Gruža

Gruža

Smiljevac - Even Vuk Stefanovič Karadžić noted down that in Bukovica, a village in Podrinje, female hat were decorated with coins, in the small wreaths at the front so that "when women walked the coins kept swinging and rattling". At the front, the hat had fringes which were also adorned with fringes. Some women wore round hats - "just like pumpkins with flowers and peacock's feathers sticking out of them. This hat was also decorated with coins which were swinging and rattling as the women walked. Women also wore necklaces, long embroidered shirts, multi-coloured sashes, one or two embroidered pinafores, brightly coloured socks, opanaks with straps etc."

The smiljevac or cmiljevac was made in the following way: a hazel twig was hewn, bent and tied. Then, a circular piece of cloth was cut, and fastened to the bent twig so that it formed a dent which made it posible for the bride to put on a fez. That part was called potsmiljka. The other part was trmčica. It was made of strands of dried basil sewn together with the bent twig  using lime bast (bark). A piece of manufactured  red fabric or cloth dyed with madder was sewn on it. Two or more ribbons cascading  down the bride's back, all the way to her waist , were sewn on the tip of the smiljevac. Cascables were fastened to the end of the ribbons. Smiljevac was kept in place with a chin strap (podbradnik). At the end, it was adorned with dried corn flower (smilje). The hat was named after this light yellow flower. The front part of it was adorned with rooster's or peacock's feathers which were bent at the back. In the middle, just above the forehead, was a small mirror surrounded by a string of silver coins. The chin strap was also decorated with silver coins and it was called oglavlje. This money was given to the bride to be by her future  husband and it could not be given away without her consent. Smiljevac was usually made by the groom's relatives and it was sent to the bride by her mother-in-law on the wedding day. That was the first time the bride wore it on her head. At the bottom, around it, the hair was plaited into thin braids which were fastened with hairpins. People say that the bride had to show great respect for other people while she was  wearing a smiljevac. If she saw someone, even from a distance, she had to bow to them a few times. Brides had to bow even to children. The smiljevac went out of use during the 1870-ies. Legend has it that the reason fot this was an accident which happened when a bride met a horseman and, according to the custom, bowed to him a few times. The horse got frightened and unsaddled the horseman who died in the accident. Since then, the smiljevac has never been worn again.

Male socks (pletivare) - were knitted of red and black yarn and had unique geometrical ornaments. They reached the knees and their border was knitted by one needle only. That was called poplet or memica. Later on, poplet was replaced by ramfla (looped knitting) below the needle (klot) and above the needle (frket).

Central Serbia

Central Serbia

Central Serbia consists of several smallr areas, like the Belgrade region in the North, Takovo and Rudničko Pomoravlje in the south, Kolubara in the West and Velika Morava in the East. This region is often called Šumadija or Pomoravlje, although these are only its biggest areas.

Šumadija is the central part o Serbia. The name dates from ancient times and was derived from the main characteristic of the region, spacious dense forests. The forest areas have been shrinking lately, due to the shift from cattle-breeding to agriculture and the expansion of urban areas. It is situated between the Danube, the Velika Morava, the Zapadna Morava and the Kolubara. The relief is characterized by numerous plains, valleys and mountains. The highest mountain is Rudnik with its 1132 metres high peak - Cvijićev Vrh. People grow fruits, especially plums and grapes, vegetables and grain. The oldest traces of human habitations, dating from the old Palaeolithic Period, were found in the Risovača Cave.

As the result of the hilly relief of Šumadija, the habitations were disapersed and this type of habitation is known in geographic and ethnographic literature as Šumadija type. The houses are far away from one another with meadows, fields and orchards between them. Apart from Topola and Aranđelovac  with Bukovička Banja, Kragujevac deserves to be mentioned as the trade, tourist, industrial, cultural and university centre of the region.

According to popular belief, the bride and groom were exposed to evil powers and curse, so the greatest attention was paid to their protection. Special protective power was attributed to bridal geaddress, which consisted of objects considered to be good protection against dark forces and primarly "evil eyes". Those were: silver coins, peacock's feathers, little mirrors... On the wedding day, the bride put on all the jewellery which she used to wear as a grils, but it was even richer and more luxuriant. She also put on the bridal headdress for the first time and continued to wear it on special occasions until the birth of the first child, which was considered to be the turning point from the bridal status into the status of a married woman. That was the first time she wore the wedding ring, as another sign of marital status.

Crafts in Serb-populated areas

Crafts in Serb-populated areas

Up to the second World War, craftwork was one of the most developed and widespread industries which helped most of the rural and urban population to satisfy their needs of different products. All home appliances, kitchen utensils and furniture were produced by peasants or village workmen - craftsmen. Apart from the usual ones like potters, tailors, garmentmakers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, tradesmen, coopers, carte makers, furriers and goldsmiths, there were some other crafts  characteristic of certain geographic areas or the environment (town - village). For example: rosin collectors, gold panners, clog makers, mat makers, dyers, soap makers, cloak makers, comb makers, stonemasons, chibouk makers, pipe makers, saddlers, tinkers...

