Traditional neck jewelry of Transcarpathia in western Ukraine
The peculiarity of Transcarpathia is that different peoples and ethnic groups, with different traditions, customs and religions, lived here. Only from the Ukrainian ethnic group there lived Lemkos, Boikos, Dolynyans, Hutsuls. Thus, Dolynyany lived on the plain, in the foothills, midlands and partly in the highlands of Transcarpathia from the Shopurka river in the east to the state border with Slovakia in the west. The northern borders of the valley pass along the watershed of the Polonyna ridge from the village of Mizhhirya to the village of Yavornyk in Velyky Berezny district. In the south, they bordered with Hungarians inhabiting the outskirts of Transcarpathia, lowlands along the border with Hungary.
Transcarpathian Boyky inhabited the northern parts of Mizhhirya, Velyky Berezny and Volovets districts of Transcarpathia. The ethnographic area of Transcarpathian Lemkos occupies the villages of the right bank of the upper Uzh river (Verkhovyna Bystra, Lubnya, Zahorb, Stuzhytsia, Domashyn, Knyahynya, Strychava, Zavosyno) in Velyky Berezny district, as well as the villages of Novoselytsia and Zarichevo in Perechyn district. The area of the Transcarpathian part of the Hutsul region completely covers the territory of Rakhiv district of Transcarpathia.
Traditional decorations of Transcarpathia had common features, but also certain local territorial features.
In general, the complex of women's jewelry in the Transcarpathian costume consisted of a coral necklace or its imitation, which was worn in 3-4 rows, a necklace of small glass beads, reminiscent of pearls, which was put in 5-6 rows on the neck. There were also beaded decorations - small ribbons that fitted around the neck, syliankas in the form of round collars and openwork braided laces.
The peculiarity of the complex of jewelry is a modest, restrained use of components - one or two breast or neck ornaments that harmoniously tied the whole system of clothing decor into a single ensemble and supported its rhythm.
In the color scheme of beaded jewelry, there is a lot of white color, which was used for the background, ornamental motifs and their framing.
The two-part sylianka consisted of two parts - a ribbon and a collar, each of which had its own variant of stringing or weaving and ornament. Two-part syliankas were worn in Lemkivshchyna, Hutsulshchyna and Boikivshchyna.
A component of folk clothes of many villages of the Transcarpathian Boikivshchyna was a two-part sylianka ("pletinka", "drabynka"), consisting of a ribbon gerdan and a rounded sylianka. This decoration was often made of two separate parts that were sewn together. Sometimes the two-part sylianka was strung in one step, that is, as a continuous weave. The peculiarity of the structure of the Transcarpathian two-part sylianka was that its upper part was mostly longer than the lower one and had a thicker weave (three beads were strung in a grid with a rhombus side), while the lower part was distinguished by a more openwork weave (three beads were strung in a grid with a rhombus side).
The first longest strip was laid around the neck, and the second one was laid on the chest. The ornamentation of Transcarpathian double syliankas was based on the motifs of a rhombus, cross, zigzag and four-petal rosette. The colour scheme also had its own peculiarities. Bright motifs of the upper part of the decoration (with elements of white, red, blue, green, yellow) were mostly placed on a contrasting dark background (dark purple or black). The lower part usually had a somewhat "lighter" color, with fewer dark colors.
Beaded decorations created by stringing and weaving were widespread among the valley dwellers. The ornamental composition consisted of geometric and floral motifs. The color scheme harmoniously combined pink, blue, red, yellow, white colors. White beads were most often used for the background. At the beginning of the twentieth century in the villages of the river valley there were spread single, less often double "sylianky", "splitanky".
The most common and favorite ornaments of the Transcarpathian Hutsul women were "syliankas" ("chembaryky") and "gerdans" made of colorful beads, which looked like patterned ribbons of different widths and lengths. They were tied around the neck or dropped on the chest. For the manufacture of jewelry, transparent and dark porcelain or multi-colored glass small beads were used. Festive Hutsul "syliankas" were wide, openwork and ended with toroks, loops ("kutasyky", "darmovys"), and "gerdany" had no openwork, their texture was dense. The simplest motifs of beaded jewelry were rhombuses with elongated sides, beveled crosses, "kryvuli". The plane of rhombuses was most often filled with the intersection of straight and oblique crosses, small rhombuses and dots. There were also triangles with horns of different shapes. The color scheme of "syliankas" and "gerdans" was dominated by rich red, yellow, green, blue colors. Quite often white or black beads were used.
Neck ornaments made of colorful beads ("drabynkas", "syliankas") were an addition to the women's outfits of Transcarpathian boykynas. "Drabynky" 2-3 cm wide were made of colorful beads ("patsyorky"), which were formed into geometric ornaments. The most common motifs were rhombuses, alternation of rhombuses with slanting crosses, large stylized flowers, alternation of a large flower with a small bud with leaves. Girls wore white ornamented "syliankas", and older women - red and burgundy ones. Along with narrow one-part syliankas, the Boyko women wore two-part syliankas. Their ornamental composition consisted of two stripes separated by straight or wavy lines. There were both "drabynky" with the same size ornamental stripes and "drabynky" with narrow upper and wider lower stripes. The main ornamental motifs were rhombuses, rhombuses with protruding corners ("antennae"), beveled crosses, beveled stripes ("smerichka", "roskos"), geometric or stylized flowers. An obligatory element of Boyko "syliankas" was a row of small rings ("points"). "Syliankas" were tied on braided laces ("uplitki")
In the villages of Tyushka, Repynne, River of Mizhhirya district in the early 30s of the XX century, a decoration ("pletinka") was spread, consisting of a "monist", a chain ("partichka"), a one-part "sylianka" and a metal cross. The "monist" consisted of sixteen strands of white beads, and the "partichka" - multi-colored rings ("ochka"). The ornamental composition of the "sylianka" consisted of a white broken line ("kryvula") and colored triangles. A metal cross was attached to the "sylianka" in the middle.
One of the components of women's dress of Lemkos of Transcarpathia were beads ("monistyata", "barkhatka", "barshanka") 1-3 cm wide, 20-40 cm long. On the white background of "barshankas" they wove stylized flowers with bunches of grapes, colorful diamonds, sloping crosses with shamrocks.
Lemko "barkhatka" with a white background are similar to Boyko "sylianka". The difference was in the size of ornamental motifs, which are smaller on Lemko decorations, so there is more white background. In the 20-40s of the twentieth century, wide (10-12 cm) beaded ornaments ("kryzas") were an addition to the traditional Lemko women's dress. They looked like a semicircular collar, which, falling from the neck, covered the chest, shoulders and back with a continuous weave. "Kryzas" were tied on the back with braided laces, less often - with buttons. The peculiarity of "kryzas" was their ribbon-tiered composition, which was formed by alternating ornamental stripes separated by straight or wavy lines. In the villages of Verkhovyna Bystra, Zahorb, Lubnya, Stuzhytsia in Velyky Berezny district, the "kryzas" consisted of three ornamental stripes. The upper narrow (2-3 cm) stripe was formed of rhombuses, straight lines and triangles. The central wide (7-9 cm) strip was filled with rhombuses with tendrils. The ornamental composition of "kryzas" was completed by multicolored broken lines ("kryvuli"). Small rings ("ochka") were attached to the lower "kryvuli". The color scheme of Lemko "kryzas" had its own peculiarities. The background was made of red, and ornamental motifs - of white, green, brown, red beads.
Zoriana Kuryliak