Nakosnik puloker as a component of the Moksha national Costume: on the problem of genesis and ethno-cultural meanings

Shigurova Tat'yana Alekseevna Professor of the Department of Cultural Research and Library Information Resrouces at N. P. Ogarev's Mordovia State University 430010, Russia, Mordovia region, Saransk, Serova str., 3 shigurova_tatyana@mail.ru Other publications by this author

1. Preliminary judgments.

In the Bible, clothing is considered as the first thing a person realized by Adam and Eve as necessary before their expulsion from paradise. The human body objectively requires shelter and protection with the help of clothing held on the body, according to R. V. Zakharzhevskaya, "by the method of wrapping, tying and wrapping"; at the same time, "clothing," according to the author, remains primarily a cover, a shelter, which determine its place in the chain of expedient acquisitions of mankind" ^{[12, pp. 260-261, 270]}. The logical conclusion of the costume of many peoples of the world is a headdress, which includes both "the methods of the hairstyle itself, and the methods of decoration and covering the head" ^[36].

In the history of the development of clothing of the Mordovian people, there are many unique works of creative activity of a woman, among which the insufficiently studied female nakosnik puloker (tail, braid + splint, bark) stands out. It still attracts attention with its simplicity of form and laconic decor, which testify to the impeccable aesthetic taste of the people. Without delving into the theoretical description of the relationship of complex female headdresses of the Mordovian people with a hairstyle that differs in married women and girls, we consider it possible, following V. N. Belitzer, to interpret the puloker as a "female headdress (ancient)" in accordance with the terminological dictionary of the book "Folk clothes of the Mordovians" ^{[2, p. 213]}.

The appearance of details of complex hats, as well as other components of clothing (for example, waist clothing) in the past was determined primarily by the need to dress, cover, protect a person (body part), indicate his status, as well as the performance of other functions. The traditional women's costume is "a unique marker of ethnoculture, which captures the uniqueness of the national character, material and spiritual values of a person, his ideas about the world picture, silently read in the process of interaction of ethnic groups" ^{[32, p. 3]}. Being part of culture, the costume performed "its main universal functions" (epistemological, normative, significative, communicative, creative), forming an "artificial image of the bearer himself" [Ibid., p. 3]. G. A. Kornishina writes about the connection of traditional clothing and women's hats of the Mordovian people with "norms and values through which the formation of an ethnically conditioned worldview is possible" ^{[16, p. 184]}. R. Benedict, considered culture as a psychological integrity, which is an internally harmonious system with specific features of "costume, crafts, customs, mythology, economic exchange", as well as the action of "mechanisms that ensure the stabilization of disharmonious elements and develop new, more suitable elements" ^{[39, p.114]}.

This is an indicator of the high skill and talent of a woman who created such an element of material culture in the Middle Ages, which continued to live for a long time, persisting for a millennium and changing in accordance with local, temporary and territorial variants of traditional clothing. Many peoples who have lived since ancient times in the territory that is now part of Russia, in the distant past there were nakosniki in the form of a cover. They were worn by girls or women, and sometimes men. Thus, the birch bark caps, which were found in the burials of the Tashtyks (I - beginning), are very peculiar. VII century A.D.) (see ^[6]). S. V. Suslova and R. G. Mukhamedova associate the spread of the nakosnik-cover among the Tatars "with the settlement of the mishars of the Oksko-Sursky interfluve", noting that the nakosnik-cover "tezme" was worn by girls of Chistopol kryashens on weekdays and holidays ^{[27, p. 209, 210]}. According to the researchers, "the cap-cover is an element of the "tastar" headdress, i.e. it is female"  [Ibid., p. 210]. Nakosniki in the form of a velvet cover were worn by women of the eastern Buryats. The hairstyle in the form of a decorated braid was popular in the early twentieth century . the Hunts and Mansi, and not only for women, but also for men.

