Women's Headdress in Early Rus

In such form, in the period of the 9th-13th cent., evidently can trace a total of 3 types of women’s headdress, which developed further in later times: towel-like (povoj), kichka-shaped and, third, kokoshnik. The geographic regions of these cannot be exactly fixed in view of rarity of finds, but it interesting to note, that the kokshnik is met in the North, the kichka-shape dress is in ancient Ryazan and Chernigov lands; the povoj, it appears was the most widespread – it is met both in the northern and the southern Russian lands. (Rabinovich, 9-13th)

Maidens could wear their hair loose or in a single braid. Often, strands of hair at the temples were put in little braids and strung with small bells of bronze or glass. (Pushkareva97)

Finds of maiden's headdresses of 10-13 cent. in excavations - korun, venkov, ventsov, and venchikov - although rare, allow one to form an idea of them. (Pushkareva89)

The characteristic maiden headdress consisted of various headbands made of ribbons or braid to resemble crowns and floral wreaths. (Stamerov) and (Kireyeva) and (Pushkareva97). In particular, the decoration of the ancient Russian maiden koruna and nalobnyx ("on brow") venchikov attests that this form of headdress arose from floral venkov. A garland of flowers on the head of a maiden was a symbol of coming-of-age and purity. (Pushkareva89)

For the 9th-13th cent., girls in ancient Rus, as also later, could go without theheaddress, which would cover all the hair. Hanging down to shoulders or braided in one or two braids, their hair was often held in place with a venchik [венчик], a narrow band of metal or bright material encompassing the head and fastened or tied at the back of the head (Saburova, 1978, p. 410). The more complex, richly decorated venchik was called a koruna [коруна].. Are known the remains of such koruny, made on a wire framework, in a Kiev hoard of pre-Mongol times. Evidently, the decoration of this koruna was an attribute of a rich urban girl and had a high cost. Somewhat more modest venchiki, but still supplied with metal decorations, evidently were worn even by peasant girls in the north Russian lands (Saburova, 1974, p. 90–94). The girls’ venchik and koruna did not cover either the crown of the head or the hair let down to the shoulder. (Rabinovich, 9-13th)

In discussing the 13th-17th century, Rabinovich says that maidens had hair curly or smooth, and could be proper with the head uncovered at home, and in the summer time, and also going outside. The hair could be also plaited into a braid, with string intertwined with the strands. The braid was decorated with a kosnik or nakosnik - braided into it gold thread or, more often a triangular ornament, usually on a firm foundation, richly embroidered with threads and pearls and edged with lace or metallic plaques. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

Around the head, whether the hair was plaited or loose was a prevyazka, a silk ribbon, and for the rich, of gold threads. Decorated on the forehead with embroidery, sometimes with pearls, it was also called a chelom or chelkoj. If the ornament went around the whole circle it was called a venok or venets. A venets with teeth along the upper edge, gorodki, was called a koruna. Thus the maiden's headdress in the 13-17th cent. preserved many features of the ancient headdress. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

Sometimes a simple browband of brocade or linen was worn called a chola or nachil'nika. Those used by the upper classes were made of silk or golden fabric, embroidered in colorful patterns. Often their fronts were high and decorated. (According to Stamerov, the term nachilnika is used to refer to all types of fillets and diadems, including those made of separate panels, often with hangings.) (Stamerov) and (Kireyeva) and (Pushkareva97)

Around the head, whether the hair was plaited or loose was a prevyazka, a silk ribbon, and for the rich, of gold threads. Decorated on the forehead with embroidery, sometimes with pearls, it was also called a chelom or chelkoj. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

A venets was formed when the ribbon of the nachilnik/chola was replaced with a wide hoop, or a narrow band, of hard material such as bast, leather, metal, etc., perhaps covered with golden fabric, that was secured at the back of the head. In the 11th-12th centuries, the venets began to be decorated on the upper (front) edge by various forms of battlements - pointed teremkami and square gorodkami. The raised front of the venets was called the ochelom. These were the headdresses of rich maidens. (Stamerov) and (Kireyeva) and (Pushkareva97)

There are discernable three main variants of venets: 1. flexible metal (silver, more rarely bronze); 2. nalobnyj ("on brow") venets with "povyazka" (venets-band) of brocade and sometimes wool or linen fabric, embroidered and richly ornamented (same as chola/nachil'nika above?); 3. venets from metal plates, strung on threads or cords. (Pushkareva89)

The venets was distinctly decorated: often from the venets at temple were braided cords which were passed then through the temple rings; in another variant, the venets supported hair, lying in loops, let down in front of ears from temple (in this case hair seems to supported temple ornaments). Temple rings were typically attached to the venets above the ears. Tiny bells or other metallic hangings were often fastened along the lower edge of the front of the headband. (Stamerov) and (Kireyeva) and (Pushkareva97 and 89)

The nalobnyj maiden venets, made of ribbon, was frequently ornamented with wool fringe (evidently to compliment the wool skirt-ponevoj), as confirmed in a woman's burial from a 13th cent. kurgan of Vyatiche. (Pushkareva89)

Around the head, whether the hair was plaited or loose was a prevyazka, a silk ribbon, and for the rich, of gold threads. Decorated on the forehead with embroidery, sometimes with pearls, it was also called a chelom or chelkoj. If the ornament went around the whole circle it was called a venok or venets. A venets with teeth along the upper edge, gorodki, was called a koruna. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

