Comparable Analysis of the Ornamentation of Folk Bedspreads of the Western Part of Ukraine and Lithuania

Folk fabrics are an important part of national heritage in Ukraine and Lithuania. In the formation of the decor of woven items, the national tradition, which is the basis of folk creativity, and individual mutual influences of the folk art of nearby ethnic groups are closely intertwined. The greatest number of parallels can be found with the patterned woven textile items of neighboring countries, and somewhat less with distant peoples, especially those that were connected by a common history in the past.

Western Ukraine and Lithuania have been linked by close relations since princely times. This territory of Ukraine was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for a longer period, compared to the central, eastern, and southern regions of the country, and later became part of the Commonwealth of Nations together with Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus. Scholars from the Ethnology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Kaunas University of Technology limited the subject of the study to artifacts from Western Ukraine and Lithuania since the comparison of Ukrainian, Polish, and Belarusian bedspreads had already been carried out within the framework of the study of common Slavic weaving traditions [1, 2, 3, 4]. On the other hand, a comparison of the weaving traditions of Ukrainians (Slavs) and Lithuanians (Balts) has not been conducted yet.

Unfortunately, we are not able to properly follow how the changing borders over the centuries influenced the textile design of both countries. This is due to the following: –

The colonial position of Lithuania as part of the Russian Empire and Western Ukraine as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the 19th century, which led to the absence of own research on ethnographic textiles of the 18th and previous centuries;

Western Ukrainian and Lithuanian traditional fabrics are the basis of establishing parallels related to universal and unique folk textile parameters for the international interdisciplinary scientific projects during 2018–2019 and 2022–2023. Scientists chose bedspreads as one of the common elements of folk life, a necessary attribute of home decoration, and therefore a good object for comparison.

Publications of both countries devoted to the material, technical, ornamental and colouring features of traditional bedspreads can be grouped by the level of coverage of the problem. There are a few general investigations about some aspects of the manufacturing and decoration of folk bedspreads: Sydorovych [5] and Nykorak [6, 7] in Ukraine and Tallat-Kelpšaitė-Niunkienė [8, 9], Bernotienė, Galaunienė, Rimdeikienė [10] and Savoniakaitė [11] in Lithuania.

A separate group consists of articles devoted to bedspreads of various historical and geographical regions of Ukraine: Zakharchuk-Chuhai — Polissia region [12] and Boiko region [13], Nykorak – Hutsul region [14] and Lemko region [15], and Kara-Vasyliieva – Kholm and Pidliashshia region [16], Boriak – Podillia region [17].

The investigation of Lithuanian bedspreads was conducted according to different principles. Lithuanian authors studied ornamentation specifics of these folk items (Balčikonis [18], Savoniakaitė [19, 20], Usačiovaitė [21]); some aspects of materials for their making (Šidiškienė [22]) and colouring featuring of Lithuanian bedspreads (Šaknienė [23]).

During the joint work, Ukrainian and Lithuanian scientists prepared a few collective publications where they compared some parameters of towels [24] and bedspreads [25]. In the works, they just started to present the results of their projects. Because the investigation of the technical parameters, ornamentations and colours of folk textiles is an important part of the general research of the tangible and intangible heritages of both countries, the study of these objects is still relevant. Thus, the aim of this research is to analyse and compare structural parameters and colour combinations of folk bedspreads from the western part of Ukraine and Lithuania, seeking to find and highlight their universal and unique parameters.

During the joint work, scientists processed 518 exhibits from 6 Lithuanian museums and 308 exhibits from 9 Western Ukrainian museums (the list of museums is given in the publication: Kumpikaitė, Nykorak, Nenartavičiūtė, Herus, Kutsyr, Milašienė, Kozakevych, and Rukuižienė [24, p. 2]). The fabrics analysed covered 5 Lithuanian folk regions (Aukštaitija, Žemaitija, Suvalkija, Dzūkija and Lithuania Minor) and 7 regions of Ukraine (Hutsul region, the western part of Polissia, Volyn, and Pokuttia regions, the western part of Podillia, Boiko, Opillia, and Pidhiria regions). All bedspreads investigated were woven in the 19^th century – the beginning of the 20^th century.

