The costume from Elhovo, impressive with its rich multicolored embroidery, worn by women in the valley downstream of the Tundzha, West Strandzha and Eastern Sakar rivers before the Liberation and in the first few decades after, is one of the most beautiful traditional women's costumes in Bulgaria. The charm and uniqueness of the costume are determined by the original ornamentation of the main elements of the costume -mdress, shirt, apron, belt, outerwear, depending on the season. There are two main varieties in the real Elhovo costume ancient Elhovo sukman costume and modern Elhovo sukman costume. In the old Elhovo sukman costume, the sukman has a beautiful and densely embroidered embroidery around the armpit, known as "gazi". Under the dress she puts on a shirt, ornamented with a colorful stripe on the hem. The dress is stocked with a wide belt with diagonally arranged multicolored stripes and an apron, with densely embroidered and rich ornamental decoration in a variety of colors, with geometric or floral motifs - the so-called "thick apron". The beauty of the costume is complemented by various metal and beaded jewelry. The modern Elhovo cloth costume existed from the 1930s to the 1950s. In it the dress has much narrower skirts, the variety of colors and motifs in its decoration is less. The gases of the sukman also have a more uniform embroidery decoration, executed mainly in yellow, most often called "yellow gases". Silk, embroidered sleeves sewn to a cloth vest are worn with the dress. "Dense presses" are replaced by "red", which in the middle and edges are sewn with colorful geometric or floral motifs. In all its splendor, all varieties of the Elhovo cloth costume can be seen in the exhibition and in the collection of the Ethnographic and Archaeological Museum - Elhovo. They are masterpieces of women's embroidery and rich imagination, through which nature and life as a microcosm are transformed into a perfect harmony of colors and colors, causing both national pride and self-confidence in every Bulgarian and admiration and admiration for foreigners.
Hristo Hristov - Director of the Ethnographic and Archaeological Museum - Elhovo
"Elhovo Magic ”- calendar for 2017 fascinates with the richness of embroidered jewelry worn by women in the valley downstream of the Tundzha, West Strandzha and Eastern Sakar rivers before the Liberation and in the first few decades after. This is one of the most beautiful traditional women's costumes in Bulgaria, so we paid special attention to this and made a separate calendar only with costumes from this region. Each of the costumes is authentic and is stored in the archives of the Ethnographic and Archaeological Museum in Elhovo. We thank the team from the museum, who was inseparable from us in this project with their knowledge and heart: Hristo Hristov - director, Dobrinka Kostova - Ch. curator and Milena Valeva - curator. Thank you friends! But what would be a beautiful dress without the beauty of the young girl who wears it. The girls in this calendar, not only shine with youth and beauty, they illuminate each leaf with the magic of their smiles. Thank you girls: Bianka Dimova, Boyana Nikolova, Ivelina Bahchevanova, Simona Todorova, Dona Nesheva, Veselina Baltova. The calendar contains 8 sheets, two of which are front and back cover, size 32x52 cm, printed on glossy paper, with a crystal astrolon on the cover. The calendar allows branding with a company logo.
