Pregledni rad
Man's clothing in the Drava-basin Baranya in the first half of the 20th century
Krunoslav Šokac
Sažetak
The exhibited items indicate some basic features of
man’s clothing in the Drava-basin Baranya in the first half
of the 20th century. That is the period when šokačko ruvo
(the Šokac clothes) were worn, which was platnene gaće
(linen trousers) and rubina (shirt) and in more solemn variants
pregač (apron) and prosluk (vest). In the existing
literature and in collected photographs the most frequent
is the solemn folk costume that is for the circumstances
the main topic of the field research work and this paper.
There is one specific Baranya feature in solemn man’s folk
costumes and that is that men wore clothes items identical
to those worn by women. It is a sort of apron (svilenac, i.e.
vunenac) and knitted socks. Baranya man’s folk clothes are
specific for shirts i.e. the way the sleeves are ornamented.
In this detail man’s folk costumes are close to those worn
by women. Ornaments on sleeves of man’s shirts do not fall
behind those worn by women either in sort or in amount of
decoration.
The first half of the 20th century is a period when folk
costumes are at their peak of making, variety, ornateness,
art colours and harmony.
At the same time it is the period when this very folk
costumes are gradually abandoned and replaced by clothing
items with obvious town fashion influence.
These modified clothing items adapted to village taste
(kašmirke košulje, lače- shirts and trousers) would finally
be replaced by town style clothing (see: Fig. 19 and 20).
First to abandon folk costumes were men and this tentatively
in several phases. These phases cannot be precisely separated
in time. They should be taken not as a time category
but as a process of changing folk clothing by introducing
new clothing items. This process took place in the first half
of the 20th century and intensified after 1930. There were
certain patterns of combining some clothing items (rubinalinen
shirt would never be worn with ready-made trousers).
In the first «phase» they changed rubina (linen shirts)
for kašmirska rubina (a shirt) that was worn with linen trousers
(gaće) (see: Fig. 1), and then in the second «phase»
the linen trousers (gaće) were changed for bought trousers
(lače) (see: Fig. 23). Finally the third and the last «phase»
was abandoning this sort of transitional variant of clothing
(lače and košulja) trousers and shirt changing to suits of
urban style cut (see: Fig. 19 and 20).
Suits that can be seen in some photos were bought at
the fairs. They consisted of trousers, a vest and a jacket
(lače, prosluk and bekeš). These suits were sewn of dark
blue or brown suiting material. They were of a single colour
but also with white pattern- «checked or pinstriped».
Shirts had been rarely bought. They had been sewn of flannel
by female tailoresses in villages. Hats were worn with
this suits and instead of «poša» (collar) ties were worn.
Some significant features and issues referring to man’s
clothing in the Drava-basin Baranya in the first half of the
20th century should be noted. Having examined the literature
some quantitative and qualitative disadvatages could
be recognized. Besides being scarce the papers dealing
with man’s folk costumes remained neglected in comparison
to those dealing with traditional female clothing. The
least attention was paid to children’s clothing.
The field research results and data on male children
clothing and man’s clothing in the Drava-basin Baranya
presented in this paper shall at least partially contribute to
the existing literature and published materials on this topic
so far. Herewith I consider some specific features of male
children’s shirts some details in male folk costumes (decorating
hats, money or watches as accessories etc.) and mentioned
differences within the Drava-basin group (the way of
folding the trousers in the village of Luč i.e in Šumarina). I
would certainly like to emphasize clothing items common
to man’s and female dressing. These were pregačica (small
apron) called svilenac and čorape (knitted socks). Another
reason for additional research of folk costumes and clothing
of the Drava-basin Baranya for its specific features
is certainly similar way of decorating the sleeves of man’s
and female shirts (rubina) and the occurrence of knitters of
knitted male socks.
Photographs taken in the first half of the 20th century
have been an important source of data for this paper. The
occasions for taking photographs were quite rare at that
time and were considered a «unique event» in life of the
Baranya village inhabitants. Photos that have been placed
at my disposal by kindness of some inhabitants of Baranjsko
Petrovo Selo had been taken in such rare occasions for
patron-saint’s day festivity (kermenc) or wedding ceremonies.
In Petarda (Baranjsko Petrovo Selo) kermenc was celebrated
on 10th August, St. Lovro’s day when photographers
would arrive to the village and take photos. The Šokac
people, male and female would dress in their solemn clothing
for this occasion. This is a certain disadvantage of this
paper since working, everyday, winter and other variants
of the Baranya male folk costumes have been neglected.
When it comes to photographs I would like to point out the
one taken in Osijek on 9 February 1936. The photo depicts
the members of the Branch «Seljačka sloga» («Peasant’s
Union») from Baranjsko Petrovo Selo dressed in solemn
folk costumes, the ones that were described a year later in
1937 by Pavao Sekereš, clerk to the Branch. Herewith the
influence and connection of the «Seljačka sloga» on the Baranya village could be observed as well as their efforts to
preserve traditional way of dressing. Seljačka sloga was «
a complex organisation aiming at introducing literacy to village
inhabitants, improving economy and hygiene, organizing
meetings, restoring folk costumes, establishing courts
of fair and just people, publishing poetry, drama, stories
and reviews of their members» (Kristić 2002/2003:89). By
describing the folk costumes of the Baranya Croats Sekereš
pointed out the variant that Sloga considered worthy
in their effort to preserve village folk costumes in original
form. Other photos in this paper originating from the same
period, i.e. the 30ies of the 20th century show that the Šokac
people in Baranya considered clothing other than folk
costumes to be solemn as well, i.e. clothing with obvious
town style influence. Sekereš mentioned this pointing out
that the beauty of «such colourful and ornated folk costumes
did not suit the beauty that delighted the town people».
The question arises if and to what extent Seljačka sloga had
managed to influence the Baranya village and the way its
people dressed?
The first half of the 20th century is the period marked
by increasing closer contacts between villages and towns.
This resulted, among other things, in acceptance of some
elements of town style dressing in village areas. Gradually,
the differences in the way of dressing that separated village
and town inhabitants disappeared, the Šokac people in
their Šokac folk costumes from the inhabitants in towns
and cities. The aim of the paper has been to point out the
changes and form a clear picture of man’s clothing in the
Drava-basin Baranya in the first half of the 20th century
and to motivate further research for improving the already
mentioned disadvantages in this context.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
95655
URI
Datum izdavanja:
20.5.2010.
Posjeta: 3.338 *