[Cz-L]IEU & history

Thanks to Alti Rodal for the submission of the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine which provided an interesting outline of Cz's ancient history. I note that in these IEU pages Cz is spelled Chernivtsi. I had the impression that the Russians had spelled it Chernovtsi(with an "i") but the Ukrainians spelled it Chernivtsy (with a "y') Could it be that in translating from the Cyrillic "i" and "y" can be interchanged?

Is there anyone in our list who could enlighten me about the head covering of Romanian and Ukrainian peasant women? Is this a cultural or religious practice? Could its genesis go back to the Turkish occupation and Islamic practice?

I recall as a youngster in Cz there was much concern about lice and many of us, including me, had their heads shaved to avoid lice. In fact, my dad was so concerned about lice that he wouldn't set foot in a barber shop and had a barber come to our house to cut our hair.

Women wearing long hair covered by (did we call them "babushkas?") would be that much more accommodating to lice. I had always accepted that this is how they dress without ever questioning the practice. But since Muslim women, supposedly for religious observance but more often really as an antagonistic statement and part of their intifada wear various head coverings and veils (which they didn't when they were more peaceful 20 years ago) I got to wondering about the head covers of the peasant women and what the history of this practice is.

Cheers,
Andy Halmay

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Received on 2010-03-19 09:39:34