I wish I lived 300 years ago
Every time I view a costuming website or read a book that details the daily life of people several hundred years ago, I get washed over with nostalgia, even though I've never lived in those times. I have this intense desire to live back then. I know life was very hard, dangerous, and short, but I think of the daily life of weaving, sewing, baking, cleaning, etc. and I would LOVE to know those skills that machines have taken away from us. Part of the reason I'm so interested in knitting and crocheting and sewing is because I know I so often take for granted owning several articles of clothing. As opposed to having one, completely handmade article, I have many many machine/sweatshop labor articles of clothing. I'm not complaining, it's just that I would love to be able to weave and embroider a blouse or skirt and know that I made it in its entirety. The intense amount of labor that went into those articles never ceases to amaze me. When I was in Vienna, we took a tour of the crown and ecclesiastical treasury. I was dumbfounded by the richness of the articles of clothing that the (fabulously wealthy) Austro-Hungarian empire owned. There were beautiful "Light" cloaks that took 10 women 6 years to complete! They were woven partially with gold thread and with colored silk threads, and then embroidered in the "couched" style, so as to make the embroideries relieved in 3-D. I'm willing to bet that virtually no one has the skills to do comparable work today.
The other day I picked several bolls of cotton from a field in San Benito when I went out on a motorcycle ride with Daddy. I was tuly amazed at the amount of seeds in a single boll, and I came to appreciate the labor that people (especially the slaves) had to perform before Eli Whitney invented his cotton gin. I would love to pick enough cotton to eventually weave myself a blouse or something. I would clean it, dye it with herb dyes, card it, spin it, weave it, then sew the resulting fabric into something really nifty. I really came to appreciate the beauty of fabric in Avoca, Ireland, when I saw one of the only remaining weaving mills that still used wooden looms. Granted, the looms are spiffed up so that the people only have to tug a rope and the thread runner goes swish-swish from side to side. Even with that, I can really see why something that has that much effort put into it costs 30 odd Euros.
Anyway, I guess the reason I want to double-major in history and English Literature is becuase I'm a history nut and I love imagining myself hundreds of years away. I love knowing and imagining the daily workings of life back then; I feel the dangers that a woman in that day and age faced, as well as the pleasures of domestic activities that are long-lost except in third-world countries and museums. Indeed, the reason I prefer knitting a shawl for myself rather than buying one is because I can appreciate and enjoy it much more than spending 40 dollars. But I didn't spin or card the polyester. I didn't shear the sheep that bore the wool that sits waiting to become a scarf. I didn't mix the herbs (or in this case, chemicals) that made the brilliant green dyes. I don't know how. Yet.
I guess I may send my mom into a frenzy when I tell her I'm going to work as a museum historian in England, or maybe that I'm working somewhere teaching the cultural history of the Czech Republic or Germany or Ireland or Spain or Luxembourg as a US Foreign service librarian, instructing American diplomats so that they know something about where they step in Europe. Or I may work as an historian at a Renaissance Faire checking to be sure that each and every costume and period piece is accurate. Frankly, I don't care about money so long as I can do the four things in life that keep me mentally secure and stable: reading books, learning new things, cooking food, and working crafty things with my hands. That's all I want. I promise.
The other day I picked several bolls of cotton from a field in San Benito when I went out on a motorcycle ride with Daddy. I was tuly amazed at the amount of seeds in a single boll, and I came to appreciate the labor that people (especially the slaves) had to perform before Eli Whitney invented his cotton gin. I would love to pick enough cotton to eventually weave myself a blouse or something. I would clean it, dye it with herb dyes, card it, spin it, weave it, then sew the resulting fabric into something really nifty. I really came to appreciate the beauty of fabric in Avoca, Ireland, when I saw one of the only remaining weaving mills that still used wooden looms. Granted, the looms are spiffed up so that the people only have to tug a rope and the thread runner goes swish-swish from side to side. Even with that, I can really see why something that has that much effort put into it costs 30 odd Euros.
Anyway, I guess the reason I want to double-major in history and English Literature is becuase I'm a history nut and I love imagining myself hundreds of years away. I love knowing and imagining the daily workings of life back then; I feel the dangers that a woman in that day and age faced, as well as the pleasures of domestic activities that are long-lost except in third-world countries and museums. Indeed, the reason I prefer knitting a shawl for myself rather than buying one is because I can appreciate and enjoy it much more than spending 40 dollars. But I didn't spin or card the polyester. I didn't shear the sheep that bore the wool that sits waiting to become a scarf. I didn't mix the herbs (or in this case, chemicals) that made the brilliant green dyes. I don't know how. Yet.
I guess I may send my mom into a frenzy when I tell her I'm going to work as a museum historian in England, or maybe that I'm working somewhere teaching the cultural history of the Czech Republic or Germany or Ireland or Spain or Luxembourg as a US Foreign service librarian, instructing American diplomats so that they know something about where they step in Europe. Or I may work as an historian at a Renaissance Faire checking to be sure that each and every costume and period piece is accurate. Frankly, I don't care about money so long as I can do the four things in life that keep me mentally secure and stable: reading books, learning new things, cooking food, and working crafty things with my hands. That's all I want. I promise.
posted by Annemarie @ 1:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home