Bride's belt

Jamno village, currently a district of Koszalin, used to be cut off from the world for most of the year. Many years of isolation, together with historical and ethnic conditions, contributed to the development of a particular culture in Jamno and the neighbouring village of Łabusz. It combined the elements from Slavic traditions with the customs of immigrants from Germany and most probably also the Netherlands. Similarly as with other ethnic groups, one of the main distinctive elements characteristic for the people of Jamno was their attire. It was characterised by the use of homespun, common among the Slavs, and was dominated by red colour, which served as a background for thin stripes of black, green, yellow, navy blue and white colours. The ceremonial, wedding garment had such particularly distinctive elements as a tall, black men’s hat and a brass crown, richly decorated with flowers and beads, as well as a glamourous women’s belt. The wedding belts were made out of fabric that was stiffened on the inside, fastened with a decorative buckle and decorated with round plates with embossed ornament. The very design of the belt with metal ornaments was not typical only of the Jamno culture. It was common also among other groups as a part of a folk attire and its origin can be traced back to metal belts from knighthood, and later also from the noble and bourgeois cultures. In the photo archive of the Department of Ethnography of Pomerania of the National Museum in Szczecin, there is a photograph of a bride and groom in traditional Jamno wedding outfits. In that picture, one can see that the belt is worn over a black corset, high on the waist. The presented belt comes from the 19th century. It is covered in red silk and decorated with ten plaques with a convex rosette ornament. Only half of its richly decorated buckle with stylised floral ornament has survived until today. Originally the belt was in the collection of the Pommersches Landesmuseum Stettin.

Agnieszka Słowińska