Pottery was present almost in every Serb-populated area. One of the main characteristics of pottery is that practically all of its techniques have survived up to the present day: without a potter's wheel, on hand-operated and foot-operated wheels. Depending on the area, there were some minor differences  in the way clayware was made and decorated , usually on the hand-operated wheel, which was low, so that the potter had to sit on the ground or on a low chair.
The wheel consisted of a base and a round turntable. First, the potter used a piece of clay to make the bottom and the base of the pot and then drew up and shaped the walls using additional balls of clay. When dry, pots were usually fired in open flame, and, after that, tempered by immersing them in or sprinkling with the mixture of flour and water, in order to make them stronger  and more resilient. All kinds of kitchen utensils used for roasting, cooking and food storage were made of clay: casseroles, pots, pitchers, bowls etc... Clay was also used to make containers necessary for carrying and keeping liquids (pitchers, ewers, jugs, glasses) as well as objects used in religious rituals: bowls, candle-sticks, censers... People sometimes made clay casseroles and lids on their own, by hand, without a potter's wheel. This kind of pottery was known as "women's pottery".

Interesting things

Cloth bleaching

Cloth was bleached in nice warm sunny weather. Women or sometimes girls, gathered around a well, a spring or by a river, and did the work, chatting with one another. When the time was right, bleachers could be seen gathering from all directions, carrying cloth on their shoulders.

 The bleaching was done in the following way: first, hot water and ash were spilt over the cloth, which was then taken to a stream or river and thrown into the water and spread out so that the water rinsed it, Then, it was picked up and spread out on the grass of clean ground or left to dry on the fence or a rod, without draining. The immersion and drying was repeated three to five days in a row , and then, once again, hot water and ash were spilt over the cloth. Over the next seven to eight days it was immersed and dried in the sun again and again. In some places, the cloth was placed in a simple hollow cylinder called stublina, which was entrenched in the ground and filled with a layer of ash and a layer of oat straw. The cloth was placed on the straw and covered with another layer of straw and another layer of ash and finally, hot water was split over all this. This was done in order to keep the cloth wet and warm, which, at first made the cloth yellow and, later, helped the whitening 

process.

Dyeing wool

The black colour known as vranilo or mrčilo was made by cooking ashtree leaves with blacksmith cinder. If they needed the yarn for embroidery, people used to wool of black sheep.

The red colour was made of the plant called madder (broć). The root of the plant was dug up in spring and dried during the summer. People sometimes bought madder, ground it in the mortar, and then sifted the powder and diluted it in water. Previously they immersed yarn in alum and left it in it for a week. When they took it out, they immersed it in madder, in a clay container. If the colour was not intensive enough the yarn was dried and immersed in madder once again.

The blue colour was made of indigo which could be bought in towns. It was done in the following way: indigo was diluted in the so-called šjera (the water used for the very first washing of wool, which was foamy and contained some acids). After that, yarn was immersed in this solution.

The yellow colour was made of the plant called balučka (colchicum auctumnaia) or hazel leaves. Only young plants of balučka were used. The colour was also made by cooking wild apples.

The green colour was made by mixing the yellow and blue colour. The yarn was first dyed yellow and, after that, immersed in indigo.

Raw leather opanaks

The traditional names of this kind of footwear are: prijesni, presni, prešnjaci, sirovari, šivci, hrtice etc,  depending on the region. They were made of pigskin, calfskin, cowskin, lambskin, and buffalo skin. The fur was usually not removed from the skin. Depending in the region, there are two basic types and several versions of each. In both types, the foot is covered with a piece of raw leather of appropriate shape and size. Along the borders, there were holes and laces (vrnčice) were put through them in orther to crease the skin. Laces were made of thin strips of leather, thick cotton thread, woven goat hair or hemp. It was a kind of low footwear, straight or arched in shape, consisting of the sole, front, horn-like endings and different kinds of laces. According to the type of laces there were two basic  types: vrnčani opanci and prešnjaci. There were several versions of the latter type, depending on the shape of the endings. Leather was cut according to the shape and size od the foot. It covered the whole foot and in some types , part of the leg as well. Prešnjaci were worn in the areas of Zaječar, Niš, Vranje, Kruševac, Studenica and Leskovac and vrnčanih in Raška, Stari Vlah, Kosovo and Metohija.

Prešnjaci were affordable, cheap, suitable for walking in mountainous regions, but, on the other hand, they were not durable, economical or waterproof. The shape was the same, regardless of age and gender. They were worn over one, two or three different pairs of socks, depending on the season and weather. The second and the third type of socks were called priglavci and nazuvice. In the Panonian Region and the northerh parts of Eastern Serbia obojci (rectangular pieces of woven woollen cloth wrapped around the feet) and kalčine (stuff socks) were also worn. The word obojak was also the name of a piece of cloth put into an opanak as padding, worn in Šumadija, Vranjsko Pomoravlje and Eastern Serbia.

