The revival of interest in national traditions, which can be observed recently, has drawn attention to the clothes of people of past centuries, especially since many details have long disappeared from everyday life. For example, poneva is a women's skirt, which was an integral part of the costume of Slavic women, but now it is almost forgotten about.
What is poneva
The correct sound of this word is “ponyova”, and in some areas they also said “understanding”. Its origin is now forgotten. But most historians and linguists believe that poneva is a cloth, a piece of cloth, a shroud, and once it was called not clothes, but matter. Although there is another interpretation that elevates the name "poneva" to the word "bride", more precisely, "poneva". Perhaps this particular point of view is correct, since this swinging skirt was worn by married women or betrothed girls. It was worn over an undershirt and was ankle length and sometimes calf length to show off the embroidery on the undershirt.
A bit of history
The flared skirt gathered at the waist has a very ancient origin. Sometime in the distant pastthe first garment was the skin of an animal, and then a piece of cloth wrapped around the hips.
In the old days, among the Slavic peoples, poneva was an integral attribute of women's clothing and a kind of symbol of the hard lot of a husband's wife. The first poneva was given by the mother, and often it was a special rite, a kind of initiation, symbolizing the entry of a girl into adulthood. In some areas, the ritual of putting on this skirt was performed by the girl's girlfriends, and sometimes by her brother.
But later, somewhere around the 15th century, poneva began to be considered exclusively peasant clothing, and the word "ponevnitsa" in the circles of the nobility and especially the merchants began to contemptuously call women of low birth and villagers.
And in the 19th century, putting on a poneva, even in the villages, finally became symbolic. Girls during the matchmaking or immediately after it were still wearing this skirt, but in everyday life it was rarely worn.
Simplicity and convenience
What did the poneva look like? The photo clearly demonstrates that it was a simple rectangular piece of fabric. It was wrapped around the hips and tied with a cord - a damper (or damper) in front or on the side. The ends of the skirt could be turned up, for example, while working in the field or in order to show off the rich embroidery on the shirt. This way of wearing a poneva was called a “bag”.
Russian poneva is simple and functional. On the one hand, its manufacture does not require special skills and talents. On the other hand, these are very comfortable clothes. A skirt made of dense fabric was sewn, most oftenwoolen. Although sometimes woolen thread was used only for ducks, and hemp or linen was taken for the warp. In such clothes it was warm, which is important in a cold climate. But the uncomplicated simplicity of the cut was redeemed by the rich decor, which served not only as decoration, but also had a complex symbolic meaning.
Signs and symbols
In the past, people's lives were filled with various symbols. Sacred signs important for a person were applied to utensils, cut out on the porches of houses, embroidered on towels. By jewelry, amulets and amulets one could understand the social status of a person, his belonging to the family, marital status and even age.
The traditional costume is no less symbolic. Poneva is an important part of women's clothing, it was decorated with symbols of life and fertility, solar signs and floral ornaments.
The material for poneva necessarily had a pattern - a cage of different colors. The intersection of vertical and horizontal stripes, forming squares or rhombuses, is the oldest agricultural symbol of fertility, a sign of a sown field. It is most often seen in jewelry and embroidery on women's clothing.
Poneva was richly decorated with braid. She was sewn along the hem and sidewalls, sometimes in several rows. Floral ornaments and solar signs in the form of crosses, rotaries and birds were embroidered on it. Sometimes the braid was made from a branded fabric, that is, woven with patterns. She was a source of pride, because everything was done by hand.
Older women plucked colorful flowers from their poniesbraid, leaving one narrow strip.
Types of ponies
Poneva skirt had four varieties depending on the nature of the cut.
- Three-sex, consisting of three unsewn panels, which were fastened with a gashnik belt. According to costume historians, such a skirt was originally, when the loom did not allow us to weave a wide fabric.
- Swinging, the people called these "raznoshelves". In this case, three pieces of fabric were sewn into one rectangular canvas. These ponies were worn with a slit on the side or in front.
- Deaf - three pieces of matter were sewn together "deaf", that is, the poneva turned into a regular skirt.
- Deaf with stitching. A seam is a fourth piece of fabric, usually in a different material and color. It was usually inserted into the front of the poneva, made shorter and decorated with braid or lace. It turned out something like an apron. Sometimes the seam was covered with embroidery.
Colors and their meaning
Poneva is not a simple skirt. By the color of the material and the cell, one could understand the origin of the woman. So, in the Tula, Tambov and Ryazan provinces, where the Vyatichi tribe lived in ancient times, dark blue ponevs were preferred, and black ones to the north of Ryazan. The strips forming the cells were woven in colored or white. But in the area of the city of Kasimov, red ponevs in a blue cage prevailed. Ponevas of the same color were worn in the Oryol, Smolensk and Voronezh regions.
The color of the stripes forming the cells could be different, but white, black andred stripes are the three main colors revered by the Slavs.
Poneva do-it-yourself
In the past, every woman knew how to sew a poneva, she did not need a pattern for this. Indeed, what kind of pattern can an ordinary rectangular, albeit composite, panel have? The only trick, and even then a small one, is to insert a gas belt into the upper part of the skirt. It turned out a kind of restraint.
Such belts can be made twisted from woolen or linen threads in the form of a cord or from thin braid decorated with tassels.
If it is still not clear how the poneva is cut, the photo will help to figure it out. It shows patterns of two types of skirts: with a seam and a simple swing. In the first case, the seam is marked with oblique crosses, and a gashnik belt was inserted along the stroke line.
Embroidery and beads are suitable for decorating the poneva, and braid or lace is required, although it was rarely used in such skirts before: it was too expensive for the peasants, and their own lace was not woven everywhere.
Despite the fact that the poneva was mostly casual wear, it also performed aesthetic functions. A variety of embroidery, patterned fabric and bright combinations of red, blue, white and green colors made this skirt a real piece of arts and crafts.
