Irish folk dances: history and features. Irish national costume

Irish dancing is one of the most expressive, and beautiful dances all over the world. This outwardly emotional dance fascinates the audience with its colorfulness. In order to understand the nature of dance, its primal energy, passion, and charisma. It is necessary to make a short excursion into the history of the ancient world, it was there that Irish folk dances got their start.

History of the Gaul settlers

The founders, or rather the first inhabitants of the territories on which the Irish state was subsequently formed, were the Gauls, who sailed here on their ships. If you take the area of ​​settlement of the Gallic tribes, it is truly huge. There is historical evidence that the Gauls lived in Siberia and carried military service among the Egyptian pharaohs, were known to the Persians, and fought against the Greeks.

Therefore, it is not strange that the first colonizers of the future Ireland were the wild tribes of the Gauls. However, such warlike neighbors did not give rest to the empires, due to the predominance of the military element in the culture as the highest goal of a man’s life. Due to the fragmentation of the tribes, and the fact that the Gauls were unable to create a single conglomerate of tribes, they were almost all destroyed, more big empires or states. The Gauls began a general hunt; these tribes had to hide in deep forests and carry out their raids from there.

How did Irish dancing develop?

The era of this difficult period in the history of the Gauls left its mark on the formation of Irish culture, which became a direct heir to Gallic customs. Therefore, it is not strange that the original Irish dance was more like a ritual of preparing warriors for battle than fun.

The warriors prepared for battle by dancing, trying to drown out their fear of possible death. Therefore, such energy, tuning and raising a hurricane of emotions in a person, accompanies Irish dancing. After Christianity came to Ireland, the clergy could not note that the culture of the Irish was much more warlike than that of other tribes that were part of the English kingdom. Therefore, the ban on dancing by the Church is logical, since the Catholic Church saw in them the spirit of paganism, which it constantly fought against.

The combination of all these factors makes Irish folk dancing unique. The immobility of the dancer's upper body encourages the viewer to concentrate all his attention exclusively on the dancers' legs. It is not strange and unusual that the dancer expresses all his feelings and emotions through the movement of his legs. This spectacle amazes everyone who witnesses this “mystery.” The dance fascinates the viewer with its rhythm and dynamics. Due to the fact that all attention is paid to the movement of the legs, the dance uses special shoes, which is equipped with special heels to make the sounds that accompany the dance even more expressive. This dance takes the viewer to an era when Roman legionaries marched victoriously along the roads, and the Gauls had to hide in the forests.

National costume for Irish dancing

IN in this regard The Irish are not particularly conservative, and this is justified, for the reason that archaism is not appropriate here, the dance should be lively, energetic, beautiful, and not dull and boring.

There are a huge number of costumes on the market that are used in dancing.

Irish dance costumes are quite specific; the girls' skirts are always short and wide, painted with ethnic British patterns.

Also, Irish dance requires specific shoes; girls use hard or soft shoes, and the former are more popular due to the price-quality ratio.

Men's dancewear consists of skinny trousers, vests, and shirts with wide sleeves. Of course, the clothing should have an element of green, which is the national color of Ireland.

In Irish dance, great importance is attached to the legs of the dancer, for the reason that in national dance this country, there is a complete absence of hand movements.

Of course, everything you need can be purchased at any store, but only authentic Irish things can create a feeling of being in Ireland. However, only authentic Irish dancewear can make the dance unique. Therefore, you should not buy an untested product of questionable quality. You shouldn’t deprive yourself of the holiday, and Have a good mood, order the real one Irish clothes right now. And let the purchased goods bring not only festive mood, but also forgettable impressions and experiences that will be remembered as the most best moments life.

Ireland boasts an extraordinary national costume, which dates back to approximately the 16th century. didn't recognize the huge changes. The most popular materials from which clothes were made were, of course, linen and wool.

The main attribute of the costume was a linen shirt and a wool cloak, preferably with a hood. The nobles wore another better quality one on top of their long shirt. Often such an outer shirt was embroidered with very complex patterns and ornaments. It is interesting that in Briand’s time there was a certain limit on colors in clothing. The richer the Irishman was, the brighter and more colorful clothes he was allowed to wear. For a long time, the Irish did not know such an attribute as trousers, and with the advent of the Vikings came the fashion for trousers. These trousers were made of leather, and then they began to use linen. But wide raincoats, trimmed with woolen braid, were considered a feature of this nation right up to colonization.

Due to constant wars, the Irish began to lose their National Costume because I had to live in poverty. This nation adopted the European style, and then abruptly switched to English style clothes. But already in the 18th century one could meet an Irishman dressed in a camisole and wool leggings. Also considered a national attribute were short trousers and a shirt, but no longer dyed. At the same time, there were some kind of fancy shoes - wooden shoes, which were distinguished by their rough form.

