Textured pattern belts on pictures of the Semeiskie people from Transbaikal

Platonova Elena Sergeevna ORCID: 0009-0009-6739-6947 Graduate student of the Department of Cultural Studies of the Institute of Languages and Culture of the Peoples of the North-East of the Russian Federation of the North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov 677013, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Kulakovsky str., 42, office 226 poyas@mail.ru

Nikiforova Sargilana Valentinovna ORCID: 0000-0002-4875-1757 PhD in Cultural Studies Associate Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies at the Institute of Languages and Culture of the Peoples of the North-East of the Russian Federation, Northeastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov 677013, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Kulakovsky str., 42, office 226 nsv2107@mail.ru

Introduction

Photographs from family albums from the twentieth century have been in the focus of attention of foreign and domestic researchers. A photograph is a reliable, visual document – it is a source of heterogeneous information, therefore, as V. P. Chistyakova notes, it requires an integrated approach and knowledge in the field of sciences related to history and ethnology – demography, psychology, cultural studies, philosophy, etc. ^[12]. The potential of photography is huge for studying the culture of the Old Believers. First of all, to recreate a complete picture of the history and culture of the Semey Buryatia. Therefore, S. V. writes. Vasilyeva, a huge layer of documents is needed, including numerous materials made at both professional and amateur levels, located in public and private repositories. The solution of the indicated problem is possible under the condition of a comprehensive study, use, mutual addition and clarification, comparative analysis of the totality of all groups of sources ^[1]. According to the conclusions of I. A. Kovrigina on the use of photography in the study of Old Believers, the material accumulated in recent decades is turning into a qualitative understanding of it ^[4]. To date, photographs of the National Archive of the Republic of Buryatia, the National Museum of the Republic of Buryatia, and the A. K. Kuznetsov Trans-Baikal Regional Museum of Local Lore have been introduced into scientific circulation. Images from private archives are less studied. It is difficult to attract photographic materials as a documentary source due to their anonymity, lack of dating, and interference with visual analysis, such as image fragmentation, monochrome, blurring, and physical damage" ^[3,5]. "It is not always easy to isolate the necessary information from photographic data, this requires in-depth knowledge of the topic under study" ^[10]. The degree of information content depends on the field of study – the same image may be more informative for one specialist than for another. For example, there are many good pictures of Russian women in traditional outfits. They can be used to analyze the features of the material, cut, and decoration. But there is no such important detail as a belt in these photos, because in a women's suit, it was covered in front with a cufflink (an apron with a breast) ^[8]. "The belt tightly encircled the waist, its ends were hidden behind the belt in both casual and festive clothing ensembles. In the trans-Baikal version, the belt was a necessary detail of clothing, it completed it, but was not displayed" ^[6]. In the photos, the family belts can only be seen on men of different ages. This is the uniqueness of the images we are considering. The special value is that men are wearing woven belts. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, traditional clothing has gradually disappeared from everyday life. A.V. Kostrov draws attention to the fact that in the family photo of Old Believers of the 1930s, along with representatives of the older generation and girls dressed in traditional clothes, you can see boys and young guys dressed "in the new fashion" ^{[5, p. 328]}. Despite the innovations, the belt still remained a mandatory attribute of family clothing. As L. N. Pril notes, Old Believers should always wear a belt, because it had not only utilitarian and apotropaic functions, but was also a "sign of the Old Believer" in general" ^{[9, p. 198]}. We see this cultural canon in the photographs of the Semeysky Transbaikalia under study. The ornamented belt as a "sign" is also present in the pictures of children. The children's belt is of interest due to the fact that there is no information about it in the ethnographic literature on the Semey culture. Researchers describe the manufacturing technique, ornament, size, and appearance of Semey belts in general, in particular, G. S. Maslova writes that "wide and narrow belts are known", E. F. Fursova identifies belts "for women – about 2.5 m long, for men – up to 3 m" ^[7.11]. Taking into account the above, the use of photographic materials is necessary for us to form a full-fledged visual image of this important attribute of the traditional costume of the family of Transbaikalia. At the center of our research are the belts of hand weaving in photographs from family albums of S. Bichura, Republic of Buryatia. In order to obtain additional information about the belts from photo sources, the tasks are set to analyze the images according to the method of describing the belts; compare the ornament of the belts in the pictures with real samples; find out whether there are grounds for gender and age division of the belts. We consider it possible to achieve the above by using content analysis, visual analysis, comparative typological, comparative, biographical method, and the method of formalization. The analysis of the content of a photograph is based on the identification of visual elements that are significant from the point of view of the problem or research issue, the frequency of their appearance in a carefully selected collection of images, and then performing an analysis of quantitative results. The subject of this method is the external, visually noticeable, explicit elements of the image. The essence of the methodology for describing the Semeysky Trans-Baikal brane belts lies in the fact that the belt is considered as a whole consisting of a set of compositional and structural characteristics and spatio-temporal parameters. Expressed quantitatively or qualitatively, they are recorded in an individual table for each belt. At the next stage, data on all belts are entered into a summary table, after processing which, we will identify the common and specific features of the family belts. The application of the methodology makes it possible to use sources of varying degrees of informativeness in the work, because by analyzing the belt in detail according to the template, it is possible to identify which characteristics are available and describe them.

