The old photographs

The International day of photos

Old photos are a reflection of the identity of Adyghe national costumes

Recently, thanks to digitized publications and editions of national libraries of the world and efforts of Adyghe cultural volunteers, each of us has the opportunity to see with our own eyes black-and-white representations of the national costumes of our people. At the time of creating those photos, they were either everyday clothing or a holiday set for their owners. But over the past hundred years, old photographs have become printed or digitized "keepers" of secrets of creating national clothing, some of which have been lost forever.
Unlike pencil and colorful drawings of foreign and Russian travelers of the XVI-XIX centuries, which represent the national costumes of the Adyghe people, first of all, through the prism of artistic talent and artist's outlook, old photos from the 60-s of the XIX-th century to the 30-s of the XX-th century show the real view of the clothing which existed at the time of their creating. Although the possibilities of these photos were not unlimited, and because of the play of light and imperfections of photo-cameras of that time, they deprived us of colors of those costumes. However, in this period, for reasons, known by all, the development of Adyghe national clothing stopped, as well as the development of Adyghe crafts, and, on the contrary, regressing trends began to appear in this direction.
If we study photos of this period, we can see how gradually some traditional holiday decorations, made of silver, and galloons, hiding seams on upper dresses, disappear from women's dresses, how ornaments of sleeve pendants become less patterned than before, and to the 30-s of the XX-th century, the sleeve pendants disappear altogether. And the Circassian man’s suit or the Cherkeska became longer, and galloon decorations on gazyri and under them get rare. We have to mention the famous Circassian weapons and their variety. In photos of the first quarter of the XX-th century, we see from the entire arsenal of the Circassians only a family dagger on the leather belt and, perhaps, a personal knife which cannot always be seen in the black-and-white image.
Meanwhile, old photographs, as well as museum exhibits, become eventually documentary sources which testify to the identity of the Adyghe national costume: male and female. And these black-and-white testimonies allow us to judge the regressing tendencies, occurred in the traditional culture of the Adyghe people. One century later, modern Adyghe masters are trying to restore folk costumes with help of such photographic pictures, kept in Adyghe families, especially Kabardian ones. And seeing them, every person who is interested in the Adyghe culture will become fascinated and will ask questions that push him unwittingly, in their turn, to a deeper study of traditions and culture of the Adyghe ethnic group.
Certainly, we should not forget about special face features of the male and female Circassians of that period, distinguished them from other peoples of the North Caucasus. The proud, but at the same time understanding look of the Adyghe men, the modest and even serious look of the Circassian young girls and women allow us to make our own impression about the character of the people whose representatives were showed in those old photos. And the full-length pictures also reflect peculiarity of stateliness and noble posture of the Adyghes of that old time. And although it is difficult to judge the color of their eyes and hair, because the photos show people mostly with their covered heads, nevertheless, the brave appearance of the Circassian men and beautiful images of the Circassian women cause only our admiration.
Surely, beauty and quality of old photographs of those times depended on skills of pioneer photographers who made them. However, we should pay tribute to their subjects who allowed them to take their pictures and thus make their own personal contribution in the history of the Adyghe people.