The Gaelic league was founded in 1893 to stimulate and maintain interest in Irish culture and language, which was an important part of the Celtic Revival movement. Douglas Heade, one of the founders, spoke of the need to de-anglicize the Irish nation. Irish costume was chosen as one way to achieve this. Nellie O'Brien, a member of the executive committee of the Gaelic League, declared in 1911: "A man who has Irish on his lips must have Irish clothes on his shoulders."

The 19th century was marked by the appearance of a checkered jacket, under which it was customary to wear a vest or a primitive sweater. A special feature of the image was a funny cap with a wedge. The 20th century determined the appearance long coat, which was similar to an overcoat.

Nowadays, the “national costume” is primarily associated with the clothing of traditional ceilidh and tap dancers. Their costumes combine folk ornaments, modern and ancient clothing details.

For women it is bright dress, expanding downwards and decorated with multi-colored embroidery. The real cape is only used in the show. If anyone remembers the first appearance of Riverdance at Eurovision, then it was from such a “cloak” that Jean Butler came out to dance her part. But very often a piece of light colored fabric imitating a raincoat. This is very beautiful, because such a raincoat can flutter in the wind and from quick movements, but it does not fall off the shoulders. A real cloak was attached to the shoulders on both sides with large brooches with a needle, and it was hardly possible to dance in it due to its length.

Men have two equal options for dancing clothes. It can be just a suit, and always with a tie and in the color of your dance school, for example, black and green. In a more specific version, it is a combination of a jacket, a shirt with a tie and a skirt coming out directly from under the jacket. It’s more convenient to dance this way, since the skirt does not restrict movement, but there are no patterns on such a skirt.

Irish national costume

The issue of Irish national costume can be discussed
a very long time. Moreover, in reality, special
There has been no national costume for more than 300 years.

Starting from the 6th to about the 16th-17th century, it has reached us
approximately the same set of clothes with
minor changes. Basic materials for
clothes were always linen and wool. For a long linen shirt
put on a spacious, warm woolen cloak with a hood or
without him. Rich people had a
It's common to wear another one short shirt from fine flax
workmanship, and in the case of royal clothing, probably (although according to
conditions of real trade, doubtful) even from silk. U
For some reason, our translators of the sagas call it a tunic in
counterweight to just a shirt (ionar and leine, respectively)
The outer shirt was often embroidered with complex patterns of various
colors.

During the time of Brian Boru there was a special
decree of flowers, according to which every Irishman in
depending on your position in society and occupation
could only use a certain amount in clothing
colors in a certain combination. The richer he was, the brighter
and the clothes were more colorful. In fact, natural
dyes were of different rarity and cost, so much
really depended on wealth. Climate in Ireland
windy and wet, but quite warm, so pants
Irish for a long time didn't know at all. The custom of wearing pants
brought with them by the Vikings. Pants were also common among
population of Ulster, constantly engaged in navigation. U
they, like the Vikings, had mostly leather pants, but
The Irish later often used linen trousers. From
Vikings, apparently, came the custom of decorating the cloak with patterned
wool braid, since embroidering on coarse wool was
difficult. Wide spacious raincoats remain
feature of the Irish costume, until the final
colonization.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the clan system was finally
was abolished, and along with it many elements became a thing of the past
clothes. Through wars, rebellions and famines, the Irish population
became greatly impoverished and began to actively adopt European, and in
mostly English clothes.

In the 18th century, the average Irishman in the city looked something like this:
This is how they draw a Leprechaun in books for children, or depict
Gulliver. By the way, Swift himself was Irish. Camisole,
woolen leggings, short trousers below the knee, the same
the shirt, as a rule, is no longer dyed. Distinctive
a feature of that time were large, rough wooden
shoes (brog), similar to French clogs.

In Ireland of the 19th century, the style of clothing was already determined everywhere by
There is only one fashion - disgusting weather and wind. That's why
a typical Irishman of that time wore it over his shirt, like
however, he still wears it now, thick bouclé or checkered
a jacket, under which a vest or sweater is worn, and
constant cap with a wedge. There are Irish people who
the visor of the cap is SEWED to the top. Or rather, completely removed under
top. If the cap is made of fabric and not very good quality, That
I don't really feel sorry for her. And so with a sewn visor she
?aerodynamically? makes up one whole. The twentieth century
added to this the fashion for long raincoats or heavy black ones
coats that look like an overcoat. One of Brendan Behan's heroes
gloomily joked that for such a coat and a gold badge
progress in Irish can be recognized oppositionally
tuned intellectual.

