Hello all,
Today i will talk about a particular applique technique used by some of the Hmu people. The Hmu are one branch of the Hmongic peoples, which the Han Chinese call Miao. This is found in the township of Kaili and county of Taijiang, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, which lies in the southeast of the Chinese Province of Guizhou. The villages which are famous for this technique are Weng Xiang, Geyi, Kaitang, Shidong, Langde and Xijiang.

Here is a map of Qiangdongnan so that you may orient yourself.

My sources call this technique Duixiu, but I suspect that this is a Chinese term and not an indigenous one.
This technique consists of cutting cloth into squares or rectangles, then folding them into triangles and appliqueing the triangles onto decorative panels which are used in various ways.
This is not unknown in the west. In America, these are called 'prairie points', and are often used to decorate the edges of quilts.
https://www.thespruce.com/making-prarie-points-for-quilts-2821842

In Transylvanian Hungarian costumes, they often edge the neckline and armholes of the bodice.

In Hmu work, however, they are made from silk and the work is much finer, individual squares being about 1 cm rather than a few inches.

Preparation of the silk.

This and many of the how-to images below are from 'One Needle, One Thread' by Tomoko Torimaru. Click to enlarge.

In Xijiang and Langde, numbers 64 and 62 on the map above, respectively, we find the simplest use of this technique, which resembles that used in the west. As for many Miao, the women's costume consists of a jacket and a pleated skirt. Here is a jacket from Xijiang.

Embroidered panels are sewn to the jacket. Here is a closeup of one such panel.

The silk triangles are placed on top of a strip of gold paper as part of the edging around the embroidery.

In Langde, the technique is slightly more complex.Here are a couple of images of the Langde costume.

You can see that there are various panels used on the jacket.

Here is a closeup of one of the panels.

Here the triangles are layered.

Shidong is number 42 on the map above. They use a couple of different versions of this technique.

Here is the costume of Shidong.

The panel on the back of the collar and the ones on the rear of the shoulders are done in this technique.
Here is a jacket from Shidong.

Here is a closeup of one collar panel.

In Shidong they will sometimes use embroidery for the center of the design, as here. The rest of the design is built up by layering the silk triangles.

The shoulder panels are made using a different technique.

In Geyi, # 71, Kaitang, # 70, and especially Wengxiang # 32 on the map above, they use a remarkably complex version of this technique.

Some of the panels form geometric shapes. Here is an outfit from Geyi.

Here is a detail of the ornament. Each of these squares is formed of overlapping appliqued triangles.

Here is a jacket from Geyi.

This jacket is from the Kaitang area.

This detail is shown larger than actual size.

Here are more details of this technique.

Wengxiang uses this same technique, but is known for other compositions, not just geometric.

Birds and fish are common motifs.

Especial care and attention is lavished on accessories for babies. Here is a baby carrier done in this technique.

and a closeup.

Complex and elaborate baby hats are very common all over China among many ethnic groups. They are covered with protective talismans. Here are a couple from Wengxiang.

Here follow complete instructions on how to make this hat, with many details of technique.

Silver ornaments along with tassels, pompoms or artificial flowers complete the hat.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.
Perhaps some of you might be inspired to try out a project using this technique, or adapt some of these ideas to a quilt.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Martha Longenecker et al, 'Silver and Silk - Textiles and Jewelry of Guizhou, China', Tokyo, 2002
Robert Lam Ping-fai et al., 'Ethnic Costumes of the Miao People in China', Hong Kong, 1986
Florian Knothe et al., 'Embroidered Identities - Ornately Decorated Textiles and Accessories of Chinese Ethnic Minorities', Hong Kong, 2013
Zeng, Xianyang, 'Ethnic Miao Embroidery - The Zeng Collection', 2009
Tomoko Torimaru, 'One Needle, One Thread - Miao (Hmong) Embroidery and Piecework from Guizhou, China', Hong Kong, 2008
Catherine Bourzat et al., 'Tribal Textiles from Southwest China', Bangkok, 2016

Hello all,
Today I would like to talk somewhat about the costumes of the region known as Turkestan.
This term means 'Land of the Turks, and consists of the continuous region inhabited by Turkic peoples from the Caspian Sea to the Gobi Desert.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkestan

The map above gives some idea of the geographical extent of Turkestan, including parts or all of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Chinese Empire.
The map below presents the major peoples of the area. Click to enlarge. The white areas represent sparsely populated regions.

All four of the major branches of the Turkic language family are represented in this region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkic_languages

Oghuz Branch

This is also called the Southwest branch. Most of the peoples who speak these languages are found west of this region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oghuz_languages

Turkmen

These people live primarily in Turkmenistan, but also over the borders in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran, as well as in scattered groups further west. They are represented by the bright red on the map above.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmens

Here we see a couple of examples where the gown is fitted much more closely than is traditional, under the influence of modern cuts and fashions.

The following two images are from a traditional Turkmen wedding.

A music video showing off Turkmen costume and jewelry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anP9J_JtyPQ

Salar

The Salar migrated to China in the 14th century, and are not properly inhabitants of Turkestan, being found further east, on the eastern edge of Qinghai and into Gansu province. Their language points to an origin far to the west. Today they are found between the Tibetans who inhabit Qinghai and the Mongols, Han Chinese and others who inhabit Gansu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_people

A chinese video about a Salar Wedding
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bixz_P89Ei4

Karluk Group

These are also known as the Southeastern Turkic Languages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karluk_languages

Uzbek

The Uzbeks, in contrast to many Turkic groups in the area, have been settled in Cities for a long time, and do not have a nomadic heritage. The famous cities of Bukhara, Tashkent and Samarkand are Uzbek. They are shown in yellow on the map at the head of this article. They live mainly in Uzbekistan, but are also found across the borders in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uyghuristan. They are especially known for Ikat woven silks in bright colors, which they call 'Abra', or cloud designs. The second image at the head of the article is the Emir of Bukhara, an Uzbek.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbeks

A dance performance by an Uzbek Folkloric group showing different styles and costumes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFH0YrzGNIM

Uyghur

The Uyghur [OOy gur] are closely related to the Uzbeks, but are found further east. They have also been settled for a long time, inhabiting Turfan, Kashgar, and Khotan, as well as other cities along the Silk Road. They are represented in olive green on the map above. They call this region Uyghuristan, but it is currently completely within the Chinese Empire, and the Han Chinese call the region Xingjiang. Their neighbors to the west are Tajik and Kyrghyz, to the south and east Tibetans, and to the north, Kazakh. In recent years, many Han Chinese have settled in the region, which has set off resistance by the natives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghurs#Separatism

A performance of various Uyghur songs and dances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ7SHVcrXbc

Kipchak Branch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipchak_languages

Kazakh
In their own language, they call themselves Qazaq. They live mostly in Kazakhstan, but also across the border in Uzbekistan, Russia, Mongolia, and Uyghuristan, where they live in the north, the region called Dzungaria. They have a nomadic heritage, and yurts are still a great part of their culture. The historical image at the head of the article is of Kazakhs. They are represented by lilac on the map above. Needless to say, the movie which came out a few years ago had absolutely nothing to do with Kazakh culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhs

Kazakh folk song with good historical costumes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHzt3XQ-bgw

Karakalpak

In their own language, they call themselves Qaraqalpaq. They are closely related to both the Kazakhs and the Kirghiz. Like them, they have a strong nomadic heritage, and have the yurt as a strong part of their culture. They mostly live in the former Aral Sea delta, in northeastern Uzbekistan. They are shown in dark green on the map above.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakalpaks

http://www.qaraqalpaq.com/

Karakalpak dance suite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf-ByliU0TU

Kyrgyz
Also called Kirgiz, Kyrghyz, or some variant thereof. They are closely related to the Kazakh, and their costumes are similar. They are also of nomadic heritage. Their flag features the topcap of a yurt surrounded by a sun with 40 rays, representing the legendary forty tribes that they supposedly descended from. They live mostly in Kyrgyzstan, but also over the border in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Uyghuristan in the Chinese Empire. They are shown in brown on the map above.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrgyz_people

Kirghiz folk song and dance. Some of the costumes are modernized. This is social dance, rather than performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYhwyHybprk

Siberian or Northeastern Group
This is a group of smaller peoples which are found in the northeastern extension shown on the first map. They are shown as 'other' in the second map. They are all found in Siberian Russia just north of the area where Kazakhstan almost touches Mongolia. Here is a closer map of the area. I will give just a short presentation of the larger peoples. Their culture reflects Mongolian influence to various degrees.

Altai
Also spelled Altay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altai_people

Altai folk song and dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrwpdRe7meM

Shor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shors

The only video I could find about the Shor people. A short fable in Russian that shows some Shor vocabulary and costume. It explains why the Shors are known for being blacksmiths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFAb6w7f8tg

Khakas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khakas_people

A Khakas folk song about the moon, Ymai.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDw9KQ-e_ik

Tuvan
The Tuvan people live next to the Mongolians, and their culture has been much influenced by them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuvans

A Tuvan singer performing the 'throat singing' which is done in this area, not just by the Tuvans, but by their Turkic neighbors, and by the Mongols as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx8hrhBZJ98

Tofa
Also called Tofalar. These people live just north of the Tuva, and also speak a Turkic language, but their culture is Siberian, rather than Turkestani. They traditionally lived by herding reindeer, like other Siberian tribes. There are only a few hundred of them left, of which fewer than a hundred still speak their language.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofa_language

A photo montage of the Tofa. For some strange reason, they are playing Londenderry Air over the photos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P55La2RncCM

Yugur
The Yugur are a Turkic people who live in Sunan county near the city of Zhangye in Gansu province in China. They live to the northwest of the Salar, and border the Tibetan inhabited province of Qinghai to their south, and Inner Mongolia to their north, just a few miles away. The western Yugur speak a Turkic language, while the eastern Yugur speak a Mongolic language. The Yugur are unique among the Turkic peoples in being Buddhist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugur

Here is a Yugur folk song done on stage, rather too glitzy. I think that this one is in the Turkic language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfe3PFbvreg

Honorable Mention

Tadjik
The Tadjik are not a Turkic people, but their territory is often considered to be part of Turkestan both geographically and culturally. They have cultural ties especially with the Uzbek. They speak an Iranian language, and are linguistically linked with Afghanistan and Iran. They live primarily in Tadjikistan, but also in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and across the border in Uyghuristan, in the Chinese empire, where they live west of the Uyghur. They are represented by fuschia in the map at the head of the article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajiks

A Tadjik dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOLRhIqj_kc

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative

Roman K

email:rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,
Today I will talk a bit about the general costume of Southeast Asia. The map above shows the ethnic makeup of all of Mainland Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Chinese Provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi. You can see at a glance how complex the ethnolinguistic situation is. There are six major peoples in this area, and dozens of smaller ones. The dark green in the north represents the Han Chinese, and the pale green on the east coast represents the Kinh, or Vietnamese. I will deal with neither in this article. The dark brown in the south represents the Khmer, the fuschia to the north of that represents the Lao, as well as the Isan and Thai Yuan, the light brown on the southern coast represents the Central and Southern Thai, and the purple to the west represents the Bamar. These are the main ethnic groups of the states of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, respectively. The Isan and Thai Yuan form part of the nation of Thailand, but are more closely related to the Lao linguistically; however they all speak Tai Languages.
You will notice that the regions inhabited by these peoples, and the minorities do not correspond well with the modern borders. These borders are the result of historical interactions between the King of Siam with the Colonial Empires of the region, Britain to the west, France to the east, and China to the north.

Each of these peoples has a long history, and can claim to have a high civilized culture. Just as the various states of Europe in the past shared high fashion, so these four states also share a basic traditional mode of dress, as well as the Buddhist faith, and other features of culture.
Here are some examples of the traditional fashion of this region.

This couple is Thai, and they are wearing a rich version of this basic dress. In Thai, this is called chut thai, ชุดไทย.

This couple is Lao, and is likely dressed up for their wedding. In Lao the outfit is called
xout lao ຊຸດລາວ.

These people are Khmer.

This couple is Bamar, and is dressed in a plainer version of the outfit.

As you can see, there are three basic pieces to this outfit, a top of some sort, a cloth which is wrapped around the lower part of the body, and another cloth which is often wrapped around the upper body.

The cloth which is wrapped around the lower body is called in Thai and Lao pha nung ผ้านุ่ง, in Khmer sampot សំពត់, and in Burmese longyi လုံချည်. Thai and Lao are closely related languages, but Burmese and Khmer each belong to a completely different language family. This basic garment is, of course, worn by other peoples as well.

This cloth is worn in three basic ways. Firstly simply wrapped around the body, as we see above. The second option is to sew the cloth into a tube, and then wrap it around the waist, this is somewhat more secure. In Thai and Lao, when the cloth is worn in this way it is called pha sinh. This is the most common method of wear among the Lao and in northern Thailand, especially among the Isan and the Thai Yuan.

The third way of wearing this cloth is to wrap it around the body with the ends in front, then twist the ends, pass them between the legs, and tuck them into the waist in back. In Thai this is called chong kraben โจงกระเบน, in Lao pha hang ຜ້າຫາງ, in Khmer sampot chang kben សំពត់ចងក្បិន, and in Burmese paso hkadaung kyaik. Most of the men shown above are wearing it in this way, but women wore this as well.

Some Khmer women

Thai men

Lao men

Bamar men playing a game.

The length of cloth worn wrapped around the upper body and hanging over the left shoulder is called pha biang in Thai - ผ้าเบี่ยง, and Lao -ຜ້າບ່ຽງ, or sabai, สไบ or ສະໄບ. In Khmer it is also called sabai - ស្បៃ. I have not been able to find the name of the garment in Burmese, but they also wore it for formal costume. Here is a historical photo of a Bamar woman.

And a contemporary one.

The following two photos are both Lao. The sabai may be worn over a blouse or other top, here a wrap around known as a suea pat.

Or it may be worn by itself with no other garment on the upper body. This is the original way in which it was worn.

In Khmer culture the sabai is connected to the legend of prince Preah Thong who clings to the sabai of a Nagini as she transports him to her land. Here are a couple of images of Khmer wearing sabai.

Thai women also wore the sabai with or without a blouse or jacket.

I will be writing much more about this region and its many peoples, for now I will close with some more images.

Bamar

Khmer

Lao

Thai

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,
I wrote recently about the similarities between the costumes of the major southeast Asian peoples, but of course they were able to distinguish each other. One of the major differences is in the type of textiles which were made and used. Today I will talk about the Bamar people and the style of weaving called Luntaya Acheik.

