The traditional clothing of the Lemkos, despite having common features, quite clearly differed from that of their neighbors. There are three main varieties of Lemko costume: western (from Poprad to Zdynia and Wisłoka), middle (from the upper Wisłoka to the springs of Wisłok) and eastern (to the catchment area of Osława and Osławica).
Men wore white linen shirts - soroczki, reaching slightly below the hips (tucked into trousers). On the border of the central and western Lemkos regions (Lipna, Nieznajowa), shirts with a slit on the back were worn, tied at the nape of the neck with a colored ribbon (it was a source of mockery and anecdotes from the neighbors). In summer, the Lemkos wore nohałky - linen trousers, in winter - woolen from white or brown homespun, the so-called chołoszni or chołoś. They had buttresses over their groins with a narrow trim of blue or red woolen string. The seams were marked in a similar way (along the legs and across the buttocks). The outer garment consisted of a white or dark woolen vest called a lajbyk, a boat or a drushlak, fastened at the front with stripes of a woven woolen string. In the last century, in the western Lemko region, blue, black or navy blue factory cloths in the middle, blue ones in the Osława valley were worn. There were also boats richly decorated with shiny buttons or embroidery. Short, sleeveless sheepskin coats were also worn. Hunia was placed on the boat. It was a white or dark jacket. It reached mid-thighs, had two pockets in the front, slits at the back - lobed. Sometimes, instead of them, hides were made on the sides - small, protruding folds. The edges of the black swords were hemmed with red ribbon and the white ones with black. Clasps were made in the same colors. Huna was decorated at the end of the sleeve with a string in the so-called Donkey back. In royal villages (the valley of the Osława and the upper Wisłok), this ornament was lined with red cloth, which the locals treated as a "royal crown". Czuha (in the eastern Lemko region - czuhania), i.e. a wide coat made of brown homespun cloth, was thrown over the shoulders like a cloak. The sleeves were mostly sewn together and served as spacious pockets. There was a large collar on the back that could be used as a hood in bad weather. In the basin of Sękówka and the upper Ropa (western Lemko region), chuhas with a large, rectangular collar were worn, and on it and on the sleeves there were two or three woven stripes finished with white or black fringes, the so-called toroky. Hence, the inhabitants of these parts were called Torokary. In the central Lemko region (up to the upper Wisłok), the collar of the czucha resembled a cloak with lapels. On the back there was only one white stripe at the bottom and long white straps. Hence, the inhabitants of the central Lemko region were called świcaky. On the border of the western and eastern Lemkos regions (the villages of Bednarka, Wapienne, Rozdziele, Wola Cekińska), the collars were in the shape of a short cape covering the breasts and part of the back. The edges were trimmed with white string arranged in puppies or tits (loops). These Lemkos were called Pupkary or Cycaky. In the eastern Lemko region, czuchy was similar to that of Świcak. They only differed in brown, zigzag stitching (krywulka) on a white belt. In the villages of the so-called In the "Muszyna end" long guna (forgotten in other parts of the Lemkos region) were worn - dolha hunia z hide (long gunia with wings). It had the form of a coat, made of white or brown homespun cloth. In winter, knee-length sheepskin coats were worn. The legs were wrapped in onucks, on which kyrpci were worn. A wide belt called czeres (purse), fastened with three or four buckles. It had a pocket for a pipe, tobacco and money. Uhersky hats with folded rims (up) were also worn. Hats have undergone various changes in fashion, and their disappearance was caused by the creation of the Polish-Czech border. In summer, the Lemkos put on straw hats they made, and in winter - sheep's hats.
In the west, Lemkins wore opelas in women's attire in the west - shirts crinkled around the neck and cuffs, decorated with lace, velvet corsets with delicate embroidery. In the central Lemko region, corsets were red, green or blue decorated with crepes. Married women wore business cards or kaftanyky - sweatshirts cut out at the waist. They also wore brown hunks with thongs trimmed with string, and in winter - a sheepskin coat. Kabats (skirts) were made of densely crinkled, homespun or factory linen. Like the aprons, they were hand-printed in white, blue and navy blue patterns, with sewn-on ribbons and trails.
In the eastern Lemko region (Komańcza and its vicinity), women wore corsets made of cloth in colors ranging from blue to navy blue and skirts printed in two-color star patterns. Most likely, the material was decorated in a printing house located in Wola Michowa and Maniów. There were workshops run mainly by Jews, where homework was printed. Printed homespun fabrics were also purchased at fairs from merchants from the "Hungarian side". Women from the Osława river wore gray half-wool skirts called "Farbianki" or "Farbianky". Only in the second half of the nineteenth century, homespun canvases, printed directly, appeared. The girls wore a headdress around their necks - wide ribbons embroidered with flowers. Married women put tight bonnets on their heads, and on them a headscarf (in the west, woolen, factory-made, most often red). In the central Lemko region, a large, square, linen scarf was used - "wełyki facłyk". Tied and tied under a corset or gunia, it reached below the buttocks. The bottom of the scarf was embroidered with a floral motif in red. There was also used a "small facełku" which only reached the middle of the back. Older women, instead of factory scarves, wore a tablecloth over their shoulders, reaching below the knees. On their feet they wore kyrpci or - during the festival of skrini - (boots with uppers) or saffiano.
The Lemko dress was subject to various influences. One can find there general Carpathian elements, but also influences from the west and the north through the Polish population and from the south, the sources of which can be found in commercial and craft towns on the "Hungarian side".