Special mention must be made about fishing sweaters. In Western
counties and especially on the Aran Islands developed a special
tradition of knitting sweaters. These are white or gray sweaters with
mandatory ornament, which is knitted not only by women, but
and men. The ornament often contains initials or
some kind of personal sign of the owner, which always helped in
in tragic cases, recognize a drowned person. By the way, ordinary
pigtails on machine-knitted sweaters in England were
borrowed specifically from the Aran sweaters. In such or? almost
like this? brothers Clancy and Tommy loved to perform in sweaters
McKem.

Although the least is known about women's costumes, elements
traditional?Celtic? suit in your everyday
the women kept their clothes longer than men. What has been said concerns
first of all, large wide cloaks, often hiding
the whole figure. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, such raincoats were found
V Everyday life more often.

Now with?national costume? is primarily associated
clothing of traditional ceilidh and tap dancers. Their costumes
combine folk ornaments, modern and ancient details
clothes.

For women, this is a bright dress that flares out at the bottom and
decorated with multi-colored embroidery. Real raincoat
used only in the show. If anyone remembers the first appearance
Riverdance at Eurovision, then exactly from this?cloak?
Jean Butler came out to dance her part. But very often
a piece of light weight is attached or sewn to the shoulders at the back
colored fabric imitating a raincoat. That's very beautiful,
since such a cloak can develop in the wind and from fast
movements, but does not fall from the shoulders. The real cloak was attached to
shoulders on both sides with large brooches with a needle, and dance
it was hardly possible in it due to its length.

Men have two equal options for dancing clothes.
It can be just a suit, and always with a tie
and in the color of your dance school, for example, black and green.
In a more specific version, this is a combination of a jacket,
shirt with a tie and a SKIRT coming straight out from under the jacket.
Moreover, according to my assumption, the skirt imitates the edge of a long
shirts. It’s more comfortable to dance this way, since the skirt doesn’t restrict
movements, but there are no patterns on such a skirt.

Traditional materials used for sewing in Ireland National clothes, there have always been wool and flax. Men in this country wore warm and quite spacious woolen cloaks over long linen shirts. By the way, the traditional Irish cloak has neither sleeves, nor a hood, nor slits for the arms. This is a one-piece piece of fabric, which was secured with a large brooch (fibula). It was customary for wealthy people to wear another linen shirt on top of their undershirt, but now a short one. Such things were also made from flax, but only in this case it was distinguished by particularly fine workmanship.

As for the clothes of crowned heads, they could even be made of silk. The outer tunic was often decorated with multi-colored, very complex embroidered patterns. In addition to embroidery, the national clothing of the Irish could be decorated with woven braid (bottom of the product, sleeves and collar), wedges from multi-colored fabric and contrasting threads (external seams).

Previously, Ireland had a special decree on flowers, which stated that every Irishman could use a clearly defined combination and number of colors to decorate his clothes (this directly depended on the type of activity of the Irishman and his position in society). Wealthier citizens national outfits were much more colorful and brighter than those of commoners.

The national Irish men's costume was largely influenced by nothing less than the constant bad weather and strong winds. That's why the Irish wear thick checkered or bouclé jackets over their shirts, with a sweater or vest underneath. In Ireland, the traditional headdress is the unchanged cap with a wedge. In the twentieth century, black heavy coats of an overcoat cut and long raincoats were added to this costume.

Today, many people associate the national Irish costume primarily with the clothing of tap or ceilidh dancers. Their outfits in a successful way united together folk ornaments, as well as ancient and modern clothing items. For women it is a short bright dress, embroidered with multi-colored embroidery and greatly widened at the bottom, and for men it is a jacket, a shirt with a tie and a skirt.

The color of Ireland is green. Green color in Ireland it is often combined with sunny red. Many Irish people have naturally red hair. The Irish costume is as bright and colorful as summer itself.

"The way home"
Artist Barry Maguire

Ireland is a country with a rich and interesting traditional culture. Irish folk dances are especially famous. And the clothing of folk dance performers of any country is always clothing associated with folk costume.

On St. Patrick's Day, Irish dancing may be performed all over Europe. And, of course, the USA, where many descendants of Irish emigrants live. The holiday of the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, is very popular today. The holiday color is green. Green is considered the main color in Irish folk costume.

Irish culture is closely related to Celtic traditions. Modern Irish are descendants of Celtic tribes that once inhabited the vast territory of Western and Central Europe. Of course, in Ireland, as in many other European countries, the traditional ancient pagan culture was influenced by the adoption of Christianity. But, nevertheless, Christianity could not supplant more ancient traditions.

