Military face paint. History and rules for applying war paint

In any company, Stepan Pavlenko was his own guy. He could spend hours telling funny jokes, pick up a guitar and sing soulful songs, dance Lezginka and Gypsy dance equally well, whisper exquisite compliments in his partner’s ear during waltzes, drive a car beautifully, fish and cook royal shish kebab in a forest clearing. Styopka always dressed fashionably, so that he could not be mistaken for an ordinary rural guy who understood without words the problems of the woman Grunya, whose overflowing river flooded the garden that she had been nursing since March. In a word, Styopka was his boyfriend always and everywhere, and this pleased him beyond measure...
Only one circumstance has confused Styopka for the last five weeks. This is a healing scar on his forehead, which he carefully began to cover with an overgrown forelock. And when asked about the origin of this stupid mark, Stepan laughed it off with the words: “Scars only adorn a man,” and then tried to play a thoughtful and battle-weary Superman, resting his chin in his hand. They immediately left him behind with questions, which was right for Stepan.
And here's the thing. Every New Year, with their bosom friend Timokha, they came up with costumes for themselves, put on “war paint” and showed up at each other’s doorsteps, posing as imaginary heroes. At that time, the only bad thing was that Timokha the quiet one unexpectedly got married and settled in Rostov in the four-room apartment of his mother-in-law, who, during matchmaking, set only one condition: to live together, because she had one and only dear child... Sofia Karlovna had everything else, she worked head of a huge base for more than twenty years... Pavlenko decided not to break old customs and began to diligently get together with his good old friends. This time he decided not to paint himself as an Indian, but simply rented a Mr. X costume from the local theater, carefully put it in a new suitcase, and in another he collected simple rural gifts, which his talkative, aged mother sweetly and endlessly presented... It was before Rostov close at hand, the weather was unusually good, although it was bitterly cold. Having reached the entrance at almost ten in the evening, he easily got to the first floor landing, since a huge crowd of tipsy guys was entering there. Stepan opened his suitcase and began to put on a satin suit. When Pavlenko opened his cape and looked at himself in the reflection of the window, his soul jumped with happiness: beauty! It was impossible to recognize him, although due to his enormous height and physique, his friend would still joyfully say: “Bah! What kind of people are there in Hollywood!!!" With leaps and bounds, anticipating the joy of meeting and the taste of beer with bream from the Don, Styopka almost flew up to the third floor and rang the doorbell...
The experienced traders sitting at the table shuddered and looked at each other: are we still waiting for someone? Sofya Karlovna hurried to the front door, just in case, armed with a heavy rolling pin, as usual. Looking out the peephole, Timokha’s mother-in-law saw no one. Just as she was about to leave the door, an insistent, sharp bell rang again. Sophia, having previously put on a chain, opened the door, into which the growling and terribly mysterious Mr. X tried to squeeze through. Sofya Karlovna was not at a loss, she hit the New Year's impudent guy on the head with a rolling pin. Someone collapsed behind the door. The guests and daughter and Timokha came running to Sophia’s screams. They stood stupidly near the lying Styopka. The police quickly arrived and removed the mask from the huge man. It was the turn of Sofia Karlovna’s son-in-law to slide down the wall... In the bloody one lying there, he somehow immediately recognized his close friend from childhood and youth, Styopka...
The wound turned out to be quite deep, but, fortunately, not fatal. For two weeks, Sofya Karlovna baked pancakes, made homemade cutlets and took the victim to the hospital at her hands. The result was not long in coming...
Sophia just recently sewed herself a million-dollar wedding dress, got tattoo makeup, is on a diet and daily diversifies the list of snacks for the celebration of the upcoming wedding... Grandiose fireworks and a honeymoon trip to the Maldives are expected... The trade mafia structure is buzzing with anticipation of such an event, coming up with expensive gifts : a rich forty-five-year-old widow with a noticeable position in Rostov grabbed herself a young, handsome groom, not some rake, but Mr. X himself, whose real name is Stepan Pavlenko.
Intoxicated by warmth and care, as well as super gifts from the bride herself, Stepan drives around Rostov in a chic white Mercedes in an Italian white suit with a Havana cigar in his mouth. He likes white leather moccasins most of all. This arrangement clearly suits him... Sophia is not afraid of losing her fiancé: he is marked for her. If something happens, he will find it.

