UNIT 11.

FOLKLORE
Reading 1.

About the Romanian Folk (National, Ethnic) Costumes

1. General Description of Romanian Folk Costumes.
The Romanian Folk Costume (as any other folk costumes) is a combination of: (1)
ethnicity or race; (2) geographical location and climate; (3) time period; and (4)
economic possibilities. The dress itself, within a community, also reflects the (5) social
status of the person who wears the dress (married, widow, etc.) or the occasion
(wedding, funeral, etc.)
1.1. In the good old days, one could tell, just by looking at someone's clothes, the
place he was from and his race (nationality.) In a single city as Sibiu (Central
Transylvania) one could easily tell apart Romanians from Saxons or Hungarians.
1.2. On the other hand, because all Romanian folk costumes have certain common
elements, until about one hundred years ago, one could recognize the Romanians
living in Albania, or Bulgaria, or Greece, or Serbia. As a curiosity Ukrainian and NE
Romanian folk costumes are similar. In Romania itself, people living in different
regions have slightly different costumes each with its specific elements. Depending on
who is counting, what is counting, and how the counting is done, in Romania there
could be between 40 and over 120 ethnographic zones.
1.3. Also, it is accepted that between 1000 AD and mid-1800, the folk (peasant) dress
in Europe changed very little, if at all. The economic development of the mid-1800s
made it easy for the peasants to acquire more fabrics, embroidery threads, etc. Thus,
women spent less time weaving and more time embroidering. Also, the ease of travel
and more communication erased some of the differences between the ethnographic
zones. In Romania, after 1950 the traditional folk dress has been worn only at festive
events. However, it is interesting to present folk outfits before and after the 1900s.
1.4. The Romanian Old Fashioned Folk Costumes were entirely made at home: home
spun wool, cotton, hemp, silk (from home grown silk worms) and flex. The quality and
the degree of ornamentation depended on one's skills and possibilities. As a curiosity,
the serfs shirt didn't have any ornamentation.
1.5. The costume itself or some ornamentation or accessories indicated if the person
wearing it was married (for less or more than one year;) single and not interested in
marriage; single, but looking for a partner; engaged to be married; widow/er (for less
or more than one year.) Also there were special accessories for different holidays,
events, or occasions: weddings, funerals, etc.

2. Main characteristics of the Romanian Folk Costumes.

The main characteristics of the Romanian Folk Costume are: Predilection for white;
Embroidery in geometric patterns; and Elaborate and highly symbolic headdresses.
2.1. One main characteristic of the Romanian folk costumes is the predilection for
white. Women have white blouses, white skirts, white scarves, even white coats.
Aprons and vests are black or coloured. Men have white shirts and white pants.
2.2. Absolutely all traditional blouses and shirts have long sleeves. Only in the last 50
years have blouses had short sleeves.
2.3. Embroidery in geometric patterns. Almost every piece of clothing has some kind
of handwork, unusually embroidery in geometric pattern; of course, to a limited extent,
flowers (or curved lines) are also present.

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2.4. Elaborate and highly symbolic headdresses. Nowadays, the Romanian folk
costumes are generally limited to blouses, skirts, and aprons, perhaps vests for
women; Shirts, pants, and sometimes vests or coats for man. The old style of elaborate
and highly symbolic headdresses are totally disregarded.

3. Elements of the Romanian Folk Costumes (Men, Women).

3.1. Women's Romanian Old Fashion Folk Costumes usually consist of a white
blouse, white skirt, and one or two black or colourful aprons. Also some head cover;
traditional shoes (opinci) and a belt. For cold weather, they wear vests and coats.
3.2. Men's Romanian Old Fashion Folk Costumes consist of a white, large, mid-thigh
length shirt; white pants, and a belt. Also some head cover; traditional shoes (opinci)
and a belt. For cold weather, they wear vests and coats.

4. Specific characteristics of the Romanian Folk Costumes, by ethnographic

regions.
Regarding Romanian folk costumes, there are 7 ethnographic regions. Six
ethnographic regions in Romania proper and one outside present-day Romanian
borders. There is not a set number of ethnographic zones in Romania and each
"expert" will have a different combination presented, the total number varying between
40 and 120.
Banat West Transylvania Wallachia Moldova Danube Aromanians
Timis, Plains Oltenia, Bessarabia, Baragan (Balkans)
Caras- Arad, Muntenia Bucovina, Dobrudja
Severin Bihor, Moldova
Oas

1. Transylvania or Ardeal (Sibiu, Somesul Superior, Hateg, and Muntii Apuseni.) The
main characteristic of this region is the fact that women wear two aprons, called zadii,
ctrine or oprege; the aprons are narrow, the colour is black or black and red.
2. West Plains or Cmpiile de vest (Cmpia Mureului, Cmpiile Crisurilor Negru-
Alb-Repede, and Cmpia Somesului Inferior). The main characteristic of this region is
that women wear only one front apron, called zadie or ctrin. The aprons are very
wide and very colourful.

