Ouro Português Tradicional – Traditional Portuguese Gold I
Photos (from left to right):
Detail of a cordão (gold chain) with a “Libra da rainha com véu” (sovereign of queen with veil, bearing the effigy of Queen Victoria), encrusted in a elaborate gold frame, traditionally from Minho. Source: flickr.com
Picture of a mother and daughter from Minho, respectively adorned with gold pieces. The young girl with three libras hanging from a gold beaded necklace, and the woman with the chest covered with several libras hanging from lots of cordões, and a beaded necklace. Source: picture taken around the first half of the 20th century, somewhere in the province of Viana do Castelo, Minho region, Portugal.
Young woman wearing a traditional lavradeira costume in the Mordomia Parade (ethnographical parade) during the Pilgrimage of Our Lady of Sorrow, in Viana do Castelo. Her chest is full of traditional gold ornaments, including two libras hanging from gold chains and a “alfinete de três vinténs/libras” (brooch made of three coins/sovereigns). Source: festasdagonia.com
Detail of a “alfinete de três vinténs/libras”, and below it a gold brooch with a sovereign embedded in it, part of a lavradeira's costume. Source: revistamar.com
The “à Vianesa” costume, was the traditional clothing worn by country girls from the villages around Viana do Castelo on special days. Here represented is the “à Vianesa de Afife” costume (the oldest known costume in Portugal). And the other ceremonial costume, also represented in here, is the Morgada costume. These were the clothes worn by local farmers between the last quarter of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century, in the Minho region. The exception is the “à Vianesa” costume, which has always been worn, adapted to new occasions and scenarios where necessary.
The “à Vianesa” costume, was also known as the rich Lavradeira or festivity costume. Until two or three decades ago, lavradores and lavradeiras were the men and women who belonged to what we might call the well-off peasantry of northern Portugal. They were landowners of small to medium-sized properties. Lavradeira is the feminine form of lavrador and both names stem from the same Latin root as the English words labor and laborer. The most accurate translation for lavradeira would be farmwife, but it was a costume also worn by girls from an early age (e.g.: the young girls in the second and third photos).
In turn, the Morgada was either the only daughter or the eldest daughter of a local farmer. But the costume was also commonly worn by married women (e.g.: the mother in the second picture). They are made using finer fabrics: baize, velvet, satin, lace, ribbons with the addition of glass beads and sequins. Thus, the social standing of local country girls and women was shown by how they dressed, with an austere black costume, enlivened only by traditional gold jewellery, a colorful headscarf and the love handkerchief. The reason behind the dark clothing was that black was considered a noble colour and, particularly in Minho, it was reserved only for special and solemn occasions, including the wedding dress, christenings, feast day Masses, and to be buried with it.
The largest quantity of gold items appears on the colourful costumes of the rich lavradeira and the black costumes of the Morgada (as well as the mordoma and the bride, as i explained above). Some of the gold pieces mentioned and represented are:
Libra – Golden sovereigns enclosed in fancy frames, one of the most iconic pieces of traditional gold jewellery. Those bearing the effigy of Queen Victoria are the most popular, but there's also the “libras cavalinho” (horse sovereigns), which is a reference to St. George’s horse on the reverse of the coin. By the late nineteenth century, the sovereign initially appeared as a fob on the watch chains worn by farmers and later became ornaments for their wives and daughters. It took a few decades for their display to acquire its well-defined contours. Also, to make up for the lack of any such English coins in a family, or the means to buy one, the “medal” emerges, but where the coin is an imitation made by goldsmiths, with no numismatic value, although surrounded by a gold setting, similar in every way to those surrounding real sovereigns.
Cordão (gold chain) and colar de contas (beaded necklace), often worn plain, or with a pendent of sorts – When the libra(s) is/are seen hanging from the traditional gold chain, the cordão, it forms the most popular set throughout the twentieth century, both in daily contexts and in ethnographic parades, and, indeed, is still used by older women on feast days in country areas.
Three Coins Symbol – depicted in two versions: the three libras hanging from a gold beaded necklace (second picture), and the famous alfinete de três vinténs (brooch made of three coins/pennies), in the last two pictures. The three vinténs was a small silver coin ordered to be minted by King Peter II of Portugal (equivalent of three pennies). The three coins, served as an amulet and signified purity and virginity, and thus, came to be used to identify the young girl as unmarried, whom she displayed around her neck. In Minho, a girl who wished to get married displayed the three coins brooch on the left side of her chest (the side of the heart). Over time, this custom was replaced by the wedding ring, in this case to identify a situation of commitment already assumed, that is, marriage. In any case, it prevented unpleasant situations where, if a bold move due to ignorance could result in an awkward or tense situation between families.