A "koruna" was a more complicated, richly adorned venchik (a general term?). The koruna was formed on a rigid base, covered with fabric (sometimes under the fabric was laid a bolster), and distinctively decorated. The artistic decorations of the bolster of a koruny could create the impression of a wreath of living flowers: separate elements were arched, done in relief, decorated with colored glass beads, and with jewels, according to the wealth of the family. Koruny most often of all served as holiday dress of unmarried city dwellers, while village inhabitants wore ventsy more often until marriage. (Pushkareva89)

A venets with teeth along the upper edge, gorodki, was called a koruna. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

Type 3 forms the head-gear of band construction. These are round in the form of headdresses made from a strip of cloth, metal, plaques and other materials, which, as the simplest diadems - "venki", secured the hair. (Kolchin)
The word "ven'" and derivatives of it "venok", "corona" [venets], "halo" [venchik] comes from the praslavyanskogo [proto-Slavic?] verb "to twist" [vit']. As suggested by T.A. Berkovich, in the Old-Russian language the word "venok" initially indicated the head-gear of a girl. (Kolchin)
Word "venets" had wider meaning, designating also the headdress, which was put on with the coronation to the tsarstvo [royal throne] and marriage. The word "venets" translated the ancient Greek word "diadem" - head band. Furthermore, the "venets" was the name for the maidenly head-gear of different forms, most frequently on a rigid foundation, in the tsarist way of life of the 15-16 centuries, and then in the people’s environment in the 18-20th centuries. (Kolchin)
Findings of the recent years have considerably enriched our ideas in this field. At present it is possible to isolate not less than eight subtypes of the head-gear of band construction based on the material from which they are made. (Kolchin)

Subtype 1 is made up of ventsy in the form of metallic bands. Lamellar halos [venchiki] in the form of metallic bands are known in the entire territory of ancient Russia. Some of the finds, as wrote V.P. Levashova, have a rigid foundation or "are sewn on the band". Thus, in the Kalinin district was discovered a silver venchik in the form of a band with holes at the ends. Under it went the band of birch bark. In combination with the metallic venchiki in the Kurskaya district are found the ventsy of special form in the form of a metal plait with a flattened end. The headdress is found together with the bracelet-shaped temple rings and wire pins [hairpins?] in the form of the extended finger-ring-shaped [perstnevidnyj] rings [kol'tsi], which attached temple rings to the hair. Date of burial – end of the 11th cent. (Kolchin)
Woven bands were made from brocade. It is possible to putthese into subtype 2. Silk bands (subtype 3) were decorated with embroidery and with embossed plaques from precious metals. They are known both in the rural kurgans and in the rich urban tombs and the hoards. (Kolchin)
Banded homespun headdresses were made also from vegetable fiber (subtype 4) and wool (subtype 5). Analogous bands were manufactured also in the 19 cent. in the Russian peasant way of life. They were decorated with geometric ornament. (Kolchin)
In the burials are found also bands, constructed/pieced and sewn of cloth (subtype 6). Thus, in the kurgan near s. [northern?] Ushmary of the Moscow region was found sewn head-gear - strips of cloth with tucked under and hemmed edges on a lining. The woolen cloth was dark-blue in color, the ornament was a pattern of red and yellow color. Next to it were found seven-bladed temple rings and strands of the long loose hair, which indicates, most likely, that the head-gear belonged to a girl. Date of kurgan – 12th cent. (Kolchin)
A distinctive band [povyazka], sewn from different materials, was also found in the Podolskiy region of the Moscow area. It consisted of woolen ribbon/band, on which in the area of the ochel'ya were sewn silk ribbons, with a size of 1.5 X of 2 cm, decorated with two hemisphere-shaped plaques of billon [a silver/copper alloy]. Along the sides of face were located seven-bladed temple rings. Under them was preserved the hair-do in the form of curls, laid in loops at the temple. Date of the kurgan – 12th cent. (Kolchin)
Banded [lentochnye] head-gear from plaques make up subtype 7. They are decorated with a number of plaques, plates. In burials they are found on the frontal bones of the skull (Kolchin)
In the Old-Russian treasure hoards are known the most luxurious models of this kind of attire. They consist of nine gold plates, seven of which are rectangular in form with a fin-shaped [kilevidnym] completion (in the form of "kiottsev") [literally, icon case], and two end plates of trapezoid form, which narrow to the outer ends. Between them the platelets were connected by threads, which penetrated holes on the sides of the plates. Head-gear was presented as a diadem with an ochel'e made from plates, which was tied on the back of the head by ribbon. They were decorated with enamel, pearls, and pendants, and they were included in the composition of ritual attire of the ancient-Russian princesses. (Kolchin)
In the urban monuments are known analogous forms of head-gear, but more modest. Thus, in the hiding-place under the ruins of Desyatinnoj church in Kiev were found plaques from the diadems: rounded with inserts, from small half-circle-shaped platelets, sewn in two rows, etc. They were preserved sewn on a ribbon of cloth. The number of plaques on similar diadems is usually an odd number, since at the foundation of these diadems lies an original form that has a srednik – a central figure. The described diadems belonged to rich townspeople, who were killed in Kiev, during the invasion of Tatars in 1237. (Kolchin)
Plaques from analogous diadems are also known in the kurgans. They are made from embossed or gilded silver and different alloys. Thus, in the Gomel region of BSSR a band of a number of tin-lead plaques was found together with a type 1 head dress. In the Novgorod region of the Chernovskeyeo area in the kurgan near d. Khreplya was found a venchik of plaques, decorated with ribbed wheels. Plaques in a similar form to that venchik were found in the territory of ancient Novogrudka. They are known also in the kurgans of the former Pskov province, in the rock graves of the Lidskoj district of the Vilenskeye province, and are found also on the territory of the former Latvian SSR. E. Mugurevich considers that this type of head-gear arrived in the north from the territory of ancient Russia. A venchik with a row of sewed-on enameled plaques is only found one time - in kurgan 1 of the former Kostromkeye province, in the Neryakhotskom district, it was sewn on birch bark. (Kolchin)
Into subtype 8 are placed head-gear in the form of ventsa [corona] on a birch bark or bast foundation, decorated with beads. E.N. Kletnovoy excavated a burial in the Smolenskaya region near d. Khozhayevo, in which together with the bracelet-shaped temple rings revealed this attire. She writes that on the skull was located "the strip of birch bark, from which, just as in the venchik, was made the foundation of the headdress and on it were threaded in a pattern gilded glass beads, laid horizontally and intersected by olive-shaped carnelian pronizkami [beads?], laid vertically". Date of barrow - 11th to beginning of 12th cent. (Kolchin)