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3. Banat (Lunca Timiului, Caras-Severin.) The main characteristic of this region is
that women wear two aprons, called oprege. One or both aprons have long fringes.
4. Wallachia or Tara Romneasca (Oltenia and Muntenia). The main characteristic
of this region is the fact that women wear two overlapping aprons. The aprons have
different sizes and designs. The front, the narrow apron is called zvelc. The back
apron is wide, with creases and is called vlnic. Sometimes in the summer girls wear
two aprons (zvelci). In the winter women wear one apron, a heavier versions on the
vlnic, called "peteman" and "fot crea", wide, pleated, wrapped all around, looking
almost like a regular skirt.
5. Danube, the region along the inferior course of River Danube: Brgan, Dobrogea
and South Moldova. The main characteristic of this region is the fact that women wear
two narrow aprons called pestelc. The aprons are similar in size, but different in
design.
6. Moldova: Moldova, Basarabia, Bukovina. The main characteristic of this region is
that women wear only one, wrapped around apron, called "fot".
7. Balkans, or Romanians who live outside the present-day Romanian borders.

a) In this vast region there are Romanians who live close-by the Romanian borders
and their costumes are similar to those of their Romanian neighbours. Thus
Romanians from Voijvodina or Serbian Banat have costumes very similar to
Romanians from the Romanian Banat. Romanians who live in Timok, Serbia have folk
costumes similar to Caras-Severin. Romanians who live in Timok, Bulgaria have folk
costumes similar to Oltenia .

b) Romanians also live in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, and Macedonia:

Istro-Romanians live in Istria, Croatia.
Macedo-Romanians or Aromanians live in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia.
Megleno Romanians live in Bulgaria, Greece, and Macedonia.

The main characteristic of this region is the fact that women wear only one apron,
called poale, and condusa, a long, sleeveless vest. Other elements of the Balkan's
folk costumes are:
Fustane, blouse and skirt together, sort of a dress with very little embroidery
Condusa, a long, sleeveless vest.
Scurtac, waist-long vest.
Libade, a jacket with short sleeves.
Poala, apron
Hrisafi or Pirpodzi, socks, made of many different coloured wool thread.
Paftale, two metallic "buckles" at the ends of the belt.
Tipunea, heavy winter coat Sarica, heavy, sleeveless winter coat...

Source: http://www.romanianmuseum.com/Romania/aboutRomania.html#three

Comprehension
Answer the following questions:
1. What are the elements that influence the Romanian folk costumes?
2. What are the main characteristics of the Romanian folk costumes?
3. What are the specific characteristics of the Romanian folk costumes
according to the ethnographic region?

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VOCABULARY
1. Complete the blanks using a suitable word from the box. Change their
forms if necessary.

Spring in Transylvania: wake up and splash (or be splashed)

New York Times, 18/04/2017, online edition
expect bucket water predict roof tradition
colour sprinkle well rise

Young men in Sncrieni have (1) __________ early on Easter Minday for as long
as anyone can remember. So have the women and girls to be soaked in ice-cold
water and sprayed with patchouli.
(2) __________ is a rite in the heart of Transylvania, in central Romania,
when women are (3) __________ like flowers. The water, freshly drawn from a (4)
__________, is believed to secure health, beauty and perhaps even love for the
women who find themselves beneath a (5) __________ of it.
On Monday morning, about two dozen young men in (6) __________ attire
high black boots, black hats, white shirts and cream coloured trousers resembling
riding breeches gathered at the home of Koppany Gal, 23, who works at a hospital.
Beer and snacks were already on the table.
The men set off under grey clouds, marching through the streets of single-
storey houses with red clay (7) __________. Some carried traditional instruments; all
of them were singing. They could (8) __________ to eat and drink well that day: girls
and their mothers around the village typically spent the weekend preparing pastries,
drinks and snacks, including eggs (9) __________ red. The men would be welcome
to all of it, all day.
At the houses where they stopped, young women in red, black and white
folkloric dress came out to listen. The men would recite a poem ending, May I
pour?.
After one woman consented with a cheerful if (10) __________ yes, two men
held her as a third threw cold water from a bucket rimmed with red carnations.

Discussion:
1. What other Romanian Easter traditions do you know?
2. What other international Easter traditions do you know?

3. Fill in the blanks with one suitable word.

Some women in the region (1) __________ the tradition, viewing it as (2)
__________ and even sexist. Some merely (3) __________ it, like a vexing but
obligatory visit from a relative.
There was no sign of that on Monday in Sncrieni, which stretches up from a
two-lane country (4) __________ that winds through a wide valley, reaching the (5)
__________ of the pine forests that run up the (6) __________ mountains. The
mostly Hungarian-speaking population here is part of a large (7) __________ of
ethnic Hungarians living mostly in the Transylvania region. They call the village by a
different (8) __________, Csikszentkiraly.

