The Mystery of the Albanian Xhubleta

This will be an image heavy thread.

The Xhubleta (pronounced "Djoo-bleta") is an undulating, bell-shaped dress, worn exclusively by Albanian women, preserved mostly by highlander gheg catholic women in the regions of North Albania/Montenegro/Kosovo (Malësia e Madhe).

It is hung on the shoulders using two straps and in its complete adult form is very heavy weighing even up to 15-20kgs.

It has around 13 to 17 strips and pieces of felt made from wool. The bossom and the part of the xhubleta covered by the apron are made out of crocheted black wool. The bell shape is accentuated in the back in the process
by making the strips progressively wider.


The xhubleta is a unique type of dress for its particular shape, structure, materials and decorating system unlike any dress worn by any other ethnicity in the balkans and maybe even Eurasia.

The Xhubleta also is encoded with social information about clans, status, village, and so on.

The most obvious coding is that for age. Girls in their childhood and teenage years, (as well as unmarried women) wear the black and white striped version of the Xhubleta. Once a woman marries she wears the adult version which is
black in its entirety, but can have ornamentation. There are some villages in which they wear a red and black xhubleta on the day of the marriage. Below are some photos of the Xhubleta worn in youth:

The adult Xhubleta, as I mentioned in the first comment, is entirely black. But there can be a lot of ornamentation and jewelry and even coloured stripes added to the xhubleta such that it becomes very colorful. Here below are some examples of
adult Xhubleta:

So what is mysterious about it?

Firstly, it must not be understated that is at once unique and distinct in the balkans, yet it is cohesive (this is most obvious in the Youth Xhubleta which is also black and white) with both the male costume as well as the mode of life of highlander albanians and tribes. The Albanian costume heavily affects the hyper-autonomous/self-suffient lifestyle where
almost every aspect of the uniform is made from materials that are directly accessible like wool. The male uniforms also encode for social information. The black "gajtan" striping can be markings of clan, status, military rank, or just decoration, etc. Some examples below:






The male costumes are not as "distinct" in that some neighbouring south slavs also have similar elements, yet don't hvae anything even close to the xhubleta, which suggests a directionality i.e. the similar elements in south slav costume are borrowings
from pre slav balkan culture.




Why else is the xhubleta mysterious?

There is an abundance of codified symbolic tradition. The makers of xhubleta don't know any more what many symbols mean more than that some are zoomorphic, yet it is also clear that a cohesive style has been inherited.

Examples below:





It is my opinion that there is a clear continuity between this "style" in some of these symbols in the Xhubleta, with bronze Illyrian figurines shown by Stipcevic in his book "The Illyrians"






So why else is it mysterious?

It is mysterious because it has been neglected and taken for granted despite being very distinct in how archaic it is in terms of the process that is used to make it as well as the materials. Also, that it is so heavy, and that
highlander women preserved this with great pride despite how hard this is to do when it is that heavy.

As an example, take this drawing:



Some author brands it as a neolithic garment, as if neolithic garments just existed in general, and not belonging to a specific culture. This is not a correct or illuminating description in that it tells nothing.

Here is also a very general analysis with a lot of innacuracies:






What are this dresses origins? From which culture did it come? Why are there no specific questions asked?

The "archaic" quality of the xhubleta lends to it a "basal" quality which I will touch upon in the next comment in which I will try post some possible influences or related cultures.

Now I will explore possible ancient cultures that this dress may have relations with. In relative geographic proximity there are two main ones that show up.

The first is from way up north, a figurine called the "Klicevac figurine" found in the Danube river, which is wearing a sort of "bell shaped dress" and is dated 1500 BC- 1300BC. Many other such figurines found along the Danube dated around the
same time:






Again, the main feature here is the "bell" form. This is kind of what any dress would be depicted like anyway, so this one can be just a coincidence, and I personally don't think there is a connection.


The second one, is from the south, and i think here there possibility of a connection is slightly higher. The Minoan/Mycen Dress:















The reason I rate this is more likely is because it has both the bell shape and the stripes, and that I already know there must have been ancient pan balkanic cultural transmission from the example of the Mycenean Mask artifact:







This is an Albanian woman in Prishtina, Kosovo in 1950's on her wedding day:






This is a Bulgarian woman in ritual wedding dress:




This is a Goran (Muslim Slavs) from Kosovo:








In the next comment I will comment on some surviving "xhubleta" influences in other dresses that are from cultures that are alive today or recently.

