Traditional costumes of the Volga peoples, like absolutely all national clothes, reflect the regional and social identity of a person. The Volga is a long river, and as you move along its banks, you can observe the difference in national attires.
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The appearance of national costumes was primarily determined by the customs and traditions of the Volga peoples, which developed under the influence of the environment and weather conditions. A characteristic feature for each national costume is the finish. The ornament, rooted in prehistoric times, is not without reason called inscriptions from the past. The faith of the ancestors in the painted charms created patterns belonging only to this tribe or nationality, and was transmitted from century to century. Thus, ornaments that reached us came into being, serving, like embroidery and furs, as a kind of determinant of the suit belonging to a particular people. But just as the longest river in Europe unites all the peoples of the Volga region, so the main part of the national costume - the shirt (especially the female one) - is a common and characteristic feature for all the national costumes of the peoples of these territories.
Common to all
So, the traditional costumes of the Volga peoples have one common attribute. Soviet archaeologist and ethnographer Boris Alekseevich Kuftin called it a “tunic-like cut”: shirts of all Volga ethnic groups have no shoulder seams. Of course, other nations, such as the ancient Romans or Japanese, did not have shoulder seams. This was explained first of all by the primitiveness of the conditions in which it was necessary to paint or paint clothes, or something else, but it is impossible to ignore the fact that, given the difference in national outfits, such a common detail for all costumes. Obviously, the materials from which the clothes were sewn were the same - hemp and linen. It can be assumed that river pearls and crushed nacre were used in all Volga costumes. Basically, the traditional costumes of the Volga peoples: Mordovian, Chuvash, Tatar, the peoples of the Middle and Samara Volga - differ from each other.
Erzya and Moksha
For comparison, we first consider the Mordovian costume. Every nation, its origin, history is very diverse. Mordva, dividing into two sub-ethnic groups (Moksha and Erzya, having their own languages), is a Finno-Ugric people. Only a third live in Mordovia, the rest in neighboring regions and throughout Russia. They mostly profess Orthodoxy, but there are Molokans and Lutherans. And all this, from century to century, has shaped national clothes and is reflected in them. I must say that water arteries have long been the only trade routes linking neighbors. Communicating with each other, the Volga peoples borrowed customs, customs, recipes of national cuisines from each other, got acquainted with traditions, adopted elements of dresses and decorations.
Differences in costumes even within the same ethnic group
And so the traditional costumes of the Volga peoples were formed. The Mordovian women's outfit is intricate, while the men's outfit is simple and comfortable. It can be noted that Moksha national costume is constantly worn, and Erzyanki - only on holidays. And this is not the only difference even in the national costume of one people. Common and absolute for them is the white color of the canvas, cut shirts, the presence in the jewelry of coins beads and shells, as well as the decoration of dresses with embroidery. Men's clothing is simple and very reminiscent of a Russian costume - a worn-out shirt, trousers tucked into onuchi. Panar and ponkst (shirt and trousers) for every day were made from hemp, festive - from flax.
Mandatory Details
An integral part of the costume was the sash, or karks, which always belted his shirt. He attached great importance. It was made, as a rule, of leather, had a buckle, simple in the form of a ring or in every possible way decorated.
Weapons or tools were hung on the belt, and soldiers were distinguished by the belt. On top of the shirt in summer, Mordovian men wore a light white vest (mushkas for moksha, rutsya for ersi), in winter a chapan resembling a Russian army woman, straight cut, with long sleeves, a large smell and a wide collar, or a sheepskin coat cut off at the waist. The most common headgear was felted hats (white or black) with small brim, later, like the Russians, factory caps, in winter - earflaps or malachai. On his feet were bast shoes with footcloths or onuchi, on holidays - boots. Simple and convenient. But in order to dress a Mordovian woman, it took several hours and two or three assistants.
Unique features
The traditional white shirt, decorated with embroidery, was shorter for Mokshans, and therefore pants were necessarily added to it. The Erzian’s richly embroidered belt was replaced by a bullet - a loincloth made of beads, sequins, beads, and chains. For the first time, an Erzyanka girl wore it on the day of adulthood and did not take it off until old age. On big holidays, a beaded belt with red tassels was put on top of all this, under which richly decorated towels were poked on the sides. It was called selge pulogai. And among the Moksha women, the keska ruzat served as a belt decoration, worn several at a time and also very richly decorated. Thus, it can be seen that the traditional costumes of the Volga peoples, even within the framework of one people, had significant differences. And by their appearance and manner of wearing, it was possible to accurately determine the approximate age of the woman, social status and nationality.
