«Visions of Azerbaijan».-2009.-№4.-S.86-96. Life in Karabakh in the Late 19th & Early 20th Centuries By Dr Hasan Quliyev & Acad. Teymur Bunyadov Traditionally Karabakh women were known for their colourful clothing and multi-layered skirts - they would wear eight to 10 skirts at once - while men's clothes were less varied. The Karabakh diet was seasonal and closely linked to the agri cultural year. In their sec ond article for Visions of Azerbaijan magazine, Dr Hasan Quliyev and Academician Teymur Bunyatov look in more detail at the clothing, cui sine, family traditions and festivals of Karabakh in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. CLOTHES AND FASHION The traditional clothes of Karabakh (can be divided into categories: men's (cloaks, shirts and tunics and undergar ments), women's (under and outer clothing), belts, professional clothing, ceremonial clothing (wedding, mourning, festive), children's clothes, headgear, shoes and accessories. Clothes were made from local and imported textiles. The imported textiles came from Russia, Persia, Europe and elsewhere. The choice of textiles 'increased noticeably in the second half of the 19th century. Red calico, velvet, atlas silk and silk were used, as were cheaper textiles such as chintz (chit), coarse fabric (agh mitqal) and madapollam cotton (humayun aghi). The cheaper fabrics were accessible to all strata of the population. Karabakh women's clothes were noted for their colourfulness, complexi ty and variety. Women wore tunic-like blouses, an underskirt (dizlik) and skirt or dress, known as arkhaliq, kurdu and pullu chapkan or zibini. The arkhaliq (from the word arkha meaning 'back') is worth special atten tion; it was sewn from brocade (zerkhara), velvet, atlas silk, sateen or other textiles of various colours. Unlike the Shirvan arkhaliq the Karabakh arkhaliq had a rectangular cut. The overshirt was simple while the under shirt was similar to a tunic. It was worn over a skirt and fastened by buttons. Karabakh women wore several skirts at the same time, as many as eight or 10. The outer skirt was decorated with braid (silver or golden). In winter one more quilted skirt - yorghan tuman -was worn between the middle and outer skirts; girls did not wear one. One Karabakh winter garment was the kurdu - a sleeveless jacket without a fastener which fitted to the figure. It was worn both indoors and out, but was not worn for work. The chapkan (zibini) was made from bright coloured fabric and had false sleeves. In Lower Karabakh the pullu chapkan had a different cut from the plain chapkan - it was a sleeveless, thigh-length garment, decorated with Russian imperial coins. Women wore an apron (doshluk) over their clothes, decorated with serme embroidery (small hollow silver tubes), sometimes on both sides. Women had a range of colourful headgear, including silk shawls (kalaghayi), turbans (chalma), skull caps (arakchin), headscarves (orpak), shawls (shal), veils (charshab, chadra), kerchiefs (lachak) and caps (tasak). Women's hairstyles were not so complex. They consisted of two plaits: (horuk), with locks (birchak) left over the ears. Girls and women combed their hair smoothly, parting it in the middle. Cosmetics were widely used; special attention was paid to the clearness and beauty of the face. Facial hair was removed and eyebrows were plucked using thread (uz aldirmaq). Special make-up - sume and vesme (mascara) - was used for the eyes and eyelashes. Henna (khina yakhma) was painted onto hands and feet. Men's clothes were less varied than women's clothes. A late 19th-century author wrote about national costume in Jabrail district: 'Underwear consisted of a straight, short shirt, made of coarse white or often blue fabric, and under pants of the same material that were tightened round the waist by tape; in winter wide woollen trousers were worn and they were also tightened with tape. A padded arkhaliq was worn over the shirt. The arkhaliq is a garment flared around the waist that is always fastened tightly at the middle or to one side. A chukha is worn over the arkhaliq. The chukha is a garment with a short waist and long skirt that reaches low the knee. The head was covered year round with a short conical cap of sheepskin. Simple footwear (similar to Russian lapti) was made from ox and buffalo hide.' The most important outer garment for men was the arkhaliq. There were tree different kinds of arkhaliq in Karabakh, depending on the cut - single-breasted (onursuz), double-breasted (onurlu - when one breast was worn out or dirty it could be covered by the other side) and 'single-backed' (doshu achiq arkhaliq). The arkhaliq was fas tened with three buttons. A short sleeveless jacket was worn over the undershirt, jan arkhaliq (qalincha). Young people wore a leather belt (kemer) over the arkhaliq and chukha; a