FolkCostume&Embroidery: January 2025

Hello all,

Today I will focus on the folk costume of the town of Orotava, on Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, Spain.

These islands are located off the coast of Morocco. The Canary Islands had an indigenous population of Berber origin, today called Guanches. They were quickly assimilated by Spanish colonists in the 17th century, and their language is extinct, except for some influences they had on the local dialects.

The common name for these islands is from the Latin 'Canariae Insulae', The Dog Islands, referring perhaps to the large number of seals found there. Canary birds are indeed native to the islands, but they are named after the islands, not the other way around.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Islands

Here are a couple of maps showing the location of the Canary Islands.

Tenerife is the goose shaped island just west of center. It is the largest of the islands.

The flag of Tenerife is identical to that of Scotland. It does, however, have a distinctive coat of arms.

La Orotava is on the northern coast.

The image at the head of the article is of some of the various Folk Costumes of Tenerife. You can see that there is some commonality between them.

I am currently helping a friend complete one of these costumes. I am taking the opportunity to write about them as well.

The costume of La Orotava is known in two forms, an older and a newer. It has become iconic of the entire island and of the Canaries as a whole.

The Traditional Costume

The old costume is still worn today by a minority of people, I personally prefer it. It is less flashy and more elegant.

The chemise, camisa, of the old costume had long full sleeves and seems to have originally been unembroidered. However, short sleeves are in evidence from at least 1895, as we can see in this photo.

The embroidery seems to have been introduced by one woman, Doña Catalina Monteverde y Lugo, whose family had a camisa embroidered with white and red hemstitching. This was admired and widely imitated. The old costume of the Monteverde Family is shown in the center of this photo.

Here is the original camisa, showing the placement of the embroidery. Notice that the opening of the cuff is on the outside.

Other modern examples include the embroidery, but vary it somewhat.

More recently, especially for the tourist trade, this pattern is approximated by threading red ribbon through premade holes in thin cotton, which is not suitable for hemstitching.

The size of the neck opening varies, depending on the wearer's desired level of modesty.

Note that the maker of this shirt has shifted the cuff openings to the inside.

A small linen shawl, pañuelo del hombros, about 85cm square, is commonly worn for modesty and for protection against the sun. Pietistic influences have impinged on Spanish clothing since the 19th cent. This shawl is usually white, sometimes with subtle stripes or embroidery.

It is most commonly worn tucked into the vest.

But here is a photo of a woman who tucked it into the camisa, presumably to show off the embroidery.

The foundation layer consists of a bustino, bloomers, and white knitted stockings.

A full linen petticoat, enagua interior, is worn, often more than one. A red flannel one may be worn underneath, for warmth and/or protection. This protects the wearer from the scratchy wool overskirt, and also protects the skirt from oils in the wearer's skin, linen being much easier to launder.

Over this is put on the skirt, enagua exterior, These come in several different materials and colors, depending on the occasion, but what is most distinctive for the Canary Islands are heavy wool skirts with vertical stripes.

There are many stripe patterns, depending on the town and the island, but the skirts for La Orotava have a pattern with red, yellow, white, green, and black stripes on the weft. As you can see above, there is always a seam about 1/4 of the way from the waist to the hem. This is due to the fact that hand looms are very difficult to operate at a wide width. The panels were about 60 cm wide, and so another partial width was added to make the skirts long enough. Mostly, they make no attempt to match the stripes, as we see above, but occasionally one sees that someone made such an effort. However, this is the exception.

The material is so heavy that there is no attempt to fold it over at the hem. Rather the cloth is cut at the hem and secured by seam binding. A facing is added inside the hem for optimization of movement, and this is also secured by the seam binding, which is usually red or yellow.

The skirt material is folded or gathered into a waistband. It is secured around the waist with two long ribbons, which wrap around the waist and tie. More recently it has become the custom to make two openings in the waistband opposite each other, and have each half of the skirt be secured with two ribbons each in the same manner.

The vest or bodice, corpiño or justillo, used in La Orotava is cut square, with no peplum or lappets, has shoulder straps and is laced up the front. It is of red wool with yellow seam binding and floral embroidery.

The bodice, although it may be of a patterned material, is not usually embroidered in other parts of the Canaries. While the motifs are similar, the composition of the embroidery varies quite a bit. This first image is of a replica of the original justillo of the Monteverde family, followed by details from a vest owned by a friend of mine.

The costume is currently worn with specific beige button half boots. It may be worn with various other types of leather shoes as well.

A rectangular cotton kerchief, 51 x 93.5 cm, called toca, is worn over the head. The edges of this may have subtle embroidery. This may be pulled tight under the chin or thrown back over the shoulders. See the various images above.

A flat straw hat, sombrero, is worn over this. It is trimmed with black and/or red ribbon, and tied under the chin with attached ribbons. It often holds the toca in place.

A short green cape, capotillo, is worn over the shoulders. It is of green wool, 81 cm long and 125 cm wide. It is edged with yellow seam binding, and is gathered into a band on top and secured with ribbons.

And that is the traditional costume of La Orotava.

A video showing how to put on the old style Canary Costume. This is not the La Orotava costume, but gives you a good idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMqd6tn5GZA

The New Costume - el Traje Típico de la Orotava

Just as the preservation of the traditional costume was due to the Monteverde Family, the invention of the new costume was the result of the efforts of the Baute Family. Three sisters, Ángeles, Eudalia, and Carmela Baute Rodríguez redesigned the costume for the newly formed performing group 'Coros y Danzas de La Orotava' in the 1950's. Their grandmother had started a sewing business which specialized in making stage costumes for magicians and their assistants, although they sewed other things as well.

They apparently thought that the traditional costume was not flashy enough, and so set out to make it more 'suitable' for the stage.

The hat often became smaller, to the point where they may be no larger than 10 inches across, and often worn at an angle.

The toca and pañuelo del hombros were combined into one smaller kerchief, el pañuelo de cabeza. This is now yellow, and wrapped around the head and neck and tied in back, leaving the neckline bare. The hair is still put up before putting on the headdress.

The capotillo was made somewhat shorter, and the front corners rounded. The rounded corners are a characteristic of many stage costumes which I find inexplicable. It is now usually worn over one shoulder.

The skirt was shortened, and is worn hiked up on one side, held in place somehow by a cord decorated with pompoms. As a result the petticoat now has elaborate crochet or other lace with zigzag ends on the hem and eyelets threaded with red ribbons above that, sometimes more than one row, although upper rows are often restricted to the side on which the skirt is hiked up.

A small, rounded, "French Maid" style apron, el delantal, was added to the outfit. This is trimmed with lace, patch pockets and red embroidery and/or ribbon in a similar manner to the petticoats. [I will admit that appreciation of this garment escapes me]

The vest, justillo, was changed subtly in shape, the straight lines giving way to rounded lines, especially over the bust. It continues to be richly embroidered, with much individual interpretation.