Playing Dress-Up and a Priceless Gift

About a month ago, one of the petite little old ladies from the Church offered to dress me in her traditional Slovak clothes since we are around the same size. I happily took her up on the offer this week! Traditional Slovak clothing is very neat and always very colorful.

After visited the Ethno House, it was really neat to see her house. I have visited a few houses here in Padina, but because most of my students are younger (under 50), their houses are more modern. Her wardrobe looked like it could have been in the ethno-house! She also had the traditional mattress on her bed as well as the typical painted and colorful walls. Both of the outfits that I am wearing in the Pictures were hand made by her around 30 years ago. She still wears the outfits I had on today, but only for very formal occasions.

First, you have to put on the blouse and button it all the way up to your neck. This would not be bad in the winter, but I don't know how they survived the summers. Next, you put on up to three slips that have been treated in starch. I luckily only had one on in this picture. After that, you put on the skirt. Formal skirts, like the ones in these pictures, are heavy because of the amount of material used. The, you put on the apron. The skirts are made with adjustable waste bands so that they can be worn as you get older and bigger. The apron covers the opening in the front of the skirt. After you are dressed, you put on the cap or bonnet. The cap reminds me of wearing a baseball hat backwards. You can see the cap in the second picture. And finally, if you want, you can tie a scarf around your head. It seems like so much effort just to get dressed, but it was a lot of fun!

I think the lady, who is probably one of the cutest little old ladies in all of Padina, had fun dressing me up. We even convinced Liljana to dress up in traditional Slovak clothes. Liljana is Macedonian so she doesn't wear clothes like this. It was really fun seeing her dressed up as well and was definitely entertaining for Janko. He called me "Zuska" whenever I had on one of the outfits.

After dressing up, we had hot cappuccinos in the 90 degree weather. The lady said something to my hosts and then went back inside. They told me that the lady wanted to give me a skirt! The people here are too generous and I was so afraid she would try to give me one of the beautiful skirts that I had on. To my relief, she came back out with a less formal skirt. They have light weight, simple, inexpensive skirts that they wear on a daily basis. The ones I had on were expensive, heavy, and very formal. The skirt she brought out was somewhere in the middle. It is too nice to wear on a daily basis, but definitely not as formal as the ones I had on. I was so honored and grateful that she wanted to give me something so nice and personal, but I felt a little guilty accepting it. I think she made it about 30 years ago. I really don't think it's possible for the people here to be more generous! Hopefully I can find the perfect occasion to wear the skirt at home!