Opinci and Leg Cloths
I had hoped to see these old costumes being worn as daily garb rather than for a festival or holiday occasion. We had stopped to photograph some storks building their nest when this woman came along. At first I didn’t notice her shoes and then! there they were! Opinci and leg cloths! Plus she had her hand-woven apron wrapped around her.
Made from an Old Inner Tube
Of course, I was thrilled. One of my problems is that I get excited easily. And when I’m excited, I’m not thinking as well as I should. My solution is to shoot, shoot, shoot. It isn’t a foolproof remedy as sometimes my best shot is out of focus. This is the case of the first photo, but by sharpening it and increasing contrast to an extreme, it works for me. I also added the grungy edges for an antique look.
Back to the Opinci. The word is pronounced “opeench”. They are sandals worn by people in the area, Romanians, Serbs, Bulgarians, since 2500 years B.C. And they were worn until recently. Now, with the fall of communism people can afford modern shoes and opinci have fallen out of favor except with the very poor and folkloric dancers.
I looked up some info on opinci and discovered that although in the past they were made from a rectangle of leather, now poor people use an old inner tube. And on examination of my second photo, I see that this woman’s shoes are made of rubber. I thought they weren’t very pretty when I was taking the pic. Oh, well. I have to be grateful for her. Her opinci were the only ones I saw.
As for the leg cloths, if you have ever read any books by Alexander Solzhenitzyn, you will recall the prisoners wrapping their footcloths around their feet. It stuck in my mind that Russians didn’t have socks. The idea of wrapping a cloth around your foot and then stuffing the whole thing into your shoe…bound to be uncomfortable!