THE SYMBOLISM OF THE TRADITIONAL CLOTHING AS A MANIFESTATION OF ETHNIC AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES ‘OWN / OTHERS’ IN SIBERIA
Author of the article analyzes the symbolic dominance in traditional dress of Russian old-residents, as well as the Southern Russian and Ukrainian immigrants in Siberia in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Inclusion of clothes in all spheres of life in a traditional society (the time of the pre-industrial technology) led to a high degree of symbolism in clothing together with footwear, additions and embellishments. The study of traditional garments such as the synthesis of the diverse manifestations of popular culture was conducted in the field of ethnographic expeditions to Western Siberia, organized by more than half a century in the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS. Collected source base, on the one hand, makes it possible to reveal the question of overcoming the border, when people of different culture became “own”. On the other hand, it is possible to identify the conditions under which this border is irresistible and long preserved. South Russian and Ukrainian women who wore similar clothes, although perceived local Siberian complex with a skirt and a jacket, which was also supported by fashion at the time, but at different pace. Voronezh, Tambov, Kursk and others migrants sooner adopted common types of clothing in Siberia, while Poltava, Chernihiv and other settlers from the Ukrainian lands until the 1950s retained shirts clung (afterwards jackets), tank tops etc., but abandoned the swing types of waist dress in favor of skirts. Of the several symbols of traditional clothing of Siberian communities most resistant were embroidered shirts (‘vishivanka’), which discovered new facets of their importance, as shown by historical experience, even set the tone for fashion trends in 1920-1950s. The main motive of the refusal from the traditional clothing was the fact that it was missing among the local population - the Siberians (Chaldon). In the eyes of the settlers they looked not only secured, but also “fashionably” dressed. This refutes the widespread image of the “Siberian Bear”, which was formed under the influence of a large complex of fur garments for the winter.