Festival tunic

Unknown artist

This party dress, a blue and red dress of synthetic fabric trimmed with decorative bands and fringes, was made for special occasions, in this case for performances.‖Textiles are much more practical indoors and for performances than fur, which was once used to make clothing.‖ Initially, there was relative freedom after Marxism-Leninism entered the Russian territories in 1917. After 1930 under Stalin the climate hardened and the indigenous peoples of Siberia were 'Russified', they had to adapt to Russian culture. Folklore was considered 'politically harmless' by the communist regime and was allowed. Thus arose indigenous ensembles, such as the 'Ensemble Chukotka'. Dance and song, based on their own tradition, took on a more stylised form. Since then, these groups have performed in theatres and arenas and can also be seen in the Netherlands. The clothes and objects they use change shape slowly. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the old Chukchi traditions of the nineteenth century are revisited, and objects are reshaped in a modern context. Such theatre groups, indigenous writers, seamstresses and craftsmen are also trying to give content to their identity as Chukchi.