Married women in ancient Rus carefully gathered their hair up and twisted it up on top of their heads or in two braids, pinned in a crown around the head. It was then covered with the povoinik. (Stamerov) and (Kireyeva)

In wedding ritual from time immemorial, the rite of the change of hairdo and headdress was one of most important. A maiden joined the ranks of mature women not after the ceremony in church or the wedding night, but when she first put on the married woman's headdress in the hair-winding ceremony at home. The bride's hair was rebraided into two plaits, pinned in a crown around her head and on her was placed the woman's kika. (Pushkareva89 and 97)

The traditional complex women's headdress, consisting of many parts, was characteristic for all of the period of the 13th-17th centuries and was preserved in some levels of society a further two centuries. It was not removed even at home. (Rabinovich, 13-17th c.)

The povoinik was a close-fitting cap made of fine soft linen that encircled the face and was fastened behind the head with string so that no hair could escape. It consisted of a cap and cap band and was usually made of light, fine fabric but was sometimes made from a thick net that was plaited from gold, silver, or silk thread (mainly among the nobility). It was then called a voloshnik. (Stamerov) and (Kireyeva)

There is evidence that the povoinik and the other headdresses left at least the lobe of the ear uncovered, allowing earrings to show. (Bykov/Kuzmin)

Kolckin does not seem to discuss this item, unless he lumps it in under the complex headdresses of soft construction (Type 2, subtype 2). This not surprising since he confines his discussion to archeological materials, and linen fabrics, such as those likely used to make the povoinik, are very poorly preserved in Russian excavations.

The povojkik or podubrusnik was a light soft cap of colored material. It covered the braided hair of the woman. For the same purpose, behind the povojvik was tied a many-colored scarf, podzatyl'nik. Over it all was worn the ubrus, or the volosnik. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

The volosnik was a net with hat band from gold, or material embroidered with gold. Archeological finds of volosniks in noble graves survive from the 16th-17th century. One was found under a 1603 grave slab, its hat band embroidered with unicorns - a symbol of death. In the opinion of Zabelin, the volosnik was worn sometimes with the ubrus - either under it or over it. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

Items noted in a 17th dowry:

"volosnik with edging of pearl grains with stones and emeralds and ruby/sapphires; gold volosnik with edgin sewn with beaten gold; gold volosnike edging with gold threads and pearls"

Over the povoinik, all women wore a veil. The veil was a cloth kerchief made of linen or fine silk. It was often embroidered in a colored pattern at the ends. It was wrapped around the head and went under the chin where it was pinned together. One of the ends hung down to the shoulder. It was approximately 2 meters long and 40-50 cm wide. The veil was either pulled down low on the brow or tied up higher so that the front part of the povoinik could be seen for a little more ornamentation. (Stamerov)

A kerchief, ubrus, was usually worn over the povoinik (or over the braided hair according to Pushkareva97). It was cut in the shape of a triangle and made of linen or silk in white or red. It was pinned under the chin with the richly decorated ends hanging on the chest, shoulders, and back. (Kireyeva) and (Pushkareva97)

The ubrusy and povoi (names for the veil?) completely covered the hair of women, their ends hung down on the back, shoulders and chest. The povoi was known already in the 10th cent.; similar head cloth covers were worn also by Byzantine women, and as a result Russian bourgeoisie historians named the Russian povoi "maforiej" or "fatoi", although there is no basis to speak about borrowing the povoi from Byzantium. The princess on a miniature of the Izbornika of Svyatoslav 1073, the women on frescos of Novgorod church Spaca Nereditsy, Grand Princess Olga on one of miniatures of Madridski manuscript, and also in the pictures of Padzivillovski chronicle, on frescoes of church Fedora Stratilata - all appear in fine head cloth coverings, judging by the soft folds of fabric, "pabolochityx", i.e. silk. (Pushkareva89)

In all situations the part of the headdress over the forehead, the ochel'e, was decorated more richly. (Pushkarev89)

