TRADITIONAL GREEK
COSTUMES and DANCES
4th GYMNASIUM OF PATRAS
TRADITIONAL GREEK COSTUMES
Historical, social and economic factors such as the climate, the
morphology of the ground and the traditions influenced the formation of
the various models and the countless variations of the Greek suit . Also, the
social discernments and the several professions had been expressed with
the suit .The rich were dressed differently from the poor ,the shepherds
from the farmers ;the young men were distinguished from the old and the
widows from the married women.
There were differences between the way city people dressed and the
way villagers dressed .Greek dresses are divided into mountainous dresses
, city dresses , insular dresses and there are several variations of the same
local dresses.
The dresses of women , with intense colorings and many ornaments
,silver or golden (sovereigns ,five pounds and florins),present a bigger
variety than the suits of men which are more indigent in color and
ornaments .This is because men traveled much more than women as the
result to tolerate the influence of the strange manners and customs and to
change the shape and the form in traditional suit.
Besides the fact that the suits of the men were usually made by
wandering tailors (who wander from village to village),resulted in
restriction of variations.
In the islands for example we meet only one type of man’s outfit ,vraka
,while there is a wide variety of women’s costumes.
The kilt is the common man’s outfit in mainland Greece while
women’s costumes exist in many variations.
Unlike men’s outfits , women’s outfits didn’t lose their traditional
way and shape at all and this is because women didn’t travel and they used
to make theirs outfits themselves.
MAP OF GREECE
EASTERN THRACE
The costume shown here has come from a region which is now part
of the Turkish territory . With the exchange of populations , the people of
this region moved to Western Macedonia and Thrace
THRACE
The Sarakatsani Costume
The Sarakatsani are a Greek race of sheep-breeding nomads , who
roamed from Asia Minor to the Peloponnese . The Thracian version of the
Sarakatsani costume is shown in this picture .
MACEDONIA
This bridal costume was worn in the region formally known as
Roumlouki , which included 50 villages headed by Gidas , the present day
Alexandreia .
EPIRUS
This costume was worn in the 46 villages of the Zagori region in
Epirus . The flokata , the sleeveless overdress of the sigouni type , is the
only traditional feature of the costume illustrated here . The jewellery
accompanying the dress consists of ornamental belt-buckles and a chain
hung with silver “buttons” on either side of the front part of the overdress .
THESSALY
The bridal costume worn in the Thessalian plain is still used in our
days in a modified and simplified version . The costume is accompanied by
a great many ornaments .
IONIAN ISLANDS
This bridal costume was worn in the region of Leukimme and
Gastourio . The ornate bridal head-dress , known as stolos or yadema , is
largely based on the coiffure : the hair is arranged in a kind of crown ,
coiled around four tube-like hair-pads , the mezoulia , which are wrapped
in red ribbons , the staftades .
THE PELOPONNESE
There are certain similarities between the female peasant costumes
worn in the region of Argolis-Corinthia , possibly even in the whole area of
the Peloponnese , and those worn in Central Greece .
THE PELOPONNESE
The town Costume (“Amalia Costume”)
The costume worn in the towns of the Peloponnese was adopted as a
model for the official court dress by Amalia , the first Queen of Greece .
The same type of dress was also worn in Athens .
THE CYCLADES
The costume illustrated here is one of the three examples that have
survived intact from a date prior to the middle of the 19 th century . The
costume was worn on the island of Sifnos or Ios .
CRETE
The costume was worn in the region of Anogeia , in the
Mylopotamos district .
THE DODECANESE
This costly attire has been used for daily wear on the island of
Kastellorizo
MACEDONIA
The summer dress and the festive costume are known as poukamiso
or foustanela .The sash worn around the waist is dark red for the young
men and black for the old .
THRACE
Both dresses shown in the illustration are versions of the costume of
the Sarakatsani , a tribe of cattle-breeding nomads .
CENTRAL GREECE AND THE PELOPONNESE
The type of gold-embroidered costume with long
foustanela
,
established by Otho , the first king of Greece , as the formal court dress in
the middle of the 19th century , prevailed in the urban centers of the Morea
(Peloponnese) and of Roumeli (Central Greece) . This dress was originally
the military outfit of the Greek chieftains .
THE ISLANDS
This costume ,which was worn with some variations on all the
Aegean islands , is the classical type of male dress with vraka .
THE ISLANDS
Crete
The traditional Cretan costume is fashioned from blue felt by a
special tailor , the so-called levendoraftis . The distinctive feature of the
costume is the vraka , a kind of wide baggy trousers .
TRADITIONAL DANCES
Dancing is one of the most ancient expressive means , second
chronologically after singing . Dancing was closely connected with the
hunting and farming when people relied on nature and its caprices , the
seasons and the ground fertility .
