Fedorchuk Olena

Interpretation of written sources as key to dating origins of tradition of beaded decoration in Ukrainian folk costume

Section: Studies in Special Historical Disciplines

Abstract: The goal of the research is to deepen the existing dating of the origins of the ethnic artistic tradition of beaded decoration in Ukrainian folk costume by subjecting written (as basic) and material (as auxiliary) sources of the 19th — early 20th centuries to the critical analysis. Methodology. To analyse the written and material sources, a systematic historical approach and such methods as source analysis, critical analysis, visual analysis, analogies, generalization, interpretation, and reconstruction were used in the work. To substantiate the hypothesis, the interpretation of written sources was used as the key method. Scientific novelty. For the first time, a source analysis of ethnographic works from the 19th — early 20th centuries wascarried out to identify arguments in favor of the hypothesis of the birth of the ethnic artistic tradition of beaded decoration in Ukrainian folk costumes in the last decades of the 18th century. Through the interpretation of the found written references, we were able to extend the dating of the studied tradition’s origins, which is widespread in scientific circles, by approximately 50 years. Conclusions. The scientific reconstruction of the ethnic artistic tradition of beaded decoration in Ukrainian folk costume still requires a final dating of its origins. Historical sources that would directly indicate the date of birth of this tradition have not been preserved. The analysis and interpretation of written sources from the 19th — early 20th centuries revealed strong arguments in favour of the hypothesis that the first folk beadwork (jewellery in the form of a small ornamental ribbon) appeared in the last decades of the 18th century. A full study of the 19th century Galician and Bukovinian press is seen asscientifically promising in order to identify materials about possible ethnographic exhibitions and their exhibits, which may contain additional evidence of the hypothesis put forwardin this study.

Keywords: Ukrainians, written sources, material sources, ethnic artistic tradition, beaded decoration of folk costumes, beaded jewellery.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/rksu.38.196     Citation

• Fedorchuk Olena (Ethnology Institute of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Lviv, Ukraine), [email protected]) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4724-3566

Cite:
Fedorchuk Olena. (2025). Interpretation of written sources as key to dating origins of tradition of beaded decoration in Ukrainian folk costume. Manuscript and book heritage of Ukraine, (3) 196-209 . https://doi.org/10.15407/rksu.38.196

References:

