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Distinctive Shawls as a Kalideoscope
of Colors
The vivid hue-splendor of Bessarabien-Deutschen “Kanapee”/“Blachte”
shawls is a distinctive ethnic textile treasure.
These lace-embellished, hand-woven heirloom shawls are identified
as Blachte/“plachte” in Swabian dialect. This folk heritage
of “Paradies-Decken” is festively worn and displayed
during church worship, elegant family home celebrations, and major
festival events. These cherished textiles were inherited among female
descendants as a personal “memory diary” of their “distaff”
ancestors.
Although differing from the smaller “kindplacht”, used
as an infant envelope wrap/shoulder sling for the working mother:
common plachte size was 44 to 48 inches wide (including 5 inch height
of bottom-edge lace fringe) by 74 to 77 inches in length. Repeated
vertical lines of white dashes or “ruanna-weave” zipper-teeth
pattern was more commonly decorated the vertical stripes of the
“kindplacht.”
To intensify “color-bounce” with the vivid red hues
of weft-faced yarns, which covered warp yarns of tapestry weaves:
a triad color-hue of usually lavender-slate blue or aqua-turquoise
green was selected when weaving a vertical-striped/“bunte
gestrifte” plachte.
In differing weave construction, especially when twill-weave is
used for “karierte”/checkered plaid plachte: both warp
and weft yarns were equally woven for defined color impact. A pastel
color effect produced from intense hues of yarns for visual blend
(color-bending) were especially intriguing in these textiles.
The “Tschetschka” Kopftuch as Fashion Accent.
To further impact the visual beauty of “kanapee”/blachte
shawls as a powerful fashion ensemble, were the dramatic floral/paisley
bordered “tschetschka’ (chetsh-gah) head-scarves. Usually
39x39 inches in size, these visually-dazzling head-scarves cascaded
over the women’s hair “pugs” with serigraphed
aniline dyes: with brilliant hues for winter (with grounds of maroon,
rust-brown, cream-white, or blue) or subtle pastel hues for summer
(with ground of white). Whenever undecorated without cabbage rose/floral
patterns or embroidery stitched floral arabesques, these head-coverings
were called “kopf-tuch”/duechle/“tuechle.”
Commentary by Jay Gage, Curator of Exhibits and Textiles, Germans
from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries,
Fargo. |
