Indulge in Lady's bedstraw of Maramures

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

ROMANIA | Thursday, 4 July 2013 | Views [369]

The elderly of the village say that if a girl sleeps with sanziene flowers under the pillow on Sanziene Eve night, she will dream her husband to be. Aurica is probably thinking about the boy she dreamed about the night before while admiring herself in the mirror. It is also said that these flowers bring wealth and fortune and that’s why they decorate their houses with them.

The girls must come back home with the flowers they picked up in the morning and braid crowns which they will proudly wear during the day as a symbol of purity and beauty. Here Patri is still braiding her crown, while the other two girls have already finished theirs and they are joyfully chatting about the boys they are about to meet. I couldn’t help but noticing their innocent enthusiasm and impatience. They are inside a typical house from Maramures owned by Patri’s uncle, who retired and went to a Monastery. Now the girls come here to play and act as if it is their own.

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The moment of the greatest intensity of the day is when the girls must throw their crowns on the roof of the house. It is said that if the crown stays on the roof, the girl will get married that year. If the crown falls down, it’s a sign of misfortune and bad luck for the people in that house.
While throwing their crowns over the house the girls are laughing and joking, counting the successful actions and their failures. Each one has tried their powers for various times and they are keeping score – “I’ll have 3 husbands and I’ll get divorced 2 times”, Patri says, associating the falling of a crown to a divorce.

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Indulge in Lady's bedstraw of Maramures

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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