Kurenti in Slovenia Dondolashi in Croatia Bushari in Baranja Koledari in Serbia Kukeri in Bulgaria Mechkari in Macedonia Kolednicy in Poland Kolyadniki in Ukraine Okrutniki in Russia
Important part of the Slavic winter solstice celebration were masked processions. Younger men, clothed in animal fur, carrying horns and bells would march from village to village throughout the region, making an extraordinary amount of noise, fueled in part by the wine provided by the locals. Their primary task is to scare away evil spirits, and bring fertility to household. In this zoomorphic costumes they would represent ancestors, who came from otherworld to celebrate beginning of the new cycle with the living. In the time of winter solstice cult of ancestors and cult of vegetation are heavily intertwined.
Ooooh, we love this! There are veeeery similar costumes, characters and celebrations that still survive in very different zones of Europe, that are clearly remains of a very ancient and common religion or rite.
See how similar masked characters we have in Euskal Herria:
In mainland Greece, too, we have similar “monsters” and rituals in various areas!
Sometimes the bride (usually played by a man) is abducted and it’s said to be a remnant of a re-enactment of the abduction of the goddess Persephone by Hades.
In other areas, the Dionysiac character of the festival is accentuated by the presence of a man who pretends to be the god of wine, vegetation, happiness, Dionysos.
Thedissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in the creation of fifteen nation-states including Ukraine and Estonia, while 1993 saw the end of communist rule in Czechoslovakia, becoming the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These nations are featured here in my second-to-last fashion plate post with costumes honoring easier days of traditional ethnic dress.
Leo Tolstoy could be argued as the conscience of Russian peasants by his fictional writing in the classic Anna Karenina.Tolstoy was in fact a nobleman and landowner yet he adorned himself in smocks and meager dress, fashioning humility as he wrote of earthly indulgences and subtle sermons on the wickedness of the human condition.
The dress of laborers is also honored in a 1936 Soviet Union publication on a revered textile workerinMiss USSR where a young woman’s 10-hour days and record-breaking statistics on factory looms are lauded as joyful. Her uniform is a black silk blouse and skirt and her profile is documented as “slim” and “little.”
Yet, as with the earliest civilizations there is a place for costume, for adornment that celebrates more than the work of our hands or size of our bodies, whether a farmer’s, a writer’s, or a weaver’s; we yearn for the occasion allowing ornamentation that arouses our senses and inflames our imaginations.
My first fashion plate is titled the USSR Plume Dress, perhaps interpreted by some as a peacock’s egoism; the second plate may be favored by fan-followers of Egon Schiele, while the last crowns brawn and might.
Here is a listing of sources from the UWM Special Collections and the UWM American Geographical Society Library that I have augmented with digital color and outline to emphasize particular details of my inspiration:
1, 8) Wood-engravings by Nikolas Piskariov as featured in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina; published in the USSR in 1933 and printed by the Limited Editions Club, respectively titled Anna’s Fall and Head-Piece to Part the Fifth.
2-4) My contemporary designs of the USSR Plume Dress, Estonian Edith Dress, and Czech Crown Dress based on maps from the collection of the UWM American Geographical Society Library that show iconic costumes, respectively titled Russian Empire 1757, published in Augsburg, GE by Augustae Vindel in 1757; Folklore Map of Czechoslovakia, published in Czechoslovakia by the Ministerstvo Informaci in 1948; Parishes of Estonia 2010, published by the AS Regio in 2010.
3) Black and white drawing of Czechoslovakian dress by Belle Northrup in A Short Description of Historic Fashionpublished by Columbia University’s Teachers College in 1925.
5) Photograph of Dusya Vinogradovo a 21-year old woman dubbed Miss USSR: The Story of a Girl Stakhanovite, the Soviet Union’s leader in weaving production and noted to be every young person’s friend as she was “free and happy”; published in New York by International Publishers in 1936.
6, 7) Illustrations by Noel L. Nisbet from the collection of Russian Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, published in London by George G. Harrap & CO in 1916, respectively titled They Came to the Place Where He Had Left Her and His Wife Caressed and Wheedled Him.
Donbass, 2014 - a nurse temporarily holds an AK-74 as she assists a wounded pro-Russian militant out of a Soviet-era Lada car in front of a hospital in the war torn city of Slovyansk, Donetsk Oblast.
I loved Castlevania, and I enjoy a lot of other vampire media, but what deeply bothers me is hoe, starting with Bram Stoker, every story just erases the eastern European qualities and aesthetic of Dracula and vampire myths in general. It’s jarring and borderline offensive to see Dracula dressed like a western romantic gentleman (yes i am aware it’s an iconic look by now and it was one of us who sold out and brought him to Hollywood, looking at you Lugosi Bela), it feels weird seeing so much catholic aesthetic in the stories, catholic priests being the enemies, all the Gothic architecture, all the vampire ladies looking like some 19th century English girls , it’s really damn weird!