For the 9th-13th cent., the woman’s headdress - the povoj [povoj], judging by depictions, was towel-like, about this speaks the term “ubrus”, towel, recorded in the chronicles in connection with the headdress. It was one owned around the head, covering all the hair of the woman, and hung down sometimes on the shoulder, and both ends could hang on the chest. The person, who tore off from a woman’s povoj so that she was bareheaded, was punished in Novgorod in the 12th century with a high fine, two times higher than for damage to a cloak (GVNiP, p. 55–56; NPL, p. 15), because in that situation the woman was considered disgraced. (Rabinovich, 9-13th)

In the 13-17th cent., over the povojkik/podubrusnik and podzatyl'nik was worn the ubrus (or the volosnik). The ubrus was a linnen headdress, richly embroidered, pinned iwth special pins (tis other name - shlyk). Zabelin says that the ubrus was sometimes worn with the volosnik - either over or under it. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

Kolchin's Type 1. Includes kerchief-like and polotenchatye [from polotentse, “towel”?] head-gear. In the 11-14th cent. to designate these items, they used terms such as "plat", "pokrov", "povoy". They all designated pieces of fabric that covered, coiled around, or wound around something. In the ancient-Russian language, they were also used to mean "head dress". The form of the head-gear depended on the form of the piece of cloth - "ubrus" is the term which in the dialects of the eastern Slavs of the 19-20th cent. designated the polotenchatyy headdress. In the Old-Russian language, the word "ubrus'" was used to designate the head-gear of both women and men. (Kolchin)

Subtype 1. Woolen and half-woolen head-gear. Woolen shawls were set and investigated in the kurgans of the Vyatichi. Among them is the interesting cloth discovered in the female burial of the Bolkovskoy kurgan group of the Moscow region. This is half-woolen cellulose "kletchataya" cloth. The design of the cells "kletki" is made with red, black and yellow threads. Furthermore, inside the cells were preserved the openwork strips, formed by the vanished "bypavshikh" threads of plant origin. The cloth was found in the temples under the seven-bladed temple rings and the lamellar grivnoy [grivna usually refers to a silver necklace resembling a celtic torque]. The arrangement of the cloth in the area of the skull and chest indicates that it belongs to a shawl. Analogous cloths were discovered in the same kurgan group, in kurgans 31 and 33, and also in the kurgans in the conference of the Tsaritsynskogo region of the Moscow area. The date of the described monuments is the beginning of the 12th to the first half of the 13th cent. (Kolchin)
In 12 burials of the kurgans of the Vologodskoi region were also discovered cellulose shawls, from the half-woolen cloth of plain/tabby weave. It is interesting that in the 19th cent. in the Vologodskeye province, woman wore woolen and half-woolen/cellulose shawls, which were called "ponyavoy" - a term which in the 19th cent. designated a skirt [yubka] in southern Great Russia and okhaben' [an opashen-like overgarment] in the northern provinces of Russia. As a rule, in the ancient written sources, "ponyava" indicates a cloth for the outer clothing with which it is possible to either wrap something or to cover something. (Kolchin)
The woolen shawls of that same time, not just cellulose "kletchatye" ones, but also patterned ones, were found in the kurgans of the Bityagovskoy kurgan group of the Moskow region. (Kolchin)
Are noted also the shawls, embroidered with beads, plaques, and with trapezoid-form pendants, in Moscow, Smolensk and Vologodskoj regions. (Kolchin)
In the northwestern regions of Russia are frequently found woolen shawls decorated with bronze spirals and ringlets (FOGS 1896 tables, 16 Fig. 15, 16). These are the so-called "vilajne", which are found contiguous with the territory of the Baltic and Baltic-Finnish tribes regions. They are known there from the 7th cent. and exist in these regions up to 19 cent. [These metallic decorations seem to be special to graves of ethnic Finns living in those areas in our period, from my reading of other sources. See Khvoschchinskaia, "New Finds of Medieval Textiles in the North of Novgorod Land," NESAT IV.] (Kolchin)
Subtype 2. Head-gear from paskonnykh threads. Into this subtype can be placed attire woven from threads of vegetable fiber. In the soil, they barely remain. Only sometimes are their remains discovered in the archeological monuments. Thus, in the Gomel region of Roslavl region in the kurgan group Vetochka 4 on the buried skull, under the semi-circular [semiluchevymi, crescent-shaped] temple rings, under the plaques, and also on the right humeral bone were found the fragments of flaxen cloth of plain weave. The head-gear was decorated above the brow with a strip of plaques from the tin-lead alloy of rhomboid [diamond] form. The date of the kurgan is the beginning of the 11th cent. (Kolchin)
Better preserved was the cloth of vegetable fibers on the female skull in the burial of the end of the 12th cent., excavated in Minsk. This is light cloth of linen interweaving - "ryadina", preserving the white color. Under it, the braids, laid around the head, showed through and a high birchbark "circle" (?) [kyuzhok, the question mark is in the original Kolchin text]. The ochel'e [forehead section] was decorated with a rectangular piece of silk cloth with embroidery. Here also was preserved the venok [garland] of flowers. [!] From analogous cloth was woven the polotentsi especially for weddings and deaths in the 19-20 centuries. In the museum of Minsk is stored a polotentse - "sarpanok" - from paskonnykh threads. It has a very rare structure of plain weave; its length is about 3 m. Similar polotentsi are known among all the eastern Slavs up to the 20th cent. (Kolchin)
Subtype 3. Silk head-gear. In ancient burials sometimes remain the fragments of silk fabrics. Thus, in the Moscow Kremlin, in a burial of the 13th cent., is discovered rich head-gear, which included transparent silk cloth of the muslin [kisei, thin, loosely woven cloth] type – fata [veil]. (Kolchin)
The remains of cloths from the fata are known both from burials and from the ancient Russian hoards of the 12-13th cent. It is made from transparent light cloth of plain weave, decorated with a woven pattern, with gold embroidery, sewn-on golden-fabric bands. They usually dyed them red and rose in color. (Kolchin)
The term "fata" came from the countries of the east, where it designated a special form of silk cloth. The Centers for the production of thin covers were Iranian cities. The "fata" is known both in the Russian literary language and in the dialects of the 19-20th centuries. This word designated the well-dressed women’s headcovers, the wedding polotentse, which were made from light fabrics. (Kolchin)