Artist Barry Maguire

The folk costume of any country, including Ireland, is what ordinary people - peasants - have worn for many centuries. Unlike the costumes of the aristocrats, which changed over the centuries from style to style - a suit in the Romanesque style, a suit in the Baroque, Rococo and so on, the clothes of the peasants remained almost unchanged.

"Green sleeves"
Artist Dante Gabriel Rosetti

Most often, a peasant European men's suit consists of trousers and a shirt, while a women's suit consists of a skirt and a shirt or a dress. But at the same time, peasants always decorated their festive clothes with drawings - ornaments. Pagan pre-Christian traditions were still preserved in the ornament. These could be patterns symbolizing the sun god, and patterns associated with the goddess of fertility, as well as amulets.

Irish costume patterns are of ancient Celtic origin.

The folk or national costume of Ireland itself appears in the 19th century, like the national costumes of other European countries. As a matter of fact, in the 19th century in Europe the concept of nations was formed. And learned people of each nation begin to actively study the culture, history and traditions of their country. Wherein great attention is devoted to the study of the life and everyday life of ordinary people.

"Irish Dance"

In the 19th century, namely during the time of the Romanticism style, European thinkers and artists were no longer interested, unlike in previous centuries, in the heritage Ancient Greece and Rome, the history of kings and their victories. During the period of romanticism, thinkers and artists went among the common people.

And based on folk costume, that is, clothing ordinary people, but not everyday, but festive, national costumes are formed. This is what happens with the national costume of Ireland.

This comes with its own difficulties. Ireland has been under the influence of England for a long time. Also, the Vikings visited Ireland at one time, and they also changed the traditional clothing of the Irish in many ways. Thus, about the Celtic costume to 19th century very little information has survived.

In the 19th century, the idea emerged that the Irish wore the kilt. This kind of skirt can still be found in dancers’ costumes to this day. The Irish kilt skirt, unlike the Scottish one, is not checkered, but plain, most often orange color. Today, Irish dancers also wear a green kilt. But later it turned out that in the 6th-17th centuries the Irish did not wear any skirts.

Vintage postcard for St. Patrick's Day

Irish men's clothing of the 6th-17th centuries was a long undershirt. It was called lane. Rich people wore two shirts. The outer shirt was shorter. It was decorated with multi-colored embroidery. Shirts were made from linen. Linen is a traditional fabric for clothing of ordinary people almost all over the world. In addition to flax, another common material for peasant clothing is wool.

Pants appeared in Ireland during Viking times. Initially, pants were made of leather, just like the Vikings. Then they began to sew them from linen.

By the 17th century, a sweater also appeared in Irish costume. Traditional irish sweaters are called Aranese, since it was on the Aran Islands that they first began to be knitted.

There is even a special style of knitting - Aran knitting. Aran knitting is a knitting technique that creates a pattern by interlacing braids and crossing stitches.

Vintage St. Patrick's Day card

Originally, Aran sweaters were white or gray colors(today you can also see green sweaters) and were decorated with ornaments with personal signs or the initials of the person who wore this sweater. Aran sweaters were originally traditional clothes fishermen

Another element of the Irish men's suit today is the long jacket or jacket made of thick fabric, which most likely appears already in the 18th century under the influence of the costume of the townspeople. Today, Irish folk dancers wear either the sweater described above or a vest under their jacket or jacket. On the legs they wear a kilt or short pants and woolen striped leggings. And, of course, an obligatory part of the Irish folk costume is a large cloth beret.

Another thing that is mandatory for the Irish folk costume is a woolen cloak with a voluminous hood. A plaid-like cloak was worn back in Celtic times. In the 6th – 17th centuries in Ireland, such a cloak was worn by both men and women. This cloak was called brat. It was sewn from thick wool fabric and fastened with a brooch on the shoulder or chest, or tied at the throat with braid. This cloak protected very well from winds and cold. Brett raincoats were plain - blue, black, gray, but most often red.

Vintage St. Patrick's Day card

Women's dresses in Irish national costume

ABOUT women's suit of Celtic times by the 19th century even less was known than about men's suit. Women's today folk clothes In Ireland, a dress is considered to have an accentuated waistline and flare out at the bottom. Performers of Irish folk dances wear such dresses, plain green or with a striped skirt. Another element of Irish women's folk costume is shawls decorated with bright borders.

Thus, in the 19th century, based on historical data about the folk costume of Ireland, as well as under the influence of the development of interest in Irish folk dances, the national costume of Ireland was formed, which exists to this day.