| like bicycles, not-so-urgent search for new technologies to prove its not all magic.
Here's my first draft node...
Valenki
One of the great symbols of old Russia, though nearly unknown in
the West. Born of painfully cold weather and incredible amounts of
hand labor, what could be more Russian?
Valenki are winter boots made of boiled and worked sheep's wool,
what I always referred to as felt, but for me, "felt" doesn't have the
mystique that "boiled wool" does. The name valenki comes from the
Russian word "val-YATS", meaning "to roll", as in rolling dough, the idea being that they are made from wool boiled and rolled to create a super-dense sheets of material that can be worked into almost any form. It also means "to lie around doing nothing", but that's only sometimes applies when talking about the grand saviour of Russians' health through long winters. The felt itself is called "voi-LOK" by Russians.
The great people of Nizhny Novogorod (Lower New City) will tell you that valenki first made an appearance on the scene in their province during the 18th Century, though somehow I think there are people in most provinces who will tell you some very similar about their own area and with similar conviction. So be it.
Wool Boots? Why?
Obviously, wool is warm. Like wool sauna (banya) hats, gloves etc.,
the wool creates a "micro-klimate" (a term you'll definitely hear if you listen carefully in the banya), in which the wearer creates his/ her own correct temperature. Super-dense, boiled wool is not only super warm, but it is relatively light and form-fits to the wearer in a relatively short period of time. Further, according to valenki couniseurs(**), as the fibers of wool rub together, both in manufacture and wearing, an electrostatic field is created that has "healthy effects" on the wearer.
Healthy or useful electric, electrostatic, etc. fields are popular in
Russian common-sense medicine. Ion-producing (***) ventilation
machines have been used since Soviet times in homes, offices and
hospitals. I hear they sell them now on American TV.
The boiled wool is used to make a whole bunch of other "healthy" stuff, like blankets, hats, gloves, slippers, shoe inserts, bags, etc..
But, snow is wet, and wool soaks up water, right? Well, yeah, but
this wool soaks up water a lot slower than knitted wool socks, and on the bottom, most hard-core valenki models add a rubber galosh for wet-weather protection and style.
The "valenki factor" is up there with "vastness of Russia" and the T-34 tank on the Russian list of "Things Keeping Out the Germans."
How are they made?
Wool strands are first cleaned and dried. Then, after loosely weaving the strands together in sheets, they are placed in very hot water with a base detergent and worked back and forth on a flat tool called a (**), as it is friction, heat and pressure that casue the wool to mat (like dreadlocks) and shrink, a process called felting. After many iterations of hot water, working and pressure, the felt is dried and cooled. The felt is then put in a wet form, for the proper shape and size of the valenki. In old days, this was of course, done by the tireless hands of babushki and dedushki (old women and men) throughout the empire. Now there are modern factories that house and machines that free the same tireless hands to push buttons and brooms. Still, the "elite" valenki are still made by hand.
(more to come here)*******
They come in gray, black and white(ish). The galoshes are almost always black.
21st Century Valenki
Valenki have been a Russian symbol of "country" for, uh, ever. They're
utilitarian, not cool. If you were Russian kid, your grandma would have
forced you to wear them every winter you came out to the country
house, that is, until you were strong enough to physically hold her
back. And she's still wearing them. Well, as Dolly Parton tried to
convince, its only a matter of time before country gets cool.
After getting it up to "here" with Western products and style through
the nineties, a lot of mod Russian designer-types decided it was time
to look for cool symbols in their own country. So, sometime at the
very end of the last century, Soviet chic was born: CCCP on $200 t-shirts (and on everything else), 1980 Olympic games wear, and the less-known fashion valenki.
They came with heels, diamelles, Chanel labels, wings, whatever. I'll spare
you an exhaustive list. Suffice that they were, and this all makes up
valenki history.
So...
Maybe an image is best. Outside, its really cold. So that the moisture
inside your nose freezes when the wind blows. Knee-deep snow, crystal clean, crisp air. Inside, you're trying to keep fire warm and the vodka cold. As the collective collects in your kitchen, the bottles start flowing and the pickles are broken out. The collective is cheery and large. The vodka can hold out forever. The store isn't real close, but you're courage is now 8 shots tall.
When the cold wall of air hits you like a room full of Vick's Rub, you're
shaken into a new world. And when you hear the scrunching of snow under your weight, you look down at your toasty-warm feet, and you are reminded why your grandpa loves these wool boots.
(re)sources:
http://english.pravda.ru/culture/2002/12/24/41298.html
http://www.myshkin.ru:8101/frameset.htm (Saturation of the Consumer Market?)
http://www.valenki.inc.ru/main.htm (In Russian, but with puictures)
http://www.gorizont.inc.ru/home.htm?/firm_shop.htm (In Russian, store in Moscow)
http://uk.geocities.com/balihar_sanghera/fashvenki.html
http://www.marusia.ru/moda2000/08-01.html (In Russian, pictures of Fashion Valenki)
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_5-2-2004_pg9_18 |