The Folk Clothing of the Bohuslav District of the Late Nineteenth – Mid-Twentieth Centuries (After the Materials of Folklore and Ethnographic Expedition of May–June, 2024)

Authors

Shchybria Volodymyr

a Ph.D. in History, a Director of the Folklore and Ethnography Centre of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Philology of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University (Kyiv, Ukraine).

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0918-7724

Zakalska Yaryna

A Ph.D. in Philology, a research fellow at the Modern Russian-Ukrainian War Department of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. A Memorial Complex (Kyiv, Ukraine).

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6533-8016

Abstract

The article is devoted to the investigation of traditional folk clothing of the inhabitants of the Bohuslav district of the late 19th – mid-20th centuries. The peculiarities of the folk costume of this district of Kyiv region are explored on the base of the materials collected and recorded during a folklore and ethnographic expedition to the Bohuslav district in May–June, 2024 as a part of the “Clothing and Tradition. Bohuslavshchyna” project, initiated by the members of the community organization “Around us. UA”. In total, 35 settlements have been studied during the expedition, and more than 100 respondents are interviewed. Thus, the article is aimed at the characterizing the peculiarities of folk costumes of the Bohuslav district in the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The object of the study is traditional Ukrainian clothing worn in the Bohuslav district of the Kyiv region in the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The subject of the submitted work includes the local peculiarities of the folk costume of the Bohuslav region of this period, the state of preservation of traditional clothing in the region in the twenty-first century. The clothes complexes (underwear, belt, chest, outerwear, belts, headdresses, jewelry and footwear) are analyzed in the terms of their aesthetic sophistication and pragmatism. The methods of making Bohuslav clothing and the materials used for this purpose are studied. The features common to the costumes of various regions of Ukraine, as well as distinctive features typical for the Middle Over Dnipro Lands are described. It is mentioned about the use of clothing elements in the ritual culture and beliefs related to attire. The influence of socio-economic factors on the formation of the features of folk clothes of Bohuslav region is emphasized. Attention is paid to the fact that, despite the gradual extinction of traditional culture, the scientists are able to record field data from authentic carriers even in 2024. It is shown that folk costumes are one of the important determinants of the identification discourse of Ukrainians, as well as an original ethno-cultural marker of a particular region.

Keywords

folk costume, Bohuslav region, folklore and ethnographic expedition, traditional clothing, community organization “Around Us. UA”.

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