INTERPRETATION OF WRITTEN SOURCES AS KEY TO DATING ORIGINS OF TRADITION OF BEADED DECORATION IN UKRAINIAN FOLK COSTUME

Abstract

The goal of the research is to deepen the existing dating of the origins of the ethnic artistic tradition of beaded decoration in Ukrainian folk costume by subjecting written (as basic) and material (as auxiliary) sources of the 19th — early 20th centuries to the critical analysis. Methodology. To analyse the written and material sources, a systematic historical approach and such methods as source analysis, critical analysis, visual analysis, analogies, generalization, interpretation, and reconstruction were used in the work. To substantiate the hypothesis, the interpretation of written sources was used as the key method. Scientific novelty. For the first time, a source analysis of ethnographic works from the 19th — early 20th centuries was carried out to identify arguments in favor of the hypothesis of the birth of the ethnic artistic tradition of beaded decoration in Ukrainian folk costumes in the last decades of the 18th century. Through the interpretation of the found written references, we were able to extend the dating of the studied tradition’s origins, which is widespread in scientific circles, by approximately 50 years. Conclusions. The scientific reconstruction of the ethnic artistic tradition of beaded decoration in Ukrainian folk costume still requires a final dating of its origins. Historical sources that would directly indicate the date of birth of this tradition have not been preserved. The analysis and interpretation of written sources from the 19th — early 20th centuries revealed strong arguments in favour of the hypothesis that the first folk beadwork (jewellery in the form of a small ornamental ribbon) appeared in the last decades of the 18th century. A full study of the 19th century Galician and Bukovinian press is seen as scientifically promising in order to identify materials about possible ethnographic exhibitions and their exhibits, which may contain additional evidence of the hypothesis put forward in this study