Outerwear
On top of all of the above, Mordovian women wore a kind of sundress - kafton-krda. Sometimes they wore overalls with a rutsu resembling a sleeveless jacket above the knee length. And they differed in color and color among subethnics, as did Onuchi. Hats were complex structures reflecting age, marital and social status. For them they spared no jewelry. Demi-season clothing was suman, as in men. In winter, women wore sheepskin coats with a lot of frills under the cutting waist. Shoes from men were not very different. And, of course, women wore jewelry, Mokshans added bibs to traditional rings, beads, and bracelets. It can be added that in the XIX century an apron was added to the Mordovian women's costume. The example of the national costume of this ethnic group shows that women's clothing of the Volga peoples in terms of the number of things, intricacy and variety of jewelry and accessories significantly exceeds the men's costume, and women's dresses of other nationalities are much simpler than Mordovian ones.
Bright details
The Türkic-speaking people (the second largest in the Russian Federation) of the Tatars are divided into three ethno-territorial groups, one of which is the Volga-Ural. They all differ from each other, including national clothes. Comparing the traditional costumes of the Volga peoples, the Tatar can be identified immediately. He is characterized by round-pointed headgear, wide-legged harem pants, beshmets and very beautiful shoes made of embossed leather or embroidered velvet. Wide shirts, cossacks and camisoles to the waist are also characteristic. Straight blue caftans with sleeves cut from the shoulder or chekmen resemble ancient Turkic clothing. This suggests that a vivid indicator of the national identity of a person, which is a traditional costume, having passed a long path of historical development, has preserved the memory of distant ancestors.
Costume Feature
A common feature of the clothes of all Tatars is considered to be its trapezoidal shape (the back was always flattened) and the presence of shirts (kulmek) and trousers (yshtan) in both male and female suits. Women's shirt differed only in length - sometimes it reached the ankles. The Tatar shirt was different from other tunic-like shirts that are included in all the traditional costumes of the Volga peoples, in width and length (for men it reached the knees) and a stand-up collar.
In women, under a shirt, which, as a rule, had a deep neckline, there was always a bib. The rich Tatars had shirts from expensive imported fabrics. Pants were distinguished by the fact that for men they were sewn from striped fabrics (mottled), for women - from plain.
Elegant simplicity
Outerwear: Cossack, Beshmet and Chekmen - was stocked, with a solid fitted back. Men also had a chapan for visiting a mosque. Mandatory attribute was a belt. And the upper women's clothing differed from men's only in decorations, for which they used fur, posture, embroidery and decorative stitching. Considering the traditional costumes of the Volga peoples (Tatar, for example), we can draw the following conclusion: both male and female costumes are not very intricate, which does not make them less beautiful. They differ from each other in decorative details and a shirt, which in some cases resembles, rather, a dress with frills. The main feature of the national clothes of any ethnic group is that it is closely connected with the life of this people, was formed over the centuries and created by the entire ethnic community.
Suit of the Samara Volga
The national clothes of the peoples of the Samara Volga region among the poor and rich are one and the same. She is distinguished by the quality of workmanship, the beauty of materials, the high cost of decor. In Samara, besides Russians, Ukrainians, Chuvashs and a lot of Tatars live. Therefore, the traditional costumes of the inhabitants of the Samara Volga are not very different. So, the wide female shirt kulmek, which underlies the national costume of the Samara Tatars, is divided into three types. The first of them is no different from the shirt described above - wide, straight, similar to a man's. It has a main direct panel and two side, expanding downward, straight, ribbed cut in the chest. Sleeves were complemented by gussets; a shuttlecock was walking along the hem. All the coolmacks were long. In a shirt of the second type, flounces rose to the hips, waist, sometimes to the chest. Kulmek of the third kind looked more like a dress with a yoke.
Subtleties of costumes of this territory of the Volga region
A compulsory accessory for the women's toilet was a camisole, which was worn over a kulmek and sewn from heavy fabrics. A distinctive feature was the close connection of the chest-neck jewelry with a headdress. Older women wore a peculiar, richly decorated with tambour embroidery head scarf - orpek. By the manner of wearing the scarf, it was possible to determine to which Tatar group the woman belongs: to the Samara or Kazan Tatars. The suit of the men of the Samara Territory differed little from the clothes of other peoples of the Volga region. Unless the side wedges of the kulmek were wider, as a result of which they resembled the clothes of the Cossacks. A short-sleeved short-sleeved camisole was worn over the shirt, the last was a cossack. In this area, Muslim men wore skullcaps richly embroidered with beads; the ornament on them was floral.
Distinctive features of costumes of the Middle Volga
The national costumes of the peoples of the Middle Volga echo the outfits listed above, because Russians, Chuvashs, Mordovians and Tatars live here. For women’s clothing, the same shirt is characteristic. They wore it with a sundress of different cuts or with a ponyova - a woolen skirt with an ornate hem. The final detail was a shugai - a short warm jacket. The role of the blouse worn over the shirt was played by the finisher, short, shulpan or arm ruffles. The men's suit was simple, and therefore comfortable: a shirt with a sash, striped ports tucked into shoes. In winter - a warm free caftan.
