Gorol clothing and traditional costumes

The Gorol Day focusing on traditional clothing offers a window into the fascinating world of Gorol costumes and how they are made. Visitors can watch the manufacture of shoes, traditional Gorol waistbands, delightful lacework designs, various parts of the traditional Gorol costume, and local embroidery.

Leather is a traditional material for making Gorol shoes, waistbands and belts – all integral parts of local shepherds’ clothing. The typical local shoes are made from a single piece of leather. After being sewn, they are shaped when wet and hammered out on a cobbler’s shoe-last. The shoes take on their final shape when they are worn, as they mould themselves to fit the shape of the wearer’s feet. Another traditional local item of clothing is the broad Gorol waistband, which can take over a week to make. It requires very high quality leather, into which patterns are cut, and the band is then decorated with cast metal buckles. The waistband originally served to protect shepherds from wolves, but it later took on a more decorative role. Nevertheless, it is still a practical item of clothing, containing a large pocket around the entire circumference – an ideal place to store important items, from money to knives or tobacco.
The Gorol Day also features demonstrations of traditional weaving techniques on a loom that was used to make clothing out of wool and flax. Visitors can see how parts of the local folk costume are made. An integral part of the costume – for both men and women – is the special cross-shaped embroidery decoration. The embroidered decorations should be so small that they can only be seen from very close up. In the past, the pattern books for the cross embroidery were carefully guarded, proudly passed down from generation to generation of the same family. You will be amazed at the speed and agility of the local women demonstrating the crafts of embroidering or crocheting traditional bonnets. There is also an exhibition of Gorol costumes donated to the Fojství museum in Mosty by local families.