Figure 1.-- This 1929 portrait was taken of a family on Crete. Click on the image for more information about the family.
|
Figure 1.-- This 1929 portrait was taken of a family on Crete. Click on the image for more information about the family. |
Greece is a small country, but there traditionally have been meant destinctive regional differences. Some important regions are northern Greece, the Aegean Islands, and Crete. These differencs today are most apparent in folk costumes. HBC is not sure of just how clothing styles varied in different regions. We do know that as in other countruies, traditional fashions generally tended to persist in the rural areas and small villages. After World War II these differences began to decline. Today with television and modern media, there are few differences, except in folk costumes among clothing styles in different regions.
Anatolia or modern Turkey is often referred to as Asia Minor by the Greeks. It is one of the most contested areas in human history. TIt has been at times controlled and influences by the Greeks. The Greek seage of Troy occurred at the dawn of recorded history. The Persians threatened Greece when they conquered Asian Minor. Alexander later Helenized the region after defeating the Persians. The Ottomans completed the conquest of Asian Minor when Constaninople fell in 1452, but large numbers of Greeks continued to live in Asia Minor, especially in coastal areas until the 1920s. A war between Greece and Turkey following World War I resulted in a Greek defeat. Much of the Greek population left with the retreating Greek Army or in the repressions and forced resettlerments conducted by the Turks after the war.
We have little information on Crete, a large elongated Medditerean island south of the mainland, Crete is the birthplace of Minonean civilization and many believe to be the cradle of Greek culture. The photograph here shows a Crete family in 1929 (figure 1). They look much like similar families would look in rural areas of Grece itself. Hopefully as we learn more about Crete we will learn more about destinctive clothing trends on Crete. The noted Swiss photographer
Fred Boissonnas traveled around Greece and photographed almost all it's regions. One photoraph shows the Mandaka family. A HBC reader reports, "I have seen other photos by Boissonnas of the family in photo expositions. I guess that it was a big and wealthy family.
Cyprus is another large Medditerean island located south of Turkey. The island is a source of conflict between Greece and Turkey because there is a minority Turkish population. The Turkish Army intervened in 1974 to precent unification with Greece and the island is now partioned between the two national groups. We have not yet developed information on Cyprus for the country, but there is some information on school uniforms.
The Ionoian Islands are located in the Ionian and Mediterreanan Seas west of the Greek mainland and make up one of the six major geographical regions of Greece. The principal islands are Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Ithaca, Cderigo, Leukas, and Paxos. The islands are very mountainous and the climate more temperate than the Greek mainland. There is a band tradition in Kerkyra island (Corfu, with influences from Italy) and Asia Minor (up until 1922). This tradition has probably to do with the strong influences of Italy in this part of Greece. The Ionian islands are an interesting part of Greece because many were not part of the Ottoman conquest and rather under Venetian control. Venice was a major naval power in the eastern Meiterreanan which fought to contol Ottoman expansion. This is part of the reason that many early Greek poets and artists came from the Ionian islamds.
Figure 2.--This wonderful painting by Nikiforos Lytras , "Ta kalanda" (The carols) shows boys wearing traditional costumes from different regions of Greece. |
Macedonia is located in northern Greece. It borders the now independent country of Macedonia which was once a part of Yugoslvia. Some Greeks think that Macedonia should be part of Grece. Macedonia is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Alexabder the Great. The Macedonians spoke Greek, but many of the Greek city states did not think that the Macedionians were true Greeks, that is until King Philip and his son Alexander conquered them. Again we know little about destinctive Macedonian clothing styles, but a museum display provides us a look at the inside of a Macedonian church in the early 20th century.
Thessaly (Thessalia) is the geographical department that occupies the central section of mainland Greece. It is surrounded by high mountain ranges encircling a low plain. It borders Macedonia to the north, Sterea Ellada to the south, Epirus to the west, and its eastern shoreline is on the Aegean. It has a higher percentage of flat, arable land than any other district in Greece. The climate is continental; the winters are cold and the summers hot and the temperature differential between the two seasons are large.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Greek pages:
[Return to the Main Greek country page]
[Greek choirs]
[Greek folk costumes]
[Greek movies]
[Greek royals]
[Greek schools]
[Greek youth groups]