girdle of different materials (cloth, wool or silk) was worn over the arkhaliq and chukha. Fabric girdles with edging and fringes were also worn and were produced in Russia and Poland. One style of chukha had gath ers (buzmeli) while another had rows of bullet holders stitched across the chest (vezneli). Men wore a variety of hats (papaq). Hats with a cloth top were known as yappa papaq or qara papaq (black cap). Hats came in different colours -qizili papaq (golden cap), gumushlu papaq (silver cap) - and were all round. Other types of headgear were the skull cap (arakhchin), teskulakh and hood (bashliq) and so on. The most widespread men's footwear were bast shoes (chariq), woven from plant fibre, but men also wore shoes (hashmaq, mehs) and boots (chakma); women wore mainly pat terned shoes (bashmaq), frequently decorated with horseshoes. Woollen socks with a carpet design (gaba jorabi) were very common. Like most Azerbaijani men, men in Karabakh had moustaches (lopa big, burma big) and beards (long or short). Beards and moustaches were often dyed with henna. Men usually had their heads shaved. A 19th-century source says: 'Tatars have their heads and sometimes beard shaved, but some Tatars that follow Omar leave tufts on the crown of the head, while the fol lowers of the Ali sect leave locks of hair near the ears.' A hairstyle for older people was the fringe at the back (dalbirchek). Some young men left a tuft of hair (kekil, tel) on the head. Men's and women's hair styles varied according to age. For example, after marriage hair styles for both sexes changed. CUISINE Karabakh's traditional cuisine did not differ from Azerbaijani cuisine as a whole. Food, as well as other elements of material culture, depended directly on the economy of the region and the pros perity of the families. Agriculture and animal-rearing influenced the local diet. Cuisine was, of course, seasonal. The winter diet was more substantial and included meat from domestic cattle slaughtered in the autumn (qovurma). A variety of cheese, butter and dairy prod ucts were made in summer for consump tion in autumn and winter. The food can be divided into major groups: grain, dairy, meat, vegetables, special occasion food and children's food. Grain was milled at water-mills which existed in almost every village. The quality of bread and other rolls and buns depended on the quality of flour; the finer the flour, the better and more expensive the bread. Wheat and rice flour were also made through hand-mills (kirkira). Bread (chorak) was the main grain product. It was made from wheat flour and occasionally from a mixture of bar ley or millet. There was a wide variety of grain products for daily use and spe cial occasions. Both leavened and unleavened bread was made. Bread was baked in a tandir - a clay oven built into the ground - or on a saj - a round, cast-iron disc. One of the main kinds of bread in Karabakh was lavash. Unlike the other regions of Azerbaijan, where lavash was baked daily or every other day, it was baked here in the tandir to last for a long period (15-30 days). Women helped each other with the baking. Before it was served, dried lavash would be sprinkled with water. Other grain based foods were noodles (arishta and khinqal), porridge (khashil), semolina buckwheat and other grains (yarma ashi). Rice was very popular. A favourite, traditional dish was pilaff (plov or ash), rice served with a variety of seasonings and sauces. Azerbaijan had more than 40 kinds of pilaff, most of which were served in Karabakh. Dairy products, both liquid and solid, were used together with grain products. Milk was often used in preparing dishes from flour or meal. Dairy products included milk (sud), butter (yagh), cheese (pendir), yoghurt (qatiq), butter milk (ayran), cream (qaymaq) and sour cream (khama). Three types of churn were used: ceramic (nehre), wooden (arkhiq) and leather (chlkhar). A sped ity was dried curd (qurut) which was kept underground. Qurut was made in summer, dried in the sun, pressed, sliced and kept. High-quality qurut was solia and could be soften through soaking. Qurut reserves usually lasted until spring. Meat was an important part of the diet but not as prevalent as dairy pro duce. Meat was served both hot and с (soyutma). Mutton (qoyun ati) was the most common, followed by beef (mal ati) and chicken (toyuq ati). Horse-flesh and camel-flesh were not eaten in Karabakh. High-calorie meals such piti (stew with chickpeas), kufte-boz (meatball in broth), dolma (vineleaves, peppers or other vegetables stuffed with mince), and dushbara (pasta-wrapped mince served in a bouillon) were made from mutton. Meat could be barbecued, grilled, fried or roasted. Kebabs we made from lamb, minced lamb, liver, chicken and fish and could be cooked over the barbecue, in the tandir oven or on the saj.