The joy of holiday. Traditional costume in the north west part of Romania

Our exhibition illustrates certain aspects that mirror the way in which the feeling of celebration manifests in the romanian village world from spiritual, behavioral and especially as regards the traditional outfit.
Essentially, we sketch a peasant’s interior from a traditional romanian house with festive atmosphere for the Shrove Tuesday, an opportunity for joy and communion at community and family level, with feasts and parties which preceeded the beginning of the Lent, insisting, especially on the elegance of the traditional costume and on the adornments once worn by romanians in our area.
The traditional costume in Țara Crișurilor evolved, in time, on the unitary background of the transylvanian outfit, subscribing it in the traditional romanian costume. Through more impressive in the plain area and sober to the hill lands, it is presented uniform on the basic raw material, the tailor line and also the location of the decorative fields.

However, with time, ornamental peculiarities have developed, fact that led to the outlining of some areas and subareas of the traditional costume depending on the main rivers: Barcău and Crasna valley, Crișul Repede area, Crișul Negru area and Crișul Alb area.
As a result, the women’s and men’s traditional costume from Barcău and Crasna valley are distinguished by an elegant cut line and chromatic sobriety imposed by the white- black contrast alternated with red. The small folds, the ornaments made with full embroidery or with ornamental motifs, the sewing technique, on the edge of the folds, adorn the pieces of clothing made from homemade or industrial fabric. As a peculiarity of this area, we note the thick long coats with square collar, made from grey, wool fabric and adorned with cloth and sewn with silk.

The traditional outfit from Crișul Repede area, keeps, as basic colours, white-black but it also appeals to other colors such as red, green and blue in order to realise the ornamental fields. An exclusive selection is presented by the waistcoats which are short, made from black velvet and multicolor ornaments.
A great variety of the traditional costume is found in Crișul Negru area, where, besides archaic elements (the shirts with long sleeves, sewed from the neck line or the long shirt with atatched skirt) we can also find pieces of clothing decorated with white lace, sometimes made from industrial fabric ornamented with traditional motifs. The thick, long coats in the area are distinguished by applications of cloths and embroidery, conserving traditional motifs such as:the horns of the ram, the hook; but the spectacular appearance of the outfit in this area is given by the variety of sheepskin coats individualized for the female and male traditional costume.

The traditional costume in Crișul Alb area, located in the southern extremity of our area is imposed by the richness of the ornamental motifs and the intense chromatics of these, highlighting certain balkanic or oriental influences, but also the material state of the people living in this area.
The plus of beauty added to the traditional costume is due to the adornments and accesories worn (at neck, on the head, at waist) with the occasion of certain events or holidays in the family and community life. They harmonize with the age, sex and type of holiday and can be of many types (small collars, beads, necklaces made of coins, tiaras and other).