Chernihiv region of Ukraine is one of the oldest and most historically and culturally rich areas in the country. The local traditional attire takes roots from Kyivan Rus’ and has a lot of common features with the apparel of Kyivan Rus’. Sadly, in Russian-Ukrainian war, museums, historical sites, and storages with valuable cultural artifacts are destroyed en masse. The world is loosing masterpieces that form Ukrainian traditional culture. Here is a video with just one folk costume that will show you what Chernihiv clothing culture looks like.
Due to constant bombing of Chernihiv city and region in Ukraine, the world is loosing masterpieces that form Ukrainian traditional culture, like centuries-old national garments, samples of traditional embroidery, weaving, jewelry making, etc, unique old photos and documents, and so many more extremely valuable items.
For you to really understand what we’re loosing, we’d like to share a video that shows a traditional married women’s costume from Chernihiv region of Ukraine, the late 19th – early 20th century. The woman in this video is dressing step by step in a gorgeous folk attire consisting of a long shirt adorned with woven patterns, a woolen skirt, a silk apron, a woven belt, high leather boots, a bonnet called “ochipok”, a kerchief, a fake coral necklace, and a wonderful white woolen coat in traditional design.
And the storages of Chernihiv museums are full of similar folk clothing artifacts that need to be saved. Of course, people’s lives are more important than any clothing items, but the traditional culture and historical artifacts shouldn’t be ignored and forgotten as well. This awful war should be stopped asap.