In the traditional costume of Moksha women until the end of the XVIII century. there was a tubular nakosnik puloker, which is part of a complex multi–level system: headdress – costume - ethnoculture. The information-semiotic study of its unique shape, material, variety of manufacturing technology used and the sequence of creation of a thing is interesting. The interpretation of the variants of the internal form of the term puloker requires further study, taking into account lexicographic, ethnographic, etc. sources and specific semantic content, as well as the role of the mower in everyday life. Covering the hair and head of many peoples performed "amulet functions, protecting from the evil eye, damage, from evil spirits" ^{[34, p. 80]}. Since in ethnoculture "every object was created as a result of purposeful conscious human activity (planning – creation – functioning)", the logic of the scientific approach necessitates the initial focus on the problems and changes associated with the person – creator and wearer of the costume ^{[33, p. 32]}.

The purpose of this article is to determine the reasons for the appearance of the original nakosnik in the traditional female costume of the mordvins. An attempt is being made to find out what was the impetus for the emergence of the artifact under study in the Middle Ages, which became an ethnic symbol of the Moksha culture for a whole millennium.

The relevance of the work is due to the need to comprehend the nakosnik as an element of not only material, artistic, but also spiritual culture, in which the history of the Mordovian people, cultural values (beauty, fertility, health), expressed in people's ideas about the real qualities of hair and hairstyles, are concentrated. Consideration of the origins of the creation by a Mordovian woman of a unique solid structure for her hair made of leather and metal wire, which ensured their immobility and security, allows us to identify the features and ethnic specifics of the Mordovian people, their ideas about the world and themselves, to comprehend the influence of contradictions and problems of the crisis situation in culture on the emergence and further development of an element of the traditional Mordovian costume.

The conclusions of the work are based on the use of general scientific methods and systematic, cultural and anthropological approaches, as well as on the interpretation of the national heroic epic "Mastorava", the origins of which are directly related both to the period preceding the Middle Ages and to the time of the formation of the military democracy of the Mordovian people. It is known that the author of "Mastorava" in the creation of the plot used an abundance of valuable folklore material collected by H. Paasonen at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, which was later published in the processing of other authors (see: ^[40]).

The diversity of ethnocultural and historical processes of the Middle Ages (VIII–XVIII centuries) on the territory of the Middle Volga region is sufficiently fully disclosed in a number of works by A. E. Alikhova, G. N. Belorybkin, V. I. Vikhlyaev, S. V. Gorelik, E. P. Kazakov, N. F. Mokshin, I. M. Peterburgsky, P. D. Stepanov, A. H. Khalikov., Yurchenkova V. A. and other researchers. Found only in archaeological sites, the nakosnik has been studied only in the works of archaeologists and has not yet received cultural coverage. For the first time, the puloker was recorded by I. I. Lepekhin in 1768 as a removable element that was part of the back decor covering the hair of a married woman: "a wooden, copper wire wrapped Puluker tube is hung on the sides, into which a Pool panicle made of long human hair is threaded" ^{[17, p. 157]}. In the work of P. S. Pallas, the image of the Moksha "puloker" is given for the first time.

mrkm.ru P.S. Pallas.

The decoration found in archaeological monuments is described in the works of archaeologists. Thus, in the excavations of the Lyadinsky burial ground (late IX - early XI century), V. N. Yastrebov in 1888 discovered "a braid wound on a stick and then wrapped with a belt, which is decorated with flat copper wires bent across it" ^{[18, p. 24]}.

The researchers noted that the jewelry belonged to the costume of the Moksha women. P. D. Stepanov wrote: "no "puloker" was found in any of the Erzya burial grounds, whereas in the Moksha burial grounds in almost all female burials it is a mandatory accessory" ^{[26, pp. 150-151]}. Being an experienced archaeologist, the researcher clarifies that this artifact is already found in Mordovian monuments of the VIII-XI centuries. He cites the differences characteristic of the scythe of this time: "a woman's braid was placed in a long spiral of flat-rounded copper wire, but sometimes the braid was wrapped with a thin and narrow strap wrapped with a thin copper wire ..." [Ibid., p. 160]. The most valuable is the scientist's assumption about the origin of the headdress: "It can be assumed that this type of headdress originated in the VII-XI centuries. and was the national distinction of moksha. This type of headdress is not found in earlier monuments" ^{[26, p. 160]}.

