The main territory inhabited by the Mari is the interfluve of the Volga and its left tributary, the Vetluga. This Finno-Ugric people is scattered throughout all neighboring regions and republics, many of its representatives are in the Urals. The Mari costume is included in the group of national costumes of the peoples of the Volga region.
Ethnos structure
Like every ethnic group, the Mari are divided into certain groups. It usually has to do with where you live. Three main divisions can be distinguished: meadow (the most numerous), mountain and eastern mari. The first occupy the Volga-Vyatka interfluve, the second live in the west of the Republic of Mari El, the third are descendants of immigrants from the Volga region to the eastern regions - Bashkiria and the Urals. The Mari costume of each group has distinctive features. But the main details of the costume are the same for all Mari. Moreover, men's and women's costumes of this people in ancient times differed from each other only in decorations.
Clothes,suitable for all genders
The main components of the attire are as follows: a shirt and trousers, a belt with pendants and a headdress, bast bast shoes and canvas or woolen onuchi. On holidays, leather shoes were worn. But the cut of the festive costume completely repeated the everyday one. And only the decorations made it elegant. The Mari men were mostly engaged in outdoor activities, which facilitated contacts with neighbors, and therefore the Mari men's costume resembles the Russian national outfit. Later, factory-made products began to appear in the attire of men. But until the 30s of the last century, specific national features were manifested both in cut and decoration, and in the way certain elements of clothing were worn.
Dictated by living conditions
The costume of any nation was formed under the influence of several factors, such as socio-economic, historical and climatic conditions. The means of labor that were available played an important role. So, the tunic cut of the shirt was explained by the fact that the fabric woven on a home loom was simply bent at the shoulders, and a cutout was made for the head. Without cutting out armholes, fabrics bent along the sides were sewn on, thus sleeves were obtained. Initially, the fabric was woven to the length of the shirt itself and the sleeve. The Mari costume was divided into everyday, festive and ceremonial clothes. Naturally, the bride's wedding dress was the most beautiful. It was richly decorated with embroidery, braid, braid, beads, mother-of-pearl shells, fur and everything that the craftswomen's fantasy suggested, but with strict adherence to standards. Mari colorclothing is predominantly white. The Mari costume (photo attached) is comfortable and joyful.
Distinguishing Features
As noted above, the main elements of the national dress are dictated by natural and climatic conditions. Therefore, in addition to the above parts of the kit, the composition included a demi-season caftan (myzher), a fur coat (zhga), winter shoes and a headdress. These things had a different cut - straight-backed and detachable at the waist. It should be noted that all subgroups had their own distinctive details - somewhere the back was trapezoidal, wedges were inserted, the shape of the collars was different. This did not only apply to outerwear. So, for example, the undershirt (tuvyr) of the meadow, mountain and eastern Mari differed in the location of the cut at the neck, the length of the shirt itself.
Men's suit
Since ancient times, the traditional Mari men's costume included a tuvyr (shirt), the length of which fell below the knees, but by the end of the 19th century it reached only the middle of the thigh. Pants (yolash) were also different - for meadow and mountain they were sewn with a narrow step, for eastern ones - with a wide one, which was provided either with a cut or a gusset.
Casual clothes were made from white homemade canvas (vyner), which was woven from hemp, less often from linen. For the manufacture of shoes, dressed animal skins, bast, and wool were used. Characteristic were Mari bast shoes, woven from seven bast, frills (ropes,wrapped around the leg) they were made of the same material.
Onuchi wore canvas in summer, cloth in winter. In more severe climatic conditions, felt boots were worn. Hats for men were also mostly felted, of various shapes. Later, the traditional Mari costume was harmoniously complemented by industrial-made boots and caps. It is worth adding that all the openings of the undershirt (neckline, ending of the sleeves, hem) were necessarily trimmed with ornaments. It contained spells from evil spirits. It was embroidery or braid.
Features of women's costume
Separate words, as always, deserve a woman's outfit, which is distinguished by beauty and originality. The costumes of the peoples of the Volga region, the Mari in particular, in addition to a specific cut, had other features characteristic of central Russia - the material from which clothes were made (hemp and linen, bast, felted products). The use of river shells in jewelry, closer to the north - river pearls. The undershirt, characteristic for the entire Volga region, in the Mari version in women's attire, differs in the cut of the sleeves and hem. The general white color of the dress, like in no other costume, is richly decorated with the characteristic Mari embroidery (tour), very dense and clearly defined. In addition, it contained information about the hostess - her belonging to a certain ethnic group, social status. Sometimes the back of some part of the costume was also covered with embroidery. And of course, each local group of the Mari had differences in patterns, shape and arrangement of embroidery.
Ornament - "a letter from the past" and a charm
The colors of wool or silk used to embroider the fabric were basically all shades of red, brown. The costumes of the peoples of the Volga region, including the Mari, are a bright and integral element of the national culture. It carries the most valuable information about this people, as it goes back to prehistoric times, when the first drawings arose, gradually turning into an ornament that can tell what the natives were afraid of, what they did, what surrounded them.
The most important detail
What else, besides the length and cut of the lower part of the shirt, do the outfits of men and women of Mari differ? As noted above, the Mari male costume was complemented by a felted hat. Women's headdress deserves separate words, because it is the most important element of the outfit. It is divided into female and girlish, therefore, in addition to social status and ethnicity, it also indicates the age of the hostess.
You can write a separate article about their diversity. In ancient times, Mari women used various scarves and bandages - this is evidenced by archaeological finds. The girls had two types of bandages - on a woolen basis and on a leather one. They were very richly decorated with beads and coins.
Intricate and unique
Women wore a hemispherical takiya, which is part of many traditional costumes of the peoples of the Volga region. The Mari women's headdress in ancient times was complemented by a scarf folded diagonally, put on a takiya and tied under the chin. Hatsmarried women are unusually diverse - frame, pointed, spatulate, towel. And all of them are divided into several subspecies. Thus, the magpie, known from crosswords, belongs to the class of spade-shaped ones, and the most ancient headdress of the Marikas, the shurka, is very high (40 cm) and belongs to the frame hats. The traditional costumes of the peoples of the Volga region, including Mari, have something in common with each other - hats on birch bark or leather frames were worn by Mordovian, Udmurd, Kazakh women. Initially, it was a Scythian headdress.
Essential and bright details
Mandatory attributes of a women's costume are a belt, an apron and a bib. Needless to say, all these details were carefully decorated. You can talk about belts for a very long time. What they didn’t hang on them: pockets or wallets, narrow one-strip and two-strip towels, beautiful brushes and rings. Outerwear was girdled with intricate sashes. Aprons, like other details of the costume, were embroidered and embroidered with braid, lace, decorated with beads and coins. The breastplate could have a different shape, it usually consisted of coins. Details are best seen in the attached photos. The Mari costume is very beautiful. Mari women successfully complemented it with jewelry - rings, earrings, and so on.
