The Armenian dress, known in Armenian as տարազ (Taraz), reflects a rich cultural tradition that utilized wool, fur, and cotton, which was grown in fertile valleys. It varried throughout the centuries and throughout the regions, as Armenians were subject to long periods of domination by many empires. Specially as the 19th century ended, Armenians had vastly different dressing traditions to each other, while still having elements that could help recognize one Armenian to the other.
The History of Armenian Dresses
The Armenian national dress, which has undergone centuries of development, was already a stable part of the Armenian nationality at the beginning of the 19th century. Fragmentary material about ancient Armenian costumes has been obtained as a result of archaeological excavations. Also, a number of historical sources, architectural models, miniatures and tombstones about the Armenian national costume have reached us.
The diversity of the ethnographic groups of Armenians was reflected precisely in folk, national clothing. Each detail, color or cut of the Armenian national costume was connected with Armenian traditions, customs, self-consciousness, etc.
The colors of the four elements of the Earth prevail in the Armenian Taraz, which, according to the 14th century Armenian philosopher Grigor Tatevatsi, express the blackness of the earth, the whiteness of water, the blueness of the air and the redness of fire.
Taraz by region
The Armenian national costume, having passed a long path of historical development, has been one of the impulses of its self-preservation. Being in the area of the collision and combination of the styles of the East and the West, it has not only borrowed, but also very often had an influential role in the costumes of neighboring peoples. Even in the case of the need for foreign borrowings, the Armenian people have always had a creative approach, according to their tribal taste and centuries-old traditions.
By region, the costume can be divided into two main regions: Western Armenians and Eastern Armenians, which in turn are divided into separate regions.
Western Armenians
The traditional dresses of Vaspurakan, Bayazet, Upper Hayk and Cilicia are distinguished by floral and geometric decorations found in both male and female outfits. These regions were heavily influenced by Turkish, Tatar, and Seljuk culture, therefore the Western Armenian Taraz has many elements containing these cultures. As a result, due to close proximity to Muslims, and mostly due to direct control by Muslim empires, the Western Armenian Taraz also heavily resembles the regional traditions that took hold after the fall of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia. European traditions that were brought in by crusaders and the Byzantines dissipated, and Muslim clothing became the norm, hence the Armenian western Taraz morphed.
For Western Armenian men, the Taraz consisted of trousers decorated with embroidered elements, short sleeveless dresses, shirts with embroidered sleeves, woolen belts and cone-shaped hats. Women’s Taraz was more opulent and richer in golden or silver embroideries. The apron was also a necessary attribute of the woman’s costume. It was tied to the waist, chest or the lower back.
The costume of Western Armenians is mainly divided into two regions:
- The Eastern provinces: in the north, the regions of Taron (including Sasun), Bardzr Hayk, Vaspurakan, and Baghesh.
- The Western provinces: in the south, the regions of Sebastia, Caesarea, Cilicia, and Kharberd and Tigranakert.
Eastern Armenian Taraz
Eastern Armenian Taraz, unlike its counterpart in Western Armenia, had different influences. Most of Eastern Armenia had no Armenians after the great Surgun of 1604. Mass migration into modern day Armenia and its regions started only after the Russian Empire successfully took control of the area. Therefore, most Armenians had preserved their traditions to the best of their abilities in the north of Armenia, mostly in the Caucasian mountains, and in modern day Eastern Europe, in areas such as Crimea. But as they resettled, these cultured intermixed and later on homogenized into the Eastern Armenian Taraz.
The basis of the Eastern Armenian men’s clothing was mainly: a shirt and trousers. The most common was the traditional men’s shirt of the body shape. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, in a number of regions (Vayot-Dzor, Tavush, etc.), they wore an old-style shirt, which was cut from a single panel of fabric, characterized mainly by a supporting shoulder and straight sleeves. In the winter they usually wore beltless loose fur-lined overcoats and hats made out of lamb fur. These clothes, unlike Western Armenians, were influenced by the northern Caucasian traditional dresses, and by Russian clothing.
Ha la V, was considered as a national costume of Eastern Armenian women Eastern Armenians wore red shirt instead of the western White. Red color was a talisman, a symbol of femininity. Halav had oblique gussets on the sides, wide and straight sleeves with gores and a round neckline with an embroidered slit on the chest. Women wore long pants -pokhan under halav. Lower part of pokhan was made of an expensive, ornamented, embroidered fabric. Eastern Armenian women wore shoulder dress over the long shirt. That was a long dress like an arkhalukh fastened at the waist and made of cotton, satin or silk, usually blue, green or purple, with an elegant long neck on the chest.
Eastern Armenian costume can be divided into three regions:
- Syunik-Artsakh, Zangezur
- Airarat
- Goghtan province (Agulis, Ordubad), Gandzak, Gugark, Shirak, Javakhk
Taraz in the Modern Day
The Armenian Taraz today is a long forgotten tradition of the Armenian people. The extent of which these dresses were preserved is also limited, specially in the Western Armenian regions. After the Armenian genocide, the traditional Taraz was left behind as Armenians were forced into refuge in countries km apart. Eastern Armenian Taraz fared way better as they entered the Soviet Union. Research and historical departments were allowed to preserve, albeit to a limit, national Armenian clothing. Therefore, more information exists on the Eastern Taraz, then the Western one. Most villagers in what is modern day Armenia continued wearing their Taraz up until the late 60’s, when European standard clothing became widely available and attainable for all.
Nowadays, many organizations and Armenian researchers spend their times finding, researching, and even recreating the old Armenian Taraz. Rekindling old Armenian traditions and recreating what the average Armenian wore. Though these organizations have rarely had the funding, they persist, and rediscover old Armenian traditions.
To find out about more Armenian traditional arts, read this book.