lamus dworski: Lachy Sądeckie costume - a guide to Polish folk costumes

Lachy Sądeckie is a group associated with the Nowy Sącz county in southern Poland, region called Sądecczyzna.

Photo © Zespół Tańca Ludowego "Poznań" AWF

"Lachy" is a plural form of "Lach", which is an ancient term describing an ethnic Pole. Roots of the name come from an old Slavic legend about Lech, Čech/Czech and Rus - three legendary brothers of whom Lech was the founder of Lechia (Poland). The terms derived from the Lach/Lech name have survived for example in Lithuanian and Hungarian languages, where Poland is still nowadays named Lenkija and Lengyelország.

Lachy Sądeckie have a few subgroups. The costumes vary a little between Northern/West, bordering the Kraków East region and Southern/East, landupheaval parts of the region. According to dialektologia site, the main Lachy subgroups are from Nowy Sącz, Limanowa, Szczyrzyc, Myślenice and Dobra; the main center of Lachy are around Podegrodzie.

Approx. area of Lachy Sądeckie costume in Poland

COSTUMES: MEN

The shirt is made of white linen and embroidered with red ornaments, mostly floral patterns. The heart motif is quite common. In the past, other colours were sometimes added (as the blue stitch in the example from Ethnographical Museum in Warsaw below), but nowadays the single-colour (red) embroidery is the canon. The embroidery appears on the sleeve cuffs, the collar, along the straining of the shirt and on the sides of the shoulders.

© Grandessa Studio / Przemek Chudkiewicz

Shirt embroidery - from the Ethnographical Museum in Warsaw [source]

The frontal part of embroidery could be sometimes a separated piece of cloth, covering the buttons area. The most characteristic decorative element is the shirt's fastening in a half-circle shape, called ciosek, worn under the collar. Ciosek is made of stiffened silk ribbons decorated with beads, sequins and tassels in rich red, blue and golden yellow colours. It was worn only for special occasions.

Ciosek © Regionalny Zespół Pieśni i Tańca Niskowioki

Ciosek under the collar and beautiful embroidery on the shirt and vest © Regionalny Zespół Pieśni i Tańca Niskowioki

The most distinctive part of the clothing is the mantle, made of navy blue cloth embroidered with yellow-red-green motifs. It's often decorated with small tassels and metal beads.

Side view © Zespół Tańca Ludowego "Poznań" AWF

Front view [source]

The typical embroidery of Lachy Sądeckie is usually created in the technique of free or chain stich. Motifs are linear, geometrical, adorned with symmetrical floral ornamentation. Edging is usually red.

Closeups [source]

Floral embroidery - from the Ethnographical Museum in Warsaw [source]

Front and back view [source]

The back - cuts [source]

Embroidery and beading at the back © Polskie stroje ludowe

Another example of embroidery pattern at the back side © Polskie stroje ludowe

Historical example from the beginning of 20th century © Ethnographic Museum of Kraków

For the warmer seasons of the year, decorative vest was worn over the shirt. The embroidery on them is always very colorful, similar to those on the mantles.

© Zespół Tańca Ludowego AWF Wrocław Kalina

Front and back of the vest © Zespół Pieśni i Tańca Sułkowianie

Details of the vest's decoration, shirt with double embroidery rows at the front and a ciosek decoration © Regionalny Zespół Pieśni i Tańca "LACHY"

Full vest © Polskie stroje ludowe

Trousers have the heart-shaped sercówka/parzenica (plural: sercówki/parzenice) motifs embroidered at the front, which are characteristic for the whole area of the Carpathian Mountains (varying in the styling details between the regions). The trousers are also embroidered along the sides.

© ZPiT AGH im. Wiesława Białowąsa "KRAKUS"

Closeup of the Lachy Sądeckie sercówki motifs [source]

Closeup of the pockets at the front of the trousers © Cepelia

Side trim and embroidery with another example of sercówka pattern © Polskie stroje ludowe

Trousers © PERFEKT

The shirt is tucked into the trousers and a wide belt is worn over them. This type of a leather belt, highly decorated with embossment and metal elements, is characteristic for the whole Carpathian region as well.

Leather belt of Lachy Sądeckie [source]

Example of modern leather belt of the Lachy Sądeckie © Cepelia

Back of the belt above © Cepelia

COSTUMES: WOMEN

As in most of the Slavic countries, maidens may wear the flower wreaths or leave their heads uncovered (then, the hair would be tied in buns or plaits). Married women of Lachy Sądeckie cover their heads with white headkerchief, richly embroidered with red floral ornaments. It could be pinned to the hair as below:

Lachy Sądeckie costume © Zespół Tańca Ludowego "Poznań" AWF

Embroidery of the headkerchief © Polskie stroje ludowe

Historical example - second half of 19th century © Ethnographic Museum of Kraków

This type of headkerchief is very characteristic but not exclusive for the region of Lachy Sądeckie. Similar or even the same head covering is worn in the so-called Kraków East region, which borders the Sądecczyzna region along its Northern part.

Blouse is similar to the male one. Its embroidery is shaped in organic motifs - flowers, herbs (hearts, as opposed to the male costume, are rare). Over the blouse, bodice or jacket is worn - you'd rarely to never see a woman in the shirt only. The bodices are most often black and decorated with beads, corals and rounded lappets at the bottom.

Embroideries on the shirt and blouse [source]

The shirt and bodice, side view. © Regionalny Zespół Pieśni i Tańca "LACHY"

Embroidery: shirt and bodice. Note the flower decoration in the hair. © Regionalny Zespół Pieśni i Tańca "LACHY"

The shirt and bodice, front view. © Regionalny Zespół Pieśni i Tańca "LACHY"

Embroidery of the shirt's collar and shoulders, beaded bodice. © Regionalny Zespół Pieśni i Tańca "LACHY"

Embroidery of the cuffs - historical example, end of 19th century © Ethnographic Museum of Kraków

Examples of bodices' decoration:

Lachy Sądeckie bodice: front and back view [source]

Lachy Sądeckie bodice: front and back view © PERFEKT

The jackets are heavy in decorations: trims, embroidery, beads. Shoulder capes, cut from a circle pattern, have a wide embroidered section along the edge and floral ornaments at the front. The long, distinctive peplum and the cuffs are adorned in the same style.

The jacket's peplum and cape coat are very characteristic for the Sądecczyzna region but don't appear in all of its subregions.

Historical example, end of 19th century © Ethnographic Museum of Kraków

Closeup of the peplum at the back of the example above © Ethnographic Museum of Kraków

© Połoniny - Studencki Zespół Pieśni i Tańca Politechniki Rzeszowskiej

Colour of the skirts vary between magenta, pink and white shades, lighter and darker, sometimes lila, black or blue colours are in use. The material could be either plain or with a floral pattern, usually is trimmed with black wool and embroidered elong the bottom edge with a simple linear motif.

Aprons are worn over them (but aren't a necessary element). Usually they would have a contrasting color (e.g. pink to a white skirt or lila to a pink skirt). They are trimmed along the edges and often, apart from the linear embroidery, would have the floral motifs in the bottom corners.