Turopolje Museum

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ETHNOLOGY  

 
The Velika Gorica region, located on the south - east of Zagreb, used to be a part of the Panonnian plain. The region is surrounded by the two rivers: Sava and Kupa. It occupies a part of Posavina, fructiferous Turopolje plain, Vukomeričke gorice and a part of Pokuplje. The south - eastern part of Turopolje used to be covered with the infinite oak - tree forests which stretched from Kurilovec village and Pleso, all the way to Turopoljski lug (the Turopolje grove). Vukomeričke gorice were covered with beech and birch - tree forests. The maize and other cereals were mostly grown in the plain, grapes in Vukomeričke gorice, flax was grown in Posavina and hemp in Turopolje. Peasants used to grow their own fruits and vegetables. They occupied themselves also with apiculture and fishing, but the utmost care was taken of their famous pigs, bred in spacious forests of Turopoljski lug. All the clothes a family could need were made out of flax and hemp, whose procession (done exclusively by women) was very developed in the region as a part of the folk handicrafts. Turopolje's weavers used to weave very dense, thick, red linen, while the female - weavers fabric šarina was somewhat thinner with wool or red lettering interwoven. In the beginning, the linen was woven only out of home - made yarn. Later on, the other types of yarn such as ready - made cotton yarn, ježek yarn, končec yarn and tumbačno yarn also came into use. By manufacturing linen for daily needs of her family, adroit female - weaver was attaining envious skills which she could hand down to the next generation. The motifs embroidered by female - weavers were not peculiar just because of their ornamental subjects and use of the local colours, but because they were closely linked with the rural life, believes, prophecy and the whole national spirit.  
In the beginning motifs were geometrical and minute, but they were gradually substituted for stylized, much larger floral ones (a floral nosegay that ritmically repeated). Female - weavers were either doing it in a loom or by hands - interweaving silk, thread, flex or wool. Motif itself was very colourful. It was usually red, sometimes black, green, yellow, blue and white, but also pink or purple. Colours had symbolic, magical significance. Motifs signified purpose, occasion, age and financial status of person wearing particular garment. Textile goods with no adornment were called prostina. Elder women - during mourning - wore garments with white decoration, while red colour was used especially for young people's clothes. Apart from the purposefulness, those garments had also the decorative role. 
Rural population in this region wore clothes very similar to those worn in south - western part of Panonnian plain. Their main characteristics were that they were made out of considerable lenght of linen (processed in a loom) by putting together rectangular pieces and gathering them into folds. 
Women's garbs differed depending on the material and decoration used. Every district - "fara" - had its own peculiarities, but it is hardly possible to put a finger on it. Garbs worn in Pokuplje and Vukomeričke gorice were usually decorated with white embroidery, Posavina's ones were made out of flax linen and decorated with multicoloured embroidery, either by picking up or interweaving. Turopolje's garbs were mostly made out of hemp linen and had their motifs interwoven (thick red lettering, coloured thread, white cotton...). 

Components of women's garb: 
 - rubača - skirt 
 - oplečje - wide sleeved shirt 
 - švabica - tight sleeved shirt 
 - fertun, zaslen, zastor - apron 
Rubača - in the beginning very long skirt (down to the ankle), but later on much shorter, made out of four to five halves of linen. The frontal half was smooth, while three or four rear parts were gathered into folds. The waist halves were gathered on a thread and held by ošvica (belt). Such skirts were called rubače s pasa or rubače na pintu. Their motifs were either interwoven or sown on the rear halves, above the selvage. There was also a decoration called tvezovi (vertical lacy stripes on sutures of halves). Some women wore rubače s kiklenkom (skirt and waistcoat put in one piece). Those rubače were white, with either no decoration at all or decorated with wide stripes made by red lettering interwoven on the rear halves. They were called pisanke. During the mourning period, women wore modre pisanke, skirts decorated by dark blue interwoven thread. 

Oplećje - wide sleeved shirt. Its folded sleeves were gathered around the neck and wrists with a thin ribbon. Those parts were often decorated in the same way as the frontal part of the shirt. 

Švabica - tight sleeved shirt often worn instead of the oplećje, with various decoration 

Fertun, zaslen, zastor - apron made up of two or three halves of linen, edged by spitz - lace, widely folded at waist and held by a thin belt. Its embroidery was usually sown on or interwoven with silk, white cotton or thick red lettering. 

