2. Maramures, here meaning the vast land of
historical Maramures, is considered one of
the best preserved areas of Europe from
the perspective of cultural anthropology
and ethnography.
3. Maramureş is one of the few zones
where the folk costume has been
preserved almost unaltered by urban
influences. And although it can be
admired only on Sundays when
Moroşenii go to church, or on the
occasion of religious feasts and great
fairs, each Moroşan, without
exception, owns a traditional
costume. Not only old people dress
in traditional clothes but also
“coconii” (preschool children),
which explains the continued use of
the costume.
4. Anyone entering Maramureş
from the east, through the Prislop
Pass that separates the
Maramureş Mountains from the
Rodnei Mountains, can
immediately notice the defining
feature of Maramureşean
settlements. The villages are big,
often quite compact, with houses
lining the road that follows the
river valley. Usually, there are
two or even three houses aligned
in the narrow and long plot of
land owned by the family in
question. This way of building is
an indication of the age of the
site, with less and less space for
each successive generation
5. A traditional village farmyard in Maramureş typically includes
several buildings. The main house is placed either opposite the
entrance gate or perpendicular to it, but in a way that the main
façade is either towards south or east. The largest building in
the yard is the combined barn and stable, where the horses and
cows are housed. One or more small buildings are often found
near the fence to house the smaller farm animals, pigs and
poultry
6. The living room, which the Moroşan calls house, is the domestic
universe and arranged according to the aesthetic and pragmatic
taste of women. Women are in charge of the design and
division of space in the whole house and they also decorate the
dwellings and objects used in daily life. Women are the
practitioners of various rituals relating to the transitions of life:
birth, marriage and death, and these rituals take place in the
house. This ritual space is marked by the presence of holy icons
on the walls, together with a display of beautiful ceramic ware
adorned with home woven towels.
7. • In the corner is a table and along the walls are wide benches
that serve as wooden beds, with big bridal chests placed at
right angles with them. By the icons, always placed on the
east wall, above the table and especially above the master
beam, there are hidden papers, the razor for shaving, the cross
for the feast of Saint John the Baptist, basil that for the
Romanians is a sacred plant with magical and religious
powers, placed in wooden boxes. In the bridal chests are kept
the blouses, the skirts (zade) and the valuable objects of the
girl to marry. The harmony of the interior is completed by the
vivid colours of the textiles and of the various objects that
adorn it.
8. Both women’s and men’s costume
includes a bag made of woollen loom-
woven textile, most often of chequered
pattern. The pattern can be
chromatically rich or plain black and
white that is often adorned with
geometric motifs, the rhomboid being
the most frequent. A lace twisted of
woollen yarn serves at binding the
mouth of the bag and at wearing it on
the shoulder. It is interesting that this
item of the traditional costume was
also adopted for use with daily clothes:
blue jeans, T-shirt, leather coat and a
bag on the shoulder is a common
sight.
9. The relationships between humans in general, but especially
those between members of different communities, have been
carried out through an archaic commercial practice, very
active even nowadays: the fair. Generally speaking, the fair is
a market where people from the villages of a very well defined
come to sell and/or to buy various goods. When a business
agreement is reached, the “adălmaş” is drunk, a glass of
horincă, as a symbol of the common agreement. It should be
mentioned that Moroşenii do not even nowadays use any
papers to back up their commercial agreements, their word and
honour binding them.
10. Maramureş is a civilization of wood,
made obvious by the splendid
wooden churches and the numerous
buildings of lay architecture. Even
though life in Maramureş is adjusting
itself to modern times, some elements
are preserved unchanged, which is a
proof of a strong collective mentality.
Unfortunately, modern construction
materials are partly replacing the
traditional log-built house, but the
church, the Calvary and the gate have
remained the same all through the
documented periods, as far as material,
techniques and symbols are concerned.
The best wood meant for building is
cut during winter when it is at its
strongest.
11. Ceramic ware is still produced and used
throughout the region of Maramures. The
ware is made in various shapes and sizes,
depending on the intended use. The
colours are vivid greens, reds and blues
on a whitish background.
If one wants to see the only place in
Europe where unglazed red ceramic ware
is still produced, then they should go to
Maramureş, towards the source of Iza
River. All steps have been preserved in an
unchanged form: the manner of preparing
the clay, which is by first treading it with
feet and then pounding it with wooden
hammers, the shapes of the pots, the
preparation of the pigments by grinding
rocks containing iron oxides, the
polishing with river stones, the painted
decorations, the shape of the oven, and
the firing techniques.
12. The stills for making horincă are
masterpieces of traditional
metallurgy. Made of copper
beaten with hammer, and then
joined perfectly together with
rivets, the stills have a capacity
varying between 100 and 500
litres. They are equipped with a
mixer, whose action depends on a
water wheel, to stir the fruit. The
still is placed atop an open hearth,
where a hot fire is maintained,
necessary to the distillation of the
fruit to obtain the drink. There are
two periods and, implicitly, two
types of drink that can be
obtained: the horincă made at the
end of summer with plums and the
apple rachiu made in spring.