Later (when?) over the povoi was worn the korona-kokoshnik or kika, and in winter - a hat with fur hat band and rounded crown. (The fur hat was also worn by maidens.) (Pushkareva89)

Kika, kokoshnika, krichka, kichka, soroka, etc

In wedding ritual from time immemorial, the rite of the change of hairdo and headdress was one of most important. A maiden joined the ranks of mature women not after the ceremony in church or the wedding night, but when she first put on the married woman's headdress in the hair-winding ceremony at home. The bride's hair was rebraided into two plaits, pinned in a crown around her head and on her was placed the woman's kika. (Pushkareva89 and 97)

Married women's headdresses resembled those of the maidens in being tall with a rigid base (toothed/jagged, radial or tower-formed), but they also incorporated a kerchief element, one of the oldest forms of women's headcovering. It was also embellished even more richly. Developed in 12-15th cent. and acquiring the name kiki (kichki), it absorbed elements of the traditional women's headdress of the eastern slavs, the korun, and also the Polotenchaty headdress, the ubrusa or povoya (kerchief). (Pushkareva89) In the future the front part of the kiki (chelo or ochel'e), decorated with pearls, embroidery or precious stones, was made detachable. However, the ochel'e could also be on the povoe: the edge of the headdress embroidered with minute/fine glass beads and covering forehead, has been found in peasant graves of 12th cent in Podmoskove. Visochnye (temple) and inye (?) adornments of married women were already held up not by the hair, but by the kika. (Pushkareva89)

Archaeological finds from the 9th-13th cent. allow to reconstruct also the more complex form of ancient women’s headdress.

In peasant graves of the 10th to 11th centuries excavated in the Vologodski region were found remains belonging, in the opinion of M.A. Saburova, both to a towel-like headdress covered with pulled aside downward special “heavy” [грузиками] ends, and also to a kokoshnik embroidered with plaques. (Rabinovich, 9-13th)
V.P. Darkevich and V.P. Frolov more definitely recover the headdress of city dwellers in the material of hordes found in old Ryazan. In their opinion, the wealthy city dwellers wore in the 13th century “horned” kika with embroidery of gold on the ochel’ye [forehead area].(Rabinovich, 9-13th)
The headdress of city dwellers from the Moscow elite of the 12th century was reconstructed by N.S. Shelyapina according to information of archaeological observation in the Moscow Kremlin. This is also a kichka- shaped headdress with richly embroidered ochel’ye [forehead area]. (Rabinovich, 9-13th)
Not engaged specifically in the reconstruction of headdress as a whole, the B.A. Rybakov showed a method of wearing the Chernigov kolti hanging down also from the ornamented front part on some kichka-shaped headdress. (Rabinovich, 9-13th)

In such form, in the period of the 9th-13th cent., evidently can trace a total of 3 types of women’s headdress, which developed further in later times: towel-like (povoj), kichka-shaped and, third, kokoshnik. The geographic regions of these cannot be exactly fixed in view of rarity of finds, but it interesting to note, that the kokshnik is met in the North, the kichka-shape dress is in ancient Ryazan and Chernigov lands. (Rabinovich, 9-13th)

The main part of the women's headress was, when the ubrus or shlyk was not being worn over the volosnik, the kika or kichka, a symbol of marriage. The kika had a soft crown, surrounded by a firm, widening upward podzor [valance]. It was covered iwth bright silk fabric, in fron it had a chelo sewn with pearls, at the ears - ryasy, in back - a zadok from a piece of brokade or sable skin, covering the back of the head and neck form the sides. Over the kika was worn someitmes another scarf, so that the chelo remained visible. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

17th century sources mention also the kokoshnik and, less often, the soroka, but according to Rabinovich there is no research about the construction of this headdress, and the surviving records provide no information to judge about it. Researchers often point out the connection between the kika, soroka and kokoshnik recorded in 16th-17th cent. sources with the headdresses that survived among peasants and even city dwellers up to the 19th and early 20th cent. One author wrote "In many remote places still even in our time one can see not only peasants, but even female city dwellers' headdress similar to a beet [burak?] or basket, sometimes with horns, made of a bast strip or glued-up linen, covered with galloon/braid or fabric of bright color and decorated with various embroidery and beads, and for rich women, even pearls and valuable stones." However, Savvaitov did not make any distinction between kika, soroka and kokoshnik. Dal wrote in the middle of the 19th cent. of the soroka, "This ugly, but very rich headdress, is already disappearing from custom; but I still happened to see a soroka worth 10 thousand rubles." A richly embroidered wedding soroka called the zolotolomka was worn by the bride for holidays and in the first 2-3 years after her wedding even up to the beginning of the 20th cent. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