The most shocking post here in my opinion is from a blog that Laberia initially found.

This is the LINK: http://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2012/04/costume-of-arvan-valley-savoy-france.html

This blogger runs content only about folk costumes and found one region in france that had folk costumes unlike any other in france. These folk costumes, that are strangely similar to the xhubleta, happen to be in a place
that has 11 toponyms that are a variation of "Alban/Albiez/Arvan" in a very close distance from each other. My first thought was that it must be some Stradioti community in the middle ages, but those toponyms seem to exist since the
10th century according to wikipedia. What is also strange is that this "Arvan Valley" where these toponyms and costumes exist borders next to Turin, the rigion with the highest "J2b2-l283" in Italy, Laberia was also the first to notice this.
It seems that in a 1000 years the xhubleta did not change much in this small valley in savoy. It lost a lot of the archaic features and became lighter, but also kept much of the unique features like the Bell shape, the "hook belt" on top, the apron, etc.

If someone french here could tell me the history of this small community I would love to know it! There doesn't seem to be anything about their Albanian origins on the web other than the names and costume.



This is going to be my last posting about Savoy, at least for a while. This is the most unusual and likely the most famous of all the costumes in Savoy. The Arvan valley is in the southwest corner of Maurienne, south of Villards and west of Valloise. The image above is of a print which I have hanging on my wall. The costume worn in this valley is distinctive, but there are three basic variants, which differ primarily in the coif used, but also in other details.
The first variant is found in the communities on the north side of the Arvan river, namely, Jarrier, St. Pancrace, Fontcouverte and Villarembert. There are subtle differences between the costumes of each community.
The second is found in the three communities at the head of the valley, along the two upper branches of the Arvan, St. Sorlin d'Arves, St. Jean d'Arves and Montrond. The print above is of the second variant, which is the best known.
The third variant is found in the communities on the south side of the river valley, Albiez the Old, and Albiez the Young.
Here is a schematic map of the Arvan valley, It is found in the southwest 'corner' of Maurienne, off the main river valley of the Arc.








This costume is extremely colorful and quite unusual in several respects. The basic garment is a chemise, which seems to have a stand-up collar, and only shows around the neckline, but is important as a foundation garment. The skirt is separate from the bodice, or jacket, which has sleeves. The Jacket is closed either by lacing up, in the first variant, or by a line of hooks in variants 2 and 3. The skirt is heavy wool, with a unique construction, with one double band of blue cloth sewn onto the back, a little below the waist in variant 1, somewhat lower in St Jean, variant 2, and just above the knees in variant three. The front is flat, and has 25 pleats from one hip to the other in varians 1 and 2, and only 11 in variant 3. The cincture 'ceinture' is closed in front with homemade 'chainettes', it is about 20 cm wide in variants 1 and two, and considerably narrower in the Albiez's. A rich apron and embroidered shawl is worn in all three variants, and in color varies with the Liturgical season. The three styles of coif are very different.

1. The hair is gathered in a chignon on top of the head, covered with a small coif, and then a 'beguine' of fan or butterfly shaped lace mounted onto a small piece of linen is pinned to it. It varies slightly in shape from one community to another.
Jarrier



Saint Pancrace



Fontcourverte



Villarembert





2. The coif is shaped somewhat like a bonnet without the front frill, it is set back somewhat on the head. The main part is cylindrical with a flat back. It is covered with red or rose colored cloth or ribbon. There is a ruched frill of lace attached halfway with the top slanting forward and the sides slanting back. In St. Sorlin the coif is covered with spangles and metallic braid behind the lace frill, and finished off with colored ribbon. In St. Jean the rear is covered with white gauze and finished off with a white ribbon.

Saint Sorlin





Saint Jean





3. In the two Albiez, the coif is a white bonnet which somewhat resembles the eskeuffia of Upper Maurienne, and combines features of the other two versions.






