The Għonnella
For this topic on Maltese Traditional Design I decided to focus on The traditional costume the għonnella wore by women consists of particular head dress and shawl or hooded cloak. The għonnella was introduced to Malta in circa 1224 from Italy and usually wore as a sign of mourning and also to entering the church, but during the time it gets into fashion and kept its popularity till 1950’s. After the 1970’s its fashion decreased and it was rarely seen at all, except among the older members of the Societies Doctrine Christian M.U.S.E.U.M. From 1980’s it had completely disappeared.
During my research I found that this was a unique dress for the Maltese Island’s women. This dress referred as to għonnella and sometimes referred to as faldetta. There is also certain places in the south-east of Malta which referred to as stamija and to as ċulqana. The textile for the għonnella was generally made of cotton or silk usually black or in other dark colours. During the sixteenth century the white and other bright colours for the għonnella were introduced and were wore by noble and wealthy women. The design of the ghonnella consists; for the upper part a stretched textile to a rounded frame to form a cover for the head but it not cover the face. The material for frame structure usually was of cane or whalebone. This hood gives a broad and a sail-like appearance. The upper part of the ghonnella was aesthetically looks strange but this broad cover captured most needed cooling breezes during the hot days of summer. The lower part of the ghonnella consists of loosely draped around the hips and above the waist. In winter and cooler weather the drape was more tightly wrapped. The dress drape was typically falls to mid-calf length. While walking the women would hold the both sides of the ghonnella by their right hand griped like buttons.
Many painters and sculpture artist along the time were inspired by this type of dress. By their paintings and sculptures this artists depicted the women wearing the ghonnella in everyday scene of that time. Thanks to these artist we have more evidence of the atmosphere of that time where most of the Maltese ladies wore the ghonnella. I found some interesting paintings by this artists ;Frederick de Brocktorff 1775-1850 Emvin Cremona 1919- 1987 Caruana Dingli.
Figure 1: Frederick de Brocktorff 1775-1850
Figure 1: Frederick de Brocktorff 1775-1850
'A Maltese lady in the faldetta, waiting before the Harbour, Master's garden'.
Figure 2: Emvin Cremona 1919- 1987.
'Maltese Landscape with Għonnella.'
Figure 3: Caruana Dingli.
'Maltese Lady wearing the national headdress, the Faldetta' from the album 'Malta.'
In this research I learned how patients were the women at that time to wear the ghonnella outfit. I cannot imagine in our days of fast life ladies wear this huge dress. During its epoch life was less hectic. I also learned and was very impressed by the design of the ghonnella and how the tailors stretched the drapery to the cane or whalebone structure, to form the hood. For many tailors this was their full time job in making the ghonella. In my studies I found that although this is a bulky dress full of drapery it won’t make the wearer feeling the heat of the summer sun, this is because its textile were of silk or cotton which allow the skin a breathing space. The design of the hood was the core to avoid the severity of the sun, it was a good shelter for the head.
I think that for our Maltese Island the ghonnella is an important part of our heritage. The ghonnella remains the symbol of the past with an unique traditional design. In my opinion it deserved to be our traditional costume which you could not find it in any other country in the whole world. This would make our treasure of our heritage much wealthy.
References:
References:
Pictures taken from:
Information taken from:
www.ghonnella.com/ghonnellahis.htm
Book :
Peasant Costumes INSIGHTS INTO RURAL LIFE AND SOCIETY
No comments:
Post a Comment