ROMANIA | Thursday, 4 July 2013 | Views [383]
A place I have visited is Poienile Izei, a not-so-very-accessible picturesque mountain region situated in Maramures, in the North of Romania, where traditions are better preserved than anywhere else in the country. I was there during the Sanziene celebration (Lady’s Bedstraw Day) on the 24th June. Sanzienele are local folklore good fairies that dance on the fields at night, giving plants magical powers. That’s why the little yellow flowers carry the same name.
It is said that the young maidens of the village must pick these sanziene flowers early in the morning to be used later on that day, in some love related folk practices. Here is where I met Amalia, Patri and Aurica, 3 teenagers in their 12 to 14 in their journey from superstition and traditional makeover, to chit chat about meeting boys.
As they always do on Sundays and at each celebration in the village, they have put on their traditional costumes, taking pride especially in their blouses, or ia, which used to be manually embroidered and sewn by mothers and daughters as a symbol of every girl’s pride and skills.