In these last couple of photos, you can see that the jacket is trimmed with colorful woven ribbon, and is hooked closed up the front. This is visible because the Albiez sash is so much narrower than that of the other versions. Sometimes a hand-embroidered strip of cloth is used instead. The hooks are clearly visible, and in this case have been sewn on with green and yellow thread to match the embroidery. A cross on a ribbon is part of all three variants of the costume.




The narrow ceinture of Albiez is usually embroidered, edged with ribbon and closed with a simple row of hooks. The apron is of a colorful material, has a patterned ribbon worn over it. The apron and/or the shawl may be embroidered as well.




By contrast, the ceinture of the other two variants is wider, is also made of rich cloth, and has ribbon edging, but the two ends do not meet, rather there is a piece which overlaps behind. There are a series of chainettes which stretch across this central panel, and hook onto the edge beyond. This is one of the most striking features of this costume. This first example I believe is of variant 1, and the others of varient 2.





There is often trim sewn onto the upper edge of the apron in variant 2.




The last component of this costume which is very unique is the skirt and its construction. The top of the skirt is a normal full gathered skirt, but the lower edge is made of up to 30 separate strips sewn on one at a time, each longer than the last, and eased in to fit. Thus the skirt gets larger and larger with each new strip. The front is left flat. Since the number of pleats remains constant, either 25 or 11, each individual pleat gets wider towards the bottom. In many of the communities, the skirts turn up at the bottom to form 'magpie tails'. It takes a skilled seamstress up to 6 months to make such a skirt, the bottom hem may be up to 11 meters around, and the skirt itself may weigh 7 kilos. This results in a remarkable movement of the skirt when walking. If you look carefully, you can see the separate strips in the following photos.













The only other example of this kind of skirt construction which I know of is the Xhubleta of Albania [ pronounced Djoobleta ]. The xhubleta also has a number of strips sewn on one after the other, each of which is longer than the one before, making the garment wider and wider towards the bottom. In other respects the xhubleta is very different, not being pleated, being attached to a bodice, and having braid sewn on the various strips. Why these two unrelated, widely separated regions uniquely use this method of construction, I have no idea. Interestingly, the xhubleta is also worn with a short waist length jacket which fastens in front, called a mintan, and a wide [to 20 cm] cloth cincture which is highly decorated and hooks closed in front, called kerdhokla. Both of these are additional similarities to the Arvan Costume. This makes for some interesting speculation.
Here is a schematic of the construction, a photograph of a xhubleta from the rear and a woman wearing the full costume.







Here are just a few more images of the Arvan Valley costume.











Thank you for reading, I hope you have found this interesting and informative.


Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals. I also choreograph and teach folk dance.

[email protected]



Source Material:
Daniel Dequier, 'Maurienne d'Hier et d'Aujourd'hui', Albertville, 1980
G. Collomb, 'Les Costumes de Savoie', Chambery, 1972
Fabian et Anne da Costa, 'Costumes Traditionels de Savoie', Lyons, 2000
Daniel Dequier & Francois Isler, 'Costumes de Fete en Savoie', Seyssinet, 2002
R. Feuillie, 'Quelques Costumes de Savoie', Annecy,
Andre Sainsard, 'Costumes Folkloriques Provinces Françaises', Paris, 1972
Royere, Gardilanne, Moffat et al, 'Les Costumes Regionaux de la France', New York, 1929
Charles-Brun, 'Costumes des Provinces Françaises', Paris, 1937
P. Leroux, 'Costumes Regionaux', Paris, 1940
Caroline Brancq, 'Les Costumes regioneaux d'Autrefois', Paris, 2003
Royere, Gardilanne, Moffat et al, 'Les Costumes Regionaux de la France', New York, 1929
Andromaqi Gjergji, 'Albanian Costumes through the Centuries', Tirana. 2004

Johane Derite said:

It seems that in a 1000 years the xhubleta did not change much in this small valley in savoy. It lost a lot of the archaic features and became lighter, but also kept much of the unique features like the Bell shape, the "hook belt" on top, the apron, etc.

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Click to expand...

Just like this French Xhubleta lost its thickness and weight, yet retained the shape and stripes, likewise the Arbanasi of Croatia until late had lost their heavy material and some shape but retained some aesthetic features, in this case, the horizontal black and white striping:

I think the mysterious Sarakatsani also must have had a similar dress. Just like the Albanians of Croatia and the people of the small Arvan valley in France lost the archaic features in their dress (lighter materials, more simple) while retaining
aesthetic features such as the horizontal stripes, (which in the original Xhubleta are an effect of the actual archaic technique of making the dress, not simply an aesthetic choice) the Sarakatsani dresses also seem to have the horizontal stripes.