The Bamar are the majority people of the nation of Burma, or Myanmar. This is pronounced in two syllables, Myen - maar; NOT Mee an mar. /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/ (

listen)
The Bamar people form 68 percent of the population of Burma, living mostly in the lowlands along the Irrawady river. They arrived in the 9th century from the north, speaking a language with the same roots as Tibetan. When settled in the upper Irrawady basin they encountered the ancient great civilization of the Mon, from whom they learned much, and whom they later pushed out of most of their territory. The Bamar are represented in orange on the map below, the green representing Tai peoples [Shan, Hkamti, Kuen], The rust the Karen, the pale blue Austroasiatic peoples [Mon, Palaung, Wa], and the pale orange other Tibeto-Burman peoples [Chin, Kachin, Akha, Lisu, Lahu].
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar

The mural above was painted on the wall of Wat Phumin in Nan province, northern Thailand, but it represents a pair of Burmese lovers, who were frequent travelers in the area. The mural dates to around 1870. Several features indicate that the two are Bamar, including the red upper body tattoos of the man, and the clothing of both. The wavy lines on both of their garments are meant to indicate the Luntaya Acheik technique of weaving. This was and is very characteristic of the Bamar People.

Here is a photograph of the old Bamar costume.

Comparing the mural to the photograph, the outfit is essentially the same. There is a bodice, perhaps just a cloth wrapped around the torso, a jacket, called eingyi, which is pinched at the waist and flared at the bottom, and a cloth wrapped around the hips which opens in front and drags on the floor, forming a train behind. This is called htamein. In this photograph, you can see that the htamein was made in three parts, which was common. There is a plain waistband, in this example black, a central portion which is highly ornamented, and a simpler bottom portion which forms the train.

Here is a similar outfit from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

And a couple of drawings from the same period.

The eingyi jacket usually had ties, which were not always actually tied, and was sometimes made of very sheer material.

Here are the bodice and htamein shown without the jacket.

Here is a htamein showing the three part constuction.

The most sought after htamein were, and continue to be, made by the technique called luntaya acheik, or hundred shuttles. Here is a closeup of the middle part of the htamein above.

The middle part is woven in extremely fine interlocking tapestry weave, here shown with the weft vertical. The different colors are woven separately, back and forth. On the loom it would have looked like this.

Women sit at the loom in pairs, and even skilled weavers can only weave a few centimeters a day, so this cloth is expensive, but very popular. Even today most people have at least one wrap of luntaya acheik for special occasions.

The designs are woven in bands a few inches across, thus forming the wavy lines which are depicted in the painting at the head of this article. This effect cannot be achieved by any other technique.

Here are some more examples of designs woven with this technique.

Men wore these designs as well, but less commonly. Here is a piece of a mans pahso, which almost functions as a sampler of luntaya acheik designs.

In Arakan, some attempt was made to imitate this effect with supplemental weft weaving. While the result was pleasing, it could not be confused with luntaya acheik upon examination.

With the passing of the monarchy and entry into the 20th century, the htamein gave way to the longyi, The longyi was often sewn into a tube, and worn with the fold on the side. It did not have a train but hung no longer than the ankles. Luntaya acheik continued to be used, but so were other types of cloth.

In the early 20th cent., women wore plaids, but soon abandoned them, leaving them to the men.

Designs were woven in with the supplemental weft technique;

or embroidered;

or ikat;

or even painted.

As we can see in the mural at the head of the article, young men of courting age wore a headband, which was tied in many ways, a brief loincloth of expensive material, and a number of tattoos. Black designs covered the body from the waist to the knees, and so the breechclout was wrapped in a manner to show these off. This was also done by the Thai and Tai Yuan. Distinct to the Bamar were the spot tattoos on the uppper body, done in red ink and featuring dancing monkeys and other animals in cartouches. These were meant to be protective in nature. The hair was long and gathered into a topknot, in contrast to the Thai, who shaved it except for an area just above the forehead, which stuck up like a brush in a crewcut. Here is a mural from the same temple showing Tai Yuan soldiers.

Here is another mural showing visiting Bamar dignitaries in Northern Thailand. This is a mural in Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai.

Notice the topknots, tied headbands, and thigh tattoos. The men are also wearing eingyi jackets and a wrap called pahso, which may be up to 9 m long, wrapped around the hips, folded in front, and possibly passed between the legs and wrapped around the shoulders. A number of the pahso show the wavy lines of luntaya acheik.
Here is an example from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The pahso was always tied with folds in the front. Here are a couple of old photographs of this outfit.

In this last example, another jacket has been layered on top.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the men's outfit changed and simplified as the women's did. The pahso was made smaller, although it continued to be tied with a knot or folds in front. This was called longyi. The bright colors were more rarely worn, the men adopting the sober and less flamboyant designs which were thought of as masculine by the British and other westerners. Plaids became the norm for men. The jackets were shortened and came to more closely resemble those worn generally in the region, perhaps under Chinese influence. From the Victoria and Albert Museum, here is one jacket of the old style, followed by two of the new style.

The individualized headcloth was replaced by ready made gaung baung, of light colored muslin, bought in the marketplace.

For work or sport, the ends of the longyi are twisted, passed through the legs, and tucked into the waist in back; this is called paso hkadaung kyaik. Unlike Thai, Lao, and Khmer women, Bamar women do not wear it this way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longyi

I will close with a number of images of this costume, some old, some new, some bridal outfits based on the old costume.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Frank LeBar, et al, 'Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia', New Haven Ct., 1964
Susan Conway, 'Thai Textiles', London, 1992
Elizabeth Dell et al, 'Textiles from Burma', London, 2003
Alexandra Green et al, 'Eclectic Collecting - Art from Burma in the Denison Museum', Honolulu, 2008

Hello all, f
I received a request to do some more research into Portugal, in particular the province of Estremadura [not to be confused with the Spanish province of the same name]. Here is the costume of the environs of Nazaré, which lies on the coast, some 120 km north of Lisbon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazar%C3%A9,_Portugal

As you can see from the images above, this area is inhabited by fishermen who are partial to plaids.

For women, the foundation garment is called Corpete. This is a type of bustier which is worn under the shirt and provides support. The one on the left was made of unbleached cloth, and worn with working outfits, and the one on the right was made of bleached white cloth and was worn with festive dress.

Over the corpete was worn the Blusa, or blouse.
There are many cuts, but here are two typical ones.These two cuts feature a placket open down the front, and the second features a yoke over the shoulders. The bottom left shows a variant for sundays and feastdays, with extra lace. These were commonly made in calico.

Here is a woman dressed for work.

Here is a couple in festive dress.

The skirt, saia, is very full, and worn in layers, the traditional number of skirts worn is seven, giving rise to the saying sete saias. They are made of woolen beaver cloth, plaid, calico, or other cloth, being either gathered or pleated. The dressier skirts are adorned with ribbon or bands of velvet.

The hems were traditionally mid calf or so, but in recent years they have sometimes been made shorter, which is not a pleasing look, being out of proportion.

working clothes.

Recent dress clothing, showing absurdly short skirts, influenced by 1960's fashions. Not attractive.

Examples of various skirts. Note that some have scalloped hems. Many of the plaid skirts are made in two pieces, and some have embroidery near the hems.

A loose pocket is worn under the topmost skirt, and is reached through the opening of the skirt, or worn under the apron.

An apron is always worn, as with most folk costumes. The waistband may have a curved line in front, approximating a semi circle. There may be a flounce. It is in many colors and types of material, plain, calico, stripes. It may be ornamented with lace or embroidery. Working aprons often have a pocket. It is almost as long as the skirt. Dress aprons may be covered with embroidery.

Those who make the skirts shorter also make the aprons shorter.

The head is covered with a kerchief, tied in different ways, sometimes crowned with a specific felt hat worn in this area, with a pompom on the side.

Stockings that cover the calf, polaina, may be worn, but they commonly go barefoot, or wear mules or clogs, depending on the occassion.

The above image also shows the men's stocking cap, which is similar to that worn by fishermen all around the Mediterranean, which also serves as a pocket. and men's clogs and sash.

Both sexes at times wear a cape.

The men wear a shirt camisola, of heavy beavercloth, wool or plaid. Various cuts are used. Often in colder weather or when working on the sea, a second shirt is worn underneath of plain cloth, called camiseta. The camiseta only opens partway down the front, and is sometimes worn alone.

Heavy trousers are also worn, sometimes two pair are layed if need be. They are also of strong wool, beavercloth or plaid. The shirt and pants are never made of the same plaid. The cuffs of the pants are secured around the ankles with ties.

Heavy wool jackets are worn for work, capes may be worn for Church, Holidays or times of mourning.

Plain black pants tend to be worn for dress,These are not bound at the ankles.

I will close with some more images of this costume. Some of them are of the excessively short variant.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

An old film showing Nazare culture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9jMptR6TAo

A cultural parade in Nazare, showing the short embroidered skirts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3RzqBURWrY

A stage presentation of Nazare culture, with very good costumes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFGkZydgGEE

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Tomaz Ribas, 'O Trajo Regional em Portugal', Alges, 2004
Mattos e Silva et al, 'O Trajo da Nazare', Lisbon, 1970

Hello all,
Today I will talk about the clothing of the large family of the Tai peoples, which number a dozen or more main groups, and a larger number of small groups.
The photo above is of Queen Sirikit of Thailand, who had research done and codified a number of forms of Chut Thai, or Thai dress suitable for formal and other occasions, in a desire to encourage Thai culture.

The Central Thai people, or Siamese, are the most well known of this family, but there are many others, which are generally referred to as Tai.
The Tai - Kadai language family is divided into five branches, Kam-Sui, Kra, Be, Hlai and Tai.

The Tai branch is divided into three groups, North Tai, Central Tai, and Southwestern Tai.
The Southwestern Tai are further divided into four groups, as seen in this map.

Many of these peoples identify with an independent kingdom which existed in the past. These have now been assimilated into the modern macrostates. They speak languages which are distinct from those of their neighbors. I will attempt to cover most of these and their costume. The actual ethnic situation is very complicated, and the following is a simplification.

Pak Thai or Southern Thai
This is the most divergent Tai language, being spoken on the isthmus of Kra in the south of Thailand and Myanmar by about 5 million people. This is shown in red on the map above. This Tai group is unique in that a significant minority are Muslim, under influence of the Malay which live to their south. The Pak Thai language is used as a lingua franca by the minority peoples of the south as well. I have found little on the way of traditional costume except for the Muslim minority.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Thai_language

Chiang Saen Group

Central Thai or Siamese

This is the group which is meant by the term Thai, with an aspirated T. This group and language is dominant in today's Thailand; is the native language of about 20 million people, and is used as a second language by the other inhabitants of Thailand as well. Natively, Thai women wore the hip wrap with the ends pleated in front and held in place by a belt, the style which is known as pha naa nang, or with the ends twisted and passed through the legs and tucked in back, which is known as chong kraben, which may have been adopted from the Khmer. Queen Sirikit at the head of the article is wearing the first style. Today it is common to see Thai people wearing the phaa sin, a cloth sewn into a tube and then folded and tucked at the waist, but this was originally a northern style of the Tai Yuan and the Isan. A shoulder cloth, pha sabai is often worn, with or without a blouse or jacket on the torso. Among the Thai, the pha sabai is often pleated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_people

Tai Yuan

ไทยวน
These people are shown in medium blue on both of the following maps. This language has about 6 million native speakers. They are also known as Northern Thai, Lanna, or Khon Muang ฅนเมือง. They inhabit the territory of the former kingdom of Lan Na, in the northwest of Thailand, and some adjacent parts of Laos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Thai_people

In this area, the cloths which are worn around the waist are first sewn into a tube, the warp being worn horizontally. This is called pha sin. This fashion has penetrated into the south as well, but started in the northern regions. A typical pha sin of the Tai Yuan has three parts, a plain waistband, a middle part which usually features horizontal stripes, and a wide border on the hem which is highly ornamented for dress, but may be left plain for everyday.

A sabai, or shoulder cloth was the original top garment. This was made of cloth which was plain or had an overall floral pattern, but did not have a fancy woven band design. Later on, a jacket which overlaps in front was adopted from peoples further north, notably the Tai Lue.

Men wore a similar cloth around the shoulders, and short pha chong kraben wrapped around their hips while being tattooed from waist to knees. A waist sash or belt was usually added. The aristocracy, of course, wore more ornamented outfits. A jacket was sometimes worn by men of the upper classes.

Today commoners have adopted plain shirt and pants, again from their neighbors to the north. Here is a scene from a temple ritual in Chiang Mai.

Phuan

พวน
Also called Tai Phuan or Lao Phuan, this is the first of what might be called the tribal peoples of this group. This language is spoken by perhaps 200,000 people. They trace their history to the independent principality of Muang Phuan, which in the 13th cent. was located in what is now the Xiang Khouang province of central Laos. This lay on a plateau between the Mekong river basin and the rivers which empty into the Pacific, centered on the city of Chiang Khwang. Many still live there, but many others of their people now live in scattered pockets in Laos, Thailand, and even Cambodia. This is the result of a combination of marauding Haw [Chinese Moslem] invaders from the north, and slaving expeditions by the Kingdom of Siam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phuan_people

Today the Phuan dress rather simply most of the time.
Here is a couple from Laos

And here is a couple from Thailand

Here are some older, more traditional outfits.

The Phuan are known as excellent weavers. Here are some examples of Phuan weaving.

The Phuan who live in Lan Na, specifically in Hat Sieo, Sukhothai province, and Laplae, Uttaradit province still weave pha sin with complex borders. These are similar to, but distinct from the ones woven by the Tai Yuan. Here is an image comparing the two. The Tai Yuan pha sin is on the left, and the Phuan pha sin is on the right. The embellished band extends to the hem and does not leave a band of red as the Tai Yuan do. This is followed by two more images of Phuan pha sin.

Peoples of Sip Song Chau Tai

สิบสองจุไทย
This is a region in northwest Vietnam which was independent or autonomous from at least the 15th century until 1954, when it was fully integrated into Vietnam. It often included adjacent parts of Laos. This was a confederation of the Tai Dam, Tai Khao, and Tai Daeng. In Vietnam they are considered to form the Thai ethnic group and number roughly 1.5 million all together.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sip_Song_Chau_Tai

Tai Dam

ไทดำ
Also called Black Tai, or Thái Đen in Vietnam. They live in northwestern Vietnam, and adjacent parts of Yunnan and Laos. There are also small enclaves in Thailand, where they are known as Tai Song, or Tai Song Dam. The men wear black pants, shirts which open down the middle front and are fastened with frogs, and a black turban. Women today wear tight blouses with butterfly buttons, plain pha sin with a colored waistband, colorful head cloths, and either a metal belt or sash.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Dam_language

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Dam_people

Tai Khao

Also called White Tai, Tai Dón or Thái Trắng in Vietnamese, and Dai Duan in Chinese. There seem to be about 500,000 speakers of this language. Originally the Black Tai women wore black blouses with high necklines, and the White Tai women wore white blouses with V necklines. Today both wear blouses of various colors. The outfits worn are very similar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_D%C3%B3n_language

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_D%C3%B3n_people

Tai Daeng

Also called Red Tai, or Thái Đỏ in Vietnamese. They number about 100,000. Many speakers of this language in Vietnam identify as Tai Muang, Tai Thanh, Tai Dam, or other. The use of the term Red Tai in Vietnam is contested.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Daeng_language

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Daeng_people

These people make various versions of pha sin, but one distinctive kind is mostly plain with a wide, figured decorative hem another has woven in ornament over most of the garment.

