Hello all,
Today I will return to Spain. I have found more materials, and am glad to offer more information on its rich culture.
Montehormoso is found in the northwest of the province of Cáceres, not far south of the border with Salamanca province, whose Charro costume I have already written about. It is part of the traditional region of Extremadura. Here is a closeup map of the region, You will find Montehermoso in the northwest.
This area is home to the Extremaduran language, a descendant of the Language of Leon, which has slowly been displaced by Castillian since those two kingdoms were joined in the 1300's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremaduran_language
This region is very rich in folklore. In the 1940's the costume was still in everyday use by most women, and is still retained for special occasions.The photo above is of a modern Folk-dance group, showing how the festive costume is usually worn today.
The most noticeable part of the costume is the Gorra, the straw bonnet. Straw hats, of course, are worn all over Europe and Asia, especially when outside in the sun, but the gorra of Montehermoso is exceptionally colorful, being decorated with straw braids, ribbons, colorful applique, buttons, pompoms and mirrors.
Although you will see the gorra worn as part of the festive costume today, this was not originally the case. It was a sunbonnet, and was only worn when working or traveling outside in the sun. We have photos taken in the 1940's that show this.
The gorra was worn by women from Montehermoso when selling or shopping in nearby towns, thus being immediately identifiable.
The gorra comes in three types. The one shown above in the color photo is the gorra galana. It is characterized by puffs of mulitcolored yarn and a mirror on the front of the crown. This is traditionally reserved for single girls.
The second is the gorra mora. This is still brightly colored and highly ornamented, but lacks the pompoms and mirror. This is the normal bonnet worn by married women.
The third is the gorra de viuda. This is worn in times of mourning and by widows. It is still highly ornamented, but the applique is restricted to black cloth.
The newer festive costume is shown in the first photo. The everyday kerchief tended to be plain black, but the festive kerchief is in bright colors, preferably of silk. There is a bodice with sleeves worn over the chemise. The sleeves are long, and the ends are folded back to make a cuff. This is faced with fancy cloth, and ornamented with ribbon and embroidery.
When a shawl was not worn, a dengue similar to that of Salamanca was worn over the shoulders, around the waist and tied. In this area it is called esclavina. It may be plain black, it may have a colored edging, and for gala occasions a red ribbon was appliqued in a zigzag pattern a short distance from the edge.
Occasionally bought trim was used instead of the ribbon gathered into a zigzag.
For the newer festive costume, a chemise, petticoat and at least two wool skirts are worn. The skirts are laid out, pleated, tied, left to dry, and then the pleats are sewn together with a herringbone stitch in a couple of rows at the top of the skirt, as you can see in the above photo. A flat front panel is then sewn on, and the entire skirt has a number of tucks sewn into it not far from the bottom edge. The number of tucks varies from 4 to over 20. This results in the skirts standing away from the body and in being rather shorter than is usual for Spanish Folk costumes. For some reason the skirt in this area is called mantilla, likely a diminutive of manteo, the word used for the overskirt in old Leon to the north. Two ribbons are sewn on to use as ties. There is a facing in a contrasting color sewn to the inside of the hem.
The topmost skirt is black for everyday, and for holidays is traditionally mulberry colored. The underskirt is of a brighter color, but is sewn the same way.
In the older ceremonial costume the tucks were not made, which made the skirt longer. Fullness was achieved by wearing 6 or 7 such skirts, in a traditionally determined order of colors. You can see here the fine silk of the kerchief, as well.
For less important occasions a full gathered apron was worn. For festive wear the mandil was a single panel of cloth, with a ribbon sewn near the bottom edge. The ribbon is traditionally woven in stripes of blue and red. The top was folded over, and two more ribbons were sewn on as ties.
A loose pocket, the faltriquera is worn on the side, as it is in Salamanca. It is made of black or mulberry wool, and may be edged with applique. Formerly it was usually ornamented with cut loop or punch-needle embroidery, forming three dimensional flowers.
Today it may be embroidered in the same manner as the women's cuffs and men's lapels.
Medium blue stockings are worn for both everyday and festive wear. They are held up by garters made of the same ribbon which serves as ties for the skirts and aprons.
The knees were traditionally left bare.
Shoes may be plain black, or more or less ornamented depending on the occasion. Women would sometimes have the shoemaker cut out velvet or other cloth for the shoes, embroider the pieces and then have them assembled.
When in mourning or widowed, the costume is the same, except that the colors used are restricted to black, violet and dark blue.
The kerchief may be tied in many ways, but often it was just placed on the head, one or both sides folded back, and kept on, as one observer put it 'by force of personality'.
There is one more type of headgear which was worn for ceremonial and church occasions, when the gorra was considered inappropriate, and a kerchief insufficient. This is a mantle which was worn over the head. It is a half circle of black broadcloth, with a lining of challis along the front edge and on the top where it sits on the head. On the facing side it is edged with a deep border of velvet all around. It is stored folded, so there is a crease on top of the head.
The costume is finished off with locally made gold jewelry, especially earrings and a large cross.
One reason that the local costume tradition has survived so well in this locality is that in Montehermoso they do not have the tradition of burying people in their best traditional attire. They consider that to be a waste, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Just a few more images to close the article.
Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and informative.
Feel
free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually
cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also
gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also
accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or
other items for groups or individuals. I also choreograph and teach
folk dance.
Roman K.
Source material:
I would like to thank Marcos León Fernández for providing me with information and some of these photographs.
Ruth Matilda Anderson, 'Spanish Costume Extremadura', New York, 1951
M. de la Vega Garcia Ballestros et al, 'La Indumentaria Tradicional de Extremadura', Merida, 1998
Jose Ortiz Echague, 'Espana, Tipos y Trajes', Bilbao, 1953
Manuel Comba, 'Trajes Regionales Espanoles', Madrid, 1977
Cesar Justel, 'Espana, Trajes Regionales', Madrid, 1997
Lilla Fox, 'Folk Costumes of Southern Europe', Boston, 1972
R. Turner Wilcox, 'Folk and Festival Costumes of the World', New York, 1965
Robert Lee Humphrey, Jr., 'Spain and Portugal', Broomal, PA, 2003
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