Lunares, lunares everywhere!

Take a look through any flamenco's closet and there’s one pattern that’s bound to catch your eye; lunares (polka dots). I’m not sure if it’s a cause or effect of my love of flamenco, but I admit to having my own collection of shirts, scarves, skirts, even socks with lunares. It got me wondering, is this a tradition or coincidence?

So I decided to do a little research. Here’s what I came up with. As with flamenco itself, it seems to have all started with the Rom. The Kalbeliya Gypsies of India are the tribe from whom the Rom are descended. This tribe used charms to ward off the evil eye through the use of small mirror-disks. (In fact, you can still find Indian clothing today with small mirrors that are sewn, braided or crocheted into the fabric; especially wedding garments.) Although there’s no way of knowing for sure, it’s not that much of a stretch to surmise that through wandering, adaptation and simple economics, these mirrored disks were replaced by lunares. From a discrete panuelo tied around the neck to a no-holds-barred bata de cola, lunares are everywhere in flamenco. Even the famous Café de Chinitas tablao in Madrid bears the name of the ladybug whose red wings are flecked with black lunares.

So it might not come as a surprise that while browsing through the available templates to use for this blog, I was instantly drawn to this one. With this many lunares, we’re bound to have good luck!