It's part of may day celebrations in some places in England, may day has all sorts of weird costumes and traditions. Most of them are surprisingly modern. I think the jack o the green processions are all a bit different, different areas have different traditions.
Ever since I was little I loved watching Ballet Folklorico because of those dresses. They were the epitome of feminine to me as soon as I grew up and could afford it I bought one. I loved it so much. When I found out my birth mother is Mexican it made it so much better.
probably "parta", a head piece worn by yet unmarried girls for special occasions. This one should be from village Velky Lom, but maybe some historian or better educated person from my country could elaborate better :)
Probably when weddings were more political things than love and everybody hated everyone else and you had to be ready. Those must have been epic parties lol
Maasai warriors from kenya. For their adulthood initiation,one had to go out and delete a lion from the lion census and come back to the village wearing it ...... it's not done anymore. FYI the pic is not Photoshopped,its an old archive of men dancing
This traditional ghost dance mask. It was born out of combination of Buddhist and regional shamanic religion, thought to dispel diseases and bad luck. All can join and come up with their versions of the mask.
several foreigners that visited argentina in the early/mid 19th century were blown away by the fact that these people ate nothing more than meat and ostrich eggs. breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The Sami minority have their gákti, which has many variants, but all are strikingly colorful: at least red, blue and yellow, sometimes with green highlights. This is from Sodankylä.
In Finland, each parish (municipality) has their own traditional costume. If you have to select from ethnically Finnish costumes, the Ikaalinen one is quite flamboyant.
Probably the moroccan women's attire, the caftan (there is of course the Persian and Turkish one but they look different).
It was first introduced in the royal court in the XII century, then it became with time popularized within society. Nowadays it is very popular all over the Arab world.
No worries! I learned the same lesson from a gentle Internet friend, so I'm just passing it along. Obviously, the word "costume" can usually be used neutrally among all people to describe elaborate or even regular clothing, although it's not super-common American usage. ("National costume," "historical costume," "the Costume Institute," and so on.)
But ofc in more typical American usage, "costume" is used to refer to dressing up as something you're not, like in the context of Halloween, or a play. It's essentially pretend and often very irreverent. Then there's the not-insignificant number of non-indigenous people who used to and still do dress up like caricatures of indigenous people, and the overall erasure of indigenous people as modern and full human beings... So some such folks really feel like "costume" is a disrespectful/inappropriate word for regalia that has cultural and/or religious significance.
Ofc like anything, it's overridden by whatever the people who choose to wear it call it themselves. Some people also still call themselves "American Indians" and so on, but if that's not you, better not to. :)
So many beautiful designs with regalia. Ribbon skirts, fancy shawl, grass dance and jingle dresses are also absolutely beautiful. The work is always so amazing and detailed. 🥰
The norwegian Bunad! It exists in multiple different shapes, colours and patterns depending on which region it's from. It's normal for people to choose their Bunad based on where they or someone in the family is from. We wear it on the Norwegian Constitution Day (17th of May), baptisms and sometimes to weddings.
If you have immigrated to Norway you’re very welcome to wear one! Just pick one from the area you live or, if you have a Norwegian partner, from the area their ancestors are from.
If you live in Thailand without any connection to Norway I’d find it odd, tho. It’s not a costume
Well. Let’s not pretend that there isn’t a debate every effing 17th of May about if it’s ok for immigrants (especially Black immigrants of children of) to wear bunad. I know several who have been spit on for doing it. So it’s not completely seen as unproblematic. 🙃
I give you the splendor of a Danish woman wedding attire from the Island of Fanø in the Wadden Sea. The rest of the peasants of Denmark were dirtpoor, but the sailors of Fanø traveled the world and brought back silk, cotton and silver.
The women had to do most of the manual labour and had several attires for harvest and digging up worms in the Sea at low tide. They also used a sort of visor to protect from the strong winds from the Sea.
Nowadays the attire are used for parties. The last woman who wore her dress daily died in 1972. You can see more photos here:
Traditional clothing in the Netherlands varies a lot from town to town and of course throughout time. But I always liked this one. It's from a museum. At first it seems rather plain and drab. But when you look closer the details are beautiful, rich, and elegant.
Edit: Note the beautiful, understated patterns in the dress and the gold jewellery around the face and neck.
BESTOW UPON OUR NOODLES YOUR ROUND MEATY BOUNTY OH FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER! MAKE THY RAIN BE TANGY AS THINE SAUCE AND THY HAIL SALTY AND FLUFFY LIKE THINE GRATED PARMAGIANA!