On the basis of the proven methodology for describing and regularities in the construction of the ornament of Semey lace belts, as well as practical weaving experience, we have attempted to analyze and describe the belts in photographic images, and introduced photographic materials from personal and museum archives into scientific circulation.

The source base of the research was the field author's materials of the expeditions of 2020-2024, namely photographs of people born in the village of Bichura of the Republic of Buryatia. The photographs are kept in family albums, some were transferred to the museum of school No. 2 in Bichura village. All photos were taken in this village, except for Nos. 2, 6, 7. Several circumstances influenced the choice of Bichura as a research area. The village is located at a remote distance from the cities, the largest group of Old Believers of Transbaikalia lived compactly in it. Many locals keep belts inherited from relatives. There is a collection of belts in the local history museum named after S. Y. Shirokikh-Polyansky, in school museums, and private collectors. In the course of the research, we have collected information about 50 traditional family belts. There was a tradition of weaving in Bichura almost until the end of the twentieth century. In the 2017-2024 expeditions. The names of 20 weavers have been established. The author is connected with the Scourge not only by the professional field of research, but also by the study of pedigree. Intertwined, these two directions complement each other, and have become the basis for this work.

We thank M.E. with great warmth. To Gomzyakov, A. I. Kuznetsov, N. S. Novokrestennykh, K. L. Fedotov, E. A. Ivanov, N. L. Baibakov for the materials provided.

Photography as an auxiliary source in the process of belt analysis

Of the entire array of photos viewed in the home archives, which is several hundred, ten pictures were found on the subject of the study, which depicted people with black belts in a suit.

Photo No. 1. Young people (three) they are standing in white, loose-fitting shirts. Everyone is belted. On the reverse side of the photo there is an inscription: "May 12, 1953." A resident of Bichura M. E. Gomzyakova said that these were friends of her father Evstafy Prokopyevich Tkachev (1931-2008). Her mother Agafya Mikhailovna Tkacheva (1930-2004) wove belts.

The first belt is on the young man on the left. Five longitudinal stripes are visible on the brane base (a narrow dark one in the center, narrow light ones on the sides of it, wide dark ones on the edges). The filaments differ in tone from the filaments of the background, the contrast is not significant. The edge is wide, there are four narrow stripes in it: three light ones (slightly darker in the middle), the extreme one is dark. Light transverse strands are visible above the tassels at the ends of the belt; a high strip of plain weave, above it converging from the edges to the center of the line of the cross (perhaps this is the beginning of the belt). The belt is wrapped around the waist once, fastened with a pin on the right. The ends of the knee-length belt are positioned one above the other with a slight offset. The loose threads of the base (brush) are twisted into separate strands. The length of the brushes is about 15-20 cm. The principle of the ornament construction is in a straight line. A composition with closed (closed) diamond elements. The motif of rapport is three-part (rhombus, cross, arc), without taking into account the elements inside the rhombus and the number of arcs. The chain of diamonds is non-interlocking. The motif of the ornament: a single cross, on each side of it three arcs without appendages, a rhombus with eight appendages on the outer and inner sides, inside it two rhombuses without appendages – one in the other. The equality of the area of the pattern and the background. There are approximately 49 branching threads in the belt.