Just once I’d like to see something that says “Eastern Europe” clearly in a vampire story.
I feel cheated and ignored by the media.
Not a big deal, they’re just our stories and history, right?
In planning a trip through German-speaking Europe that I am hoping to take this December/January, I started thinking about other overland trips that I would like to take in future. I came up with three really exciting ones and thought I would post the theoretical itineraries here!
I’m not sure when- but I’ll definitely be taking one or more of these trips in the next few years.
This trip would be amazing! It combines ancient sites, Soviet era architecture, small modern cities, a beautiful coast, low lying mountains and more. For me it would be unique in that Eastern Europe is really one of the regions that I’m least familiar with- I speak none of the languages, only know the basic outline of political history, and am not aware of much of the culture. All of this would make it the perfect kind of travel- full of learning and experiencing new things.
The trip would start in St. Petersburg experiencing the iconic “Mother Russia” before heading west through the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) this fast developing though often forgotten part of Europe interesting combines Eastern and Western Europe with some Northern/Scandinavian flair - or so I gathered from my short weekend in Latvia in 2011. That brief encounter made me want to see more of the Baltics.
From there the route would go through Belarus and Ukraine. These two large countries were two of the more connected to the core of the USSR and still exist as more reserved (especially Belarus) than other parts of the former Soviet bloc. These two nations being so large would mean long hours going through country-side, hopefully stopping in small towns, seeing the rural life a bit, making new friends, who knows.
Next would be moving into the mountains of Moldova and Romania. Considering I love low lying mountains and hills, I think this would be a highlight! Plus Moldova is probably the most obscure of the countries on the list, so getting to know it a bit would be really exciting.
Once in Bucharest, the plan is to cut directly West through Belgrade and all the way to Zagreb in Croatia and even further to Ljubljana, Slovenia. These two capital cities are said to be somewhat unknown gems of Europe, with the latter being popular with cyclists and sharing some parts of Italian culture because of its proximity with Northern Italy.
The ride down the Croatian coast of the Adriatic sea will likely be the peak of beautiful landscape on the trip. At some point though I’d move inland first to visit the campus of the boarding school in Mostar that is part of the United World College movement that I attended. After crossing through the last bits of coast in Montenegro I’d move inland a second time, through Kosovo to Sophia, Bulgaria.
After Sophia I’ll be deep in old Greek territory, visiting Alexander the Great’s sites in Montenegro and then through another beautiful capital, Tirana, Albania. I will then leave the “Balkans” proper and head down through Greece to all the ancient ruins on the way to Athens!
Wow! I’m both exhausted and exhilarated from even writing about it! Definitely would be a whirlwind experience. Hope I will do it (or parts of it) soon!
Bonus Trip: South Pacific While talking with a friend we came up with three other long trips, and though I haven’t put much thought into them, I’m including one in each of the posts as a bonus trip. This idea is to island hop around the South Pacific- seeing Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Marshall Islands, and many more! I would be done ideally on a boat, though there are lots of small planes that go between the islands as well! Who knows!
Vampires have less attractive origins in 18th Century Southeastern Europe than pop culture would have you believe. Folklore of the region described hungry revenants (evil individuals, witches, or suicide victims), cloaked in funeral shrouds with mouths and noses that trickled blood and distended bodies with skin that was dark crimson or even purple in complexion. Fangs were non-existent in historical legends, though being bitten was still an accepted method of becoming a member of the peckish undead.
My history teacher told me to my face that we do not discuss Eastern European history because our civilizations were backward and poor in comparison to others (like Russia, the only exeption to the fucking rule, which would show up constantly in our textbooks and discussions)
My Economics teacher consistantly used Eastern European countries as examples of undeveloped backwards economies
My friend did not even have the decency to know that Ukraine was not invaded by Germany but by Russia. (Which, just tells me 0 geographic awareness, 0 awareness of international issues)
My foods are critisised by everyone for being “primitive”, my language is considered “gibberish”, my country’s cities are mispronounced because people refuse to do the research.
When will people realize that this shit isn’t the same for Western Europeans ??
People care if they mispronouce Sven or Roberto,
They don’t extend the same respect Beata or Mihai.
Kadyrov saying that “he’s interested in Poland” and that it would take his men 6 seconds to conquer Poland my guy 1) there are like 14 of you 2) didn’t your men get their asses kicked by Ukrainians
I usually try and do a cooking class in every country I go to. So far, I’ve learned how to make curry in Sri Lanka, sushi in Tokyo, and watched my mam get told off for not listening by an Italian grandma. However, I’ve never had a cooking class one to one. That changed when I had a go at making traditional dumplings with Alisa in Kiev. I had been excited about the class since my first taste of…
