Papakha

Two regional styles

The taller of the two shapes is the papaha. It is a high hat cut from fur, in most cases karakul sheepskin, and looks like a cylinder open at one end. It sits so that its edge rests against the temples. A few examples carry flaps for the ears, and these can be turned up when the wearer does not need them. The second shape, the kubanka, follows the same idea but is cut shorter and has no ear-flaps. Both are men's hats, and both belong to the same family of headwear found across the Caucasus and, as the telpek, further east.

The word papakha

The name comes from Turkic, where the form is papakh. The same root, papak, appears inside the name of a Turkic group whose exact relationship to others is not settled: the Karapapak. In the Azerbaijani language that name means black papakh. Because the word travelled with the hat, it is sometimes written and said in slightly different ways from place to place, and the hat itself carries a local name in some regions, as with telpek in Turkmenistan. The sources do not record when the hat first appeared or who made the earliest examples.

Who wears it

For mountain communities the hat matters far beyond warmth. A man's headwear is treated as a piece of who he is. Circassians wear it, and so do Chechens, Dagestanis and other peoples of the Caucasus. In Georgia it belongs above all to the high ground, in Pshavi, Khevi, Mtiuleti and Tusheti. Beyond the mountains it is common in Azerbaijan and Armenia, in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and among the Uyghurs. In the wider region it is also seen in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Persia, and the sources trace its wider heritage to Central Asia as well as the Caucasus.

In army uniform

After campaigns in the Caucasus Mountains, the Russian army made the papakha official dress in 1855, at first for Cossack regiments and afterwards for cavalry units generally. The Red Army dropped it soon after 1917, because it was tied to the Tsarist past and because Cossack regiments had fought the Bolsheviks. Even so, Bolshevik riders and officers wore it during the Civil War, among them Vasily Chapayev. It returned in 1935, and from 1941 only full colonels, generals and marshals kept it, which turned it into a mark of rank. Under Defence Minister Andrei Grechko the Navy brought in a small kubanka-like version with a visor, which troops nicknamed the hat with a handle.

Today

Military use ended again in 1994. The reason given was that those who wore it asked for it to go, finding it impractical. A short hat leaves the ears exposed, so it suits the milder air of the Caucasus better than colder places. Some observers read the change as a wish by the Boris Yeltsin government to set aside Soviet habits and point to a new direction. In 2005 the papakha came back. Russian-backed Luhansk People's Militia fighters have also worn it, during the fighting in Donbas and in the wider war between Russia and Ukraine.

How Papakha is kept

The hat rests high on the head, with its lower edge against the temples, and the ear-flaps on some papahas stay folded up until they are needed. In the Caucasus highlands men wear papakhi as ordinary dress and as a marker of who they are. Elsewhere it has served as uniform: issued to Cossack units and then the cavalry from 1855, dropped after 1917, brought back in 1935, limited to senior officers from 1941, withdrawn in 1994 and restored in 2005.

When and where

Papakhi are worn in the Caucasus, especially in the mountain districts of Georgia such as Pshavi, Khevi, Mtiuleti and Tusheti, and among Circassians, Chechens and Dagestanis. They are also common in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and among the Uyghurs, and they appear in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Persia.

What Papakha means

In the mountains a hat is not a small matter: the sources describe papakhi as very important to highland communities, for whom headwear forms part of a man's identity. In the Russian and Soviet armies the same hat carried a second meaning: from 1941 it marked the rank of colonel, general or marshal. Its withdrawal in 1994 and its return in 2005 were themselves read as political gestures, which shows how much a piece of headwear can be made to say.

Questions people ask about Papakha

See also

Traditional tattooingThe ancient custom of marking the skin for protection, healing, status and sacred ritesRushnykA sacred embroidered cloth used in East Slavic rituals, weddings and daily life.GáktiA traditional coat worn by the Sámi people across northern Scandinavia and Russia, signaling origin and status through cDoppaAn embroidered cap, square or round, that Uyghurs and Uzbeks wear across Central Asia

Good reading and sources

• Papakha on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-10.