Russian valenki

Valenki (Russian: валенки; sg valenok (Russian: валенок)) are traditional Russian winter footwear, essentially felt boots: the name valenok literally means "made by felting". Valenki are made of wool felt. They are not water-resistant, and are often worn with galoshes to keep water out and protect the soles from wear and tear. Valenki were once the footwear of choice for many Russians, but in the second half of the 20th century they lost most of their appeal in cities, due to their association with rustic dress.

Valenki (synonymic and semantic related expressions which mean the same – vа́lenukhi (pl.), vа́lezhki, vа́leni, vа́lentsi, kа́tanki) – warm felted highboots made from dried sheep’s wool; they are usually hard by their form, but there are soft types which are made for a corresponding footwear.

Valenki are a kind of traditional Russian footwear which is usually worn for walking on dry snow when the weather is frosty. Valenki wear out most quickly from the bottom and very often is soled with leather or other durable material to prevent this, so they are often worn with galoshes. Also, to protect from getting wet – they use a rubber sole, and there are valenki with glue-sew and molded soles. Traditionally, valenki come in brown, black, gray and white, but the last few years, consumers are available to order these boots in a variety of colors (red, blue, purple, green, yellow, orange). Valenki are included in standard of supplying officers and the ranks of the internal military service of the Russian army with warm clothes and gear.^[1]

Valenki stem from the traditional felt boots worn by nomads of the Great Steppe (including Southern Rus'), whose history goes back over 1500 years.

However, as it’s supposed, the boots appeared at the beginning of the XVIII century. Valenki became widespread only in the first half of the XIX century, when they started being manufactured by industrial methods. Before this, they were quite expensive and only wealthy people could permit themselves to have them. The increasing complexity of needs, the growing influence of the urban mores to the village caused the change of bast shoes with felt boots, and with it, the broad development of fulling production.

Valenki became less popular in the urban life in recent decades because winters in Central Russia turned to be more soft and slushy, and as result – lighter and waterproof footwear gradually won popularity and replaced valenki. Valenki are associated with a traditional rustic style of clothing; in cities they are usually worn by little kids, or they are worn by one and all in a severe frost, when other shoes don’t rescue from the cold.

Before the revolution, the production of valenki was concentrated in the Semenov district of Nizhny Novgorod province, in the Kineshma District of Kostroma province, and in the Kukmor in Kazan province. In 1900, contemporary jackboot fulling factories of Russia produced 1.4 million pairs of valenki in the amount of 2.1 million rubles.^[2] In 1900, a pair of valenki cost 1.5 rubles, in 1912 - 2 rubles, at the end of 1916 the speculative price reached up to 12-18 rubles per pair.

Interesting facts[link]

• Total annual production of the felt shoes in Russia is approximately 4.5 million.
• There are some valenki museums, one of which is situated in Moscow.
• One resident of the republic of Bashkortostan felted a giant valenki of the size 130.
• There are camel valenki. They visually differ from the ordinary factory valenki by their fuzziness. It is even recommended to comb them to make them more beautiful. Unlike hand-made traditional valenki from sheep wool, camel valenki differ solely in their original appearance and the target audience.

Russian soldier on skis wearing valenki boots

See also[link]

• Telogreika
• Ushanka
• Afghanka

References[link]

1. ^ Russian Federation Government Resolution of 17 July 1995 N 720 "On Approval of the glove providing law for enforcement officers of the Russian Federation and norms of supply of glove property for commanding and enlisted personnel of the Interior of the Russian Federation, with the special title of the internal service
2. ^ Statistical Yearbook for 1912, ed. V. Sharago, St. Petersburg, 1912.

