This section concerns the habits of dress, diet, shelter and health care among the Old Believers as they have appeared in recent generations. The woman's dress is always a full dress which fits over a long-sleeved blouse and full-length slips. An apron is then fitted over the dress and the "poyas" (belt) is tied around the waist. Unmarried women wear their hair in a braid down the back, married women use two braids and scarves. The total garment is known as a "sarafan," and is usually very brightly colored when colorful fabrics are available. In China and to some extent in Brazil, it was common for the women to weave their own cloth out of flax which they grew in their fields and then to dye it with juices from berries and other fruits. The main items of religious significance are the poyas and the cross on a chain or thong around the neck. These symbolize the bond between their bearers and Christ. The other articles of dress are determined by a combination of religious doctrines and nonsecular custom. The women, for instance, are never permitted to cut their hair. This is specifically forbidden in their Bible. They also are never to show their arms above the wrists nor their legs above the calf in public, nor any other part of their bodies; thus, the full skirts. The men traditionally wear a "rubashka," which is a tunic-like shirt which often has embroidery down the front and a high round collar reminiscent of the clerical collar found in the United States and Europe. They belt the rubashka in with the poyas, and also wear a cross on a chain tucked inside the shirt. The only other aspect of the men's appearance which is dictated by custom or religious is their hair and beard. The hair is usually cut short in back and on the sides with a fringe of longer hair around the temples and front. The beard is uncut and grows to whatever length is natural for it to do. In their Bible, they are enjoined not to cut their hair at the temples nor to trim the edges of their beards, for to do so would be to deface the likeness of God, in whose image they were created. Although they are not quite as constrained by religion or custom in their dress as the women, the men do not seem to wear any other than full-length trousers and seldom go barechested, even when working in the heat. They also prefer brightly colored fabrics when they are available, with the rubashki usually being solid-hued in contrast with the prints and patterns of flowers which the women prefer for their dresses. For church services, the men will often wear a long black coat over their clothes. They and the women both are expected to dress cleanly but not ostentatiously for the church services, since it is considered something of a sign of vanity to wear bright or overly pretty clothes to church. The most colorful and ornate outfits are consistently worn by the adolescents just prior to marriage, when they are courting. Men and women both are forbidden to wear makeup and various kinds of jewelry or perfume, although this seems to have been increasingly relaxed in recent years for adolescent women in particular. It is now fairly common to see young women and girls with necklaces, bracelets and pierced ears (done by their mothers or older sisters), bedecked with earrings. Lipstick and cosmetics, however, are still largely shunned. Some of the young men do shave their beards until they marry, without serious reprimands at the hands of their parents or the church elders. These descriptions do not, however, hold for those who are breaking with traditions, and such individuals often wear American clothes. The dietary practices of the Old Believers are strictly regulated by a series of religious rules. Foremost among these are the fasts. There are the four Lenten fasts, which have been mentioned already. In addition, there are certain days of the week set aside for fasting. These are usually Wednesday and Friday, but in the event of various holidays, other days before days of fasting as well. During the fasts, all animal products are to be avoided, which usually means no meat, fish, butter, oil, eggs or dairy products. On some of the fast days, fish or fish and oil are permitted but nothing else. The second major rule is the injunction against eating with non-Believers or from the dish that a non-Believer has used. When entertaining non-Staroveri guests, the Staroveri are quite hospitable but serve the guests on special dishes and with utensils which they themselves do not use. This rule was much easier to observe when the Old Believers were living in isolation in Brazil and China. In America there has been the problem of the proximity of non-Believers and the need of Old Believers to depend, especially during their early years in the county, on the American-made foods in stores. The basic stuff of which their diet is made is not unlike that of any agrarian Eurasian people. Home-grown vegetables have predominated, along with breads and pastries made from wheat and corn. Meat is approved only if it comes from an animal with a cloven hoof. Animals with paws are regarded as unfit to eat. Thus, unless they are desperate, Old Believers will not eat animals such as squirrel, rabbit or bear. Fish and hardbacked shellfish are considered edible. Meals are essentially interchangeable, so that what is served for breakfast also may be served for lunch, dinner or for snacks. Although there are strict religious prohibitions against the consumption of alcoholic beverages, the Old Believers nevertheless do prepare their home-made wine or "braga." As previously mentioned, this brew is used in weddings and for other celebrations, and it also figures heavily in Sunday socializing and hospitality toward guests. When asked about this apparent inconsistency, some responded that they did not know why that was the case. There also are special foods and treats which are reserved for the bigger holidays and festive occasions, such as weddings. One of these is "Paskha," which is eaten only at Christmas and Easter. This is a confection of cream, cream cheese, sugar, eggs, milk, butter, nuts and fruits, which is richer than cheesecake. The arrangement of housing for Old Believers has surprisingly few restrictions to it. In fact, houses seem to have varied considerably as the group moved from place to place. In China, the houses were usually one-or-two-room affairs made of logs, half-logs or sod. Some of the stove and oven arrangements were apparently copied from those of the local Chinese peasants, who used adobe or clay for making large wood-or-dung-fueled baking ovens, on top of which was a platform for children or sick people to bed down during the winter. Furniture was sparse, with a single table and rough-hewn benches serving for most purposes. Because everything was made by hand and each person made their own items, houses varied with the abilities and available time of the builders. Another traditional building was the sauna bath, which many of the Old Believers also use in their homes nowadays. With one barrel of water being heated by the stove (usually a wood stove) and the other standing free, individuals could mix their water as they wished in buckets, which they could then pour over themselves or each other. The box of rocks on top of the stove made a steam-bath when water was poured on them. When they first arrived in America, the Old Believers could not obtain land immediately and so had to live in apartments or migrant labor camps at first. Later on, they rented houses or bought completed ones from Americans. Those who have actually built their houses are usually construction workers or carpenters, and as such, have copied American designs and layouts for their own homes. They do not retain the special corner for the family icons, which is supposed to be the corner nearest to where the sun rises. The Old Believers thus do not appear exceptionally tradition-bound in their house construction. In Brazil, because of the sudden rains and resultant floods in their area, some of them reputedly built their houses on stilts, which reflects the rather adaptive attitude many of them seem to have with regard to housing. (Houses on stilts were built in Old Russia.) The Staroveri from Manchuria and Sinkiang both seem to have lacked full-fledged healers of their own, although they did have a considerable arsenal of folk cures and herbal medical recipes among them. Most matters are seen to be with a combination of folk medicine and prayer. As mentioned before in the section on religious matters, the Old Believers prefer to have a person of the faith deliver babies. Consequently, women have trained themselves and each other as midwives, who take care of most of the births. The Old Believers have come to increasingly rely on the American medical industry, as they have come to believe in its efficacy. There are even mothers now who attend pre-natal clinics in Woodburn and have their children delivered in hospitals (although with a nastayatyel nearby, when they can manage it).