Based on the materials of the study of the Lyadinsky burial ground, A. E. Alikhova comes to the conclusion that the spread of the puloker as part of the Moksha headdress can be attributed to the 10th century.  She discovered the relationship of the new form of the nakosnik with the previous variants, which indicates the presence of ancient ideas of the people about the role of hair and the meanings of a woman's hairstyle ^{[1, pp. 16-19]}. Very brief is the description of this decoration made by M. R. Polesskikh in the field diary (1964) of the research of the Red East burial ground, where the following is said about the find in burial No. 17: "A braid wrapped with a strap" (see: ^[24]). Later, the scientist suggested the time of its origin: "Such an ornament, indicative of the ethnic characteristics of the moksha of the late Middle Ages, as a half–ring, originated precisely in the VIII-IX centuries (Kr. Vostok, pogr 17)" ^{[23, p. 127]}.

N. M. Malkova and R. F. Voronina presented their own variants of the typology of the nakosnik, paying attention to the specifics of its manufacture in accordance with the materials of specific archaeological sites ^{[7, p. 45-46],[9, p. 11]}. At the beginning of the XIX century., judging by the written sources of the RGO of the middle of the XIX century, the puloker finally fell out of use.

          2. The phenomenon of hair in the culture of the Mordovian people

According to the ideas of the Mordovian people, clothing was used by the gods. To understand the value of clothing, headgear and the peculiarities of the attitude to hair in the traditional Mordovian culture, let us turn to the analysis of the symbolic potential of the heroic epic "Mastorava", which "includes ... epic songs and legends about the creation of the world and man, ... reproduces the civilizational history" of the people, and the ritual and ceremonial practice of the Mordvins ^{[31, p.2]}.

So, it is noteworthy such a description of the splendor of the costume and the attractiveness of the image of the goddess of beauty Ange, who became the wife of the god Ineshnipaz, which included the design of the head and hairstyle:

"Dressed in a snow-white dress,

She's wearing golden paws.

The sun rises on her forehead,

A month is coming down the top of her head,

Stars twinkle at the ends of the hair" ^{[31, p. 31]}.

According to the Mordovian people, hair, being a part of the human body, has all the qualities inherent in a living organism: in the folk epic "Mastorava" the following statement of God about man is given:

"...There are no different parts in it,

Not created from heterogeneous shares" [Ibid., p. 44].

Visual changes in the color, length, structure, and quality of hair observed by others conveyed information about the changes taking place in a person's life, about changes in his age, health status. Hair in the Mordovian culture became a kind of human sign: the mourner first of all mentions Tyushtyan's hair:

"I'll kiss your hair first, Tyushtian... ^{[31, p. 649]}. 

"Where will I start now

To lament over you?

I'll stand at the head.

I'll start with your head,

From the tips of gray hair

To cook over you" [Ibid., p. 652].

As already mentioned, information about hair is used in the transmission of the image of the gods. So, Mastorpaz explains his desire to woo a Witch by saying that her "divine beauty" includes the beauty of her face and hair:

"Let me get married for free.

Her face is whiter than snow,

Hair is more magnificent than clusters of hops" [Ibid., p. 108].

Long hair was of particular importance. In the 1st millennium AD, many peoples of Europe aspired to have them, the Gauls and Germans had hair as a sign of human nobility, and a shaved head indicated belonging to a slave (see: ^[36]). In the epic "Mastorava", the description of the girl includes information about the length of her hair as a sign of her beauty:

"Her hair is blacker than the night,

They fall on the windowsill.

