Placed at 79km off the coast of the city of Valencia, Ibiza (Catalan: Eivissa), the third largest of the Balearic Islands, is well known in our days for its summer club scene which attracts very large numbers of tourists. Colonized by Phoenicians in 654 BC, then ruled successively by Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Moors, Norwegians, and Aragoneses, became part of Spain, maintaining its own self-government in several forms until 1715, when King Philip V of Spain abolished the local government's autonomy.
At the geographical heart of the island, the village of Santa Gertrudis is Ibiza in microcosm. Steeped in tradition, its main square houses the whitewashed church and a cluster of bars, restaurants and shops, whilst in the rich agricultural landscape all around, live sheep, goats and the island's only dairy cows. The architecture is sober and simple, and the folklore remained on the same line, perhaps with some colorful touches.
The tipical Ibiza costumes are very unique compared with the ones from the rest of the Balearic Islands. There are 4 types of costumes for the women: the white dress, the Gonella, the coloured one and the working dress. The white dress is the typical bride costume and consists of several petticoats, a jacket, an apron, a shawl and a headscarf. The Gonella (dating from the 18th century) is a kind of long skirt pleated narrow. It is completed by a black wool jacket with satin woven sleeves embroidered with silver, a gold embroidered apron, a shawl, a lace handkerchief, and a black felt hat with a wide brim.
The ribbons they had hanging said the number of suitors. The coloured dress is the modern version of above dresses, and is composed by an underskirt, a black wool jacket, a colorful apron and a shawl which is used as handkerchief at the same time. It was the most colorful costume of all. The tail may be pink (single), green (promised), blue (married) or black (widow). The working dress is much more simple than the rest, consisting of a petticoat, a jacket made of a lower quality fabric, a long apron, a big straw hat and espradrilles.
Jewels are always present at the festive costumes, especially that the ones on the chest (so-called Emprendada) show their economical status. The oldest were made of coral and silver, but the modern ones (18th century) are made of gold, and are inherited from mother to daughter. Usually they consist of at least two or more large beads in rhomboid shapes called Collarets, linked with thick gold chains, 9 or 13 (moon numbers), although for reasons of superstition they turned in 12.
The women also bear a large gold cross and sometimes below a jewel of gold with a religious image, and complement the collection of gold jewelry with a large number of buttons and rings on every finger, except the thumbs (3 on each finger, so 24 in total). These were part of the dowry and were sometimes used as payment of the rightful inheritance for daughters, avoiding the forced division of the estates for the benefit of the heir. The Emprendada was very important for the women from Ibiza because it was the only material link with their home.
About the stamps
The first stamp is part of a very large series, depicting traditional costumes from Spain, issued on 1967. The second stamp, depicting a painting by J. Carrero featuring a Spanish beach with a horse galloping on the shore and a woman facing the sea, holding carnation flowers and wearing a Manila shawl, was issued as touristic marketing on January 1, 2010.
References
Typical costumes details in Ibiza - Eivissa - Ibiza blog
The wardrobe of our Ancestors, typical Ibiza costumes - Ritmo Cars
Sender: Montserrat Aragones Pelegri (direct swap)
Sent from Lleida (Catalonia / Spain), on 24.06.2014
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