museum shop of the dubrovnik museums

Silk Production in Konavle
The Chinese discovered how to make silk as long ago as
2850 BC. They jealously guarded the secrets of breeding
silkworms and making silk from the rest of the world: the act
of smuggling silkworms over the border was punishable by
death. However, a pair of missionaries smuggled out silkworm
pupae in their bamboo staffs and thus the Europeans came
to know this fine fabric in the 5th century BC.
According to the oldest written records, silk production in
Dubrovnik’s Konavle region goes back to the 15th century.
Silk was an exceptionally important fabric here since it was
used in weaving the Konavle folk dress – one of the most
beautiful aspects of Croatian cultural heritage. In this part
of the world, people literally were born with silk, lived with it
and died with it, and the art of producing silk was passed
among women from generation to generation. Women from
Konavle had great respect for the tradition of breeding
silkworms and making silk; it was a part of their regional
identity and a family tradition to which they remained loyal.
You can see silk worked into Konavle folk dress, most often
on decorative bibs and bodices, aprons, caps, waistcoats,
suits and elsewhere.
dubrovnik.inyourpocket.com
siLk produCtion
Perhaps the most interesting thing about silk production
is rearing the silkworms themselves. In order to obtain the
highest quality threads, man must work in harmony with
silk moths, silk worms (in Konavle dialect: bubice) and the
white mulberry trees on which they feed. The silken threads
are teased from the silkworm’s cocoon (punćela), which is
made from a single thread of raw silk between 300 and
900 metres long.
Up until the 1960s almost everyone in the Konavle region
made silk, but then the tradition started to die out. It is thanks
to the hard work and dedication of a small number of local
women that the tradition managed to survive and be passed
on for a few more generations.
However, the war that broke out here in the 1990s abruptly
robbed the women of Konavle of their homes and livelihoods.
If it hadn’t been for a lady named Jany Hansal from the local
non-governmental organization Deša, who managed to bring
the silkworms back to the south of Croatia, the silkmaking
tradition may now be just a memory. 18 years ago the
bubice returned to Konavle, smuggled in from France in the
voluptuous curves of one lady.
Today around ten families in Konavle raise silkworms, and silk
is an attractive part of the tourist offering. During the month
of May, the time when the silkworms feed, workshops on
producing silk are held throughout Konavle (See Interactive
Category). You can also take part: perhaps you’ll fall in love
with this ancient craft and start raising your own silkworms
and making this wonderful fabric. Thank goodness for the
women of Konavle who refused to allow this part of Konavle’s
identity and heritage to be lost forever.
www.inyourpocket.com
Winter 2011/2012
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