Seeing the word in the title written down in English makes me wonder how many of you know what it means. I know the word in Hungarian, in Romanian as well, but have never used it in English. Now, knowing what the word means might not mean you know what it meant in my country centuries ago.
(I note it in parentheses, this may very well be still a thing in African countries as I've read blogs about it.)
So back to the story, a century ago or so, every girl had to have dowry, in order to get married. Nobles and the wealthy had no problem, but the poor had to suffer as they had to accept whoever made an offer. Love was out of the question, so parents chose for their children and most of the times the marriage was more a business transaction and alliance to consolidate and grow their wealth and social status.
This exhibition was about the dowry of the Banatians, Banat being a geographical and historical region of Romania. There were different costumes exhibited, not only the young ladies' costumes, but men's too as it's the dowry of the people of the Banat region. Stepping into the room and having a look around already took you back to the past century.
Family from the Timiș district, from the beginning of the 20th century. These were festive clothes, worn only at special occasions and on Sunday. Back then people had Sunday wear. For me they look more like brothers to be honest, the age gap is not big enough to be parents and son, but who knows. At the end of the day it doesn't matter as what's important here is the costumes.
Two kids from the same region, photo taken in 1936. These costumes have a decorative role today, people only wear them for festivals and shows.
I have no knowledge about brides having the obligation to bring furniture in the marriage, but it could be. In any case, this wardrobe is from those times. It's a lovely hand painted wooden wardrobe.
Furniture specific to those times.
Unfortunately reflection ruined the photo, but it's a sample of what folk costumes looked like in those days.
To my dislike, the labels were placed on the floor this time and I choose not to kneel down each time to take a photo of the label, so now I have no idea what those labels said.
But I can show you a close up photo of this embroidered vest, to see the details. I doubt this is manual work, but it's still nice.
There was a time when all that embroidering had to be done manually and poor girls had to do it by themselves. Wealthy ladies had the privilege of ordering their clothes as they were able to pay for them. This is not manual work either by the way.
I tried to imagine myself wearing these clothes and am glad I don't have to.
Each region had and still has its own specific wear. There were times when each age category had it's own wear. In 2023, I see this as a very strict dress code and also as curtailment of personal freedom as you had no choice but respect it. Either you were wearing those clothes, or you were shunned by the society.
My eyes hurt just by looking at that bead embroidery. The belt and the apron are embroidered with beads and that is done manually.
I suppose apart from the dress code, there was a code of conduct that had to be respected and was strict too. Especially noble ladies were taught how to behave. Thank God I wasn't born back then.
Take a pick. Which one do you like and which one would you wear?
What would you do if you'd have to make a vest like this? Would you be able to embroider it manually? I have some experience and most likely could do it, but prefer not to 😁
This diadem is made of 36 coins and was used by ladies, to show wealth.
Looks like a purse but I'm not sure it is a purse.
These accessories were of great value.
All in all it was an interesting exhibition and I saw some costumes that were unknown to me. There are so many regions and so many types of costumes, that you can see something new each time.
Have you ever seen folk costumes like this, or similar ones? Do you have a favorite? Let me know in a comment if you do.
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The embroidery is very beautiful. The clothes worn by men are somewhat similar to our native tribes in our country that have Muslim inheritance. Life before us was really hard, the inherent level of the people in the society is so prevalent.if you are rich and aristocrat they are the lucky one's while the poor are like slaves.
We are lucky we live during this time and era where we are free to exercise our right. Our judicial system is in place and women now have value and position in the society and the government our voices are now heard unlike before. Their roles are just in the house taking care of the children.
I'm glad to hear you have similar clothing there.
Indeed, I agree with you, we are lucky to live now and not centuries ago as women were treated like objects and justice was done by money.
