From the book
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But besides it, women in remote villages still have a special old head-dress which is very beautiful. Women put on their heads some sort of a crown which consists of two parts: the upper part is called 'podzor', the lower part is called 'podniza' or gauze. This is a sort of 'kokoshnik' (traditional Russian head-dress) – thin, open-work, all decorated with pearls. The gauze is especially beautiful, it covers the forehead, casts shadow on the face and gives every face, even if it's not very beautiful, a very nice look. In ears they wear large pearl earrings; as for married women, besides 'kokoshnik' they put on the back of the head 'povoinik' which is also decorated with pearls; in such a dress the head of a married Korelian woman seems to be hidden behind a sort of a helmet; one can see only her face. Not everybody has such a 'kokoshnik' and it is very expensive, sometimes it costs about 300 roubles, due to the amount of pearls that it is decorated with. At first I was very surprised and couldn't understand how a poor Korel could afford such an expensive jewel, but then I learned that these pearls are found in some rivers and lakes of the Olonets region and are used for decoration of women's head-dress. Even having such expensive jewels, the Korels haven't become manufacturers or tradesmen, they are farmers, and instead of selling pearls, they leave them for themselves, for their daughters and wives. However, in places that are situated near centers of commerce where a simple village dress is changed for a modern one, where one can see puffed sleeves, blouses, umbrellas and other things; in such places a beautiful old 'kokoshnik' is dying out, the pearls are takes out and used for making beads. One can see even Russian people wearing 'kokoshkin', but it happens very seldoml however, here it has lost its primeval beauty. Korelian 'kokoshnik' is of Slav origin; the name 'podzor' used by the Korels shows its origin. But as for the look of the korelian 'kokoshkin', it has some Finnish features. It is the lower part which is of Finnish origin and it casts shadow on the face. Many years ago the Korels wore head-dresses of the Finnish type that are still used by the Finnish Korels who live in Finland, then the Korels adopted head-dresses from the people of Old Novgorod. I had to make a lot of efforts to buy one head-dress of such a type, I paid very much because it's very difficult to persuade the Korels to sell anything, especially head-dresses. This Korelian helmet, which has old Slav artistic features and the consequence of the Finnish influence, is now kept in the museum of ethnography of the Academy of Sciences. Translated by Maria, 2006 |