I love historical/modest dress, and I also have a passion for East
European ethnic attire, as that is my own ethnic background.
Who are the European “Slavs” and where did they originate from?
_____________________
 |
| Russian gathering in historical dress Source: Jennifer Eremeeva |
Archaeological
evidence shows that the “Proto-Slavic people were already active by 1,500 BCE
within an area that stretched roughly from western Poland to the Dnieper River
in Belarus” (Slavs, 2014).
Additionally,
during some part of the Slavs early times, their territory “reached into the
western region of Russia and the southern Russian steppes, where they came in
contact with Iranian speaking group” (Slavs, 2014). Researchers know this as
the Slavic languages have in common a number of words with the Iranian languages,
“which can only be explained through diffusion from Iranian into Slavic”
(Slavs, 2014). Between the decades of approximately 300 to 500 A.D., the
Germanic tribes, such as the Goths, and Saxons, were in control of much of the
European Empire. Between the years of 500 to 700 A.D., the Slavs and other
tribes pushed the Germanic tribes into Central and Western Europe (Kulmoja, 2015). This was when the
Slavic population borrowed additional terms from the Germanic languages (Slavs,
2014).
Over
the centuries since then, the Slavs formed their own territories, and became
the East Slavs (Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine), West Slavs (Czech Republic,
Poland, and Slovakia), and South Slavs (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) and as of 2018 there are
more than 360 million Slavic peoples around the world (World population, 2018).
The
majority of people in Slavic countries speak the Indo-European Slavic Language, and the
people of Slavic countries are known as Slavs. Countries that are home to the
Slavs make up about 50% of the entire continent of Europe.
Along
with the various Slavic groups, their traditional clothing reflects some of the
same basic construction and details. Russia – the largest Slavic population in
the world – have Sarafan’s that the women wear, along with magnificent
embroidery details on both men and women’s shirts. Other various Slavic
countries – such as Croatia and Ukraine – have their unique clothing styles,
again with embroidery details. It is my wish to create some of the unique
Slavic styles and list these items or sale in my Mariyam’s Etsy Shop. Coming Soon.
References
Ancient History. 2014.
Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Slavs/
Kulmoja,
I. (2015). What is the origin of the Slavs? UT Blog. Retrieved from https://blog.ut.ee/what-is-the-origin-of-the-slavs/
Slavic
countries 2020. (2020). World population review. Retrieved from https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/slavic-countries/
keywords: slavic. eastern european, handcrafted, slowfashion, qualityclothing, orthodox, handembroidery, modestclothing, linen
