Onuchi were once an indispensable attribute of peasant clothing in Russia and Eastern Europe. Windings and footcloths - close relatives of onuch - were used in the army.
Meaning of onuchi
Onuchi are long and fairly wide strips of fabric used to wrap the legs from the foot to the knee. The peasants in Russia wore them with bast shoes, boots and felt boots. In other countries they were worn with leather shoes. In the documents of the state of the Franks of the time of Charlemagne, this detail of clothing is mentioned. Windings can also be seen on European miniatures of past centuries. But onuchi received the greatest distribution in Russia and in many countries of Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, the B altic countries.
Depending on the season, onuchi from different types of fabric were used. Onuchi is an item of clothing designed to protect the lower part of the legs. In summer they wore windings made of canvas (linen or hemp) fabric, and in winter - linen below, and on top - a second layer of cloth (woolen, linen weaving) fabric.
Lapti and frills (strings) were different for everyday wear and holidays. Rope clothes were usually used for every day, and bast or birch bark clothes were worn on holidays.bast shoes and used bast shoes. Festive attributes were painted white or red. Wedding onuchi are practically a work of art. They were made from bleached linen, covered with colored embroidery. The bride herself had to prepare wedding onuchi as a gift to the groom. They were worn to a wedding and then kept as a relic in a chest.
How onuchi were worn
Onuchi (whose photos can be seen below) were mostly worn with bast shoes. This light and comfortable shoe, due to its cheapness and unpretentiousness of manufacture, was widely distributed. They made it from improvised almost always available material - vines, birch bark, lindens, ropes.
But since putting on bast shoes on a bare foot is not very convenient, and not practical, they first wrapped their feet with onuchs. Men wrapped onuchs on the lower part of their trousers, and women wrapped their bare legs. The length of the fabric ribbon could reach 5 meters (usually 1.5 - 2.5 m), the width was about 10 cm. The leg, starting from the fingers, was tightly wrapped, grabbing the lower leg and reaching the knee. The end of the fabric strip was turned up and tucked under the winding. To prevent the onuchi from unwinding and falling off, they were fastened with a long cord (thread). They made wicker or knitted upholstery from bast, rope. The end of the lace was threaded into a loop on the back of the bast shoes and wrapped around or tied crosswise around the leg from the ankle to the knee. Sometimes they used twists - narrow leather ribbons that were tied under the knee.
Varieties of onuchi
The widespread use of onuchidue to the cheapness of bast shoes compared to leather boots. Boots were predominantly urban footwear. Although onuchi used with boots.
Onuchi are the same windings and footcloths. But the latter are more of an army attribute. During the First and Second World Wars, the rank and file, and some field commanders, wore leather boots with windings. Boots were used less frequently, mostly closer to winter. And in the cold, the soldiers switched to felt boots. Windings were preferred not only because of the scarcity and high cost of boots for privates, but also because they were considered more convenient and practical. Moreover, during the First World War, the windings were used by soldiers of all warring parties.
In the post-war period, boots with windings become regular field shoes for the armies of some countries. These included Poland, Hungary, France and even Japan.
Footcloths were used with boots in the army. This piece of clothing was known in ancient Rome. In the Russian armed forces, the footcloth was a long-liver, while in the armies of other countries it has long been replaced with ordinary socks. The transition of the Russian army from footcloths to socks took place only in January 2013.