Coloring book, tattoo, hairstyles

The war paint of the Indians has always attracted increased attention. This is what the traveler and artist J. Catlin, who visited many North American tribes in the 1930s, writes.

The name "Red Indians" was probably given to them due to the use of ocher and cinnabar, their favorite paints for painting the body and face.

This custom is the same among all tribes. They mix paints with bear fat and, looking in a small mirror that they buy from traders, smear themselves, using their fingers instead of brushes. Coloring is considered part of the costume, and few Indians show up in the morning without sitting for a whole hour or more at their toilet, without oiling and combing their hair, without painting their faces and limbs.

Colorings were individual and common for any military society or tribe.

The coloring means that the warrior returned from the war, bringing many scalps. The red spot is a wound to the forehead. Stick in hair - killed an enemy with one shot.

Individuals often reflected military merit. Thus, spots or stripes could correspond to the number of ku; a face painted black was a sign of victory over the enemy. Various symbols of the sun, rainbow, stars, and moon embodied magical powers that protected the warrior in battle. Each military society had its own coloring, often symbolizing its name. There were coloring patterns specific to a particular tribe. Assiniboine warriors, for example, drew two black stripes along the neck down to the chest, surrounded the eyes with white paint, and painted the face red or red-brown.

In addition to the fact that the coloring provided some information about the Indian, served as magical protection, was an attribute of aesthetics, it could also protect against cold, snow, and insect bites. And even treat skin diseases! Let's look at the composition of some paints - badger or bear fat plus pigment: white - white clay; red-brown - cinnabar, ocher; blue-green - blue earth mined at the foot of the Rocky Mountains; black - charcoal; brown - prickly pear leaves; yellow - flowers of various plants.

Crow. Festive hairstyle and coloring of a warrior

The hair in the front is dyed with white clay

Osage. Warrior hairstyle and coloring

Roach attached to hair

The tattoo mainly played the role of protective magic. Warriors tattooed their chests and arms. The Sioux put marks on the wrists, chin or forehead, which served as a pass for the soul of the deceased to the “eternal land of many tipis.”

Indian hairstyles, like clothing, were also influenced by fashion and changed more than once throughout the 19th century. In the early period, almost all nomads and “farmers” shaved their heads, leaving a small comb on the top of the head. This hairstyle was a sign of a warrior, and the strand of hair remaining on the bare skull was called “scalp” and meant a challenge to the enemies - “try to take it”! By the end of the 19th century, such hairstyles were preserved only among some Pawnee, Osage and Sauk-y-Fox.

In the 1830s-50s, warriors mostly wore long flowing hair, and left a forelock on their foreheads, which hung over the bridge of their nose. The Assiniboines and Maidans preserved this style for the longest time. The Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Gros Ventre and Sarcy often wore their hair in a bun or braid on their forehead. The spiritual leaders of the Blackfoot and Sarsi wore this hairstyle until the beginning of this century. The Kiowa and Kiowa Apache cut their hair very short on the right side so as not to interfere with archery, and left it long on the left. In the old days, the Crows also wore a similar hairstyle, but in the middle of the 19th century they developed a style unique to them - the hair at the back remained very long and was not braided, two braids were made on the sides above the ears, and the hair on the forehead was cut very short - greased or white clay, they stuck vertically upward. A straight parting and two braids on the sides are characteristic of the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche and some Assiniboine. Hair combed back or parted sideways was worn primarily by the Blackfeet, as well as the Crows, Gros Ventres, Assiniboines, Shoshone, Nez Perce, and Flatheads.

The Sioux, Shoshone, and Kiowa often wore one braid and left the hair on the other side loose. Sometimes the hair was cut short, it barely reached the shoulders - this is what the Kiowas, Kiowa-Apaches, and Assiniboines did. Various accessories for hairstyles were also very popular, for example, strips made of otter skin or cloth. They were used to wrap the braids of the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, Utah, Jicarilla, Tonkawa, Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara. To make her hair appear longer, Crowe wore chignons at the back of her head. The warrior whose hair trailed on the ground was considered the most beautiful. Among the Blackfoot, the length of the hair indicated military qualities: firstly, it was beautiful and prestigious, and secondly, the hair contained magical power, and, therefore, there was more of it in long hair. Cut hair was a sign of mourning.