I am very impressed with the theme of the exhibition in your area, by displaying some traditional wedding dresses in your area which I think are very beautiful with several motifs on the vest, to be honest this is the first time I have seen a dress like this and what caught my attention the most was the dress the one in your last photo looks like I'm going to use it 😍, I admit that all regions have their own dowries and traditional clothes, just like in my area you can say that in Indonesia the most expensive dowry is for girls (aceh) using gold and the average if summed with the Indonesian currency is about twenty five million people at the bottom, and this custom has been in effect since ancient times and is still being carried out throughout aceh, thank you for sharing some of the customs of wedding dress there are so beautiful
I'm not happy to hear what's going on in your country as that's not in line with human rights but I still hope the custom will change soon. This type of practice is similar to selling people.
These folk dresses are absolutely incredible. Can you imagine how long this kind of embroidery would take by hand? Months if not longer. All the fine detail and I know that there are still places in the world where that cut out embroidery is also still done by hand.
I knew about dowdry's but didn't know much about them in Romania.
My mom used to collect hand embroidered waist coats from all around the world, these reminded me of them.
You are right, months if not longer as daylight was short, they had other things to do as everything was done manually.
That's the real thing. Machine embroidery is appreciated as much. Obviously when it comes to costs, handmade costs a fortune.
You mom had a nice and interesting hobby :)
Woah! Is this really what dowry means? Women pay the bride price here. I heard about it first in Bridgerton but I didn't think anything of it. We should stop using the word dowry then, cause it's the man "paying" another man to take his daughter away in marriage.
🇳🇬
PS: Those outfits are not bad at all. Love the cultural feel of looking at them. At least they aren't as bulky and tight as the ones the English used to wear. They look free and comfy.
I hope things are going to change over there too as we live in the 21st century. We don't have such thing here anymore, for decades now.
Each country, each region has it's own folk costumes. Comfy? I wouldn't go that far, but I suppose people got used to it.
Oh shoot! I meant to say men pay the price to take the women away... but I see you already made your point though. "Dowries" should be abolished. I doubt it'll ever be here though, it's our culture, and boy do Africans hold culture to very very high esteems. I mean everyone does or used to but are open to change but not us. Not typical Nigerians. Not while our old are still there. The only way it's going away is if only the Gen Z are put in charge and generations from the millennial and older are wiped out. Haha.
Oh well. I dunno. Over here, the clothes we used to put on were even more comfy than the suits and stuff we wear these days in the name of fashion.
I've just got a post idea. I'll tag you so you can see what we used to wear.
@erikah, am I the sole individual who finds sleep elusive in the presence of these hauntingly captivating black and white photographs, each a keeper of souls?
These photos are not black and white, but I'm glad you like them :)
Talking about these creepy fellas! lol
Wonderful, this knowledge that I did not know, I loved reading you and your photos that portray the essence of the past, excellent work, it is always a pleasure to learn traditions
I'm happy to hear that @davidsuarezms.
I found every clothes elegant and I might want it to use that as a custom for a party but maybe not in my country it’s really hot here and I might sweat too much
with that 😄😍.
These are definitely not for partying and definitely not for hot countries :)
Hello dear friend @erikah good day
Each country has its own culture regarding the marriage agreement, I appreciate that you let us know what the customs are like in this country, here in Argentina both the man and the woman can choose the people who accompany them in their marriage.
I love these period costumes, they look great, I don't think I could make one with my own hands, it looks very complicated
Beautiful shots, I appreciate you sharing, also, all the history about them
Hi @jlufer!
Same in my country. What I wrote in my post was centuries ago. Times have changed since then.
Luckily, this type of behavior has gone down in history, but unfortunately, there are places where this type of behavior is still in force, an example of this is the gypsy community, here in my province of Corrientes Argentina, there are gypsies who charge the dowry for daughters marriage. I loved the topics that you have shared dear friend @erikah
I just saw this kind of costume
Ok.
These photos are incredible, they are full of culture. I am struck by what you say about the ornaments, with hand sewn nuggets, this must have been a weeks work, it pays to achieve such an elegant costume.
Beautiful costumes, which are now worn on special occasions and in ancient years were the companions of men and women in the country of Romania.
You're right, old folk costumes mean culture.
Months or years as they had no electricity, days were short and everything was done manually.
Seeing this is making me realize more that we have different cultures in the world
The pictures or potraits look so beautiful and culture wise
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It is important indeed and it's also important to know history.