Folklore Collection of Armenochori

The creation of the Cultural Association in Armenochori in 1988 was intended to give an outlet to the youth of the community and to strengthen the local cultural tradition. Its objectives included, the revival of the tradition associated with the village festivals, the reorganization of the dance group, the development of communication links with the expatriate Armenochorites, the better organization and operation of the celebration associated with the Christmas fires, etc. (Karantoni & Papaioannou, 2009).
In its activities, the Cultural Association has also included a fully organized lending library, which also functions as a reading room and a remarkable Folklore Collection, housed in the old primary school of the Armenochori community, a small two-story rural building of 1924.
The folklore collection is still housed in three small rooms on the floor of the school building. The material of the collection gives a fairly complete picture of the costume typology of women’s and men’s traditional costumes of Armenochori and population groups of the region, as well as aspects of the domestic, rural and customary life of the inhabitants of the region.
The particular interest of the collection is focused on the number of objects related to pottery, due to the operation of traditional pottery workshops in the area. These objects are of particular importance if they are associated with the important pottery finds from the prehistoric settlement of the area, which for archaeologists are an indicator of relative dating for Early Bronze Age settlements throughout Macedonia (Tsokaridou, 2007; Karantoni & Papaioannou, 2009).

TEXT SOURCE: Folklore – Tradition Network of Florina.
SOURCE OF PHOTOS: Folklore – Tradition Network of Florina.