The Bulgarian needlewoman
History of embroidery
Embroidery, as a manual technique to decorate a garment, cannot be precisely linked to one specific country because it is an art that has been developed in different cultures and regions for centuries. Different forms of embroidery have existed in ancient cultures all over the world. The rich traditions of embroidery in China, India, Persia, Byzantium, Egypt, Europe and many other areas are evidenced. Embroidery is an evolving art with many influences and traditions, and cannot be limited to one specific country. It is an expression of the creativity and cultural characteristics of different communities over the centuries.
What do the embroiderers tell?
First of all, Bulgarian seamstresses tell about the creative abilities and sense of aesthetics of their creator. In the past, sewing machines were a guide for the hotra, in order to unravel a person's belonging to a certain settlement or clan. If they are on a maiden's garment, they indicate whether the maiden has already become a virgin and can be chosen as a bride. They also suggest whether the bachelor is ready for marriage. If a foreigner comes across a wedding party, he knows by the embroidery who is the bride and who is the groom. The embroidery tells about the ethnic and religious affiliation of the person on whose clothes they are embroidered. They are a guide to social status and wealth. If they are on women's clothes, anyone can tell whether they are on a maiden, a bride or an old woman. They are a sign of belonging to the human world. For the people of the past, the Vespa was a universe of knowledge. For us, it marks the path to our roots and it is our duty to preserve it so that Bulgarian traditions will live on in the future.
The Gift of the Vezbarkas
On the cradle of the new-born female child, they put starch and blessed: "May she be a weaver!". They always put a spindle on the prodigal and called him: "A good housekeeper!". Mothers of girls waited for them to grow up a little, and when the feast for the family was made of chicken, they hopefully gave their daughters a collar to learn to sew well. They gave it and blessed: "On your collar, sew well!". On Clean Monday, every girl over 7 years of age was taken to a master spinner to learn how to spin. The training lasted 1 or 2 years, at the discretion of the master. When she said that the girl was worthy of embroidering with silk and cotton, his parents ordered a gergef, bought a lamb, some chickpeas and sugar, and on some holy day like St. George's Day or Savior's Day, they called several female relatives, who took the treat and took the girl to the craftswoman. They treated each other. After that, they took the gergefa, put a basin of water under it, the girl took off her socks and put her feet in the water under the gergefa. They lit a candle at the four corners of the altar and placed a bunch of flowers. So the girl began embroidering on a piece of white cloth previously stretched on the hemlock. There was symbolism in the individual objects: the water wished him to go fast like water, the candles - to burn for his work, and the bunch of flowers - to make his garden bloom like the flower. The Bulgarian people have also created another custom, known in some settlements. The first stitch of a young girl, made in the spring, was placed in fast-flowing water of a stream or river, so that the fingers of the vesbarka would be nimble, like the fast-flowing spring waters. The old seamstresses, who guarded the village's seams, assisted in the selection of ornaments. They knew which motif was sewn for the girl and which one was suitable for a bachelor shirt. And they wisely instructed: "Just as the literate make the letter, so we, the Vezbar women, make the vezmo". The young girls studied stitch by stitch the alphabet of embroidery on the clothes of the village to prepare their cheiza and preserve the traditions preserved by their mothers and grandmothers for centuries. Inexperienced girls first began to learn on simple, lighter models. Skilled mentors considered stylized stars, rhombuses, rectangles for learning. By alternating the ornaments, the novice Vezbar women gradually mastered all the stitches known in their village. They saw how every mistake made in counting the threads led to a distortion of the pattern, they stitched the embroidered and started again.
Bulgarian tradition ascribed magical power to embroidery machines. It was known that if a maiden threw away her gergef, she might end up with the self-divine. The Vezbarka kept the motives of the model she was working on a secret until she was the first to put it on display. Only best friends embroidered the same patterns.
The protective power of weight ornaments
According to folk beliefs, if a person has embroidery on his clothes, he will not be caught by lessons and evils. This applies especially to women, so the tradition specifies that a woman should not go out without having an embroidered ornament on her. In the Bulgarian vezmo, there were signs for lessons that were intentionally unfinished or contained wrongly outlined ornaments. The "mistakes" were expected to distract attention and bad looks. The most frequent errors were the lengthening, distortion or shortening of a cross, motif or line. Sometimes the Vezbarka intentionally missed a few stitches or did not finish an entire ornament, because in this way she provoked the evil eyes to focus on the wrong thing and lose their power there. Very often in the embroidery order, the first or the last motif was not executed, so that it remained open, and so that the forces of the ornaments included in the composition of the embroidery could move and carry out their mission of protection. The permanent presence of embroidery was concentrated around the openings of the garment - bosom, sleeve, hem. In the other elements of the clothing - headscarf, socks, apron, it was located mainly on the edges. The people believed that clothing protects a person not only from atmospheric influences, and that through it protection is provided from all kinds of evil forces. It has been known for centuries that evil can enter through openings in clothing or exposed parts of the body. The covered body is invulnerable to evils, and therefore people considered it necessary to strengthen the protection on the vulnerable places in the clothing - the openings and edges of the clothes by embroidering protective ornaments on them.
Symbols and ornaments
Plant ornaments appear relatively later than animal ornaments. It is assumed that the reason for this was the lifestyle of the people at that time. The hunter-man depicted this when his thoughts were occupied - the hunt and above all his object - the animal. With the termination of the hunter's way of life, primitive artistic creativity became available to women as well. When the people switched to agriculture, the relegation of hunting to the background significantly pushed forward the development of plant ornament. Fauna began to occupy less space in the human imagination, and the aesthetic sense was satisfied only by the depiction of plants.
Popular Plant Ornaments:
"Tree of Life" - the oldest archaic ornament also known as the sacred tree. According to the mythological beliefs of the Slavs, the roots of this tree entwine the whole earth, and its branches cover the sky. The cult of motherhood and fertility is also closely connected with this tree.
Tulip - one of the precursors of spring. The process of growth is always associated with flowering, which in turn symbolizes fertility. This ornament is present in one of our most preferred embroidery designs - "Fertility" .
Rose - the oldest ornament in Bulgarian needlework, for which a special stylization is created - the so-called rosette, which has lost too much of its real image. This ornament is found in "Protection" embroidery .
Animal ornaments are the first manifestation of artistic sense in primitive man. The aspiration of primitive man was to accurately reproduce the actual forms of animals, due to the belief that the drawings of animal images had a magical property of attracting the animals themselves.
Popular Animal Ornaments:
"Roosters" - the domestic bird bore the symbolism of eternally reproducing life.
"Horses" - The horse is a solar symbol, it represents the sun that brings fertility.
Eternal life is also associated.
The geometric ornaments , achieved through the constant stylization of the weight ornamentation. These ornaments have a global reach, because they are closely related to the weaving technique, which most easily copes with the reproduction of the simplest geometric shapes.
Popular geometric ornaments:
"Kanatitsa" - In almost all places in the world, the figure symbolizes infinity and eternal life. Its purpose was to protect against evil forces and negative influences, and its elements bring the idea of happiness and prosperity to the owner.
Elbetitsa - it can be most easily recognized by the two crossed crosses located on top of each other. The two crosses conventionally depict the four main and four additional directions of the world (north, south, west, east, northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast), joining in a common stable center that keeps them in sync.