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 frontispiece to this volume represents females belonging to this
tribe. The figure in the middle exhibits a bride in her wedding
attire: on her left stands one of her companions in her usual holiday
apparel: and both are listening attentively to the instructions of the
industrious housewife on the left of the print. From the coronet of
feathers which adorn the head of the bride, and reminds us of the
natives of Guinea and Mexico, to the neat slipper of fish-skin which
covers the foot, all is of native material and workmanship. The women
spin, weave, dye, and make all their apparel and personal ornaments
with peculiar neatness. They attend with truly commendable assiduity
to the household concerns, while the men till the ground.
Distinguished by purer morals, and therefore more highly respected,
they consider it beneath them to mingle their blood with that of the
other inhabitants of the frontiers; but conduct themselves invariably
as a peaceable tribe among unsettled and turbulent neighbours.
BANAT FRONTIER.
The sandy surface of that part of the Banat which lies between the
Danube and the Lower Nera, is very little elevated above the level of
those rivers, by which, when they are swollen, it is in a great
measure inundated. In the south-east corner of the German Banat
regiment, the loose sand is drifted into moving hills. It has not
unfrequently buried fields and houses, and occasioned the gradual
desertion of whole villages; but by judicious plantations it is now
confined within narrower limits. One of the most fertile of tracts,
the granary of the frontiers, is thus enclosed between dry sand and
morasses. A motley mixture of settlers, Germans, Hungarians,
Slavonians of various tribes, and Walachians, live together in a small
district of the German Banat regiment, and mostly retain the language,
costume, manners and way of life of their respective ancestors.
PEASANT OF THE BANAT FRONTIER.
The coat and pantaloons of the Walachian, the original native of the
country, in his holiday dress, are of white cloth, the ornaments being
neatly worked by the women in coloured worsted. In fashion this dress
resembles the costume of his progenitors, the ancient Dacians, as
delineated on Trajan’s pillar. The head is covered either with a round
hat, or the still more ancient sheep-skin cap.
The Walachian styles himself a Roman in his language, which is a
medley of corrupt Latin and Illyrian; but it is very rarely that Roman
valour can be discovered in him. He dislikes the military profession,
and it is very long before he becomes habituated to its hardships: but
yet none endures with greater fortitude, sufferings and privations
which cannot be avoided. His wants are very moderate. He cheerfully
and thoughtlessly consumes what he has as long as it lasts, and
afterwards fasts with exemplary resignation. He does not always duly
respect the property of others, but cheerfully shares what he
possesses with those who need relief.
WOMAN OF THE BANAT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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