Xhubleta

What it is

The xhubleta is a skirt rather than a whole outfit. Two straps carry it on the shoulders, and below them the cloth opens into a bell that swells most at the back. A maker joins thirteen to seventeen strips with five pieces of felt. Black crocheted wool forms the chest and the front, which an apron covers. There are two cuts: a narrow one and a large one. Wave-like folds run down the surface, giving the garment its rippling, undulating line, unlike any other Albanian dress.

Origins and history

The dress reaches far back. Its silhouette resembles clothing on Balkan Neolithic and Illyrian Bronze Age figures, and on figures from other parts of the Mediterranean that date to the second millennium BC, which ties it to old Mediterranean cultures. Goddesses and female dancers on Roman-era monuments in the Balkans wear bell-shaped garments too. The name is a separate puzzle: it is thought to descend from an old word for the bee, and that link is set beside Minoan Crete and the story of Zeus and Melissa.

Symbols and meaning

Much of the decoration is geometric, and it carries meanings that reach back to pagan times. Sun, moon, stars, eagles and serpents appear among the patterns. Many of these belong to the religious world of the southern Illyrians. Some marks were meant to turn away harm: illness, evil spirits and the evil eye, called syni i keq. They resemble Illyrian chains taken from burial mounds in Albania. Other ornaments are shaped like hands, the same form used for some Illyrian amulets.

Colours and change

Two colours are in use today. Women who are not married wear white; women who are married wear black. That was not always so. A writer in the seventeenth century said the peacock carried fewer colours than the xhubleta worn by the women of Kelmend. The palette narrowed over the past two hundred years, and one explanation given is that the garment stayed in use only in remote mountain areas.

Heritage status

In 2022 UNESCO added the xhubleta to its register of intangible heritage that needs urgent protection. Such a listing marks a practice as at risk and calls for support. The garment also appears in the records as a cultural heritage monument of Kosovo. It is understood as a dress that lived on only in Albanian-inhabited territories while it vanished from everywhere else, and its shape, structure and decoration are described as belonging to no other garment.

How Xhubleta is kept

The xhubleta is worn over the shoulders. Two straps hold it up. Below them the cloth widens into a bell that stands out most at the back, with wave-like folds down its length. A maker joins thirteen to seventeen strips and five pieces of felt. The chest and the front, later hidden by an apron, are worked in crocheted black wool. An unmarried woman wears the white version; a married woman wears the black one. Two cuts exist, a narrow one and a large one.

When and where

The xhubleta belongs to the north of Albania, and Albanian women in Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro have worn it as well. Within Albania it is tied to the highlands, and its use lasted longest in mountain districts far from the towns. The sources name Kelmend, a highland area, in a seventeenth-century account.

What Xhubleta means

For the women who wear it, the xhubleta is more than cloth. Its patterns carry old sacred signs of Albanian tradition: the sun, Dielli, the moon, Hana, stars, eagles and the serpent, Vitore. Many of these belong to the religion of the southern Illyrians. Some marks are protective, set there to keep away sickness, harmful spirits and the evil eye, syni i keq. Hands worked into the ornament echo the shape of Illyrian amulets.

Questions people ask about Xhubleta

See also

TurbanCloth wound around the head, worn for faith, rank, shade and identityNazarA blue glass eye amulet worn and displayed to deflect the evil eye.CălușariAn acrobatic Romanian spring dance and ritual brotherhood tied to folklore and healingDita e VerësAn Albanian spring festival of bonfires, sweets and nature renewal on March 14

Good reading and sources

• Xhubleta, skills, craftsmanship and forms of usageUNESCO, Heritage listing
• Xhubleta, skills, craftsmanship and forms of usageUNESCO, Article

• Xhubleta on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.