| Since
Peristian men often spent the majority of
the year working abroad, either in the US or in major
Greek cities, it was the women who assumed the responsibilities
of the household |
| |
The typical Peristian woman knew how
to sew, iron, and do laundry; she watched after children
and livestock. Not only was she highly capable in terms
of household duties, but she was equally capable outside
of it: she was a skilled diplomat when it came to brokering
land deals and livestock trade agreements with other villagers,
careful not to step on any toes and to cultivate friendships
when they were needed. Women would take to the fields
to do backbreaking work, clearing them of weeds and cultivating
valuable crops, and the village would reverberate with
their song even as they were doing so.
These women knew
how to work hard, but they also knew how to play hard
when the time was right. During festivals and religious
celebrations, they would dress up in all their finery
and live it up with the best of them. At times like this,
their
clothing was characterized by a kind of Doric simplicity
and elegant grandeur.
The dress that they wore on a daily basis was characterized
by a number of pleats, and was usually knee-length. The
dress was short for a number of reasons, one of the most
important being the fact that women were often working
in the fields, up to their knees in mud. The dress length
is reminiscent of Amazons and/or the classical Greek goddess
Artemis; in both cases, dress length was an issue of practicability
more than anything else. On top of the dress - which was
usually a single, dark color - they wore an apron, tied
at the waist, . |
| |
 |
young
girls wore brightly-colored aprons (yellow and red), while
married and older women wore dark-colored aprons
They wore thick
woolen stockings, especially during the winter. Their church
and feast-day shoes were shiny black patent leather, but
to work in the fields they wore "rodes," - literally, "tires"
- shoes with thick rubber soles. "Papakia" were canvas shoes
with light rubber soles, also worn on a daily basis. |
| During the winter,
older women would wear an additional item of clothing -
called the "siarka" - which resembled a long woolen vest,
with no sleeves and buttons running down the front. It was
often embroidered with colorful, fancy designs. A final
but necessary accessory was the head kerchief; like the
apron, it was brightly colored when worn by a young woman,
but dark for older and married wom. |
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