Her braid reaches the floor..." ^{[31, p. 429]}.

Thick long braids were considered by many peoples to be a symbol of "girlish beauty", as well as a symbol of the girl herself:

"Give me, sister-in-law, let's separate the braid adorning the camp – your braid,

The beauty of the back is your hair..." ^{[11, p. 205]}.

The hair determines the beauty of the girl of the Alphabet in the epic Mastorava:

"I grew up the best in the world.

 Her camp is like a white birch,

 Hair is like willow leaves" ^{[31, p. 147]}.

Hair has the ability to grow throughout a person's life, so they could not but be endowed with such a special quality as fertility: they were considered a source of fertility.

 In "Mastorava", the long search for the ideal wife of inyazor Tyushtyan ends with a meeting with a girl  Paxine, whose hair is a symbol of fertility:

"Her head was covered with winter,

Ears of corn have grown at the ends of the hair" ^{[31, p. 432]}. 

Through the symbolic information expressed through the hair, the girl drew Tyushtian's attention to herself, demonstrated value ideas about the ability to continue the life of the family and health, became a worthy wife to him, bringing happiness to the ruler of the people.

Note in this connection that in the Mordovian languages, the name of the braid is associated not only with the general Mordovian concept of the pool M., pulo E., but also with the terms "seral" -M., ('kosa'), "seralt" -E., ('hair not braided in a braid') (see: ^{[25, p. 191],[37, p. 583]}. In addition, the collective meaning has also been preserved in the concepts of sulfur, (’grain, grain harvest’); E. suro, ('bread in the grain, on the root') (see: ^{[25, p. 151],[37, p. 637]}. According to linguists, the word suro, which came to the Finno-Ugric languages from the Indo–European language, has two meanings - "horn" and "grain, harvest on the root" (see: ^{[30, p. 178]}. Up to the middle of the twentieth century. in the Mordovian villages of the Republic of Mordovia, women's hairstyles, called seralht, seralks, existed. They were two braided braids that were twisted into two knots at the temples. In the twentieth century, this meaning of the concept of a woman was associated with the shape of a hairstyle resembling horns.

The importance of iconic information about fertility transmitted by hair is also emphasized in the images of other heroes of the epic under study, for example, a giant grandfather whose head

"... was so big that 

In her gray, shaggy hair

You can build nests for eagles, and in the nests

To breed eaglets, the offspring of birds" ^{[31, pp. 548-549]}.

The hair of the girl whom the ruler of the Mordovian people chose as his wife was an indicator of her good health, vitality, which is sometimes emphasized even by a strong exaggeration of their quantity, abundance, density, strength:

"I washed, I washed Paxine's head –

A full barrel of braga was not enough;

She began to comb her hair with a comb –

The iron comb broke,

The copper comb has broken" [Ibid., p. 435].

The initial understanding of hair as a part of the human body explains the reason for the requirements in different cultures for their inviolability. Insulting someone in Mordovian culture could be expressed in an action with hair. In the folk epic, the quarrel of the gods of Mastorpaz with the Witch explains the reason for their lonely life:

"Mastorpaz was angry in earnest

And grabbed by the hair for free,

He showed his rebellious temper.

And Vedyava got very angry,

And she felt the power.

Beard twisted Mastorpazu

And, cursing, she knocked him to the floor.

What a tuft of tow, in the hands of a witch

Mastorpaza beard remained.

After the beautiful Vedyava

Grabbed the groom by the hair

And threw her out of the house..." ^{[31, p. 113]}.

"That's how a good fellow Mastorpaz

He wooed the beautiful Vedyava.

Without hair, he came back from her

And he remained forever without a wife" [Ibid., p. 114].

The given fragment of the lyrical theme of the epic plot is not a reproduction of real historical events, but, being confirmed by archival materials of X. Paasonena, published after the death of the collector, demonstrates, firstly, an example of unacceptable in the past, abusive treatment of other people's hair (see: ^[40]).  It is known about the existence of such canons among many peoples of Russia.  