In analyzing 17th century dowries, Rabinovich concludes that the differences between the terms was more social than regional. Landowning people had soroka and kika. Nobles and highest level merchants had kokoshnik. However, since Mejerberg pictured Muscovite women in kichka-shaped (widening upward) headdress, one could suggest that in the central Russian lands, the old Moscow and Vladimir principalities, the kichka-shaped headdress was prefered. Kokoshniki were accessories of noble and rich women everywhere. In northern Russian lands, such a headdress on a rigid foundation existed up to the 13th cent. And the kika and its accompanying pieces of headdress discussed above, probably had a wide distribution by the 16th cent. in order to be included in that all-Russian guide to family life, the Domostroi. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

Traditional Regional Russian Headdresses

In type 2 is placed the complex head-gear, which consists of a large number of parts. Obviously, they were not only pieced, but also sewn. The state of the mastery of material allows the definition of three subtypes of this complex head-gear.
Subtype 1. Sewn head-gear of rigid construction. These are found in the kurgans of the Vyatichey. Thus, in the burial of the kurgan of the Besedskoy kurgan group on a female skull, under the temple rings, was preserved a structurally integral fragment of head-gear. It consisted of a piece of bast (with a size of 7.5 X of 3.5 cm), on which was firmly held a woolen patterned band with a length of 5 cm and a width of 2.3 cm. Between the bast and the band were passed strands from twisted woolen threads. On the strands was preserved oxide from the metal of the temple rings, and between the band and the bast was a fragment of woolen cloth of tabby weave with a pattern made by the "branoy" [brocade?] technique. The cloth is of brown color, ornamented with red woolen threads making the shape of diamonds, placed in a checkerboard formation. Here was found a fragment of the same cloth with "branym" ornament, with a size of 10 X 14 cm. It is cut out in the form of triangle with rounded corners. Obviously, here was female head-gear on a rigid foundation with a cover, sewn from cloth. The headdress was sheathed along the ochel'yu [forehead piece] with patterned bands, under which were passed the woolen cords, to which were fastened the temple rings. The "curls" formed from the woolen threads seemingly substituted for the hair hidden under the head-gear. Analogous head-gear is found in kurgan 28 of the Volkovskoy kurgan group. It is made from dark woolen cloth of tabby weave with the "branym" ornament in the form of diamonds and slanting crosses [saltire or St.Andrew crosses] of red color. The possible form of head-gear can be judged from the height of the preserved bast foundation. Judging by the images of head-gear on the works of the small plates of the 13-14th cent. the silhouette rose above the brow and had a slightly widening or rounded form. (Kolchin)
Subtype 2. Composite head-gear of soft construction. As an example of head-gear from the large number of independent parts of soft construction, it is possible to give archaeological headdresses with fringe from the kurgans of the Vyatichey. They are found in five kurgans of the Moscow region. Summarizing the data from the excavated complexes, it is possible to present part of these headdresses. This is fringe from woolen twisted threads with a length of 20 cm, which was fastened on the band; the woolen figured bands were located on the forehead and tied around the head; fragments of fabrics (flax, fur, wool blend), werenfound on the skull (under the band, the fringe and above the band). The nature of the included materials and the structural elements of these items are closest of all to the head-gear of southern Great Russians of the beginning of the 20th cent. - to "uvivkam" and "mokhram". For them was typical the presence of different independent parts, which were made from different fabrics, and the fringe, which was fastened to the band. There is an interesting similarity between the decoration on the band from the archaelogical complex with that on the band of the Tambovo headdress with uvivkoj - slanting crosses [St. Andrews cross or saltire], and rhomboids (table 66, 3). Youth wore such headdresses into the 19-20th centuries. They are included in the complex of clothing with the panevoj. [I wonder if these headdresses related to the povoinik?] (Kolchin)
Subtype 3. Head-gear in the form of "kokoshkhikov", decorated with plaques. Among the complex head-gear, are known the headdresses, consisting of fabric, a rigid foundation (birch bark, bast) and tin -lead plaques/plates. Their prevalent form was a high head-dress, having the form of a "halo" [nimba] – a kokoshnik with a rounded top. It was covered to the top with plaques. Such head-gear are found in the Smolenskaya region and in the Vologodskaya region. (Kolchin)
Head-gear of this form was worn in the central and northern regions of Russia into the 19-20th centuries. In the ethnographical museum of Petersburg it is possible to see the birchbark foundation of a similar kokoshnik. It comes from the Vologodskeye province. (Kolchin)
In the Kharlapovskom tomb of the Smolenskaya region in the construction of these kokoshniks included the bracelet-shaped temple rings, which were fastened or superimposed on a birch bark circle. The diameter of the birch bark circles repeats the diameter of the rings. As investigation showed, on the edge of the birch bark circle were stitched holes from punctures of needle, since they were faced with woolen cloth of red color. The rings were attached to the head-gear with the aid of the leather straps. It is possible that the birch bark circles were sewn to the rings or simply "tucked in" under the head-gear, as known based on materials of recent ethnography. (Kolchin)
The materials found in Kharlapove make it possible to suggest that along both sides of female head-gear were worn not simply the rings, but also blades/paddles [lopasti] of rounded form [?] also known based on materials of ethnographies of the 19-20th centuries. In the Museum of Folk Art of Moscow is stored the head-gear "horned krichka" [krichka rogataya]. On it, along the sides of the ochel'ya, round blades are sewn on the rigid foundation. Their diameter is 7.5 cm. They are decorated with beads, plaques and united into one composition with the ochel'em by the band, sewn on around the blades and the brow. To us unknown, whether the head-gear of Kharlapova described above was one-piece or composite. One can only assume that they could have included the temple pendants, reinforced with the blades [lopastyakh] and thrown across the top of the head with the aid of straps. Date of the Kharlapovskogo tomb - 11-13th centuries. (Kolchin)

