So I got out an old sheet that I had been saving for an occasion such as this (when Ida was born we went from a Queen to a King-sized bed but I kept all the linens to use for craft projects). So in love with them, in fact, that when the first time I ate there Brangelina was seated two tables down, I couldn’t stop staring at the cushions (true story.) When I ate there recently for my parentaversary I snapped this pic of the pillows and after looking at the pic for a minute I realized that the cushions looked like they were made from Babushka scarves…Well, that got me excited.īecause I happened to have a few babushka scarves that I picked up in Turkey that I LOVED but rarely wore because they were too woolly hot for the LA climate. I am Бабушка.I’ve been in love with the colorful, floral cushions at the fancy Silverlake restaurant Cliff’s Edge for a long-ass time (pictured above). Hold the corners and gently drape the scarf around your head with the point of the triangle aiming down your back. To try at home: Fold your scarf half diagonally to make a triangle. You can wear it as a half headwrap with your hair down or in a low bun. I am babushka, even if I don’t wear one in the traditional way. A bandana is one of the most common ways to style a vintage silk scarf. Through bad times and good, I can own that. I owe my very existence and life to the grandparents who went through hell to escape a totalitarian regime that was trying to exterminate them wholesale. I wish I knew more about them now, but the older generations are gone. Siberian survivors would have arrived crammed into cattle cars surrounded by frozen corpses. This means, contrary to family legend, that Stalin didn’t kill them all at least a few of the family who didn’t get out survived. Women's Premium Silk Scarves Sloth Printed Scarf Neckerchief Silk Scarfs Scarves Hijab Kerchief Headband Babushka. I learned from a recent test that I have genetic matches in Siberia and around the Volga. On the steppes of Russia, our people’s settlements were erased by pogroms and conflicts of the previous century. Why can’t I honor all sides of my heritage? People are embracing their cultures of origin. They believed we needed to let go of our past to become American. It didn’t kill me to wear the babushka when I was little, so why not wear it as a username now? The older generation thought our heritage was something to hide like it was a shameful thing. My sister and I loved to ice skate, and our dad told us of strapping on his skates to travel the irrigation canals during wintertime. She is wearing the fancy ones that are for dressing up, which would totally include being photographed for a news story. There are lots of photos of her wearing different babushkas. This link from Siberia features a babushka in all senses of the word.

(Update - I have learned from commenters and an online dictionary that it means any elderly woman, not exclusively grandmother.) And that I am, as well. The second definition of babushka is grandmother. I can pick and choose the ones I like and they are not someone else’s cast-offs. I do not wear them to keep my ears warm, I wear them because they are pretty. My scarf collection now includes actual babushkas from Moscow and Germany, given to me by friends, as well as scarves and shawls from friends in Bhutan and India. I do not wear them tied under my chin. Sherpa hats and knitted scarves are much warmer. It’s not that I don’t like scarves I have scarves now that are a lot nicer, scarves from happier times.

I was certain that no one at college would be wearing a grandma scarf. They represented the feeling of being poor, of not fitting in, of being cold all the time, and a plethora of other not-so-nice little kid memories. When I was old enough to make my own choices, I got rid of every one of those miserable things. The scarves I remember were ugly horrible colors, not the least bit warm, and were the ones that an aunt or a neighbor or a church had given us. I really wanted a real knitted hat - or even (dreams of luxury!) a coat with a furry hood - like the other kids. I had to wear one when I was little, and I hated it. It kept falling off, and I was the only kid in school who had to wear one. A babushka is a scarf tied under the chin, worn by women and girls in Russia and Eastern Europe. The word has two definitions, both of which apply.

Babushka scarf