Enets traditional clothing
Speaking about the traditional clothing of the Enets, it should be understood that the history of the Enets people is closely intertwined with the Nenets and Nganasan history due to their residence on the same territory. The tundra Enets' clothes are similar to the Nganasan clothes, forest clothes - to the Nenets clothes.
Reindeer skins were the starting material for making clothes. Upper and lower garments were sewn from the skins of calves with very thick and dense wool. For each part of the costume they used certain parts of the hide with different texture. The central part was used for sewing upper and lower garments; the skin from reindeer legs (kamus) was used for making shoes and mittens; the so-called hoof fur (brushes) was used to make strong soles, and the skin from reindeer feet was used for children's shoes. Thread was made from reindeer tendons directly during sewing. The seamstress put a bundle of tendons next to her, from which she separated the fibres as needed and knotted threads from them on her cheek with her right palm. To prevent them from unravelling, the woman moistened them with saliva and passed them between her lips. The indispensable attributes of the Enets female costume were copper needles - eiche poggo, which were always sewn in pairs on the left side of the overalls at the waist level. Enets and Nganasans could not work with scissors and used wide knives for work. If necessary, they could shorten the pile to the required length. The skin was cut on a special cutting board and only from the side of the fleece in order not to damage the pile. Skilful selection of pile made the joints of two parts from the wool side completely invisible. The technology of sewing and processing of the material had been worked out for centuries. An Enets girl could not marry without learning to sew.
The Enets' male clothing complex consisted of upper and lower shoulder garments, underwear ("natazniki") and footwear. The upper shoulder garment was called fagge (tundra) pagge (forest). It was a hooded blind garment made of short-haired waders' skins (skins of calves killed in autumn) with fur outside, above the knees. A characteristic feature of its cut was the absence of longitudinal side seams. An independently cut piece in the centre of the front was sewn in the form of a bib. The top back (coquette) was cut from one piece together with the back and side parts of the hood. Holiday clothes were characterised by a large number of decorations. Seams were stitched with coloured cloth cantics, and fur mosaic technique was widely used. Apparently, due to the colourfulness and ornamentation of these clothes, the Enets called them fado faggy (from fadabo - ‘to draw, to write’).
The lower shoulder garment (joddu) was usually made from the autumn skin of wild deer and had its own independent cut. It consisted of a pelt turned tail-side up. Notches were made in the upper part of it - armholes for sewing in sleeves with kamus mittens (obe). The hem of the garment was lined with a strip of white fluffy dog fur, like the hem of the top of the garment, it had a slightly pointed cape in the front. The length of this garment was below the knee. The upper and lower shoulder garments were stitched together at the hem in some places. Winter fur garments, even double ones, were not warm enough for long journeys, so they were covered with a ‘sokuy’ (Russian name) made of winter fluffy white deer skins with the fur on the outside. A sokuy made of coarse fur was called soku’ote, and sokuy made of woollen fur - nari, nadi. The characteristic difference of this garment was a sultan on the hood, which was called noka. It was made of reindeer tail and sewed to the hood, sometimes a goose feather was sewn inside for hardness.
The clothes of industrial importance were hunting sokuy, winter and summer, which were sewn from two whole skins. M.F. Krivoshapkin, characterising the sokuy used in the fishery, describes it as ‘...a bag with a place for the head (hood) made of large deer skins with fur outwards...’. No sultan was sewn on the hood of hunting sokuy. The winter sokuy was made of fluffy white skins, as it was mostly worn for hunting with a sneak. The front part was made of soft dog skins so that there would be no noise when crawling up to the deer. The summer sokuy, which was a protection against rain, was made of sheared reindeer skins, i.e. the fur was cut to half, and this was done with a knife; in this way the skins did not get wet.
The lower waist garment was natazniki, short trousers, which were cut from a whole rectangular piece. The inner natazniki - taruho - were made of rovduga (doeskin). For the outer ones - nidy - deer skin with fur inside was used. A characteristic feature of Enets natazniki was the presence of a support at the lower ends of the trousers. In addition, a piece of rovduga (10 x 14 cm), dyed red and cut into narrow longitudinal strips in the form of fringe (djodo’o), was sewn on the front, just below the waistband. This element was also present on women's overalls.
In Enets tradition, there were no belts to girdle outer garments. There was only an inner belt made of belt, worn over a fur natazniki. A firebrand was attached to it with copper rings on the right side and a knife in a scabbard, a leather case with a long iron pipe on the left. The lower ends of the sheath and the tube were fastened to the leg above the knee.
