EVERYDAY LIFE ON CYPRUS UNDER VENETIAN RULE
In Venetian times, solidarity and mutual assistance were central to everyday peasant life. Friends and relatives would work together both in the fields and when building houses.
FARMING LIFE
Arable land covered approximately one fifth of the island. The main agricultural commodities throughout the period were cereals (mainly wheat and barley), salt, cotton, sugar, wine, olive oil, hemp, wax, indigo, dyes (saffron etc.) and small wild birds (ortolani). Also important were the various products of Cypriot workshops and cottage industry. This was especially true of weavings, pride of place being taken by kamilota and samites.
Crop and livestock farming were the main resource activities on Cyprus. In Paphos, viniculture and silkworm farming were dominant, and the area was second only to Nicosia as a centre of silk weaving. Rope making was also well developed, since Paphos was renowned for its hemp and flax.
FOLK ART
Present day Cypriot folk art has preserved many features dating back to antiquity. Its conservative nature served as a bulwark against the foreign cultural elements brought by the conquerors, though this did not rule out the influence and absorption of some such features. A further hallmark of folk art on Cyprus is its homogeneity, since regardless of their foreign overlords, most Cypriots were of the same social class and had the same standard of living.
Woodcarving, pottery, weaving and basket making are among the oldest handcrafts on Cyprus.
Walnut and pine wood were the materials used in making carved furniture. The Cypriot soil also yields white and red clay for pottery. The raw materials used in weaving were cotton, flax, wool and silk. Another important branch of Cypriot folk art was embroidery, a handicraft which developed from the time of Frankish rule, when Cyprus was celebrated for its costly fabrics.
DRESS
In comparison to those of other Greek areas, Cypriot costumes are simpler and relatively uniform, though local variations in terms of type and detail are not entirely absent. Good or formal wear is associated with dowry, an institution deeply rooted in Cypriot tradition. Some parts of the costume, such as the silk shirt and groom’s kerchief, are symbolic and apotropaic in nature, and were offered as gifts by the fiancée. The same is true of the woman’s silk shirt, which was a prized part of the bride’s costume. Cotton and silk were the main materials used in costume making. The outer parts were of atzalia, a fabric of cotton usually woven on a white background, with thin vertical or criss-crossing stripes in traditional colouring involving dark red, blue, yellow, orange or green. Atzalia for men’s everyday shirts and women’s dresses was usually blue with white stripes. Black rather than blue was used for old men’s jackets; the addition of red stripes to typical atzalia for young people produced atzalia zimbounisimi..
The silk fabrics for which Cyprus has been renowned since the Middle Ages were used in their natural hue for formal and bridal shirts and underwear. Woven cotton was used for everyday wear.
