Rusyn Costume and embroidery of the Medzilaborce District.

 

Hello all, 

A while back I did a series on Lemko and Rusyn costumes, but never finished. This is because the further east you go in Slovakia, the less information exists. I have recently acquired a book with some more information, so I decided to add another article. Much of the information I have was acquired from village websites in the area. One problem with this is that they will show galleries of photos of events which occurred in the village, but the performers are often from other villages, and they are generally not labelled. 

Medzilaborce District is in the north central part of Rusyn territory in Slovakia. 

It forms part of the traditional region of Zemplin. 

The costumes at the head of the article are from the villages of Habura - Габура, and Kalinov, Kalyniv - Калинів. I will give the names of the villages first in Slovak, and then in Rusyn.

Men's shirts are colorfully embroidered.

Habura - Габура

The folk costume of Habura is probably the best known of this district. The others are similar, the biggest difference being in the ornament of the bodice - vests of the women. 

The shirt is short sleeved, with polychrome embroidery, often in cross stitch. 

Long sleeves are not unknown. 

The vest is also embroidered, usually with a contrasting band of material at the waist. It is waist length, with no peplum or lappets. 

The skirt is pleated, of a solid color with a black band at the hem, and sometimes other stripes. The base color is usually yellow, red, or blue. 

The apron is often black with more numerous stripes. 

The Chepec [cap] of married women is worn over a bun high on the head, and is visible from the front rather like a crown. Unmarried women wear a similar headdress that is not closed on the back. 

Here we see a woman on the right wearing the high chepets with a kerchief over it, having just come out of Church. 

A few more images of this outfit. 

There is a performing group in the village which has decided to ornament the vests somewhat differently. 

And yet another interpretation.

A video showing a medley of two dances from this village, Krutak, and Kolomyjka.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfADfZcI0IQ

This video teaches you how to do the first of the two dances in the above video - Krutak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMPOXOrT_xA

Kalinov, Kalyniv - Калинів

This village lies east of Habura, and the costume is very similar except for the ornament on the vest. 

Čertižné, Chertyzhne - Чертижне

This village lies north of Habura, and I have already written an article showing various embroideries from it.

https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2013/12/embroidery-designs-from-rusyn-village.html

 Here are some images of the local performing group. 

 Medzilaborce, Midzhilabirtsji - Міджілабірцї

This town is the largest in the district. It lies south of Habura and Kalinov. The folk costume is again very similar, with different ornament on the vests. 

Ňagov, Niagiv - Няґів

This village lies slightly southeast of Medzilaborce. Here are some images of a Christmas celebration in the village. 

Krásny Brod, Krasnyj Brid - Красный Брід

This village lies southwest of Medzilaborce. I have only found one image from this village. 

Oľšinkov, Vil'shynkiv - Вільшынків

This village lies further east, still along the Slovak / Polish border. I have very few images from this village. 

From the next two villages I have only two embroidery designs each. 

Repejov, Repejiv - Репеїв

Rokytovce, Rokytivtsji - Рокытівцї

And that is all of the information that I have been able to find from this district. 

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative. I hope that this helps Rusyns who are looking for good information about their heritage. 

Roman K. 

email: rkozakand@aol.com 

Source Material:

Many of the images are from village websites.

Elena Sotakova, 'Vychod v Kroju', Preshov, 2021

Pavol Markovic, 'Ukrajinske L'udove Krizhikove Vyshivky Vychodneho Slovenska', Preshov, 1964

Viera Nosalova, 'Slovensky L'udovy Odev', Martin, 1983