Men's footwear differed by seasons. Winter shoes were called fae (tundra), pae (forest). The footwear had no instep and was a cylindrical cover. The sole was made of reindeer foreheads. Summer shoes tori (tundra), todi (forest) were made of rovduga. The length of men's "bakari" (adapted Russian name) was above the knees. The upper edge of its shins was cut aslant. In the front, rovduga ligatures were sewn to them, with the help of which the shoes were tied to the belt; another pair of ligatures was sewn under the knee, they were tied round the leg. In winter ‘bakari’ were worn over warm stockings made of thin deerskin lutu, sewn with fur inside, and the cut of stockings completely coincided with the cut of shoes. In summer, the shoes were worn barefoot, with a hole in the sole to drain out water that got inside.
Women's clothing, like men's, consisted of upper and lower shoulder garments, outer garments, footwear and hats. Women wore overalls: winter overalls were made of reindeer skin with fur trimmed inside (nidy); summer overalls were made of rovduga (taro (tundra), pii - forest). In winter, when travelling, women wore fur overalls over the rovduga one, which was a lower garment. Its decoration consisted of a straight vertical strip 5 cm wide, painted in red in the centre of the breast part, and small stripes also painted on the front parts of the trousers; 5-7 sickle-shaped copper plates with engraving were attached to the painted parts with rovduga straps. According to G.N. Prokofiev, these pendants on a woman's chest were called eruaddo (tundra), pereso (forest). Seven tubular copper pendants with rings and openwork plaques were hung on rovduga laces on the front parts of the trousers - tuo bine (tundra), la ко bese (forest). Fur and rovduga overalls had a belt of rovduga strip niojo (tundra), nieijo (forest). On the central part of the belt a piece of rovduga with a fringe, dyed in red, similar to the decoration on men's natazniki, was stitched. Two rings were sewn to the overalls at chest level on both sides for attaching a firebrand, a hook for cleaning a pipe, a tobacco pouch and a needle holder.
Over the overalls, in summer or at home, a woman wore a lower shoulder garment, sewn with fur inside, called a komido. This garment was completely identical in cut to the men's lower shoulder garment. The only difference was that it was hinged. To its round collar was sewn a collar made of dog or fox tail (often from separate pieces of fur), which was straightened outwards onto the upper garment. Kamus mittens were sewn to the ends of the sleeves, leaving the space above the palm part unstitched. The hem covered only the knees, and a fox fur trim was sewn on it.
The Enets called women's upper-shoulder clothing te’itifagge (tundra), te’itepagge (forest). By material, shape and cut it coincided with the upper shoulder men's clothes, but it was hinged, above the knees. Usually it served as a top for winter clothes, it was tightly fitted over the lower garment and sewn to it along the shelves from top to bottom with sinewy threads, with a stitch in the mark. The clothes were tied in the front using rovduga ties attached to the shelves from the underside and threaded through special holes to the outside. When travelling on the road, women wore over double winter clothes a long woolen fur coat, which corresponded to men's travelling sokuy.
Both men and women had funeral and dance clothes, not differing in shape and cut from the upper shoulder garments. It was sewn after coming of age for each boy and girl from red, black and white cloths (separate parts were distinguished by cloths of different colours). The cloth top was worn over ordinary fur garments. Unlike everyday clothes, ceremonial clothes had a leather belt embroidered with beads on the outside, with copper cast pendants attached to its lower edge. Women's shoes (nae fae) were shorter than men's, the upper ends of the shins were covered by the ends of the trousers of the overalls, and the cushioning was tight under the knee.
The female headdress was a cap made of reindeer skins; among the forest Enets it was called soe, among the tundra Enets tady, tayi. The lower (or home) bonnet was made of white wadding (with fur inside), and the parietal and occipital parts were cut separately and then sewn together. From all edges of the bonnet was covered with a black not long down from dog fur. The upper cowl was made of the same material, but with fur outside. Its down was made of long black dog fur. The headdress, which was part of the dance (funeral) clothes, was somewhat different. It was sewn for a girl when she reached the age of seven, and then, as the girl grew, it was repeatedly re-stitched. In contrast to the everyday one, it had a special wide front cover made of Arctic fox fur sewn onto it. The sultan had a goose feather inside. On the lower edge of the bonnet (at the neck) a fur downstitch was also sewn on, connecting with the facial one and descending on the sides of the head in the form of two lobes. A cloth top was sewn on top of this bonnet.
For children under five years of age, overalls were sewn that resembled women's overalls in shape and cut. A hole was made in the back at the bottom. The clothes of older children consisted of the same elements as adult clothes. A peculiar detail of children's malitsa (deerskin parka) and wigs was that small bells were sewn to the sleeves and chest, the ringing of which, firstly, made it possible to search for babies during a blizzard; secondly, it was a protection from evil spirits, i.e. it played the role of an amulet. Children's shoes differed from adult shoes: they were sewn ‘on the foot’, i.e. they had a rise.
