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- Convenors:
-
Irina Sedakova
(Institute of Slavic Studies, Moscow)
Nina Vlaskina (Russian Academy of Sciences, Southern Scientific Centre)
- Discussant:
-
Alexander Novik
(Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences)
- Stream:
- Heritage
- Location:
- D4
Short Abstract:
The panel explores the multitude of meanings and functions of national folk clothes in modern festive and everyday life. Their potential to preserve cultural heritage, to make the identity explicit in various ethnographic and religious contexts will be at the center of the discussion.
Long Abstract:
Traditional costume is one of the most vibrant elements of cultural heritage and is regarded by ethnologists (Piotr Bogatyrev) as a semiotic system carrying explicit social, gender, age differences. In traditional societies it is highly restricted in its festive and everyday usage and correlates with its magic and symbolic properties. Folk dress is an important sign of festive behavior. In modern societies some ethnic groups still wear their national costumes in attempt to preserve cultural heritage and oppose globalization, revealing an "us/them" divide. Meanwhile national dress develops new social functions and often emphasizes political identity issues and commercial purposes (local tourist ethnographic performances, folk festivals). Many traditional costumes and typical elements of it (skirts/kilts, hats, belts, ornaments) have become fashionable items and spread internationally.
This panel's aim is to analyze changes in the symbolism and functions of folk costume as used in the festive calendar year and in everyday life across various traditions. The following themes could be addressed:
- Traditional costumes worn for calendric festivals and other feasts as a means of maintaining heritage: case studies from the 21st century ethnography.
- Special national costumes for role-playing reconstruction games, performances and local tourist attractions.
- Traditional clothing as a type of festive behavior.
- Attitudes towards wearing national costumes during different political and ideological regimes.
- Folk costume as a marker of ethnicity and independence in political discourse.
- Folk costume and fashion: ornaments and items of clothes as expression of native and foreign culture.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Irina Sedakova (Institute of Slavic Studies, Moscow)
Paper short abstract:
The paper analyzes the practical and magical functions of female, male and babies clothes in Slavic childbirth-lore. Traditional clothes and their parts are seen as “objects and signs” (Peter Bogatyrev), and their cultural semantics and symbolism depend on the ritual situation, its actors and goals.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper childbirth-lore is considered as a long ritual period starting from the conception till the first socialization acts of the baby. At every stage of this ritual complex clothes apart from pragmatic meaning obtain symbolic semantics and, as Peter Bogatyrev showed for the national costumes, turn into signs. The construction of the functional roles of the clothes is often based on various semiotic oppositions (male-female, old-new, old-young, white-black, long-short, culture-nature, Christian-pagan, etc).
Detailed investigation of male, female and babies clothes as used in a childbirth customs with regard to the actors, ritual obstacles and the magic purposes, involves the following issues:
- Magic use of clothes in "conceiving the baby of the desired sex".
- The dress of the pregnant woman, the folk concept of secrecy and the magic of driving away the evil spirits and avoiding the evil eye.
- Magic acts with the parts of the costumes to ensure an easy birth.
- Male clothes used during the confinement as relics of kuvada.
- The first clothes for the baby (symbolism of the form and the color; markers of identity; magic for the love in the family, health, good luck and long life, etc.).
- Festive clothes for baptism.
To conclude I will make a brief survey of the drastic changes in the childbirth customs with the clothes nowadays (modern dresses which do not hide, but demonstrate the pregnancy; lack of bans for the mother-to-be to openly prepare the first clothes for the baby beforehand).
Alexander Novik (Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences) Andrey Sobolev (St. Petersburg State University)
Paper short abstract:
Mrkovići is a predominantly Moslem historical "tribe" in Montenegro, living in the homonymous area between the Adriatic sea and the slopes of Lisinj and Rumija mountains. The paper concentrates on the most socially important clothing complex, which is a women's wedding costume.
Paper long abstract:
Mrkovići is a predominantly Moslem historical "tribe" in Montenegro, speaking an extremely idiosyncratic peripheral dialect of Serbo-Croatian and living in the homonymous area between the towns of Bar (alb. Tivari) and Ulcinj (alb. Ulqini), the Adriatic sea and the slopes of Lisinj and Rumija mountains.
