shoes. The shoes that women wore on holidays were boots, for men this role was played by boots. In winter, both men's and women's shoes were felt boots.

Nordic women's costume includes a one-piece dress with frill and embroidery with long sleeves. A caftan made of light linen with a fringing is put on over the dress, and a national embroidered apron is worn on top of the caftan. The headband and the neckline of the dress are decorated with metal braid.

The southern women's costume, consisting of a one-piece checkered dress with braid, a frill at the bottom and a set-in long sleeve, is made in the traditional folk style. Over the dress there is a plain caftan cut off along the waistline and with a clasp, trimmed with braid. An apron with traditional embroidery and a monista is put on the caftan. The head is decorated with a high headdress.