Mordovian national costumes (photo)

The Autonomous Republic of Mordovia is located in the Volga-Vyatka region. The indigenous peoples who inhabit it are Moksha and Erzya. Only a third of the Mordvins live in the autonomy. The rest are scattered throughout the Volga region, Siberia, regions and republics of the Central District.

Erzya and Moksha belong to the nationalities of the Finno-Ugric branch, they have native languages ​​and writing. Russian culture has influenced all spheres of people's lives. In the 20th century, the original national costume also underwent assimilation.

Historical reference

It is known that back in the Stone Age, the territory of the Middle Volga region was inhabited by tribes of Androphagi and Tissagetians. These are the progenitors of modern Erzya and Moksha. In the 12th century, squads of Russian princes carried out several attacks on these peoples, and then the Mongol-Tatars ravaged and plundered these lands, and took the men into their army.

In the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible, heading on a military campaign against Kazan, subjugated the Mordovians.Noble families swore allegiance to the Moscow sovereign. Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich distributed the lands of the Mokshans and Erzyans to the boyars and monasteries.

There was a forced conversion of the local population to Orthodoxy. Many Mordovians at that time went on the run with their families and belongings, rafting along the Volga to its lower reaches, where the tsar’s power did not extend. The population that remained in their ancestral territory, along with conversion, was subjected to Russification. Those who escaped were also assimilated, but the process was slower.

Important! In 1867, the Russian prose writer Melnikov-Pechersky, describing the life of Moksha and Erzya, noted that only in some villages the women's Mordovian costume was preserved, and over time it is found less and less.

Characteristic features of the Mordovian national costume

We can talk about national costume in the context of two cultures: Moksha and Erzya. Let us note the features inherent in the traditional attire of both peoples:

• clothing material is homespun bleached canvas - linen or hemp;
• cut - straight for both a shirt (panara) and for outer, swinging white clothing;
• finishing – wool embroidery, which is characterized by red and black colors;
• decorations - bibs and sashes, with metal and beaded decor;
• shoes - woven bast bast shoes with onuchas and leather boots with ruching.

Features of men's, women's, children's suits

Women of these nationalities wove canvas and cloth, from which they then sewed everyday and festive summer and winter clothes.

Men wore a straight-cut untucked shirt and trousers (ponkst), girded with a belt or girdle, and in cool weather they threw on a swinging canvas robe-type garment on top. In autumn or spring they kept warm in a sumani - a dark-colored cloth coat, in winter - in a sheepskin coat of impressive length. In cold weather, a man wore a felted hat, earflaps or malakhai. Since the beginning of the 20th century, shirts were made for men from factory fabrics and caps were bought, which replaced felted hats.

The women's costume is very beautiful and consists of many elements. The girl began to put on her outfit with a shirt, which had a tunic-like silhouette and slits on the front panels. The panhard was richly embroidered on the collar, sleeves, hem. Embroidery accompanied the front of the shirt (along the seams), the back and chest (in the form of two longitudinal stripes). On holidays, the outfit was complemented by a second shirt - a pokai, very tightly embroidered with embroidery and beads. The length of the Moksha women's products only allowed them to slightly cover the knees, so the costume included canvas pants that reached the ankles.

Aprons with or without a bib (and even with sleeves) are also an integral part of a woman's costume. A sleeveless vest was worn over the panhard, and a swinging outer canvas garment, muscas or rutsya, was worn. Like men, they wore a suman or sheepskin coat. All women's clothing, except outerwear, was intricately decorated with embroidery and embroidered with beads, coins, and chains.

The headdress of women and girls differed. Those who were not yet married wore a headband or special crown hats with decorations. Family ladies wore their hair under a high conical or rectangular headdress or wore a magpie in the form of a cap or cap. There were other options - a towel with embroidered edges and a crown closed at the top.

The children's costume repeated all the elements of the adult, but there was significantly less jewelry in the girl’s outfit, because the suit, so richly decorated, also weighed impressively.

What are they decorated with, what kind of shoes?

Women loved to decorate themselves. All this is reflected in the suit:

• temple pendants with beads, beads, and coins were attached to the headdress;
• the forehead decoration had a feather fringe and embroidered braid;
• girls hid their hair under braids made of silk and beads;
• in the ears - earrings and birch bark mugs covered with material with sewn colored patterns and beads;
• breast decorations were made of beads and necklaces. Particularly beautiful were the beaded collars, chest nets, and shoulder decorations (based on two leather strips on which an ornament was sewn with bugles, buttons, and chains);
• wrist jewelry - various bracelets and rings;
• the waist area was decorated with embroidered loincloths, buttons, braids, beads, woolen fringe, copper chains, coins, and shells;
• Paired pendants consisting of a metal frame and copper wire in several rows were hung from the belt. Tokens, shells, coins, bells, and silk fringe were attached to them. Embroidered waist towels were tucked into the belt.

Let us note the main points regarding the national shoes Moksha and Erzya:

1. traditionally, Mordvins wore bast bast shoes made of linden or elm with oblique weave;
2. leather boots were a festive footwear option. They were distinguished by cuffs, sharp toes, and massive heels;
3. winter shoes - felt boots;
4. foot wraps were wrapped around bare feet: the lower ones - on the feet, the upper ones - on the calves;
5. Onuchi - white or black - were wrapped over foot wraps in cool weather, and on holidays - red with colored stripes of fabric.

Reference. In the traditions of the people, women with straight, even and full legs are considered beauties.Onuchi, in addition to the main function - insulation, were precisely designed to make an ideal out of the legs of any woman.

Modern Mordvin costume

In recent decades, there has been a revival of folk costume in Mordovia.. It is worn for ceremonies, national holidays, concerts, and some official events. One of the matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup was marked in Saransk with a carnival procession, where townspeople in traditional Mordovian clothes were involved.

Students of the Saransk Art School, inspired by national motifs of arts and crafts, promote their inclusion in everyday or festive outfits. In their coursework and diploma works, they use elements of cutting and embroidery of ancient costumes, creating modern clothes in ethno style. The results are very successful and fresh images.