Here is a family of Tai Muang Daeng from Vietnam wearing contemporary blouses with traditional pha sin.

This is a group from Quan Son district, Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam. They identify as 'Black Tai' but form part of this group. As in many ethnic groups, costume varies by district or even village. They are wearing traditional breast covers over modern blouses.

The following images are from Laos.

Some examples of Tai Daeng weaving are spectacular.

This concludes part 1. In part 2 I will cover the rest of the major Southwestern Tai Peoples

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Queen Sirikit of Thailand, 'Satree Thai; Costumes of Ancient Thai Ladies', Bangkok,
Susan Conway, 'Thai Textiles', London, 1992,
Susan Conway, 'Silken Threads Lacquer Thrones; Lan Na Court Textiles', Bangkok, 2002
Gittinger & Lefferts, 'Textiles and the Tai Experience in Southeast Asia', Washington, D.C., 1992,
Patricia Cheesman Naenna, 'Costume and Culture; Vanishing Textiles of some of the Tai groups in Laos', Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1990
Joachim Schliesinger, "Tai Groups of Thailand', Bangkok, 2001
Joachim Schliesinger, 'Ethnic Groups of Laos', Bangkok, 2003
Joachim Schliesinger, 'Ethnic Groups of Cambodia', Bangkok, 2011
Michael and Kim Howard, 'Textiles of the Daic Peoples of Vietnam', Bangkok, 2002
Prangwatthanakum and Naenna, 'Lan Na Textiles - Yuan Lue Lao', Bangkok, 1990
Nguyen Van Huy et al, 'The Great Family of Ethnic Groups in Vietnam', Vietnam, 2011

Hello all,
Today I will continue my writing on the costumes of the Tai Peoples.
This article will cover the Lao-Phutai and Northwestern branches of the Southwestern Tai language family.

Lao-Phutai Group

Lao / Isan

This people traces its origin to the Kingdom of Lan Xang [Land of a Million Elephants], founded in 1354 by Fa Ngum. The Original capitol was at Luang Prabang.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lan_Xang

The image at the head of this article is of a group of Lao women dressed in the Ventiane style. The Lao of Laos number perhaps 3 million, being just over half of the population, primarily inhabiting the Mekong river valley. A small number also live over the border in Cambodia, still along the Mekong river valley and tributaries.

A large number of Lao also live in northeast Thailand, where they are known as Isan. These number about 20 million people. The current border dates from 1893, being the result of negotiations between the Kingdom of Siam and the French Colonial powers.

The Lao / Isan are shown in navy blue on this map

Much is made of the fact that these people prefer glutinous or sticky rice to regular rice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_people

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_language

The Lao / Isan women wear pha sin that are often made of silk ikat, or mat mi, as it is called in the Tai languages. They typically have a border, not too wide, at the hem, and a pattern distributed over the body of the tube skirt. At times it may be striped, but if so, the stripes are vertical. The waistband is often made of a separate piece.

In Xout Lao, the shoulder cloth, sabai or pha biang, often matches the pha sin. It was the original upper torso garment, as in Siam and Lan Na. Later on a wrap around jacket, called suea pat was borrowed from the Tai Lue. You may see these garments worn both ways today. In this image, the woman in the center is wearing a suea pat under the sabai, while the other two are wearing the sabai without it. The sabai match the pha sin, being made of figured silk with gold edging. The gold embellishment with dangling ornaments is typical of dress Lao outfits. In Ventiane, the topknot is worn in the center, in Luang Prapang, on the left. It often has a decorative band around the base.
The following images are from Laos.

Notice that the men above are wearing pha chong kraben. Isan men are more likely to wear the pha nung in sarong style, usually of plaid cloth. The following images are of Isan.

Here is a Lao dance concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Atdqb2P3Y

Here is a concert of traditional Isan music and dance by a group from Khon Kaen University.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TJ9zY6mSis

Phu Tai

ภูไท
The Phu Tai live in central Laos, especially Khammouan Province, from which they also moved to scattered locations in northeastern Thailand. The language is distinct, and seems to be spoken by a couple hundred thousand people. In Thailand, they use their distinct language and culture to promote tourism to their villages. In Laos, they seem to be losing their traditional attire. Other Tai groups which are not closely related may also at times be referred to as Putai. I have been unable to find a good account of their origin, although it appears that at some time in the past, they traveled south from what is now southern China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phu_Thai

The Phu Tai like to wear blue pha sin and jackets, The shoulder cloth, pha khit, is highly decorated with woven designs. It is traditional for a bride to make and present an elaborate one to her mother in law, who wears it on special occasions, and it will eventually be used at her funeral. Here are a couple of examples.

These two women are from Laos.

A video about the Phu Tai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfn5OQmY--M

Northwestern Group

Tai Lü

ไทลื้อ
Also called Lu, Lue, Thai Lue, etc. The Han Chinese refer to this people as the Dai Le, or Xishuangbanna Dai. About 700,000 people speak this language.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_L%C3%BC_language
They trace their origin to the Independent Principality of Sip Song Panna. Like most Tai peoples they live in river valleys. Sip Song Panna lies in the valley of the Mekong river and adjacent tributaries in the southernmost part of Yunnan Province, and the current borders have separated part of this territory into adjacent areas of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xishuangbanna_Dai_Autonomous_Prefecture
The Tai Lü people still inhabit this area, but some have spread to isolated colonies in nearby parts of Vietnam and Thailand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu_people

In this map, the Lue are shown in a grayish color at the top of the map.

Here is a closeup of the border regions, showing Yunnan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. Again, the Lu are shown in slate gray.

Research of this people's costume is made difficult by the fact that the Han Chinese lump all of the speakers of Southwest Tai languages dwelling in China into one nationality, which they call 'Dai'. Many images are simply labelled 'Dai' with no reference to locality or language.

The costumes of this people are mainly black with ornamentation. The shoulder cloth, which is such an important part of the costume of more southern Tai peoples is not worn by the women. Instead they wear a type of wrap-around jacket called suea pat or suea pai. This is fastened by strings or strips of cloth at the sides. This has been adopted by the Tai Yuan in Lanna and the Lao in Luang Prabang, who have each added rich textiles as ornamentation and used it as court attire. The details of ornament vary with location.

The pha sin is typically black, with ornamental stripes on the upper part, of which the lowest is somewhat separated from the others, with the bottom generally left plain black. The stripes are woven on the weft, so they take two pieces and sew them together on either side.

The upper part of the pha sin often includes a band of kho, or tapestry weave. Other areas have a band of ornamental weaving of a different technique.

A turban completes the outfit.
Men generally wear plain black or indigo shirt and pants, but will wear a shoulder cloth with woven ornament, called pha chet for going to the temple and other formal occasions.
This man is from Ban Phaet, Chiang Kham district.

Here are some more examples.
From Thailand, Nan district in Lanna.

These two people are from Chang Kham district,

These costumes are from Muang Ngoen.

This image is from Myanmar

Some images from Laos

This group of girls are from Ou Tai district, Phongsali province.

Some images from Vietnam

I have found only one image from Yunnan which is of this group.

Tai Lue dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38lppYew8RA

Huayao Dai

This is a group from southern Yunnan with a distinctive costume. The term Huayao Dai is Han Chinese, and is not their self designation. It means flowery waisted Tai. Some sources indicate that they live in Xishuangbanna, others that they live further north and east. If anyone has more precise information, please let me know.

A video from China about the Huayao Dai.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w63THq38zns

Tai Nüa

ไทเหนือ
It is probable that Yunnan was the original home of all the Southwestern Tai peoples.
The Tai Nüa live in river valleys of south central and western Yunnan Province, and slightly over the border into Myanmar. These people are also called Chinese Shan, Northern Tai, or Dehong Dai.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_N%C3%BCa_language

They form the largest non Han ethicity in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehong_Dai_and_Jingpo_Autonomous_Prefecture

I have been unable to determine any distinctive characteristics of the attire of this group, since I have not found Chinese sources that give detailed information in English. There seems to have been recent fashion development under Han influence. Here are some images of the Tai from this region.

A video from China of a Dehong Dai dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfssxTX3LLg

Tai Khün

ไทเขิน
These people live in the eastern part of Shan State of Myanmar, in the former Kengtung State, which lay basically between the Salween and the Mekong. Kengtung was independent from about 1243 until its annexation by the British Empire. It is estimated that about 100,000 people speak this language today. This region lies north of Lan Na and southwest of Sipsong Panna.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kengtung_State

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Kh%C3%BCn

If we take another look at this closeup map, the Tai Khün are represented by sky blue. Notice the Tai Lue to the east, in slate gray, the Shan to the west, in blue green, and the Tai Yuan to the south, in royal blue.

These people are often lumped in with the Shan in the literature. The men dress much like the Shan or the Tai Yuan, with loose trousers, shirts and a turban.

Aristocratic women dressed in a camisole and white pha sin, over which they wore a tight fitting jacket that flared at the waist, and a pha sin with gold and silk horizontal stripes woven into the upper part. Below that is a broad stripe with embroidered ornament, often including gold beads and sequins. Here is a photo of Princess Tip Htila of Kengtung taken in 1902. She is also seen above with some male retainers.

Here is a closeup of one such pha sin. As here, there may be a panel of tapestry type weaving included, as in the Tai Lü.

Some more images of this type of outfit. This first one shows a man in aristocratic garb as well. This has become the dress outfit of this people, at least for the urban ones.

Here is an example of a simpler contemporary version.

The outfit worn by villager, who are sometimes called Tai Ngan, is similar, but simpler, lacking embroidery and precious metals. The jacket [suea pat] is worn overlapped, and there are streamers attached to the sides. There may be hand woven ornament in the pha sin. The jacket is usually black, which would make it similar to the Tai Lue costume, but the Tai Lue in this area wear suea pat.

A video of Kengtung and the old rulers of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjg1-1bFyjA

Tai Yai

ไทใหญ่
Also called Shan, Tai Long in the southern areas, or Tai Mao in the north. They number 4 - 6 million, and mostly inhabit Shan State in Myanmar.They trace their presence in this area to the 10 cent, beginning with the kingdom of Mong Mao.They have been at times subject to the Bamar, and at times formed independent principalities, until being annexed to Burma by the British. There are also Tai Yai enclaves in northern Thailand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mong_Mao

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Yai

The men wear shirts buttoned in the center or off to the side, loose pants and a turban. Here are some men dressed for the festival of Poy Sang Long, in which boys are brought to the Buddhist monastery to be initiated.

Both in the south and the north, women wear rather loose blouses that button either in the middle or off to one side, in various colors. The Tai Long pha sin tend to be rather simple, with horizontal stripes or plaid. A turban is a traditional part of the outfit.

Here are some Tai Yai women standing behind a row of Kachin women.

Plaid tends not to be worn much any more. The modern Tai Long pha sin have stripes only around the hips.

In this image, the two women are dressed in Tai Long style, while the little girl is in Tai Mao style.

Sometimes the top part is made of cloth with a small scattered pattern.

Tai Mao today wear a pha sin that has a panel in the middle with woven vertical stripes. In this photo the girl in the middle is wearing Tai Long dress, and the two on the sides are wearing Tai Mao attire.

Originally, the vertical stripes formed a wider panel low on the garment, with ornamented stripes at the bottom.

Another version of this garment features vertical appliqued strips of various materials, with or without embroidery or other ornamentation.

Today they generally insert a panel of striped woven cloth between two panels of some kind of plain cloth.

Here is one woman in Tai Long dress on the left, and the rest are in Tai Mao outfits.

A video of Tai Yai people dancing. Notice the great variety of contemporary costume
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1SfuNv6cPY

Khamti

ไทคำตี่
Also known as Hkamti, Khampti, or Lik Tai. These people live in the far northern parts of Myanmar, in Kachin State and Sagaing, where they number some 200,000, as well as adjacent parts of Assam in India, which they settled in the 1800's, and where they number some 140,000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khamti_people

Khamti dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoJsB9-rR_I

Tai Ahom

The Ahom people of Assam in India trace their origin to the Kingdom of Ahom, which was founded in 1228 by Chao Lung Siu-Ka-Pha, who came from Mong Mao. This kingdom was basically independent untill 1826, when it was annexed by the British into their Indian colony. Today they number almost 4 million, but the language is only remembered by a couple hundred priests. They still retain memory of their Tai origins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahom_people

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahom_language

These images were taken from the Tai Ahom facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/taiahom/photos/pb.191690327536535.-2207520000.1508097444./1581529028552651/?type=3

Tai Ahom dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SFfVZVZ_Ds

This concludes my article on the peoples who speak the Southwestern Tai languages. This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are other small Tai peoples who consider themselves distinct.

Thank You for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Queen Sirikit of Thailand, 'Satree Thai; Costumes of Ancient Thai Ladies', Bangkok,
Susan Conway, 'Thai Textiles', London, 1992,
Susan Conway, 'Silken Threads Lacquer Thrones; Lan Na Court Textiles', Bangkok, 2002
Gittinger & Lefferts, 'Textiles and the Tai Experience in Southeast Asia', Washington, D.C., 1992,
Patricia Cheesman Naenna, 'Costume and Culture; Vanishing Textiles of some of the Tai groups in Laos', Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1990
Joachim Schliesinger, "Tai Groups of Thailand', Bangkok, 2001
Joachim Schliesinger, 'Ethnic Groups of Laos', Bangkok, 2003
Joachim Schliesinger, 'Ethnic Groups of Cambodia', Bangkok, 2011
Michael and Kim Howard, 'Textiles of the Daic Peoples of Vietnam', Bangkok, 2002
Prangwatthanakum and Naenna, 'Lan Na Textiles - Yuan Lue Lao', Bangkok, 1990
Nguyen Van Huy et al, 'The Great Family of Ethnic Groups in Vietnam', Vietnam, 2011
Dell and Dudley, 'Textiles from Burma', 2003, London
Maya McLean, 'Dress and Tai Yai Identity in Thoed Thai, Northern Thailand', 2012, Bangkok
Alexandra Green, 'Eclectic Collecting - Art from Burma in the Denison Museum', 2008, Honolulu
'Dress and Festivities of the Minority Peoples of Yunnan', 2004, China
Yos Santosombat, 'Lak Chang - a reconstruction of Tai identity in Daikong', 2001. Canberra
Deng Qiyao, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', 1994

Hello All,
Today I will take a break from Asia, which is fascinating but very challenging.
I will talk about another Polish town costume, That of Cieszyn, or Těšín in Czech. This costume is typical of the town and part of the region around it, which was known as Cieszyn Silesia, or Śląsk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cieszyn_Silesia
The Silesians were a people closely related to the Poles, speaking what is either a closely related language, or a very divergent dialect of Polish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cieszyn_Silesian_dialect
The west of this district is inhabited by Moravians, the central and eastern parts by Silesians [Polish], the southern mountains by Gorals [Highlanders], with large German colonies in some of the northern towns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Teschen

This part of Silesia was part of the Austrian Empire, and in 1920 was divided roughly in half between Czechoslovakia and Poland along the river Olza. The city itself was divided, as the river runs through it. The western part is now known as Český Těšín.
The Cieszyn region lies in south central Poland, across the river in northeastern Moravia, and shares its southern border with Slovakia. Here is a map showing the location of the Polish side.

