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Symmetry in European Regional Folk Dress g e n e r a l a r t i c l e Symmetry in European Regional Folk Dress A Multidisciplinary Analysis D Av i D A . J A m es a n d A l i ce v. J A m es Designs on folk dress form an expression of artistic import within Nature presents many types of planar symmetry: (1) bilat- a culture. A 2017 ethnomathematics paper to which the authors eral symmetry, as of a leaf or face; (2) rotational symmetry, contributed concludes that the designs on European regional folk dress as of a starfish or composite flower; (3) frieze symmetry, as are highly symmetric and analyzes the symmetry in the costume designs ABSTRACT of 73 European cultures. Also examined are which symmetries are of regularly spaced buds on a branch or the skin of a snake; favored by, for instance, Catholic cultures or mountain cultures. In this (4) space-filling symmetrical patterns, as of honeycombs or article, two of the study’s coauthors summarize its key points and go on pineapples. Around 70,000 BCE, early humans, attracted to explore the neurophysiologic, aesthetic and ethnographic reasons by these symmetries, began producing abstract decorative why humans display symmetry on their regional dress. nonrepresentational symmetrical designs, predating repre- sentational art by 30,000 years. Books by Hargittai [5] and A recent survey and analysis of the folk dress of 73 Euro- Washburn and Crowe [6] illustrate the deep-seated cross- pean cultures (of which we were coauthors) [1] revealed a cultural and universal desire to decorate objects with sym- very high degree of planar symmetry. We shall in this cur- metric designs. rent paper explore why humans are so drawn to symmetry Certain symmetry operations can exist together while oth- on folk dress, finding broadly interrelated multidisciplinary ers cannot. For instance, a frieze cannot have both a half explanations from aesthetics, psychology, ethnography and turn operation and a horizontal reflection unless it also has neurophysiology. This approach contrasts with James et al. a vertical reflection. The limited number of possible com- [2], in which the more specific effects of religion, geographic binations gives rise to organizational categories that math- proximity of cultures, language groupings and historical ematicians call groups. An entire branch of mathematics is commonalities in terms of politics, commerce and military devoted to Group Theory, an area introduced by Galois in domination are analyzed in detail. solving algebraic equations. The Group Theory approach to symmetry not only categorizes planar symmetries but also MathEmatical FAmilies oF SymmetriC DesignS provides a broad master key for unlocking deep secrets of The mathematician Hermann Weyl began his famous book how the universe is structured in physics, chemistry, biology Symmetry with the intuitive definition “symmetry = har- and music. Nobel laureate physicist P.W. Anderson writes, “It mony of proportions,” and then developed increasingly is only slightly overstating the case to say that physics is the sophisticated refinements, arriving at the definition of sym- study of symmetry” [7]. metry as concepts invariant under transformations [3]. In Group Theory provides a useful classification scheme planar symmetry, the essential and defining property that in sorting designs into a few basic families, all members of makes a design symmetric is that its appearance is invari- which have the identical group structure [8,9]. This provides ant under shape-preserving and color-preserving isometries. a scientific way to bring concrete meaning to the intuitive Variation in coloring introduces more depth [4] than needed feeling we all sometimes have that two designs are related. for our study. The three types of planar crystallographic groups are Ro- tational, Frieze and Space-Filling. For a design to possess Rotational symmetry its appearance must be invariant when David A. James (educator), Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Michigan–Dearborn, Dearborn, MI 48128, U.S.A. Email: [email protected]. rotated about a central point through a given angle. ORCID: 0000-0001-6182-0940. Mathematically, the rightmost designs of both Figs 1 and 2 Alice V. James (educator), Department of Anthropology, Shippensburg University, belong to the same family, namely the D4 group. Shippensburg, PA 17257, U.S.A. Email: [email protected]. The second type of planar symmetry is Frieze symmetry, See www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/leon/53/2 for supplemental files associated with this issue. in which patterns extend and repeat in one direction. Frieze ©2020 ISAST https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_01609 LEONARDO, Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 157–166, 2020 157 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01609 by guest on 28 September 2021 Fig. 1. Rotational symmetry: Cyclic (singly fl agged) and Dihedral (mirrored). (© David A. James) Fig. 2. The three most commonly appearing rotational symmetries and their generators. (left) D1: mirror refl ection only (Peloponnesian blouse). (center) D2: half turn and mirror refl ections (Sarakatsani vest). (right) D4: quarter turn and mirror refl ections (Galician apron). (Photos © David A. James) 1 4 5 2 6 7 3 Fig. 3. All seven types of frieze symmetries appear commonly on regional costumes. Type 1: XXXXXX. Horizontal and vertical mirrors and half turns (Romanian blouse). Type 2: /\/\/\/\/\/\/. Vertical mirrors and half turns and glide refl ections (Albanian cuff). Type 3: AAAAA. Vertical mirrors and no half turns (Transylvanian vest). Type 4: EEEEEE. Horizontal mirrors and no half turns (Romanian skirt). Type 5: SSSSSS. Half turns and no mirrors (Transylvanian). Type 6: pbpbpbp. No half turns, no mirrors, but glide refl ections (like footsteps) (Albanian). Type 7: RRRRRR. Translations only (Serbian vest). (Photos © David A. James) 158 James and James, Symmetry in European Regional Folk Dress Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01609 by guest on 28 September 2021 Fig. 4. The three most common Space-Filling symmetry types: p1, pmm and p4m. p1: No mirrors, no turns, no glide refl ections (Jurassian jacket). pmm: Mirror refl ections in two perpendicular directions, half turns but no quarter turns (Romanian skirt). p4m: Mirror refl ections in two perpendicular directions, quarter turns (Romanian). (Photos © David A. James) Fig. 5. Locations of folk cultures involved in the study. Also included, but beyond the map, are the Norwegian, Swede, Finn, Saami, Icelandic, Karelian, Estonian, Latvian and Cretan cultures. (Map data © 2016 Google. INEGI, ORION-ME.) designs commonly appear on belts and along edges of vests, seum directors and curators, recorded images of costumes jackets, skirts, dresses and aprons. Th ere are seven Frieze in their museums and archives, and studied in their libraries. types (Fig. 3). Directors and curators were extremely helpful, interested in Th e third type, Space-Filling symmetry, consists of pat- the project and generous with their time. From more than terns that repeat in two directions, like wallpaper. Th ere are 200 hours of video images recorded at 167 museums, we 17 planar Space-Filling symmetries (Fig. 4). built a robust database that produced tables and could be queried with specifi c questions. Th e study includes a listing SynopSiS oF RESulTS in ARChivED pApER of the 73 cultures, the museums visited, a description of the Th e authors, Alice James, an anthropologist, and David database and the raw data of the 18,686 designs [10]. For James, a mathematician, recorded 18,686 costume design example, the Norwegian museums visited were the Norsk images gathered through 15 prearranged three-week trips to Folkemuseum, the Fagernes Folkemuseum and the Sogn museums throughout Europe (Fig. 5). We interviewed mu- Folkemuseum. James and James, Symmetry in European Regional Folk Dress 159 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01609 by guest on 28 September 2021 Our choice of cultures was guided by the Encyclopedia of backlash could adhere to time-honored practices. Many World Cultures. Th e period of interest was 1870–1910, the traditional cultures were infused with energy, and others time in which European cultures developed the folk cos- formerly dormant were reinvigorated. Costume curators of tumes that became treasured and preserved in the museums Maltese, Romansch, Norwegian, Jurassian and many other we visited. Th e reason for this fl orescence can be found in cultures specifi cally remarked on the number of cultural the enormous political upheavals of those times: Around institutions, museums and local historical associations es- 1870 the formerly atomized Germany and regionalized Italy tablished during this time period. Outward expression of each unifi ed into nation-states, the eastern parts of Europe cultural belonging was manifested in folk dress. were infl uenced by theAusgleich of 1867 that established the Post-1910, the purity and popularity of folk costumes of Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire was in the 1870–1910 period began to erode due to increased in- severe decline. Th roughout Europe, especially in the west, teraction with the outside world, coupled with the ease and ever-increasing industrialization and urbanization arrived convenience of rack-ready clothes, a diminishment refl ected at a cost: Th e loss of cohesion of the extended family led by the appearance in museums of fewer folk costumes from inevitably to a societal loss of tradition. Th e importance of later periods. the local became dissolved in a solution of nationalism. To A selection of designs on a costume is illustrated in Fig. 6. paraphrase Sartre in Being and Nothingness, modernity left Th e third design down on the right has the following identi- a sense-of-belonging–sized hole in the human psyche. Th e fi ers: adult, female, full costume, blouse, left side, shoulder, sense that modern society was destroying traditional ways mid-level of impact, horizontal orientation and right/left of life motivated a backlash.
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