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 Many here see the (9) __________ of sprinkling as a way to keep tradition
(10) __________. The folk dance group that counts the water-carrying men as
members has (11) __________ several traditions that have disappeared or changes
in (12) __________ settings.
Events like this provide the basis for a sense of (13) __________, said
Szilveszter Kelemen, 31, who leads the group. If a people doesnt have a (14)
__________, it ends up crumbling away.
In most places, traditional costumes and (15) __________ of water have
given way to (16) __________ of perfume, or even (17) __________ deodorant.

READING 2

Mystical Tales from Transylvania

Sprawling along the edge of the snowy Carpathians, Europes last truly wild mountain
range, Transylvania is a land that is rich in myths and legends. A region of Romania
since 1918 but historically an independent province, Transylvanias history has been
shaped by the many transient populations that have passed through over the centuries:
Saxons, Ottomans, Hungarians, Jews, Serbs and Roma Gypsies. With them came
stories collected on their travels: tales of goblins and giants, fairy queens and woodland
nymphs, unearthly phantoms, man-eating ogres and predatory ghouls. Venture out on
a moonlit night and you might encounter the pricolici, the devilish werewolves said to be
the restless spirits of violent men. Even more terrifying are the samca, wizened hags
with dagger-like fingernails that sometimes appear to children and women during
childbirth; their appearance signifies certain death. And then there are the legends of
the strigoi, or vampires undead creatures risen from the grave to feast on the blood of
the living which fired the imagination of an Irish writer by the name of Bram Stoker,
and inspired him to write his Gothic bestseller, Dracula, in 1897.
Like many rural corners of Europe, Transylvania has a tradition of oral storytelling
that stretches back centuries. In a pre-scientific world, these allegorical tales served a
dual purpose. They helped explain otherwise inexplicable events disease, death,
natural disasters but also offered a source of entertainment to pass the long winter
nights. Often, legends also provided moral guidance: one tale tells of the bau-bau (also
known as the omul negru, or black man), a spindly figure dressed in a cloak who steals
naughty children and hides them in his cave for a year.
Many of Transylvanias superstitions have proved remarkably resilient, although
perhaps this is unsurprising in a land where some villages have hardly changed since
the Middle Ages. Driving through the sleepy hamlets around Miclooara (Miklsvr)
feels like journeying through Europes pre-industrial past: pastel-coloured cottages and
tumbledown barns line the streets, horse-drawn carts rattle through the snow, and wood
smoke drifts up from rickety chimneys. Many houses are still protected by ornate kapu,
the distinctive carved wooden gateways which were imported to Transylvania by Saxon
settlers over eight centuries ago.
Similarly, most villages have a witch or folk-healer who dispenses spells,
removes curses and provides spiritual guidance. Since 2011, witches, palmists and
fortune tellers have even been made liable for income tax a controversial decision that
proved so unpopular that local MPs felt the need to start wearing the lucky colour of
purple in the hope of warding off the witches hex.
Its not hard to see why Transylvanias landscape has sparked the imagination of
so many storytellers. Hemmed in by mountains, pockmarked by valleys and swathed in

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old-growth forests, its a land of strange and often supernatural beauty. Beyond the
towns and villages, much of the country still feels fantastically wild. Lynx, deer and wild
boars populate its woodlands, and golden eagles can often be spotted wheeling
amongst the mountain peaks. In the more isolated corners, brown bears and packs of
wolves still roam free.
Its more than a century since Bram Stoker dreamt up his vampiric count, but
Dracula is still big business in Transylvania. Hes everywhere: on T-shirts and keyrings,
on leaflets and billboards, on coffee jars and toothpaste tubes. Every town claims a
tenuous link with the count, or more accurately with his real-life counterpart Vlad epe,
known as Dracula, the bloodthirsty warlord who ruled the kingdom of Wallachia
intermittently between 1448 and 1476, and who had a predilection for impaling his
enemies on stakes, allegedly thousands at a time.
Few places sell their Dracula connections harder than Bran Castle in the
Carpathian foothills, about 20 miles south of the well-preserved medieval town of
Braov. This sturdy fortress was originally built during the 13th century to guard the
Rucr-Bran Pass, a key strategic route into Wallachia. Its now better known as the
legendary location of Draculas castle.
It certainly looks the part: ringed by ramparts and riddled with echoing halls and
secret passageways, it seems the ideal place for a thousand-year old strigoi to have
made his mountain lair. Unfortunately, as so often with the Dracula legend, theres no
evidence that Vlad ever visited Bran, let alone lived there; his actual castle, now a ruin,
was at Poienari, 150 miles north of Braov.

Comprehension
1. Enumerate some of the mythical characters of Romanian folk tales.
2. What was the source of inspiration for Bram Stokers 1897 Dracula novel?
3. What does the text say about the Bran Castle and its surroundings?

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