Grow, braid, to the waist, do not drop a hair.
Grow, skewered, up to the toes - all hairs in a row.
Our grandmothers knew this saying when they were still girls themselves.
From it we can conclude that the most ancient hairstyle in Russia is a braid, but this is not so. At first, they wore loose hair. And so that they do not fall on the eyes, they hold the strands with a hoop or tied with a ribbon. The hoop was made of wood, from bast or birch bark. And they were trimmed with fabric, trimmed with beads, dyed feather grass, bird feathers, natural or artificial flowers.
Well, the braids appeared later.
At first glance, a braid is the simplest and most unpretentious hairstyle that does not require a lot of time to create it. Braided and went. But in fact, braids as such since ancient times have a deep sacred meaning, and our distant ancestors adorned their heads with braids not at all because of their practicality. And the braid wasn't just a hairstyle.
With the help of braids, they showed family and social status, turned to the gods for help, and drove away evil spirits.
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The braids served as a protective amulet in battles, nursing mothers weaved complex braids to confuse witches and not lose milk, sorcerers and shamans neutralized other people's magic.
For a long time, women of all ages and all classes in Russia and in the Moscow state knew one and only hairstyle - a braid. Girls decorated their braids with ribbons or braids, women covered them with a warrior.
Before marriage, girls wore one braid. At a bachelorette party, girlfriends, with howling and crying, probably due to envy, twisted one braid into two.
It was two braids that were worn by married women in Russia.
They were placed as a crown on the head or tied with a ribbon to make it easier to put on the headdress. Since the woman's marriage, no one, except her husband, naturally has seen her braids again.
It was considered unacceptable to bare your head in the presence of strangers, and even more so - to loose your hair.
The only exception was the bathhouse and some pagan holidays, when a young wife with her loose hair "lured" pregnancy.
On other occasions, "getting out of hand" meant covering yourself and your husband in shame.
It is interesting that the old maidens were strictly forbidden to weave one braid into two, they were also forbidden to wear a kokoshnik.
For little girls, so-called three-beam braids were braided, which symbolized the trinity. The braid was located strictly in the direction of the spine, since, according to our ancestors, it served to fill a person through the ridge with vital forces.
It is no coincidence that when women were married, two braids were braided: one braid fed her life, and the other - future offspring.
The braid wasn't just a hairstyle. She could tell a lot about her owner. So, if a girl wore one braid, then she was in an “active search”. Is there a ribbon in the braid? A maiden of marriageable age, and all potential candidates should urgently send matchmakers. If two ribbons appeared in the braid, and they were woven not from the beginning of the braid, but from its middle, then “dry the oars”, or, as they say, who did not have time, he was late: the girl had a groom. And not just the one who makes eyes and plays at exchanges, but the official one, because the ribbons also meant the blessing received from the parents for marriage.
Combing the hair was like a sacred ritual, because during the procedure one could touch the vital energy of a person. Apparently, in order to restore the vitality lost during the day, it was required to run a comb through the hair at least 40 times.
For babies, only parents could comb their hairs, and then the person himself did this daily procedure. Interestingly, the girl could only allow her chosen one or her husband to unravel her braid and comb her hair.
For women, the braid was the same symbol of honor as for men - a beard. Pulling on the braid meant insulting the girl, not to mention cutting her hair. Once, in a rage, a gentleman cut off a thin pigtail for his maid, and then calmed his indignant peasants, and even paid a fine. By the way, those who dared to rip, for example, a woman's headdress, were also punished with serious fines. Only the fines, it seems, did not go to improve the victim's morale, but to the state treasury.
The fact that cutting hair radically changes life seems to be well known in the old days. Hence the sign that has survived to this day that it is extremely undesirable for pregnant women to cut their hair. Voluntarily, and sometimes with reverent trepidation, only women who were in a state of severe mental shock, for example, during the monastic tonsure, allowed to cut off their braids. Hair in Ancient Russia did not have the habit of cutting at all, and this custom has been preserved in modern men's monasteries.
Little tricks
A braid as thick as a hand was considered the standard of female beauty in Russia. Healthy and shiny hair could tell better than words of flattering matchmakers about a future wife. Unfortunately, not all beauties could boast of thick long braids. Of course, they did not even hear about building up in Russia. So the young ladies resorted to deception - they weaved hair from ponytails into their pigtails. And what to do, everyone wants to get married!
Signs and customs
The cutting of the braid was a huge offense. Once, in a rage, a gentleman cut off a thin pigtail for his maid, and then calmed his indignant peasants, and even paid a fine. If a girl cut her braid on her own, then most likely she was mourning the deceased groom, and cutting her hair was for her an expression of deep sorrow and unwillingness to marry.
By the way, those who dared to rip off a woman's headdress were also punished with serious fines.
But the braid could be cut off by force - say, if the girl parted with innocence before marriage. This is already at the time of the adoption of Christianity, because in pagan times the presence of a premarital child was not an obstacle to the wedding, and even vice versa: the girl's fertility was confirmed by a living fait accompli. Then the morals became stricter, and the one who allowed herself liberties before the wedding could part with her hair as punishment.
In addition, in some places there was a curious custom, when a girl's braid was cut off before marriage, and she gave it to her husband, as if to say that she gave him her whole life, and then grew a new one under a scarf.
During pregnancy, the hair was not cut, since the woman took energy not only for herself, but also for the child. To cut your hair during pregnancy meant to deprive your unborn child of support. This sign has survived to this day.
Hair has traditionally been considered a receptacle for vitality, so young children are usually not cut until a certain age (usually 3-5 years). Among the Slavs, the first haircut was performed as a special ceremony, which was called so - tonsure. In the princely families, the boy was also put on a horse for the first time on the day of the tonsure. And a newborn child under one year old is not even recommended to comb, not only to cut.
Trimming the ends of the hair to a length of no more than one nail in young people over 16 years old was done in order for the hair to grow faster, and this act could be performed only on the days of the new moon.
Long hair is a sign of good health, beauty and female inner strength, which means that men subconsciously like it. According to statistics, men, when evaluating women, put women's hair in third place after figure and eyes.
An experiment was carried out: children of 5 years old, drawing their mother, in 95% of cases drew her with long hair, despite the fact that the mothers had short haircuts. This suggests that the image of a mother is gentle, kind and affectionate, subconsciously associated with young children with long hair.
Letting go of hair in the presence of a man meant an invitation to intimacy. Therefore, before a woman was not allowed to loose her hair in front of strangers. The women who wore their hair loose were fallen, they were called "WALKERS".
Loose hair was also not accepted because it was considered unsafe to scatter energy and strength, loosening hair. Therefore, the hair was taken away and braided. After all, a woman, loosening her hair, could attract other people's glances, could arouse the envy of ill-wishers.