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Description

Maramures (pronounced mara-moorish) is located in north-northwestern Romania. The historical Maramures region is in four valleys to the south and south-east of Sighetu Marmatiei (known locally as Sighet). To the south is the Mara valley with the Cosau valley heading off to the southeast at Feresti. To the southeast is the Iza valley with the parallel Viseu valley just over the mountains to the northeast. The historic Maramures region is less than 500 square kilometers. The inhabitants consider themselves descendants of the Dacian tribes which inhabited the area beginning around 1000 B.C. The Roman emperor Trajan, conquered the region that is now Romania in 106 A.D., but the Romans never crossed the range of mountains which protected the Maramures villages. Because of this, their culture remains free of Roman influence. They were invaded from the north by the Tartars with the last invasions taking place in 1717 from the Russian Steppes. The mountainous region, being unsuitable for mechanized farming, was untouched by the collectivism of the 1940s and Ceaucescu's systematized plan to eliminate Romanian villages in the 1980s. Perhaps nowhere in Europe has a culture remained so untouched by the twentieth century, or the eighteenth and nineteenth! The traditional life here is startling to most westerners. Traditional gender roles hold firmly to the past. Men, women, boys and girls all have their special places in the society. In the churches, the men occupy the the pews or stand in front of the altar with the young girls in front of them, often around the altar. Young boys fill the balcony while the women, and girls over fifteen years of age, sit or stand in the narthex. Older women sit outside on the benches attached to the walls of the church. In many villages, divorce or abortion has never been known. Traditional costumes are worn in most villages for church on Sunday followed by promenading in the streets and, quite often in the warmer months, a public dance. In several villages, traditional clothing is worn every day. Budesti is one such village where nearly all of the men wear ridiculously small straw hats that look like an inverted straw funnel. The women wear boldly striped woolen aprons front and back. Each village has its own colors for aprons and style for hats, some straw, some felt. The wooden architecture of Maramures is amazing. The churches, most dating from the sixteenth century are maintained today exactly as they were built. New wooden churches and houses are built using the same style and construction techniques that have been used for hundreds of years. No power tools are used. One exception most often seen is the tin roof on houses in place of wooden shingles . In addition to every building being constructed from wooden beams, nearly all have an ornamental wooden gate . The carving on these gates is a mixture of pagan and Christian symbols. Wood is everywhere! It is possibly the most significant aspect of the traditional culture in Maramures. Except during the winter, almost everyone will be carrying a rake, hoe, shovel or scythe over their shoulder as they walk down the village roads.

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