Bride's costume from Galičnik

Galičnik weddings have traditionally been held around St Peter's Day (late June or early July). Due to the seasonal work habits of the men who were away from the village for months at a time, several weddings were often held at once.

This ensemble has ten separate elements. A jacket, waistcoat and outer coat create the triple opening with gold braid and buttons.

The fringed sleeves belong to a long chemise worn between the jacket and the outer coat. Red symbolised marriage, while the layers, all amuletic, were so hot that brides often fainted.

Text from Eth Doc 1892, no. 85e: 'A long coat, a 'klasenik guvealski'; an inspection garment first used at the wedding. Made by tailors from home produced white woollen cloth made by the women and felted by the men on a 'roughing' machine. There is a full length back panel, 'plecti', and two front panels, 'poli'. A triangular panel folded vertically, 'kligne', joins the two main panels and the garment overlaps the front bottom. The back of the armhole has a long strip of cloth inserted at right angles, 'rokavice' or 'patkavici', which were at one time full sleeves. The arm holes are trimmed with red and black military braid. The upper front openings are faced with thin dark plum felt lavishly ornamented with gold braid and thread. A strip of gold braid trims the collar edge and joins another three, so that one strip edges the inner edge and is separated by a row of twenty silver and gold filigree buttons from another four joined by three horizontally from the bottom of the armhole. There is ornamentation above and below these strips in gilt wire and some green cotton motifs which include the vine, 'loza', and chains, 'sindžati', bands, 'polišta', and amulets, 'moskare'. The opposite panel is identical. The inner edges down to the edge of the garment are trimmed with red and black military braid. There are two sewn up vents at the bottom of the back panel and this and the bottom hem are decorated with rows of red, black and brown military braid and innermost rows of embroidery in red, green and brown. There are also thirty-one twig, 'pulajka', motifs. There is a small pocket on the right side as worn. The purchase of so much expensive material was no doubt made possible by the money earned by the men when working abroad. They were known as 'pečelbari', and returned as a group to take part in mass weddings which were held on the same day, and in which each family moved around the village in procession, performing strictly ordered rituals. The Mijaks, a matriarchal society, are of Albanian descent. Variations of the costume as a whole are found outside the Mijak tribal area.
Religion: Macedonian Orthodox.'For other parts of this attire see: 127: jacket; 128: shirt; 129: bridal sleeves; 130: waistcoat; 132: upper sash; [135: socks;] 136: silver buckle; 137: head decoration; 138: coin chain.

Information supplementary to Eth Doc:
For the Galicnik woman's bridal costume, see 'The National Dresses of Macedonia', Ethnographic Museum, Skopje 1963, pls. 22-26. See also Barber, E J W 1999, 'On the Antiquity of East European Bridal Clothing', in Welters (ed.), Folk Dress in Europe and Anatolia: 13 - 31.Galičnik weddings have traditionally been held around St Peter's Day (late June or early July). Due to the seasonal work habits of the men who were regularly away from the village for months at a time, several weddings were often held at once. The ceremony traditionally lasted four days. First a torchlight procession took the bride to fetch water for the ritual washing before the wedding. On the second day the bride would don her wedding clothes for the journey on horseback to her father-in-law's house. The marriage took place on the third day and the groom's family held feasts on the second and fourth days. A full Galičnik wedding ceremony and costume of the 1920s is described by Olive Lodge in 'Serbian Wedding Customs: St Peter's Day in Galičnik', The Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 13, no. 39 (April. 1935), pp. 650-73.
A condensed version of the costume descriptions appears in her 'Peasant Life in Yugoslavia', London 1942, pp. 275-7. For a late 19th century illustration of a Mijak bride, see G. Zdravev, 'Macedonian Folk Costumes I', Skopje 1991, col. pl. 14.Text from O. Lodge 1935: 'Women's Clothes.—The people of Galicnik are very proud of their national costume, so much so that girls, whose families have recently lived in towns where they wear ordinary European clothes, if they should marry and return to Galicnik, always as a matter of course assume the national dress.
A married woman's clothes consist first of all of a vest bought in shops. Over this is worn a short coat (mintari) with long sleeves, made of a thick hand-woven cotton or hemp material, with a row of silver buttons down each side of the front, and gold embroidery on the sleeves, cuffs, and front part. Next a long chemise-frock (kosulja) with elbow-length sleeves, very heavily stitched, chiefly in magenta and red designs, with the addition of a little black and white, and ending in a long fringe, red and gold for a bride, otherwise mostly magenta and red. There is a little red embroidery round the bottom, mixed with black and gold. Over this again appears a sleeveless waistcoat (jelek), sometimes made of magenta-dyed material or bought stuff, or of thick hand-woven cotton or hemp material, embroidered down the front in red and gold, with flecks of darker red and magenta, having a row of silver buttons down each side as far as the waist-opening. It is not fastened, being drawn in at the waist. The next layer is the long white coat (klasenik), embroi¬dered in gold down the front, and having a row of silver buttons down each side, like the jelek. Some red embroidery with black and red lines in it runs round the hem, most elaborate at the back and front. There is a largish armhole, whence issues at the back a very narrow strip of sleeve, which is always tucked into the belt. Then the plain striped hand-woven belt (vrfce) goes twice round the waist. Over this is worn a dark red or magenta fringed belt (pojaiz), which is wound two or three times round the waist. Its long red or magenta fringes hang down over the hips, to make the clothes and apron stand out well. Then comes the apron (bofde)—usually two are worn. They are woven by hand, of red, magenta, or more usually of pale brown wool in patterns or stripes. Over this is arranged a long silk scarf, either white or of some pale colour with a long silk fringe, worn like an apron. It is always bought. Over all these a metal belt, with a long buckle or clasp, is always placed. The pocket handkerchief is tucked in this. A young wife of from one to six years' standing wears, in addition, a heavy silver or metal belt with looped chains hanging down in front (nitalka), to which are attached big silver coins as large as crown pieces. I frequently saw such silver coins, of Maria Theresa, dated 1780. The belt is hooked into the dress in four places. A gold chain made out of Turkish lire and other gold coins is hung like a mayor's chain round the neck and hooked into the dress at the back. A white scarf is tied round the head, over which is thrown a red or magenta, or more rarely a brown, scarf-square. The scarf-square is bought, and always has a wide border with patterns of printed pink roses on it. During the first year a newly-made bride wears on high occasions a red net cap with a magenta and gold fringe, over her white head-scarf. The clothes worn by girls are always dark-coloured, usually magenta, and are much less ornate.'Tweny years later, on their visit to Galicnik in 1954, the anthropologists Joel and Barbara Halpern noted the use of 'the traditional one hundred silver filigree buttons' on the women's costumes (Joel M. Nalpern and Barbara K. Halpern, 'Letters from Macedonia', EthnoAnthropoZoom (2003). Available at: https://works.bepress.com/joel_halpern/8/
This is borne out by the costume catalogued here: the jacket with long sleeves (Eu1997,04.127) has a single row of 20 buttons on the right side as worn, fastened with loops; the sleeveless under waistcoat (1997,04.130) has 20 pairs of buttons, making 40 in all, as does the long waistcoat (1997,04.131), making exactly 100 in total. For images of the bride on horseback en route to her new home, see J. Ribnikar, 'Yugoslavia - One Long Summer', Ljubljana 1964, p. 90-91, and for a woman in full Galicnik costume, p. 86.