Used until the middle of the twentieth century
Casual costume for an elderly woman, used until the middle of the twentieth century.
It consists of a white shirt with an undecorated bosom and decoration on the wide sleeves with “zapeski - stars” and hand-knitted lace. It is no coincidence that the shirt has no decoration on the bosom, because the woman has already given birth and does not need protection. The decoration on the sleeves is geometric, not a blooming color waiting to be torn off. It should be emphasized that the Bulgarian woman also wants to be beautiful in work clothes.
She wears a dark home-woven woolen cloth. The upper part is on the body, with a deep sharp axillary incision and a finely pleated skirt.
It is belted with “futa”, woven in vertical lines in red and blue on a black base, with side stripes of flowers. The belt is long, woven on a loom without a hill, with colorful ornaments, called “lashnik”, wrapped several times around the waist. In the same way, connections are made for the aprons, which are colored, because the base is multicolored and different geometric ornaments are obtained during the making. Apart from being functional, they also have a decorative significance, because in Razlog buckles cannot be worn by unmarried young women.
The feet are shoed with black socks and moccasins.
The head is covered with a thin purple veil - "kavrak", and for greater representation above is placed “kushak” or a woolen cloth in a dark color. The metal decoration is only made of earrings - a silver plate with a ring.
Such is the work clothes of women who have already given birth or of women over the age of 40. At work or in everyday life at home, these women do not wear jewelry because there is no one to show off and protect their body, because they have already given birth to their children.
Maria Varsanova from Razlog put on the costume.
The costume is owned by a family from 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.