Croatian Ethnographic Heritage (D)

Šestine

Šestine is a village on the foothills of the Mount Medvednica. Today, it is a part of agglomeration of the City of Zagreb. It got its name after šestina,a type of a tax imposed during the time of feudalism. The settlement began developing in the 13thcentury.

The Šestine folk costume got its current form during the second half of the 19thcentury. Various historical layers are visible in it. The three-part women's costume consists of a rubača(skirt sewn onto the vest), opleća and fertuna(apron). The cloth for the attire was made by weavers so it was simple, made from flax or hemp yarn with sparse embellishments in the format of multi-coloured thin stripes. Similar folk costumes in the foothills of the Mount Medvednica got the Šestine type name after this costume. This type of costume has been preserved due to the proximity of Zagreb because the costume worn by the women in the foothills became a symbol of product quality (cheese and sour cream, fruits and vegetables), services (laundry washing) and flowers sold (especially spring flowers) offered on a daily basis on the markets of Zagreb, especially Dolac, the main market.

In the past, the people from the foothills wore cloaks, vests and coats made of fur and leather. In the 19thcentury they started making the same items using wool cloths, felt and stout peasant cloth. Men and women used large cloaks called čoheto cover themselves with appliques made of cloth, leather and wool embroidery made by specialised craftsmen called čohaši. Surke, short coats and vests, lajbeci, were made of felt or fabric embellished with embroidery appliques or by various embroidery techniques and multi-coloured threads made by craftsmen from Zagreb.

Slavonia

Slavonia is a historical and geographical area in the eastern part of Croatia and it mostly spreads out in the Pannonian lowlands. It consists of the land between the Sava River in the south and the Drava River in the north, the Ilova River in the west the Bosut River and Vuka River in the southeast. The name comes from S(c)lavonia, a name from the Middle Ages meaning“theland inhabited by the Slavs“. It is a diverse geographical area that features mountains, hills and flatlands and is known for its oak forests and high quality soil ideal for growing grains, grapevines and various fruit cultures, as well as farming domestic animals sold on the market.

The economic power of the Slavonian villages was evident in the traditional clothing that stood out with its diversity and richness of domestic cloths, jewellery and embellishments. During the second half of the 19thcentury, especially in the eastern Slavonia, the growth of the economy provided for procurement of expensive materials, such as silk cloths from the central Europe, France and Italy made of either real or artificial silk threads. This is the time when silk brocades with flower design were popular and were used to make visible parts of women's clothing: blouses, skirts and aprons.

Prior to the beginning of the 20thcentury, girls and women in Đakovština wore skirts made of multi-coloured brocade silk with flower motifs during the winter months that were called granare, granaši. At the start of the 20thcentury, in the Village of Gorjani there was a fashion trend of procuring and wearing large silk scarves with flower motifs women used to wrap themselves with during the procession of the spiritual custom entitled ljelja, giving the scarves the name ljeljare.

Susak

Susak, in terms of its size, is one of the smallest inhabited islands of the north Adriatic and is a part of the Cres – Lošinj archipelago. The island is made of limestone covered with several meters of sandy layers so macchia and reeds grow abundantly. There is a settlement on the island with the same name where a few permanent residents live today. The island was mentioned in documents as early as the 9thcentury. Its residents were involved in seamanship, fishing and viticulture. Trojišćina, an old grape sort immune to phylloxera, was thriving in the vineyards on the main flatland on the island. The island reached its peak in terms of development during the 1930s. The people of Susak developed viticulture, wine-making, fishing and fish processing to a point where they opened processing facilities. Following World War II, many residents, as political and economic immigrants, moved to the United States of America. The community with the most members is, even now, in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Women's folk costumes were worn on the island until the middle of the 20thcentury. The newer clothing version named po losinjskuwas preserved as bridal attire after World War II. It is possibly the reflection of the 18thcentury fashion, and between the two world wars, the skirt was shortened to above the knee. The costume is lively because the pink colour dominates as the basic colour with plenty of embellishments. The costume consists of a silk pink blouse richly decorated with multi-coloured ribbons, lace, metal threads and glass beads on the chest, back and sleeves. The pink coloured skirt, named kamizot, has small folds and three strongly starched underskirts give it width. Apron, tarvijerslica, is made of pink silk and features the same embellishments as the blouse. The outfit is completed with pink coloured socks.

The women's folk costume, along with the specific čakavskiaccent, is the specific characteristic of the people of Susak who regularly visit their island during the summer months. On the last Saturday of each July, they celebrate the Emmigrants’ Day, and this is when their language can be heard and their folk costume can be seen.

Bratina (Pisarovina)

Bratina near Pisarovina is the centre of a cluster of villages south of Zagreb and today, it is the name of a town. It is mostly a lowland known for the remnants of former wooden architecture and houses covered by hay. Prior to 1848, the villagers from the Bratina area were peasants on the property owned by the noble Erdödy family. The customs and the material culture of this area are similar to those of the noble farmers in Posavina and Pokuplje. The folk costume belongs to the Kupinec-Bratina version of the Pannonian type.

The women's costume consists of three basic woven flax parts: rubača(skirts sewn onto the vests), blouse called oplećak and zastor(apron). During weaving, the cloth was embellished with distinctive stylised geometric colourful flower motifs. The basic colour of the embellishment, various shades of red colour, black and white, their combination or nonexistence symbolise the social, age and cast status of the woman wearing it. The women's headwear also indicated the cast and age status. In some areas of Pannonian Croatia, the girls' partaindicated their maturity until they got married. In Bratina the symbol of girlhood was hair braided into two braids and twisted around the head. At the front, the head was covered by a parta, a narrow and soft decorative ribbon placed on the hair from ear to ear.

The partain Bratina was embellished with sewn in multi-coloured glass beads skilfully arranged into flower motifs. The multi-layered headgear of married women was especially rich. The upper cap was tied low on the back of the head. It was richly embellished for special occasions with jewellery of various shapes and decorative ribbons with glass beads. In Bratina women were not buying finished jewellery. They would get glass beads of primarily central European production and they would skilfully embroider the motifs using glass beads on the ribbons for headgear and make necklace strings according to traditional samples.

Dr. Tihana Petrović Leš, PhD
Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies at the University of Zagreb