A crooked road leads down a steep bed of gravel towards a house below. The house sits on the side of the mountain looking out into the expansive valley below. The air is filled with the rustling of the color changing trees, and a chainsaw roaring in the distance below. Surrounding the house are several terraced fields filled with grapes and chestnuts.

In many of these houses it is possible to find remnants of life prior to the communist regime. This particular house belongs to Tonine Boloj and her family. Tonine is a middle aged woman living in the heart of the Shllak countryside. In her lifetime she has not had the opportunity to connect to the xhubleta, as her ancestors did before her. Tonine has worn the xhubleta was in order to take pictures, but has never worn the dress again. 

However, Tonine’s mother and mother-in-law have strong connections to the xhubleta. Both of these women were artisans in their families. The two worked to make their own xhubleta, as well as costumes such as the çakçir for other members of the family. The two girls produced all parts of the xhubleta themselves. The dresses were entirely hand stitched with a needle and each woman would be in charge of detailing her own dress in order to personalize the costume to their personality. Tomine remembers symbols of flowers and eagles from nature along with colors of black, red, and yellow. 

Traditionally the xhubleta would take close to one year in order to go from raw material to finished product. This was not always the case. 

“[My mother] worked an entire xhubleta in a month working day by day. But all the time working only with that xhubleta.”

Tonine’s mother was only able to complete this dress in such a small amount of time because she was able to devote all her time to the craft. Other women would not be able to spend this much time away from their other duties, so they would take much longer to complete the dress.

Tonine’s mother-in-law was from the Malesi e Madhe region. Tonine spoke about how the xhubleta from Malesi e Madhe was seen as more beautiful than the dresses from other areas. The dresses from Malesi e Madhe were more beautiful due to an increase in ornaments and details on the xhubleta. Some of these differences included a white belt, or postava, that was not found in all regions. The postava displayed even more symbols upon it in intricate beadwork. Additionally, the xhubleta that Tonine’s mother created had a white stripe travelling around the bottom edge of the skirt.

Both Tonine’s mother and mother-in-law wore the xhubleta on their wedding days. Along with her xhubleta, Tomine’s mother-in-law was gifted a necklace with 15 gold coins on it. Tomine was not able to continue this tradition on her wedding day.

“When I got married, the regime of that time didn’t allow us to wear xhubleta, but concerning me I would also love to be married with a xhubleta but at that time i was not allowed to wear a xhubleta.”

Instead of the xhubleta, Tonine wore a black costume with a skirt, jacket, and blouse. The costume was accompanied with a white skirt and hat. Tonine’s sister in law did have the opportunity to get married in a xhubleta around 30 years ago. The family was very happy to see the xhubleta returned to the marriage ceremony after it had been put into hiding from the communist regime. Tonine described how the skirts had been stored away in large arcs, hidden from the world until communism was disbanded in the 90’s.

Tonine is optimistic about the future of the xhubleta, but does not believe it can hold a place in everyday life as it once did. The dress was impractical in many situations due to its bulky nature. Tonine’s mother told stories of how it was impossible to walk in the skirt when snow covered the ground. Instead, Tonine feels that the dress should be preserved in museums where it can be better taken care of, or at the homes where the dresses were made. She believes that it is important to preserve the culture of the past. There is a lot of information held in these costumes that could be lost if they are not cared for.