Plakhta is an unsewn waist part of the female Ukrainian national costume in eastern, southern, central Ukraine, such as a skirt. It was made from panels of colorful checkered woolen fabric.
Plakhta is a cloth up to 4 meters long, woven from dyed wool with a more or less whimsical pattern.
Just like the reserve, the plakhta is a very old-fashioned garment. Both the reserve and the plakhta have been clothing for the lower part of the body since the Cossack times, when clothing was especially pompous. Plakhty in Cossack times were made of silk, embroidered on top with gold and silver threads.
Meaning
Girls who reached puberty during initiation could symbolically put on a plakhta - dedicating them to "virginity". Plakhta, as a symbol of fertility, was supposed to protect the sacred parts of the girl's body, giving them the strength of the future woman's fertility.
Cut plank
Plakhta was sewn from two panels (mane) one and a half to two meters long, which were sewn together by about half or two thirds. After that, they were bent twice so that the sewn part covered the figure from behind, and the unsewn wings (Ukrainian krisi) hung freely on the sides.
Pattern
Plakhty could be black, blue, red, green and yellow. The pattern on the boards is staggered. The very pattern and color of the plakhts depended on the specific locality. In the Chernihiv region, they wore mostly green plakhty, and in the Poltava region - yellow ones. The last plakhts were woven mainly in Sorochintsy, they were red, green, blue and white. In Dikanka, Shishaki and Reshetilovka, plakhtas with stars were woven. Patterns from plachts gradually switched to patterns of pillows.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, plakhty began to go out of use, but still remained in some areas on the Left Bank and in the Kiev region. Patterns have become simpler and more unassuming. Each of the patterns had its own name: checkered, bruised, pink, slingshot, mortgaged, cracked, etc.
An apron was always worn in front of the plank, where there was a cut. Plakhts were woolen, and wealthy women wore semi-silk plakhts.
The Hutsuls and partly the strikers wore spares instead of plashta, often whimsically woven with metal and silk thread. Such spares were most often bright yellow, sometimes blue or occasionally other colors. Such spares were sewn in transverse stripes, and not in a box, as in the rest of Ukraine. In Bukovina and Bessarabia, the spares were black with a more or less colorful edge at the bottom.
In the western regions of Ukraine - outerwear made of linen. The Poles, Lusatians, Slovaks have a head and shoulder cape.
Plakhta is a cloth up to 4 meters long, woven from dyed wool with a more or less whimsical pattern.
Just like the reserve, the plakhta is a very old-fashioned garment. Both the reserve and the plakhta have been clothing for the lower part of the body since the Cossack times, when clothing was especially pompous. Plakhty in Cossack times were made of silk, embroidered on top with gold and silver threads.
Meaning
Girls who reached puberty during initiation could symbolically put on a plakhta - dedicating them to "virginity". Plakhta, as a symbol of fertility, was supposed to protect the sacred parts of the girl's body, giving them the strength of the future woman's fertility.
Cut plank
Plakhta was sewn from two panels (mane) one and a half to two meters long, which were sewn together by about half or two thirds. After that, they were bent twice so that the sewn part covered the figure from behind, and the unsewn wings (Ukrainian krisi) hung freely on the sides.
Pattern
Plakhty could be black, blue, red, green and yellow. The pattern on the boards is staggered. The very pattern and color of the plakhts depended on the specific locality. In the Chernihiv region, they wore mostly green plakhty, and in the Poltava region - yellow ones. The last plakhts were woven mainly in Sorochintsy, they were red, green, blue and white. In Dikanka, Shishaki and Reshetilovka, plakhtas with stars were woven. Patterns from plachts gradually switched to patterns of pillows.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, plakhty began to go out of use, but still remained in some areas on the Left Bank and in the Kiev region. Patterns have become simpler and more unassuming. Each of the patterns had its own name: checkered, bruised, pink, slingshot, mortgaged, cracked, etc.
An apron was always worn in front of the plank, where there was a cut. Plakhts were woolen, and wealthy women wore semi-silk plakhts.
The Hutsuls and partly the strikers wore spares instead of plashta, often whimsically woven with metal and silk thread. Such spares were most often bright yellow, sometimes blue or occasionally other colors. Such spares were sewn in transverse stripes, and not in a box, as in the rest of Ukraine. In Bukovina and Bessarabia, the spares were black with a more or less colorful edge at the bottom.
In the western regions of Ukraine - outerwear made of linen. The Poles, Lusatians, Slovaks have a head and shoulder cape.
