| SARDINIAN
COSTUME
 There
is a vast selection of traditional Sardinian costumes. In fact,
their assortment is the greatest in the Mediterranean. Every borough
of Sardinia has its typical costume, which, even though sometimes
similar, are never identical.
It is important to remember, however, that the costumes we see
paraded through the streets during the village manifestations
and festivals only represent the traditional dress for big occasions
such as family celebrations, feasts and processions; those worn
on a daily basis were very simple and much less elaborate, without
embroidery and rich decoration.
The traditional (festal) Sardinian costume is extremely colourful,
heavily ornate and often enriched with jewels like those from
Spanish or Moorish costumes. It should be said that very often
this contrasts with the poverty of the villages to which they
belong.
Although very different among themselves, the costumes have a
number of things in common such as:
 -
Men often wear a corset and cap, in some places also
a red kilt (Oristano) or the “mastruca” (goat or sheep’s
leather jacket, sometimes also made of coarse wool).
 -
Women, on the other hand, cover their heads with a colourful
fringed shawl, a white lace veil and embroidered bonnet. The skirts
are usually long, pleated and brightly coloured (the short skirt
is only used in a handful of places) and partially covered by
a hand-sewn apron.
 During
traditional festivals we see the famous “Mamuthones”
parade, dressed like shepherds with a black leather jacket worn
inside out as a sign of mourning, a purple scarf, a string of
cowbells worn over the shoulders and a wooden mask to cover the
face.
They are accompanied by eight “Issogadores” who wear
a costume with a red waistcoat, a scarf around their waist, black
hat with coloured ribbons and in their hands rope lassoos to capture
the prey.
This ritual has been repeated for centuries in Sardinia. The “Mamuthones”
are the figures which represent the “winners and losers”,
i.e. the Moors, while the Issogadores symbolise the “winners”,
in other words the Sards. According to the ancient ritual, 12
Mamuthones and 8 Issogadores take part in the parade, swinging
their lassoos and capturing some of the spectators by surprise.
With this tradition, they recall the victory obtained by the Sards
against the Moors.
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