Country and people  > Traditions & costumes

Women’s costumes consist of white loose trousers and a white shirt combined with a dark jacket and a large red belt. Hair disappears under a kerchief, which is tied up at the back of the head so that the face remains uncovered.

Men wear baggy dark breeches, long leather boots, a white or black shirt and a belt with a Cretan knife stuck into it. Around their head they wear a black crochet kerchief with bobbles (mandili) that is tied up in a special way. In it’s beginnings it probably was used as a hair net in the times when men had long hair and tied the shock of hair while working in the fields. A “real” Cretan of course wears a moustache.