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Folk art embroidery: the meaning of the embroidered flowers

floral folk embroidery on a black cotton fabric

What is Kalocsa embroidery? Motifs and meanings of Kalocsa embroidery:

It is a handmade embroidery style incorporating mixed stitching embroidery techniques. It includes flower motifs, certain fruits, and various types of leaves. Initially (in the 19th century), only a few colors were used (white, black, then red and blue), but nowadays, we use 27 colors.

The characteristic features of the embroidery are the direction of the stitches and the shades of colors. Among the depictions of flowers, the rose dominates, and for filling spaces, forget-me-not, lily, tulip, wheat ear, violet, cornflower, red bell pepper, and other fruits are used.

Meanings of Flowers:

  • Rose (red): love, passion
  • Rose (white): pure love
  • Tulip: femininity (among our oldest motifs)
  • Forget-me-not: loyalty
  • Violet: hope, modesty, renewal
  • Lily of the valley: cheerful tinkling, love
  • Poppy: intense but fleeting flare-up, clearness
  • Lilac: devotion
  • Carnation: modest, speckled, velvety love
  • Cornflower: purity, spirituality, magical power
  • Sunflower: radiance, greatness, desire for spiritual enlightenment, susceptibility – turns towards where it receives the most light