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and greatness of Maramureş resides in the popular customs and traditions, holly kept until now.
The traditional costumes
Maybe the most important element which connects the tradition in Maramureş are the traditional costumes, which is present at every community’s holiday, promoting respect for the old customs and habits. The Maramureş traditional costumes has various notes of sobriety, beauty and age. It represents
a synthesis of continuity, of
the respect for beauty and cleanliness of the people
which lived in the community. Maintaining traditions lost in time, the elements of the traditional costumes are made with carefully and with dedication.
In the past, the models and
the colour range were kept by each community, creating a local specificity, through which messages were sent, using symbols. These identification elements of the village communities are still preserved, although they are less visible for the unknowing eye.
The Maramureş gate
The regular tourist knows that when he sees these gates he is in Maramureş. The wooden gates of the traditional Maramureş
households are mainly located
in the villages on the valleys of Mara, Cosău and Iza, but also in some localities in Ţara Lăpuşului. What do the gates mean? Which is their symbol? The household
is an important, sacred area, in the Maramureş folklore. Going to the field work and coming back in the evening was through this gate, which signifies, at the same time, pride, assumed duty and
a victory on the ordinary and
on the daily routine. A farewell when the peasant left for work and a greeting, a blessing when he came back to his family, to
his household, to his privacy. Another element related to the historical preservation and to
the tradition in Maramureş is
the art of wood. For centuries, wood was the main raw material of Romanians, being used for household constructions or to manufacture household tools, objects and utensils, furniture elements. There is no category of usual objects where wood is not used as raw material. From these categories we recall the fountain, main element for the existence of people on earth and the porch, an interesting element of the peasants’ houses, being present in many regions, in Maramureş being beautiful and aesthetically included in the house.
The respect for faith in Maramureş is noted also from
the fact that when people pass a trinity they uncover their head and make the sign of the cross, especially the elderly and the women. The trinities are located at bifurcations and cross-roads, where it is believed that the spirits of evil have increased powers and can take hold of the travellers, their role being to banish evil spirits.
The Săpânţa Merry
Cemetery
The Merry Cemetery in Săpânţa, county of Maramureş, is famous for the wooden crosses of the vividly coloured tombs, the naive paintings representing scenes from the life and occupation
of the deceased persons. On some crosses there are verses which recall, often using humour, satire, those persons with their actions, with their nature and behaviour. The Merry Cemetery, cultural monument protected by UNESCO, caught the attention through its originality and even exclusive nature, being known that this is the only such place in the world, where you don’t know if to cry or laugh.
The Maramureş wooden
churches
The Maramureş wooden churches have long obtained a well-deserved fame, among the specialists as long as among
the public in various countries
of the world. For us, these admirable buildings have a great interest, also because the art of Romanian village construction, the home-church unity, from an architectural point of view, are related to them, being a proof of the age of the building art on the Romanian territory.
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