One of the aspects investigated in depth was the traditional costume, serving as a very important marker of ethnic and confessional identity. Nowadays it is difficult to draw an exact differentiation between elements and motives of costume, which belong to the real local tradition, on the one side, and innovations, entered and adopted in the last decades due to influence of the global interest to self-understanding, on the other side. The paper concentrates on the socially most important clothing complex, which is a women's wedding costume. It consists of: 1) trousers brageše (cf. alb. brakeshe), from thin cotton fabric of white color; another name being demija (cf. alb. dimi < turk.), commented by our native consultants like folows: "The "demija" is Bosnian word, but our own one is "brageše""; 2) a shirt fanjelica from thin fabric, very often silk; 3) a sleeveless jacket džamadan (< turk.), the breasts of which are densely embroidered with silk or gold; 4) leggings of silk fabric; 5) a belt pas trbulus from silk (5-7 meters long, width around 60 cm); 6) a head-dress otos, made of colorful shawl šamija (< turk.), with golden coins; 7) socks obligatory from white cotton; 8) shoes from fabric or leather.
Milana Černelić (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb)
Paper short abstract:
The paper deals with the traditional costume worn in the course of calendar festivals at various occasions and the feast of marking the end of the harvest among the Croat subethnic group in the county of Vojvodina (Serbia) as an identity marker and a symbolic object.
Paper long abstract:
The paper deals with the traditional costume worn in the course of calendar festivals and the feast of marking the end of the harvest among the Croat subethnic group in the region of Bačka (county of Vojvodina) in Serbia. It is used as a symbol and an ethnocultural identity marker of the group. Some of these customs have undergone a great revival in the past twenty years, performed in certain calendar periods or specific days during the ritual year, such as: the central cultural and social event in the winter period immediatelly preceding Shrovetide and Lent in order to contextualize the complex phenomenon of the so called prelo ('spinning bee'), Easter Monday (boys visit girl in order to pour water over them) and the Pentecost pageant (so called kraljice). In addition to the festive calendar year, the traditional costume has an important symbolic meaning in the frame of various manifestations on the occasion of the so called dužijanca, a continuing celebration marking the end of the harvest among the Bunjevci Croats in the region of Bačka, which exists as public event over a century. The use of the traditional clothing at these various occasions will be analysed with a special focus on its significance as an identity marker and a symbolic object.
Urszula Wilk (Institute of Iberian and Ibero-American Studies, University of Warsaw)
Paper short abstract:
The aim of this paper is to present and analyze the use of el traje fallero - an attire used by los falleros - the people who celebrate the festivity of Saint Joseph, las Fallas, in Valencia, Spain.
Paper long abstract:
This paper presents and analyzes the use of traje fallero - a costume used by los falleros - the people celebrating the festivity of las Fallas in Valencia, Spain. Although considered "traditional" and frequently dated centuries ago, the current aspect of this attire was introduced in the 20th century. First created from a mixture of traditional farmers' celebratory garments, it was used to underline the special character of the fiesta. Later on it has undergone a process of rigorous codification with the purpose of attracting attention to the feast, and nowadays, if not combined properly, it can be a cause even of exclusion from festivity. Today it is not only worn during las Fallas, but used by los falleros during whole year to underline the celebration of any fiesta that they are invited to. This sometimes causes controversy, as los falleros - because of their special attire - tend to attract the attention that should be directed at the principal actors of the given fiesta. El traje fallero, creating a community within its bearers, also frequently causes an "us-them" division in the Valencian society. It creates a discussion between those who consider it a traditional garment and a transmitter of cultural heritage, and those who state that this custom was only introduced to promulgate tourism. Altogether el traje fallero remains an important element of the Valencian cultural landscape and the analysis of its history and current form is a good example to present the complexity of the Valencian society.
Mihaela Gežin (The Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research) Martina Mišetić (Municipal Museum of Vukovar)
Paper short abstract:
Social and political context of the certain country has an impact on its cultural heritage. The prism through which we can observe the influence of war time on heritage is traditional clothing. It would be analyzed at the local and national level via case study of the village of Bogdanovci.
Paper long abstract:
Social, political and economic situation of certain country has an impact on its cultural heritage. Political - social circumstances during the Homeland War of the 1990s were reflected on the cultural heritage in the Vukovar area, which is situated in eastern Croatia.