The results of five expeditions, conducted in 2008 in the Suvalkija region, in 2010 in the Aukštaitija region, in 2011 in the Lithuania Minor region, in 2014 in the Žemaitija region and in 2016 in the Dzūkija region, as well as ten expeditions by Ukrainian scientists (in 2007 in the Bukovyna region, in 2007 and 2015 in the Hutsul region, in 2010 in the Polissia region, in 2011 in the western part of the Podillia region, in 2012 in the Volyn region, in 2012 and in 2015–2017 in the Pokuttia region, and in 2018−2019 in the Boiko region) were used for comparison with the results obtained in the museum funds.

The article presents the results of two Ukrainian-Lithuanian interdisciplinary projects “Ornamentation of Western Ukrainian and Lithuanian Folk Textile: Universal and Unique Parameters” (2018—2019) and “Unique Technologies of Ethnographic Textile: Experience of Preservation in Western Ukraine and Lithuania” (2022—2023). Technologists from the Kaunas University of Technology and art historians from the Ethnology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine participated in them. To maintain a balance between humanitarian and technical disciplines, analytical methods were used that contributed to the completion of the main task — the comparison of ornamentation folk bedspreads of the western part of Ukraine and Lithuania.

In the first stage of the study, empirical scientific methods were used. Textile exhibits were photographed and fabric structure parameters were determined, which can be established only by the organoleptic method or looking at the exhibit: warp and weft raw material, some decoration or finishing techniques, and so on. Conventional tools (metric ruler, needle, textile lens) were used for other parameters of woven fabric: warp and weft settings, weave and colour repeats etc. Other fabric parameters (weave, weaving technique) were determined from the photos.

Working with museum exhibits in both countries, we were not permitted to take fiber samples for chromatographic or spectral analysis.

Raw material was established by touching and inspecting the fabric. Woollen yarns are rougher and fluffier than flax and cotton. Flax yarns are stiffer and harder than cotton yarns.

Weaves are divided according to terms used in well-established terminology of woven fabric structure used for industrial fabrics, because the terms have to be clear for researchers who work with industrial fabrics. The fabrics' weaves were established experimentally using a needle and counting glass.

In the second step of the investigation, plans of the fabrics' weaves were made using specialized fabrics and the ornament analysis and design software “Audiniai” and “Ornamentika”, created at Kaunas University of Technology. A fragment of ornament drawing and the fabric fragment's plan of weave are presented in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. Long floats of pattern weft predominate in the black checks in Figure 1. The long floats of pattern weft are under the fabric (a pattern is not formed) in white checks. Warp and pattern and background weft are interwoven equally (usually in a rib weave) in the blue checks in ornament drawings of overshot fabrics. It must be highlighted that usually in plans of weave the black checks show the warp floats, but in Figure 1, we can see not the plan of weave, but an ornament drawing, where black checks show places where a pattern is made. The weft floats predominate in these places. They are black, because they form the pattern in the ornament drawing.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

The plan of weave of the fragment presented in Figure 1 is shown in Figure 2. One check in Figure 1 corresponds to two warp threads and four weft threads in Figure 2. As can be seen, the pattern is formed from long floats of the pattern weft in Figure 2 (black checks in Figure 1); the pattern is not formed of white checks in Figure 1 (long warp floats in Figure 2); a rib weave is used for blue checks in Figure 1, i.e. the pattern and background threads are interwoven equally in Figure 2. It must be highlighted that in the plan of weave, the marking of warp and weft floats is as usual, i.e. the warp floats are black checks and the weft floats - white checks.

The weave is shown in the bottom left part of the plan of weave (Figure 2). The draft into harnesses is presented in upper left part of the plan of weave. The order of the tread of treadles is shown in the bottom right part of the plan of weave. The order of the binding of treadles is presented in the upper right part of the plan of weave.

In the last step of the study of Ukrainian and Lithuanian bedspreads, we used structural and comparative analysis. The first one was important to determine the technical features of items like structure, the components of which are material, techniques and decoration. In the art study, the structural method was used to analyse the component parts of the composition of the item's decoration. Comparative analysis became the main method for identifying common and distinctive features of the decor of Ukrainian and Lithuanian bedspreads based on the results obtained during the previous stages of the study.

Materials. Flax, hemp, wool, and cotton yarns were mainly used for weaving in Lithuania and Western Ukraine. The most common fibres are flax (47.3 % in Lithuania, 50 % in Ukraine) and wool (28.7 % in Lithuania, 44.2 % in Ukraine) in both countries. Cotton yarns are more prevalent (22.4 %) in Lithuania than in Western Ukraine (only 2.2 %). Instead, hemp yarns are more popular in Western Ukrainian bedspreads (3.6 % in Ukraine, 0.9 % in Lithuania). Separate cases of bedspreads with the weft of man-made silk threads (0.7 %) have been found in Lithuania. Flax and wool, naturally grown on peasant farms, were the most popular in both countries. However, in the mountainous part of Ukraine wool threads were more often used than in the flat part as well as in Lithuania. Cotton can also be attributed to the most popular fibres, the use of which differs from wool only by 6.3 % in Lithuania. The references [8, 11] confirm the results given.

