Casual costume for young women - brides and maidens, used until the middle of the twentieth century.
It consists of a white shirt with “zapeski” tulips, a red embroidered bosom and a large hand-knitted lace. There is a smaller one at the skirts of the shirt. The rich axillary decoration in red - to protect against "bad eyes", are worn only by young brides and women who are expected to give birth. It is no coincidence that one of the worst insults for a woman is to be called a "yalovitsa". There are customs and rituals that have been observed to ensure successful future motherhood. Childless women have undergone many predictions, difficult healing practices and magical actions to have a child, because its most important task is to continue the birth.
The shirt is worn with a dark "koshorest" sleeveless foustan made of homemade woolen fabric. The upper part is on the body, and the deep axillary incision is fastened with buttons, so it is also called the “kopchaliya”. A split skirt on “grechki” (wide “plohi”) is sewn on the waist. It is belted with “futa”, woven in vertical stripes in red, blue and yellow on a black base, with thin colored lines on the sides. The belt is long, wrapped several times around the waist, woven on a loom without a hill, with geometric ornaments. The legs are shoes with black one-color socks and moccasins.
The head is covered with two thin headscarves. The lower is white, and the upper is colored - green, scarlet, purple, etc. When they work, they take off their top headscarves and stay with the white one, which protects them from the hot summer sun. After finishing and homecoming, they put the colored “shamiya” again and put a flower on the way home.
The head of the married woman must be covered, and the girl also covers her hair at work, because only the dragon brides and the fairies are uncovered.
They have “mingushi” on their ears - silver earrings on a ring, which together with the ring and beaded jewelry is the allowed holiday decoration for unmarried women. This “koshorest foustan” replaced the white aba at the end of the 19th century and was worn with the factory "geziya" until the 1930s, but mainly as work clothes or by poorer girls who sewed it from home canvas.
Mariya Kotsakova from Razlog put on the costume.
The costume is from the fund of the Historical Museum - Razlog.
The project "Study of the specifics and richness of national costumes from the Razlog region in the light of cultural diversity" is realized with the financial support of the National Culture Fund under the program "Cultural Heritage".
In fulfillment of the goals of the project we present some of the most beautiful traditional costumes, typical for the Razlog valley in the last 2 centuries.
We offer our sincere thanks to our hosts from the Historical Museum - Razlog, and to all local people who helped with the realization.
Special thanks to all participants and team members who took their time and with useful information, knowledge and valuable advice made possible the work on the project.
A reverence to the girls and boys from the town of Razlog, who stood in front of our camera and with their enthusiasm, youth and beauty revived for a new life the most beautiful costumes from old Mehomiya