Married woman's hooded cap

A married woman's cap, called a hood, comes from the village of Szostaki in the Biala region. It was made by a seamstress from colourful percale in the colour of puce in 1914. It is cut from four parts and decoratively edged with silver sewing. It has a triangular, serrated cut-out at the front of the forehead, and is ribboned at the back to optically lengthen the head. The cap was placed mostly around the back of the head, covering the ears. Before putting it on, women would put on, or rather thread, ‘kimłbaka’ (a wooden hoop) on their hair to be ‘inside’ it. The end of the hair was first placed over the forehead, then the hanging hair was split in two in the middle and wrapped around the hoop. This form of hairstyle meant that the hair was completely hidden under the bonnet.

This headdress was worn only on festive occasions, which in that region was called 'nadbużańskie'. At present, its range covers not only part of the Bialski District within Polish and Ukraine borders. This type of costume was worn very similarly by our eastern neighbours, as can be seen in one of the surviving photographs, in which women have identical bonnets to the one described, and others without the characteristic tip at the front. It probably arose from minor local differences, which may have resulted from innovations introduced by local seamstresses. Although the form of the costume was similar, the women wearing it wanted to stand out, if only through slightly varied decorations or minor innovations that did not change the cut.