The same results the Ukrainian and Lithuanian scientists obtained during their field expeditions. The most popular materials for bedspreads in both countries were homespun flax, wool and hemp. Women manufactured flax, woollen and hemp yarns at home by themselves; these raw materials were the most popular in rural weaving. Cotton appeared in bedspread weaving at the end of the 19^th – the beginning of the 20^th century. They bought cotton yarns, especially for weaving from abroad and they were more expensive than local homespun materials. They usually used cotton yarns for the items' decoration.

Colours. An important part of bedspread décor is colours and their combinations. Ancient bedspreads of both countries (first half of the 19th century) were distinguished by the restrained colour of undyed “raw” threads. Rural weavers often used natural plant (birch leaves, oak bark, moss, onion skins, beetroot, nettle, different flowers, etc.) dyeing with different natural mordants (iron, copper, alum, etc.) for the yarns used for weaving in the 19^th century. Because of that the colours were not very bright, more muted. They acquired a bright colour at the beginning of the 20^th century, especially when synthetic dyes began to be used for dyeing yarn. The colour range is higher in bedspreads in the western part of Ukraine, i.e. 40 different colours were found in Lithuania and 45 colours in the western part of Ukraine. The main colours used for bedspreads are similar, i.e. white (16 % in Lithuania, 15.5 % in Ukraine), black (15 % in Lithuania, 14.1 % in Ukraine), red (8.7 % in Lithuania, 8.1 % in Ukraine), yellow (6.7 % in Lithuania, 5.6 % in Ukraine), green (6.2 % in Lithuania, 5.3 % in Ukraine), orange (4.3 % in Lithuania, 4.4 % in Ukraine), blue (5.3 % in Lithuania, 3.9 % in Ukraine). References [4, 15, 18, 19] describe the most popular colours and colour combinations in Lithuania. They confirm that black, green, red, yellow colours were mostly used for bedspreads. The darker colours (a black, white, dark red, brown background and a green, red, black, blue pattern) were widespread in the Žemaitija region. Similar colors were obtained in the bedspreads found in rural houses during the expeditions in different ethnographic regions of Lithuania.

Fig. 3.

Contrasting combinations of red and black, red and green, blue and yellow, etc., were popular in Ukrainian bedspreads. Combinations of three or four colours were often used, the basis of which were two dark colors, and light tones were used to reveal the contrast.

Techniques and patterns. There are many weaves used to manufacture and decorate both countries' bedspreads. During our work with museum items, we discovered 25 weaves in Lithuanian bedspreads and 15 in Ukrainian. In bedspreads, as in other folk woven items, the ornament was closely related to the techniques of making and the weave. One of the oldest, laconic motifs in the form are various-scale squares formed by plain weave and elongated lengthwise or crosswise rectangles formed by warp and weft ribs. This technique was more often used for bedspreads made on vertical looms, which were older than horizontal ones. Self-coloured twill bedspreads were also common in both countries. Their decoration consisted of diagonal stripes (reinforced twill) vertical or horizontal zigzags (broken twill (Figure 3, a)) or rhombuses of various configurations (diamond twill) formed using the weaving technique.

Some of the features of Ukrainian décor are in horizontally striped bedspreads with two-colour weft (sometimes with different materials, linen and wool, for example) of different techniques: plain, basket, sateen and twill weave of three different variants (reinforced, diamond, broken). Three or five-part symmetrical compositions, where the central part of the composition is usually double or triple wider than the two or three narrow strips supporting them on both sides, were dominant in these bedspreads (Figure 3, b). Bedspreads with the same décor were also used in Lithuania [19]. They are of a horizontally colourful striped pattern with expressed background colour (Figure 3, c). However, low numbers of bedspreads of this pattern were found during the expeditions in different Lithuanian regions, where overshot and pick-up weaves predominated.