This costume was not worn over the entire area of the Duchy of Cieszyn, but rather was restricted to the central regions, around the city itself on both sides by the Silesian population up to the mountains. The Moravians in the west have a different costume, and the Gorals in the south a similar, but distinct costume. In the 20th cent. it spread to the south, to the town of Jablunkov; and a sort of hybrid costume is now sometimes worn by women in some of the highlands.

The costume is of the type sometimes called chemise and sleeves, which is found in pockets from this region up to Estonia. The chemise is a foundation garment here, and is not visible when fully dressed, which is unusual for eastern Europe. It is called ciasnocha. It originally had only one strap, and was gathered on the sides and in back only.

Over this garment were worn up to three petticoats, spodki, at least one of which had an attached bodice. Today these garments have been modernized, with two shoulder straps, and the addition, under the influence of urban fashion, of bloomers. Some variety in the cut has been introduced. In my opinion, this first one is too short.

Old photographs show the skirts as being very full, which indicates the presence of multiple petticoats. Note the one woman on the left in 'modern' dress.

The outer shirt, called kabotek, is short, reaching just past the waist, and very full, the body field, which includes the front and the back being densely smock-gathered into the collar. There are shoulder insets, which are doubled, and the short wide sleeves are densely gathered into them. There are large square gussets under the arms. The short sleeves are much more typical of Czech, or even German costumes than Polish ones.

There are a few variants of this garment.The simplest everyday ones were unadorned.

On some of them, the collar and cuff bands were embroidered with chain stitch, braid stitch, or cross stitch. this is no longer done in the Cieszyn area, but the Goralky sew this kind of blouse and use negative space cross stitch on the collar and cuffs to this day.
The third kind is shown on the bottom of the figure above. Floral eyelet embroidery, or 'brodierie anglaise' is done on wider collar and cuff bands, on the front overlap, and sometimes on the lower part of the shoulder inset.

This embroidery may be relatively narrow and modest as shown here. Note that the neck is fastened with a pin or brooch.

Today there is usually a separate piece that covers the front opening like a bib, and has eyelet embroidery on both sides. There may also be a sort of ruffle which is sewn in by the cuff band and stands up. These pieces may now be of machine made eyelet. The collar and cuff bands are often wider.

Recently it has become more common to see a band of openwork embroidery done right across the middle of the sleeve.

The skirt, suknia, is very full and made of a dark colored material, usually wool. The hem has a ribbon of a contrasting color several inches wide attached to it, along with a facing. In older photographs the skirt is ankle length, but today is usually worn mid calf, although there is still some variation. Note that this example has a pocket sewn into a seam on the right side.

The bodice, żywotek, is the most distinctive part of this costume, with the characteristic peak on the back. The skirt is sewn to it, densely on the sides and back. Sometimes the gathering is smocked into a pattern, as shown here.

The classic ornamentation on the bodice consists of gold or sometimes silver galloon edging the top of the bodice, and gold or silver embroidery within the fields.

The oldest extant examples are all quite short, under the influence of the Empire period, with its short waisted silhouette.

Today the bodices are made longer, more or less reaching the waist. The classic format still holds, however.

The embroidery on the bodice was always quite individual. In more recent years, there has been a tendency to simplify. In some cases the galloon is used alone, some say this is more common on the Czech side, perhaps under the influence of the old Jablonkov costume, and sometimes the embroidery is used alone, often in silk thread of various colors, occasionally with beadwork. This is more common outside the city.

A full apron is worn which is as long as the skirt. Today it is usually of brocade, often silk, in quiet colors, most commonly with a floral design.

Sometimes in the past it was of linen, white or with stripes, and this can sometimes be seen today.

A wide ribbon is worn tied around the waist with a bow in front, and the ends hanging down over the apron.This is usually patterned, and sometimes even embroidered.

Single girls wear their hair in a single braid in back.

Married women arrange the braid in a bun at the back of the head, and wear a lace cap, czepek, over it.

The top of the cap is today usually open netting, the side pieces are thin linen, and the forehead piece is traditionally of homemade lace.

The front is worn low on the forehead in order to show off the lace.

A kerchief is always worn over the cap when going out. Today the cap is usually of a silk brocade in quiet colors, often matching the apron, and is knotted behind the neck. Everyday kerchiefs were, of course, in cotton or linen, and would often be knotted under the chin. Some old photographs show linen kerchiefs with eyelet embroidery were also worn.

Regular shoes and stockings are worn with this outfit.

Very specific jewelry is worn with the original city version of this outfit The most famous are the lacing hooks which are attached to the front of the bodice. These are called hoczki or hooks, and no longer actually lace, but are considered to be an indispensable part of the costume. They are most often made of cast or filigree silver, in many different shapes.

An elaborate metal belt, pas, is often worn with this outfit. It consists of four metal plates with filigree decoration connected by a number of fine chains. One plate forms a buckle in front, and the other three are in back. Also a net of chains hangs from the belt, draping the upper part of the skirt. The belt is worn over the decorative ribbon which is tied around the waist. This is an ornament unique to the Cieszyn region.

This is the kind of thing which obviously not everyone can afford. Some of my sources claim that it is only worn by married women, but a quick perusal of the images show that this is not the case. See the second image above, and this one of a group of Confirmation candidates.

A second chain, resembling those pendant from the belt, is sometimes worn hooked to the straps of the bodice. This is called orpanta.

When the costume spread to the villages, especially the highland villages, often the women could not afford the silver. This led to the hoczki being imitated by beadwork.

Likewise the belt was imitated by women using hand embroidery and strings of beads. Some of my sources decry this as untraditional, but I see it as an example of Folk creativity. Take a close look at the belts in the next images.

The following three ladies are Goralky in Cieszyn dress, as is shown by how the men's outfits.

A number of outer garments are worn at need. Besides shawls, both woven and crocheted, a short jacket called szpyncer and a longer, warmer coat called jakle are worn.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

A group performing dances from Cieszyn. The girls have neglected to put on a chemise, or ciasnocha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOOVveXISoo

Source Material:
Vera Tomolova et al, 'Těšínsko', Těšín, 2000
Barbara Bazielich, 'Stroj Cieszynski', Wroclaw, 2006
Barbara Bazielich, 'Strjoj Ludowe w Polsce - Opisy i Wykroje', Warsaw, 1997
Stanislaw Gadomsky, 'Stroj Ludowe w Polsce', Warsaw
Malgorzata Kieres et al, 'Stroj Cieszynski', Bielsko-Biala, 2014
Maria Michalczyk, 'Hoczki, Knefle, Orpanty', Katowice, 2007

Hello all,

Today I will talk about the costumes of the Górale, or Gorali. In English often called Gorals. This just means mountain people. In English Gorals often refer to themselves as 'Polish Highlanders'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorals

The Gorals are one of the four Slavic tribes found in the Carpathian mountains. In Ukraine, on and over the Romanian border live the Hutsuls, on both sides of the mountains west to the rivers Limnytsia north of the mountains and the river Teresva south of them. The Boikos live west of that line, through Ukraine into southeastern Poland up to the river Sian [San] north of the mountains and the river Uzh south of them. The Lemkos [Rusyns] live west of that line up to a point between the villages of Szlachtowa and Szczawnica on the Polish side, and between the villages of Veľký Lipník and Lesnica on the Slovak side. The Górale live west of that point through south central Poland and also on the Slovak side into the southeasternmost corner of Silesia, both in Poland and Moravia.

I always wondered why there seemed to be no native Slavic tribe in the mountains between Poland and Bohemia, but recently learned that they were not considered part of the Carpathians. The Górale are restricted to the Western Carpathians.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpathian_Mountains

Of these four tribes the Gorals are of West Slavic origin, while the other three are of East Slavic origin. They are generally considered to be Polish, although Slovakia and the Czech Republic often consider the Gorals on their side to be of their own nationality. They speak their own group of dialects which are quite distinct.

The Gorali are divided into several groups, which vary somewhat according to the source consulted. Here is one rather good map of their distribution. The one issue that I have with this map is that they show an island of khaki green on the east, which is traditionally the territory of the Szlachtowa Lemko / Rusyns. It seems that after they were ethnically cleansed from the area, their lands were settled by Podhalany.

The stippled areas in the south are those in which the Goral population lost, at least in part, their Polish ethnic identity, coming to consider themselves Slovak Gorali.

The costumes of the various groups are distinct, but have a lot in common. The women's outfits show much similarity in their variety. It is often easier to identify the origin of people by looking at the mens' costumes, in particular the ornament on the pants. The mens' pants are always of very heavy naturally 'white' wool, which is actually more of a cream color. The ornamentation on the pants, especially of the parzenica, the front opening, is distinct from one group to another. I will proceed west to east.

Górale śląscy - Silesian Gorals

These people are represented by the orange area at the left of the map, being found south of Cieszyn on both the Polish and Moravian sides.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesian_Gorals

The women generally wear no bodice, and a short shirt over a long chemise. The apron and skirt are both traditionally indigo-batik prints. The men wear simple pants with only one front opening, which is edged with braid. The vests are red, or occasionally black for older men. Both men and women have negative space cross stitch embroidery on the shirt, usually in a chestnut and black for the men and red or maroon for the women. The woman on the right here is wearing completely non traditional embroidery.

Very long brown wool jackets may be worn by both sexes.

Górale czadeccy - Chadets Gorals

These people live to the south of the Silesian Gorals, across the border in Slovakia, in the Kisuca valley. It is likely that they were of the same origin as the Silesian Gorals, but have been influenced by Slovak culture and costume. This is especially evident in the colorful embroidery.

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B3rale_czadeccy

The pants are again very plain, with two flaps falling over where the openings would be. These sometimes have floral embroidery. Both mens' and womens' shirts have colorful embroidery.

Górale żywieccy - Zywiec Gorals

Thisgroup is represented by purple on the map above. They live south of the town of Żywiec up to the Slovak border. They, and the rest of the following groups form part of the macroregion of Malopolska rather than Silesia.

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B3rale_%C5%BCywieccy

The women wear a malopolska style bodice, called gorsetka. It is in various colors with a floral stem or group embroidered on the front and back, lappets, either round or squared off, and is laced with a red ribbon. They wear an apron, usually of white cutwork. The men wear either red vests with blue pompoms, or blue vests with red pompoms. the pants may have one or two openings in front, with relatively modest embroidery around the opening, and also some on the lower legs just above where the socks cover the lower part.

Górale Orawce - Orawa Gorals

These people are represented by light red on the map above. They live on both sides of the border, the Polish side being to the east of the Slovak side. This forms the northernmost part of the former Árva County of the Hungarian Empire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orava_(region)

The women wear a bodice which is closed up the front and has a peplum rather than lappets. It is made of material which usally contrasts with that of the skirt, and may be quite dark. Generally an apron is not worn. The men have two openings on their pants which are ornamented with black braid, sometimes with a combination of heavy and fine braid. They generally wear black vests, and sometimes long brown wool embroidered jackets.

Górale babiogórscy - Gorals of Babia Góra

These people are represented by lavender in the center of the map above. They live to the north ofBabia Góra, or Witches Mountain, on the Slovak Polish border.
Górale babiogórscy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babia_G%C3%B3ra

The women wear a gorsetka with lappets and floral embroidery. The skirt is often indigo batik printed. The apron is of white cutwork. The men may wear a black vest but often omit it. The pants have two openings, which are ornamented with red and blue braid or chainstitch. The heavy brown jacket is often worn here as well.

Górale Kliszczacy - Klishchatsy Gorals

These people are represented by orange in the upper center of the map above.The live east of the Babiogorcy and north of the Podhalany. The mens' pants seem to be modestly ornamented, and the costume in general seems to be under pressure from the Podhale costume, which is much better known and is quite impressive. I know little about this group.

Górale podhalańscy - Podhale Gorals

This is by far the best known group. The images at the head of the article are of Podhale costumes. They are shown on the map in khakhi green. They live mostly in Poland, in the High Tatras, the main town being Nowy Targ, but also inhabit a small corner of Slovakia called Sucha Gora [Suchá Hora].

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podhalanie
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucha_G%C3%B3ra_(S%C5%82owacja)

The men have two openings on their pants with extraordinarily complex ornamentation of braid and embroidery. They rarely wear a vest at all, and when they do it is of brown sheepskin which they call serdak. The jacket is of the same white wool as the pants. The pants are often still made of the traditional very heavy wool and many men in this region have them tailored to fit by traditional folk tailors. Thus they generally fit very closely. There is a significant diaspora in Chicago, and you can see the costumes and traditional dancing in the Polish Highlander Hall there. The women wear a gorsetka with squared off lappets, skirts which vary, and no apron. The gorsetka was traditionally ornamented with braid or ribbon, but today has floral embroidery, often using beads and sequins; very colorful and sometimes garish. The shirt often has extensive cutwork embroidery on the sleeves. The most common motif on the bodice is that of the stemless thistle Carlina acaulis. In Polish this is called Dziewięćsił, or herb with nine powers. This depiction may be mistaken for Edelweiss or Poinsettia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_costumes_of_Podhale

Górale zagórzańscy - Transmontane Gorals

This group is represented in pink on the map above, just north of the Podhale region.
They live east of the Kliszczacy, and south of the lowland groups known as Lachy.
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zag%C3%B3rzanie

The mens' pants have two openings and are embroidered, but not as heavily or in the same style as in Podhale. The ornamentation often features a heart motif at the bottom.
The womens' costume is very similar to that of Podhale.

Górale sądeccy - Sącz Gorals

This group is also shown in orange on the map above, to the right. They live to the east of the Zagorzanie, and northeast of the Podhalane. You can see that they form two separate enclaves, which are sometimes divided into two groups: the Górale Łąccy or White Gorals in the west, and theGórale piwniczańscy, also called górale nadpopradzcy, or Black Gorals in the east. The general name indicates that they live south of the region of Sącz.
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B3rale_s%C4%85deccy

Górale Łąccy

This is the group which lives south of Sącz and north of the Szczawnica region. The men wear white pants which have two openings, and extensive embroidery on the front, sides, and lower leg, in a very different style from that of Podhale, and more closely resembles the embroidery of Sącz. The men wear a vest which is dark blue, and highly ornamented in a unique style. The women wear an embroidered gorset and floral print skirt, similar to that of Podhale.
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B3rale_%C5%82%C4%85ccy

Górale nadpopradzcy

This group lives on the Polish Slovak border surrounded on the west, east, and south by Lemko / Rusyns. They live in a small area of Slovakia next to the border as well. To the north lie the Lachy of Sącz and the Pogorzanie. They have the name of black Gorals because unlike all other Gorals, the men wear black or dark brown wool pants. The women wear indigo batik printed skirts, white aprons and gorsets trimmed with ribbon.

