Why read Folk Dress in Europe and Anatolia?

Book cover of Folk Dress in Europe and Anatolia: Beliefs about Protection and Fertility

Book description

Shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2000.Relationships between dress and the body have existed in European and Anatolian folk cultures well into the twentieth century. Traditional cultures have long held the belief that certain articles of dress could protect the body from harm by warding off the 'evil eye,'…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Folk Dress in Europe and Anatolia as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Elizabeth Wayland Barber

Author

This book is a rich source of information about how certain attire, especially the “string skirt” and its variants, has traditionally been drafted in Europe to promote women’s health and fertility, a tradition that we can trace back, through evidence, for some 20,000 years. Wonderfully illustrated, the data here range from Greece and Turkey in the south, through Central Europe to Latvia and Norway in the far north, as well as occasionally deep into Eurasia. And of course, such apparel was particularly donned for dancing on occasions where the wearer would be seen by all. (Being a show-off runs…

From Elizabeth's list on The best books for learning about the roots of European dance in ancient concerns for female fertility and health.