The belt is on the young man in the center. On a brane basis, five longitudinal stripes are distinguished: wide dark (central and extreme), two narrow light ones between them. The filaments differ in tone from the filaments of the background, the contrast is different. Edge: four narrow stripes – light, dark, light, dark. The belt is folded twice, wrapped around the waist, fastened with a pin on the right. The ends of the belt are thigh-length. The loose threads of the base (brush) are twisted into separate strands. The length of the brushes is about 15-20 cm. The principle of the ornament construction is in a straight line. A composition with closed (closed) diamond elements. The motif of rapport is three-part (rhombus, cross, arc), without taking into account the elements inside the rhombus and the number of arcs. The chain of diamonds is non-interlocking. The motif of the ornament: a double cross, two arcs without appendages on each side of it, a rhombus with six appendages on the outer and inner sides, inside it an oblique cross (nine branching threads) with four crosses (three branching threads) on the sides of it. The pattern ends along the weft line in front of the plain weave. Transverse strands are visible at one end of the belt; a low strip of plain weave. The equality of the area of the pattern and the background. There are approximately 37 branching threads in the belt.

The belt on the guy on the right is wider than the first two. On a brane basis, three longitudinal stripes are distinguished: a narrow central one and wide ones on the sides of it. The belt is wrapped around the waist, fastened with a pin on the left. The ends are at different heights. The loose threads of the base (brush) are twisted into separate strands. The length of the brushes is about 20-25 cm. The edge consists of three narrow lines: very light, dark, lighter than dark. The principle of the ornament construction is along a broken line. A composition with open zigzag elements. The motive of rapport is two-part (zigzag, arc). A zigzag with processes on both sides, under its vertices on each edge there are two rows (one under one) of arcs, each with processes on both sides. The pattern at the end of the belt is limited to a plain weave along the weft line. At the beginning of the belt, the ornament begins with crosses diagonally – under the zigzag line. Transverse strands are visible at the ends of the belt; a strip of plain weave of medium height. There are about 55 branching threads in the belt. Judging by the nature of the twisting of the threads in the strands in the previously studied samples, the belts in the photo are woven from cotton threads.

Image 1. Friends of Evstafiy Tkachev. On May 12, 1953, a photo from M. E.'s personal archive. Gomzyakova, S. Bichura, Republic of Buryatia

Photo No. 2. A. L. Pavlov with his sister. Abram Lazarevich Pavlov, born in 1900. His father is Lazar Maksimovich Pavlov, born in 1868, a charterer (religious representative of the Semeyskys), arrested in 1930 and sentenced to 10 years in a concentration camp. Lazar had three children – Fedosya, Abram and Anna. In the picture, Abram is with his younger sister Anna. The photo was taken in the city photo studio of T. A. Ursu. Tatyana Alekseevna, according to E. P. Ekimova, was one of two women engaged in photography in Verkhneudinsk (now Ulan-Ude). She submitted a petition to the city council to open a photo salon in 1910. A few years later, she transferred the rights to her pavilion to the peasant A. D. Moreplavtsev ^[2]. The picture is of good quality, glued to a cardboard baguette. At the bottom of the baguette, inscriptions were made using the embossing method – the names of the settlement and the photo workshop: "T. A. Ursu" and "Verkhneudinsk". Anna is in a traditional family costume, without a headdress. Abram is wearing a dark shirt, belted with a wide woven belt. Five longitudinal stripes are distinguished on a brane basis, and the contrast of the threads on the central and extreme stripes is visible. The edge consists of six narrow stripes. A composition with open zigzag elements. The first motif consists of four transverse zigzags, two oblique crosses and the second motif with three symmetrically reflected zigzags. The number of zigzags is not visible in the motifs along the edges. There are approximately 61 strands in the belt.

