Saukele
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The historical Saukele ("sau" = sunny, beautiful; "kele" = head) is a female wedding headdress in Central Asia , Kazakhstan and Turkey . Their particularly high, truncated cone-like shape is unusual. On special occasions, women wore the Saukele after the wedding ceremony until the birth of their first child. To this day it is one of the most distinctive symbols of the ethnic Kazakhs.
Furnishing
In its original, classic design, the Saukele is a high, cone-shaped headdress, lavishly decorated with silver and gold coins, pearls and corals. It is about 45 centimeters high, but the height can also be 70 centimeters.
Each part was made individually, none of the specimens, which are valuable in wealthy families, are identical to the others, if only because of the different availability of the materials. From the type of decoration of the various other traditional headgear of men and women, every Kazakhs could previously recognize where or from which tribe his counterpart came.
The simpler Saukele in less affluent families was made of fabric or satin and was set with pearls or glass beads. The most valuable pieces were made around the turn of the 20th century, the most expensive seukele cost about a thousand rubles, which was the equivalent of a hundred horses. The tops consisted of a net and a diadem called a tiara, sometimes made of gold or precious stones, with inserts of pearls, corals and the like, decorations were also on the temples and the chin. The frame of the Saukele was covered with fabric and sewn with metal plates of various kinds into which precious and semi-precious stones were inserted. Smaller clasps were fastened between large clasps, and gold tassels were possibly added to the decoration. The top of the Saukele was covered with scarves made of silk or velvet. Appendices called "Zhaktau" on both sides reached down to the waist. During the wedding ceremony, a veil covered the bride's face or even covered her completely.
The most experienced craftsmen were involved in the production of a precious saukele, especially the tailors and embroiderers, masters in the manufacture of silk scarves and belts. The middle and the edges of the scarves were embroidered with thick, twisted colored threads. Jewelers stamped or stamped filigree gold, silver and bronze pendants for them. Usually a master worked on such a complex part for a whole year, so it had to be commissioned in good time.
tradition
The headgear of the unmarried young woman was the "Borec", a cap with feathers in the tip, preferably owl feathers.
It was customary for some woman to put on the saukele and take it to the future father-in-law. There she received a present for the bride, a dressing gown or a blouse. This was called “saukelenin baygazysy”, “repayment for showing the Saukele”.
According to tradition, the bride was dressed in her wedding dress and saukele by a respected woman in her parents' home on the day of the wedding, who received a valuable gift from the bride's father. Then the solemn move to the groom's home took place.
During their pregnancy, usually between the ages of 25 and 45, the young women also used another headdress, the "kimeshek". It is made of white fabric, often embroidered with satin . In some parts of the population, the wife wore the Saukele even after the wedding, for example more often on appropriate occasions, until the birth of the first child, then only on high holidays, and only for five years. The saukele and a headgear known as “zhelek” worn in everyday life were the attributes of the clothing of a newly wed young woman, the transition of the girl to motherhood. The "Zhelek" is a simpler, more practical and more comfortable headgear, a slimmed-down form of the Saukele. The structure also consists of a frame in the form of a truncated cone , which is covered with brocade or a shiny material. It should also be decorated with precious stones set in gold and silver plates.
For generations, the Saukele was usually passed on to the eldest daughter, she always remained her personal property. If she died childless, she was returned to her parents.
Ideal value
The saukele was the most expensive part of the bridal outfit. Besides the yurt , the living tent, it was the most valuable part of the household of a Caucasian bride and groom. Like all traditional Caucasian headgear, the Saukele has a high imaginary value in addition to its actual value, both in its entirety and in each individual part. Ornamental images shown, such as “tree of life” or “ram's horns” have a considerable metaphysical meaning. Silver was said to have protective powers (arrow-shaped silver pendants formed a whole lower row of the Saukele). The magical functions of stones are similarly known elsewhere: corals protect against curse and evil eye, pearls protect against cataracts , carnelian are symbols of well-being and luck and so on. The resemblance of the headdress to royal crowns is not considered accidental, as in many cultures the bride and groom are ritually honored as king and queen on this day.
history
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Researchers pointed to the similarity between the Saukele and the Saks' headgear almost 2500 years ago. Saka is the ancient Persian name used by archaeologists for the Scythians . In large parts of Central Asia and Kazakhstan lived among them a tribe called "Tigrahouda", which means "wear pointed hats". In the 1970s, archaeologists found an untouched burial site of a sacred chief from the 6th to 5th centuries BC, whose clothes were covered with gold plates. It was accompanied by a headgear between 60 and 65 centimeters high, adorned with gold, whose resemblance to the Saukele is unmistakable. The main difference was actually just that it was being carried by a man.
