Croatian Embroidery

Illustration: Croatian silk embroidery for a cap, 17th century.

The modern state of Croatia could be said to entail at least three distinct traditional areas, that of Croatia proper, Slavonia, Dalmatia/Istria, along with a number of smaller but no less distinct regions. All of the regions that make up modern day Croatia have their own cultural and craft distinctiveness and so any attempt to introduce a craft subject that just talks of Croatia has to take this into consideration. However, an attempt will be made to introduce Croatian embroidery as a subject.

 Illustration: Satellite map of Croatia.

As in much of the Balkans, the Turkish influence on craft and design techniques is strong. As far as embroidery is concerned there are really three main influences on the Croatian craft as a whole, that of Turkish, Venetian and Slavic. The Turkish influence is strongest in the east, while Venice and Italy had the strongest influence in the west along the Adriatic coast. It can be said therefore, that the embroidery work produced in Slavonia in the east is the most Turkish in influence, while Dalmatia and Istria along the Adriatic coast has the most Venetian influence, while Croatia proper in the centre has the most obvious links with Slavic embroidery design work. Although this is not a necessarily strictly rigid explanation of the full influences on the different aspects and regions of Croatian embroidery, it does to some extent help to explain the regional variations.

In many respects, Croatia proper and Slavonia can be seen as having closer links culturally and craft-wise than perhaps Dalmatia and Istria. Therefore, it would be best if the Adriatic coastal area of Croatia was taken as a separate area in a future article, along with its relationship with Italy.

Illustration: Croatian silk embroidery for a cap, 17th century.

As far as Croatia and Slavonia are concerned, although the Turkish influence was strong particularly in the east, the indigenous Slavic culture was also strong. Red, used as an embroidery thread colour often on a white or neutral background was popular throughout the region just as it was in much of Slavic Europe including Russia. Design motifs and pattern work, despite being influenced by a range of different cultures from Byzantium to Turkey, still held some of the traditional formats that can be seen right across Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

Croatian women were proficient in most forms of textile crafts and skills including weaving, spinning, lace making and embroidery. Weaving was by far the most widespread and popular of the crafts and it has been said that the weaving skills base of Croatia was second only to that of the traditions of Sweden. Interestingly, often embroidery was incorporated into woven work while it was still attached to the loom.

Illustration: Croatian silk embroidery for a cap, 17th century.

All of the examples shown in this article are embroidered with silk threads and derive from both Croatia proper and Slavonia. They are all embroidered pieces used to decorate women's caps. These caps were status objects as they were used as a symbol of adult womanhood and were given after a wedding ceremony. They were then worn to denote a new stage in a woman's life.

The pattern work in all the pieces does show a remarkable similarity to carpet design work particularly that of Turkish origin. It has to be remembered that much of the weaving that took place in Croatia and Slavonia during and after the period of the Turkish Empire, was that of carpet weaving. Even though Croatia proper was under Turkish occupation for much less time than other areas of the Balkans including Slavonia, it was always on the border of the Turkish Empire and would have been strongly influenced by the culture of carpet weaving that was widespread throughout the Balkans during the Turkish occupation.

Illustration: Croatian silk embroidery for a cap, 17th century.

As with all craft disciplines and particularly when concerned with the often complex patchwork of cultures and peoples that make up the Balkans, the subject of Croatian embroidery can only ever be an introduction. Future articles will take a much more detailed look at much smaller and distinctive areas and regions of both Croatia and the Balkans in general.

Further reading links:
Yugoslavian/Croatian Folk Embroidery: Designs and Techniques
Croatian Folk Embroidery / Kroatische Stickkunst / Narodni vezovi Hrvatske
Croatian Folk Embroidery
Peasant Art in Austria and Hungary
Lonely Planet Croatia (Country Travel Guide)
The Rough Guide to Croatia
A Traveller's History of Croatia
National Geographic Traveler: Croatia
Croatia: Aspects of Art, Architecture and Cultural Heritage
The Krajina Chronicle: A History of Serbs in Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia
Croatia: Travels in Undiscovered Country
Croatia: A History
Croatia Through History

The Slavic use of Red Thread in Embroidery

Illustration: Russian cross stitch design.