Image 2. A. L. Pavlov with his sister. Photo studio of T. A. Ursu, Verkhneudinsk. The first half of the twentieth century. Photo from the personal archive of N. S. Novokrestennykh, Sugar Factory village, Bichursky district, Republic of Buryatia.

Photo No. 3. F. L. Ivanov with his sons. The first half of the twentieth century. Fedosia Lazarevna Ivanova (nee Pavlova) is Abram's older sister. In the picture, Silantius (far left) and Gregory are wearing belts. In the foreground is Perfil's youngest son.

The belt of Silantium. On a brane basis, five longitudinal stripes are distinguished: on the central one – dark patterned and background threads, the contrast is insignificant; on the middle ones – light patterned and background, almost merge in tone; the extreme ones – light and dark, the contrast is good. The edge consists of four narrow longitudinal lines (light, dark, light, dark). The principle of the ornament construction is along a broken line. A composition with open zigzag elements. The motive of rapport is two-part (zigzag, arc). A zigzag with processes on both sides, under its vertices on each edge there are three rows of arcs (one under one), each process on both sides. There are approximately 49 branching threads in the belt.

Gregory's belt. The brass threads differ in tone from the threads of the background, the contrast is significant – the ornament is clearly visible. The edge consists of two longitudinal stripes: wide, light and dark, narrower. The principle of building an ornament in a straight line. A composition with closed (closed) diamond elements. The chain of rhombuses is non-interlocking: between the rhombuses there is a cross (three branched threads) with arcs on the sides. Motif: a rhombus with nine external processes on each side, inside it is divided by intersecting lines into 16 sections – inside each is a cross; outside at the top of the rhombus is a cross and on each side of it are four arcs (one under one) without appendages. There are about 55 branching threads in the belt.

Image 3. F. L. Ivanova with her sons. The first half of the twentieth century. Photo from the personal archive of N. S. Novokrestennykh, Sugar Factory village, Bichursky district, Republic of Buryatia.

Photo No. 4. F. E. Ivanov with his wife F. L. Ivanova and children. The first half of the twentieth century. In the background, Perfil, the younger brother of Gregory and Silantius, stands in a woven belt. The fragment of the ornament is similar to the pattern of Gregory's belt from the previous photo. We assume that this is the same belt, but tied on the other side.

Image 4. F. E. Ivanov with his wife F. L. Ivanova and children. The first half of the twentieth century. Photo from the personal archive of N. S. Novokrestennykh, Sugar Factory village, Bichursky district, Republic of Buryatia.

Photo No. 5. M. I. Gavrilov with his family. The first half of the twentieth century. In the foreground on the left is a boy in a belt. On a brane basis, three longitudinal stripes are distinguished: a dark narrow one in the center and light wide ones on the sides of it. The contrast of the patterned and background threads is insignificant. The edge consists of two longitudinal stripes: dark and light. A composition with closed (closed) elements. The belt is wrapped around the waist twice.

Image 5. M. I. Gavrilov with his family. The first half of the twentieth century. Photo from the personal archive of N. S. Novokrestennykh,
Sugar factory village, Bichursky district, Republic of Buryatia.

Photo No. 6. The Pavlovs. 1939. The photo was taken in Onokhoy village, Zaigraevsky district, Buryat-Mongolian ASSR. Andrey Yelupovich Pavlov (1879-1960), and his wife Ulyana Kirillovna (nee Petrova) are from the village of Bichura. They were forced to leave the house because of the threat of reprisals. At first they settled in Ust-Gorbitsa, Chernyshevsky district, Trans-Baikal Territory. After the arrest in 1937 of two sons, Kupriyan and Luka, who worked on the railway in the village of Bukachacha, the Pavlovs left Ust–Gorbitsa and settled in Onokhoy. Kapitolina Lukinichna Fedotova, born in 1931, daughter of Luke, remembers that there was a loom in her grandmother's house in Ust-Gorbitsa, Ulyana Kirillovna was weaving. Five longitudinal stripes are distinguished on the brane basis of the belt: the contrast is expressive on the narrow middle stripes. The edge is light. The motif of the ornament is a rhombus with seven processes on the outer and inner sides, inside a rhombus with six processes on each outer side and two rhombuses (one in one) without processes. There is an arc between the rhombuses at the edges with three processes on the outside. The belt is narrow, knotted on the left. A short end with loose warp threads is visible. The threads do not hang strands down, as in belts made of cotton threads, but are tangled, curled – this is typical for silk threads. A similar effect can be seen on belt No. 199/2 in the Museum of History and Culture of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East, Novosibirsk. The threads curl and tangle as a result of prolonged wearing of the belt. Silk belts were tied into a knot not only narrow, but also wide, because they are soft. For example, the knotted belt in photo No. OF-180 in the museum of "Semey Antiquity" in Tarbagatai village, Republic of Buryatia ^[13]. There are approximately 43 pairs in A. E. Pavlov's belt (43 branched threads).

