Living traditional costume of the Protestant Sorbs in the Wojerecy | Hoyerswerda region

In the town of Wojerecy | Hoyerswerda, the Protestant traditional costume is worn, while in the district of Němcy | Dörgenhausen, the Catholic traditional costume is also worn. 
The Hoyerswerda traditional costume region comprises 28 villages. The Protestant traditional costume is predominantly worn in the region. The soil in the region used to be barren and yielded low harvests. In addition, since the end of the last century, lignite mining has been draining the groundwater from the soil. The farmers remained economically weaker than in other regions. This was reflected both in their way of life and in the Sorbian traditional costume. Both are characterised by simplicity and authenticity. The traditional costumes are dominated by clear, strong colours made of linen and wool fabrics. Typical of the Sunday and festive costumes of girls and young women are:

• an orange overskirt,         
• a black silk bonnet with bows at the back of the neck and a white tulle bonnet of the same shape for girls
• a striped patterned apron and a
• muslin cloth.

All variations of traditional costume include the following undergarments: 

• a thick quilted skirt, which gives the overskirt its bell-shaped form
• a simple white petticoat
• a white blouse (kitlik).

Since real jewellery was unaffordable for the population of the heathlands in the past, it was imitated with glass beads and tinsel. 
Instead, there are wonderful embroideries, such as cross-stitch and eyelet embroidery. It was an incredibly laborious task to cut hundreds of oval holes into the fine linen, stitch around them with thread and fill them again with a filigree-like network. Embroidering a festive apron required several hundred hours of patient embroidery work.

In the 19th century, men's traditional costume became similar to German clothing. The long blue coat with red lining and shiny buttons has survived the longest. Other elements of traditional costume, such as trousers, waistcoats and jackets made of canvas or the blue bib apron, have been retained in work clothing. 

Regional characteristics in the festive costumes highlight the diversity of this traditional dress. There are around 60 different costume variations in total, which can be seen, for example, in the different headdresses worn by brides and bridesmaids in the individual parishes.

On special occasions, such as village festivals, Maypole throwing, homecoming days or harvest festivals, festive and church costumes are increasingly worn by children and young people. The diversity of the costume is also evident in the performances of choirs and dance groups.