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Living Folklore

Folk Art

 

Peasant naďve artists still paint icons on glass, with a long-lasting tradition in the villages around Sibiu, i.e. Saliste, Vale, Poiana Sibiului, Laz, Sibiel. With a balanced composition and depicted in vivid and exuberant colours, the motifs are taken from local folk art and daily life, expressing the Romanian peasant's optimism and joy of life. Over 700 icons painted on glass and on wood, which actually make up the richest collection in Romania, are exhibited at the Ethnographic Museum at Sibiel (set up by vicar Zosim Gancea).

 

An interesting form of traditional Szekler art can be seen in wood carved funerary posts in the Baraolt Basin of the Harghita county. Post endings are shaped as stars, harpoons, spears, caps, bonnets, lilac and tulip blooms, loops or buds depending on the sex, age and occupation of the deceased.

 

At Corund, in the Harghita county, the traveller will be delighted to discover, on the two sides of the main road which crosses the village, long strings of pottery shops displaying their products on the road-side. Among various folk artifacts that one might like to take home as a souvenir, there are the typically Szekler and Transylvanian pots, vases, saucers and plates. Coloured green and brown, dark blue or red shades, they are adorned with floral and zoomorphic decorations.

 

There are two Ethnographic Museums called "ASTRA" at Sibiu. While one of them is outdoors, in the "Grove", on the outskirts of the town, the other is inside. They display hundreds of farmsteads, thousands of implements, tools and handicrafts, i.e. pieces of furniture, tissues, embroideries, works of wood, pottery and objects of worship. The exhibits gathered from villages in Transylvania and other regions of Romania reveal the rural civilization and the ethno-cultural traits of Romanian people.

 

Folk Traditional Customs and Events

 

The Young Men's Feast

Schei District in Brasov

First Sunday of May

The spring feast of the "Juni", i.e. young men aged between 18-20 years, is a display of the traditional local full dress of men who would proudly ride across the town, with horses also smartened up while many people from Brasov and the surrounding areas gather to watch and enjoy the show.

A trial of military skill and manhood that is called "mace-trowing", and dates back to the Middle Ages, today creates a picturesque spectacle for the crowds.

 

The Maidens' Fair Mount Gaina/Hen (Western Carpathians)

Last Sunday before July 20

The Maidens' Fair held on the Mount of the "Hen with Golden Eggs" is the greatest festival of the country inhabited by "Motzi" in Western Carpathians. In olden times, the shepherds, who used to spend two thirds of the year with their herds of sheep up in the mountains, would climb down and look for a bride. On the plateau of the mountain they would be waited for by attractively dressed maidens who, accompanied by their parents, would show off their dowry, i.e. hand-made embroidered goods, pottery etc. in an attempt to capture the potential husband's attention.

Though the motivation of the old custom has long fallen into oblivion, people still meet there today and enjoy themselves, with plenty of folk music and dancing and lots of food and drink.