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czarni_G%C3%B3rale

Górale Pienińscy or Szczawnickimi - Pieniny or Szczawnica Gorals.

This group is represented by blue to the right of the map above. They also live over the border in Slovakia to some extent. This costume is also used by boatmen on the Dunajec river who take tourists on excursions on both sides of the border. Often only the vest is worn. The Szlachtowa Lemkos wore essentially the same costume. The men wear a blue vest with extensive floral embroidery. The pants have one opening and also have extensive floral embroidery. The women originally wore indigo batik printed aprons, and red striped skirts. The bodices were of a solid color with geometric embroidery. Today the women often wear something closer to the Podhale costume. In the Rusyn village of Veľký Lipník in Slovakia across the border, the women wear the same costume but the men do not. Likewise in some Slovak villages further west, men wear this same costume but the women do not. I have previously written a more in depth article on this costume.
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B3rale_pieni%C5%84scy

http://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2015/05/costumes-of-pieniny-dunajec-region.html

Today the men have retained this costume, but the women have generally abandoned it in favor of something much closer to the Podhale costume. What a shame.

Górale spiscy - Spiš Gorals

This group is shown in dark red in the lower right of the map above. A small part of this region is in Poland, and a larger part in Slovakia. There are two Goral costumes in the Polish part of this region and several in the Slovak. Spiš itself extends further to the south and includes a significant part of Slovak territory. There were also once German colonies in this area.I also covered this area in my articles on the Pieniny region.
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiszacy

Polish side

Gorals from Kacwin and Trybsz areas.

The men wear a green vest with tassels and distinct embroidery. The pants have two openings and are ornamented with braid in a unique style. The women's costume resembles the old Szczawnica costume.

Gorals from Jurgów

The men have pants with two openings, which are embroidered with floral designs. The women wear bodices with points in front and back, which is very common further south in Spisz. The women's shirt had either woven red stripes as in Szczawnica, or black embroidery on the sleeves.

The Gorals in Slovak Spisz I will leave for another time, because they will take more research. Now when you meet a Góral you will be able to tell which region he comes from, and you will have a good excuse for staring at his pants.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

This material was gathered from so many sources that I cannot list them,
but here is one very comprehensive and interesting website on Polish costumes and embroidery.

http://polishcostumes.tumblr.com/regions

Hello all,

I will try to step into this field, fraught with pitfalls as it is, and share the research which I have done, and the work of others from which I have benefited. The Lemko / Rusyns are an East Slavic people, one of the four mountain tribes which inhabit the Carpathians. I Covered the Gorals in my last article. The Lemko / Rusyns live to the east of the Gorals, about to the river San [Sian] in Poland, and to the river Uzh south of the mountains. Here is a map showing the rough extent of these people. This is not completely accurate, as some ethnic islands are omitted, and this extends too far to the east, encroaching on territory actually inhabited by Boikos. This map is useful in that it may be expanded and individual villages found.

The term Lemko was originally a nickname applied to these people in Poland, both by the Polish and the Ukrainians. This was in reference to a common term 'Lem', used in their dialects. This term was not used by the Slovaks, as they also used the word lem. In Slovakia these people call themselves Rusini, Rusnaky, or Rusyns. The term Rusyny, however, is not restricted to this group. Originally all Eastern Slavs who did not inhabit Moscow's empire were called Rusyny, this included the Halychany, the Ukrainians, the Belorussians, etc., as opposed to the Muscovites. [The term 'Russian' was not invented until much later, by Peter Romanov, as part of his naming St. Petersburg as his capitol.] Even today there are people in Ukraine who prefer the term Rusyn. Thus there is no good term, so I will use the term Lemko / Rusyn to refer to this group, recalling that the southern ones do not identify with this term.

This research has many difficulties, chief among them being that the people on the Polish side were the object of Ethnic Cleansing by the Polish government after WWII. They were removed and resettled mostly on lands cleared of former German inhabitants of the west of Poland. There are many objects in Polish and Ukrainian museums, but unfortunately the exact provenance of many of them is unknown. The people on the Slovak side have remained, but are subject to assimilation by the Slovaks.

I wish to present this information because it is hard to find, and is an important part of our Slavic heritage. If you are Rusyn, then please take this in the spirit in which it was intended.

I will present what information I have from west to east. There are areas about which I have discovered nothing, however. This article will cover the westernmost groups, which have some somewhat similar costumes.

The first groups are all characterized by bands of red woven ornament on the womens' shirts.

Osturňa

Osturňa - Остурня, along with its sister villages Malá Franková - Мала Франкова, andVeľká Franková - Велика Франкова historically formed the westernmost ethnic enclave of Rusyns. They are found in the Spisz region, between the Polish border and the Slovak Goral village of Ždiar. Here is a map which I used in my last article. This district is the white area in the center of the Spisz region.

Today the population of the village calls themselves Slovak on censuses. The costume closely resembles that worn in Ždiar.

The westernmost group

Here is a map of the area. I will be speaking about the region west of the red line. The orange line is the current Poland/Slovakia border.

Shliakhtova

This group was found on the Polish side and included the villages of Shliakhtova / Шляхтова / Szlachtowa, Chorna Voda / Czarna Woda, Bila Voda / Białawoda / , and Jawirki / Явірки / Jaworki . these were in the Rus'ki Potok [Rusyn Creek] river valley which flows into the Dunajec. After WWII the Polish government ethnically cleansed the valley, and replaced the inhabitants with settlers from Podhale. The river was renamed Grajcarek. The folk costume was shared with some Gorals on both the Polish and Slovak sides. It is extremely ornamented.
Note: the term Rus'ki does Not necessarily mean Russian. It refers back to the Rus''empire', [it was actually a confederation of city states]. So it refers to any Eastern Slavic people. Those whom we now called Russians, ie part of Moscow's Empire were called Muscovites until the time of Peter Romanov. When he moved the capitol from Moscow to St. Petersburg, [early 1700s] he promoted the term 'Russian' instead. This has been the cause of much confusion.

Western Rusyns

The four villages of Veľký Lipník, Litmanová, Kamienka, and Jarabina form a group which has a distinct costume, related to that of the Shliakhtova Lemkos. Each village's costume is somewhat distinct, but they form an obvious group.

Veľký Lipník / Великый Липник

This village, with its satellite Stráňany / Страняны, or Folvark / Фільварок, lies just over the ridge of mountains south of Shliakhtova, and had close ties to them, being found on a parallel tributary of the Dunajec. The women's costume is very similar, but the men's is not.The image at the head of the article is from this village.

Here is a song from this area. The middle singer and the two fiddlers are wearing the traditional dress of this village.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwx_Dsscn6o

Just a couple old photographs from Stráňany / Страняны.

The other three villages lie to the east over another ridge, and lie on the north side of the watershed of the Poprad River. This river flows east in Slovakia and then turns to flow north into Poland. The costumes are more similar to each other. These three villages have retained the woven cuff, but recently have replaced the linen sleeves with damask.

Litmanová / Літманова

This lies the furthest north and is closest to Poland of these three villages, being higher in the mountains. The Litmanova costume is distinguished by trim on the front of the womens' bodices.

Kamienka / Камюнка

This village lies further south, in lower lands than the first. The bodices have a square cut neckline in front, which is trimmed with ribbon.

Jarabina - Орябина

This is the southeasternmost village of this group. The Jarabina bodice has a round cut neckline.

Here is a video of some women singing in the village. This group has performed on Slovakia's version of 'Idol'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_IKaVfcxbM

Southwestern Rusyns / Torysky group

This covers the area south of the red line. The villages in this area have a folk costume which is similar to others to the southwest, in the Spiš region. I have found nothing from several of these villages, and the ones in the center seem not to exist anymore.

Torysky / Ториськи

This costume has the points on the bodice which is typical of the Spiš region generally. The embroidery is rich, as indeed is typical of the entire area.

Oľšavica / Ольшавиця

This is a smaller village east of Torysky. The costume is quite similar.

Tichý Potok / Тихий Потік

This village lies in the northeastern part of this area. It was called Štelbach / Штельбах until 1948, and that is how it is labeled on the map above.

A video of the performing group Jalinka from this area. This shows lots of stills and bits of a lot of songs. Some of the images feature costumes of this area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKhJmkVj8HI

Ihl'any / Ігляни

This is named Hodermark on the map above. Many of these villages have been renamed. This village is on the western part of these highlands. The traditional attire is similar, but distinct.

I think that may be enough for the first installment, even though I have not covered much territory.

Most of the images were taken from the individual village websites.

I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,
Today I will continue with my series on Lemko / Rusyn folk costume. I will focus on the village of Jakubany. It seems that my overview is turning into a more in depth look. This village is south of Jarabina in the heights south of the Poprad valley, across a peninsula of Slovaks. It is north of the Torysky region which I spoke about in my last article.

Jakubany - Якубяны

This village has very well preserved folk traditions. They have a performing group named Kečera which maintains many of these. The image at the head of the article is this group demonstrating local wedding ceremonies. We see the bride seated at the left with her bridesmaids, the groom in the center with the wedding tree, and married women on the right. Here is a video of this group performing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlgtF6kMpd0

The women's shirt is white linen with a band of red woven ornament on the cuff, as in Jarabina and the other villages in that group.

It is worn over a chemise which does not show when fully dressed, which extends at least to the knees to provide a foundation. The body and sleeves are full and gathered into the neckband. The sleeves most commonly seen are short.

However, long sleeved shirts also exist, for cooler weather, and more formal occasions, like going to church.

The bodice is rather simple, with a short peplum and princess line in the back. Braid is used to ornament the seams and edges. It may be of solid colored wool, but today is often of a challis rose print.

This is sometimes replaced by a similar bodice made of sheepskin, which is ornamented differently.

The skirt was originally made of indigo batik print, as was common in much of this area, not only among the Lemkos / Rusyns, but also the Slovaks and even the Polish. Here they were usually had small ornaments printed on them. The skirt is usually pleated.

These were accompanied by white linen aprons or batik printed aprons with a frame on three sides and a larger motif.

For weddings and possibly some other ceremonies, the skirt was made of the same white linen with red woven stripe as the sleeves.

notice that the skirt is flat in front. This is almost always the case in folk skirts.

This skirt is accompanied with a white openwork apron.

Today skirts are usually made of commercial cloth, as you can see on the bride's mother above. They still prefer patterns of printed dots or other small motifs. They are often white, but may be made in other colors as well.

Take a look at this image. Here we can see the old batik printed apron on the right. On the left we see a newer version which is now more common, with colorful topstitching as an adjunct, or replacing the batik print. Sometimes this has woven white stripes on the outside three sides.

White aprons, often with openwork, are also worn

Colorful ribbons are attached to the apron ties, to bead chokers, and to the headdresses.
Unmarried girls wear their hair in a single braid.

Married women put their hair up on the back of the head, and cover it with a cap, chepets.

The colorful cap seems to be more popular among older women, and the black one with large openwork trim among the younger.
This may be covered with a kerchief when going out.

Putting the cap on the bride for the first time is an important part of the wedding ritual, as it is for most of the Slavic peoples.

For especially festive and ceremonial occasions unmarried girls wore a crown like headdress called parta. This is heavily beaded and has a panel of ribbons hanging down the back. This is often accompanied by a narrow shawl with wide crocheted borders.

A jacket of wool challis or brocade with long sleeves is worn by older women and in cooler weather.

A sheepskin jacket may be worn. They are usually accompanied by boots of heavy wool with leather trim. This is both for cold weather and formal occasions.

Besides these cloth boots, both moccasins and regular boots were worn in the past. Today one mostly sees black leather shoes.

The men wear a white linen shirt with red woven cuffs, similar to that of the women.

Heavy woven white wool pants and jacket, which are common to much of the Carpathian region, a hat, and a sheepskin vest complete the outfit. They likewise wore moccasins, but again today usually wear leather shoes.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email:
For some of the images I am endebted to Jan Letowski. You may buy books and costumes from him here.
https://www.ebay.com/str/easterneuropeanart

Others I got from the village website, which you may visit here
http://www.jakubany.sk/

Here is another video of the local group performing, this time at a Rusyn Vatra in Cleveland. Good performance, even if the lighting is bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R6BtuSso7Y

Having fun in the neighboring village of Vislanka. Some of the people in the background are from different villages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpimfSGLlfM

Hello all,
Today I will move slightly to the east, and talk about two group of villages whose Folk Costumes are similar, and have some similarity to that of Jakubany, but which are distinct from that of their other neighbors.

The first group includes the villages of Šambron, Bajerovce and Vislanka / Ďurková. I have been unable to find any information on the costume of the villages of Puste Pole or Kozelec. The second group includes the villages of Plavnica and Hromoš.

Šambron - Шамброн

Much of the women's costume is similar to that of Jakubany, including the shirt, bodice and both types of married women's caps. The sleeves of the dress shirt is today made of damask. They generally wear a shawl over the bodice, which gives a very different look. The skirts are currently worn much shorter, and have many horizontal tucks with topstitching. The aprons also have tucks and topstitching, but with a strong horizontal composition, and give a different effect than that of Jakubany.

Rusinske Trio, a known performing group singing wedding songs from Šambron and putting the crown on a bride before the ceremony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoJA25oNCwg

A women's village group singing wedding ritual songs.They are taking the crown off a new bride and putting on the married womens' cap. This takes place after the church ceremony. They then make the groom pay before he can dance with her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XR1aDF_VmI

A men's singing group from Šambron.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4WZ29RKUcQ

Bajerovce -Баїрoвeць

As far as I can tell, the folk costume is the same or very similar to that of Šambron. Here are some images from the village website. Notice especially the outfits hanging on the wall of the festival stage.

A folk festival in Bajerovce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmnAMEERRS0

Vislanka / Ďurková - Вісланка/ Дюркова

This pair of villages is closely connected. The costume which I have been able to find seems to be a simplification of the same basic outfit. Here is what I have been able to find.

The rest of these images are from the village website, but I am not certain if this performance was intended to represent Vislanka or some other village.

The second group which I will cover today includes the two villages of Plavnica and Hromoš. They lie on the Poprad river. The folk costume seems to include elaborate embroidery of a different style on the sleeves and on the shawls, which are similar to those worn by unmarried girls on formal occasions in Jakubany. These costumes do not resemble those worn in the villages to the north. I have relatively little material on either village.

Plavnica - Плавниця

This village is not shown on the map above, but is just west of Hromoš. The village is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, and has only a small percentage of Rusyn inhabitants.

Hromoš - Громош

This village is just east of Plavnica, and lies north of Bajerovce close to the Poprad river.
The costume seems to be very similar to that of Plavnica. The young men in the images are wearing costumes from several villages, and a couple are wearing sheepskin vests from Podhale. The girls are wearing jackets, unfortunately. Some of the images are from Easter Monday, when Slavic people throw water on each other. Young men generally find this fun. It is unclear which of the young men actually represent this village.

