Traditional Clothes of Belarusian Peasant Migrants in Siberia and the Far East: Original Features and Transformations

Introduction. The article considers the features of traditional clothes of descendants of Belarusian peasant migrants of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries living in Siberia and the Far East. Methods and materials. Basic materials of the study is oral descriptions of clothing, which were collected among descendants of migrants, who were born in the 1910s – 1950s, and also visual observation of the samples of traditional clothing which are stored in museums. On the basis of using the comparative-historical and typological methods, the transformations of the practice of making and wearing clothing have been investigated. Analysis. The analysis of the field materials indicates that the traditional clothing of Belarusian migrants continued to play an important role in their domestic culture from the late 19th century to the 1950s – 1960s. The traditional complex of Belarusian clothing has undergone transformations in a new place because of needs to adapt it to the different natural and climatic conditions, by borrowing from the new ethnic environment, as well as general processes of modernization of the way of life. Due to colder climate of the Asian part of Russia, transformations of winter outerwear and shoes were the most dynamic. Results. The features of ethno-cultural identity had an influence on the degree of preservation of the original complex of clothing of the Belarusians. Traditional types of clothing from the places of exit were most preserved in the places of homogenous residence of Belarusian migrants. In cases of dispersed residence with a high proportion of mixed marriages, the Belarusians faster adopted prototypes of clothing that were typical of their new ethnic environment.