I t was on the holiday of Candlemas four years ago that Snežana Sekulić, 43, invit- ed all of her friends and acquaintances who love handicrafts and suggested that they create costumes for members of the Cultural-Artistic Association“Đido”, of which Snežana is the president. And the result was magical. From the beginning, initially with six or seven of them, but now with 51, they’ve sewn and crocheted costumes for the en- semble. Since then, they’ve been organis- ing needlework at Snežana’s home, where they also welcomed us. We are awaited from the door by the sound of the rustling of beautiful skirts and the glare of golden thread on shirts. Every costume is a miniature artwork. Snežana’s home is also full of women’s chatter, every other week, now for many years. They de- cide among themselves who will do which tailoring job at home, but also exchange the odd recipe. Everything started when Đido won modest funds in a provincial contest to use to make costumes for the Šokci danc- es from Bač. It was then that nursery and school teachers, pensioners, nurses, and al- so girls from the ensemble, leapt to assis- tance and started making and decorating costumes. All of them are united in their love for tradition and for Đido. “All of us from the“Prelo”Women’s As- sociation made 14 costumes in which we can dance with full shine in the Šokci dances from Bač and Plavna, to the choreography of Dragomir Vuković Kljaca, a former director of the “Kolo” National Ensemble. There are blouses, scarves, embroidered skirts, gold thread embroidery... Some have up to 8,000 sequins, and a more skilful woman can stitch 60 per hour,” explains Snežana. She’s also proud of 10 shirts for the Danc- es from Banat that have been delineated with gold thread and embroidered in col- ourful bindings with Vojvodina oral motifs. Every prick of needle and sewn sequin is an investment of eort and patience that cannot be measured. But, according to these ladies, anyone who has any feelings at all can learn quickly. “Still, making a single ower with a leaf and gold edging takes a more skilled wom- an four hours, and there are dozens of them on one skirt. That’s why our skirts are price- less to us – says Snežana candidly, adding that a single complete woman’s costume that’s fully decorated is estimated at around 1,500 euros. She tells us about white needlework that’s very demanding and expensive, but also rened. It requires many hours of work, but it’s a pleasure for them. In this way they revive an old custom, the ceremonial proces- sion of the Queen, who embarks on a festive
march on this Feast of the Spirits.
All of their work and eort is voluntary, and some women have even invested their own funds. They’re also assisted by their fel- low citizens, because, as they say, when Đi- do dances Bečej folk cry tears of happiness. “I am to credit for bringing them togeth- er, but as soon as they joined forces, miracles happened. Each of us should preserve tra- dition to the extent that we’re able. Every- one needs to know his roots in order to be good for himself and his neighbours. When we get together, we talk about handicrafts and cakes, not about things that worry us,” says Snežana, a lawyer by profession, who came from Šid to marry in Bečej. The secret to the embroidery they use is revealed by Marija Naumovski, 56, whose grandmother taught her needlework. “I made a shirt with gold thread using the cross stitch technique, while the seam is a dead point. The needlework goes col- umn by column, with double point stitch- es, without loops, rmer than others. I need two days to complete one shirt.” They mostly use ‘Kosovo point’, which diers in terms of the darkness of the edg- ing. The thread does not trail underneath, rather only catching the edges. This is more dicult to do, but they say that the needle- work is prettier. It is passed down from gen- eration to generation, while many of them have taught each other various techniques there. And all of them are in every seam, every needlepoint of their skirts and shirts is embroidered with many sleepless nights and lots of love. Đido celebrates its 40th anniversary next year, and it’s with this in mind that these ded- icated, industrious ladies are planning to re- construct the original old costumes used for the Šopsko dances. “These are very old pieces with specif- ic ribbons and decorations, so some“Prela” members have already undergone training to be able to recreate costumes expertly and to high quality”, says Snežana. Given that these costumes wear out from being used by an ensemble that per- forms intensively everywhere around the region and abroad, they constantly sew blouses and skirts, knit socks and addition- ally lace bodices. Svetlana Glavaški, 43, reveals that her son, who dances in Đido, got her started when he complained to her a few years ago that they had nothing to dance in. While she escorts us out, she recalls those rst skirts that they made prior to one Đido performance... “We then still hadn’t seen them on the stage, but my son called me after their con- cert in Hungary: “Mum, your sequins work wonders on stage. When they turn on the spotlights, the skirts look like Firebirds””.
Žene iz udruženja Prelo uglavnom koriste kosovski bod, koji se razlikuje po tamnom opšivu. Konac se ne provlači ispod, već se samo hvata za krajeve The “Prelo” Women mostly use ‘Kosovo point’, which differs in terms of the darkness of the edging. The thread does not trail underneath, rather only catching the edges
lju, treba mi dva dana.
Uglavnom koriste kosovski bod, koji se razlikuje po tamnom opšivu. Konac se ne provlači ispod, već se samo hvata za kraje- ve. Jeste teže tako raditi, ali vez je, kažu, lep- ši. Prenosi se sa kolena na koleno, a mno- ge od njih su raznim tehnikama učile jedna drugu. I sve one su u svaki porub, svaki bod svojih sukanja i košulja utkale mnogo besa- nih noći i mnogo ljubavi. Đido sledeće godine slavi 40 godina po- stojanja, zato ove predane, vredne dame uve- liko planiraju da rekonstruišu originalne stare nošnje koje se koriste za šopske igre. – To su vrlo stari komadi sa specifičnim trakama i ukrasima, pa su neke članice Prela već bile na obuci kako bi stručno i kvalitetno rekonstruisale nošnje – priča Snežana Sekulić. Budući da je nošnja u ansamblu koji in- tenzivno nastupa svuda u regionu i u ino- stranstvu potrošna, one stalno šiju bluze, su- knje, štrikaju čarape, dodatno šlingaju jeleke. Svetlana Glavaški (43) otkriva da ju je sin, koji igra u Đidu, pokrenuo kada joj se pre nekoli- ko godina požalio da nemaju u čemu da igra- ju. Dok nas ispraća, priseća se tih prvih suka- nja koje su radile pred jedan nastup Đida... – Mi ih tada još nismo videle na sceni, ali sin mi je javio posle njihovog koncerta u Mađarskoj: „Mama, vaše šljokice prave čuda na bini. Kad se upale reflektori, suknje izgle- daju kao žar-ptice.“
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