Secondly, in the folk epic, the typical reaction of the female goddess of Mordovia to the violation of the ban has been preserved. The proud and unpredictable Vedyava personified the water element, the fundamental principle of the universe, was the patroness of women and family. She was asked for health, the birth of children, fertility, she was treated for infertility not only of people, but also of animals (see: ^{[19, pp. 116-119],[15, p. 109]}). The anthropological appearance of a Witch living on earth appears as if she is sitting on the shore and combing her long hair with a copper comb.

In the works of oral folk art of the Mordovian people, the behavior of the goddess translates the canons of religious pagan culture, serves as an instruction for women to take an active position in life. The goddess-creator served as an example of love of life, creative creative activity, responsibility in any situation for herself and her home, determination in overcoming the problems that arose: "The images of Mordovian gods, mostly female, asserted the primacy of women in the world, associated with her spiritual and moral strength" ^{[33, p. 118]}. G. A. Kornishina's research confirms the significant role of women in the traditional Mordovian society of the nineteenth century: "it was the Mordovians who were the most strict guardians and performers of all family and social rituals" ^{[15, p. 106]}.  Thus, moral values, traditional rituals, explicating the significance and importance of hair, helped a woman to overcome fears, hard trials, harsh mores of real life.   

 3. The character of the epoch in the costume

The emergence of the puloker, as follows from the above evidence of historians, dates back to a complex historical period, which is considered the time of "the formation of the modern peoples of the Volga region and Eastern Europe" ^{[3, p. 145]}. The beginning of the first millennium was marked by the great migration of peoples, which influenced the formation of the culture of the ancient Mordovian tribes. The absence of significant natural barriers in the Volga region contributed to the intercultural contacts of the ancestors of the Mordvins with the Greeks, Scythians, Sarmatians, Slavs-Ants.              V. A. Yurchenkov believed that it was "the foreign policy factor ... that accelerated the formation of the ancient Mordovian culture" ^{[38, p. 51]}. Historians characterize the state of culture from the 5th to the 7th centuries as stable: the peoples lived in isolation, peacefully observing the boundaries of the developed territory. Favorable conditions for the preservation and development of culture contributed to the strengthening of the tradition inherited from the ancestors in the religious sphere (pagan religion), in oral folk art, material and technical field (technologies and means of transforming the world). 

Since the VII century, various nomadic tribes have penetrated into the territory of the Middle Volga region from the southern and southeastern steppes: Bulgars, Alans, Khazars, Askiz. Since the VIII century, an alliance of Bulgarian tribes has been formed, which had a strong military organization that allowed controlling trade routes – water Volga-Oka and land – from Bulgar to Kiev. It often happened that "Khazar squads ... came to the middle Volga for tribute, hostages, wives..." ^{[22, p. 187]}. It is not by chance that oral folk art has preserved numerous examples of conflicting intercultural situations when foreign peoples are mentioned when describing the events "On the Sur-River in the village of Penzai".:  "vorogi-Nogais", dushmans, basurmans, etc.) ^{[31, p. 789]}.

The Vorog stole the sun,

The Nogais took away the land,

Dushmana's wife was captured ^{[31, p. 897]}.

The violation of the boundaries of residence, the clash of different behaviors with the traditional norms of the local population, the emergence of a warrior cult, the strengthening of the power of a man, a stronger, aggressive, well-armed alien, created contradictions and demanded solutions to the eternal problems of culture: good / evil; life / death, one's own / another's; domination and submission. Thus, the need for the emergence of a military democracy by the end of the I millennium AD was indicated (see: ^[21]).