Here is a short news story about the tradition of throwing water in this village.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gHRlo9L2wA

If anyone has more information, please contact me with additions or corrections.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email:rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,
Today I will talk about the folk costume of the middle Poprad region. The Poprad river is a bit of a geographical anomaly. It rises on the south slopes of the Tatra mountains, flows south and then east; at the city of Poprad it turns northeast, and near the village of Čirč turns to flow northwest through gorges in the mountains to empty into the Dunajec which flows into the Vistula. Thus this river basin is north of the continental divide. The rest of Slovakia lies south of the divide. The river forms the border between Poland and Slovakia in this area. Most of that border lies in the mountains. The local folk costume is worn on both sides of the river, by people who Identify as Rusyns as well as those who identify as Lemkos. I have not verified every single village in this area, but enough that I am confident as to the extent of this costume. The town of Muszyna on the Polish side is a spa town and traditionally inhabited mostly by Polish people; it is generally not considered to be part of this cultural region, although it is in the middle of it. Thus you can see that this costume was worn on the banks of the Poprad and its tributaries from Plavec to Mníšek.Of course the local population was ethnically cleansed from the Polish side after WWII.

This is the only costume besides the westernmost group which is found on both sides of the border and was worn both by those who called themselves Lemko and those who called themselves Rusyn. Roman Reinfuss, a Polish ethnic scholar used the term Wengrini, or Venhryny for this group, but he used it only to refer to the inhabitants of the villages of Dubne and Lelukhiw.

.The foundation garment is a sleeveless chemise with a bodice. The lower part is wider and gathered into the upper part which forms a bodice. It is not visible when fully dressed. A rather full petticoat is worn over this.
There is a short shirt, called oplichka or koshula, which is worn on the upper body. One sees a couple of different cuts, but if you examine the images, by far the most common is this one. The embroidery used is not that in this diagram which is from further east, but cross stitch or geometric designs in primary colors. There is smocking done on the upper part of the full short sleeve.

Here is an embroidery design from a koshula from the village of Čirč.

The skirt tends to be made of bright colored cloth of a single color. It is finely pleated, with the upper part smock gathered down to the break, in a manner similar to a Scottish kilt.

[note: This image is from the book 'Slovensky L'udovy Odev' by Viera Nosalova where it is mistakenly attributed to the village of Nacina Ves in Zemplin. This in no way resembles a Zemplin costume.]

The lower part of the skirt usually has topstitching and tucks which form horizontal lines perpendicular to the pleats.

This is an image of a performance by the college group Hornad. Here we see both the Central Poprad costume and the Torysky costume.

Here are a couple of examples from the Polish or Lemko side; from the village of Mylyk - Милик [Milik], formerly known as Mykova - Микова [Mikowa].

The apron is of a unique cut and construction. The waistband is wide and wraps just around the waist, with narrow ties that fasten a second time around. The apron itself is pleated, and the pleats are sewn down or smock gathered for the top several inches, matching the skirt. Contrasting smocking is done on this field, which is sometimes bordered by trim. The lower part of the apron has horizontal topstitching, sometimes forming designs. The result is that the top of the apron is rather narrow.

A wide ribbon, either of a solid color or jacquard woven pattern is tied around the waist from the back, the bow and ends hanging in front.

These two images are from the village of Jastrabie in Šariš on the Slovak side. Note that the older women are wearing old style indigo batik printed skirts.

The bodice is short, with princess line seams in back, and buttons or hooks closed in front. It has a short peplum which does not reach the waist. The two central back pieces each end in a lappet which is sewn to the peplum. It is of colorful material, often a floral print, and has strong vertical ornamentation of braid, ribbon and trim on the front. There is also matching ornament on all the seams and edges which may include prairie points. It resembles the bodices of the Jakubany and Shambron regions. Look over all of the images to see the variety of ornament.

A couple of examples from the Slovak side.

A couple of examples from the Polish side.

From the village of Jastrabyk - Ястрябик[in Polish Jastrzębik].

From the village of Zlots’ke - Злоцьке [in Polish Złockie].

The bodice may be worn with or without a shawl. The shawl is wrapped around the back of the neck, crosses in front and then ties around the waist in back. It may be worn over or under the bodice, see the various images.

A third option is to wear an abbreviated shawl which functions more as a collar. This pins in front and is usually embroidered and edged with crocheted lace.

This woman is from Ujak - Уяк [in Slovak Údol].

These girls are from the village of Chyrch - Чирч [in Slovak Čirč].

As you can see in the images, a multi-strand choker is often worn with this outfit, especially by girls and younger women.

Single girls wear their hair in a single braid in the back, ornamented with a ribbon.
Married women dress their hair in two braids wound around the back of the head and secured by a black ribbon which is visible on the forehead. For images of this, see my article on the Jakubany costume. The married woman's cap, chepets, is the same as the black and white one sometimes worn in Jakubany as well. It has ribbons hanging from the back, and an openwork flounce in front with a point on the forehead. It may be worn alone or have a kerchief tied over it. See the preceding image and others in the article.

The outfit may be worn with moccasins, shoes, boots, or bare feet.
The men's costume seems to vary somewhat, and in places may be reconstructed or borrowed from neighboring regions.

I will close with images from the different villages in the which I have found.

Polish or Lemko side:

From the village of Mylyk - Milik:

This woman is wearing part of the traditional costume.

From the village of Leliukhiv - Лелюхів [in PolishLeluchów]:

Here are some older women in a more modest, less fancifully sewn version of the costume. The bodice has sleeves and reaches the waist. The aprons have less gathering and fancy sewing on them.

The village of Dubne - Дубне:

Slovak or Rusyn side

Village of Rus'ka Volia (on the Poprad) - Руська Воля [in Slovak Ruská Voľa nad Popradom]
Not to be confused with the village of Ruská Voľa in Zemplin. Both are Rusyn villages.

Village of Čirč

Note how the men's costume has shifted from something similar to that of Vel'ky Lipnik to something more similar to the Šariš Slovak costume.

Here is a video of the local village group Čirčanka performing a Kolomyjka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-haeFTXJpY&start_radio=1&list=RDQM3AJUXnI-b4c

A video about the village, with emphasis on the local performing group, showing songs and dances by the girls only. The narrator is speaking Slovak, but most of the interviewees are speaking Rusyn [with Slovak Subtitles].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKT5aJUADuU

A video about the men's singing group from the village, called Čirč. There are shots of the village, the local church, an interview with an older woman who can be seen in some of the images above and is an expert on the local costume, and their singing appearance on the Slovak version of 'Idol'. [In Slovak]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU2aCMJY-eQ&list=RDQM3AJUXnI-b4c&index=5

Kyjov - Київ

Not to be confused with the capitol of Ukraine or the village in Moravia.

Jastriab - Ястряб in Šariš [in Slovak Šarišské Jastrabie]

Older girls from the village singing Christmas Carols.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuLE0G66NSM

A wedding video from this village.The dress is mostly completely western, but at the 1:48 mark the groom greets the bride's parents to receive their blessing, and then, according to our tradition they go to the church together. At the 2:00 mark you can see an older woman in the church in traditional costume, and at the 5:10 mark they do some traditional rituals at the reception, including putting the married woman's cap on the bride for the first time. The reception is overdubbed with zabava music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_kNFDuscCo

For those interested in the music and dance. The Slovak group Lipovec doing a suite of dances from this village. They are not wearing the correct costume. [I assume they don't have it]. The video is dim, but it is a good performance with a minimum of choreography; slow chardash, verbunk, karichki, then fast chardash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Iy54S5AbHw

Plavech - Плавеч [In Slovak Plaveč]

The costume here is somewhat different, but falls into the same group. Note the jackets on the older women.

This girl is wearing just the blouse and first petticoat.

Ujak - Уяк [In Slovak Údol]

A couple of girls singing in Udol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT3pSmqApSY

A mixed group of men and women singing in the church at Udol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UtiRs7tl1c

Matysova or Matyshova - Матисова or Матишова [In Slovak Matysová]

Hranychne - Граничне [in Slovak Hraničné]

Mnyshok - Мнишок on the Poprad [in Slovak Mníšek nad Popradom]

This village is right on the edge of this region, and is also inhabited by Black Gorals.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Most of the images are from the various village websites.
I am indebted to Vasyl [Bill] Jula for some of the closeup images of original garments.
Some of the old Photographs on the Polish or Lemko side were taken by the great ethnographer Roman Reinfuss.

Hello all.
Today I will talk about the costume of the ethnic peninsula which lies to the southeast of the Poprad area which I covered in my last article. Here is the area on the map. In fact I have not been able to find any costume material for the eastern group of villages, but I have included them in this region.

The level of information which I have been able to find varies quite a bit from village to village. In some it appears that the local costume has been or is being replaced by a generic north Šariš costume. Some local groups are buying performance costumes rather than having them made in the village. The costume seems to have been best preserved in the southernmost village of the western group, Šoma - Шома, or Šomka - Шомкa, which has been renamed Drienica - Др'єниця.

Šoma - Шома or Drienica - Др'єниця

The couple at the top of the article are from Šoma.

The woman's shirt has short full sleeves, and the collar and cuff are decorated with either woven or embroidered ornament. The front is smock-gathered on either side of the middle opening, or sometimes the opening is on the side edge of the smocking.

The bodice is the most distinctive part of this costume. It has a round neck, and is either made of brocade or has embroidery on the body of it. This may be in many different techniques, including cross stitch, ribbon embroidery, counted satin stitch, beads and sequins, etc. The neck and armholes are edged with wide contrasting ribbon in a solid color. They close up the front with buttons and loops of either cord or ribbons. The ribbon may be edged with other trim.

The skirt is full and is made of a plain or damask material.

The apron may be of three kinds. Plain black or other colored material. If this is the case, then a length of Czech jacquard ribbon is tucked into the front waistband.

The second option is that it is made of two fields of cloth joined vertically by colorful stitching on the seam.

Thirdly, the apron may be of brocade or be embroidered, either with a broad horizontal stripe, which seems to have been the original, or more recently with wider designs.

For older women or colder weather, short jackets may be worn. These have a somewhat different design.

Single girls wore their hair in a single braid, often decorated with a ribbon.

Married women wore a chepets, a cap that covered the hair which was put up in a ring at the top rear of the head, likely with the aid of a wooden ring. In this region the chepets was in a pillbox shape, with a lace front part. This was originally flat and of bobbin lace, but later was made of crochet lace, and was shaped to stand up on the forehead.The top of the chepets was round and heavily ornamented with beadwork or embroidery. It also had hanging ribbons as part of the ornament. A kerchief was sometimes worn over it.

There were images of the 'capping of the bride' ceremony performed on stage above. The bride was originally wearing the ceremonial girl's headress, the parta. I do not know if this is worn only by brides in this village, or if girls would also wear it on other special occasions.

Shawls were also worn here as in most places.

Men's outfits were typical for the region. Here is a man's workday outfit.

The men's dress shirt originally had embroidery. Here is an embroidered man's shirtfront and a boy's shirt with embroidery.

This seems to be rare today. Here are some more images from this village.

A video of a performance in the village of Drienica. At the 16:45 mark they cap the bride.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjshzbY4C2g&t=1247s

A video of women from this village singing in Church.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4QQ6ibkA7w&t=818s

I will now present the material which I have found from the other villages in this group, proceeding north from Shomka.

Červená Voda - Червона Вода

Here we can see very similar garments at an exhibit.

Here we see a stage performance with generic north Šariš costumes.

Jakovany - Яковяни

I have found no contemporary photos of this costume. If anyone has some, I would be grateful if you emailed them to me.

Ľutina - Лютина

Here is a performance from this village. This first group may be wearing the costume of the village, the others are wearing more generic north Sharish outfits, and may be guests from other villages. This is followed by two embroidery designs from this village.

Olejníkov - Олiйник

The only thing which I have found from this village is an embroidery design for a man's shirtfront which greatly resembles the one from Shomka.

Hanigovce - Ганигівці

Milpoš - Мільпош

Here again we see a mix of costumes, some resembling that of Shomka and this region, others being more generic north Sharish costumes, which perhaps are replacing it.

A video of the perfoming group from this village in Sharish costumes. The girls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iujmWJG353U

The men

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_Gw094CkLE

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

The images come mostly from the various village websites.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,
Today I will start a couple of articles that focus on the Lemko costumes, those found only north of the border. I will talk about the costume which are sometimes referred to as 'West Lemko', those which are found north of the Poprad or Venhryny costumes in Nowy Sącz County. Here is a map of the approximate extension of this costume.

This region is dominated by the Town of Krynica, The Poprad Lemko / Rusyns lie to the southwest, the Black Gorals to the west, the Lachy Sądecki to the north and the Central Lemko region to the east. The costume is in many ways the least distinctive, being a variant of the Malopolska costume found over a rather wide region of Poland. The photograph above is of a group of girls from the village of Berest. You can see the basics of this costume. Long sleeved shirt with little embroidery, although I have been told that they sometimes used white on white embroidery. Wide separate collars. Vests cut in the Polish style, usually with hooks or lacing in front instead of buttons, and long relatively narrow lappets, sometimes with sharp corners in the Goral style. Wide full aprons and skirts that are gathered, not pleated.

Later a costume that somewhat resembles this became widespread among all the various Ukrainian groups in Halychyna under Poland, a sort of Town Costume.

Here are some photos of a costume from Berest showing embroidery on the blouse.

The vests, Gorsets or Leibeks were decorated with beadwork in the Krakow style, which was very popular in the early 20th cent. Some of these Lemko examples are indistinguishable from Polish vests, with floral designs spread over the vest. Note that this first one has the squared off lappets typical of the Gorals. The only way to tell that these are Lemko is to know who made them.

But many of the West Lemko leibeks had a distinct composition, showing ornament in a wide V on the back, more or less following the Princess seams, and narrower V's in the front. These are distinct to this region. Note that this one also has the short wide lappets more typical of Lemko leibeks in general.

It was, of course, expected that each garment would be different, an example of the maker's creativity.

This example is from the village of Izby, on the border of the Central Lemko region.

Here is one from the village of Brunary

Skirts and aprons were made from many kinds of material, but remained wide and gathered. They were ornamented with ribbons. Linen aprons, as well as the wide collars, often had open work embroidery. The traditional shirts were sometimes replaced by blouses which had smaller collars and peplums. This trend was also found among some of the Goral groups to the west. You can see that in the two center girls in the photo at the head of the article.

Later you sometimes saw aprons of the 'Halychyna Town Costume' type, made with one panel of cloth, heavy with Ukrainian embroidery, and with obligatory macrame fringes on the bottom. This embroidery is Not Lemko, but is the type of Hutsul inspired embroidery that became popular in eastern Halychyna in the 1930's.

Many performing groups added garments like this because they felt that the traditional ones were too plain. They also added embroidery, either of this style or polychrome cross stitch floral designs to their blouses.

Short jackets with sleeves were worn by older women here as in the entire region. Here is an example from Berest.

I will finish with more photographs from villages in this region.

