Doll-A-Day 2019 #224: Bulgarian or Serbian Couple

  Today's dolls took a little research. Apparently I didn't do enough. I have updated the post to reflect the new information.
  At first I thought they were Greek. Certain things about them didn't fit the Greek traditional costume though. Next I looked at the traditional dress of countries near Greece, since there was obviously a similarity.

Then I thought these were traditional costumes of  Bulgaria. Apparently even within Bulgaria the traditional dress varies depending on which part of the country you're talking about,but these fit pretty well. When researching I saw pictures of women with sleeves like these and shoes like these,that were supposedly Bulgarian traditional clothes.

But it has been suggested by a reader that these are actually traditional outfits from Serbia. Looking up pictures of traditional Serbian clothing I see outfits with sleeves like this lady's big sleeves,(I bet Napoleon Dynamite would like them.),red ribbons and all.

"They're real big."

The vest is similar too,as well as the shoes.

As you can see, the lady has a wooden stand. She's held to it by elastic,which is threaded through holes in the wood. Since she has a stand,I don't know what the wires on her feet are for. Maybe she didn't come with the stand.

The decorated socks also look Serbian.

Bulgaria also has very similar traditional shoes, called tsarvuly. But I found out that there's a reason for that, and these dolls may still very well be Bulgarian. Wikipedia says that traditional Serbian clothing is: "worn by Serbs living in Serbia,Croatia,Bosnia,and Herzegovina,Montanagro,and extended Serbian diaspora communities" (people displaced from their homeland),"in Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, United States,etc..

So that explain why these dolls look both Bulgarian and Serbian. The man's leggings or whatever these are,appear in pictures of traditional Bulgarian and Serbian clothes.

Embroidery is also used on Bulgarian and Serbian vests and skirts.

In Bulgarian superstition, the devil hides in women's hair,so the hair must be braided. (To hold the devil in,I suppose.) I have no idea about Serbian hair.
 

I swear I took a picture of the braids in the back of her hair!

'Braids like eyebrows' is a phrase in Bulgaria!

But what about eyebrows like braids? And check out that tiny mustache.

Her colourful skirt doesn't reach all the way around. It's a big circle on the back of her.

I did find pictures of similar dresses that are traditional Serbian clothing. You can see the pictures of those HERE.

The skirt matches the socks,or whatever these are, on the guy.
 

His vest is also made of the same fabric.

Look at his little woolly hat.
 

He has a red stitching down the front of his shirt.

These dolls have very simple hands made of cut felt.

Hey guy,that's rude.

The guy's hand shows you that the arms just end in a stump,with the felt hands covering it.

They have beautiful, delicate, embroidered faces though.

 

There is a site called GPSMYCITY which states this about dolls in Bulgaria: "Dolls play an important role in the Bulgarian culture and are an inseparable part of every Bulgarian's childhood. Traditional Bulgarian dolls are handmade. They can be both, male and female, and come in big variety of colors and costumes. The Bulgarian folklore features several types of dolls, the most popular of which are the ones dressed in traditional vestments, different for each part of Bulgaria and bearing typical ornaments attributed to a particular region. Alongside those, there are ritual dolls associated with certain traditions, including the most popular ones "Pijo and Penda" - a girl and a boy made of white and red yarn, called "martenitsa". Each year, on the 1st of March, people present each other with martenitsas in wishing of good health and prosperity for the coming year. There are also dolls depicting mythological creatures, such as fairies, eyesores, vampires, goblins, and ghosts; dolls made for certain celebrations, e.g. the day of the herbs, marked on June 24; doll idols; and even the dolls made of ritual bread." You can read the rest of the article,about what to shop for, to take home the best remembrances  of Bulgaria HERE.It covers Bulgarian tradition and products and is quite interesting. Check it out.
  I also read that martenitsa were used to celebrate the Spring,and are to be hung on the first blossoming tree the owner sees in Spring.
  These two measure about 8 inches tall. Oddly enough,even though he is bigger scale-wise,the guy is actually slightly shorter than the lady. And that's not including her stand in her height.

  Those are today's dolls. Tomorrow there'll be another one.