Personally, I think the tour is one of the most beautiful objects from this region, a typical country costume! I’m going to tell a story about that tour in a number of episodes in the context of “Closed but not locked”. This is part two.
From 1860 until the Second World War, women carried a tour here in North Limburg, on festive occasions and on Sundays to church. They then slowly moved forward, so that everyone could admire the tour. Only the mayor’s wife, the priest’s housekeeper, a shopkeeper and a rich farmer’s wife wore the tour every day. The farmer’s wife wore an old round during the week and had a newer one for Sundays and holidays. During the Second World War, it was difficult to obtain material to make a tour and the profession of tour maker slowly died out. The older women who were already in possession of a tour still wore it, but hardly any new rows were made. Moreover, instead of going out with a horse and cart, people started cycling more and more often and then such a tour on your head is not exactly convenient. Before that time, when people went out, to church or the fair, the tour was safely stored in a box on the cart in rain or fog. Of course, he couldn’t get wet, because then the starched parts would collapse.
The first time a girl wore a tour was at the age of 13 on the occasion of communion, which you did at that age. The tour was borrowed from the mother, a sister or an aunt. A girl got her first tour on her18th birthday. In the early days, the head was still shaved, but later the hair was put up under the cap. For young girls, the row was covered with flowers in the colors light blue, pink, soft green or slightly yellowish color. Married women had only white flowers or buds, all made of cloth with special tools. (You can see that in Museum de Kantfabriek) In this way, the boys could see from the tour whether a girl was still “free”, marriageable.
To be continued!
Marlé de Laat