Peasant sandals - Opinci (traditional romanian shoes) The oldest type of footwear is peasant sandals (opinci) worn with woollen or felt foot wraps (obiele) or woollen socks (caltuni). Evidence for this style of footwear can be seen on a clay foot found in Turdaş, dating from around 2500B. Opinci were worn throughout Romania and over a wide area of south and east Europe being known as opanke (Serbia), Tservuli (Bulgaria), opinci (Macedonia) etc. Opinci are made of a single rectangle of cow, ox or pig hide gathered round the foot in various ways. Two main types are found in Romania but with numerous zonal variations. The first type of opincă is cut out of one rectangular piece of leather with front edges uniformly pleated. The other is cut out of a rectangle of leather with angled edges. The head of the rectangle is then folded in half and the two sides are sewn together to make the gurguiu or peak of the opincă. The sides of the rectangle are folded along the edge to enclose the heel and fit to the shape of the foot. Opinci worn in mountain regions usually had higher gurguiu while those worn in the plain were lower. Opinci were tied to the feet using one or more nojită (narrow strips of leather or strings made of goats or horsetail hair which is usually died black although white is used in Moldavia). Opinci were sometimes decorated with stamped patterns (repoussé) or with tintacks or appliqué strips of leather. Many 18th and 19th century pictures show Romanian peasants wearing opinci, though by the 20th century this form of footwear had become less common. F B Florescu, in her book on Romanian opinci said that this form of footwear had completely disappeared by 1957 (Florecu 1957). However opinici can still be seen now in poorer rural areas today, although they are sometimes made of man made fabrics such as tyre inner tube or plastic are sometimes instead of leather!
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 06:56:57 +0000
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