Women’s wedding costume. Ukrainians. Late 19th - early 20th century. Yekaterinoslav Province

Ukranians

Costume, women's

The Ukrainians are one of the three East Slavic peoples formed on the basis of a common Ancient Rus community (10th-13th centuries), consisting mostly of East Slav tribal confederations (Polans, Drevlians, Tivertsi, Severians etc.), Fenno-Ugrians etc. These built the Ancient Rus state (9th-12th centuries), which later split into the principalities of Galicia and Volhynia (12th-14th centuries), Pereyaslav, Kyiv, and Chernigov. Still later, the lands were taken by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then by Poland. The Ukrainian ethnos was formed in the lands along the Dnieper, the Dniester, and in the Polesye lowland. In 1654, a large part of Ukrainian lands, complete with Kyiv, voluntarily went under the protectorate of the Russian Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich, and by the end of the 18th century, after the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was only Galicia with Lvov annexed by Austro-Hungary, Transcarpathia and Bukovina that were left outside the territory of the Russian Empire. After 1775, the term Malorossiya was used to denote Volhynia, Kyiv, Podolia, Kharkov, Poltava, and Chernigov Provinces. Novorossiya is a term dating back to the era of Catherine II, used to denote the territories annexed in the 18th century as a result of the Russo-Turkish wars. Resettlement to the Novorossiyan territory, to Taurida, Kherson and Yekaterinoslav Provinces was encouraged by the authorities, considering the public necessity of agricultural colonization of the North Black Sea region and the Azov region, as free arable land was in great demand. This led to migration of a part of Malorossiya’s Ukrainian population to the new-established provinces of Russia. Local lore expert and collector Vasily Babenko applied an integrated research method to collecting artifact and illustrative material for the Museum. For instance, the subject of Ukrainian wedding is represented in the museum’s collection by costume sets supplemented with photos taken in 1909 at a wedding in Vasilievka village, Novomoskovsk District of Yekaterinoslav Province. Detailed captions under the photos, in particular “The Pre-wedding Ritual” and “The Mantling of the Bride,” substantially complement the information on the Ukrainian wedding procedure. In the traditional culture of the Ukrainians, wedding was a most important event in the life of a person. The marriage between a young man and a girl symbolized not only making a new family, but also attainment of a new social status, which manifested itself also in the newlyweds’ clothing. The bride’s costume was always notable for a special elegance and richness, although its components remained traditional. They were a long embroidered chemise sorochka; plakhta, unsewn bottomwear; zapaska, a wool apron; and a woven or braided sash. The wedding set was completed by yupka or outerwear, headwear, and boots of fine leather. The headwear deserves special attention. At the wedding, the bride changed her maiden wreath to an ochipok, a married woman’s bonnet, which meant a change in the social status. The process of headgear change went along with the bride’s ritual mourning over her maidenhood, which was in the presence of her girlfriends. From that moment and for the rest of her life, a married woman did not dare to appear in public bareheaded. Another feature of the bride’s wedding costume was its color. The dominance of red color in the women’s wedding costume was a semiotic sign symbolizing beauty, youth, and fertility.