Ukraiins’ke
Ukraiins’ke used to be worn to church on Sundays. It was worn on holidays. It was considered appropriate and even obligatory dress for weddings. Specifically, a bride was to wear ukraiins’ke to invite guests to her wedding. This was done by walking the village with the maid of honor or druzhka, who was also supposed to be dressed in ukraiins’ke, as seen in these photos. The druzhka would carry special breads called shyshky. The bride would enter a house, place a shyshka on the table, and issue her invitation. Ukraiins’ke was also worn for the actual wedding, the ceremony in the church and the various ritual acts in the home of the bride and groom. With the advent of Soviet rule, there was pressure to stop wearing ukraiins’ke and to switch to the more modern white dress and veil. Many villagers did not like this and would wear the white dress for the civil ceremony only. Outside of official circles, during all of the ceremonies in the home, for example, they would still wear ukraiins’ke. The church wedding was of course banned under Soviet rule. A good example of wearing both the white dress and ukraiins’ke is the 1983 wedding of Halyna Kapas’, nee Latysh, in the village of Iavorivka, Drabiv region, Cherkasy province. The bride wears a white dress for the civil ceremony, but is dressed in ukraiins’ke elsewhere.
With the independence of Ukraine, ukraiins’ke is becoming more popular and widespread and more and more people are choosing to do the same as Halyna Kapas’. The return to earlier practice is not complete because invitations are no longer issued on foot. Rather, invitations are sent in the mail. Therefore, the formal walk around the village in ukraiins’ke is no longer practiced. I was told that, as the mailing of invitations was becoming more and more prevalent, there was an intermediary phase. During this phase, the bride would walk the village in ukraiins’ke to invite the older residents, but she would send mail invitations to the young.
Ukraiins’ke is also a popular choice as a funeral garment. It is believed that the coffin cannot be prepared in advance, though wood for it may be purchased. All the other necessities, however, may and should be set aside well in advance and most people over the age of 50 have a funeral bundle. Thus, people purchase and set aside the cloth needed to line a coffin and to cover it on the outside. They buy the prokhidna, a piece of paper with a strip called a vinchyk, or wreath, that gets cut off and placed across the forehead of the deceased and a prayer that is read at grave side and then folded and placed in the pocket of the dead person. They buy crosses, one to wear around the neck and a larger one to place in the hands. They may purchase the candles that are lit during the funeral service. Rushnyky and kerchiefs that will be given as presents to the gravediggers, pallbearers, and others who help with the funeral are typical items to acquire and place in the funeral bundle. And, of course, the deceased needs a full set of clothing from undergarments, to sock and shoes, to ukraiins’ke or modern clothes.
Today, everyday wear is usually a purchased dress for women and purchased trousers and a shirt for men. All married women wear a kerchief, at least in villages. Embroidery is widely popular and equally widely practiced. More and more people wear ukraiins’ke on more and more occasions. Ukraiins’ke is worn more and more often to weddings. It is also popular to wear ukraiins’ke to festivals. For example, at the Ivan Kupalo rite celebrated in Berlozy, Kozelets’ky region, Chernihiv province, all of the performers wore ukraiins’ke. The costumes chosen adhered to traditional age categories. Thus, the young girls dancing around the tree called the Marena all wore embroidered shifts and belts. Their hair was loose. The older, married women who sang in the choir wore skirts and headgear, as well as shifts. Men wore embroidered shirts. Even the effigy called Kupalo was dressed in ukraiins’ke. It was a figure made of sticks dressed in an embroidered shift with an enormous wreath for a head.
Modifications to the traditional heavy linen shift with red and black embroidery are also popular. Modifications tend to be of two types. One is to use traditional fabrics, but non-traditional threads and colors. The other is to use traditional colors on more modern garments, garments made out of a finer, thinner fabric and with a slimmer, more figure-fitting cut, such as the red blouse. Sometimes old, worn garments are taken apart and made into modern clothing, such as the tank top. Urban men in the 19th century, if they wanted to be nationalistic, wore embroidered shirts with their suits instead of a shirt and tie. This is again becoming fashionable, in villages as well as cities and men wear embroidered shirts with their suits on dress occasions.