Image 6. Pavlova. 1939. Photo from the personal archive of K. L. Fedotova, village. Kozlovka, Tver region.

Photo No. 7. F. A. Ivanov. The location of the shooting is P. Onokhoy, Zaigraevsky district, Buryat ASSR. At the end of the 1970s, the Ivanov family left Bichura together with the Pavlovs. And also in 1937, after the arrest of one of Anisim Kharlampievich's sons Ivanov – Prokopy, who worked in the village of Bukachacha, the family fled to the village of Onokhoy. Feoktist Anisimovich was born in 1910. His sister Avdotya Anisimovna, born in 1898, married the eldest son of A. E. Pavlov – Zinovey. It is known that Avdotya was a weaver, made paths and belts. In an amateur photo at home, Theoktist stands in a plaid shirt with a woven belt. The brass base is light, the stripes do not differ, the contrast between the patterned and background threads is insignificant. The edge is light, wide, and no longitudinal stripes are visible. A composition with repeating closed elements. The rhythm is uniform, continuous. The chain of rhombuses is closed, because they touch each other with their vertices, forming a rhombus divided into four parts. There are four identical motifs on the belt fragment: a chain of rhombuses with processes on the outer and inner sides, the rhombuses intersect with each other with vertices. Inside the large rhombus is a smaller rhombus with four appendages on each outer side. And inside it there is another rhombus (nine branching threads) without appendages. There are approximately 43 pairs in the belt (43 branched threads).

Image 7. Fragment. F. A. Ivanov. Late 1970s. Photo from the personal archive of E. A. Ivanova, P. Onokhoy, Zaigraevsky district, Republic of Buryatia.

Photo No. 8. A. E. Razuvaeva with children. The 1930s. Some photos from family albums are kept in the museum of school No. 2. The fund was formed by photographs brought by students. The head of the museum, N. L. Baibakova, introduced the exposition. Several photographs showed the same woman at different periods of time – this is a resident of Bichura, Agafya Eremeevna Razuvaeva, born in 1905. In the picture to the left of the woman is a boy with a belt, to the right – in a wedding belt. On its patterned base, seven longitudinal stripes are visible: in the center there is a wide stripe (dark border and background), on the sides of it narrow (light pattern and background), then the stripes are slightly narrower than the central one (a sharp contrast between the patterned and background threads), the extreme stripes are narrow (slightly wider framing the central stripe) and dark (there is no contrast). The edge is a narrow light stripe. The principle of the ornament construction is in a straight line. A composition with repeating, closed (closed) elements – rhombuses. The chain of diamonds is non-interlocking. The motif of rapport is three-part (rhombus, cross, arc), without taking into account the elements inside the rhombus and the number of arcs. A rhombus with seven appendages on each outer side, inside a rhombus with four appendages on each outer and inner side. There is a double cross between the large rhombuses, on the sides of which there is one arc with processes on the outer and inner sides. There are approximately 43 pairs in the belt (43 branched threads).

Image 8. A. E. Razuvaeva with children. The 1930s. The museum of MBOU "Secondary School No. 2", village of Bichura, Republic of Buryatia.