With dance , people reacted to the most important events of their life
:birth , adolescence , marriage , death , peace , war , work on the land ,
hunting in the forests , the dryness and famine , seed time and reaping .
Also with dance they joined the gods’
and devils’ adoration and the
magic and religious representations .
Later the dancing was no longer related to magic and religion or
their costumes and continued to survive as an artistic , entertaining and
psychosomatic deliverance , relaxation and expression .
As it is difficult to keep up with the history and the evolution of
dancing , we will try to present to you a number of traditional Greek
dances .
1. SIRTOS or KALAMATIANOS
It is the kind of dance which is danced all over Greece. It did not
take its name from the city of Kalamata but from the words of the song
which accompany the dance .These words refer to the silk handkerchief
,sacred symbol of the wedding ceremony-the story is about a girl who asks
her favorite man to bring her the handkerchief in case he was going to visit
the city of Kalamata, those years famous industrial center as far as the
working out of the silk is concerned .”If you go to Kalamata and you return
safely ,bring me a handkerchief in order put it around my neck”
It is a plain kind of dance and it is distinguished for its modesty,
simplicity and harmony.
2. TSAMIKOS or KLEFTIKOS
The name “Kleftikos” concerns the “kleftes” who used to dance this
kind of dance.On the other hand ,the name “Tsamikos” was given to it
because of Tsamouria an area of Ipiros.
It is a jumping dance and it expresses the beauty of men warriors ,the
courage and the bravery
3. IPIROTIKOS
It is danced in the area of the province of Ioannina by men and
women and it is accompanied by the well known song “I will be vassilikos
at your window.
4. ZONARADIKOS
It is called “zonaradikos” because the dancers hold each other by the
belts. It is danced by men and mainly old men.
5. IKARIOTIKOS
It is danced by men and women in Ikaria, a Greek island in
Dodekanissa, and it is named after this island.
6. TSAKONIKOS
It is danced by men and women in Tsakonia in Arkadia prefecture
after which it is named .They hold each other by the elbows. This dance
reproduces Thisseas entrance and exit from the labyrinth. For this ,when is
danced coil like a snake .It is the dance which was danced by Thisseas and
his companions as tradition refers .It was also a religious dance.
7. DANCES OF THE PEOPLE OF THE BLACK SEA
The Greek who lived over 2.500 years in Pontus kept all their
customs, their religion, the language, their dances and their songs.
When they were persecuted by the Turks, they settled in Greece their
native country, and the dances, the songs and generally all the traditional
customs were the unique treasure which they brought with them.
These dances are still danced in several parts of Greece where they
settled with the same steps and the same expression exactly as they danced
them in the Black Sea. The steps of the dance, the movements of the body
and the expression present something special. The main characteristic of
the dances of the people of the Black Sea are the trembling movement of
the whole body and the small discord of the legs.
8. DANCES OF EASTERN ROMILLIA
Eastern Romilia is the South-east part of Bulgaria, which belonged
to Thraki till 1361. But, with the occupation of Thraki in 1361 from
the Turks and the intervention of the powerful of Earth, who violated
every human right, the Greek Eastern Romilia was detached from
Greece and became an autonomous hegemony.
In 1886 with the support of Russia it was attached to Bulgaria.
At that time the exterminating combat of the Bulgarians against
the Greek of that region started, with the purpose to change their
Ethnological character, their National conscience.
But, the Everlasting Greek soul and the immortal Greek spirit,
not only gave in but on the contrary they started the fight for
spiritual conquests.
So
in
1876
the
“Zarifia
Institutes”
were
established
in
Filippoupolis with higher girls’ school and kindergarten for a
The
Bulgarians
themselves
recognize
the
progress
and
the
superiority of the Greek people in trade, arts and spiritual culture.
So one is able to understand the strength of the influence of the
Greek element in this country and that it was not possible to accept
the influence of inferior spiritual people such as the Turks and the
Bulgarians. That way, they preserved all the qualities and characteristic
signs of their ancestors, their traditional roots such as customs, dances
and songs.
When, consequently, in 1920 Thraki was liberated and they
allowed the Greeks to return to Greece, the only treasures they
brought with them, were their dances and songs which are still
danced in Macedonia and in Thraki where they settled with nostalgia for
the land which they irrigated with hard work and blood and which is now
resided by foreigners.
9. KRITIKOS
At the island of Crete , there are two basic kinds of dancing . The
first one is called Pentozalis , which is a war-dance and used to be danced
only by armed men .The second one is called Syrtos . Both of these dances
, are danced in a circle . There is a basic difference between these two
dances : at Pentozali the dancers hold one another from the shoulders
whereas , at Syrtos they hold one another from the hand .