Cyprus-Forum.com

[denizaksulu]

Being technically minded I have looked at the dress items worn by the people in the photos. I noticed the black vrakas, presumably they are black, which would tend to point to Christian hence Greek people. On the other hand the jewllery worn by the ladies does not show any crosses or wedding rings, so pointing to non Christians, hence Turkish people. Hard to tell either way.

Judging from some very old family photos showing men in vrakas I observe that they have no head gear. But then those are posed photos, not every day working situations.

I know that the vraka worn white are always TCs, But my family always wore black ones with a colored waistband. A black waistband was always GC. I only remember seeing very few white vrakas.

[Nikitas]

Looking again through the photos, I noticed that hats, even straw hats that could be locally made, were not preferred by our forefathers. It would seem more comfortable to wear a straw hat rather than a wound cloth around the head. Is the preference for the cloth proof that it is better in the sun than a hat or is it a matter of tradition/fashion?

[Get Real!]

Looking again through the photos, I noticed that hats, even straw hats that could be locally made, were not preferred by our forefathers. It would seem more comfortable to wear a straw hat rather than a wound cloth around the head. Is the preference for the cloth proof that it is better in the sun than a hat or is it a matter of tradition/fashion?

The first pictures ever taken in Cyprus were those of John Thomson in autumn 1878. He was sent by Queen Victoria to bring back a visual sample of what Britain had acquired from the Turks. In all of these now 130 year old photos you'll find that ALL Cypriots wore some kind of head dress back then.

[Nikitas]

Thanks GR,

So it must have been a tradional thing. Interesting how fashion can have such a strong hold on people!

[denizaksulu]

SO???

It's still the best picture EVER!

Thanks TC, they're my INDIGENOUS great-grandparents who drove off Turks in 1821....

Your indigenous ggp's have Algerian blood in them? (according to Nikitas)and your ggp's are from Greece (1821) you do contradict yourself GR

Just having a bit of a laugh there Deniz... I like pissing T_C off!

Just TC? You have been the self-declared scourge of all!

[Get Real!]

SO???

It's still the best picture EVER!

Thanks TC, they're my INDIGENOUS great-grandparents who drove off Turks in 1821....

Your indigenous ggp's have Algerian blood in them? (according to Nikitas)and your ggp's are from Greece (1821) you do contradict yourself GR

Just having a bit of a laugh there Deniz... I like pissing T_C off!

Just TC? You have been the self-declared scourge of all!

Guilty as sin... Oh, it's so true...

[denizaksulu]

DA

I am 57, born in 1950 within the walls of Nicosia but grew up in Famagusta. So earliest memories are of Cyprus still British, that colonial atmosphere! Also spent some time in Egypt in the 50s more colonial atmosphere, some of it French there.

I recall Cyprus in the days when the first car purchase was a major deal, when villages still had a subsistence economy, with the livestock next to the house, being fed on all spare food from the human table. We left in 1963 for England and those memories were stored very vividly.

The photographs here bring a lot of memories back, and also show things I had not seen before. I am fascinated by the use of sailing vessels in the harbors. That kind of manouver requires top level seamanship, something I thought we Cypriots did not have. Apparently I was wrong, which goes to show one should never assume anything!

Nikitas I was only joking about youre age. I was referring to your recollections of 1840 Thanks for the additional info anyway

[iceman]

You are right the TC.Definitely the highest cheek bones on any TC I have seen so far. Definite Turkish stock.

I hate to break the news to you but these are Greek Cypriots easily distinguishable by the GC peasant head gear.

...hhhmmm. I will settle for an open verdict. May be an expert on the forum will arbitrate? Still the best picture with all the details of Cypriot dress as well.

There's much better closup family pictures than that but I've only got 128kb upload speed so if Iceman beats that please upload that family from Avgorou pic in Thomson's book, oh and that pretty girl on her own on the front cover of the book.

The GC head gear has a bit of material at the bottom and a mini-fez at the top whereas the TC head gear is a longer fez with no material.

The TC head gear did have material wrapped around the fez and as you rightly pointed out the GC fez was shorter than the fez worn by TC's..
The Zaptiyeh (police force) which consisted only of moslem cypriots wore the fez with a white cloth wrapped around it..
My guess is that people in the photo were GC peasants (which is strange because Akantou was a TC village at the time not a mixed population village)
But the fact that the women are not covered up,clearly shows they were not TC's...Moslem women at the time would most definately not pose for photographs,it was against their religious beliefs..

The zaptiyeh force with their first British commander Captain Andrew Scott-Stevenson.


Zaptiyeh Guards on duty in Kyrenia Castle

[iceman]

You are right the TC.Definitely the highest cheek bones on any TC I have seen so far. Definite Turkish stock.

I hate to break the news to you but these are Greek Cypriots easily distinguishable by the GC peasant head gear.

...hhhmmm. I will settle for an open verdict. May be an expert on the forum will arbitrate? Still the best picture with all the details of Cypriot dress as well.

There's much better closup family pictures than that but I've only got 128kb upload speed so if Iceman beats that please upload that family from Avgorou pic in Thomson's book, oh and that pretty girl on her own on the front cover of the book.

The GC head gear has a bit of material at the bottom and a mini-fez at the top whereas the TC head gear is a longer fez with no material.

here you go M8....







When i find the time,i will like to open up a new thread and post scans of the whole book by John Thompson for people interested to read it..

[Nikitas]

DA,

Oops! I must have put a comma wrong in the prior post I guess, turned myself ancient. Good job the subject was not the Trojan wars!