Thursday, December 14, 2017

Moldova - Ethnic Groups From Moldova, Gagauz People 2017


Date of Issue: 21 June 2017
Sheet: 8 stamps (2x4)
Size: 34 mm x 34 mm
Quantity Printed: 100.000
Printing: Nova Imprim, Chisinau
Price: (MDL) 1,75
Designer: Oleg Cojocari

The Gagauzes are a Turkic people living mostly in southern Moldova (Gagauzia, Taraclia District, Basarabeasca District), southwestern Ukraine (Budjak), northeastern Bulgaria, Greece, Brazil, the United States and Canada. The Gagauz are Eastern Orthodox Christians. There is a related ethnic group also called Gagavuz (or Gajal) living in the European part of northwestern Turkey.

Women's Clothing:
Toward the end of the 19th century, in good weather, a Gagauz woman's costume consisted of a canvas shirt, a sleeveless dress, a smock, and a large black kerchief. In winter, they donned a dress with sleeves, a cloth jacket, and a sleeveless fur coat. Required features of female dress were earrings, bracelets, beads, and, among wealthy Gagauz, a necklace of gold coins. "So many of their decorations are hung about," wrote a pre-Revolutionary researcher, "that they cover the entire breast down to the waist."

Men's Clothing:
Traditional male clothing included a shirt, cloth pants, a wide red sash or belt, and a hat. The winter cap was made of Karakul sheep wool. The shepherd's costume was the usual shirt combined with sheepskin pants with the fleece turned in, a sleeveless fur coat, and a short sheepskin jacket, the latter sometimes decorated with red-on-green stitching.