Most human cultures across the planet, including that of the Slavic, tend to use red for the same basic and original intention. Red is the same colour of blood and therefore since the beginning of human culture it has come to be associated literally with the lifeblood and through association, with that of the lifeforce.

In the broad geographical and cultural area that made up the homeland of the Slavs, red was very much used in the tradition of protection, particularly against various human diseases and ailments. Clothing very often contained borders at collar, sleeve and ankle areas which were often heavily embroidered, with red being the predominant colour. This was originally believed to stop, or at least give partial protection, against evil spirits in the shape of some of the most rampant and vociferous diseases that regularly swept through Europe. The borders were meant to stop these malevolent spirit diseases from entering the body at what were considered particularly vulnerable points, mainly at the extremities of the body.

Illustration: Satellite map of Belarus in winter.

Many of the embroidered patterns that make up the borders of clothing originally contained a number of talismans and charms that were sewn onto, or even into, the embroidery pattern, rather like simplified Shamen costumes. Eventually these talismans were left out of the embroidery work, with the talismans becoming part of the actual sewn decorative pattern. These talisman marks and motifs became integral parts of a number of classic design pieces and many of them, though having lost much if not all, of their original protective meaning and separate identity, are still very much part of traditional embroidery across the Slavic region.

Illustration: Example of Ukrainian embroidery.

One of the interesting added uses of red in Western Slavic culture as opposed to that of Russian Slavs, while still following the general idea of protection against illness and misfortune, dealt with some of the more specific details of protection against individual witches and witchcraft in general. The belief would have originated within Pagan Eastern Europe, but would have inevitably crossed over into the Christian era and therefore religious symbols would have been added to and incorporated into the older symbols, adding to the vocabulary dealing with protection for the individual, whether child, pregnant mother, or household. Many of these symbols whether Christian, Pagan or a combination of both would still have been outlined or even predominantly coloured in red.

Illutration: Example of Ukrainian embroidery.

Red was also used domestically and could be seen in both elaborate red embroidery pattern work, whether all over or within a border. Often the presence of red would be within a much simpler context, as in a red line passing through tea towels, tablecloths etc. However, whether simple line or elaborate embroidery pattern, the inference was still the same, protection of the individual or household against the many unexplained and disturbing illnesses that were so much a part of life before twentieth century medicine.

Illustration: Ukrainian woman's embroidered apron.

It is interesting to note how much of the purpose and traditional ideas behind red embroidery are now long lost and forgotten. However, the idea of using red within traditional clothing is still that of a living tradition within national costume. The use of red, even as a line in a contemporary tea towel within a modern domestic interior, continues within cultures and people that have no idea of the original significance and importance that many people grew to rely on. The hopes and fears of generations of individuals accepted and relied on the power of that red line.

Further reading links:
Embroidered Textiles: A World Guide to Traditional Patterns
Embroidery: Traditional Designs, Techniques, and Patterns from All over the World
Russian and Other Slavic Embroidery Designs
Russian Punchneedle Embroidery
Russian Embroidery and Lace
La Broderie Russe Ancienne (Ancient Russian Embroidery)
Early Russian Embroidery in the Zagorsk Museum Collection
Russian Embroidery Book
Russian Embroidery 17th-Early 20th Centuries
RUSSIAN EMBROIDERY: TRADITIONAL MOTIFS
Ancient Russian Ecclesiastical Embroideries
Antique Russian Embroidery  
Ukrainian embroidery
Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery: Merezhka Poltavaska
Ukrainian Embroidery Techniques
Ukrainian embroideries from collection and designs of Maria Kutsenko
Ukrainian Embroidery Designs and Stitches
Ukrainian Bukovinian Cross-Stitch Embroidery
Ukrainian Folk Embroidery: Techniques, Methodology, Methods