Mariia Berel’tueva explains the apron of a women’s costume

00:00 – 01:54

“The apron is a part of the Evenki clothing. Women’s aprons were made differently than men’s. Here we see a beautiful apron made of carefully processed leather – rovduga – decorated with fringes and fabric, presumably linen. In the chest area, below the neckline, there is a design element commonly called the ‘loon’s paw.’ Notably, this apron is only tied at the waist. It seems that the neck area was quite stiff and maintained its shape. When my sister and I were in school, we danced in our ensemble Nimngakan, which translates into Russian as ‘fairy tale, story.’ When we prepared the costumes, we decorated them ourselves: we sewed bead patterns on them, attached beautiful fabrics, found pretty beads, and tied coins to them. We chose beads in bright colors that would sound beautiful with the rhythm during the dance. We also decided together which patterns would go on our aprons, and sometimes we even designed individual patterns.”
(Subtitles: cc)

Self-recorded, Uliunkhan, Kurumkan District, Republic of Buryatia, September 2024.
Translation: Mariia Berel’tueva, Elena Mironova.
Text editing: Nadezhda Mamontova.