Horizontally striped bedspreads with the asymmetrical location of horizontal stripes (Figure 4, a) have been popular in the Volyn region of Ukraine since 1940 in parallel with a symmetrical pattern. Some of these asymmetric horizontally striped bedspreads have been found in Lithuania, in the Dzūkija region, but they are much less common than in Western Ukraine (Figure 4, b). They have several stripes of unequal width arranged at different intervals next to each other or located in the background. In these, the warm, cold or contrasting stripes groups are equivalent. Individual stripes, the lightest or brightest, accentuate composition and emphasize vertical rhythm. Such bedspreads were quite rare in Lithuania, but they do occur [25]. A few of such bedspreads were also found in expeditions in the Suvalkija and Dzūkija regions.

Bedspreads were of open, semi-closed or closed composition in Lithuania and the western part of Ukraine. Only the pattern of the background can be obtained in bedspreads of open composition (Figure 5, a). These bedspreads do not have edges or ends. Semi-closed bedspreads have edges on both sides of the item (Figure 5, b), which are usually woven in more finely than the background pattern, different colours or colour repeat, depending on how the pattern of the background is made. Bedspreads of closed composition have two edges on both sides of the item and two ends, i.e. the background pattern is fully contoured by a finer pattern of edges and ends (Figure 5, c).

The next step of the semi-closed and closed composition complication of Ukrainian and Lithuanian bedspreads was to use colour stripes not only in a weft horizontal direction but also in a vertical way with colour stripes of the warp. In the western part of Ukraine, three-striped groups were often located near the outer edge of the items (Figure 6, a), and there were elements of partially closed composition. For this purpose, red (cherry, orange) or black strips are the most often used, not only for warp stripes but also for weft ones with a neutral natural colour of the base. All these colours are sometimes combined in one fabric. These bedspreads are widespread in the Ukrainian regions of Pokuttia, the western part of Podillia and Bukovyna (Figure 6, a). Similar principles of decorating edges of bedspreads were also in Lithuania. The edges of Lithuanian bedspreads were often decorated by replacing the fabric weave repeat, warp colour repeat on the edge of the fabric, or even adding additional colours to the edge of the fabric (Figure 6, b). Such fabric edge decoration techniques are usually combined with horizontally striped, checkered and motley patterns [8, 19].

The simplest checkered bedspreads of both countries have simple decoration of black and white stripes of the same width, which cross each other. Sometimes, to diversify the composition, narrower strips of black or other colours (red, blue, green) were added to them (Figure 7, a). Lithuanian checkered bedspreads are similar (sometimes even identical) to their Ukrainian analogues according to the schemes of composition symmetry (Figure 7, b, c). Unlike the prevalence of contrasting combinations of colours in the western part of Ukraine, Lithuanian combinations are softer, more pastel. The Lithuanians used linen for making such bedspreads more often than wool, as in Ukrainian regions. Brown, yellow, blue, and red colours dominate in such bedspreads. The checkered pattern is usually combined with plain, reinforced twill, derived twill and diamond twill weaves. The checkered pattern is quite popular in all Lithuanian regions and a lot of them were also found during the expeditions.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

The originality of patterns is distinguished in Ukrainian horizontally striped and checkered bedspreads, in which the main plane is woven in twill, and individually patterned strips are woven in the pick-up technique. The bedspreads, the main motifs of which were called “spiders” (in Ukrainian “pavuchky”), are called “spiders'”. They were mostly woven with hemp warp and used in the Hutsul, Pokuttia, Bukovyna and Podillia regions (Figure 7, d).

Ukrainian “spiders'” bedspreads were made with twill, rib weave and the pick-up technique. In addition to checkered, striped compositions with rhythmic iterance of stripes from the same (Figure 8, a) or different (Figure 8, b) simple motifs were often found. The same principle of stripe alternation, the central one of which was formed by motifs more complex in shape, made by the pick-up technique, was inherent in other Hutsul and Pokuttia bedspreads, which were called “zaborovi” (the name comes from the woven technique). The main motifs of these items were rhombuses, rosettes, oblique crosses, meander and heart-shaped motifs, using the pick-up technique on the background of twill, rib or plain weaves, or a combination of them all (Figure 8, c). The motif of “spiders” is often found here in the stripes framing the wide central ones. Polychromy with a combination of black, red, burgundy, yellow, green, etc. is characteristic of such bedspreads with a natural white color background.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 7.

Fig. 8.

