Ризата в традиционния женски костюм от региона на Сакар
The Chemise in the Traditional Female Costume of the Sakar Region

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the article is to present in detail the traditional chemise, worn by the women in the Sakar region. Object to attention are its kind, cut and decoration, as well as its place in the composition of the costume. The article sums up the results of specific field research and field materials, personally collected by the author in the region. The state of the female chemise, registered in them, is supplemented by and compared with the data of the existing notes in ethnographic literature regarding the state of traditional culture in the 1960s and 1970s in the Sakar region, as well as by some more general works on Bulgarian traditional wear, which make it possible to outline its typological characteristics. The investigation proves the specific character of the Sakar variant of the tunic-like chemise, which has its own regional specificities and merits. Creatively reinterpreted over the years, it represents the aesthetic taste and style of the Bulgarians of that region. As an important part of the culture and tradition of the people in the region, the chemise is one and the same among Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christians. The busy trade road, connecting Europe with the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and the development of the urban centres (Harmanli, Lyubimets, Svilengrad) have exerted powerful influence on the chemise both as part of the clothing in the entire region, and on its structure, moreover not only in the towns but also in some villages (Levka), modifying it in the spirit of European fashions of the late 19th century. The presentation leads to the conclusion that the chemise of the traditional costume of the Sakar region is closely related to the evolution of the overall costume and was preserved until a comparatively late period – the late 1950s and early 1960s, when after the collectivisation carried out in the region, it largely went out of use, remaining an inseparable part of the clothing and life only of the oldest people living there.

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