Kosovo i Metohija

Kosovo i Metohija

Kosovo and Metohija are situated in the southwestern part of Serbia, between the borders with Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia in the South West and the regions of Stara Vlaška, Kopaonik, and Southern Serbia in the North West, North and North East. In the central part of the Kosovo Valley is the region's capital, Priština which has been inhabited for a very long time. The oldest traces of habitations in the region date from the Stone Age. Ulpiana, near Gračanica, was one of the biggest and most beautiful towns of the Roman province of Upper Maesia. For some time, Priština was the capital of Serbia. Serbian kings Milutin and Stefan Dečanski as well as the famous noblemen Stefan Lazarević and Vuk Branković had their castles in this town. The Turks occupied it in the 15th century and remained there for the nekt five hundred years.
Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia in the South West, South and South East and the regions of

The name Metohija was derived from the Greek word metoh, meaning monastery estate. The river Beli Drim flows through tih valley with its tributaries the Pećka Bistrica, the Dečanska Bistrica, the Prisrenska Bistrica, the Loćanska Bistrica, and the Kožnjarska Bistrica, characterized by clean, cold water.

National ensemble KOLO - Metohija

Sredačka župa

If a girl was of marriageable age or engaged to get married she wore two plaits near her cheeks (vitice, komare) with a parting in the middle. The hair was done in the following way: first, a parting was made on the top of the head, then the parted tufts of hair were plaited in full length next to the face, and then folded half-length, with the ends overlapping.

Until the end of the 19th century upper items of the male costume were made exclusively of white home-made stuff called klašnja and they were decorated with black woolen braids. At the beginning of the 20th century klašnja was replaced with stuff which was natural brown in colour. The traditional costume worn up to the beginning of The Second World War consisted of: košulja (shirt), preklopnik (wraparound garment), džemadan (waistcoat), koporan (overcoat), čašire (trousers), pojas (sash), haljina (undergarment), šubara (lambskin fur hat), čarape (socks) and opanci-oputnjaci (traditional footwear). Over the shirt made of hemp of linen cloth people wore a wraparound stuff garment (preklopnik), and a stuff overcoat (koporan) cut in a similar way, with elbow-length sleeves. The overcoat was a bit longer, ending below the waist.

National ensemble KOLO - Sredačka župa

 Sirinićka župa

Brides (in this region called mlanesta) - wore the same clothes as other young women, expect for a few distinctive elements which had cultic meaning. The head was covered with a small cap (vrste) adorned with old silver coins, from the forehead to the back of the head. Venačnik or prevez was also par of the forehead to the bridal costume. It was a simple, trapezoid-shaped scarf made of home-crafted red cloth. Woven with two threads, known as vajkar platno . The red surface was embroidered with silver threads, tiny brightly coloured glass beads (manistri), small metal rings (kositrice), multi-coloured buttons (koskičke). Designs and ornaments were rich on the whole surface. The most common ornaments were: floral (flowers, leaves, vine) and geometrical (circle, diamond, triangle square, spirals). Crosses of different shapes and sizes were also present. Every girl made her own prevez during the courtship. They made a few pieces so that they could wear them both on working days and on holidays. On working days they wore the simple, scarcely ornamented (veto), along with everyday clothes. On special occasions wealthy women wore the richly adorned one. The cut of all scarves (prevez) in this area was the same and they could be distinguished by embroidery and designs. Brides wore them every day, during the first year of their marriage, and women only on holidays. The chin strap used to fasten the scarf was called remiče. It was adorned with tiny glass beads (manistri).

Male costume - Woollen sash, dark in colour, 8-10 metres long and 25 cm across. It was wrapped over the trousers in summer and, in winter, over the wraparound overcoat or some other overgarment. In winter, men wore a long sleeveless stuff overgarment (white or dark), open at the front. It was an overgarment similar to zubun which went out of use very early. Much more common was the wide overcoat called gunj or zban with wide sleeves and a hood (jakulja) which hung down the back, consisting of two parts which could be joined together above the forehead to form a capuche.