Home life in Hellas, Greece and the Greeks - eBooks4Greeks.gr

DOMESTIC LIFE 177in the stuff. They are beautifully combed anddressed, and the last row shows beneath the edgeof the garment. This white Albanian dress isvery pleasing. The ornament is restrained andthe whole effect ischaste, yet the flawless beautyof the material makes it rich. The women ofMegara wear a jacket reaching to the hip, tight atthe waist, open at the throat.The shoulders andcuffs of the sleeves are worked in gold or silver.The skirt is dark blue or green, lined with whiteand trimmed with a broad band of red. Over itis a gay apron of rainbow hues. On feast daysstrings of coins and silver chains hang down thebreast, and the cap is trimmed with overlappingcoins. Over it is thrown a veil of transparentsilk in which gold threads are interwoven.In thePeloponnesus, some ladies still wear the scarletcap with tassel of gold wire or silk attached toa cord of twisted gold thread, but the gold-embroideredvelvet jacket is now rare.In the isle ofKythnos the women still drape their heads in linenwhich masks the face beneath the eyes, and thewriter saw only yesterday peasant women ridinginto Athens in a head-dress much resembling theTurkish yashmak.Here and there one meets withunexpected survivals. In the isle of Ios the hairis sometimes worn in a triple plait standingupright behind the head, exactly in the style ofsome of the terra-cotta figurines in the BritishMuseum. The baker's wife opposite, standing ather door at this present moment, still wears theN