Chepken

Cossack Chekmen

Chepken or Chekmen (Tatar: чепкен-outerwear, Karachay-Balkar: чепкен, Kumyk: чепген, Russian: чекмень, Nogai: шепкен, Azerbaijani: çəpkən, Turkish: cepken ) is a caftan worn among Turkic people and later by the Cossacks, it was also in wide use among Caucasians.^[1]^[2] The clothing is in a transitional form between a robe and a fitting caftan without collar and most often made of cloth. The word chepken was used among Turkic groups in North Caucasus to refer to chokha and was often synonymous to that attire.^[3]

Among Azerbaijanis “chepken” is a type of lined upper shoulder clothing of with long false sleeves. Chepkens were mainly sewn from cloth, velour, velvet as well as various silk brocade fabrics. It was worn mainly by women, but there is also a male version of this clothing. Depending on the age of the women, the colors of the chepkens varied. Young girls and women usually wore yellow, red, green, and older women wore white or black shirts. Chepkens were often sewn with cut linings that fit snugly to the body. In the lower side part of the clothes there was a detail called "chapyg" Azerbaijani: çapıq - "scar". They wore a chepken over a shirt, so it fit well to the body. On the sides, the chepken had sleeves ending in armlets. Buttons were sometimes sewn to the sleeves.^[4]

Etymology[]

The word chepken is of Turkic origin and has analogues in related Turkic languages, such as, chikman and chikpen that translates to "chikmyan" in Tatar and Bashkir. In Turkmen chepken translates to 'cloth' and indicates the material from which this type of clothing was traditionally made. Kuban Cossacks called this kind of clothing is called chekmen and Circassians called it shepken.^[5]^[6]