Paper short abstract:

Mrkovići is a predominantly Moslem historical "tribe" in Montenegro, living in the homonymous area between the Adriatic sea and the slopes of Lisinj and Rumija mountains. The paper concentrates on the most socially important clothing complex, which is a women's wedding costume.

Paper long abstract:

Mrkovići is a predominantly Moslem historical "tribe" in Montenegro, speaking an extremely idiosyncratic peripheral dialect of Serbo-Croatian and living in the homonymous area between the towns of Bar (alb. Tivari) and Ulcinj (alb. Ulqini), the Adriatic sea and the slopes of Lisinj and Rumija mountains.

One of the aspects investigated in depth was the traditional costume, serving as a very important marker of ethnic and confessional identity. Nowadays it is difficult to draw an exact differentiation between elements and motives of costume, which belong to the real local tradition, on the one side, and innovations, entered and adopted in the last decades due to influence of the global interest to self-understanding, on the other side. The paper concentrates on the socially most important clothing complex, which is a women's wedding costume. It consists of: 1) trousers brageše (cf. alb. brakeshe), from thin cotton fabric of white color; another name being demija (cf. alb. dimi < turk.), commented by our native consultants like folows: "The "demija" is Bosnian word, but our own one is "brageše""; 2) a shirt fanjelica from thin fabric, very often silk; 3) a sleeveless jacket džamadan (< turk.), the breasts of which are densely embroidered with silk or gold; 4) leggings of silk fabric; 5) a belt pas trbulus from silk (5-7 meters long, width around 60 cm); 6) a head-dress otos, made of colorful shawl šamija (< turk.), with golden coins; 7) socks obligatory from white cotton; 8) shoes from fabric or leather.