Shigurova T. A. Transformation of the Semantics of a Puloker Braid Ornament in a Mordovian Women’s Costume (In Russ.)

Posted on 25.09.2026 by editor

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Original article

https://doi.org/10.15507/2076-2577.26183.438-451
https://elibrary.ru/ggeaig
УДК / UDC 930.85:81`37

Transformation of the Semantics of a Puloker Braid Ornament in a Mordovian Women’s Costume

T. A. Shigurova
National Research Mordovia State University, Saransk, Russian Federation, https://ror.org/0262qgk29

Abstract

Introduction. In the contemporary world, the preservation and interpretation of intangible cultural heritage have become particularly pressing in the context of globalization and the increasing homogenization of traditional cultures. One of the most important repositories of ethnic memory is traditional costume, in which a people’s worldview, social meanings, and aesthetic codes are embedded. Within the Mordovian tradition, a special place is occupied by the puloker, an element of women’s attire combining utilitarian, ritual, and symbolic functions. However, despite the extensive descriptive material accumulated by ethnographers of the 19th and 20th centuries, the semantics of individual costume elements, including the puloker, remain insufficiently studied in terms of their historical development. The aim of this study is to analyse the semantics of the puloker.

Materials and Methods. The methodological framework of the study is based on an interdisciplinary approach combined with cultural, philosophical, and semiotic analysis. Comparative historical analysis was used to identify changes in the form of the puloker, as well as in the materials and techniques employed in its production, while semiotic analysis was applied to interpret the system of signs embodied in the elements of traditional costume. The study examines artefacts discovered in the summer of 2021 during archaeological excavations at the Kalmolyay site, dating from the 17th to the 18th centuries. For the comparative historical and semiotic analysis of the puloker and for the interpretation of its meaning within traditional culture, the authors also draw on written sources of the Russian Geographical Society, works of Mordovian oral folklore, and ethnographic data on the traditional women’s headdress of the 19th and early 20th centuries, including its associated terminology.

Results and Discussion. The diversity of interpretations of the artistic and symbolic meanings of the puloker is determined by the long-standing role of the puloker in traditional culture. The study focuses on reconstructing the meaning of this element of the traditional Mordovian costume, which has already been lost by the culture that produced it; on the use of solar symbols in ethnocultural ritual and magical practices; and on variations in the semantic interpretation of the term puloker. The complex cultural and historical processes that took place in the Middle Volga region from the 11th to the 17th centuries contributed to changes in the value-based, communicative, artistic, and symbolic meanings within the cultural system, ultimately transforming the meaning of the puloker.

Conclusion. The study demonstrates the preservation of the universal meanings of the solar symbol associated with the origins of the birth of a thing in the plots of epic and folklore texts, in magical and ritual practice, in rituals of traditional medicine, in the graphics of choreographic and decorative arts of the Mordovian people. Written sources of the 19th and early 20th centuries recorded the peculiarities in the manner of wearing a women’s braid ornament, the existence of back ornaments of the Moksha women’s headdress “ftala pool”, “kopor tsekane”, the bride’s ritual wedding hairstyle “keri pulo”, the wedding jewelry of the matchmaker “svahan pulo”, “kudavan tsekyn”.

Keywords: Mordovian traditional costume, women’s headdress, puloker braid ornament, the semantics of jewelry, evolution of the form

Conflict of interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.

For citation: Shigurova T.A. Transformation of the Semantics of a Puloker Braid Ornament in a Mordovian Women’s Costume. Finno–Ugric World. 2026;18(3):438‒451. https://doi.org/10.15507/2076-2577.26183.438-451

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Information about the author:

Tatyana A. Shigurova, Dr. Sci. (Cult.), Professor, Department of Cultural Studies and Library and Information Resources, Institute of National Culture, National Research Mordovia State University (68 Bolshevistskaya St., Saransk 430005, Russian Federation), ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5342-8471, SPIN-code: 8293-1049, shigurova_tatyana@mail.ru

The author has read and approved the final manuscript.

Submitted 07.05.2026; revised 07.07.2026; accepted 15.07.2026.

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