Cultural heritage can be observed through several prisms; one of them is traditional clothing. The intention of this research is to show and identify any and all changes of traditional clothing in the Vukovar area under the previously mentioned cultural - political circumstances.
With the intention of better understanding these changes, we will analyze traditional clothing before the Homeland War, during the exile and after returning from exile. The emphasis will be on traditional costume as one of the markers of cultural identity, that is to say, what traditional costume means for the members of local community.
For the purposes of this research the topic will be observed from several viewpoints. On the local level, the activities of the Municipal Museum of Vukovar and influence of the members of local community on traditional clothing (either alone or associated) will be analyzed. After this analysis, we will try to examine in which way have the central ethnographic museum - Ethnographic Museum Zagreb participated in the process of preserving heritage.
Anamaria Iuga (National Museum of the Romanian Peasant)
Paper short abstract:
In the northern part of Romania, people still wear traditional clothing on festive occasions. The presentation will investigate the forms and meaning of two different types of traditional clothing, one considered to be used only on important festive occasion, and one used on any festive occasion.
Paper long abstract:
Maramures is a region situated in the northern part of Romania, where the local tradition has an important dynamic. People still wear traditional clothing on festive occasions (every Sunday, on feasts or celebrations, but also on festivities and festivals). During the years, the traditional clothing composition has changed, some pieces of clothing have been abandoned, and new ones have been included. The best example is the women's traditional dress that, for the old type of costume, which ethnographers deemed typical of the region, the long white shirt is covered by two aprons, locally called "zadii", and which were woven with stripes of different colours (black and red, or black and yellow etc.), corresponding to different communities and different age categories. At the beginning of the 20th century, these two aprons and the white part of the long shirt covering the lower half of the body have been replaced by a cashmere made dress, locally called "sumna", with flowery patterns (complying with a special generational code), an object that was first described in 1925 by the Romanian ethnographer and dialectologist, Tache Papahagi. This dress has replaced and taken up the meaning of the former "zadii". The presentation will focus on the contemporary meanings and uses of the two different customs, as revealed, mainly, by the members of the communities themselves. The paper is based on an ethnological research made in three villages from Iza Valley (Maramures), during the years 2001-2013.
Rosa Isela Aguilar Montes de Oca (LMU Munich, Germany)
Paper short abstract:
In 1989 a new folk costume for a beauty contest was created to reinforce the Day of the Dead ritual in la Huasteca, Mexico. This well-established tradition serves to reconstruct identity, community and a sense of belonging as well as the (western) ideal of young womanhood in the Huasteco region.
Paper long abstract:
In the 1980s the parish priest of the church of San José in Tehuetlán proposed holding a young girls´ beauty contest with the goal of teaching the people the meaning of Xantolo Symbols in order to counter the increasing presence of Halloween which had been made popular by international migration and media.
The Miss Cempoalxóchitl Beauty Pageant started in 1989 following the Miss Universe and Miss World format, which in 1962 and 1971 had introduced national costume as a cultural marker. The young ladies in Tehuetlán wear dresses inspired by and adorned with natural and cultural components used in altars and dances dedicated to the dead: Cempoalxóchitl flowers (Mexican marigold flower), cocoa seeds, sugar cane, maize leaves, chilis, palm leaves, oranges, lemons, masks, incense burners, copal, candles, flower vases, guitars, clay candle holders representing animals, and paintings of agricultural labour and handicraft activities. In this manner, both natural and cultural elements are used to construct and reinforce Huasteco identity, while rebuilding community and fostering a sense of belonging.
Huastecos perform the traditional ritual Xantolo every year as cultural heritage passed on to younger generations within a limited geographical space, the Hidalgo Huasteco region. They combine culture and nature, thereby creating a unique form of celebrating life while honoring their dead. Miss Cempoalxóchitl, while embodying the (western) ideal of womanhood - beautiful, white, tall, thin - as well as the attributes of a good woman - feminine and graceful, may be seen as a guardian of culture.
