The Sorbs are the smallest Slavic people โ they number around 60, Only the descendants of the Upper Lusatia Milzener and the Lower Lusatia Lusizer have managed to preserve their language and culture to the present day.
After the Reformation, several written forms of Sorbian emerged on different dialectal bases. The Young Sorbian movement brought about an independent national consciousness, the Sorbian national rebirth. Like hardly any other people of comparable size, the Sorbs achieved remarkable achievements in art, culture and science. The traditional costume area in Sorbian Lusatia is one of the largest in Germany.
Four of the former eleven regional forms are still alive today: in the north near Cottbus, in the central part of Lusatia around Hoyerswerda and Schleife and in the south in the Catholic villages west of Bautzen.
For a very few older women today in they might be only 10 left the traditional costume is still everyday clothing, but for many younger women and girls it is primarily festive clothing and a visible expression of their identity, e.
After the political change, the costumes of the Sorbs in Lusatia experienced a kind of renaissance. In many places, homeland and traditional costume associations were established. The Sorbian customs, like many Slavic customs, are of pagan origin and are still very popular with the Sorbs in a modified form, although there are territorial differences.