The Highlander albanians once again seem to have preserved the most archaic and basal form of this cultural object, which at one time I'm guessing must have been widespread from greece all the way to Illyrian and Thracian territories.

I think Edith Durham may have been right when she speculated that the Aromanians/Vlachs come from the Thracians

Question

the face painting is local Balcanic that moved elsewhere?

it came from elsewhere?

or transmit from certain point to many directions


That is India Beggali
PLZ NOTICE THE POINTS AND COLOURS




Nah she is a thief,
she stole this painting from the mask, right?


ANYWAY

I wrote before few years that there is connectivity of Goranje and Pomaks (true Pomaks)
So I suggest to search if that is correct,
so if Pomaks and Goranjie are connected
then something good can be extract

Here is a short song where you can see the original Albanian xhubleta in motion for a bit. The song is in the style of how highlanders used to shout across mountains (before telephones existed and people were far away, this was necessary):

Sarakatsans is another story

from the 2 areas we found them,

in Upper Makedonia and In Eastern Makedonia, areas where Makedonian Nobility escappe after Roman wins
as also the belt/zone and the heavy around the neck seems more Makedonian connected,
rather South Greek,








They have the κοτσο or κατσουλι


Anyway PANAX is Sarakatsan
you can ask him

Yetos said:

Sarakatsans is another story

from the 2 areas we found them,

in Upper Makedonia and In Eastern Makedonia, areas where Makedonian Nobility escappe after Roman wins
as also the belt/zone and the heavy around the neck seems more Makedonian connected,
rather South Greek,

Click to expand...

Sure. My main argument, which I slowly cooked in this thread can be summarized into this:

The Xhubleta is a very archaic dress, which uses archaic techniques and materials (wool, no importing necesary) that have been preserved in the highest mountains in North Albania.
The features of the Xhubleta, like its bell shape, its horizontal stripes, and the shoulder straps that have to hold it, as well as the "hook belt" are features that emerge organically
directly out of how its made and stitched together, and how heavy it is and needs to be held by those things.

I demonstrated that in the Arvan Valley, which obviously must be some small Albanian community that moved there a 1000 years ago, the Xhubleta preserved many features such as the bell shape but it
lost the heavy material and even added "frills". It also "kept" the horizontal striping as a purely aesthetic feature. In the Croatian Albanians they even lost the bell shape almost entirely, and the material, but they retained the
horizontal striping.

The Sarakatsani dress lines seem just a bit too close so I think that the same process could have happened.

Materials other than wool started being used in Greece after trade contacts with other cultures had been established. Linen for example was originally imported from Egypt, I think. Maybe it was preferred in the south because it was much lighter.
At some point a technique to create 'soft' (softer) wool garments had been discovered but I don't know the details.

A. Papadimitriou said:

Materials other than wool started being used in Greece after trade contacts with other cultures had been established. Linen for example was originally imported from Egypt, I think. Maybe it was preferred in the south because it was much lighter.
At some point a technique to create 'soft' (softer) wool garments had been discovered but I don't know the details.

Click to expand...

I have one more post to do on this thread that might interest you since it is related to linguistics, I will try do it tonight. It won't be image heavy, just some text, just a bit too busy with work atm.

@derite

I think i saw you do some posts about Illyrian helmets a couple of weeks ago.
I was thinking if you can post some of them again if i open a thread on illyrian helmets?

The thing is that i am working on a 10-page project about illyrian helmets which i have to finish by the 30. of this month.
So i am reading Illyrian helmet stuff non-stop at the moment, but all extra input would be highly appreciated, as that would give me new ideas and perspectives

I will help with what I can, I'm just currently more swamped with stuff than I'd like to be, so I can't promise that I will reply straight away or something.

Johane Derite said:

I will help with what I can, I'm just currently more swamped with stuff than I'd like to be, so I can't promise that I will reply straight away or something.

Click to expand...

Thats completely understandable.
You can just give input whenever(and if) you feel you have some extra time on your hands.