1. Budzan A.F. Khudozhni vyroby z biseru [Art products from beads]. Narodna tvorchist ta etnohrafiia [Folk Art and Ethnography]. 1976. No. 1, pp. 80—85. [In Ukrainian].
2. Vrochynska H.V. Ukrainski narodni zhinochi prykrasy XIX — pochatku XX stolit [Ukrainian folk women’s jewelry of the 19th — early 20th centuries]. Kyiv, 2007. 232 p. [In Ukrainian].
3. Holovatskii Ia. O narodnoi odezhde i ubranstve Rusinov ili Russkikh v Galichine i severo-vostochnoi Vengrii [About folk clothes and costumes of Ruthenians or Ukrainians in Galicia and northeastern Hungary]. St. Petersburg : Printing house of V. Kirshbaum, 1877. 85 p. [In Russian].
4. Hrushevskyi M.S. Hutsulska vystava [Hutsul exhibition] // Hrushevskyi Mykhailo Serhiiovych. Tvory : u 50 t. / P. Sokhan, Ya. Dashkevych, I. Hyrych (Eds.). Lviv, 2002. Vol. 1, pp. 244—245. [In Ukrainian].
5. Kozholianko H. Dopovniuvalni elementy tradytsiinoho narodnoho kostiuma ukraintsiv Bukovyny [Complementary elements of the traditional folk costume of Bukovyna Ukrainians]. Narodna tvorchist ta etnohrafiia [Folk Art and Ethnography]. 2010. No. 1, pp. 57—66. [In Ukrainian].
6. Mateiko K.I. Ukrainskyi narodnyi odiah [Ukrainian folk clothes]. Kyiv, 1977. 224 p. [In Ukrainian].
7. Mrochko Fr.K. Sniatynshchyna. Prychynky do kraiovoi etnohrafii [Snyatynshchyna. Additions to the regional ethnography] (rev. ed. Lviv, 1897) / trans. pols. O. Liashkevycha. Detroit, 1977. 129 p. [In Ukrainian].
8. Sakhro M.P. Prykrasy z biseru [Beaded jewelry] // Hutsulshchyna: istoryko-etnohrafichne doslidzhennia [Hutsul region: historical and ethnographic study] / Yu.H. Hoshko (Ed.). Kyiv, 1987. Pp. 440—442. [In Ukrainian].
9. Turkavskyi M. Etnohrafichna vystavka Pokuttia v Kolomyi [Ethnographic exhibition Pokuttia in Kolomyia] / trans. pols. A.B. Yemchuk, introd. article M.M. Vasylchuka. Kolomyia, 2004. 40 p. [In Ukrainian].
10. Fedorchuk O. Khudozhni vyroby z biseru v ukrainskomu narodnomu mystetstvi: pokhodzhennia ta rozvytok tradytsii [Beadwork in Ukrainian folk art: the origin and development of the tradition]. Narodoznavchi zoshyty [The Ethnology Notebooks]. Lviv, 2011. No. 4 (100), pp. 691—703. [In Ukrainian].
11. Fedorchuk O. Tradytsiia bisernoho ozdoblennia narodnoi noshi ukraintsiv (na materialakh zakhidnykh oblastei Ukrainy) [The Tradition of Beaded Decoration in the Ukrainian Folk Costume (Based on the Materials from Western Regions of Ukraine)]. Lviv, 2021. 320 p., ill. [In Ukrainian].
12. Franko I. Perednie slovo do zbirky Olhy Roshkevych [Foreword to the collection by Olha Roshkevych] [1886] // Franko Ivan. Zibrannia tvoriv : u piatdesiaty tomakh [Franko Ivan. Collection of works: in 50 volumes]. Kyiv, 1980. Vol. 27, pp. 40—43. [In Ukrainian].
13. Franko I. Etnohrafichna ekspedytsiia na Boykivshchynu [Ethnographic expedition to Boykivshchyna] // Franko Ivan. Zibrannia tvoriv : u piatdesiaty tomakh [Franko Ivan. Collection of works: in 50 volumes]. Kyiv, 1982. Vol. 36, pp. 68—99. [In Ukrainian].
14. Franko I. Etnohrafichna vystavka u Ternopoli [Ethnographic exhibition in Ternopil] // Franko Ivan. Zibrannia tvoriv : u piatdesiaty tomakh [Franko Ivan. Collection of works: in 50 volumes]. Kyiv, 1985. Vol. 46, pt. 1, pp. 469–479. [In Ukrainian].
15. Franko I. Halytsko-ruskyi ornament na videnskii vystavi [Galician-Ukrainian ornament at the Vienna exhibition] [1886] // Franko Ivan. Dodatkovi tomy do Zibrannia tvoriv : u piatdesiaty tomakh [Franko Ivan. Additional volumes to the Collection of works: in 50 volumes]. Kyiv, 2008. Vol. 53, pp. 173—175. [In Ukrainian].
16. Chubinskii P.P. Trudy etnografichesko-statisticheskoi ekspeditsii v Zapadno-Russkii krai, sobrannye d. chl. P.P. Chubinskim [Proceedings of the ethnographic-statistical expedition to the Western Russian region, collected by full member P.P. Chubinsky]. Petersburg, 1877. Vol. 7. Pt. 3. Malorussy Yugo-Zapadnago kraia [Ruthenians of the South-Westernland]. Pp. 342—608. [In Russian].
17. Shukhevych V. Hutsulshchyna (persha i druha chastyna) [Hutsulshchyna (first and second parts)]. Reprint edition 1899 / introd. article D. Vatamaniuk, P. Arsenych. Sniatyn, 1997. 350 p. [In Ukrainian].
18. Fedorchuk O., Pohunek J., Tauberová M. Ukrainian Beaded Artwork in the František Řehoř Collection: the Scientific and Artistic Value. Český lid. Praha, 2022. Ročník 109. No. 3. S. 351—371. doi: https://doi.org/10.21104/CL.2022.3.04
19. Kolberg O. Pokucie. Obraz etnograficzny : w 4 cz. Kraków: Drukarnia Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego, 1882. Cz. 1. 358 s.