Noble women would wear costly fur hats over the ubrus in winter. These resembled the male styles and took the form of a low cap with a band or fur edging. (Kireyeva) and (Stamerov) and (Pushkareva)
In summer, women wore a tall wreath that covered the top of the head over the ubrus. (Pushkareva)
Both types of hat, summer or winter, were richly decorated, especially in front, with whimsical designs of eyelets, embroidery, metal and glass beads, and fringes strung with metal, glass or pearl beads. (Pushkareva)

Going outside, women of the prosperous levels of society of the 13th-17th cent. could wear a cap, shapka, or hat, shlyapa, over their other headgear. The written sources record not only the shapka and shlyapa, but also the kaptur, treukh, stolbunets and chepets. Women's hats were round, with small flaps, richly decorated with cords of pearls and gold threads, and sometimes, valuable stones. Hats were fur, for the most part, covered with cloth. Sometimes a scarf, fata, was tied on above the fur hats so that its corner hung down the back. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

The kaptur was round, with flaps covering the back of the head and neck. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

The treukh was reminiscent of the modern ushanka (cap with ear flaps) and had an upper of valuable fabrics. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

The stolbunets was tall and resembled the men's gorlat hat, but narrowed upward and hadd additional fur trim at the back of the head. (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

Women's adornments in 10-13th cent. are one of the most frequent finds in excavations of kurgans of that time. In kurgans can be found two main groups of adornments distinguished by starting material: made from metal and made from glass. In the 10-15th cent, bone and wood ornaments were also used, while in costumes of city-dwellers of North-West Rus - amber. (Pushkareva89)

Besides the types of head-gear described above in the monuments of the 10-13th centuries, are found also their separate details, which tell about their constructions, about the hair-styles and special features of their adornment. The most widespread and frequently found detail of head-gear can be considered the ochel'ya. In essence, this is an independent design detail, and for its adornment they used all possible technical methods known in sewing and jewelry arts. For example, by the imprints of the plaques on a female skull, one can present an ochel'e, discovered in an burial of Boriso-Glebskoj cathedral in Novgorod. It was rectangular in form but slightly higher in the center top. The entire surface of the ochel'ya is decorated with plaques. In their composition are included embossed plaques of gilt silver of different forms and silver filigree. The same form of ochel'ya gives evidence that it was sewn on a solid foundation. Together with the analogous platelets are found the remainders of silk fabric - "gold lustrous brocade cloth", which indicates these ocheliy are part of expensive silk attire, including gold threads. These burials are placed at the end of the 12th cent. (Kolchin)
In the Moscow region was discovered an ochel'e on a rigid foundation. It is made from silk cloth of twill weave. On the cloth executed in gold thread is embroidery in the form of trees [tree of life motif], inscribed in arches. The embroidery is edged by golden fabric bands, which define it as a distinctive decorative detail of the headdress. Date of burial – 12th cent. (Kolchin)
A rich ochel'e from a headdress was found in the burial under the Uspenski cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. It consisted of silk ribbons, embroidered with gold and silk thread. Furthermore, the ochel'e was decorated with a pearl obniz'yu [edge? String around?] a "srednik" [central figure] in the form of drobnitsy [old Russian decorations] of rectangular form (it was not preserved). It is found together with silk head-gear – the volosnik [net cap], and the fata. Date of burial - beginning 13th cent. (Kolchin)
The document #429 [birchbark letter] was found in the excavations in Novgorod in 1965. According to paleographic data, it relates to the 12th cent. In it is indicated an inventory of clothing and "some female head-gear (three) with edging, decorated with ribbons (or: from ribbons, many-colored), and ochel'em... ". The latter is especially important, since it has a direct relationship to the same detail of head-gear discovered in archeological monuments of pre-Mongol Russia. As is known, in the 19th cent. this term, preserving the meaning of the front section of the female head-gear, in some provinces shifted to mean the whole head-dress. (Kolchin)

One of the ornaments of kika and povoya were ryasy, mentioned by Daniil Zatochnik. They were a string of beads or pearls. "Ryasy with ruby/sapphire" were known from will of Verijski prince Mikhail Alexandrovich. In 14-15th cent. ryasy became part of everyday life and in prosperous families were passed on from generation to generation, forming the basis for diverse modifications in the 16-17th cent. (Pushkareva89)

Besides the temple rings, in the urban environment and the environment of the higher levels of society, were worn all possible ryasna - long suspensions from kolodochek [literally, little logs], chains and their links/parts. From them, the different pendants were hung: kolty, plaques. Usually they were attached to the head-gear with finger-ring-shaped temple rings, which had one end bent into a spiral. Being punctured through the head-gear, the spiral end of the ring held the pendants in the place the head-gear was punctured. Ryasna, just as temple rings, were distinguished by a wide variety of forms and fastenings on the head-gear. (Kolchin)

In the cemetery of Suzdal of the 11-12th centuries are found ryasna in the form of the finger-ring-shaped rings linked together. Three-bead temple rings were suspended from them. Such ryasna are found in the burials of girls. For girls these rings were twined in a braid; the older women usually wore one ring at the level of ear. (Kolchin)

(It was the Muscovite period when the "podniza" appeared - openwork lace-like decoration made of pearl strands worn on the forehead.)

