Women’s costume. The Krymchaks, 20th century. Taurida Province, Simferopol

European Jews: Krymchaks

Costume, women's

The Krymchaks are an ethno-confessional community, which was formed in the Middle Ages from ethnically diverse adherents of Talmudic Judaism in the Crimean Peninsula. Evidently, the primary cradles of formation of the community were towns of Old Crimea – Caffa, Solkhat, Karasubazar. Krymchaks’ genealogies indicate a wide range of the ethnos’s connections in the Mediterranean world, and the ethnic identity firmly enters it among the old-timer peoples of Crimea. The Krymchak language belongs to the Turkic language family and is close to the Crimean Tatar language. In the early 20th century, the Krymchaks continued to live in small-numbered closed groups in large cities of Crimea, inheritably pursuing such trades as tanning, shoemaking, and headwear making. In the Russian Empire, the Krymchaks were subjected to political restrictions similar to those applicable to the Jews, but lived outside the Jewish Pale. When Crimea was occupied by Nazi troops (1941-1944), the Krymchaks who stayed in Crimea were subjected to genocide and mass shooting execution as adherents of the orthodox Judaism. Up to 80 percent of the ethnos perished. A tremendous stratum of the Krymchak everyday culture artifacts was lost. For several reasons, the collection of Krymchak utensils and garments kept in the Russian Museum of Ethnography is valuable as humanity’s cultural heritage. Largely, it was assembled due to the activity of the Krymchak Council for Assistance to the State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR that existed in the 1960s. The council was headed by E. I. Peysakh, Krymchak educator and veteran of the Great Patriotic War. The women’s costume kept in the Russian Museum of Ethnography was made by Krymchak women in the 1960s specially for the Museum, to old patterns, from traditional fabrics. The traditional clothing of the Krymchaks, like many aspects of their culture, was under the influence of the Crimean Tatar culture, while meeting the confessional requirements. The traditional women’s costume indicated its owner’s age and marital status. Headwear for maidens, young married women, and elderly matrons also differed. When outdoors, the Krymchak women covered their face with a shawl, and put on buskin-like wooden shoes. The women’s costume ensemble always comprised golden and silver decorations, and a silver belt; it was an indispensable part of the dowry. Married women wore a necklace of coins daily. For orphan girls, decorations were purchased by the community, while parents of modest families bought decorations on credit or rented them. Women put on their decorations on holidays, when receiving guests, and when going out to the bath house weekly. From the second half of the 19th century, the Oriental style in clothing was supplanted by European urban clothing and machine-made fabrics. Only elderly women remained true to the traditions of the past.