How do lapti Russian shoes and linen go together?
Lapti are traditional bast shoes of the Slavic population of Eastern Europe that were worn for many centuries. In Russia, a villager (Russian peasant who was modest and hardworking that is) wore bast shoes - and that class made up the vast majority of the population.
Russian village, with the exception of cold Siberia and regions of Cossacks, wore bast shoes all year round, and during the Civil War of 1918-1920, most of the Red Army walked in bast shoes as well.
When did the first lapti shoes appear?
There is still no exact answer to this seemingly simple question.
It is generally accepted that bast shoes are one of the most ancient types of shoes. One way or another, archaeologists keep finding hooks similar to the ones used for bast shoes weaving even in the Neolithic sites of man.
How Russian lapti could’ve looked like
Bast shoes got weaved from the bark or thin branches of many trees: linden, birch, elm, oak and wicker tree.
For added strength and warmth, bast shoes got weaved and then weaved over again to create two layers. For the same reason, sometimes a leather outsole was sewn onto them. For festive outings, thin-bast elm shoes with black woolen bands for fixing the shoe onto the legs were intended. For autumn and spring work in the field or yard, simple high braided shoes were considered to be more convenient.
photo: ledeneva.ru
Under these simple cheap shoes for peasants, the legs were always wrapped in cotton cloths or in natural linen canvas - “onuchi” or footcloths. That type of heavy duty canvas material replaced stockings and socks - a long and wide strip of fabric wrapped the leg up to the knee and made wearing bast shoes comfortable.
What is bast and what do you do with it?
Weaving bast shoes was considered a simple job, but one that required skill and experience. A man who knew how to weave, provided his whole family with shoes - back then there were no special stores to buy bast shoes at. And overall, it was rare that any member of a peasant family could not weave bast shoes.
Bast is the fibrous part of the tree under the bark that was removed with a special tool called "kochedyk". Carefully acquired bast was then tied up in bunches and stored in the hallways or the attics. Before weaving shoes, bast was soaked in warm water. Then the bark was scraped off, leaving pure bast. Two to ten pairs of bast shoes were woven per day, depending on the expertise of the craftsman.
Peter the Great was so fascinated by this peasant craft that he wanted to master it too. However, no matter how hard the emperor tried, he did not succeed in comprehending the skill. “In life, Peter achieved everything himself, but when it came to the back of a bast shoe, he ruminated for some time and then stopped for good. In St. Petersburg, the unfinished royal bast shoe is kept for display”, the people said.
Bast shoes have existed for more than a century, and now they are a symbol of the Russian village and the culture of ancestors.
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