Woman's hair was combed in two plaits, rarely in one, and had a parting across the frontal part. In the beginning, girls were mostly bare - headed with the ready - made decorative ribbons tucked in their plaits,  but later on, they started wearing kerchiefs tied up at the back of their necks. Covering head of the married woman was a symbol of their status and an old custom, retained until today.  After the wedding, bride had her plaits folded around kunč - puntek - tanjak and hair covered with a cap called poculica (there were two different types: Posavina's poculica and Turopolje's poculica) or with halbica. They were covered with peča. In Turopolje region women use to wear kapica (cap) and poculica. The kapica was covering most of the head and it was decorated with pearls and thin lace. Turopoljska poculica, small and round used to cover just the plaited hair folded around fanjek - puntek. Poculice had  selvages made of  thin lace, some of them  decorated with a piece of silk, wool or thread. The latter ones had decorations made of pearls and superficial flowers. Their selvage was made with a piece of tulle. The poculica worn in Posavina was much larger than one worn in Turopolje. It covered the most of woman's head. Its selvage was very wide and decorated with a floral adornment. In the other part of Posavina, women wore halbica that covered just the top of a head. It was decorated with ready - made flowers, tulle or thin stripes. Peča was a kerchief made out of home - made linen decorated by embroidery with either lace or tassel selvage. Women used to tie them up under the chin. On the special occasions, brides wore peča over the poculica without tying them up. They also wore special belts made for the occasion. One type was made out of bright red cloth. The other one was called fertušnica (very thin woven belt).. Their jewelry -  dunđ - was  kraluž (a necklace made up of red corals and tiny coloured pearls), then škude and petokrune (silver coins) strung either on a metal necklace or a black velvet ribbon. 

Men's clothes consisted of: 
 - rubača (shirt) 
 - gaće or pantalone (trousers) 

Rubača - long baggy shirt with a small collar, decorated with white cotton on the frontal part. Sleeves were folded around shoulders and tied up around wrists with a ribbon.  

Gaće - baggy trousers with a strip or a rope instead of a belt. 

Pantalone - trousers worn on special occasions; made out of thicker hemp linen, folded around the waist with a linen sash. The sides were decorated either with a white cotton or a red lettering. 

In the summer men wore straw hats, and in winter wide - brimmed felt ones or fur - caps. On special occasions, people of Turopolje wore brown leather belts and carried čelene torbe (bags) made out of red wool and brown leather with a long stripe attached.  

That festal look was completed by wearing podgutnica (ready - made coloured ribbon  decorated with beads), the forerunner of the tie. 

Younger children (those who were not going to school yet) wore pače - pahače - canjak - kiklica  - long straight shirts made out of home - made and ready - made linen. 

Turopolje and Posavina's women wore lajbek (waistcoats), reklec, cabajka, alica - halica, (short jackets), kožun, hala and čova (coats) decorated with ready - made ribbons, fur, leather, etc. Men also wore hala and čova in the winter and lajbek in the summer. 

Their footwear were opanci remenaši (strapped  softsoled footwear), lačice (straps made out of cloth for wrapping around legs) and boots. Women's footwear were opanci na bezec with a small heel and shoes called punčue. 

Anything needed done in the house was done by our folks... 

Particular feature of the region were its indefinite forests, because not only the houses but also all the furniture and tools were made out of wood. Different types of wood were used according to their characteristics. 

Some of the wooden artifacts were decorated just with plane decoration. The techniques for making the decorative motifs were: shallow engraving - line cutting; deeper engraving - scoring; hollowing; finishing with a red - hot wire - burning; and finally colouring, although the latter was rare in this region. The main decorative motifs were: small points and triangles in a row, straight and wavy lines, a cross in a circle or with letters IHS, rectangles, squares, triangles, circles or semi - circles, hearts, rosettes and cart wheels. Many of these motifs were not just decorative but were also of magical significance, but this has largely been forgotten. It used to be customary for girls to be given a distaff as a christening gift; they would play with them as children and learn how to spin, and later begin to work with yarn and weave things for the needs of their families. The engraved symbols were to bring her good luck and protection, and remained her of the person who gave her the gift. These distaffs in many cases were masterpieces of folk wood engraving. In addition to woodwork, an important craft was that of weaving articles from willow or hazel twigs or thin strips gained through splitting. These articles came in a wide variety of shapes according to their purpose, and they were used for holding and carrying a wide range of articles, such as items of fishing equipment. The unskillful hands using primitive tools became increasingly skilled with time, improving with practice at making artifacts. Wood became a material for the artistic expression of the male part of the population. Individuals gradually emerged from the village communities who were more skillful and expressive in making these wooden objects and who began to produce objects for sale. Once entire villages specialized in certain kinds of woodwork, such as foremen - carpenters for building houses, for making looms, for making reeds for looms, and so on; this marked the beginning of the development of handicraft. 

