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Mariya’s Favorite Pastime

25.05.2022 14:34

Ivano-Frankivsk region Handicrafts

Master weaver Mariya Dmytroniak is only 37 years old, yet has been weaving rushnyky towels and besahy bags for twenty years. She learned the craft from her grandmother who made all kinds of Hutsul household necessities like blankets, carpets, hats, clothing, belts, bags and canvas cloth. Mariya learned to weave rushnyky towels just after she finished school. She started with simple patterns but soon began to experiment on traditional looms to create her own original modern designs. For Mariya, weaving is not a monotonous and repetitive process. Instead, it is relaxing and inspiring. She creates towel series, picking up improvised motifs from one towel and carrying them into the next. Most of her works are given as gifts as she rarely sells them.

Her prize possession is a collection of olden Hutsul rushnyky once used in everyday life, to wipe hands or clean wooden benches and floors. Hutsuls also wove special burlap towels for cleaning. They didn’t use old rags as is customary nowadays. Hand woven and embroidered towels are still used by the mountaineers in many rituals like baptisms, courtships, weddings and funerals. Of course, they are still used to adorn images hung on the wall. The most technically difficult towel is the richly embroidered floral bride’s towel which takes several weeks to complete. This gift for the bride is placed on her neck, over her traditional Hutsul wedding dress.

Mariya will be glad to demonstrate how to make besahy bags, essential accessories for Hutsul life. Besahy are two pouches joined by a strap worn over the shoulder and have long been used to carry goods to markets, to weddings, on long journeys. For the wedding party, Hutsuls historically hung besahy like saddlebags on horses leading wedding processions. The bags were filled with cakes and horilka (homemade vodka) for enjoyment by the guests. As nowadays Hutsul wedding traditions are being revived, besahy are once again in demand.