Mining uniform
At both joyous and sorrowful ceremonial occasions, miners don their ceremonial uniforms. The mining uniform consists of black trousers and a jacket, a black cap, and white gloves. A distinguishing feature are the twenty-eight gold buttons on the jacket, which are intended to symbolically represent the age of St. Barbara, the patron saint of miners, upon her death.
When a miners’ troop was established at the Velenje Coal Mine in 1947, its members wore brown uniforms with green patches for two years. Subsequently, they were issued the traditional black miners’ uniforms, the kind still worn today and recognised by the mining and coal industries throughout Europe. Such uniforms had already been worn by miners in the former Yugoslavia.
Wearing a miner’s uniform has been and remains, above all, an honour. Only the diligent, industrious miners — the exemplary workers — ‘deserved’ it. The supervisor, at his own discretion, decided which of his subordinates would receive it. A particularly large number of miners were issued uniforms during the period when Nestl Žgank, the designer and builder of the modern town of Velenje, served as director of the Velenje coal mine. At that time, between 30 and 40 miners per month were also provided with uniforms.
Initially the commander of the miners’ troop wore the same uniform as the other members; however, in the mid-1960s the black patches on his uniform were replaced with gold ones, and the trousers were also trimmed with gold. The troop commander wears a green sash across his chest and holds a miner’s ceremonial staff in his hand, which derives from the supervisor’s staff. It served the supervisors in the mine as a reference for sounding the roof and walls to detect and prevent collapses, and for marking the supports installed during a single shift.
Today, miners in their ceremonial dress can be seen in Velenje each year performing the ‘jump over the leather apron’ on Miners’ Day. Among other occasions, they also wear the uniforms when serving as an honour guard or escorting the funeral of a fellow miner.