These marvelous works of skilled carpenters... 

Settlements in Turopolje belonged to a type of compact villages in elongated shape where the houses were set on the main road. The villages of Vukomeričke gorice and Pokuplje were thrown about_eng; they consisted of hamlets on the hills, probably developed out of built houses after the community partition and named after a property owner's last name. The houses in Posavina were located on the banks of the Sava river. After the community partition, its members built new houses bellow the main community building. New streets were formed. In vicinity of the Sava river, the houses were vertical to the main road and populated by people with the same last name. Private plots and ground - plans were mostly rectangular. The houses built within the region were cottage - type houses which consisted mostly of the ground and the first floor (hiže or čardaci). Owing to steadiness of their oak - tree skeleton, they lasted for a very long time. They were built out of thick oak - tree beams or planks, trimmed or filed, which were assembled horizontally one above the other and connected at the corners in a horvatov vuglić (Croatian corner) when the ends of the beams were left untrimmed, or in a nemški vuglić (German corner), when they were trimmed.  
The country houses of the wealthy were also built in this way (the best preserved example is the Modić - Bedeković house in Donja Lomnica) as were small village chapels (the best preserved examples being in Velika Mlaka and Lijevi Štefanki). 
The houses were built by village carpenters (paliri), who were using the centuries - old folk experience, knowledge and skill. Those carpenters were organized in groups (partije). The most famous carpenters were people from Kuče, Čička Poljana, Bukevje and Lijevi Štefanki. 
The house entrance was on a side. Cottage - type houses had an entrance called ganjek pristašek, while the čardak had an outdoor staircase leading to a porch. The pristašek and the porch were usually decorated by engravings; some of the houses even had their carpenter's name carved into. Special wooden aids were made for the transport of wooden houses from one place to another. Iža, the largest room of the hiža was used as a living room. There was a room at the back of the house also called iža. The kitchen was called ižica. In the čardak those rooms were located on the first floor while the ground floor was used as a storage for the crops. The furniture in those houses was very high and lifted above the floor level. It was made out of trimmed boards which were slotted into each other and joined at the corners by an incision, strengthened by wooden wedges as necessary. An important item in the village house inventory was the chest. Chests were used for storing linen, clothes, documents, jewelry and also corn and maize. The size of the chest depended on its use. Chests with arched lids were characteristic of this region, and later chests of drawers with flat tops came into use. The chests were not decorated, while the chests of drawers had a decoration which once had been coloured. The chest used to play an important part in the wedding ceremony. Chests were used for bride's dowry transportation to a new home. 
In this region, various folk customs were held and they were often linked to the church holidays. Very well known one was the Turopolje wedding with a variety of customs: proposal, equipment transportation, arrival of a bride to a new home. Those ceremonies were held in winter, usually on fašenjsku Sunday and lasted for three days. Very often few couples wed at the same time. Ceremonies were usually continuing with all sorts of carnival customs. After the Lent, the great important had the Easter holidays with its dishes blessings, colouring pisanica (eggs) and vuzelnik bonfires on the Easter morning. Another famous ceremony in Turopolje is Jurjevski ophodi. On St. George's day, April 23rd, jurjaši used to go around houses singing; in reward they were offered food and beverages. That day was deemed the beginning of economic year and on that day servants and shepherds would negotiate business. Young people use to jump over the bonfires and make cattle go over it. Bonfires were also happening on St. John's day. On that day, the ladarice (female folk singers) would go around houses singing, same as jurjaši on St. George's day. Another custom, the "horse wake" was organized on St. Bartol's day, April 24th in Orle village. Christmas and New Year were celebrated in a customary way, and celebration used to begin on St. Nicholas' day, December 6th. Almost all of the customs had a purpose of chasing evil forces away and forcing fertility. Many of those customs are not held any longer, some of them changed and some of them are being renewed. 

This is a memory of the past, but also an obligation for the future. 

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