In the territories of Hutsul, Pokuttia, Podillia and Bukovyna regions, bedspreads with stripes made by the tapestry technique in combination with the pick-up technique, twill or plain and rib were also made. They differ from the previous type of bedspreads by strips of serrated diagonal lines, wedges, rhombuses, straight crosses or S-shaped motifs (Figure 8, d). The dominant motifs of such items in different centres of weaving were quite similar. The differences were in the combinations of colours, the rhythm within the stripes and the schemes of their arrangement on the general plane of the bedspreads [25, p. 85]. We did not find any Lithuanian bedspreads with decor similar to Ukrainian “spiders'”, “zaborovi”, and “tapestry” bedspreads during the study conducted.

Bedspreads with looped pile are less common in Ukraine and Lithuania (Figure 9, a, b). Such Ukrainian bedspreads were rarely woven in the Polissia, Volyn and Bukovyna regions. The ornament is formed by patterned looped pile on a plain background. Usually, the background of these bedspreads was woven with thick linen, hemp or tow yarns, and the looped pile pattern is formed by a thicker weft, which is inserted in the background every fourth thread and picked out according to the intended pattern. Stylized motifs with natural form prototypes like flowers, grapes, spiders etc. were used as well as geometric motifs with rhombuses, squares and rosettes. Compositions are repeated, such a horizontally striped, checkered, with an edge and central part. The basis of the composition is also geometric rosettes, cross-shaped ornaments, precisely embedded in a particular scheme or stylized floral motifs (twigs, leaves, buttons). They used cotton, linen, or hemp threads for the warp and weft of these items, and woollen threads for the looped patterns (Figure 9, b). A quite small number of such bedspreads with looped pile was found during scientific expeditions in every Lithuanian ethnographic region. They were called “pupkiniai” (Figure 9, a). The pattern of these bedspreads was expressed by the same or contrasting colours of the pattern and background, forming a fancy or motley pattern of the bedspread [8, 19].

Fig. 9.

Fig. 10.

Separate, non-similar types are bedspreads woven in the overshot weaving technique (Figure 10, a). They are usually woven in the four-harness technique, less often in the six- or eight-harness one. They were produced in the Volyn and Polissia regions in 1950–1960 under the influence of Belarussian and Lithuanian weaving traditions, and in the Bukovyna region under influence of Romania and Moldova. They formed more sophisticated repeat patterns, differing from the silhouette and inner layout of circular, elliptical or other shapes. They are characterized by a great variety of motifs, versatile compositional schemes, meticulous processing of motif shapes, and a wide spectrum of colour combinations. They were woven using four weaves: overshot four-harness of two parts, overshot four-harness of four parts, overshot eight-harness and overshot multi-harness. The overshot four-harnesses of two part bedspreads are the easiest for weaving and setting of weaving looms. Other weaves are more compound. Windows, circles (apples), cucumbers, leaves, cat's feet, harrows, clovers, etc. were the most popular ornamental motifs in Lithuanian overshot bedspreads. The overshot bedspreads are very popular in Lithuania and are obtained in all ethnographic regions [8, 23]. The biggest number of such bedspreads was also found in houses of rural people in Lithuanian villages during the expeditions in all Lithuanian ethnographic regions. The nicest ornaments and their weaving schemas went from one homestead to another, however, each weaver had their own style.

Identical to silhouettes of motifs according to their grouping schemes, overshot bedspreads are widespread in different regions of Lithuania (Figure 10, b). Comparing to their Ukrainian equivalents, they are characterized by a much greater variety of motifs and versatile compositional schemes, meticulous processing of motif shapes, and a wide spectrum of colour combinations.

Among patterned overshot bedspreads, little significance is given to pick-up products in the western part of Ukraine (Figure 10, c). They rarely occur in Volyn, and according to the motifs their layout resembles the same type of neighbouring Belarussian items. Such bedspreads were common in the whole of Lithuania (Figure 10, d). They are characterized by a variety of geometric and stylized floral motifs as well as composition schemes (repeat striped, mesh, with a separated centre and edge). The main ornamental motifs of pick-up bedspreads were flowers, plants in a pot, geometrical motifs (stripes, rhombuses, squares, etc.), buttons, grapes and other berries, rare birds, people and animals. Flowers in a pot were the most popular in the Dzūkija region. Other ornamental motifs were widespread in all ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Old women said during the expeditions that weaving technology of pick-up bedspreads was difficult and not every rural woman could weave them. Usually, one or two women knew how to weave pick-up bedspreads in one village. In Lithuania such bedspreads were common, especially in the Dzūkija, Žemaitija, Aukštaitija and Suvalkija regions.