Appearance
The kibalka could be made of a rod, wire, vine, hazel, bark of linden — linden, birch, of a coarse canvas glued with dough or reinforced with cardboard; could be sheathed with leather or wrapped with an edge.
Having divided her hair into two halves and twisted each of them into a plait, the woman wound it on a bobbin. They put it on the head, and then twisted the hair on it. A cap was placed on top of the kibalka, which was tied with a scarf or scarf.
Bobbins were in use, since, according to folk custom, a married woman had no right to braid her hair, but only to wind or twist it.
In the Rivne region, the kibalka was often made from branches of various trees and wrapped in cloth. In the Volodymyretsk district, kybalki-rings were made of canvas and called "tkanky". In fact, a "kymbalka" here was called a ring made of a narrow canvas bag, in which strands of wool or linen were placed. Later, kybalkas made of wire, also wrapped in cloth, lived on this territory.
Wooden sticks were wrapped with cloth or tape. Hoops, wrapped in cloth, were embroidered above the forehead.
G. Stelmashchuk considers the kybalka to be the equivalent of a girl's wreath-like outfit. Therefore, the function of a protective circle is also inherent to it.
Kybalka or kymbalka in Vinnytsia was also called a girl's headdress made of multi-colored woolen balls.
