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I have hunted on the internet and failed to locate anything like it, so I’m turning to you. Having a clear out and was going to list this to sell but then can’t actually find any trace of one on the web.
I am told it is a traditional Greek goatherd’s shirt. From Amorgos (tiny spec of an island in the Cyclades) in the 1970s. It is the itchiest thing you have ever touched, and is rumoured to be made of goat hair. It’s very stiff fabric, with distinctive cotton armpit inserts and equally itchy knitted cuffs.
Any folk costume specialists in the house?! Have I got the only one in the world?! (Seems unlikely).
Is it some sort of weird religious, literal, hair shirt Hannah?
Edit. Not quite as weird as this one https://www.cilice.co.uk/product/goatskin-hairshirt/
There is some weird shit on that website.
A cilice! I don’t think it is, though wearing it would certainly be torture. It’s supposed to be what shepherds would wear, I think.
If my Greek colleagues are anything to go by, surely traditional costume is a cream linen suit, in the North of England, in November?
My other half (textiles graduate) would love that.
New info in from my mum (source of the shirt, though why you would bring such a souvenir back is a mystery): perhaps indeed, a sort of cilice - could it be a Lent penitence shirt?! She was certainly there at Easter, because she had to eat goat’s gut soup!
You've got to wonder what kind of misdeed would require goat hair shirt wearing in penitence? Hmmm...
Maybe it was designed to keep them jumping around and frisky and not falling asleep on the job as it were. The Manchester galleries have quite a collection of clothing, I wonder if they'd be interested?
I wouldn't list it. Just walk around the Northern Quarter and someone will offer you good money for it. Genuine Greek artisan chore jumper, woven by the virgin nuns in the Temple of Zeus itself
There is some weird shit on that website.
You're not wrong there, I couldn't work out if it was religious or some weird sex things