Chuvash ornament - a fount of information

The Chuvash ornament, like other ornaments of the peoples of the Volga region, Russia and the whole world, is built on the strict alternation of a certain motive, which can be anything that consists of graphic or geometric elements. The latter is more common.

The promise of distant ancestors

In Latin, this term means either an ornament or a pattern. The essence of the ornament is that it is not a simple pattern, but rhythmically alternating. Chuvash ornament, like all the others, has its roots in time immemorial. It's not for nothing that these elements of applied art are called writing from the past. Passed through the centuries, these drawings absorbed the changing notions of ancestors about the world around them. All national ornaments contain information about this people.

The main amulet and decoration

It can be stated that the use of ornamentation was unusually wide also because it was he who embodied the functions of an amulet. They decorated clothes and utensils, other household items, weapons and ornaments, it was used in the construction of buildings and in the design of books. The material for drawing an ornament can be anything: paper, fabric, leather, clay and stone, metal and wood.

Chuvash ornament, like any other, occupies its own worthy niche in world folk art. It underlies the whole culture of this ethnos. The ornament system is unique, and it certainly has an impact on the modern Chuvash culture. Ornament of any people, especially small, has so far been little studied.

Interest in your roots

Coming from prehistoric times, it was adopted as a legacy that passed from generation to generation, and no comments were created for it. With the growth of national self-awareness, interest in ornamentation, the carrier of information, is constantly growing.

Some works on the history of the Chuvash ornament in a small number have been preserved since pre-revolutionary times: the album of the artist NE Simakov and the work of a number of ethnographers, on the basis of which modern researchers published a pointer "Chuvash ornament" in which they tried to generalize and systematize All information from all sources.

What is characteristic of this ornament, represented in large numbers in embroidery and wood carving, from other national patterns?

A purely national color scheme

In the Penza region, on the territory of which there are many Chuvash villages, patterned weaving and embroidery are very developed. Chuvash ornaments and patterns are represented in national clothes: headdresses, shoulder pads, belts and garters. Two-colored patterns are very common - on a white box the diamond-shaped red ornament is very brightly looked. The Chuvash ornament is rich in animal and plant motifs. The diagrams attached below illustrate this point.

The main colors of the patterns are black and red with interspersions of yellow, orange and green. In combination with the latter, very often a lame color is found. Much later, blue and brown colors appeared in the patterns of the Chuvashes. No less popular and multicolored ornaments on the red field.

The elements of folk art that are inherent only to the Chuvash people

There are national dashes in the design of kerchiefs, for embroidery of which a tight seam "set" was used. "The slanting stitch" and the contour seam "painting" adorned the tunic tunic. The ornament used in carving on wood differed (kitchen utensils, furniture, household items, especially spinning wheels). On wooden objects of everyday life very often there is a "rope", symbolizing the sun a semicircle with a radiance and just a circle. In large forms, carved thread was used.

In women's jewelry, a lot of bead patterns. It is found everywhere: in necklaces, headdresses, brushes of belts and purses hung to the waistband, also abundantly decorated with beads.