From the detailed interview given by Daria Boiwka, who, together with her husband Stefan for many years, collected artifacts of material culture, we learn about costumes from Komańcza and the surrounding area. The skirts were not pressed, but collected by hand in the so-called pincers. "Collected by hand in this way on the table in three - one from this side, the other from the top, the third on the tabs ...". "You sewed tiny pleats and that was sewn - a hem ..." then sprinkled water and gathered them in three and rolled them up [without ironing]. The skirt from Komańcza had the so-called "division". It consisted of two parts. The front of the skirt always had a "foreign front". It was hiding under the apron, and it was because “if she was slim, she could have skirts around her, this front was only worn under the apron. If she was later a woman, was thicker, or was pregnant, then she let it go on this baby carriage. And it was called podilok. So the two parts of the skirt were divided. Skirts from Austrian times - sewn by hand - with thread spun on the spindle. And all these sewings are cut from fabric and sewn on both sides, but the dyed elements are in natural colors. Such material was imported either from Hungary or Slovakia. It is not printed here, it is an original print [flowers] on the fabric. As proof that it is such an old skirt there is a pleat woven on looms, there is an original Austro-Hungarian button next to the pleat. There is still a selvedge here. "The selvedge was used to gird the apron and skirt, and to cover the ties. It was two-sided, and depending on the wealth of the woman, it was narrower or wider. Skirts in the local language were called litnyk (summer skirt) or coloring. It was spidnicia for the winter. Handkerchiefs were worn with thin or colored, thicker woolen handkerchiefs, called "Tibetan handkerchiefs". They were imported from Slovakia or from Podolia. The embroideries were made independently. They differed depending on which woman was more gifted. "For example, male funnels were decorated with a fir branch called kosyć - male. Women's funnels were decorated with flowers and butterflies ”.
Wealthy Komanian women wore real beads, sometimes they had crosses on their pearls. They also wore covers made of tiny beads. “The colors of the krywulki were red, there was a viburnum color, there was a coral color, there was a red color that fell into a claret. They were all kinds of covers. And whether there is the left side or the right side, it is the same. And the beads were very expensive, the string of beads cost fifty cents. The fifty-penny man worked all day. Each one tie, fastening, whether at the neck or at the sleeve, was knitted with a buttonhole and was tied with a red, colored or orange string or ribbon. It was called a hacznyk, or string.
Here, the colors were red like fire, green like forest - various shades, blue like the sky, yellow, orange like the sun and earth or brown or black. And because red was an ornament, a lot of red was used. The skirts were mostly all red, wedding skirts were green, blue, or coffee and milk. For the post, the skirt was black. If there was a housewife who could afford a separate skirt for a post, she would have a black skirt with embellishments on it. " Men's costumes were shirts made of fabric woven on looms, very modestly sewn at the neck and at the cuffs. Only stripes and pocket area were embroidered on the pants. The lampas was blue and red. Nohałky, i.e. pants, were made of linen and were not embroidered. Winter trousers made of cloth were called hołoszna.
Men wore blue vests (vests) embroidered in red, decorated with brass buttons. The Lemkos also sewed colored ribbons (red, blue, yellow and white) and lace on the scarves, trousers and aprons. The outer garments of the Lemkos consisted of siraky hens, hunie. Men also wore chuhanas - long coats made of homespun cloth with sleeves sewn in as pockets. “Men's vest, i.e. a boat sewn here, somewhere in the twelfth - fifteenth year, on a fabric woven on looms and only the purchase material applied to it, everything is hand-sewn. It could still be with Austrian uniforms. This is from Komańcza. The original blouse of my husband's great-grandmother from Komańcza from one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight - fifty-nine years, all on white fabric - factory-made, counted threads, hand-sewn with black thread for decoration, so-called French smooth seam. Because it was sewn once, then with one stitch, then put on and then sewn with the second stitch. This they called the "French boss". It is very delicately gathered at the sleeve, neat in the morning, a pleat sewn on, by hand, and embroidered with one thread of mouline on this pleat. It is crinkled after the threads, after the threads, how many threads there are deducted and crinkled. In the past, it was not ironed, it was not pressed, it was only counted as normal and it was caught with a needle. Just like here there is embroidery on this blouse, as if the current richelieu embroidery, but not cut out. This is embroidery called selabka here. " Special cross-stitch embroidery was used by the funnel. They were called nyzenka. It consists in the fact that "it is not that the cross on the cross is only dragged underneath." The shirts were called czachłyk. Women's blouses are knocked down. Wisłok called such shirts oplicze, and Komańcza, Jawornik, Dołżyca called them czachłyk. Men's shirts are soroczka. " On working days, people were not dressed in decorative costumes. They wore clothes woven from plain linen on looms. “And there were also skirts on a string, a twisted string and that was what they called a hook, and that hook was that skirt tied up. It was not fastened with buttons, but was tied with this string - either once or twice, depending on how it was approaching to her. which additionally were intricately finished. According to the tradition "if there was bread in the house and it was lying on the table, although no one was at home, when the guest came, he could use the bread. And if someone was in the house and there was no bread in it, a glass of water, a glass of milk, would have been offered. There was such hospitality here. You never put bread on an empty table, only on a tablecloth. And this is how tablecloths were called in Komańcza, but portok in Łupków ”.
The text comes from the study "INVENTORY OF CULTURAL RESOURCES OF THE BORDERLAND - THE ETHNOCARPATHIA PROJECT" realized by the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University for the District Museum in Rzeszów.
Author: Mrs. Marta Graban-Butryn .
Login
