What a gorgeous collection of portraits, Pam! I love how the expressions in the faces show a clear connection between you and your subjects — and I love too how you differently you framed your shots to show what captured your eye. Beautiful work!
The magnificent, traditional headdress of Married women, wound like a turban, is known as elechek. The shape of elechek varies from simple wraps to quite complicated ones, depending on which region of #Kyrgyzstan the woman lives.
An elechek may include a cap-takiya (or chach cap), which is a tiny helmet-like bonnet that fits tightly on the head. There is an embroidered kuiruk (fabric strip) at the back to cover the woman’s plaits. Soviet scholars believed that cap-takiya and kuiruk are relatively later additions.
Cap-takiya can be supplemented by jaak (earflaps) at the sides. Silver pendants with corals adorned the base of the jaak. A rectangular piece of fabric, covering the neck and affixed under the chin, is placed on top of the cap-takiya. Then a white cloth is used for winding the turban.
Wealthy Kyrgyz women used twenty five – thirty meters of snow-white fabric. Middle class women settled for five – seven meters of cloth.
Young, married women wore:
jash kelinderdin kichine elechegi – a small, creative elechek and
kelin kelek – a newly married woman’s turban, specific to southern Kyrgyzstan
kyrgyzstan costume textiles, kyrgyzstan headresses, kyrgyzstan tours
Tunduk – Northern elechek. Image: Erkin & Arthur Boljurovs
The elechek was braided with ruby cloth for newly married women. Two to three years after marriage, it was thought that “The tide of newly married is over as well as the term of ruby band”.
Middle-aged women’s headdresses had no braiding. They wore either:
kaz elechek (principal elechek) – turban of vast size or
tokol elechek (moderate-size turban) – tokol means “second wife” and in the historical sources, there are references to Kyrgyz polygamy.
Elderly women wore kempir kelek, a poorly embroidered elechek.
As part of the Elechek Project, thirty women in Kyrgyzstan and the Murghab region of Tajikistan were identified as being able to wind elechek.
I am Pam Holland 
Beautiful photos!
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Love these faces! What a beautiful tribute!!
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Smiles…the universal language!
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Fabulous!
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What a gorgeous collection of portraits, Pam! I love how the expressions in the faces show a clear connection between you and your subjects — and I love too how you differently you framed your shots to show what captured your eye. Beautiful work!
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Thank you it was an amazing opportunity to take the images.
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Simply beautiful! I’ve never seen that layered head piece. Who’s tradition is that?
Thanks so much for sharing what you see and passing it on to me!
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These photos of the people are capturing. Absolutely beautiful.
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Than you, I didn’t really have much time to compose the images… but I’m happy with them
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I would love to know more about those headdresses that seem to be layers and layers of fabrics wrapped around the head
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Audrey, I really don’t know. I couldn’t ask her because her English was limited, but she said it was comfortable.
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The magnificent, traditional headdress of Married women, wound like a turban, is known as elechek. The shape of elechek varies from simple wraps to quite complicated ones, depending on which region of #Kyrgyzstan the woman lives.
An elechek may include a cap-takiya (or chach cap), which is a tiny helmet-like bonnet that fits tightly on the head. There is an embroidered kuiruk (fabric strip) at the back to cover the woman’s plaits. Soviet scholars believed that cap-takiya and kuiruk are relatively later additions.
Cap-takiya can be supplemented by jaak (earflaps) at the sides. Silver pendants with corals adorned the base of the jaak. A rectangular piece of fabric, covering the neck and affixed under the chin, is placed on top of the cap-takiya. Then a white cloth is used for winding the turban.
Wealthy Kyrgyz women used twenty five – thirty meters of snow-white fabric. Middle class women settled for five – seven meters of cloth.
Young, married women wore:
jash kelinderdin kichine elechegi – a small, creative elechek and
kelin kelek – a newly married woman’s turban, specific to southern Kyrgyzstan
kyrgyzstan costume textiles, kyrgyzstan headresses, kyrgyzstan tours
Tunduk – Northern elechek. Image: Erkin & Arthur Boljurovs
The elechek was braided with ruby cloth for newly married women. Two to three years after marriage, it was thought that “The tide of newly married is over as well as the term of ruby band”.
Middle-aged women’s headdresses had no braiding. They wore either:
kaz elechek (principal elechek) – turban of vast size or
tokol elechek (moderate-size turban) – tokol means “second wife” and in the historical sources, there are references to Kyrgyz polygamy.
Elderly women wore kempir kelek, a poorly embroidered elechek.
As part of the Elechek Project, thirty women in Kyrgyzstan and the Murghab region of Tajikistan were identified as being able to wind elechek.
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Thanks for the information. You certainly see some interesting people and open my eyes to what is out in the world that I never get to see. Audrey
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Just fabulous Pam
Sue
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