Elena Khabarovskaia comments on a parka

“This is a kukuyda parka, a garment for women. On the back of the parka there is a badge called a ripyn. In the past, these badges were made of silver and decorated with patterns, perhaps initially from a different material. But when silver became available, they started making them from silver. Perhaps they are intended as decoration, or perhaps as a kind of talisman – dertyn. And on this side of the coat there are appliqués with repeating patterns called etyk. These are embroideries made from sealskin, with a border, combined with blue pearl strings. This is where the magnificent colors and beauty of the sewing work really come into their own. The Evenki did not always wear embroidered clothing. In winter, their fur clothing was never decorated with embroidered ornaments because it was too heavy to wear. Embroidery makes clothing very heavy. Therefore, it was only worn on holidays, for dancing, and at celebrations. But in everyday life and at work, the Even people wore clothes without any embroidery. Judging by the patterns, the garment could come from the Kolyma region or Magadan because of the blue color and the type of patterns. Our ancestors still sewed in the same way. They once moved from there to the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, where this garment probably originated. The Namatkar Even, who live near the sea, always had beautifully embroidered clothing. In contrast, the clothing of the taiga or tundra Even was not so richly embroidered.”

Recorded by Erich Kasten during a seminar in Yakutsk, 2019.