In 10-13th cent., one of the most widespread women's ornaments in Rus, in all classes of society, was the temple ring. Archeologists consider them and their various forms ethnic-defining signs. For example, Novgorod Slovenes wore romboshchitkovye ("romboid panel") temple rings; women of Polotskoj land - bracelet-shaped; the ancestors of modern Muscovites - (the Vyatichi) seven-bladed, etc. The most widespread were wire temple rings, but are seen also beaded, and shell/shield, and radial. The methods of mounting ring to the headdress or hair at the temple were various. They could be hung on ribbons, small straps or pig tails, or could be pinned to ribbon, as if forming a small chain/row. Sometimes temple rings passed through the lobe of the ear, like earrings. (Pushkareva89)

Together with the temple rings are frequently found in the burials the fragments of ribbons/bands, fabrics, and sometimes also the details of the hair-dos, which also give information about the wearing of temple rings. (Kolchin)

Thus, based on materials of the Bologodskoj expedition it was possible to trace three methods of the wearing of temple rings: 1) intertwined with a plait from the hair at the level of temple and ear; 2) passed through the cloth of the head dress; 3) in the ears. There are also known cases of temple rings passed through the golden-fabric band at the level of temples. A.V. Artsikhovskij speaks about the wearing of temple rings passed through a head band, made from leather or from fabric. (Kolchin)

Furthermore, temple rings were fastened to leather straps. These are found everywhere. The straps were attached to the head-gear in various ways. One of the widespread methods - leather or cloth band folded in half with the temple rings passed through. They were put through the ribbon so that one ring was located below another, and lowest was simply hung on the ribbon. This method is traced in Belorussia in the territory of the Radimichey. Thus were semi-circular temple rings fastened at the temples to head-gear with a rigid foundation. An analogous method was also established in the Moscow region. In kurgan 12 in d. Mar'in of the Podolskiy region on the skull of a female burial was found a band of cloth in combination with seven-bladed temple rings. In the process of restoration were discovered the imprints of the seven-bladed rings on the band and the holes from the punctures by the arcs of the rings, that also made it possible to establish this method of wearing. The temple rings, passed through the band, which kept the hair under it, fastening the hair-do. In this burial, obviously, the hair was loose. (Kolchin)

Under the temple rings are frequently found details of the hair-do in the form of loops of hair, hanging downward at the temple. They seemingly lay under the temple rings. Loop-curls [petlilokony] at the temple are usually encountered in female burials together with the seven-bladed temple rings. They created padding between the temple and the rings, combining utilitarian and aesthetic functions. (Kolchin)

Peter Beatson's splendid article on Temple Rings.

With disappearance of temple rings in 14-15th cent (This date is debateable. See below.), kolti appeared more in the attire of the priviledged classes, fastened to headdress on small straps, small chains or ryasa. (Pushkareva89)

Koltas/kolti were hollow metal hemispheres or pairs of convex disks, joined to form a hollow wheel or star and often filled with bits of cloth soaked in aromatic resins and fragrant oils. These could decorate venets or hair like the temple rings or hang lower down on the cheeks in front of the ears from chains of various lengths made of beads or medallions. Various kinds of pendants could also be hung from these chains. These were popular in the 10th to 13th centuries. (Stamerov) and (Kireyeva) and (Pushkareva97 and 89)

Kolti were made of various metals, richly decorated with "partitioned" enamel, granules, and filigree. Radial kolty of 13-15th cent. are frequent finds in excavations of buried treasure hoards. Since kolty are found mainly in excavations of urban settlements, one can make the conclusion that kolty were ornaments mainly of representatives of urban and local feudal nobility. In the beginning of 13th cent. there appeared kolty of tin-lead alloy, imitating expensive silver and gold, but with more simple decoration, in imitation of the ornaments of the nobility from valuable metals. After the Horde conquest, such kolty are not traced, although in wills of nobility, kolty with valuable stones are mentioned a while longer. Probably, they remained in use only as family relics of representatives of nobility. (Pushkareva89)

Flanders knight Gilbert of Lanua, visiting Novgorod in 1413, noticed that there "girls have diadems on crown of head, like saints have..." Another interesting description of such "diadems", i.e. of maidens ventsa "z gorody" (with teeth), is in the will of Verjski Prince Mikhail Andreevich: "...venets z gorody, da with ruby/sapphires, da with laly (rubies - N. P.), da z grains s veliki[mi] (pearls - N.P.); other venok nizan great pearls, ryasy with ruby/sapphire da s laly, koltki of gold with ruby/sapphire..." (Pushkareva89)