The Forest Enets, living in the neighbourhood with the Forest Nenets, borrowed not only Nenets type of dwelling but also Nenets clothing quite early. It is not possible to determine the exact time of borrowing. In 1926 it did not differ from the Nenets clothing. Due to the development of large herd reindeer herding in the lower reaches of the Yenisei, which in Enets history falls on the second half of the 19th century, a part of the tundra Enets also adopted Nenets costume, which was the most adapted for the new type of economy (a longer malitsa for long trips on a sledge). According to the data of B.O. Dolgikh, in the Kirov collective farm in 1926, the Nenets also adopted the Nenets costume, which was the most adapted to the new type of farming (a longer malitsa for long trips on sledge). According to B.O. Dolgikh, in the Kirov collective farm in 1926, 55% of the population wore Enetsko-Nganasan clothes, 30% Nenets and 15% Dolgan. By 1948, the ratio had already changed: 71% of adult men and 68% of women used Nenets clothing and only 19% of men and 21% of women retained Enets costume forms to a greater or lesser extent. By the spring of 1962, according to V.I. Vasilyev, only one person wore Enetsian men's clothing and footwear, and several Enetsian women had preserved the female complex. At the same time, the Enets' proper Nenets costume was partially transformed due to the ethnic tradition: for example, tundra Enets usually do not wear a cloth cape over a malitsa, and their malitsa does not have a fur hem. But there is one detail of the Enets clothing complex, which not only continues to exist among the Enets population, but also spreads even among the Nenets. It is a woman's bonnet.
Clothing (natazniki for men and overalls for women) began to go out of use quite early, as early as in the early 20th century. They were replaced by Russian shirts and trousers of dark colours. At the same time, Russian-type clothing, footwear and headdresses appeared among the forest Enets earlier than among the tundra groups. In summer time (especially in fishing) some men wore bought trousers and shirts, and of footwear among fishermen broadly spread. During the World War II, due to the shortage of fabrics and insufficient supply of ready-made clothes, the population turned back to traditional types of costume. In the 1950s-1960s, spring and summer clothing often combined traditional and purchased forms: a ready-made suit with rovduga shoes or a dress of traditional cut with purchased shoes. However, winter and trade clothes remained predominantly traditional, especially among the tundra Enets. The process of its complete displacement began already in the 1970s-1980s. For example, sokuys in settlements are worn, as a rule, only by members of the older generation. Children's winter clothes are made of traditional materials and retain traditional cut, but school-age children and young people wear Russian clothes and shoes.
The XX century saw the formation of unified complexes of clothing and footwear, in particular, the Samoyedic complex (malitsa, sokui, fur boots and stockings), which includes elements of Nenets, Komi-Zyrian, and possibly Ugrian complexes.
Literature
- Bolina Z.N. Ezzuui - Trace of Sleds. - Dudinka, 2014. - 155 p.: il. Reference: https://www.tdnt.org/pdf_poli.php?id=25&t=publ
- Domestic stories of the Enets [From the words of R.A. Silkin] / Notes, introduction and commentary. B.O. Dolgikh. M., 1962 (TIE. N.s. T. 75)
- Vasiliev V.I. Nenets and Enets of the Taimyr National District // Transformations in the economy and culture of the peoples of the North. M., 1970a. С. 106-164.
- Dolgikh B.O. Essays on the ethnic history of the Nenets and Enets. М., 19706.
- Dolgikh B.O. Kolkhoz named after Kirov of the Taimyr National District // SE. M., 1949a. № 4. С. 75-93.
- Krivoshapkin M.F. Yenisei district and its life. SPb., 1865. Т. 1, 2.
- Mythological tales and historical legends of the Enets / Notes, introduction and commentary. B.O. Dolgikh // TIE. N.s. M., 1961. Т. 66.
- Peoples of Western Siberia : Khanty. Mansi. Selkups. Nenets. Enets. Nganasans. Kets (ed. by I.N. Gemuev), V.I. Molodin, Z.P. Sokolova ; Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology RAS ; Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS. N.N. Miklukho-Maclay RAS ; Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS. - Moscow: Nauka, 2005. - 805 с. - (Peoples and cultures). - ISBN 5-02-010297-0 (in per.). - С. 540.
- Prokofiev G.N. Enetsky dialect // YAPNS. M.; L., 19376. С. 75-90.
- Ethnic development of the peoples of the North in the Soviet period. М., 1987.
Contributor: Asya Konstantinova, Leading Specialist of the UNESCO Chair at M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University
