Traditional national garments of women in Dagestan

This video is about traditional dresses of Dagestan women. You can see elements common for all ethnic groups in Dagestan as well as some particularities: cut, decorations and so on. hope you wil enjoy the video!

Traditional dress is one of the most important elements of the material culture of Dagestani folks.

Unlike man garments ,which were almost uniform for all highlanders in Dagestan,

there was an extremely variety and abundance of ornamentals in dresses of women,

dresses had a lot particular features and preserved local culture traditions more quiescently.

Traditional woman wear in Dagestan

According to the way they more dresses and shawls ;

to original headwear and bijous;

to style of shoes

one could accurately determine not only the ethnic group a woman presented

but in major cases an aul (a mountain village) she was from.

These women in fineries are Dargin from village Akusha.

Silk tunics with ornamentals, white wraps.

Under their wraps you can see ‘chukhtas’, which cover their heads and hair.

On their feet there are morocco or numdah boots.

Chukhta is a part of a headwear that is under a shawl or a wrap.

It was made as a mutch or a coif with a pouch for hair.

It was wide -spread among all nationalities of Dagestan.

Its main use was to cover hair.

By the time wraps were displaced by shawls or veil.

Dargin women from village Mugi wore short fur coats every season within a year.

While working they fixed their wraps or shawls by massive silver chainlets.

In village Urari women wore multicolour chukhtas

consisting of three major parts and a black ribbon on the forehead and sinciput zones.

On that ribbon there were bijous, coins, badges and buttons.

On the other parts of chukhtas they sewed massive silver ornamentals, inlaid medallions

that could hang down from temple zones or be thrown back.

Women put black covers over chukhtas.

Elderly women wore undresses of black or dark colours as a rule.

Here accompanied by girl-friends there is a girl in a wedding dress from Butri.

By custom a close relative of her groom is unveiling her face

and giving bread to brides friends.

A finery dress of Dargin village Butri is black for a woman and bright for a girl.

Dargin women from village Hapshima are belted by wide white cloth

that is tied in front and its ends are dangling .

The chukhta is a mutch-overlay that covers hair on the top and dangles on back.

Black ribbon they sewed down to a mutch under chin .

Young women wore silver chainlets instead of ribbons

or decorated ribbons by silver elements.

Garments of women from Tsudakhar village consisted of long tunic, black wide pants and soft boots.

A headwear, which was covered by a wrap

looked like a mutch with a pouch for hair. Upper cut is decorated by massive coiled chainlet.

This tradition goes back to early ages.

Kumik women were trend setters in Dagestan .

They enriched fashion of many mountain ethic groups with bodice dresses with deep neckline,

fancy wide or long sleeves with narrow sleevelets, clasps on boson and earrings.

Lezgi garment.

Hair is covered by ‘shutka’ .

A dress with a cutline on a waist is overlaid by other fancy dress.

Silver waist band decorated as a rule a wedding dress only.

Over shutka they put on a silk shawl or a veil.

Garments of folks of Lezgi ethnic group were influenced by Azerbaijan nation

and were extremely multicolour, fine and splendid.

Alike was a Tabasaran dress a bodice dress with narrow sleeves

They put a robe with wide sleeves on it.

Atop a finery or a wedding dress they wore a pinafore with silver coins and buttons sewed on it.

Lak women had chukhta - a cloth with a linning -

a head part of it was like a mutch .

The best shoe makers in Dagestan were Laks .

They produced different shoes inclusive fine fancy shoes decorated by golden or silver threads.

The women from a Lak mountain village Tseisha.

A particular place took a dress of an Avar woman .

Tribe differences of Avars , features of their spreading over large mountain territory

caused great variety of woman dresses.

Avar women from village Khunzakh

didn't have heavy headwears and lots of metal elements.

A woman dress was soft and comfortable enough.

Dresses stitched on figure with wide sleeves and narrow oversleeves came here relatively betimes.

Archin chukhta, corered by bright overlay ,

has an original asymmetrical ribbon of silver coins.

The adornments consist of medallions with pendants and chainlets.

It adorns the left side of a face and is fixed on the crown.

As shoes they could wear boots made of leather or numdah.

A woman from Rugudja wore absolutely original headwear.

Its silver pendants in form of bells dangled from vertex till temples.

A veil with silver pendants sewed on its upper cut covered a woman face like a chador.

Avar women from Gergebil in fineries and undresses.

Finery garment included a headwear with solid silver platen and coins dangling on chainlets .

In village Gidalti women wore chukhta in form of much with a pouch,

it was decorated by large temple lockets.

On a crown zone they sewed a solid silver platen decorated by traditional ornament and niello.

A chukhta was covered by large overlay.

Chukhta in village Ushtada was a unique coif without a pouch.

It looked like sharp peaked hood.

A coif is decorated by big beads, coins and big double temple rings.

One of these rings was twisted.

Along a back there is a long rectangular width sewed down to a coif.

The shoes are boots with roundish toes knitted of wood threads.

Cloth belt was tied in front and its ends dangling.

The same dress was in village Tengi.

While working a rectangular width of chukhta was put on a head,

a cloth belt was tied behind a back and a wide dress was tucked up a belt.

A woman from village Chokh wore a black turban atop an overlay.

Chukhta was made as a mutch or a sharp peaked coif with sort paddles,

a piece of leather was sewed down to a coif,

it covered a neck and hair and hang down along a back.

Women from Andi wore a high mutch in a form of a seat.

It was filled up by wadding.

According to archeological data this tradition goes back to high antiquity.

A long piece of width was sewed on its back, and it hang down along a back.

Belts were not used.

Along wide dress was tucked up on hips behind a waistband of pants.

Over chukhta they wore a large white overlay.

In Tlarata women wore a coif entirely covered by fancy work and ornamentals silver chainlets and tubes.

Over a coif they put on a wrap, shawl or veil.

On feet there were inwrought boots knitted of thick wool threads.

Boots had toes sharply bended inside.

This is one of possible variants of woman wear from village Tsunta.

You have seen Dagestan woman dresses of 19-20 centuries

but even till now when there is a happy holiday,

they open ancient granny’s dower chests,

and unique traditional wear of Dagestan Mountains,

never forgotten by its people,

goes out.