Elena Gushchina
Associate Professor of the Department of History of Tatarstan, Anthropology and Ethnography, the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University
Elena Gushchina, Associate Professor of the Department of History of Tatarstan, Anthropology and Ethnography, the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, told the EcoTourism EXPERT about the project Traditional Costumes of the Peoples of the Kazan Volga Region.
- How did the idea of the project come about? And why is it interesting to art experts and ordinary tourists?
- The idea was born 4 years ago, in 2021, in the Year of Native Languages and National Unity in the Republic of Tatarstan. The reason is that folk costumes, especially festive and ceremonial ones, are a visible component of the cultural code; they have always been perceived not only as a material value, but also as a spiritual one, they were cherished, carefully stored and passed on from generation to generation. The costumes were associated with the aesthetic ideas of each people living in the region and had a symbolic function.
But in practice, we always face the problem of correct and competent representation and interpretation of traditional culture. And this is largely explained by the lack of available educational materials. For example, the costumes of many folklore groups are now ethnographically unreliable, incorrect artistically and from the point of view of style. We conceived the project as part of the work to preserve our great ethnocultural heritage, national and regional peculiar features, just to create such an accessible, multi-level source of knowledge about our national costumes.
The very opportunity to see all the diversity of cultures of the Volga Region peoples in one project, to evaluate the similarities and differences of their original costumes is very interesting. As part of the project, costume collections of seven peoples living in the Republic of Tatarstan were reconstructed, including the Russians, Tatars, Udmurts, Chuvashs, Maris, Mordovians, and Bashkirs. These peoples belong to different language groups - the Slavic, Turkic, Finno-Ugric ones, each group has own unique and interesting traditions and social customs. However, there are also many similarities. Similar natural, geographical and climatic conditions, living close to each other, joint work and leisure activities led to the emerging of common features in traditional material, spiritual and social cultures. This was also reflected in national costumes made of the same fabrics like linen and woolen homespun or factory-made ones; and beads, buttons, ribbons, braids were used as decoration, as well as amazing articles of patterned artistic weaving and embroidery made using various technologies.
- How did you manage to restore the original folk costumes?
- The project initiated by the Assembly and the House of Friendship of the Peoples of Tatarstan was implemented with the support of the Head - Rais - of the Republic of Tatarstan. These were really great team efforts, with the participation of the scientists and researchers, designers and craftsmen of the Volga Region having successful experience in creating good replicas of folk costumes.
To make authentic replicas of various national costumes, ethnologists studied the museum collections of not only large museums in Kazan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, but also the museum collections in other cities and rural settlements, they made many sketches, selected and ordered fabrics that met the requirements. Many elements of costume sets that included clothes, jewelry, accessories were hand-made inspired by the available museum exhibits and the articles from private collections. The principles of the clothes’ fashion, proportions, wearing style, the nature of the decoration, the choice of material, and the manufacture of jewelry were taken into account. In a number of cases, we specifically asked jewelers for help. One of the problems we faced was how to make an authentic costume using modern materials. New advanced technologies helped us a lot in digitizing and accurately reproducing ancient costumes.
- Where and how can tourists get acquainted with the exhibition?
- The exhibition with the display of 29 festive costumes that were popular in the second half of the 19th-early 20th centuries in the Kazan Volga Region, was initially held in the Kazan Kremlin, then it was held in Moscow.
The tourists visiting Kazan have a chance to see the exhibition in the House of Friendship of the Peoples of Tatarstan that has become a permanent location for it. The unique exhibition shows the costumes, and through authentic household items that complement the exhibition, it tells who wore these clothes, where people wearing these clothes went, what the traditional lifestyle of peasants and townspeople of the Volga Region was like, what holidays and festivals were celebrated one hundred to two hundred years ago.
To expand the territorial scope and more completely understand the folk costume concept, the catalog publication was published as the second stage. It included both costume replicas created during the project, as well as exhibits from the museums established at cultural centers and schools, the costumes from private ethnographic collections and from republican, district and departmental museums. All costume sets and individual items selected for the catalog have the information about the owner’s ethnicity and place of residence, which gives a better idea about the specifics of costumes worn in different parts of Tatarstan. The catalogue has an electronic version, it can be downloaded from the website of the Assembly and the House of Friendship of the Peoples of Tatarstan.
The project is of interest to people from the scientific and theoretical and also quite practical points of view. After all, the project made it possible to recreate and produce historically true national costumes in a modern version, which is of great importance to creative groups, various reconstruction events, festivals, and holidays. In the future, I would like that anyone could purchase and wear a national costume. This is a kind of an interesting task and challenge for the folk arts and crafts actively developing both in Tatarstan and in other regions of the country.
Photos courtesy of the project Traditional Costume of the Peoples of the Kazan Volga Region.