Bosilegrad

Bosilegradsko krajište

Border municipality Bosilegrad is located in the extreme southeastern part of the Republic of Serbia, in the Pčinja District, next to the Bulgarian - Macedonian border. In the north it borders with the municipality of Surdulica, in the west with the municipality of Vranje, in the southwest with the municipality of Trgovište, in the South of the Republic of Macedonia to the east and southeast with the Republic of Bulgaria.

Around the world famous music, songs, dance and costumes characteristic for this region. It represents the essence of the joy of locals and visitors. Four seasons, which rotate to the rhythm of the sun and snow emphasize the beauty of the municipality of Bosilegrad to be seen at every step.

In this region džube (long sleeveless garment) made of white fabric was worn over the saja. The sajas were hand-made by women, usually of rough black cloth. The ones worn in summer were usually white and sometimes green.They were bordered  with thin silver threads and silk. The sleeves were short and narrow. They almost reached the elbows. The neck was decorated with rich embroidery. Over the saja, women wore a blue and red skutača (apron) with horizontal and vertical stripes. The head was covered with a tulben (turban), or a long white headscarf, hanging down the back, sometimes pong enough to reach the knees.

Zabratka - In the easternmost part of Serbia women covered their heads with a zabratka (white scarf) or, later, with a multi-coloured headscarf (šamija) which was tied above its tip, at the back of the head, so that the tip of the scarf and hair plaited into thin braids hung down the back. Zabratka is believed to have been part of a more elaborate female headdress. It was worn in the regions of Niš, Vranje, Pirot and Krajina.

Litak - traditional black woollen overgarment woven and docorated by women and girls. Women adorned it with golden, and girls with silver threads and glitter.

National ensemble KOLO - Bosilegrad

South - Eastern Serbia

South - Eastern Serbia

Southeastern Serbia represents a geographic space southern from the river Nišava, eastern from the river Južna Morava, towards the border with Bulgaria and Macedonia. It contains the municipalities of Surdulica, Babušnica, Vlasotince, Crna Trava, Bosilegrad, Trgovište, Vladičin Han, which, according to the last cansus, represented 3,0 % of the total number of population. According to the gross income, these municipalities belong to the poorest Serbia.

The current situation is such that process of migration of population from village to city chronically (constantly) continues, there are less and less villages which have any vitality, some of the villages, beside the fact that they are present on geographic maps, do not have a single inhabitant, the infrasructure is very bad, economy is generally also bad.

There are natural and anthropogenic geographic elements which also have a good basis to become the Serbia's tourist offers as natural geographic tourist values and cultural inheritance. The forms of tourism which could contribute revitalization of the space are: eco, rural, transit, sport-recreational and holiday weekend tourism. Natural and anthropogenic localities of South-eastern Serbia belong to the realms of turist region of Vlasina and Krajište. And as natural tourist values we can mention: Grdelička gorge, mountains Čemernik, Kukavica, Besna Kobila, Vardenik, Vlasina and Kozjak.

Folk cotumes of the Central Balkan Region

Could be found in central, eastern and southern parts of Serbia, Kosovo and Metohija and Raška. Throughout that wide region, folk costumes were characterized by a blend of farmers' and cattlebreeders' garments and a combination of eastern and western cultural influences. Here, we can notice not only traces of Old Slavic, Balkan and ancient cultures, but also Byzantine and Serbian medieval elements, as well as Turkish - Oriental and, later, West European cultural layers.

Up to the first decades of the 20th century, some common characteristics of clothing were presents: almost the same home-made materials like: hemp, linen and cotton cloth, white and, later, brown stuff, wollen and cotton fabrics, often with stripes woven in and small geometrical ornaments, as well as raw and tanned leather. Among various  male and especially female costumes typical of this area, there are some which were present in the wider Balkan region (although they had some special features), and some which could be found only in this Serb-populated area. For example, some parts of the female costume: the hairpiece (trvelji), a widespread open skirt ( zaprega, bojče, futa, vutara), as well as the uncut dress of Old Slavic origin (sukno).

In all parts of The Central Balkan Region both male and female costume included a linnen shirt in the shape of a straight cut tunic with sleeves, which was used both as an undergarment and overgarment. Its width was usually average with one or two wedge-shaped expansions at the sides, expect in the areas of Raška, Kosovo and Metohija where it developed into a wide, bell-shaped garment with several, or, in bridal clothes, as many as twenty wedges.

Kosovska Mitrovica - Vučitrn

Kosovska mitrovica - Vučitrn

The shirt was made of hemp, linen or cotton cloth. It consisted of the front part and the back part (stan) with a chest opening and collar, single or double wedges on both sides which connected and expanded the stan and wide long sleeves fastened to it at the shoulders. As for the length they usually reached the shins and sometimes were even longer. The seams and the hem were embroidered with multi-coloured woollen yarn, silver thread, glitter or beads. the ornaments on the hem are called provozi. The sleeves were adorned with embroidered ornaments and cotton tasseles with beads. Depending on the ornaments the shirts had different names: tri šare (three ornaments), rogonja (horns), zmijanka (snakes), zlatnica (gold) and đurđevanka which was richly embroidered with a lot of glitter and was used as a wedding dress. Many garments had red and white cotton tasseles (bućke) adorned with glitter and breads or lace.