Distinctive features of men's Bielsko-Hajnowski costume verbalized in two ethnographic, popular and scientific studies

Abstract

Traditional folk clothing is an important element of regional culture and national heritage, but folk items of dress that document positively charged cultural interactions and interferences perpetuated also through, and in, language are crucial for native material heritage. There is no denying that the archaic, Belarusian-influenced attention-worthy – even in modern times – modest, yet elegant Bielsko-Hajnowski national dress belongs to the group of items of such traditional significance. Thus, the purpose of this article is an attempt at a linguocultural reconstruction of old men's clothing worn in villages near Bielsko Podlaskie and Hajnówka, verbalized in two ethnographic popular studies by Elżbieta Piskorz-Branekova and Jarosław Górski. On the basis of the "linguistic data" that was recorded in them and incorporated into descriptions packed with linguistic details, it was possible to reconstruct the specifics of the formerly worn men's costume of Bielsko-Hajnówka consisting of: 1) different headwear, such as straw hats, Maciejówka caps, and sheepskin caps; 2) different types of trousers including ones made of homespun materials, urban cut trousers, and breeches; 3) different outer garments such as cloth shirts with a border cut, burqas, and sheepskins 4) various types of footwear, inlcuding summer footwear made of jute, valances, shoes with uppers, and slippers; 5) foot-wrapping puttees; 6) various accessories such as selvedges, and rectangular leather belts; and 7) embroidered decorative ornaments.