In Albania, many women and girls are keeping the tradition alive in different areas of the country. In Gjirokastër, which has been on the UNESCO world heritage list for 19 years, the production of traditional clothing is gaining special importance. Elida Zhulati, one of the artisans of this city, between passion and love to further the values of the past, is devoting herself to the production of folk costumes. In a story for VOA, she dwells on the highlights of her more than 3-decade run.
In the characteristic shopping alleys of the city of Gjirokastra in the south of Albania, in dozens of shops, that fine art of the hands of the artisan women and girls of the area can be found. For several years, they have been giving life to the heritage with the works of folk costumes mainly of the surrounding province, but also of other areas of the country. One of them is Elida Zhulati, who has surrendered to her passion for the production of traditional clothing for more than 30 years. Raised in a large family, Eli, as they call her in the bazaar, took from everyone what she needed to get here, where dozens of women and girls, men and boys from Albania and Kosovo have been clothed by her hands.
“There was a cell, so to speak, where each of these 11 members, not all of them adults because we also had children, had a profession that they took home from the companies where they worked. My mother, for example, made quilts, worked both in a company in the state and at home. My uncle's daughter-in-law worked in the carpet department in the state, and we also had a loom at home. When the time came for me to work and I had these experiences like an old magazine which I browsed whenever I needed”, artisan Elida Zhulati tells the Voice of America.
Eli's mother, Liljana Devolli, has for a long time been a participant in the folklore festivals of Gjirokastra held every 5 years, and Eli
it was surrounded by the folk clothing of the women of Lunzheria of Dropulli, Gjirokastra or the villages of Labrija.
“At that time I thought they were very beautiful. My mother used to leave her passport when she took these uniforms to represent the festival. Even I, when I was a child, plucked from a thread, a single one so that you wouldn't see it, and I tried to hide it so that for 5 years I could get another one, but when that 5-year-old came, I had lost the other one. I was very fond of these clothes,” says Elida.
Eli is one of those women whose life has not come easily. She started the production of folk clothes in the premises of her house, there in the midst of the daily chaos, where she had to be a wife, mother and artisan. It all started from a popular outfit of the son of Gjirokastra.
“The “Gjirokastra” Foundation, which dealt with the development, preservation and cultivation of cultural heritage, wins a project for the inheritance of isopolyphony in children. Not only did they have to learn to sing, but the costumes also had to be made. I made a suit, but I also made it as a trick, I took an old one and found it to see how it was made, how it was constructed. He became the benchmark for me, the key to my turning point and this entire 30-year journey” – continues Elida Zhulati, artisan.
The beginnings in the 90s have been difficult, from finding materials for the production of clothing to securing the market.
“I only work on orders because I am not a merchant. To be in the trade you don't need to have a heart, you just need to have a pencil. You made the pencil and the heart you have finished. How do I find clients? It has been very difficult. Little by little, little by little the clientele grew. The clientele increased but the demand also increased, the demand increased but the quality also had to increase, which means, the material, the threads, etc., etc., the sewing, the model, because you could have a little money to pay, but you wanted to have that original . So what did we do? This is where the heart comes in. We would do it with as much lek as you had” – she says.
Elida Zhulati says that over the past few years there has been an increase in interest in folk clothing, mainly from young people and immigrants who are still strongly attached to tradition.
“For the sole fact that in the countries where they live, on national and family holidays, they wear the traditional costume. The young people who graduate, this summer there were many, on the day of graduation they wore, if not the full costume, an element of the traditional Albanian costume” – says Elida.
In a small shop, here in the old bazaar of Gjirokastra. In addition to art, Eli also archives special, human stories.
“Here I have 4 suits for 4 brothers from Kosovo who live in Norway. Then we have the dress of the bride of Gjirokastra, here are the slippers of the bride of Gjirokastra. We have the costume of the bride of Lunzheria. Her aunt gives gifts to her granddaughters to pass on what we have, where we come from,” she says.
In her story for the Voice of America, Eli stops at the dress that she calls the diamond of men's clothing in the Gjirokastra area, as it is also found in other regions, with the corresponding specifications, in terms of length, or the number of elements.
This is a 500 sheet dress. I mean, you have the footage, you have to cut it, then you have to sew it, you will put it all together. Its perimeter from the bottom is 110 linear meters. If there is one thing about the clothing of the boys in Gjirokastër that dances and speaks, it is the dress, the voice of the costume,” says Elida.
Keeping the tradition alive is not an easy thing, but finally, this goal was served by an initiative of the children's cultural center in Gjirokastër.
“This year, next to the children's cultural center, a traditional embroidery course has been set up. To put it this way, to brag a little, I am the instructor there, so far there is a considerable number of girls. We have done several hours, we started somewhere at the end of March. we have
held an open hour in the field, where there was curiosity from many casual tourists. We hope that next year the traditional wood carving course will be opened and thus the attention and interest in the craft will be met” – says Elida.
Gjirokastra is a warm home for different tourists from all over the world in every season. There are quite a few of them who stop at Eli's store to get a piece of memory from Albania in a special form.
“They also experiment with the way a suit is embroidered. Of course, they can't start a vest or something big, but the technique of how to make a souvenir and take it with them as a gift from Gjirokastra” – she continues.
For 19 years, Gjirokastra has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is almost impossible to leave without the good taste of tradition and precious artistic values, while women like Eli make it even more welcoming and special. They know how to stay on their feet, even when the floor is shaking, they don't complain even when something goes wrong, they don't lose their way even in the middle of a mess with mixed feelings and thoughts, because they are used to always seeing that light at the end of the day. tunnel, with the unwavering belief that she will one day enlighten them.
