The Traditional Costume of the Men

General information


The Traditional Costume of the Men


Unlike the costume of the women of Roumlouki that is considered to be one of the most famous and impressive costumes of Greece, the men’s traditional costume has almost been forgotten. Angeliki Chatzimichali gave her attention to the women’s costume; as a result there is no information about the men’s traditional costume in our days, not even a description of it. Furthermore, there are no original costumes. In the past people used to give the personal belongings and the clothes of their dead to relatives, friends or poor people. This custom still lingers on and is probably one of the reasons that all the original costumes got lost. The photographs, which are usually a reliable source, do not help this research because the costumes had already started to modernize when the first photographs were shot. Another problem is that we don’t have to deal with color photographs and as a result there is no way of finding out the colors of the costume.

The only way to indicate information about the local costume of the men are the oral documentaries of elder people that were born at the beginning of the 20th century. These people are able to give us a better description of the garments than any photograph as they know some useful and necessary details like the names of the parts of the costume, the kind of the fabric and the way of its coloring.

It is a fact that the modernization of the men’s costume, that took place much earlier than the women’s, had several phases.

It seems that everyday garments lasted longer and some of them were worn by elder people until the beginning of the fifties. On the other hand, their formal dresses were influenced by the garments of the cities much earlier, maybe since the First World War.

The traditional costumes of the men as well as of the women were hand-made. They were mostly made of wool and cotton yarn that were colored and weaved in the traditional way. The most common colors were white, black, blue, brown and a strange color that comes out when you mix white with the dark wool of the sheep. The women used to make the easy parts of the clothing by themselves; the more difficult parts and the formal dresses were manufactured by tailors.

The costume of the men was very simple as it had to be practical and not impressive. On the other hand, there is a great variety of accessories that depended on the period they were worn, on the age of the man and of course on the fact if it was a special occasion or not. They also wore always a kind of cap on their head. Especially in the past it was out of the question for a man to go out with his head uncovered.

As far as the shoes are concerned there is not much to mention. The men bought a pair of leather shoes when they got married and used them till the end of their life, as most of the time they wore their rustic shoes. In the course of time and under the influence of the west the men started to wear leather boots that reached up to the knees.

The parts of the costume

According to information, at the beginning of the 20th century the elder men carried on wearing their formal dresses that consisted of two main parts: a white, linen pair of trousers and a shirt. The trousers that were worn even after the end of the Second World War were of cotton and reached down to the ankles. The part from the knees till the ankles was close-fitting and the upper part was larger, it actually reminded of a pair of knickers. They used a knickers-cord to tie them up around their waist.


Shirt.


The shirt was also light-colored and large. It had a collar and buttons on its front side but its main characteristic were its large sleeves that reminded of the sleeves of the traditional costume of the fustanella (skirt-like garment worn by men).


Shirt.


This costume was worn during summer. The winter clothes were mostly made of wool. The trousers that were worn were called boulbotsa and were similar to the linen trousers of the summer; their only difference was that they were black and of wool.


Boulbotsa.


The garments of the torso were of great variety. First of all the men wore a hand-made singlet of wool or another kind of singlet that was made of thin thread of wool. This piece of clothing had a little slit at the upper part. The next garment was a dark-colored, cotton shirt without a collar and with sleeves without cuffs.


Shirt.


Overcoats were also necessary. The most common one was called doulamas and it was black, without a collar and of wool. It was short and reached down to the waist and its buttoning up was not at the center of the front side.


Whaistcoat.


There also was another kind of overcoat that was thicker, longer and more comfortable. It usually had a lining of processed leather and a fur-collar and it was called patatouka. It was considered to be part of the formal dress and sometimes it even passed to the next generation.


Patatouka.


The vrachea is probably more recent and had been influenced by modern garments. Actually, it looked like a modern coat that reached almost to the knees and was worn over the jacket.

The kapa, the kouk(ou)liato and the dalagani were three everyday overcoats. The first one was sleeveless, with a hood and two slits on the sides in order for the arms to move. It was long (it reached down to the ankles), of wool and it was not manufactured in the villages of Roumlouki; the men bought it off the peg. It was worn mostly by shepherds; the farmers did not prefer that kind of overcoat as it was difficult to do agricultural jobs in such heavy clothing. However, it was a very warm and waterproof garment and those who wore it had no problems dealing with the winter cold.

The kouk(ou)liato was a more practical overcoat. Its fabric was weaved on a loom and afterwards it was send to tailors who manufactured the garment. It was similar to the kapa; it had a hood too but it had sleeves also. It was worn by shepherds as well as by farmers.

There also was the dalagani that was something between the kapa and the kouk(ou)liato. It is about a short kind of cape with sleeves made of the same fabric as the kapa.

Young and wealthy persons took more care of their appearance. They kept wearing the boulbotsa but they used to have many garments for the torso. Their shirts were of colored fabric and had big collars and lapels that covered the jacket. It is worth mentioning that those jackets were totally different than those we have today. They were uncomfortable garments, very close-fitting at the back side and were never buttoned-up.


Zonaria.


The belts were also a necessary accessory. The men as well as the women of Roumlouki have always been wise enough to cover their waist, a part of the body that was often strained due to agricultural jobs. Every season of the year and every costume had its own belt. The men’s belt was a long stripe of wool, usually black, that covered the stomach. It was very simple and of plain material.


Shocks.



Tsarouxia.


As far as the shoes are concerned it was already mentioned that the men wore rustic shoes of leather (tsarouhia). The women also wore a kind of rustic shoes when they did agricultural jobs. A part of these shoes were the bgialia, rectangular pieces of woolen fabric that replaced the socks. They were wrapped around the soles and the legs and were fastened with the use of leather straps. When the men wore regular shoes they always wore wooly socks (skoufounia) that were black, white or blue.


Tragiaska.


They also had an everyday and a formal headband. The first one was a piece of woolen fabric (25 cm. × 1, 5 m.) that covered the ears, the forehead and the back of the head. In summer this piece of fabric was replaced by a yellow linen piece of fabric that was more suitable for the hot weather and protected the men from the sun, the dust, the sweat and the headaches.
According to information the elder used to wear a kind of fez that was replaced by the cap. Finally and much later the cap was replaced by the straw-hat.

 

The “fustanella” and the “rougatzia”

There also was another kind of traditional costume in the region of Roumlouki, the one worn by the evzones (members of select infantry corps in the Greek army that wear the traditional fustanella). Especially in the past there were many residents who still had that costume. However, it was worn in special occasions by the “rougatzaroi”.

Some of these original costumes were also worn by students at feasts in school even after the Second World War.

However, this traditional costume is very common in many regions of Greece.

A special way of coloring

In Roumlouki, there was also a traditional way of coloring the wool and the cotton yarn. As far as the local costume of the men is concerned the color preferred was black.

The yarn was put into a forged copper with grips, larger on its top and its bottom and smaller in the middle (chalkoutsouka), and was covered with water. After that, pieces of sorrel (a kind of bush) were put into the water. This was not a simple procedure as the quantity of sorrel had to be correct in order for the coloring to be successful. The water was heated up occasionally for some days till the fabric turned into brown. Afterwards, and with the addition of black dye the fabric finally turned into black.

Extant hand-woven materials haven’t lost their shine yet and prove that it is about unfading colors.