#lavradeira

Ouro Português Tradicional – Traditional Portuguese Gold I

Photos (from left to right):

Detail of a cordão (gold chain) with a “Libra da rainha com véu” (sovereign of queen with veil, bearing the effigy of Queen Victoria), encrusted in a elaborate gold frame, traditionally from Minho. Source: flickr.com

Picture of a mother and daughter from Minho, respectively adorned with gold pieces. The young girl with three libras hanging from a gold beaded necklace, and the woman with the chest covered with several libras hanging from lots of cordões, and a beaded necklace. Source: picture taken around the first half of the 20th century, somewhere in the province of Viana do Castelo, Minho region, Portugal.

Young woman wearing a traditional lavradeira costume in the Mordomia Parade (ethnographical parade) during the Pilgrimage of Our Lady of Sorrow, in Viana do Castelo. Her chest is full of traditional gold ornaments, including two libras hanging from gold chains and a “alfinete de três vinténs/libras” (brooch made of three coins/sovereigns). Source: festasdagonia.com

Detail of a “alfinete de três vinténs/libras”, and below it a gold brooch with a sovereign embedded in it, part of a lavradeira's costume. Source: revistamar.com

The “à Vianesa” costume, was the traditional clothing worn by country girls from the villages around Viana do Castelo on special days. Here represented is the “à Vianesa de Afife” costume (the oldest known costume in Portugal). And the other ceremonial costume, also represented in here, is the Morgada costume. These were the clothes worn by local farmers between the last quarter of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century, in the Minho region. The exception is the “à Vianesa” costume, which has always been worn, adapted to new occasions and scenarios where necessary.

The “à Vianesa” costume, was also known as the rich Lavradeira or festivity costume. Until two or three decades ago, lavradores and lavradeiras were the men and women who belonged to what we might call the well-off peasantry of northern Portugal. They were landowners of small to medium-sized properties. Lavradeira is the feminine form of lavrador and both names stem from the same Latin root as the English words labor and laborer. The most accurate translation for lavradeira would be farmwife, but it was a costume also worn by girls from an early age (e.g.: the young girls in the second and third photos).

In turn, the Morgada was either the only daughter or the eldest daughter of a local farmer. But the costume was also commonly worn by married women (e.g.: the mother in the second picture). They are made using finer fabrics: baize, velvet, satin, lace, ribbons with the addition of glass beads and sequins. Thus, the social standing of local country girls and women was shown by how they dressed, with an austere black costume, enlivened only by traditional gold jewellery, a colorful headscarf and the love handkerchief. The reason behind the dark clothing was that black was considered a noble colour and, particularly in Minho, it was reserved only for special and solemn occasions, including the wedding dress, christenings, feast day Masses, and to be buried with it.

The largest quantity of gold items appears on the colourful costumes of the rich lavradeira and the black costumes of the Morgada (as well as the mordoma and the bride, as i explained above). Some of the gold pieces mentioned and represented are:

Libra – Golden sovereigns enclosed in fancy frames, one of the most iconic pieces of traditional gold jewellery. Those bearing the effigy of Queen Victoria are the most popular, but there's also the “libras cavalinho” (horse sovereigns), which is a reference to St. George’s horse on the reverse of the coin. By the late nineteenth century, the sovereign initially appeared as a fob on the watch chains worn by farmers and later became ornaments for their wives and daughters. It took a few decades for their display to acquire its well-defined contours. Also, to make up for the lack of any such English coins in a family, or the means to buy one, the “medal” emerges, but where the coin is an imitation made by goldsmiths, with no numismatic value, although surrounded by a gold setting, similar in every way to those surrounding real sovereigns.

Cordão (gold chain) and colar de contas (beaded necklace), often worn plain, or with a pendent of sorts – When the libra(s) is/are seen hanging from the traditional gold chain, the cordão, it forms the most popular set throughout the twentieth century, both in daily contexts and in ethnographic parades, and, indeed, is still used by older women on feast days in country areas.

Adorned in gold necklaces and wearing the traditional Lavradeira costume of the region, a girl partakes in a procession during the festivities of Nossa Senhora da Agonia. The feast of Our Lady of Agony celebrates the patron saint of fishermen, and is not only the largest traditional festival in Portugal but also the largest outdoor showcase of gold in the world.

Location: Viana do Castelo, Portugal

Black and white photos of women in traditional portuguese costumes | UPDATED

Clothes worn by women from the Viana do Castelo, in the Minho region (northwest of Portugal), during festive seasons. Whether of a religious or social nature, they are richer costumes and were an authentic dowry given to the woman, as they would spend important moments in her life with them, ranging from the wedding to the most important religious festivals, and also at her funeral:

