1. .
“PEASANTS OF FAGARAS”
Stefan Constantinescu,
artwork

2. Free Peasants
 They are residents of villages,
communes, or small towns whose
households survive by working
individual plots or gardens and who,
consequently, have a peasant lifestyle
based on economic self-sufficiency.

3. BADEA CARTAN
24 January 1849 – 7 August 1911
 a self-taught ethnic Romanian who fought
for the independence of the Romanians of
Transylvania (then under Hungarian rule
inside Austria-Hungary)

4. “Cartan- a National Hero
 He first crossed the mountains into the
Romanian Old Kingdom with his sheep at
the age of 18. Then, in 1877 he enrolled as
a volunteer in the Romanian War of
Independence, serving until 1881.
 He was arrested because he asked the
Emperor-King Franz Joseph at Vienna for
Tranylvania's self-determination, and later
because he asked the authorities for
permission to sell Romanian books.

5. BADEA’S JOURNEY TO ROME
 He made a journey on foot to Rome. He arrived at the city's
edge after 45 days and said, "Bine te-am găsit, maica Roma"
("Pleased to meet you, mother Rome"). He wished to see
Trajan's Column with his own eyes, as well as other evidences of
the Latin origin of the Romanian people.
 After pouring Romanian soil and wheat at the column's base, he
wrapped himself in a peasant's coat (cojoc) and fell asleep at the
column's base.
 The next day he was awakened by a policeman who shouted in
amazement, "A Dacian has fallen off the column!", as Cârţan
was dressed just like the Dacians carved into the column; the
event was reported in Roma’s newspapers and Duiliu
Zamfirescu, Romanian representative in Italy, showed him
around the city and introduced him to its important
personalities.

6.
Leather peasant sandals (opinci) worn with
strips of material wrapped round legs (obiele).
used to be were worn with
opinci - rectangular pieces of
white woollen cloth which
were wrapped round the feet
and legs and held in place by
hemp cords.
In some areas these were very
thick and so became like a
padded "bootleg".
 .

7. Peasant Footwear
Knitted Woollen
socks - Chiorapi
 Decorated leg wraps (ghetre
) worn over shoes or boots (
bocanci) by căluşer dancers
in southern Transylvania.
 They are made of woollen or
knitted wool and decorated
with coloured embroidery
and rows of bells.

8. 1937
Folk Costume Romanian Peasant Man, Fagaras

9. .
 A Picture in a
Chronicle preserved
by the National
Museum of History
in Budapest, Hungary
Romanian woman
in the 17th century

10. Farmers or “Peasants under Siege”?
 Productive agriculture is an aspiration for
farmers-in-the-making, the majority of whom
are agronomists by training.
 Most peasants are happy just to produce
enough to keep their livestock, but even this
is no simple affair, although they entrusted
the management of the association to the
same people who formerly ran the state
cooperatives, “because they had experience
in the area and know about land.”

11. Villages - moving towards
urbanization or extinction ?
 one thing is common to both these
tendencies: the decline in the influence
of traditional sources of authority (like
the village teacher or the priest), due
to 50 years of atheism plus 20 years of
repeated exposure to experiences
which have shown that evil can be
rewarded or at least victorious on a
large scale...