In the Siberian collection of Peter the Great there are two golden belt buckles, the illustration of which is named “Rest in journey”. Each of the representations shows three people, two men and one woman. A man and a woman are seated, the second man is on their knees. The woman wears a high headgear that resembles a Saukele. If one follows the assumed temporal classification of the buckles (3rd century BC), men and women could wear this form of headwear at that time. It is generally accepted as certain that from the first evidence for the appearance of this form of headgear up to modern times, a high, festive headdress has always been an essential element of bridal clothing in Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
In Central Europe, a similar, festive headgear in the form of a tall pointed bag was in use for ladies of the nobility around the 15th and 16th centuries. It was not flattened at the top, but also ended there with a sometimes very long veil.
Even today, female headgear is made under the name Saukele, even if it is much less exquisitely decorated and probably less high. Often, among others, is the shape of an inverted funnel. Often, instead of the valuable decorations, they consist to a substantial extent of high-quality fur ( fox fur , mink fur , sable fur ).
Museums and collections
The museum holdings of the Kunstkammer in St. Petersburg are among the most complete anthropological and ethnological collections in the world. Her first ethnographic exhibition "World of a Object" was dedicated to Saukele (September to December 2001). Saukele that had been shown at an exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1893 were displayed there. The treasures adorned with precious stones, pearls, corals and gold were described as "incredibly beautiful". They were covered with silk from Akmola , from Kokchetav and northern Kazakh regions, and from Atbassar . One of the headgear shown was set with 30 coral strands, 15 strings of pearls and some precious stones. It was embroidered with red silk and fringed with gold. Their value was estimated at 600 rubles. The two most valuable pieces in the exhibition came from the Atbassar steppe.
There are eight specimens in the Russian Museum of Ethnography. Two date from the middle of the 19th century.
The Central State Museum of Kazakhstan displays a tall specimen from the 1840s. It is made of velvet and other fabrics and, as usual, adorned with corals and silver. This saukele is trimmed with otter skin at the lower edge .
Web links
- https://www.youtube.com/, Almaty TV station: Saukele . Demonstration of the production of a simple, today's Saukele (Russian). Retrieved December 11, 2016.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f www.kunstkamera.ru: Kazakh Saukele (female wedding headdress: from Sakas to Kazakhs through millenniums) (English). The related exhibition took place from September to December 2001. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d www.ethnomuseum.ru : Saukele, wedding headdress of the Kazakhs (Russian). Retrieved December 13, 2016.
- ^ Books.google.de, Dagmar Schreiber: Kazakhstan: Nomad Paths between the Caspian Sea and Altaj . Trelscher Verlag, 3rd edition, Berlin 2009. ISBN 978-3-89794-137-3 . Retrieved December 19, 2016
- ↑ a b c d e f g http://e-history.kz/, S. Zh. Asanova: Saukele . Almaty August 8, 2013. From: A Study of History of folk costume (English). Retrieved December 7, 2016.
- ↑ https: //books.google.de,/ Dana Jeteyeva, Yerkebulan Dzhelbuldin: Traditions and Customs of the Kazakhs . P. 98, Bloomington 2014. ISBN 978-1-4969-8068-7 .
- ↑ a b c e-history.kz, A. Kalybekova: Traditional clothes of Kazakhs for different age. (PDF, English). Retrieved December 20, 2012.
- ^ R. Turner Wilcox: The Mode in Furs . Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1951, Chapter Medivial Europe , illustrations.
- ↑ http://files.eric.ed.gov/, Sholpan B. Kunanbayeva: Attribution of the Kazakh Traditional Dress in the Collections of the Russian Ethnographic Museum . P. 1733 ff (English). Retrieved December 13, 2016.
- ↑ old.unesco.kz: Saukele - a nupital headgear (with illustration). Retrieved December 13, 2016.