Photo No. 9. Residents of Bichura. The first half – the middle of the twentieth century. The woman in the center has a boy in a belt sitting on her lap. On a brane basis, three longitudinal stripes are distinguished: in the center there is a wide light one, between light and dark threads (the contrast is insignificant), on the sides there are narrow dark ones (patterned and background threads do not differ from each other). The principle of the ornament construction is along a broken line. A composition with open zigzag elements. The motif of rapport is two-part: a zigzag without appendages, under its vertices from each edge of the arc with appendages on the outer and inner sides. The edge is wide, there are three longitudinal wide stripes: light, dark, light. A belt at the waist, three turns are visible. One end of the belt is bent to the right and lies to the middle of the boy's thigh. The brushes of the belt are visible – the loose threads of the base. There are about 34 pairs in the belt (34 branching threads).

Image 9. Residents of Bichura. The first half of the twentieth century. The museum of MBOU "Secondary School No. 2", village of Bichura, Republic of Buryatia.

Photo No. 10. Family Beeches in casual clothes. The first half of the twentieth century. Young men are belted (far right and left). The ornament on the belts is not distinguishable, but the stripes on the brass base are visible. The man on the left has a wide dark stripe in the center, light ones on the sides. The man on the right has five stripes, of which three are dark (slightly lighter in the middle) in the center and light at the edges.

Image 10. Family Beeches in casual clothes. The first half of the twentieth century. MBOU Museum "Secondary School No. 2",
S. Bichura, Republic of Buryatia.

Results

14 belts were studied in ten photographs. These are staged group portraits. The shooting locations are different – in the house, in the yard, in the photo studio. The degree of information content of photographs differs, it depends on the area of the fragment, the quality of the original photo. The photos were taken at different times. The earliest is the beginning of the twentieth century, around 1917, the latest is the end of the 1970s, the rest belong to the first half to the middle of the twentieth century. The age of the men in the pictures is from 2-3 to 70 years old. They are belted with woven belts and straps. The width of the belts is different – they were compared visually and based on the compiled diagrams. In the belts of older men there are 43 branching threads (photos No. 6, No. 7); in young boys – 49, 37, 55, 61 (photos No. 1, No. 2); in boys – 34 and 43 (photos No. 8, No. 9).

On the boy (photo No. 9), the belt is wrapped several times around the waist. We also know that short belts were woven for children. This was told by a resident of the village of Bichura, A. I. Kuznetsova. She keeps a children's belt woven by her mother, K. K. Gavrilova, born in 1919. The length of the belt without brushes is 62 cm. (PMA, S. Bichura, 08/10/2021)

Geometric shapes (single and double crosses, rhombuses with processes on the outer and inner sides, arcs) on men's belts (photos No. 1, No. 7) are similar to the elements on belts attributed as women's (belts No. 15296, No. 16823, National Museum of the Republic of Buryatia).

Based on the developed methodology for describing Semey belts and patterns of making patterns, we determined on the fragments of belts the principle of ornament construction – in a straight and broken line, the main figures are a rhombus, a cross, an arc and a zigzag, compositions with open (zigzag) and closed (rhombuses) elements, chains of rhombuses – closing and non–closing, the composition of motifs, material – silk and cotton threads, the presence of strips on the brane base and edge, the presence of transverse strands, an approximate number of brane threads.

Conclusion

It is not possible to characterize them as a whole based on the fragments of the family belts in the photographs, since important details remain visually inaccessible – the filling of the threads, the composition, and the design of the ends of the belt. Nevertheless, we can conclude that the belts in the photographs differ from each other; according to the visible parameters, the belts in the pictures correspond to real samples – they have the same elements of ornament, the number of threads, the patterned base is divided into stripes. There were different ways to fix the ends of the belt – on a pin and a knot, on the right side and on the left. The method of girding depended on the material – the men's silk belts were tied into a knot, thick cotton ones were fastened with a pin. The reasons for the age and sex division of the belts in the studied fragments have not been revealed. The photographs do not show a direct dependence of the width of the belt on the age of the man, because the ornamented belt emphasized primarily ethnic and religious affiliation, so children were photographed in the same belts as adults. The tradition of being photographed in a belt persisted throughout the twentieth century. The results of the work are of practical importance for creating a typology of Semey belts.