Striving to adapt to the dramatic changes in life, the Mordovian woman asserted herself as an active and responsible person, manifesting herself in an increasingly hostile, muscular world, as a warrior, defender of her home, homeland:  "Weapons were found in some women's burials: arrowheads and spears, even a sword (Armiyevsky burial ground of the VI–VII centuries, burial 177). There were bits in the same burial. Obviously, it belonged to a female warrior, a horsewoman. Weapons and horse equipment were also in the burial (10) of the caster from the Tomnikovsky burial ground" ^{[1, p. 102]}. Many researchers confirm the presence of weapons in women's burial complexes (see: ^{[8, p. 46]}. Probably, the basic opposition in the distant past of the concepts male / female did not have a firm unshakable fixation in the Mordovian culture, which indirectly confirms the absence of gender in the language. The position and status in society were determined by personal qualities, the results of the activity of a person who tried, as far as possible, to solve emerging problems in the process of creative activity. "The active participation of women in public life, one way or another connected with horseback riding (probably in a military situation), confirms the existence of lower waist clothing in their costume of this period," shortened clothing and other changes in costume ^{[34, p. 110]}.

The territory of the Volga region attracted nomadic peoples with its raw materials (furs, honey, wax, wood, etc.) used for the exchange and development of trade, so the military and political advantage of the Khazars, Volga Bulgars contributed to their confident and rapid dominance in the region. The close contacts of the Finno-Ugric tribes of the Volga region with the southern peoples, among whom were "tribes of different linguistic groups, including Turkic-speaking and Indo-Iranian", who preserved remnants of paganism until the tenth century, undoubtedly contributed to intercultural interaction and the development of cultures ^{[14, p. 157]}. A variety of goods were delivered to the Volga region from the south: fabrics, braid and ribbons, beads and beads, which women used to decorate clothes directly or as copied in embroidery.Non-ferrous metal (copper, tin, lead) and jewelry were also received. At this time, the finds in the burial grounds of metal ingots in the territory of Primorye are increasing, initially - copper and tin, and since the IX century. ingots of tin, bronze and silver. The "metallurgy and metalworking of ferrous and non-ferrous metals" is being activated, new samples of jewelry produced by local craftsmen appear, "trade relations with Volga Bulgaria, with the Alanian world of the North Caucasus and the Don region are developing" ^{[1, p. 111]}.

Archaeological materials record the formation of a mixed jewelry complex in the Upper Amur region during this period, when Imenkov, Saltov, Turkic, Finno-Ugric jewelry were found on one suit. A. H. Khalikov states that "in the ancient Mordovian burial grounds and other monuments of the Upper Amur region, the Middle Oka and the Middle Sura, things characteristic of the nomadic world are noted – belt sets, bits, buckles, etc." ^{[29, p. 56]}. Traces of significant Saltovo influence remained until the XVIII century, which was confirmed by the discovery of the Saltovo battle axe in the pagan burial ground of Kalmolai near the village of Levzha in the Ruzaevsky district of Mordovia.

M. R. Polesskikh considered the factual material of the Penza burial grounds to confirm the ethnic heterogeneity of the population, and the richness of the Mordvinian Moksha burial inventory since the 8th century to be proof that the population had a "high economic standard of living relative to its time" ^{[23, p. 128]}. The expansion of intercultural relations, trade ties, and the development of crafts undoubtedly manifested itself in the uniqueness of the folk costume of the Mordovian tribes, which, judging by archaeological materials, reached perfection by the X-XII centuries. 