Cristina Clopot (University of Hull)
Paper short abstract:
This paper proposes an analysis of the Russian Old Believers of Romania's traditional costumes. Linked with religious practices and a tradition of 300 years, these vestments are still worn by members of the ethnic group for rituals and regular church services today.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper I will analyse the specificities of the Russian ethnic group's clothing, using ethnographic data from fieldwork carried in several communities in Romania.
Russian Old Believers migrated from Russia in the 17th century due to religious persecutions following the schism in the Russian Orthodox Church. Their religious practices placed a great emphasis on continuity with a form of Orthodoxy preserved since the Christianization of Russia in the 9th century. Through these claims they opposed the Orthodox Russian Church innovations, rejecting Greek elements introduced by religious leaders in the 1600s. Following a period of persecutions devotees of the Old Belief left Russia, spreading around the world.
Settling in Romania, they continued to use their traditional costumes, with specific pieces for each sex.
Clothing is linked with identity but also, in Old Believers case, with moral norms, as 'their treatment of things and words both reflect certain underlying assumptions about the world and the beings that inhabit it' (Keane 2005: 4). They also carry symbolic meanings; each item serves a specific purpose within the Old Believers imaginary. These vestments' names and purpose has remained largely unchanged for 300 years. However, fabrics, social use and crafts associated with them have undergone transformations following the post-socialist period, including materiality in the larger debate between continuity and innovation in this community.
By looking at everyday costumes, but also ceremonial ones (i.e. wedding costumes), I will question the complexity of transformations within Old Believers' communities, as reflected by their clothing.
Katarina Ek-Nilsson (Institute for Language and Folklore, Sweden) Britt Eklund (Institute for language and folklore)
Paper short abstract:
In one Dalecarlian parish, there used to be a kind of dressing that was thoroughly locally peculiar and homogeneous. There were hundreds of rules for how to dress around the year. We will explain why this extreme dressing tradition developed, and discuss what the revitalization stands for.
Paper long abstract:
A joint presentation by Katarina Ek-Nilsson and Britt Eklund, Institute for Language and Folklore, Uppsala, Sweden.
In the parish of Boda, like in many other parishes in the county of Dalecarlia, there used to be a kind of dressing that was thoroughly local and homogeneous. This dressing tradition was still alive until far into 20th century. We hesitate to call the dressing folk costumes, because there were no other clothes than the locally peculiar garments at all. Everyone followed the same rules for dressing and the variations over the year (dressing calendar) and during life status. There were hundreds of rules for how to dress on Christmas Day, for Lent, Easter Day, "normal" Sunday in the summer, in the winter, for Prayer Days, and always with differences depending on your life status: married or not, confirmed or not, and of course for different occasions like weddings and Holy Communion, not to forget about the everyday and working clothes. It was not possible to break the rules, in which every garment had its meaning and symbol. This very homogeneous dressing has its demographic, social and economic explanations. The population was extremely homogeneous, every family being land-owners and nobody poorer than anyone else.
In the last decades there has been an increasing interest for the real old clothing traditions, from before 20th century. We will discuss what this growing interest stands for. The presentation will be followed by a rich choice of pictures and even authentic garments from 19th century.
Arūnas Vaicekauskas (Vytautas Magnus University)
Paper short abstract:
The folk costume becomes an important part of Lithuanians' national identity. It has it's place in all processes of the modern nation forming.The efforts of the folkloristic movement to create the "right" folk costume will be presented in the paper.
Paper long abstract:
The folk costume becomes an important part of Lithuanians' national identity from the very end of the 19th century. It has it's place in different cultural processes: the process of the modern nation forming between the First and the Second World wars; in the context of the Soviet regime efforts to control the tradition; in the time of inventing of the rituals in the 7th decade folkloristic movement; also as in the searching of the modern spirituality in the nowadays Lithuania. Each period was represented by its own understanding how the folk costume must look like. The 7th decade fokloristic movement started with the opinion that folk costume elaborated in the Soviet period was wrong as wrong was all public forms of the ethnic "tradition" in that time. The efforts of folkloristic movement participators to create the "right" folk costume will be presented in the paper.
Reinhard Bodner (University of Innsbruck)
Paper short abstract:
The paper presents a research project investigating social practices around "folk costumes" in Tyrol. The main focus is the movement of "Costume Renewal" before, during and after the NS era. This also involves questions on the social and political significance of "Tyrolean costumes" today.
