Armenian national costume

The history of the costume goes back thousands of years. It has developed in dozens of countries in different ways: somewhere - independently and separately, and somewhere - changing to suit the tastes of people. A traditional costume, in addition to its main function, could tell others about the place of residence of the person wearing it, about his activities, the history of his family, marital status and much more.

The development of the traditional costume and the birth of the country itself are inseparable, so the Armenian national costume (taraz) began its own emergence about three thousand years ago, in the century of the birth of the Urartian kingdom.

Urartu is a state located on the Armenian Highlands in IX BC. NS. Undoubtedly, the united set of tribes had their own distinctive features of the costume, but, unfortunately, information about them has not been preserved.

Following the Urartian kingdom in 189 BC. NS. the Artashesid kingdom came, which united the absolute majority of people who consider Armenian their native language. The art of artisans grew rapidly in Armenia, market relations developed with Iran, the Indian peoples and the Chinese, cities near the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and all this influenced the outfits of the inhabitants of sunny Armenia.

The baptism of the state dragged Armenia into confrontation with Byzantium. There is very little knowledge about the folk costume during this period, but it is known for certain that the nobility preferred the outfits of the Persian court, while the rest of the population dressed quite ordinary.

During the period of Arab influence (640-885), part of the merchant class and princes adopted some details of Arab clothing. 1080-1375 biennium brought details of European costumes to the national costume of Armenia. The Tatar-Mongol raids of the XIII-XIV centuries, also did not leave the national clothes of the Armenians unchanged.During the Persian Wars, three quarters of Armenia was captured by the Ottoman Empire, but the rest of the lands were still controlled by Iran, which, in turn, also exerted its influence.

The center of men's traditional dress in Armenia is a shirt with a low collar, called a "shapik", and wide trousers, called "shalvar", tied down with a wide winding. The trousers were girded with a small-width bespectacled (hojan) embroidered with various patterns and even tassels at the ends.

In the east of Armenia, over their shirts, they put on an arkhalukh - a swing-up cape, fastened with small buttons or hooks, from the neck down to the waist. A warm chukha was thrown over the arkhaluk - outerwear similar to a caftan.

In the west of the state, arkhaluk replaces yelak - a vest worn on a shirt with sleeves decorated with embroidery. The spruce tree was covered with a jacket with a single sleeve, without fasteners, called a "tank". Shalvars, on the other hand, strongly pressed against the bottom and were called "vartik". The beauty of the side was given by embroidery containing a natural plot.

The basis of the women's wardrobe was: a spacious shirt - halav with oblique double inserts, extensive straight sleeves, an oval opening of the neck and a notch on the chest, scarlet for residents of the east of the country, and light - for Armenians living in the west, as well as wide trousers - khan, sewn made of red cotton and gathered at the ankles. A lady's arkhaluk of bright colors, for example, blue, green or grape shade, was dressed on top, and there was a long notch on the chest.

It smelled only at the waist. Below the waist on the arkhalukh, a pair of vertical cuts were made on the sides, and it turned out that the arkhalukh had three floors: the first, large, behind, and a smaller pair - on the sides. Therefore, the female arhaluk has one more designation - "erek peshkani", which is translated from Armenian as "three sexes".

On solemn days, a dress - pollock was put on the arkhaluk, which almost did not differ in any way from the arkhaluk, only it was devoid of side cuts. A scarf made of beautiful fabrics or wool was tied to the belt, later replaced by belts of silver and gold, and the sleeves of the shirt were fastened with ball-shaped buttons. A large blanket made of fine wool was thrown from above when leaving the house. In older women, it was blue.

In the western regions of Armenia, instead of the arkhalukh, they wore a dress made of silk or cambric with cutouts below the waist, called “antari”. In winter, a juppa was worn on top - a different outfit, without double armholes. Juppa, for the most part, was sewn from dark blue cloth.

An important fragment of the woman's outfit was an apron sewn with braid with a narrow woven belt - gognots. Absolutely all of the ladies' vestments had exquisite sewing; in wealthy families, embroidery was carried out in silver or gold.