Especially close communication in the second half of the I millennium AD was observed between the Mordovian and Turkic tribes, which was reflected in their culture. R. G. Mukhamedova traced the results of the interaction of peoples preserved in the material culture of mishars, considering, for example, roe deer, bast shoes (bast shoes) Mordovian borrowings (see ^[20]). N. V. Bottles He noted traces of Turkic influence in the Mordovian languages, which manifested itself "not only in the lexical system, ... but also at the level of morphology and syntax" ^{[5, p. 6]}. A particularly large number of Turkic borrowings is characteristic of the Moksha language. The influence of the Turkic culture can be traced on the materials of the vocabulary contained in the "semantic class "Man and Society", and within it – in a group denoting concepts related to human relationships" [Ibid., pp. 47-50]. This fact indicates the degree of rapprochement and close communication of peoples in the past. In addition, a convincing proof of communication, the penetration of different cultures into the practice of each other's life processes, the ritual sphere is a large number of Turkic terminology in a group of words denoting the concepts of kinship and properties, especially since this part of the concepts belongs to the most archaic layers of vocabulary. In the spiritual sphere, the Mordovian people have found many Turkic loanwords among the names of "holidays, games, words denoting rituals, religious beliefs, divination, witchcraft" [Ibid., p. 54]; also "words denoting clothes, shoes, jewelry and outfits", "words associated with the designation of food, drinks" [Ibid., pp. 53, 54]. A brief enumeration of the topics shows the close connection of the socio-economic and cultural processes that took place with women's activities, the home, which implies a significant development of the family.

I. M. Peterburgsky wrote that in the second half of the I millennium A.D. there was a separation of a small family among the Mordovian people (see: ^[21]). Performing a wide range of duties in the family, a woman worked on an equal basis with a man and reached her highest status in marriage, becoming the head of the family kudazorava – housewife, the main hostess. The creative activity of a woman, focused more and more on the interests of the family, was fully revealed in the space of the house – this is a "specially formed integrity", a structure that "connects all the lines of the cultural cosmos" ^{[13, p. 259]}.

The Mordovian woman in the past was an active participant in public life: "The division of labor, as its entire history shows, is certainly more adequate to the male essence than to the female one" [Ibid., p. 238]. The rapid changes in life, the clash of different worlds were interpreted as a crisis situation with violation of the moral, moral and other boundaries of traditional culture. The obvious dominance of the armed warrior-rider, the cult of male power in society influenced the restriction of the sphere of creative activity of the Mordovian woman to the space of the house. She is forced to choose her family and home, understood as a "specially formed integrity. Therefore, the meaning of the house ... is not exhausted for a woman by any individual tasks, ... for her it has a self-sufficient value and purpose, and it is ... similar to a work of art" ^{[13, p. 257]}. To reveal the depth of the content of a woman's activity, which itself is visually expressed in a traditional costume as a "closed being outlined by a strict boundary", is possible by knowing her selfless dedication to "herself flowing life, day and people" [Ibid., pp. 258, 259].

The maximum degree of creativity of women's creative activity was manifested in the development of family communication, customs and rituals, norms of behavior, as well as the appearance of specific iconic elements of traditional women's costume. Understanding folk costume as a text of non-written culture means reading information that is "encoded in the material, cut, silhouette, coloristics, ornamentation, decor, ways of wearing and completing elements..." ^{[35, p. 298]}. The clash of various socio-cultural norms as a result of the mixing of peoples created the complexity of the communicative space, which required stricter segregation of the married woman's social group and became an impulse to create a puloker, which represented the necessary symbolic semiosphere, connecting various languages and meanings in a more complex semiotic system of traditional women's costume.

The core of the semiosphere of the puloker created and worn by a woman is connected with the world of a woman, her problems, experiences in a difficult, crisis situation. It translates the norms and rules of traditional culture to the periphery of the semiosphere. According to Simmel, "the more nervous an epoch is, the faster its fashions change..." ^{[13, p. 273]}. The diversity and specificity of the national costumes of the peoples of the world are explained by the peculiarities of the formation of culture, the specific conditions and lifestyle of the people, cultural and historical events, in accordance with the law of harmony and the values of the people, the cultivated taste.

