“Podgutnica” and “poculica”

“Podgutnica” and “poculica” are fashion details that are indicators of the status of nobility in Turopolje and are a visible representation of the Turopolje identity. Just as the eight-hundred-year history of our region is written in hundreds of pages of charters and various documents, so is all the love of the people of Turopolje for their home woven into the embroidery that we find on men’s groin and women’s backs.

“Podgutnica” was born from the pride of Turopolje, the love of a Banderian army man and his chosen one, and the soldier’s longing for his beloved home.

The Turopolj Banderij was born from the obligation of the Noble municipality of Turopolje to respond to the king’s call for military service. Under their banner, numbering from 120 to 400 cavalry and infantry, they fight within the kingdom at their own expense, and outside the borders at the expense of the king. The military journey of the Turopoljes, that is, the Turopolje Banderium, begins many centuries earlier than in 1526 with the battles against the Turks on the Mohacko polje, where we find the oldest records of the Turopolje wars. Banderium is most often found on the Turkish border and in the Military Region (15th-18th centuries), and during the 17th and 18th centuries on Italian, German, French and Czech battlefields. Where is the “podgutnica” in this story?

“Podgutnica” is a scarf or a decorated ribbon that was tied under the neck, that is, under the groin, hence the name “podgutnica”, and we find it in Turopolje as a decorative accessory to clothing, today’s folk costumes, as well as part of the uniform of the soldiers of the Turopolje Banderij Historical Unit. How did this undergarment reach France and become the forerunner of the necktie? The nobles of Turopolje protected our region and Croatia through their banner, but they also had the obligation to participate in military campaigns for the kingdom. Our banderians, who were light cavalry, as part of the Croatian army, were among the Croats who participated in the Thirty Years’ War and reached France in the first part of the 17th century. Their scarf, which girls and women tie as a reminder of their home and a vow of love and fidelity, was noticed by the French, including King Louis XVI himself, who accepted it as a new fashion detail – a scarf that is tied in the Croatian way “a la Croate”. .

In Turopolje, from the red scarf that is tied under the neck, it also developed in its own direction, which we see today under the guto of the proud noble people of Turopolje, as decorated red ribbons. Its civil derivative, worn today by the noble Turopoljes, in the form of decorated ribbons, can be dated to the 18th century, when such textile ribbons began to be produced.

Considering the historical legend about the origin of the cravat, the military role of the Turopolje Banderij in European wars, as well as the very spread of the cravat in Turopolje, we have the right to believe that it is Turopolje that is the cradle of the cravat.

Poculica

Covering the head of a married woman as a visible sign of her status is an ancient custom preserved to this day. Immediately after the wedding, the braids of the young women were wrapped around the point on the back of the head and the hair was covered with a poculica – Turopolje or Posavina halbic, and a “pecha” (scarf) was put over everything. The poculica covered the entire hair, was made of local cloth and trimmed with wide local or purchased lace. Selected motifs (woven on a loom) were made on homemade canvas, and sewn (tied by hand) on pieces of purchased material and sewn to the poculica.

Poculica, as a head covering where the fabric is embroidered with motifs of flowers, birds and others, as the oldest known types can be placed in the 17th century. Originally they were darker colors with embroidered motifs of lighter colored threads. Later, the poculi became more and more colorful, and decorated with beads, and they were supposed to shine so that the light would ward off evil. The base already becomes a bright red color, which for young women signifies, among other things, fertility. Looking at the difference in shape from the center of Turopolje towards Sv. Klari (Zagreb) were round, while in the settlements towards Posavina they were heart-shaped.