Sources[link]

• Békési, László (2006) Stalin's War: Soviet uniforms and militaria 1941-45. Ramsbury: The Crowood Press ISBN 1-86126-822-X
• Zaloga, Steven J. (1989) The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War, 1941-45. London: Osprey ISBN 0-85045-939-7

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Lidia Andreyevna Ruslanova (sometimes spelt Lidiya or Lydia, Russian: Лидия Андреевна Русланова; 27 October 1900, Saratovskaya gubernia – 21 September 1973, Moscow) was one of the greatest and best-loved performers of Russian folk songs.^[1]

Early life[link]

She was born in Chernavka near Saratov, into a peasant family, and was christened "Agafia Leykina" (Russian: Агафья Лейкина)^[2] By the time she was five, both her parents had died; her father in the Russo-Japanese War and her mother soon after. As a result, she spent most of her childhood in an orphanage.^[3] She began singing when she joined the local parish children's choir and soon became a soloist.^[4]

Her uncle invited her to work in a furniture factory. One of the factory's owners heard her singing as she worked and recommended that she go to study at the Saratov Conservatory.^[5] However, she did not enjoy academic study.^[1] During the First World War, she worked on a hospital train and met Vitalii Stepanov during this period, with whom she had a child, born in May 1917. He left her after a year, due to her erratic lifestyle.^[5] According to a Saratov source, she married a different man who later died in the Russian Civil War, whom she took her surname from.^[6]

Career[link]

Ruslanova gave her first concert at the age of 16, to a military audience, where she sang everything she knew.^[5] She first started singing for Russian soldiers during the Russian Civil War, and debuted as a professional singer in Rostov-on-Don in 1923.^[4] She was noted for her peculiar singing voice and timbre, which was a revival of old traditions in which female soloists would perform on festive occasions.^[1] Until 1929, she lived with a Cheka official, then she married again, this time to Vladimir Kryukov.^[7]

Stamp of Russia devoted to Lidiya Ruslanova, 1999, 2 rub. (Michel 759, Scott 6545)

During the 1930s, Ruslanova became extremely popular.^[7] She became an artist of the state association of musical, variety and circus enterprises in 1933, and performed all over Russia throughout the rest of the decade.^[1] When World War II broke out, she ceaselessly toured from one front to another, helping to boost the soldiers' courage with her patriotic songs.^[8] Her signature songs were Valenki and Katyusha, written specially for her. During the Battle of Berlin she performed on the doorsteps of the smouldering Reichstag.

Ruslanova became one of the richest women in Soviet Russia and even financed the construction of two Katyusha batteries, which she presented to the Red Army in 1942.^[4] That same year, she was made an Artist of Honour of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.^[1] Her rough manners and racy language appealed to the soldiers to the point that she was regarded as a potential threat to the Soviet authorities. In 1948, due to association with marshall Georgy Zhukov (who led the Red Army to the defeat of Nazi-Germany during World War II, and who became a strong political opponent of Joseph Stalin in the post-war years) Ruslanova's husband, Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Kryukov was arrested and Ruslanova followed two years later. Ruslanova was forced to sign a declaration that her husband was guilty of treason, but refused so sentenced to 10 years of camp labour.^[4]

In the gulag she was dispatched to, Ruslanova became a star lionized by inmates and administration alike. Therefore, she was moved to a prison cell in the Vladimirsky Tsentral. Following Stalin's death, she was released on 4 August 1953; she was thin, gray, and had difficulty walking. However, she returned to singing almost immediately. Her time in prison was unmentioned in the press until decades after.^[9] Although awards and titles bypassed her, Ruslanova presided over the first All-Soviet Festival of Soviet Songs, together with Leonid Utyosov, Mark Bernes, and Klavdiya Shulzhenko. She went on singing right up until her death in 1973, at the age of 72.^[4]

Ruslanova crater on Venus is named after her.

Discography[link]

• 1996: Поёт Лидия Русланова^[10]
• 2000: Царица Русской песни^[11]
• 2001: Великие исполнители России XX века
• 2002: Русские народные песни^[12]
• 2007: Имена на все времена^[13]

References[link]