The coloring signifies speed and strength. The semicircle is the shining vault of heaven, lightning is speed, green is the earth.

Blackfeet (Kaina). Leader's hairstyle and coloring

Kiowa. Warrior

On the right side, the hair is cut short, and six earrings are inserted into the right ear.

A unique decoration made from the coarse hair of an American porcupine or a deer's tail - a roach - was worn by warriors of all tribes. This is a kind of comb that was attached to a thin pigtail on the top of the head. Roach was among the attributes of many military societies and was an indispensable regalia of the military Grass Dance.

The warrior wears his hair parted on the side and tied back into a braid. Coloring book - sign of a warrior. A beard is a very rare decoration for wall Indians.

Assiniboine

Coloring page of a warrior who returned from the war with victory. Black color is the color of victory, symbolizes a killed enemy, extinguished enemy fires. Tattoo on chest. "Pompadour" - a ponytail or braid in the middle of the forehead - is a typical Assiniboine hairstyle.

The Assiniboines, members of the Bear Society, wore a completely unusual hairstyle. The top of the head was shaved, and part of the hair on the sides was curled into two balls, imitating bear ears.

The Omaha tribe had all sorts of options for shaving their heads: they left a stripe in the middle, or a cross, or they shaved the hair on only one side, or they left some shreds, ponytails...

Facial hair, including eyebrows, was plucked - it was considered unsightly to have it.

However, Kiowa and Utah sometimes wore mustaches, and Ponca had small beards.

All men wore earrings - their ears were usually pierced at birth. In the northern and central plains, warriors wore one, or less often two, earrings in each ear, while “farmers” (Pawnee, Osage, Kuapo and others) and nomads of the southern plains (Kiowa, Kiowa Apache) preferred many earrings, piercing their ears all over the edge. In ancient times, Iowa and some tribes of the plateau were not without jewelry on the nose.

Women of all tribes looked more modest - hair parted in the middle, usually braided in two braids, plucked eyebrows, a few touches of coloring, earrings. True, women's earrings were very long, sometimes up to the waist; they were made from light dentalium shells. But in general, men had, of course, a more impressive appearance.

Kiowa. Women's coloring book

It means waiting for a warrior returning with victory.

The appearance of each warrior was individual, but at the same time it conveyed maximum information about its owner.

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It is known that war paint was used by the ancient Celts, who used indigo blue, obtained from woad. The Celts applied the resulting solution to the naked body or painted its bare parts. Although it cannot be said with complete confidence that the Celts were the first to come up with the idea of ​​​​applying war paint to the face - woad was used back in the Neolithic era.

Woad dyeing

New Zealand Maoris applied permanent symmetrical patterns to the skin of the face and body, which were called “ta-moko”. This type of tattoo was extremely important in Maori culture; by “ta-moko” one could read the social status of a person, but, in addition, it was an attempt to create “permanent camouflage” and at the same time create a prototype of a military uniform. In 1642, Abel Tasman first reached the shores of New Zealand and came face to face with the local inhabitants. In the diaries preserved from that time, there is not a word about the fact that he met people with tattoos on their faces. And the expedition of 1769, which included naturalist Joseph Banks, witnessed in its observations strange and unusual tattoos on the faces of local aborigines. That is, at least another hundred years passed before Maori began to use tattoos.

North American Indians used paints to apply patterns to their skin, which helped them, as with the Maori, for personalization. The Indians believed that patterns would help them gain magical protection in battle, and colored patterns on the faces of fighters helped them look more fierce and dangerous.

In addition to painting their own bodies, the Indians applied patterns to their horses; It was believed that a certain pattern on the horse's body would protect it and give it magical powers. Some symbols meant that the warrior was showing respect to the gods or was blessed with victory. This knowledge was passed on from generation to generation until the culture was destroyed during wars of conquest.

Just as modern soldiers receive awards for their achievements in military affairs, the Indian had the right to apply a certain design only after he had distinguished himself in battle. Therefore, every mark and symbol on the body carried an important meaning. The palm, for example, meant that the Indian distinguished himself in hand-to-hand combat and had good fighting skills. In addition, the palm print could serve as a talisman, symbolizing that the Indian would be invisible on the battlefield. In turn, a woman from the tribe, who saw an Indian warrior with a handprint, understood that with such a man nothing threatened her. The symbolism of the patterns went far beyond just ritual actions and social markings; it was necessary as an amulet, as a bodily placebo that instills strength and courage in the warrior.

