World Cravat Day: Croatian invention being marked today  

(Photo: Dhar Media​)

ZAGREB, 18 October 2021 – World Cravat Day is being marked in the Croatian capital Zagreb today. The forerunner to the modern necktie, the Croatian invention the ‘Cravat’, celebrates its day annually on 18 October. 

The tie was first used as an item of clothing by Croatian soldiers back in the 17th century with the oldest Croatian portrait of a person wearing a cravat painted in Dubrovnik in 1622 depicting the great Croatian poet Ivan Gundulić with a scarf tied around his neck like a cravat. 

The oldest Croatian portrait of a person wearing a cravat – poet Ivan Gundulic (Public Domain/CC)

The word cravat derives from the French cravate, a twisted French pronunciation of Croate. The Cravat is a Croatian symbol known and recognised worldwide and the 18th of October was declared World Cravat Day by Academia Cravatica back in 2008.

“The cravat is a universal symbol of elegance and the culture of dressing, but it’s powerful symbolic potential contains many other values. The vertical cravat symbolises the human vertical – human dignity and self-awareness, moments of solemnity and ceremony, success and a business spirit… With its lightness on the one hand and the knot on the other, the cravat “binds” together freedom and responsibility. It encourages us to be more aware of the communication of our dignity and the dignity of others – our freedom, but also our responsibility. Due to its enormous symbolic power, the cravat is of great significance for Croatia and the world,” Marijan Bušić from Academia Cravatica association said. 

A changing of the guard took place on Monday on Zagreb’s Ban Josip Jelačić Square to mark Cravat Day. 

Cravat Regiment (Press)

Organised by Academia Cravatica, a cravat was also placed around the neck of the Ban Josip Jelačić statue on the main square to mark today’s occasion.