Identification functions of the outer clothing of the Siberian old believers in Transbaikalia and Altai

The article attempts to show the identification functions of traditional folk clothes, which has always played an important role in maintaining the ethnocultural identity of the ethnos or its cultural (confessional) parts. In this respect, the history of two groups of the Russian Old Believers: the Semeiskie in the Trans-Baikal region and the “Poles ” in Altai, who have been following their “own ” clothing tradition and associated value system for more than three centuries, is of interest. The research is based on field materials of the author, museum collections both in the Siberian region and in the places of the Old Believers ' exodus in European Russia and Belarus. Ethnographic materials made it possible to conclude that the outerwear or uniform regulated by government decrees played a significant role in the formation of the ethno-cultural identity of these Old Believer groups.