‘Nakosnik’ was the name of the hair decoration. It was an obligatory part of the girl’s festive costume and was most often used along with a crown or some other ceremonial headdress. It is a pendant that was fixed with cords at the end of a girl’s braid. There is a lot of evidence that such pendants were worn in the 13th-17th centuries. At the same time, the earlier version of nakosnik looked about the same as the 19th-century exhibit from the museum collection.
Usually ‘nakosniks’ had the shape of a brush or plate. The latter could be triangular, square, or heart-shaped. The base was made of glued or stitched cardboard, canvas or birch bark, and then covered with fabric. The resulting product was decorated with embroidery with gold and silver thread, white and colored beads, pearls, ribbons, lace and fringe. Sometimes long threads of worsted (wool yarn) with beads were attached to the triangular or square plates.
‘Nakosnik’ was the final element of the girl’s rather complex hairstyle. It was tied to the end of a braid, which had to be flat and wide on top to cover the neck, and thin at the end. A ribbon with beads, threads, and bright straps, was used to make the braid look thicker and heavier.
Some ‘nakosniks’ looked like soft rosettes with pendant ornaments or mesh with beads. The others looked like a dense brush made from the multicolored wool thread with beads on the end. There was a loop at the top of the ‘nakosnik’ with a small sewn metal ring. The ribbon, plated into the braid was tied to this ring.
In the southern regions of Russia, ‘nakosniks’ were brighter and had more shapes. They could be flat and voluminous, have a narrow strap with tassels or a metal pendant at the end. Most often ‘nakosniks’ were rectangular with a semicircular upper edge. Its pattern included scrolls, floral and geometrical images. In general, the headpiece was widely spread among different ethnic groups — from the Volga region to Central Asia. Girls made the simplest ‘nakosnik’ from materials that they bought and found. Craftswomen who usually lived in every village made elaborately decorated ‘nakosniks’.
Usually ‘nakosniks’ had the shape of a brush or plate. The latter could be triangular, square, or heart-shaped. The base was made of glued or stitched cardboard, canvas or birch bark, and then covered with fabric. The resulting product was decorated with embroidery with gold and silver thread, white and colored beads, pearls, ribbons, lace and fringe. Sometimes long threads of worsted (wool yarn) with beads were attached to the triangular or square plates.
‘Nakosnik’ was the final element of the girl’s rather complex hairstyle. It was tied to the end of a braid, which had to be flat and wide on top to cover the neck, and thin at the end. A ribbon with beads, threads, and bright straps, was used to make the braid look thicker and heavier.
Some ‘nakosniks’ looked like soft rosettes with pendant ornaments or mesh with beads. The others looked like a dense brush made from the multicolored wool thread with beads on the end. There was a loop at the top of the ‘nakosnik’ with a small sewn metal ring. The ribbon, plated into the braid was tied to this ring.
In the southern regions of Russia, ‘nakosniks’ were brighter and had more shapes. They could be flat and voluminous, have a narrow strap with tassels or a metal pendant at the end. Most often ‘nakosniks’ were rectangular with a semicircular upper edge. Its pattern included scrolls, floral and geometrical images. In general, the headpiece was widely spread among different ethnic groups — from the Volga region to Central Asia. Girls made the simplest ‘nakosnik’ from materials that they bought and found. Craftswomen who usually lived in every village made elaborately decorated ‘nakosniks’.