Not only graphic markers were important, but also the color basis of each symbol. Symbols painted in red denoted blood, strength, energy and success in battle, but could also have completely peaceful connotations - beauty and happiness - if faces were painted with similar colors.

Black color meant readiness for war, strength, but carried more aggressive energy. Those warriors who returned home after a victorious battle were marked black. The ancient Romans did the same when returning to Rome on horseback after a victory, but they painted their faces bright red, imitating their god of war, Mars. White color meant sorrow, although there was another meaning - peace. Patterns in blue or green colors were applied to the most intellectually developed and spiritually enlightened members of the tribe. These colors signified wisdom and endurance. Green color was closely associated with harmony and the power of providence.
Later, the Indians began to use coloring not only for intimidation, but also as camouflage - they selected the colors of the coloring in accordance with the conditions. Flowers were used to “treat”, protect, prepare for a “new life”, express the internal state and social status, and, of course, face and body painting were applied as decorative elements.
The modern interpretation of war paint is purely practical. Military personnel apply black face paint under the eyes and on the cheeks to reduce the reflection of sunlight from the surface of the skin, which is not protected by camouflage fabric.

Rules for applying coloring

When we look at an image, the brain processes a huge amount of information received from the eyes and other senses. In order for consciousness to extract some meaning from what it sees, the brain divides the overall picture into its component parts. When the eye looks at a vertical line with green spots, the brain receives a signal and identifies it as a tree, and when the brain perceives many, many trees, it sees them as a forest.

Consciousness tends to recognize something as an independent object only if this object has a continuous color. It turns out that a person has a much greater chance of being noticed if his suit is absolutely plain. In a jungle environment, a large number of colors in a camouflage pattern will be perceived as a complete object, because the jungle is literally made up of small parts.

Exposed areas of skin reflect light and attract attention. Usually, in order to apply the paint correctly, soldiers help each other before the start of an operation. Shiny parts of the body - forehead, cheekbones, nose, ears and chin - are painted in dark colors, and shadow (or darkened) areas of the face - around the eyes, under the nose and under the chin - in light green shades. In addition to the face, coloring is also applied to exposed parts of the body: the back of the neck, arms and hands.

Two-tone camouflage patterns are often applied randomly. The palms of the hands are usually not camouflaged, but if in military operations the hands are used as a communication tool, that is, they serve to transmit non-verbal tactical signals, they are also camouflaged. In practice, three standard types of face paint are most often used: loam (clay color), light green, applicable to all types of ground forces in areas where there is not enough green vegetation, and clay white for troops in snowy terrain.

In the development of protective paints, two main criteria are taken into account: protection and safety of the soldier. The safety criterion means simplicity and ease of use: when a soldier applies paint to exposed parts of the body, it must remain durable in environmental conditions, resistant to sweating and suitable for uniforms. Face painting does not reduce the soldier's natural sensitivity, has virtually no odor, does not cause skin irritation and does not cause harm if the paint accidentally gets into the eyes or mouth.

Modern methods

Currently, there is a prototype of paint that protects a soldier’s skin from the heat wave of an explosion. What is meant: in reality, the heat wave from the explosion lasts no more than two seconds, its temperature is 600 ° C, but this time is enough to completely burn the face and severely damage unprotected limbs. As stated, the new material is able to protect exposed skin from minor burns for 15 seconds after the explosion.
There are face paint designs that reflect infrared rays and protect soldiers from mosquitoes and other insects. Typically, the soldier would first apply a protective layer of insect repellent cream to protect exposed skin from bites, and after the cream had been absorbed into the skin, protective face paint would be applied. Today there are developments in which these two functions fit into one bottle.
Digital security CV (Computer Vision, or facial recognition system) is being developed in military institutions, but there is also a civilian version called CV Dazzle. It is based on Dazzle naval camouflage from the First World War - black and white lines are applied to the skin of the face, which does not allow the computer system to recognize the face. The project started in 2010 and is aimed at digitally protecting people from city cameras, which are becoming more numerous every year.