Paper long abstract:
The paper presents a research project investigating social practices around "folk costumes" in Tyrol since ca. 1900. Originating from a public debate (since 2011) on questions of dealing with different aspects of "folk culture" from the NS era, the project focuses on historic and contemporary constructions of meaning and identity. One central aspect, linked to the name Gertrud Pesendorfer (1895-1982), is Innsbruck's historic role as a centre of "Costume Renewal" ("Trachtenerneuerung") after Austria's "Anschluss" to the German Reich. In 1939, Pesendorfer was authorized by the National Socialist Women's League ("Reichsfrauenschaft") to conduct a national mediation-agency for "the German costume" ("Mittelstelle Deutsche Tracht"). Based in the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum ("Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum"), this agency enabled Pesendorfer to continue and extend her work on traditional clothing she had begun in the early 1930s. The Mittelstelle organized surveys all over the German Reich and in South Tyrol, in order to create renewed or new regional costumes. The paper aims to reconstruct these activities and their ideological implications as well as Pesendorfer's ongoing influence after 1945. This also raises questions on the social and political significance of "Tyrolean costumes" today: how (under-)determined are they by history? The project combines archival and field research, bringing together actors who are in a very close physical, emotional and professional relationship to costumes, for instance as wearers, tailors and dealers. And it has to cope with the fact that some of them do not want to the focus of (academic) research.
Marija Gačić (Heritage Chaser, ethnological research and cultural consulting company)
Paper short abstract:
At the end of the 20th century in Croatia began intensive processes of reconstructing folk costumes according to old samples. What is the position and meaning of folk costumes today in festive context? Who sets the criteria of rating good or bad reconstruction?
Paper long abstract:
Croatian ethnographic space accommodates a large number of types and varieties of folk costumes. At the end of the 20th century began the intensive process of reconstruction of folk costumes according to samples from old photos and original specimens. Over time, there has been an emphasis on the "good" reconstruction and criticism of "bad" ones. In an attempt to institutionalize criticism of reconstructed costumes, in 2011 the event "Renewing Our Heritage" has been launched, it aims to present the reconstructed costumes and rewarding the most successful ones. Who has set the criteria of good or bad reconstruction in general? What does it mean creating new costumes for people who create them and wear them? Why not allow innovations in contemporary making costumes? Why do people who dress in traditional costumes look for the dress code even where there is none? In the end, why do ethnologists accept "police work" on the ground when it comes to folk costumes?
Finally, the intention of this paper is to determine the position of folk costumes today: is the creation of new costumes utopia due to the fact that their life is limited to some celebrations and folklore performances?
Nina Vlaskina (Russian Academy of Sciences, Southern Scientific Centre)
Paper short abstract:
The paper aims to analyze the role of the Nekrasov Cossacks' festive clothes in the processes of maintaining their cultural heritage and representing their ethnic group identity.
Paper long abstract:
The Nekrasov Cossacks are considered to be an ethno-religious group which is remarkable for preserving their ancestors' heritage, especially traditional costume, cuisine and songs. The Cossack ataman Ignat Nekrasov led the group of the Cossacks away from religious and political persecution. For 250 years since, they have lived outside of their historical homeland and maintained limited contact with other ethnic groups. They returned to Russia in the 20th century.
Nowadays, the Nekrasovites wear traditional clothing almost exclusively for the calendrical and funeral rites. This paper will study the use of the Cossack national costume on festive occasions and interpret its role in the heritage preservation processes. I will analyze the data derived from the ethno-linguistic field research in the Russian Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories (2007, 2010, 2011), as well as published materials.
The paper will focus on the following issues:
- A short depiction of the typical Nekrasov Cossack costume and the functional hierarchy of its pieces.
- The declared immutability of the traditional costume vs. its actual transformations and reasons for that.
- Dressing the outsiders in the traditional Cossack costume: the Nekrasov Cossack clothes and the opposition of "ours / alien".
- The Cossack traditional clothes as a symbol of identity for the members of the group and as a mass media stereotype.
- The functions of the Nekrasov Cossack costume in the modern festive occasions.
- The impact of the long-term research interest in the Nekrasov Cossack costume on its use in the folk concerts and festivals.