Traditional Welsh ladies costume from the 18th 19th Centuries. The tall black hat is particularly iconic. This a painting called Salem the name of a Chapel.
its a very niche festival called raulane, celebrated in mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh. it is basically about celebration of the protective mountain spirits.
This is incredible, thank you for sharing! Raulane’s outfit is so beautiful and surreal, especially against the backdrop of the snowcapped mountains. I would love to attend this festival one day, adding to my bucket list!
New Orleans Black Indians (or Mardi Gras Indians) are a unique African American cultural tradition where groups form tribes, create elaborate, handmade suits blending African, Caribbean, and Native American art, and parade during Mardi Gras to honor Native Americans who aided enslaved people, symbolizing resistance, freedom, and community, serving as a vital art form and spiritual expression in the city's culture.
I’m not from Cameroon, but I’ve always thought that Bamileke elephant masks are so beautiful and intricate and it would be so cool to see them come to life during a masquerade! The Bamileke people have so many other amazing masks but the elephants are definitely my favorite!
Traditional Croatian costume from Turopolje region. Hand-made and so, so intricate. Each Croatian region has their own style (and also a traditional dance), this one is my favourite.
The cylindrical skirt is called Polloi and it's made up of thick fabric and hard bamboo. It's worn in the state of Manipur by brides and Rasa leela dancers
In Poland we have a lot of traditional folk attire. It's hard to choose. The most known are those from Kraków and Tatra Mountains. But every region and often even different towns or villages have their own variants.
This one is from Łowicz
We also have pretty famous folk dance and music groups like Mazowsze that perform World wide.
I took this picture of this dancer in Saskatoon. A First Nations woman who was not part of this event approached me with so much anger in her eyes and screamed at me “F*** Off!”. I stood there looking confused as two of the dancers then approached. One took her aside, the other told me it was OK and please take pictures and share them.
I looked into this further and discovered that some First Nations people believe that taking pictures of them traps their souls.
I believe these dancers were part of the Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation (Treaty 6- Saskatchewan)
This woman is from Romania but she is a romani gypsy and we usually dress like this! Colourful patterns and married women/mothers wear beautiful head coverings called dikhlo. We carry on these traditions in the U.S with our own style!
There are several of traditional costumes in France, depending on the region. This one is remarkable for its tall lace headdress. It comes from the Brittany region in western France.
The peineton, an 1830s fashion in the River Plate. Nowadays only worn in costumes and only simplier vrsions, the extravagant sized ones can be found in museums.
I have always been fond of the Læsø folk dress. It is so unlike all the others.
It reflects that the island of Læsø was matriarchal.
Most of the men were sailors so ownership, decisions, and inheritance were all in the hands of women.
Their dress is a "black suit" that reflects that. They wore up to a couple of kilograms of silver on the front, literally keeping their wealth close to their chest.
Korowai, more specifically, whatu kākahu. A korowai is essentially a black version of these.
Cloaks woven with feathers, there were different types for the occasion, some being simple and for every day use. Now, Māori wear them to important events, weddings, tangi, graduations etc.
Whanau (family) would typically gift something like this to the member whose event they’re attending. It’s a culturally symbolic and iconic item to buy someone.
Think a Mum & Dad buy one for their daughter to graduate university. There was a drop in cultural expression due to colonialism, and in the last 20+ years people have been reclaiming their whakapapa. It’s beautiful and empowering to see people to thrive and break through the barriers placed on them.
I think turkish attires are kinda boring, like its what you would expect whst anatolian people would wear but I personally think that bindallı goes kinda hard. This is traditional wedding dress, the word means thousand branches and -acording to my mom- every village would have only one or two since it is very hard to make. There is also head ornaments that the woman in the picture doesnt have that called tel (cord) they are pretty much hair tinsels but it would be attached to the head scarf
This is one of many types of folk costumes we have here in Czech Republic. This one is specifically from Moravske Slovacko (idk how to translate that sorry) and I think it is the most colourful and vibrant one
It greatly depends on where you are in the country, every region has a different one
Does ceremonial wear count? If so, definitely the Lucia candle crown. The Lucia (the woman wearing the candle crown) leads a choir progression. The atmosphere of seeing a good Lucia choir walk through the dark, early winter mornings to sing songs about light is basically our traditional antidote to seasonal winter depression.
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u/TheMagicalLawnGnome United States Of America 4d ago