Folk dress in Europe and Anatolia beliefs about protection and fertility

Format:

Online Resource

Language:

English

Imprint:

Oxford : Berg, 1999

Subject:

Costume - Social aspects - Europe
Costume - Symbolic aspects - Europe

Contributor:

Welters, Linda

ISBN:

9781847880291, 1847880290, and 9781847880291 (ebook)

Series:

Dress, body, culture

Description:

1 online resource (xii, 243 p.) : ill., map, ports

Notes:

Compliant with Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Content is displayed as HTML full text which can easily be resized or read with assistive technology, with mark-up that allows screen readers and keyboard-only users to navigate easily

Bibliographic Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Contents:

Preface 1 Introduction: Folk Dress, Supernatural Beliefs, and the Body1 (Linda Welters) 2 On the Antiquity of East European Bridal Clothing (E. J. W. Barber) 3 Traditional Turkish Women's Dress: A Source ofC ommon Understandings for Expected Behaviors (Marlene R. Breu) 4 The Peloponnesian Zonari: A Twentieth-century String Skirt (Linda Welters) 5 Gilding the Lily: Dress and Women's Reproductive Role in the Greek Village, 1850-1950 (Linda Welters) 6 Threads of Life: Red Fringes in Macedonian Dress (Vesna Mladenovic) 7 The Curious Tale of the Ultra-long Sleeve (A Eurasian Epic) (E. J. W. Barber) 8 Protection from Harm: The Shawl and Cap in Czech and Slovak Wedding, Birthing and Funerary Rites (Patricia Williams) 9 Living Textile Traditions of the Carpathians (Mary B. Kelly) 10 The Cultural Significance of Belts in Latvian Dress (Linda Welters and ra Kuhn-Bol aitis) 11 To Ward Off Evil: Metal on Norwegian Folk Dress (Laurann Gilbertson) 12 The Dynamic Relationship Between Lithuanian National Costumes and Folk Dress (Ruta Saliklis)

Summary:

Shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2000. Relationships between dress and the body have existed in European and Anatolian folk cultures well into the twentieth century. Traditional cultures have long held the belief that certain articles of dress could protect the body from harm by warding off the 'evil eye,' bring fertility to new brides, or assure human control of supernatural powers. Ritual fringes, archaic motifs, and colors such as black and red were believed to have powerful, magical effects. This absorbing and interdisciplinary book examines dress in a broad range of folk cultures - from Turkey, Greece, and Slovakia to Norway, Latvia, and Lithuania, to name but a few. Authors reveal the connection between folk dress and ancient myths, cults and rituals, as well as the communicative aspects of folk dress. How is an individual attired in a specific ensemble locatted within a community? Is the community the gendered one of women, the village of residence, the larger geographical region or the nation? The intriguing connections between dress and the supernatural beliefs of agrarian communities, as well as the reinvention of such beliefs as part of nationalism, are also discussed. This book represents a significant contribution to the growing body of literature on the cultural meanings of dress, as well as to material culture, anthropology, folklore, art history, ethnohistory, and linguistics. Nominated for Millia Davenport award

Call Number:

GT720