“Polyaki” of the Altai were descendants of Russian Old Believers from Kaluga, Tula, Ryazan and Orel governorates. In the late 17th through early 18th centuries, they fled persecution for their faith to the lands that were then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the 1760s they were forced to exile to the region of the Southern Altai on the Uba River, where they began to be called “Polyaki” after their former place of residence.

A men’s clothing set of the settlers included a traditional polik shirt, which had shoulder inserts, and ports. At the same time, it was different from other groups of Russian and Old Believers’ clothing in terms of its particular decorative value. Men wore shirts with gathered sides and bright red embroidery on the chest and back. The seams of the cloths were usually lined with a red calico strip. Moreover, men’s costumes often included a beaded gaytan, as well as brightly colored headdresses decorated with drake feathers and flowers.

Russian ethnographers did not register such costumes anywhere in Russian culture. Apparently, this was the result of Ukrainian influence. According to researchers, the word gaytan comes from the Greek gaietanon, which means “belt”. In the Old Believers’ culture, it was a sash-like accessory similar to a tie, which sometimes could reach the middle of the chest or even the waist.

A gaytan was made of woolen threads on which large cylindrical beads were strung. The balls of blue, yellow, green, silver and white colors were usually used. Oftentimes, craftswomen laid out a geometric pattern of beads. A gaytan was worn around the neck, and its ends, tied in a knot, descended to the chest. At the same time, the ends could be connected with each other with the help of a baptismal cross.

The gaytan from the museum’s collection had a piece of lead sewn into the joint. This piece of clothing is part of the collection of household items of the “Polyaki”, the Old Believers of Altai, which was collected in 1914 by Alexander Efremovich Novosyolov. The researcher acquired the gaytan in the village of Belaya, Zmeinogorsky uyezd.

Alexander Novosyolov (1884–1918) regularly published materials, essays and stories in printed editions of Siberia. He became interested in ethnographic activities in the early 20th century. Alexander Novosyolov was a full member of the West Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.