With all the abundance of oblique ornaments and fabric covers that existed among the Turkic peoples, there is only one terminologically close concept that can confirm the possibility of communication in the Middle Ages of the Mordovian population with the peoples of Altai. Artifacts have been found at the Zolotarevskoye settlement, confirming the permanent residence here of not only Mordvins, but Bulgars and Askizov: "On settlements like Zolotarevskoye settlement, there is a mixture of cultures of Mordvins, Burtas, Bulgars, Slavs, Polovtsians and settlers from Altai (Askiz culture)" ^{[4, p. 62]}. The Askiz military detachment controlled the safety of trade caravans in the southern territories of the Mordvins' residence, where the headdress of the puloker type begins to form. It is known that the Altaians had a male hairstyle in the form of a braid, called "k ejere" (see ^[28]). S. V. Gorelik claimed: "The men of the Turks themselves ..., as well as the men of the Turkic-speaking peoples subject to them, wore long hair that was braided into braids" ^{[10, p. 257]}. In a difficult period of time filled with contradictions and dangers, the image of a Turkic warrior, in accordance with the existing values and the role of hair, could be perceived as an image of strength, therefore it became an external incentive to imitation and conscious additional allocation of a female hairstyle with expressive decorative means. According to A. D. Toynbee, "the function of the "external factor" is to turn the "internal creative impulse" into a constant stimulus that contributes to the realization of potentially possible creative variations" ^{[41, p. 104]}).

The complexity of ethnocultural, historical processes of the VIII–IX centuries. The first millennium A.D. required to activate the creative activity of a person for his adaptation to changes. The creative activity of a woman became an impulse for the development of culture, fixed in spiritual, material and artistic elements, and in particular – in the creation of a new element of the costume. Cultural values passed down from generation to generation determine the goals of collective activity, embodied in a variety of artificially created forms.

 4. CONCLUSION

The conducted research shows that the character of the epoch (VIII–IX centuries.  I millennium A.D.), characterized by a crisis in culture, contributed to changes in the cultural life of society, including in traditional costume, decorative and applied arts. Puloker, as a result of creative activity saturated with human emotions, concentrated the main idea of time, contradictions and problems that worried the active social group of society.  

Throughout the history of the people, the Mordovian woman (along with the man) has been a creator, creator of material, spiritual, artistic culture, an active participant in socio-cultural processes. Her moral support in difficult natural and everyday situations of the past was the traditional values formed and assimilated as a result of upbringing in the family and life in a team. The pagan religious and mythological system had a great impact on the formation of values, characterized by the predominance of female deities among Mordvins in the 1st millennium AD, who play a more important role than deities in the image of men.

In the 1st millennium A.D., the role of men increased, from the 7th century A.D. the penetration of well-armed aliens, Turkic warriors exacerbated contradictions and required solving problems (good/ evil; life/death, one's own / another's; domination and subordination) through the formation of a military democracy. The impetus for the birth of a new artifact was the urgent need to segregate the social group of a married woman, emphasizing the importance of her status in society and family, determined by the complexity of human adaptation when a small family appears, increasing the responsibility and responsibilities performed by a woman related to the birth of children, maintaining family health, performing ritual functions, creating material values (making food and clothes), etc. 

Consideration of the value meanings of the Mordovian people associated with the meaning of hair explains the norms of communication and information transmission accepted in society, which determined the stability of society, the predictability of the development of everyday situations, the immutability of visual signs understandable to everyone. The headdress of a woman and the peculiarities of her hairstyle were comprehended during the Middle Ages as an important semiotic system that expressed in symbolic artistic form the most important spiritual values of culture. The core of the puloker semiosphere is the emotional and psychological world of a woman, creating signs and unchanging rules characterized by semantic stability.

The interpretation of iconic information by others could change in different areas of the population's residence, in connection with their resettlement and the development of intercultural relations, which is the subject of special consideration. In the future, the technological code of the puloker will be investigated, which influenced the interpretation of the sign information of the variants of the internal form of the term, which could change in the territory of the population's residence, it is also planned to study the role of the nakosnik in the everyday culture of the Mordovian people. It is also important to conduct a comprehensive study of the functional, semantic and ritual load of the headdress element, which explains the millennia of its existence.