i) Bride dressed as a Bride / Bride in a Wedding photo from Minho – The bride's costume is practically the same as the Mordoma's costume (daughter of a rich farmer). It is a dark and rich attire, that would last a lifetime, and she would even be buried with it. With more attention, it is possible to notice its details in the bride on the right, namely, that it's embroidered with glass beads. The bride exchanges the Mordoma headscarf (colorful and made of silk) for a thin cambric headscarf (light fabric made from cotton or linen) that it’s embroidered and crossed in front, as is the case of the bride on the right. But there is also (and more usual) the veil of embroidered lace or tulle, which is carried with its ends hanging over the chest, just like the bride on the left. The other pieces that complement the costume (bride on the left) are the algibeira (traditional separated pocket, in this case, heart-shaped), a skirt at the waist, black slippers, and finally, an apron with the crown and royal coat of arms of Portugal in the center. The bride also carries a votive candle in her hand, or a Palmito (literally, “palm leaf”), which is a decorative and symbolic element made from braided palm branches. But what could not be forgotten to take was the Lenço dos namorados (literally, “Lovers' Handkerchief”. The bride carries it in the same hand where she carries the votive candle (bride on the left). This handkerchief that has always accompanied her, is made up of floral motifs, love phrases and plant motifs. Ennobling the costume, it's profusely decorated with traditional gold. The shine of the countless golden pieces rivals the gleam of the embroidery and sequins on the luxurious black costume. In the photo on the right, the woman displays two crosses hanging from a beaded necklace, plus a set of gold chains, known as cordões. The gold chains mesure 2 to 2,40 m (in this case, they can go around the neck more than three times), and can vary in weight (these ones are thin). The gold chain was the third gold that was offered to a girl as part of her dowry. In the bride on the left, the piece that immediately catches the eye is the giant heart, known as the coração de Viana (literally, Heart of Viana), which practically falls on the bride's lap. The pendant is made up of the heart itself, and a crown element, as it is a symbolic representation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. On the ear, she uses traditional earrings called brincos à rainha (literally, Queen-like earrings). These ear pendants from the 19th century are considered the most ostentatious and popular earrings in traditional gold. Finally, the bride here is adorned with numerous gold Libras, that is, gold sovereign coins in a quite elaborate gold setting, with several variations of these. Usually, the preferred sovereigns for this type of pendant are those bearing the effigy of Queen Victoria, usually called libras cara de mulher (sovereign with woman's face) or libras da rainha com véu (sovereign of queen with veil), related to the queen's portrait. Oddly enough, remittances of this currency arrived in Portugal, not only through families returning from emigration in Brazil, but also because, at the same time, the export of live cattle to England had become important, the production of which even involved small farmers.

Black and white photos of women in traditional portuguese costumes II

Double photo: «Country women wearing traditional gold jewellery on their everyday life», circa 19th century, somewhere in Viana do Castelo region, Portugal.

In the nineteenth century, emerged a particular type of gold jewellery in Portugal, which became known, in the following century, as «Ouro Popular Português» (Traditional Portuguese Gold Jewellery). This designation embraced a number of items used all over the country, with greater use in the North of Portugal, in particular in the Minho province, and there, mainly in the Viana do Castelo region. And this type of gold jewellery was an important form of feminine ornamentation of the women of the rural areas of the Minho province.

The use of gold ornaments depended on circumstance and fortune, but it extended across various social classes, so gold was always present, either on working days, with a simple bedded necklace and hoop earring, or on festive days, with a more lavish display. In fact, from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, farmers considered that owning gold was as essential as owning land and cattle, and even more important than the house they lived in, which justifies the Portuguese saying: “As much land as you can see, as big a house as you can inhabit and as much gold as you can afford”. Owning gold reflected the social and economic background of each person, family or region, although public displays of gold ornaments was required for this standing to be confirmed by the community as a whole. These gold ornaments were essential stores of value which were used in times of hardship, when some of these items had to be sold or pawned, constituting also an important nest egg that was bequeathed to future generations. They served also as a reflection of family organisation in a rural setting and of women’s important position within that group, situation upheld by the strong male immigration that affected the region in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries, first to Brazil and later to other European countries.

Therefore, given the fact that most types of pieces are used the same over time, the size of some of these ornaments served to differentiate the purchasing power of their users and was a prerogative of this type of pieces. In fact, the women from Minho, were famous for wearing at the same time large-scale gold adornments, heavily and excessively, on their chest. The main adornments traditionally included in the denomination «Traditional Portuguese Gold Jewellery» (it's possible to spot several different styles in the photos, as well as the way they were employed), correspond to those we designate as the “original nucleus”, to distinguish them from other items with similar characteristics but different morphology and decoration that emerged later, in the twentieth century.

In the original nineteenth century, it included: hoop earrings – named argolas and arrecadas – and multiple types of earrings, including the lavish à rainha earrings (literally, queen-like earrings). Beaded necklaces, different gold chains such as cordões, colares de corda, grilhões, trancelins and colares de gramalheira, also integrate the set. Pendants linked to the catholic religion are also part of the original nucleus, such as several styles of crosses – stamped, cast and in filigree –, as well as reliquaries, conceições (traditional name for a pendant in the shape of a sculpture of Our Lady of Conception), and enamel medals invoking Our Lady of Conception. Other pendants, like stamped or filigree heart pendants (the popular Hearts of Viana), Maltese crosses, borboletas (small pendant in the shape of a butterfly wing), laças (bow pendant). Portuguese eighteenth century gold coins, libras (gold sovereigns) and imitation coins, all mounted in elaborate gold frames, and brooches made of three sovereigns completed the original set.