Greek Folk Textiles

Textiles constitute the culmination of crafts and reflect in a vivid way the living reality of the evolution of humanity at all stages of its centuries-old journey through time. The intimate relationship of textiles with the history of humanity sheds light on the unenlightened aspects of the cultural and social identity of the peoples of the world. As for Greece and its long history from ancient times, Byzantium, the period before and after the Greek Revolution of 1821, until the beginning of the twentieth century, textiles pioneered traditional folk arts and people’s daily lives and with their strong allegories often contributed to the mores, customs, beliefs and rituals of the small or large societies of the country. Weaving for clothing, the home, religious ceremonies, embroidery and lace for costumes, wedding dresses, priestly vestments, pillows and curtains, often served as ideal elements for interpreting the cultural origins and norms on which the history of an entire nation was based, while they often constituted key themes of oral folk tradition.
In a thorough historical research with a wealth of illustrations and a concise analysis of folk traditional textiles, the author investigates hitherto hardly known data and shows the importance of their ritualistic, symbolic, as well narrative character, revealing their unparalleled rich, coded language which remains to be understood and admired.