Where did the boots, the ushanka hat and other things come from, which are considered primordially Russian, but in fact they are not

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Some things are considered primordially Russian, although in reality this is not at all the case. If they had not received their second birth in Russia, then perhaps today only historians would know about them. It's great when the best inventions become available to people. It doesn't matter who invented them. It is important that they bring joy and benefit to people. Read about felt boots, which were actually invented by Iranian nomads, about the famous Gzhel, which became such thanks to Chinese porcelain, and about the hat with earflaps worn by Mongolian hunters.

Boots, felt boots, not hemmed, old: a gift from the Mongol-Tatars

It seems that it is difficult to find more Russian footwear than felt boots. And this is not at all the case. When excavations were carried out in Altai (Ukok plateau) in the early nineties of the XX century, felt shoes were found there. This place was the location of the oldest tribal burial grounds from Iran, dating back to the III-IV centuries BC. In Altai, high felt boots with leather soles were also common. Not only shoes were made from this material, but also carpets, quivers and even jewelry.

In fact, felt was widely used by the peoples of Central Asia, especially the nomads, Turks and Mongols. Today it is believed that it was thanks to the Mongol-Tatars in Russia that they learned to roll wool. Russians began to make their usual felt boots at the end of the 18th century. The models differed from their Asian predecessors in that the Russian felt boots had no seams. This became possible due to the special Russian felting technique invented in the Nizhny Novgorod province. When the First World Exhibition was held in London in 1851, it was possible to see shoes from Russia, that is, felt boots. When they were shown in Vienna, Paris and Chicago, the felt boots began to be called a Russian invention.

The shape of the domes of churches: from a Byzantine sail to an eight on a quadrangle from the Volga Bulgaria

When Christianity was adopted in Russia, temples began to be built according to the Byzantine model, copying the cross-domed version. It should be noted that in ancient Russia the churches were not identical to the Byzantine ones. They were larger in volume and more elongated upward. If in Byzantium such structures were made of stone, then in Russia they were most often made of wood. Byzantine churches usually had one dome, while Russian churches could be built with three, five, or even seven domes.

Initially, churches in Russia began to be made with the so-called Byzantine dome. It looks like a sail that is attached at the corners and blown by the wind. A little later, onion-shaped domes became the leaders. Masons were invited from Volga Bulgaria to build churches in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Some historians believe that it was the Bulgars who "threw" the idea of a tent on an octagonal base to the Russians, which was placed on a cube, the so-called octagon on a quadrangle. This was because it was much easier to use a tree in this case. Wooden hipped temples can be seen on icons dating from the early 14th century. But hipped domes made of stone appeared in Russia later, in the 16th century.

Ushanka: transformation from Mongolian pointed fur hat

The hat with earflaps also seems to be a primordially Russian creation. However, its ancestor was a Mongolian fur pointed cap, which covered the cheeks and ears. During its existence, the earflaps have undergone some changes. For example, Tsibaka was invented by the Pomors, that is, a fur helmet that had long ears. They were used as a scarf, wrapping around the neck and insulating it in this way.

The Russian hat with earflaps was called a triukh. The name came from the three folding parts that the cap had. Treukha was very fashionable in the 7th century. For example, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna wore earflaps with pleasure, her wardrobe had as many as three models. Agafya Semyonovna, the wife of Fyodor Alekseevich, kept four earflaps in the dressing room. There were also the so-called four-ears, in which one detail fell on the back of the head, the second on the forehead, and two more on the sides. At the beginning of the 20th century, Nansen hats came into fashion, that is, fur caps equipped with ears, a visor and the back of the head, which could be lowered … When, during the Civil War, the White Guards of Kolchak's army began to wear such a cap, it was renamed Kolchak. And already in the thirties of the XX century, the earflaps were made a part of the winter uniform and the Red Army soldiers wore it.

Indian cucumber on Pavlovo Posad shawls

Many people know this famous pattern, which has the international name "paisley", but most often it is called Turkish or Indian cucumber. For the first time such a drawing appeared in Persia, from where it spread throughout India and other countries of the East. They called the buta ornament - fire in Sanskrit. When in the 18th century, scarves and other products painted with cucumbers came to Europe, they very quickly gained popularity, which they still retain. And this ornament is called paisley because at the beginning of the 19th century, inexpensive shawls, analogs of Indian cashmere products, began to be made in the Scottish town of Paisley. The city gave the name to the picture. In Russia, people have known about beautiful painted cucumbers since the 18th century. Most often, they were used to decorate the Ivanovo calico and the famous Pavlovo Posad shawls.

In the East, this cucumber or drop was deciphered as a cotton bud, flame, palm leaf, pheasant, while Russian craftsmen were no stranger to ornament with similar symbolic images of plants or birds, Therefore, paisley found its use very quickly and after a while no one remembered, where he came from.

Gzhel as a descendant of Chinese porcelain qinghua porcelain

Gzhel. Beautiful products with blue and white painting. It seems that it was invented in Russia. However, the ancestor of this type of pattern is Qinghua, Chinese porcelain. Translated from Chinese, its name means "blue pattern". Back in the 14th century, the Chinese began to paint white vases with blue paint, and a hundred years later they were brought to Europe.

In the 17th century in the city of Delft, Holland, special blue and white tiles were developed. In Russia they began to be made under Peter I, and they said that they were "under the Dutch". While the craftsmen were busy with tiles, beautiful dishes were made in the village of Gzhel near Moscow. Gzhel clay of excellent quality was used in the production of the first Russian porcelain items. They were painted brightly, painted in various colors: ocher, emerald, brown, burgundy, blue. Craftsmen drew peculiar popular prints on the dishes. However, by the middle of the 19th century, dishes began to be painted exclusively in white cobalt colors. This allowed her to look stylish and elegant, to compete with European porcelain. Beautiful multi-layered flowers, which the masters painted on the dishes, made Gzhel famous all over the world. No one remembers that the blue-and-white pattern is a kind of tribute to the Chinese tsinghua porcelain.

There are also traditions, partially or completely borrowed from abroad. For example, the famous Russian tea drinking came to us from China. True, it has changed greatly.