Berest - Берест

Krynica - Крениця

Binczarowa - Білцарьова

Bogusza - Боґуша

Brunary - Брунари

Mochnaczka Wyżna- Мохначка Вижня

Maciejowa - Матієва

Muszynka - Мушинка

Unknown origin

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

For this article and the next couple I am relying to a great extent upon the research of Vasyl 'Bill ' Jula. Many thanks to him for permission to use material which he has found.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,

Today I will talk about the Central Lemko costume, which is the most widespread of the Lemko costumes, but is surprisingly little known. It is found in the watershed of the tributaries of the upper Wisloka river from the Ropa to the Jasiolka. Here is a map showing the extent of the region, it includes the southern parts of Gorlice, Jaslo and Krosno counties.

Although many of the individual villages have distinctive characteristics, as a whole, the clothing was similar over this region. Again, one has to remember that this area was ethnically cleansed after WWII.

A group from the village of Krempna - Крампна.

A group from the village of Radocyna - Радоцина

By the beginning of the 20th cent. the ancestral Slavic chemise had been cut into two garments in this area, a short shirt and an underskirt/slip. The shirt was sewn with the non-insert cut, the sleeves being gathered into the neckband.

This diagram is for the eastern Lemko shirt, but the cut is the same, except for the cuffs. In the central Lemko region, the sleeves are gathered below the hem, and they form a ruffle. Decorative trim was sewn onto the hem, and the band which gathered the cuffs was embroidered. There was sometimes a narrow band of embroidery on the neckband as well. Here is a drawing of a shirt from Jaslo county.

This embroidery consisted of several bands of simple narrow designs which combined into one large composition.

In this photo you can see the narrow band of embroidery on the collar as well.

As you can see from these last couple of images, the original linen used in the shirts was sometimes later replaced by a white cotton floral print. It was always mainly white with small scattered floral designs.

Some everyday work shirts had no ruffle and had a minimum of embroidery.

There is a variant of this costume in the eastern part of this region, from the southern villages of Cheremkha and Volia Nyzhna through Shklar and Tylava up to Krolik Polski, Vil'ka, and beyond.

In this variant, the shirt is made with the ustawka, or shoulder inset cut. The part of the sleeve above the front and back fields is cut as a separate piece This seam then becomes a focus for embroidery. The center of the upper sleeve is smock gathered as well. The cuff does not have a ruffle.

Here is an example from the village of Volia Nyzhna - Воля Нижня, [ Wola Niżna in Polish]

Here is another example of which I do not know the origin. Here we see the ustawka, the upper sleeve and the cuff.

The original full linen skirt was later retained as a petticoat. The outer skirt, here called kabat [which in both Polish and Ukrainian means jacket] was usually pleated, and was ornamented with a variable number of rows of colorful ribbon. Everyday work skirts were plainer, and might be gathered instead of pleated. Seam binding was often used for this, and sometimes rickrack, combined to make interesting designs. Rows of topstitching was also used. Originally batik dyed indigo was used. This was produced in Bardejov, Slovakia and other places. The resist dyed cloth had small scattered motifs. Later other commercial cloth with dots or other small motifs was used instead. The front was flat, as is usually the case, and the panel under the apron was usually made of some other, cheaper cloth, as it was never seen. And of course, the number and color of the ribbons varied with age.

Here is an example from the village of Męcina Wielka [in Polish] - Мацина Велика, Matsyna Velyka, in Gorlice county.

You will notice there is a contrasting facing, usually some shade of red, barely showing on the hem. This is turned under for several inches on the inside, and the color flashes when the woman moves.

Some more examples.

Here is an example of the inside facing.

The apron was made in a similar manner, but while 5 or so panels were used in the skirt, the apron took two. It was also pleated, and usually had ornamental ribbons sewn on, but there was more variety in color. As in most folk costumes, the apron was always worn.

Often the apron had a wider resist dyed band near the bottom.

This woman is wearing a blouse which is not well made.

In some of the southern villages, the apron was embroidered.

This apron has a more conventionally printed design.

In some villages a white linen apron was used for some special occasions. This was often adorned with white openwork embroidery as well as ribbons. Here is an example from the village of Vysova - Висова [in Polish Wysowa-Zdrój]

This was immortalized in the famous drawing of a bride by Kul'chytska, where the zigzag lines of openwork are often misinterpreted. The white apron is here paired with a white skirt.

The detached bodice, or vest, in Lemko called Leibek, was buttoned down the front, had a round neckline, and short wide lappets which overlapped. When compared to a Polish Gorset, the difference is immediately obvious.

This first example is from the village of Rozdiele [in Polish] -Розділля, Rozdillia in Gorlice county.

The material used may be a wool challis print [which for some reason was called Tibet cloth], as above, a plain colored wool or damask, as in the photo at the head of the article and the following examples,

or brocade, as in these examples.

In the eastern variant of which I spoke earlier, the leibyk had a pleated peplum instead of lappets, although peplums were sometimes also found in some of the southwestern villages.

Here is an example from the village of Cheremkha - Черемха [ Czeremcha in Polish]

In some villages the Leibek was embroidered, like this example from the village of Hrab -Граб [Grab in Polish].

or this example, from the village of Blikhnarka - Бліхнарка [ Blechnarka in Polish] on the right, being paired with an eastern Lemko shirt. This is incorrect. This kind of chimera in museum displays is alarmingly common. The costume on the left is an example of Halychyna Town Costume.

For dress, a separate wide gathered collar was worn over the leibek. This was often ornamented with lace or white cutwork. In at least some villages these were called galon.

Here are a couple examples from the village of Volovets' - Воловець [ Wolowiec in Polish].

This was also part of the West Lemko costume, as we can see here.

Here are some girls from the village of Vil'ka - Вілька [ Wólka in Polish] showing off their best.

Here is a contemporary example.

For everyday, or for work, these collars were not worn.

Over this collar, for dress, women and girls would wear a multistranded necklace, usually composed mostly of red beads with some contrasting ones in the center. The woman above is wearing a modest set with her everday outfit.

The famous Lemko beaded collar, which Lemkos call Kryvul'ka, but which is sometimes called Sylianka in Ukrainian and Polish, is NOT worn in this region. It is restricted to the East Lemko region. However one often sees it in exhibits where it does not belong. Here is an example from a museum in L'viw. This is actually a good Central Lemko costume except for the collar. THIS IS NOT CORRECT.

For dress, often a length of Czech jacquard ribbon was folded over the top strand of the necklace and made to lie under the other strands. This was sometimes folded into a kind of bow. It may be that it was sometimes pinned to the shirt. This was called besanunka.

Here are a couple of examples from the village of Rozstajne - Розстайне.

And one from the village of Krampna - Крампна [Krempna in Polish],

Single girls wore their hair in one braid in back, usually ornamented with ribbons. Here is another photo from Krampna.

Married women wrapped their hair around a wooden ring, the khimlia, and covered it with a cap, chepets. In some places the ring was put right on top of the head, in ofhers it seemed to worn somewhat further back.

This woman is from the village of Lypna - Липна [Lipna in Polish]

Here is a woman from Rozstajne showing how the chepets was worn in her village.

The chepets was made of white linen, later on cotton prints were sometimes used, as in the shirt. The front edge was embroidered in much the same way as the cuffs of the shirt. Here are some examples.

From the village of Vil'khovets' - Вільховець [Olchowiec in Polish]

From Hrab

From Yavirya - Явір'я [Jaworze in Polish]

Unknown origin.

Everyday cheptsi had less embroidery.

A kerchief was tied or simply placed top of the cap.

Here are a couple of examples from the village of Radotsyna - Радоцина [Radocyna in Polish]

Regular printed kerchiefs were commonly used, but for dress, a linen kerchief which was hand embroidered was often used.

From the village of Zavadka - Завадка [Zawadka Rymanowska in Polish]

From Hrab

From Vil'khovets'

From Vysova.

Unkown origin.

Women and girls often went barefoot. Footwear was originally moccasins with long straps worn over linen footcloths, which were later replaced by knitted stockings.

Later on, shoes or lace up boots were also worn.

For older women or colder weather, either long sleeved short jackets were worn or sheepskin vests, which are so common in the Carpathians.

These photographs show both.

I have found no more images of these jackets, but the vests, called kozhushok were quite common.

Later these were made of wadded cotton or other warm materials, but still called kozhushanka.

In an arc in the east and including some of the south central villages, bodices or vests which were perhaps based on this garment were made for normal wear, replacing the usual leibek with lappets. You will see photos in which both types of vest were worn. This seems to be a somewhat later development.

This photo is from Radotsyna. Notice both types of vest are being worn.

Overcoats made of sukno called hunia, similar to those worn by men were also worn.

This image is from Krampna.

Just a few more images to show that this costume has not been completely forgotten.

And that is enough for one article.

I will continue this in my next installment.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

As in the last article I have relied heavily on the research done by William Vasyl Jula for this writing.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,

Today I will present more information on the Central Lemko costume, focusing on the men. I will be talking about the same area as in the last article.

The image above is a family from the village of Vil'khovets' - Вільховець, Olchowiec in Polish
You may have noticed in my last article that while the women were in traditional costume, many of the men were in modern suits. This makes research into men's costumes more difficult.

When Reinfuss was travelling this area he made much of the fact that the older men's shirts, at least dress shirts, opened in the back, rather than the front. He thought this very strange.

They featured smocking on the back and some minimal embroidery on the collar. It was held closed with a red ribbon in young men, and just cord in older men.

Here are closeups of a couple of his photographs where you can see that the opening is not in front.

This young man is from the village of Vyshovatka - Вишоватка, or Wyszowatka in Polish.
You can see the end of the red ribbon drifting across his shoulder.

Here is a closeup of the photo at the head of the article.

This man is from the village of Volovets’ - Воловець, Wolowiec in Polish.

Later the shirt had the opening in front, but was unremarkable, being of plain white linen, a small fold over collar and full sleeves gathered into a cuff.

This photo is from the village of Rychwald - Рихвальд near Gorlice.

Later still, men desired more color, and had embroidery placed on their shirts in the Ukrainian manner, generally using polychrome cross stitch designs similar to those of the Boikos. This is now very popular among performing groups.

The pants were of two kinds, for summer they were plain narrow legged pants of linen, which were unadorned. Here is our young friend from Vyshovatka again.

There is an opening in the center front, and he is wearing a belt with it. Notice that the cuffs of his shirt are also secured with a red ribbon.
For cooler weather, hard work or sometimes for dress, heavy wool pants made of sukno were worn over the linen ones, which were similar to those of the Gorals. These are called nohawky. They had one or two front openings, which typically were minimally adorned. There was often a slit on the outer seam at the lower leg.

This man is from the village of Kviaton’ - Квятонь, or Kwiatoń in Polish.

Here is a pair of pants from a contemporary performing group. This is a modern stage interpretation of the pants seen above.

These photos are of a pair of pants which are also a modern stage adaptation. Both of these examples are made of cloth which is much lighter and more supple than the originals.
Note that the originals were held up by a rope or belt which passed through a casing around the waist. These were made to close with buttons which is not traditional.

Over this was worn a vest called leibek. This is generally of blue wool, and is adorned with a variable number and placement of buttons.
Like the vests worn by the Silesian Gorals, the men's vests in this region generally did not actually overlap or close. However there were buttons on either side, and the vest was secured by one or more tabs made of wool or leather with a buttonhole on either end.

Take another look at the man from Volovets'

Here is a man from Radotsyna - Радоцина, in Polish Radocyna.

Here is an example from the village of Lypovets’ or Lypivets' - Липовець, in Polish Lipowiec, near Cheremkha.

Here is an example from the village of Bortne - Бортне, in Polish Bartne.

One should be wary of assigning excessive uniformity to traditional attire, however. There were always variations. For example, these men from the village of Vysova - Висова, in Polish Wysowa-Zdrój, who are clearly wearing double breasted vests.

Traditional footwear was moccasins over wrapped footcloths, generally with cords or leather straps wound around the lower legs over the pants.
Exceptionally, boots were worn by those who could afford them, generally bought from Hungarian bootmakers in Slovakia. Later leather shoes also came to be worn.
Look at the various images in this article.

Outer garments were of two major kinds. The first is a short jacket of sukno, generally called hunia or hun'ka. These were of natural wool, usually dark, but sometimes light colored, as above. They were trimmed with cord.

This man is from the village of Hrab - Граб, in Polish Grab.

And let's take another look at our friend from Volovets'.

There was also a long outer mantle called Chuha or Chuhania which is distinctive to the Lemko people. This garment was also worn by some Western Boikos. Among the Polish it was unknown except for the Pogorzanie, who lived immediately north of the Lemkos. The Slovaks and Hungarians also had a similar garment, called in Hungarian Szűr, and in Slovak halena or čuha.

This garment had blind sleeves, a large foldover collar, was made of natural dark colored wool, and was a garment worn by the most prestigious men of the village.

There were two types worn in Central Lemkovyna. The first was had a large square collar in back ornamented with three pale stripes and long corded fringes, and a narrow lapel in front.

This type was worn roughly west of this line:

The second type of chuhania was worn in the eastern part of Central Lemkovyna; roughly between these two lines.

This type was characterized by a large collar which is rounded in front, and square in back with a single pale stripe and fringes.

Here is an example from Vil'khovets'.

Two examples from the village of Polany

Here is a group of men from the village of Zavadka - Завадка, in Polish Zawadka Rymanowska, near the town of Rymanow.

If you peruse the images in this article, you will see that a wide variety of hats were worn by men. These would mostly have been bought from various peddlers. Sheepskin hats in winter, and straw hats in summer would have been produced locally. Felt hats would likely have mostly been made by professionals. Besides the images above, here are some hats which were worn by Central Lemko men.

Just a few more images to close.

This woman in the middle is wearing a man's vest from Eastern Lemkovyna.

From the village of Doshno - Дошно, in Polish Deszno, found just south of Rymanów Zdrój.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

As in the last article I have relied heavily on the research done by William Vasyl Jula for this writing.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,
I have already written an article about this costume, but I have learned much since that time, and so I will write a more complete article now.

The Eastern Lemko region consists of the valleys of the Wislok and Oslava rivers. Both are tributaries of the Sian or San river. The Boiko region begins east of that point. Here is a map of this area.

Some maps mistakenly show the Lemko region extending further east, even to the current border of Ukraine.

Although this region is rather small, the folk costume is well known, because the costume of the village of Komancha is well attested, and has often been replicated. This is in part due to the work of Kul'chytska, some of whose art depicts this costume. You can see Komancha in the center of this region above. The following images are from Komancha or of unkown origin unless specified otherwise.

The basal garment is the chemise, which started as one long garment.The cut most associated with this region is the 'non-inset' cut, in which the top of the sleeve is gathered into the neckband.

At the point where the upper sleeve becomes narrower, there is traditionally a narrow band of embroidery, at the point where a shoulder seam would have been. This embroidery was about an inch wide, and was usually of red and blue cross stitch. Here are some examples.

Here is another example which i put into a sampler.

