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For many many years, clothes with polka dots have been commonly used in the gitano community, as everyday wear. Even today, gitano artists often wear such a pañuelo. My friend Juan Silva, who is a non gitano cantaor, once gave me an expensive polka dotted shirt: he said he couldn´t wear it on stage or he would upset the gitanos.
During the years of cante opera, polka dots were adopted by many artists: the cheesey image of Córdoban sombrero and baggy sleeved polka dot shirts is now very dated.
They have reverted to being a more subtle dress option mostly for gitano women, at least in Cádiz (it is dangerous to generalize, things could be quite different in Granada or in Extremadura).
My friend Juan Silva, who is a non gitano cantaor, once gave me an expensive polka dotted shirt: he said he couldn´t wear it on stage or he would upset the gitanos.
Obviously not a very good friend to make you mess with gitanos.
Now here's a question I can give a part of an answer to with authority (the lovely Juan Antonio Perez, my dance teacher in Spain). Dancers tradionally wear different clothes for different dances. For example for a fandango, lunares (spots) or flowers. Don't know about the others but will ask next time I go in Feb
Val: Please get back to us on that. Anyone else who might know as well.
Are lunares appropriate to some types of baile and not others?
Or are some just more appropriate?
Sean:
Thanks for your response. As it had never come up, I didn't know that polka dots were called lunares in Spanish. (I had always known lunares to be "beauty marks" like the moley moley mole on Marilyn Munroe's face.)
If you or anyone else can maybe answer or ask a gitano, or someone in the know, why or from where (whence?) does this love affair with lunares come? (Which seems somewhat answered already by Jacinto, but I want more info.)
Jacinto: That's also interesting information. So you're saying that lunares, are literal imagery of the moon la luna? Heh, sort of makes sense, at least it has etymological support.
And that the gitanos have replaced Eostre with the Virgin Mary?
It's interesting, because Eostre's month became later called Paschal (Spanish for Easter is pascua). And she is associated with the full moon (the first full moon of spring)...
No idea what any of that means.
HemeolaMan :
It's exactly because of the current banner that I finally had to ask.
It may have been the B&W avatar pics that caused the brain fart. As for handsome, I'd never argue with a man's mom, but she may be alone in her appraisal.
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