Costume of Viana scarf

Fringed scarf made of synthetic fabric, printed with floral patterns. Used as one of the essential components of the "Costume from Viana", or "Woman of the region of Minho" traditional costume.

This type of scarf is also known locally as "Austrian scarf" for it used to be imported from that country.

However, its origin can be traced to the bicentennial industrial production of decorated scarves from Pavlovo Posad, on the outskirts of Moscow.

Originally made of wool, these imported scarves were adopted in the second half of the 19th century as a luxury adornment.

In order to fill the scarce and expensive supply of the original wool scarves, in the second half of the twentieth century scarves made of synthetic fabric began to be made locally, a production from which resulted the dissemination and the fixation of the flower patterns used until present day.

The item was bought in the 1980s in a shop in Viana do Castelo