The wedding dress of the Armenians differed only in more expensive fabrics, as well as in other color schemes. An important element at the wedding was the silver belts presented by the bride's parents during the wedding.

The children's national costume in Armenia for both a boy and a girl did not have any significant differences from an adult. Well, except that he embroidered a little more modestly.

Headdresses in Armenia are quite diverse. Men's men varied depending on the place of residence: in the east - fur, in the west - knitted and fabric. The Lorians loved large, low hats, the Zangazur people loved the hats more significant, closer and less luxuriant. The urban people wore the highest cylindrical hats.The inhabitants of the western regions received widespread use of hemispherical hats, knitted from threads of the same shade, wrapped over the top with a twisted scarf.

From time to time, hats were knitted of colored threads with a predominance of red colors, had a cone-shaped shape with a truncated top 15-20 cm high and were worn without a scarf. They also wore pointed (like those of the nearby Kurds and Assyrians) headgear, in the shape of a cone, felt hats, wrapping the top with a multi-colored or monophonic scarf embroidered with a fabulous geometric or floral ornament.

In the eastern regions of the country, women wore hats resembling a "turret", eight to twenty centimeters high, glued from layers of cotton fabric. In different regions of the country this decoration was called differently: “palti” (Artsakh, Syunik districts), “pali”, “poly” (Meghri, Agulis areas), “baspind” (areas of Yerevan, Ashtarak). The baspind covered part of the forehead, the front side of the "turret" was decorated with an embroidered ribbon. As in most of the national clothes of Armenia, the traditional embroidery that adorned the baspind had a geometric or floral pattern.

Under the baspind, on the forehead, they tied a ribbon with fixed coins made of precious metals, at the temples were attached jewelry consisting of silver balls, corals, which almost completely covered the hair. Such an unusual headdress was tied with snow-white cotton scarves folded diagonally, covering the neck and part of the face to the very nose. Initially, the scarves were snow-white, and later - reddish or greenish. The corners were tightly tied at the back of the head. Above the baspind was covered with a colored shawl, fastened with a chain of precious metal.

Large buttons called "kotosh" served as an elegant addition to the headdress. The forehead of the hostess of such an adornment was crowned with a forehead with rows of gold coins and a noticeable large coin in the center; intricate pearl ornaments were attached to the temples, ending in the finest gold plates. The young groom presented such an interesting precious adornment to the young bride on the wedding day. Ward, as a rule, crowned a scarlet cap called "fez" with a silk tassel dangling behind.

Such a headdress was not removed for a long time. At night, the woman slept with a small mattress under her head. They tried to remove the basspind only in the absence of men, since in Armenia, as in most eastern countries, it was forbidden to appear with a bare head in front of strangers.

In western Armenia, girls adorned their heads with various headbands and various shawls. Tall headbands made of wood were called "cat" or "ward". It was sewn with velvet, pearls, or decorated with classic sewing, whose favorite theme was the sky, sun and stars. Later, graceful talismans were attached to the embroidered part of the cat. The most elegant detail of the cat, crowned in this way, was called "makhcha" or "knar".

The ward was made of thin fabric glued in several layers. It was also richly decorated with exquisite fabric, precious metals and intricate ornamentation. Gardens, unusual birds, luxurious flowers were the favorite theme of patterns.

Young unmarried girls braided a huge number of thin braids, the number of which reached forty. To lengthen them and make the hairstyle richer, woolen threads were skillfully woven into the pigtails to match the hair, and were decorated with silver balls and tassels. An eastern Armenian woman covered her head with colored capes, while in the western part of Armenia women preferred to wear a felt hat called "gtak", which was shaped like a bucket.

Unfortunately, in our time, national costumes in many countries, due to the abundance of universal European clothes, are not so popular or are not used at all. Of course, for dancing, theater, filming and ordinary festivities, they are still indispensable, but we meet less and less in everyday life. But the costume will not be forgotten. Like the peoples themselves, the national costume over time takes on new forms, absorbs ideas, and will soon re-enter everyday life for others, but in essence, all the same.