Illustration: Woman's embroidered shirt, Western Siberia.
Siberia is a huge sprawling and diverse area of the planet and contains a complex patchwork of people and cultures, from the original indigenous people, to those brought in through various waves of immigration from the Russian Empire through to the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation.
Although most areas of Russia have their own distinct embroidery traditions and skills and many may well have brought those traditions with them to Siberia, it is the indigenous cultures that make up the bulk of embroidery techniques and pattern work of the area. Among these indigenous cultures are peoples such as the Yakut, Evenki and Chukchi.
Illustration: Embroidered linen shirt (detail), Western Siberia.
Embroidery in Siberia comes in a number of formats and was produced traditionally by both men and women. Some of the materials used within the embroidery craft range across a number of products mainly from animals including sheep, reindeer, seal and fish.
A number of accessories were used within the craft including shells and highly coloured threads. Much of these were procured through the extensive trading links and routes throughout Siberia, which were mostly controlled by the Russians. These trade links also produced a series of cultural influences and cross-pollination so that embroidery in Siberia has a number of outside references ranging from China to Europe, all of which were easily incorporated into the indigenous cultural embroidery craft without the basic pattern work losing its individual and indigenous character, tradition and flavour.
Illustration: Mocassin shoes, Siberia.
Much of the decorative work across the region and throughout the differing cultural areas, tended towards the abstract. A number of costumes were produced specifically for Shamans and so therefore, the abstract pattern work would have used subtly different meanings within each Shamanic tradition and each specific culture, across the vast expanse of Siberia.
Siberian embroidery is very much linked with the community and the religious calendar. The Shamanic tradition is important, but so is that of the ordinary community member. The decorative detail put into costume items from hoods to boots is extraordinary and clearly shows the large skills base, mostly if not exclusively of an amateur nature, which the varying cultures across the region share and have managed through excessive hardships, to continue and pass down to future generations.
Illustration: Linen embroidered shirt, Western Siberia.
This article can only ever be an introduction concerning Siberian embroidery, but it is hoped that it gives some indication of the wide-ranging and extensive craft system of Siberia. The area has produced countless generations of textile-based crafts and continues to do so to this day. The creatively prolific cultures of Siberia have added inestimable wealth to the history of human creative craft.
Illustration: Woman's embroidered headscarf, Siberia.
Embroidery: Traditional Designs, Techniques, and Patterns from All over the World
Sino-Siberian Art in the collection of C.T. Loo
Art of Siberia (Magnus Collection)
Siberian Pictures: Ethnographical Studies. Siberian Fauna. Economic Studies. Habits and Customs
Ancient Masks of Siberian Peoples: Maski narodov Sibiri (English and Russian Edition)
The Paleolithic of Siberia: NEW DISCOVERIES AND INTERPRETATIONS
The Archaeology of Shamanism
Siberia: A Cultural History (Landscapes of the Imagination)
Encyclopedia of Prehistory - Volume 2: Arctic and Subarctic (Published in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files)
The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia: A Study in the Ecology of Belief (Studies in the History of Religions)
