In search of Finnish roots/Headgear in women's lives

Headgear in women's lives

Veils and scarves

Antrea people. Watercolor. 1860. 988:17. NBA.

Any how, from the 1000 A.D to the middle of 1300 A.D., in Western Europe, women used to keep their hair wildly open. In 1100 A. D. in German literature are the first notes of the “schapel”, which was a headband used around the head to the keep hair from falling over the face, and in France it was widely used in 1200 A.D. The “schapel” lost its importance when braiding the hair became popular in 1300 A.D. and disappeared from use in the central parts of Europe in 1400 A.D.

Only in the middle of 1400 A.D. the veil became commonly used even though it was already used in some places in 1200 A.D. The veil as a headgear of the Finnish women is from 1100 -1300 according to the archeological founds in Perniö, Tuukkala and in southeast Carelia.

Here we will get to know the use of the veil according to the Finnish and Carelian tradition:
Somehow the length of veils is compared to the length of the hair. The longer the veil was, the shorter the hair was cut. It is still known, that the Russian bishop Makarij in the year 1535, forbid women to cut their hair. Nevertheless, the tradition of cutting hair remained to the final times of folk tradition among Ingrians as well as among Carelians.
As we can see, there are numerous different forms of veils and very many ways to bind the veil. Little by little, the education of girls helped them grow into women. First they had their hair open long or short, then the hair was bound up with the ribbons to braids and lifted over the head according to their religion and tradition when they began to reach the age of marriage. Married women always covered their head.
In Carelian tradition girl’s hair was normally cut already as a child. Before the confirmation they let the hair grow a little longer so that they could have their hair bound into the “sykeröt”, nuts for fastening the veil and its holders, if their own braids were already cut. The way, how the married women tied the veil, was often taught by a special veil – binder woman.
The right way to bind the veil depended on the tradition of the place, the social status and the wealth of the woman. The veil was mostly white. The other colors, checkered and decorated scarves appeared in other parts of Finland later in 1800. Please read more specific information about veils in; Sihvo, Pirkko. 2005. Rahwaan puku. (Folk Costume) Museovirasto.

Eastern married women

A woman’s head cover. East Karelia. SU 5093:1. NBA.
”Sorokka”, a head cover of Mari woman. SU 4893:3. NBA.
A woman’s cap. Mordovians. VK 2396:476. NBA.

As time past, the veil became many variations of headwear. Simultaneously in Estonia among Ingrians, East-Carelians and Carelians, the partly decorated white linen veil was getting its new form. At the beginning it was bound by using only one strait side of the veil round the head and the rest stayed hanging back. Later the hanging part was lifted and bound under the tightened part in many ways. Headwear developed to a cap with a simple cutting; Estonian form was called “tanu”, in Russia in Narva the type was called “sapana”, the Finnish name is “harakka, East – Carelians and in the Isthmus of Carelia the name was “sorokka”, only to name some of the names of the headgear which had numerous variations and every one had its own name.

Married women in Lapland

Elli Maria Näkkälajärvi and the baby in the" Komsio”. Väinö Auer. 1923.”SUK436:33, NBA.
“Softening the shoe grass”. T. Itkonen. 1913. Inari. SUK 117:24, NBA.
Making Sámi winter shoes.” I Manninen. 1933. SUK 266:46, NBA.

The cap of the Sámi women has developed since the beginning of 1800 keeping its characteristics by region in form, colors and details. The Sámi folk costume is dressed with all its parts for the festivities. Some parts like caps, the winter fur and men’s belts are still in every day use by some Sámi people. The basic traditional types of Sámi headgear in Finland are the first hats used in the Inari region and in the third picture is a “Skolt Sámi” headgear which could be covered with a large scarf. In the more recent picture, in the middle, the woman is wearing a white scarf. The picture has been taken in Ivalo.

Arctic head covers in Carelia and Siberia

A wedding cap of an East - Karelia woman. SU 3164:51. NBA.
Woman’s cap. Khanty, Siberia. Photo, August Ahlqvist. 1877. SU 1870:9, NBA.
Woman’s cap. Dolgan, Siberia. SU 4934:193, NBA.

Even though all these caps have got the same practical form against wind and frost, materials and decorations are following their own nature and local traditional skills. These hood-hats have same practical elements; long soft fur around the face, warming fur against the neck, all of them are tightened under the chin and decoration is on both sides and on the back of the head. There was a simultaneous development in the veil and the same tendency was seen with these winter hats from the eighteen hundreds in arctic regions.

“Tykkimyssy”, a bonnet or a silk cap

A bonnet with a lace on the border. Photo, M. Kettunen. FBdbs.
3 Bonnets of cotton. FBdbs.
Instructions for to tie the bow. Drawing. Lohja. FBdbs.
A bonnet holder. FBdbs.
A bonnet from inside. Närpiö. Photo, M. Kettunen. FBdbs. A piece bonnet holder. FBdbs.

From 1600 on, the development of the western European women’s headgear was seen in Finland too. A small white hood- type- cap also called a “tanu” was used in many versions. It was decorated with a beautiful lace on the front; it was bound back under the hair or pinned in the hair and a hard bonnet was dressed on the top. The bonnet descended from the “Maria Stuart bonnet”. The oldest Finnish forms of this type where those used by priests and bourgeois wives in the sixteen hundreds. Of course, this beautifully decorated accessory was criticized, especially by the church, because of its precious materials and embroidery. The peasantry did not take this element into use until the beginning of the seventeen hundreds; first in the west and later in the east. It never came to the Isthmus of Carelia and it was still used in the 1890s in Kymenlaakso.

Already in the 17th century, the bonnets were covered with silk even though all kinds of materials were used to cover the base made of paper and glue. In 1793, the rich decorated bonnets were noticed in the meetings that were held against luxurious life; the conclusion was that women were allowed to wear bonnets if the decoration was made without gold and silver threads and embroidery. Like it happened with the veil and the other headgear, also the bonnet grew smaller until in the end of 1800 it was no more in use.

“Tooth of the time” has bitten the silk. That is why bonnets are very unique in private homes. Various examples of this valuable, widely used and loved piece of folk costume are possible to be seen in many museums. The photographs used in this lecture were taken in the Föreningen Brage Museum in Helsinki.

Today, in the year 2005, the use of the veil in Muslim cultures has opened an eager discussion. Perhaps, learning more about western fashions and traditions helps us to see how recent the ladies’ habit of going bareheaded in pubic places actually is, in so-called western cultures as well. The regulation of covering ones head is only one of the many varying social rules we find when studying different folk traditions.

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