Austria: containing a Description of the Manners, Customs, Character and Costumes of the People of that EmpireShoberl, Frederic
History
Austria: containing a Description of the Manners, Customs, Character and Costumes of the People of that Empire
Shoberl, Frederic
Austria -- Social life and customs
The unmarried female appears in all her finery. Her head is encircled
with a metal hoop adorned with beads and flowers. Round her neck she
wears several necklaces of coral, and a black and red silk
handkerchief covers her bosom. Over this she sometimes throws another
of larger dimensions, which, from the variety of its colours and
forms, resembles a piece of patchwork. The red boots are worn only on
extraordinary occasions, and the owners generally carry them in their
hands to church, to protect them from the wet which would stain them
indelibly. It is well known that the same practice prevails among the
females in the Highlands of Scotland.
MARRIED FEMALE PEASANT OF BOCSKO, IN THE COUNTY OF MARMAROS.
The married woman is more simply clad: yet the embroidery on her loose
jacket without sleeves, trimmed with fur, and on the short sleeves of
her chemise, drawn tight round the arm below the elbow, show that the
cares of a family have not rendered the matron wholly negligent of
personal decoration. Her head-dress consists of a handkerchief tied
under her chin, and she goes according to the custom of the country on
ordinary occasions, without shoes or stockings.
The women of this part of Hungary are remarkable for their industrious
disposition: they are never idle, but even in their walks carry with
them a portable distaff, and ply the spindle without intermission.
CHAPTER XI.
TRANSYLVANIA.
EXTENT AND POPULATION--MANNERS OF THE WALACHIANS--THE
GIPSIES--COSTUMES.
The grand principality of Transylvania, about one-sixth of the extent
of Hungary, contains a population of about a million and a half. It
presents as great a diversity of nations and religions as Hungary,
being inhabited by Hungarians, Germans, Walachians, Greeks, Servians,
Armenians, Bulgarians, Poles, Slowaks, Jews, and Gipsies, and
containing, besides the four religions established by law, namely,
those of the Catholics, Reformed Lutherans, and Unitarians, also
disunited Greek Christians and Jews. The Armenians and united Greeks
are numbered among the Catholics. It may naturally be supposed that
the variety of nations may be perceived in the variety of their
peculiar costumes, of which we shall present some specimens.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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