Sometimes you will see them graphed with black instead of blue. This is a result of not having colored inks available.

Here are some old examples from museums. These illustrate what I consider to be a shockingly bad practice, cutting the embroidery off garments and disposing of the rest.

Later, yellow and other colors were added, perhaps under the influence of Boiko embroidery.

This embroidery was also used on the cuffs. Sometimes the cuffs were a simple band, and at other times they were ruffled, as in the Central Lemko costume. If ruffled, the edge was often embellished with blanket stitch, sometimes more than one row, resulting in a decorative edging that somewhat resembles crotchet.

This example is from the village of Radoshytsi -Радошиці, Radoszyce in Polish.

In this example, the gathering is held with bought jacquard ribbon, and the edge is deecorated with rows of merezhuvannia.

Here is a photograph from the village of Solinka, in the south of this region. You can see a wonderfully painted house, and a woman in everyday clothing. The band of embroidery is clearly visible on her chemise.

Later the band of embroidery was sometimes made wider, perhaps under the influence of Boiko or other Ukrainian embroidery found further east.

The skirts greatly resembled those of the Central Lemko region, being ornamented with ribbons and finely pleated. There was perhaps a tendency to use brighter colors, especially by younger women and girls. Unlike the Central Lemko aprons, rows of bought lace were often used. If you look at the painting from Kul'chytska above, she shows the skirts being white linen.

This girl is from Komancha.

The aprons were also in brighter colors, yellow being common. They were finely pleated, and often had a gathered flounce on the lower edge. They were sometimes made from printed cotton which was intended for kerchiefs. They were several inches shorter than Central Lemko aprons, the skirt showing below them.

The women's detached bodice, or vest, uses a similar cut as the men's vest from Central Lemkovyna.

There are two tails in the center back, and the edges, fake pockets, and especially the front edges are elaborated with chain stitch and other embroidery, and sometimes buttons. There is some variation in the embroidery, but the overall composition tends to be similar.

This is a beautiful vest displayed with a shirt which simply does not go with it.

This vest is from the village of Dowzhytsia - Довжиця, Dołżyca in Polish, about 4 miles southwest of Komancha.

Here is Kul'chytska's sketch of the embroidery on the shirt, vest, and kerchief.

On the other hand, folk costumes were never uniforms. Here is a photo from Komancha showing a woman wearing a very different vest, although the rest of the costume matches.

Sometimes women wore the same sort of necklace and ribbon as they do in Central Lemkovyna. Here is a girl from Komancha.

But what is most typical for Komancha and the Oslava valley is a beaded collar, called by Lemkos kryvul'ka, but in Ukrainian sources often Sylianka or Kryzha. If you scan the various images, most will be wearing the kryvul'ka or nothing.

This is an incredible example of folk art, and has become symbolic of the Lemko people, but was only worn in the Oslava valley from about Shchawne south.

Here are more examples.

Here is a couple from the village of Chystohorb - Чистогорб, Czystogarb in Polish. The skirt is short and she is wearing a contemporary blouse, but the rest of the costume is the same.

People went barefoot, or wore moccasins with footcloths, later replaced by knitted stockings. Boots were worn by those who could afford them, and later leather shoes were also worn with this outfit.

Unmarried girls wore their hair in a single braid with ribbons attached, and tied kerchiefs over their head in cold weather.

If you look closely at some of the old photographs, you can see that they tied a white kerchief into a sort of loose hood and used it as protection from the sun.

Married women traditionally wore a chepets' over their hair. Kul'chytska shows the edge of it under the kerchief and it is visible in the image at the head of this article, but in many old photos there is no visible sign of it. Here is one exception from the village of Solynka - Солинка, Solinka in Polish. She is in everyday dress, but has the chepets' on, as well as the traditional skirt and apron. It seems to have disappeared early from Komancha.

Here is a museum example of an original chepets' from this region.

Here is a reproduction on a model.

As in other Lemko / Rusyn areas, the hair would be wrapped around a khymlia, a ring of wood or wire which was wrapped in cloth, and then the chepets' would be worn over this. From the shape of this chepets', it would have been worn on the upper back of the head.

There are old wedding rituals that centered on the capping of the bride. Here is one famous photograph of a wedding in Komancha. The bride and groom are looking at each other not through a ring of bread, but a khymlia which has been wrapped in many layers of yarn for this ceremony. Unusually, the bride in this region wears her hair loose until it is time to put on the chepets'.

Here is another shot of the bride and groom.

The men's costume differs little from that of the Central Lemkos.

The shirt is full, with sleeves gathered into cuffs. If you look at the master of ceremonies from the wedding photo just above, there is no embroidery.

Here is a man from Komancha shearing a sheep.

In later periods, however, men wanted embroidery on their shirts.

The pants were linen in summer, over which heavy wool pants were worn in winter. Again, similar to those of the Gorals or other Lemkos. They had one or two openings in front, a casing at the waist for a belt or drawstring, and minimal ornamentation.

This man is from the village of Wysochane in the northern part of the Eastern Lemko Region. He is wearing boots, which is unusual. Look also at the photos from the wedding above, and you can see a colored cord or ribbon on the sides of the pants.

You will sometimes see men wearing a vest similar to the women, as in the photo at the head of this article, but historical images do not show this. They either show a plain vest, as in the man above, and this one of a man from the village of Smolnyk,

or a vest which is cut in the same manner, but with very different embroidery. Take a look at this photo from Zubriache - Зубряче, Żubracze in Polish.

The boy is wearing a plain vest, but the man's is embroidered.

If you look at the corner of Kul'chytska's painting, you will see a man wearing a vest with similar fern leaf embroidery.

Here is a cross-dressing woman who is wearing a man's vest from this region. [Really, we men have little enough without women stealing our clothes!]

Here are closeups of a couple of such vests.

And a couple of images of the whole outfit.

The short jacket hunia is also worn in this region, by both women and men.

This woman is from the village of Daliova, which is actually just over the line in the eastern part of Central Lemkovyna.

This man is from the village of Smolnyk.

The chuhania of the Eastern Lemkos resembles that worn in the eastern part of Central Lemkovyna, with the large round collar in front, but the pale stripe on the back of the collar has some ornamentation in brown yarn.

The village of Smolnyk again.

A groom or groomsman from the village of Wysochane in the northern part of this region.

Here are some modern reproductions of this costume, more or less accurate.

There are two subregions in the northern part of Eastern Lemkovyna, each with a distinct costume. I do not have enough material to do them justice, so I will present the little that I have here, in the hope that one of my readers will be able to add to it.

Wislok valley.This is in the northwest part of this region.

The village of Moshchanets' - Мощанець, Moszczaniec in Polish.

A fascinating costume. Embroidery on both their shirts.

This may possibly be from the same village.

The village of Vyslik Velykyj - Вислік Великий, Wislok Wielki in Polish.

The following images are labeled as from this village, but resemble those of the next subregion.

Lemko-Boiko transitional region.

Reinfuss separated this as a distinct region, even though it is small. It is shown in a different shade of green on the map, marked here with a 4. It includes the villages of 1 Kuliashne -Куляшне - Kulaszne, 2 Vysochany - Височани - Wysoczany, 3 Polonna - Полонна - Płonna, 4 Karlykiw -Карликів - Karlików, 5 Prybyshiw - Прибишів - Przybyszów, 6 Kamianne - Кам'яне - Kamienne, 7 Petrova Volia - Воля Петрова - Wola Piotrowa, and 8 Tokarnia - Токарня - Tokarnia.

Karlykiw

Kuliashne

Kozhushne, now a part of the neighboring village Vysochane.

Looks like this woman couldn't be bothered with embroidery. Rickrack suits her just fine.

And that is plenty for one article. A definite improvement over my first one.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

As in the last article I have relied heavily on the research done by William Vasyl Jula for this writing.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Bohdan Struminsy, Editor, 'Lemkiwshchyna -The Lemko Land' New York, 1988
Tamara Nikolajeva, 'Ukrajinskyj Kostium, Nadija na Renesans' Kyjiw [Kiev], 2005
Iryna Hurhula, 'Narodne Mystetstvo Zakhidnykh Oblastej Ukrajiny', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1966
Oksana Grabowycz, 'Traditional Designs in Ukrainian Textiles', New York, 1977
Stanislaw Gadomski, 'Stroj Ludowy w Polsce', Warsaw,
Oksana Kosmina, 'Traditional Ukrainian Clothing', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2007
V. Kubijovyc, 'Lemkos', article in Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Toronto, 1993
V. Bilozub et al, 'Ukrajins'ke Narodne Mystetstvo - Vbrannia', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1961
Peter Odarchenko et al, 'Ukainian Folk Costume', Toronto, 1992
Ewa Frys et al, 'Folk Art in Poland', Warsaw, 1988
M. Bilan, H. Stel'mashchuk, 'Ukrajinskyj Strij', L'viw, 2000
O. Kul'chytska, 'Folk Costumes of the Western Regions of the Ukrainian SSR, 1959

Hello all,
Ideally you should have read parts 1, 4, 6, 7, and 8 of my overview of the costumes of the Lemkos / Rusyns to appreciate this.

If you remember, the Chimera was a creature from Greek Mythology which was part lion, part goat, and part snake.

One reason I was moved to write this series because there is insufficient published material on Lemko costumes. One result of this is that people too often will put anything that is Lemko together in the same outfit without thinking about it.

This has resulted in some spectacular fails. Unfortunately this has happened in books and museum exhibits, which results in perpetuating mistakes.

First, lets take a look at the five basic Lemko costumes found north of the Polish Border

1 Shliakhtova

2 Venhryny or Poprad border region

West Lemko or Krynytsia region

Central Lemko

5 Easten Lemko or Komancha region

And now I will present the hall of shame. These are examples of what NOT to do.

Museum in L'viw

Actually a good presentation of the Central Lemko costume, except they included a kryvul'ka, or beaded collar, which is ONLY worn in the Eastern Lemko region around Komancha.

ONE STRIKE!

Museum in Kyiw

A good presentation of the Shliakhtova costume except they put a man's vest on the female mannequin. And from further photos of the exhibit, they actually had a couple of women's vests.

Julia Doshna, a known Lemko singer. She performs in this outfit.

The shirt is from the Shliakhtova region, the vest, apron and skirt are Central Lemko, and the kryvul'ka is Eastern Lemko.

Drawing from the book 'Ukrajinskyj Strij' or "Ukrainian Clothing' by Bilan and Stelmakh

pg 247

Woman: Blouse, vest and necklace are from the Eastern Lemko region, skirt, apron and kerchief are from the Central Lemko region.

Man; Pants are from the Shliakhtova region, vest is from the Central Lemko region, and the shirt is Boiko.

Dollmaker in Ukraine

Very cute and well done doll of the Central Lemko region, except, again, they added the kryvul'ka.

Lemko performing group from Poland.

Boys are wearing Eastern Lemko Costumes, Girls are wearing Central Lemko costumes, except that aprons and skirts should be pleated, and the blouses are just wrong, not Lemko at all.

From the book 'Ukrajinskyj Strij' by Oksana Kosmina.

Vest and kryvul'ka are Eastern Lemko. Shirt and skirt are Shliakhtova, apron probably Central Lemko. Oksana Kosmina has made some beautiful photographs but she fell down on the job here.

Here is an article from a Norwegian magazine about an exhibition of Ukrainian folk costumes in Lillehammer.

Here is the same outfit from another exhibit.

Kerchief, chepets and shirt are Central Lemko, the sylianka, of course, is Eastern Lemko, the skirt and apron are really too dark to see, but probably Central Lemko, and the vest is Polish, from the Nowy Sącz region.

Lemko scholars get ulcers from mistakes like these.

I hope that you will appreciated this and try to be more aware of what you are seeing.

Thank you for reading.

Roman K.

email; rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,

Not long ago the Ethno-Gallery of Roksolyana Shymchuk published this photograph on their facebook page, and it was widely shared. It piqued my curiosity, because this is not typical of Ukrainian costume at all, and so I started some research.

The caption simply said that this was from Eastern Podillia, specifically Kodyma County in the northwest corner of Odessa Oblast.

According to Ukrainian Wikipedia, this county is 97% Ukrainian, Romanian Wikipedia confirmed this, but added that in 1926 the Soviet Census listed the village as being 45% Moldavian, but that they had since been assimilated. The costume was also worn over the border in the adjacent Moldovan County of Camenca Кам'янка, which is currently part of Transdnistria, which is today about 51 % Moldavian and 33% Ukrainian. I have found no evidence that this costume was worn anywhere else, and just as it does not resemble other Ukrainian costumes, it also does not resemble other Moldavian costumes.

Here are a couple of Images from the Moldavian side, of a bride dressing and part of the wedding ceremony.

A drawing of a bride from Moldavia.

And a Ukrainian photograph of a model dressed as a bride from this region.

A couple of Moldavian photos of dress outfits.

The chemise has a narrow band of embroidery on the collar, a wide band on the shoulder, with a narrow band just under it. Some also have spot designs on the lower sleeve, and embroidery on the cuffs and hem.

Here are a couple of chemises which were for sale online a while ago, specifically from the village of Shershentsi in Kodyma county.They are of the morshchanka type.
The embroidery is similar, but the narrow band of cross stitch is here replaced by a band of monochrome brick stitch, which is very typical of Podillia, and also of Moldavian embroidery.

1
This one had open sleeves with some embroidery and what looks like crotchet edging, no cuffs, and a narrow toothed edging on the bottom hem.

2
This one has embroidered cuffs and a narrow cross stitch design on the hem which may represent dogs or some other animal.

Here you can see photos of another chemise from this district, this one from the village of Zahnitkiw in Kodyma. This is the website Krovets'. This shows closeups of a chemise with the narrow band of rose cross stitch and stars on the lower sleeve.
https://krovets.com.ua/en/natilnyy-odyag/womans-shirt-45

Here are some photos of the outer garment, which is called Sharafan. The front field is smock gathered at the shoulders, the lower part has velvet ribbons for embellishement, and the back has ribbon ornament in the form of princess line seams. This particular one is gray, but they were also made in other dark colors.

You can see more images of this type of garment at Krovets here, these are from the village of Zahnitkiw.
https://krovets.com.ua/en/nagrudniy-odyag/sharafan-skirt-vest

The bridal headdress is shown here, it is distinct, but in line with other bridal headdesses of the area. This image is from Ukraine.

This image is from the embroidery on the end of a naframitsa, or namitka, according to a Moldavian source. I think it likely that it is actually a rushnyk. The embroidery is similar to that found upstream in the rest of East Podillia, and also across the Dnister in Moldavia.

Here are a couple of images from an Ethnoecofest in Kodyma. They were showing, among other things, wedding traditions from Shershentsi.

You can see more photos from this festival here.
http://kodyma-fest.com

This tradition is still alive.

The question as to whether it is really Ukrainian or Moldavian remains unresolved. It would appear to have been worn by both ethnicities in this region.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
V. S. Zelenchuk, 'Moldavian National Costume', Chisinau, 1985