What sort of people they are travellers reported during the last centuries:
"Verdammt phlegmatisch, langsam, kalt und schwerfällig erscheint das Volk, wie es bei diesem Klima,
der groben Nahrung und der Pest der Gesellschaft, den Folgen der Leibeigenschaft, kaum anders zu erwarten ist.
Der preußische Nachbar pflegt auch den Mecklenburger für so ein bisschen dumm und einfältig zu halten, weil er
allerdings weniger gewandt und etwas schwerfällig erscheint und erscheinen muß bei diesem Himmelsstrich und
seiner Lebensweise, denn er lebt fast allein dem Ackerbau bei Mehlspeise, Kartoffelbrei, Pferdebohnen und
Dünnbier."
"Damned phlegmatic, slow, cold and clumsy the people appears. You really can't expect it in another way because of the climate, the coarse food and the pestilence of society: consequences of serfdom. The Prussian neighbour considers the Mecklenburgian to be a little bit stupid and naive because he appears to be less skilful and quite clumsy. And he has to appear clumsy because of this landscape and his way of living, as he only lives to be farmer, feeding on flummery, mashed potatoes, broad beans and weak beer."
About the language:
"...dabei ist der Mecklenburger aber stolz auf sein Plattdeutsch, ohne welches er auch im Auslande nicht
gemütlich sein kann: doch spricht er dasselbe weniger ohrenbeleidigend als der Hamburger..."
"...the Mecklenburgian is very proud of his Plattdeutsch dialect, without which he can't feel comfortable in foreign countries. But he speaks his dialect less insulting for the ear as people from Hamburg do..."
About the clothes (It refers mostly to Southwest Mecklenburg):
The common people used to wear selfmade clothes of linen. While the overalls were usually dyed blue the people
in the Southwest did not dye them. That is why they got the nickname "de Griesen" (the grey people).
The men used to wear a shirt without collar, a vest reaching to the hips or a working overall which was hold together
by a broad black belt. Above it a long jacket with buttons. The ancient trousers which reached to the knees
were later substituted by long trousers.
At the end of the 19th century a top hat substituted the round hat people had been wearing since the beginning
of that century. In summer men often wore a straw hat.
The women also wore a shirt without collar they used to sleep in as well as the men did.
Above it a bodice or an overall, a long frizzy skirt - in winter several skirts - and an apron.
The skirts were decorated at the low end with coloured ribbons. Unmarried girls showed the worth of their dowry
by their number.
The women used to wear a bonnet which covered the whole head and was bordered with a ruche.
In summer they often wore straw hats. Uncovered hair wasn't proper.
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The clothes for Sun- and Holidays was made from better cloth but it was very decent as well. Later men liked to decorate themselfes with colourful and shining vests while the women wore embroidered shoulderscarfs. |
In a file of 1679 the farmer made a list of the things which he lost when his house burned down.
Interesting the list of clothes (transscription see at the German version):
Clothes, linen cloth and beds
Four men's shirts, three shirts belonging to the farmhand
Four shirtaprons belonging to my wife
Four overshirts, two shirts of the farmgirl
Ten shirts of my two little boys, small aprons and other children's clothes of linen
One Unterbett, five pillowcases of white linen
Two tableclothes, two towels, one sheet
One pair of grey trousers of mine, in the pocket had been money, and one pair of linen trousers
The farmhand's new hat and one pair of gloves which had costed 1 Reichstaler 2 Pfennige
My wife's two bodices, one of black Sarßen, the other of red cloth
What of the clothes had been rescued we don't know. But probably it was just the clothes the people had been wearing when the fire broke out.
The predecessor of our shopping bags and rucksacks is described in a traveller's report:
"They carry everything - from dung to cabbage - in two little baskets hanging down from a wooden
yoke lying on their shoulders."