Konavle Earrings — Vežilice

Earrings are one of the most popular and oldest forms of jewelry in the world. They were mostly worn by women, though men occasionally wore them too. Reasons for wearing them varied. In ancient Egypt they were worn as status symbols; in Rome women wore them for good luck. They were worn by women in ancient Greece and Byzantium both for decoration and status symbols. Avars and Slavic women wore them, and most other women throughout history.

In the Middle Ages, when the luxury of wearing jewelry decreased, earrings are always found in archaeology as jewelry of both the rich and poorer classes. They were the minimum adornment worn by women in these times. In archaeological research in Croatia, they are often found in medieval graves and in the ruins of ancient dwellings.

Konavle earrings - vežilice

During the Republic of Dubrovnik, there were many artisans working in Dubrovnik who made objects from silver, gold and other metals. Over time, goldsmiths specialized in producing various forms of jewelry for women, especially earrings. Except for city women who wore jewelry modeled after the large European centers, goldsmiths produced different styles of earrings for each of the regions of the Republic.

So, earrings for Konavle women differed from the earrings of Mljet or from the Dubrovnik coastal areas. It is interesting that all other jewelry was similar, and only earrings were exclusive to geographical locations.

Konavle earrings are called vežilice. Their basic form is a wire that goes through the ear and has a thick tubular decoration on the lower part with a loop in the middle on which hang mother-of-pearl beads. They are made of gold or silver using the techniques of filigree and granulation. Those made of silver were always gold-plated. One old custom was that the fiancé, before the marriage, would take all the gold earrings from his future bride’s household to a goldsmith to have them cleaned and freshly gold-plated.

There were various sizes of vežilice — for young girls, older girls and women. They are part of household treasures, and are an obligatory part of the gift that a girl receives at the time of her engagement.

In Konavle, there are traditionally two forms of gifting at engagement. The first is the Malo obilježje (“Small sign”) when a girl is given a gift for the first time and thus becomes engaged. Around Christmas or in January, the young man comes with a representative of his family and brings the girl a gift of at least a škopica [1], small vežilice, filigreed buttons for embroidery, a pair of finger rings and kralješ (rosary beads). After that day, the girl takes off her girl’s earrings and puts on these small vežilice that she got from her future husband.

Konavle earrings - vrenčine

The second gifting takes place near the end of the engagement, just before the wedding, and is called the Veliko obilježje (“Large sign”). The girl then receives more finger rings, large vežilice, large puce pod grlo [2], vrenčine [3] and numerous other gifts, depending on the status of the man’s family. On this day, the girl receives some of her fiancé’s household treasure, which she will return to her husband’s house when she gets married.

She will wear all this jewelry on her wedding day and very rarely ever again. The exception is vežilice earrings which are worn on all occasions. At the time of velika korota (the death of a father or mother), women would wrap their earrings with thin black silk and thus show their mourning.

Today, Konavle earrings are worn all over the world. Besides being a valuable souvenir from Dubrovnik, these earrings are produced by numerous jewelers all over Croatia, so it seems that they are worn more in other parts of Croatia than in Konavle. From the Jordanian Queen Rania, through Oprah Winfrey and numerous other famous personalities who wear them today, we can say that no other traditional form of jewelry in Croatia has experienced as much popularity as the Konavle vežilice earrings.

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[1.] Škopica — A folding knife decorated with engravings and hangs on a silver chain.

[2.] Puce pod grlo (“button under the throat” in Konavle dialect — Silver filigree clasps with colored glass pieces.

[3.] Vrenčine — Another form of earrings worn in Konavle but also in other parts of the Republic of Dubrovnik. They are rich gold earrings that are only worn at weddings in Konavle, and are handed down from mother-in-law to bride, usually only to the first of her daughters-in-law.