Albanian woman's head-band detail

A woman's head-band. Rectangular in shape with one pointed end, the other end raised and stiffened with paper (?). A deep pink cotton ground fabric is decorated with crescents, starts, birds and snakes, worked with couched gold- and silver-coloured metal-wrapped thread and metal strip, two rows of couched crochet made of gold-coloured metal wrapped thread, brass (?) sequins and a few purple and green sequins. The decoration is heavier towards the stiffened end. Most of the head-band has a pale pink cotton velvet trim at the edge. The reverse is lined with pink twill woven cotton cloth.

The band would be attached to the top of the head with the stiffened part and hang down to cover the plaited hair at the back. The pale pink velvet on trim round the edge is probably a later addition to strengthen the band. To make the tiny metal coils used for the crescents etc, metal wire is wound round a thin rod to form a cylinder, which is then cut into peices and the pieces sewn down, a technique known as purl work.
Edith Durham records seeing similar crescent symbols worn in the hair in her Albanian travels, and notes that they reflect pre-Christian, Pre-Muslim beliefs. In 'High Albania and its Customs' (London 1908) she writes:
"The Christian married women of Maltsia e madhe wear a crescent of silver filagree or of gold braid on their caps. They vow and declare that this has nothing to do with the Turk : " It is our custom. We have always done it. You cannot live long with the up-country tribesman without finding that the religion he professes is the merest surface veneer. He is guided for the most part by mysterious superstitions and beliefs hidden in the recesses of his soul, and he cares no jot for priest or hodja when their teaching runs counter to his own Albanian ideas as to the fitness of things."
And in 'High Albania' (London 1909, p. 51), with reference to the people of Skreli in Northern Albania, she writes:
"[...]On the head is a flat black cap on the crown of which is sewn a crescent, or a double crescent, of silver-gilt filagree. Or a similar design is worked in gold thread. This crescent the Christian women say they have always worn, and that it is not Turkish. In this they are probably correct. The crescent and sun are very commonly tattooed together with the cross on all these Christian tribes-folk, men and women. This seems to be the remnant of some old pre-Christian belief not connected with Mahomedanism at all."
Earlier, in 'The Burden of the Balkans' (London 1905, Chapter IX, p. 243) she had written about pagan beliefs:
"In the face of a common foe, Moslem and Christian Albania unite. Some nations have a genius for religion. The Albanians, as a race, are singularly devoid of it. Their Mohammedanism and their Christianity sits but lightly upon them, and in his heart the wild mountaineer is swayed more by unwritten beliefs that date from the world's well-springs. Of the primitive paganism of the land little is known, and I have failed to learn what man or men converted this very conservative people to Christianity."
The crescent is thought to be a pagan symbol of fertility.
(the above references from Edith Duraham kindly supplied by Gordon Vlorë)