A History of Central Eastern Europe

Slovak Dress
Popular motifs found in traditional Slovak dress harkens back to pre-Christian days
of the nature religions and include:
• Square with a seed in each corner, representing fertile field
• Running “S” on side, similar in look to an infinity symbol, meaning eternity
• Birds which represent the soul
• 8-pointed star
• Sun symbols
• Rick-rack, called wolves teeth for protection
was placed at all openings (sleeves, collars)
Dress indicated age group, marital status, season, village or region, and religion.
Mountain villages used linen, batik plus leather and felt. Linen is made from flax, with
the process including several steps: retting, beating, carding, spinning thread, weaving
cloth, and bleaching the fabric which was often done by moonlight.
Men’s work clothing was usually wide linen pants,
shirts, with or without aprons depending on occupation;
spurs were used for horseback riding and for spirited
dances. Their more formal clothing included military-style
trousers, called hussar, made of felt; high black boots;
and vests trimmed with rows of buttons or embroidery.
For the women, daily-wear was homespun and
simple. Their dress-wear had bright colors, patterned
brocade, and embroidered blouses festooned with
ribbons; velveteen vests with embroidered flowers,
beads, metallic ribbons. Kerchiefs, vests and shawls
were worn over blouses. Ribbons were woven in hair for
young girls.
Wedding day attire for Brides included wreathes of
flowers wrapped with fabric woven with ancient ritual
designs such as flowers, geometric patterns, and
goddess and fertility motifs. For the grooms were
embroidered shirts and long, white, felt shepherd’s coats, some with embroidery.
Slovakia appears unique in this area of folk art as embroidery and weaving are
combined in a single piece of clothing.
Other clothing specific to this area includes the vests worn by the raft drivers on
Dunajec River. Forming the border with Poland, these men wore blue vest embroidered
with flowers and a small-brimmed, black felt hat with a row of cowry shells topped with a
long eagle feather. Each shell represented a trip made to the Baltic Sea and when fully
encircled, the man became a master and was entitled to take on apprentices.
Also found solely in this area are the Shepherd’s pins called sponka or blanciar.
These are silver or brass pins decorated with a goddess figure, often overlaid with a
Christian cross, at the top; with chamois bracketing the goddess and sometimes with a
dangling pointed instrument to clean smoking pipes.
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