miscellaneous | spiritofbelarus

Counted stitch patterns

designed and worked by

Iryna Varabei

Belarusan Motifs

Collection

NAMITKA.
All Stars Are In Our Hands

Namitka is a distinctive married woman's headdress as a part of traditional Belarusan folk dress. It is a long, long thin fabric wrapped around the head and tied in the back. The ends of the fabric are embroidered with traditional motifs in red.

My design features my feelings of wearing the traditional Belarusan costume.
Have you ever worn a traditional costume? What feeling did you have?
When I wear it, I can no longer stand like a weeping willow. Instead, I keep my body straight. And especially, when you have this wrapped thing on your head ..almost a crown.. you can feel just like a queen!
On the other hand… umm… Some people of western cultures could see in this image a hint of an ‘angel’. No, no, no, it’s not that. While designing this image I was thinking about one famous statement in our culture: “What does a bird first do just before taking off? – She becomes proud.”

The subtitle of the piece says, “All Stars Are in Our Hands”. At the top of the picture, we see the ‘falling stars’. Actually, they have an exact shape of some traditional Belarusan symbols. They fall from the sky and lie down on the embroidered pieces, like towel, a namitka and apron, and thus form the traditional sacral motifs.
The leftmost one is Alatyr Star symbolizing Universe. The next one is the Sun. The next to the Sun is a Star of Yaryla god, a son of the Sun. The last one is a symbol of our ancestors who believed that they were leading their race from Yaryla.

The building behind the lady is an image of a typical Belarusan template architecture.
The entire design composition has a story behind it. And if you still have patience to read my scribble I will tell it.
When I first got to the CreativFestival in Toronto (it was in 2004) I saw the works of @Maria Gollek. Those were some pieces from her Mother and Child Series. I was so impressed by the technique they were made with. And I promised myself that I would learn how to stitch this way no matter what. Later, when I made a friendship with Maria, and after I saw the all pieces of the Series – there were Madonnas from all around the world, and there was Ukrainian one, and Russian one … but oops … no Belarusan one. So, I told Maria, “I will do Belarusan Madonna to your Series”. ..Umm, it’s not Madonna yet… (though, Madonna is coming:)

*Materials used: mostly silk, rayon, bamboo, metallic, beads
(all shades of white :) )

**The pattern for this one is coming.

Sept. 2018.