Ukrainian folk costume varies enormously from region to region, but almost nowhere is that variation richer than in headwear — a whole separate chapter of the national dress with its own distinct pieces and rules. The ochipok, for instance, was a married woman’s cap, pulled tight around the head with laces and a slit at the back, most associated with the middle Dnipro region but found well beyond it too; it likely dates back to the Hetmanate period, and — in a pattern that shows up across medieval Europe as well — covering a married woman’s hair completely, forehead and ears included, marked a real change in social status from the uncovered hair of an unmarried girl.
Older still is the namitka, a long strip of thin fabric wound around the head and tied at the back, embroidered at both ends, usually in red thread. It’s thought to be the original Slavic head covering for both men and women, flexible enough to double as a face covering, and it eventually evolved into the Russian kokoshnik. During a Ukrainian wedding, a bride’s hair was covered with both an ochipok and a namitka — the ochipok then worn, in various forms, for the rest of her life. The Hutsul region has its own variant, the peremitka, a strip of cloth embroidered on both ends and knotted at each side, wound around the hair, neck and chin, while Galicia’s bavnytsia — an embroidered ring of cloth, gathered at the top and usually worn under a namitka or kerchief — is distinct again.
Then there’s the vinok, the unmarried girl’s flower wreath, which carries its own deep well of tradition — including a role in the Ivana Kupala midsummer festival, when young women floated their wreaths on a river with a lit candle attached. A wreath that drifted away meant marriage was coming; one that stayed in place meant it wasn’t. A sinking wreath was read as an omen of death, an extinguished candle as misfortune — and it wasn’t unusual for young men to dive in after a particular woman’s wreath. Some Ukrainian communities still keep the tradition alive today.
