General description: Bare-footed Nazaré woman in the traditional sete saias (seven skirts) costume from Nazaré and a basket of fish on her head
Dimensions 20 x 11 x 9 cm; circular wooden base 5 x 5 x 0.5 cm
Date when acquired 1990s
Original Date 1990s
Source Present from my parents bought from somewhere on the Algarve coast, Portugal.
Body
Plastic doll with movable arms and weighted eyes. Her legs are rigid. Her light brown head is drawn back from a central parting and is hidden under her headscarf.
Clothing
Her costume consists of a very short skirt over the traditional numerous underskirts/petticoats (they all reach to just above her knees), an apron, a blouse and a scarf. Her pleated (over)skirt is made of a starched cotton plaid in red, turquoise, black, yellow and white. Under this are six underskirts/petticoats made of white cotton with large blue dots. The edge of each underskirt is trimmed with a band of white to pinkish lace. Her underpants are of white cotton. Her festive apron covers the front and sides of her skirt. It is made of alternating panels of black and white checked weave cotton with white braid decorated with lilac and blue flowers. The sides and lower edge of the apron is trimmed with white lace. A band of white braid, decorated with red apples (?) and leaves, is sewn 0.5 cm from the edges of the apron. The apron is tied at the back with a pink ribbon.
Her loose V-necked blouse is made of a blue cotton with a geometric design of diamonds in white and red. The sleeves go to the elbows and are finished off with 2-cm long ruffled cuffs made of white lace giving them the traditional bell shape. White lace also trims the V of the neckline. This is a special festive blouse.
Her large headscarf (cachené) is made of a yellow paisley material decorated in red, pink, green, brown and white. It hangs down to below her waist at the back and its ends are tied tightly around her head head at the nape under the loose corner.
As typical for a woman living on the coast, the doll is shoeless though usually she would have worn stockings and clog-like shoes (chinelas) to go with her festive gear.
Accessories
As usual for Portuguese women in general and for Nazaré women in particular, she is wearing gold jewellery: Around her neck is a gold pendant on a long chain so it hangs to her waist. The design on the pendent is rather weird to my eyes but it may represent a bird and a Madonna [possibly Nossa Senhora de Fátima (Our Lady of Fatima)]. She has gold loops in her earlobes.
Portuguese women were renowned for carrying things such as baskets, jars of wine, bundles of washing or even animal cages on their heads. With heavy loads, a coiled pad of fabric was placed between the head and the load. On this doll’s head is a large flat wicker basket. On the sides, the flat stakes are raised upwards. In the basket is a yellow cloth on which is a red fish with a black net holding it down.
Background information
Nazaré is a popular seaside resort on the Costa de Prata (Silver Coast) and not the Algarve Coast where the doll was bought, which is further south. The people of this region had a lot of contact with the Scots and Britons who introduced tartan plaids to the area.
The Nazaré women’s costume is unique because of the sete saias (seven skirts). The women have a tradition of wearing six underskirts/petticoats (though as few as two could be worn, giving three skirts in all). This allowed the women freedom of movement while working as fisherwomen as the short rounded skirts meant the women did not get bogged down in the sea. When asked about the number of skirts she was wearing, a Nazaré woman answered “7 skirts, 7 waves of the sea*, 7 days of the week.
*This may come from an old myth whereby the ‘seventh wave’ is the biggest wave in the middle of a set of waves and so often comes further up the beach. It is known that waves move in sets and the biggest wave is in the middle. That it always happens on the seventh wave is a myth, but sometimes it does!
This doll’s petticoats are all of the same material but originally there was a special order: the first was white, then two to three flannel petticoats (often plaid), then a set of pockets, then a petticoat of cashmere or lightweight wool, then another pocket and finally a very wide apron. Like in this doll, the hems of the petticoats were decorated either with pinked or scalloped edges, lace or rickrack braid.
Nazaré festive skirts are richly embroidered and have fine edging. The festive apron is made of black or red satin and is richly embroidered with flowers. The festive blouse can also be made of printed cotton and have wide bell-shaped lace sleeves as worn by this doll. The everyday blouse is simple white and has long sleeves. If they are widows, Nazaré women wear more modest garments in black.
Usually women go bare-legged, with stockings being only worn for festive occasions. The women wear clog-like shoes called chinelas.
The headwear is usually black and the simplest being a black scarf, though floral scarves are also worn. The hat typical of Nazaré women is a short cylindrical brimless felt hat with a thick woollen pompom at the front. The hat is worn over the head scarf.
Nazaré women wear jewellery such as golden earrings and pendants as this shows their dowry. Nazaré women wear less jewellery than other Portuguese women.
Source(s) of information
Condra Jill (2013) Encyclopedia of National dress. Traditional clothing around the world. Volume 2.ISBN 978-0313-37635-8
https://rnli.org/safety/know-the-risks/waves
Pictures
1) Postcard showing a woman in full costume including hat with pompom, two elderly ladies wearing black shawls and fishermen working on their nets and a beached boat – https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d0/51/af/d051af5b717148297382200f147dce03.jpg
2) Chinelas worn over white lacy stockings – http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w7wHFMGDAhY/UXnd0w4T3jI/AAAAAAAAL2w/z3UxHnStJmc/s640/3728032456_e798f99819_z.jpg
(1.16.1)
National costume dolls 
Dear David
I apologise getting back to you so late but life got in the way of my working on my site. I see that you have sent me a quote but where is it from? Thank you for the Portuguese name of the skirts
Ciao
Babogbeag