The shepherds year

The sheep breeding in our country has a millennial tradition. The pastoral year in Romania is dominated by other rules than the regular year, as it has two crossing points: Sângiorz Day (St. George, who closes the winter and opens the summer) and Sânmedru Day (St. Demeter, the saint who closes the summer and opens the winter). They have received the keys of the weather from God and wear them at the belt, "lest someone steal them and play with the weather as they like". These two pastoral "seasons", are closely related to the animal biological rhythm, the fertile and sterile season.

The beginning of pastoral year is associated with numerous organizational and economic measures (closing of meadows for cattle grazing, the deals with shepherds and cowboys, the composition of the flocks and herds, solving the problem of grazing during the summer, shearing sheep before they climb the mountain, building huts and pens), legal (the amount of sheep and lambs, milk measurement for determining the rate of cheese that will be received by each sheep owner) and ritual (eg, purification of cattle and sheep, of the shepherds and animal owners, to prevent the attack of wild beasts, etc.).

Three shepherds from Sibiu, early 20th century

Significant Dates:
Sângiorz (St. George's Day), the beginning of pastoral year. Now the owners of the sheep and the shepherds decide how to organize their flocks.
The Choose (April 22), - the first milking, the selection of lambs of goatlings.
Sântilie (St. Elias's Day, July 20). Now the shepherds' wives trim the lambs' wool - an activity that has a practical purpose, but also an emotional one because the shearing of lambs represents the first meeting of the shepherds with their wives and fiancees since the departure of flocks (shepherds are not allowed to see women until Sântilie, because they must keep "clean"). On Sântilie (July 20) or on Sântămărie (St. Mary' Day, August 15) the shepherds organize Nedeia, a fair where they exchange products; young people could get to know, to get married on the spot or on future Nedeia.
Sântămărie (St. Mary' Day, August 15). After spending all summer in the mountains with the sheep, the shepherds bring their flocks to graze on pastures, hay-fields, and stubble fields near the villages until occurs răvăşirea oilor, the dissolution of the flock to the sheep owners (end of September). Sânmedru. On this day ends the deals between shepherds and sheep owners and begins the wintering of the sheep. Although slightly altered over the years, the custom has survived until today as a symbolic event marking the end of pastoral year.

Shepherd from Maramureş

The departure and the return of flocks and herds are the most important events in the life of mountain villages and are traditionally celebrated by popular shows resembling thousands people.

Images from Romanian Museum, Quadratus's Weblog, Klever Tavel.

The Romanian Peasant Museum

The Romanian Peasant Museum is part of the European family of Museums of Popular Art and Traditions. It is a national museum, under the Ministry of Culture’s patronage. In possession of an especially rich collection of objects, hosted in a Neo-Romanian style historical monument-building, our Museum developed a highly original museography honored in 1996 by receiving the EMYA – European Museum of the Year Award. The originality of the exhibiting style is continued in the Museum’s publications, in actions such as the Missionary Museum, the Village School, concerts, conferences and exhibition openings.


The Romanian Peasant Museum’s building is placed in Victoria Square in Bucharest, next to the Natural Science Museum “Grigore Antipa” and the Geology Museum. The construction of the building, including its design was assigned to architect N. Ghika-Budeşti, leading member of the autochthonous school of architecture. According to the museographic view of the ethnographer and director Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcas, he was supposed to raise a “palace of autochthonous art” inspired by typical monastery interiors.


In 1941, after 29 years and many interruptions, the building, in its current shape is ready. Representative for the neo-Romanian style, inspired by traditional architecture, especially the Brâncovenesc style, the building is remarkable by its composition using mainly floral and zoomorphic decorations. The visible red bricklayer, the big windows under arches, the columns of the logia, the elegant silhouette of the main tower reminding of the bell towers in old monasteries make the building a true palace of art.In the 60s a new wing of offices and auxiliary rooms is added in total discordance with the style conceived by Ghika-Budeşti. A huge mosaic, characteristic for the quasi-proletkult period in Romanian Communism, individualizes the new wing.


In 1906 the first autonomous museum for peasant art was established. Lucky circumstances brought the art historian Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş as its first director. He renamed the institution the Ethnography and National Art Museum and from 1912 on, the National Art Museum. During the 40 years of Tzigara Samurcaş’ leadership the museum was in the avant-garde of European museology.


The so-called “liberation” of 1944 led to the “liberation” of the museum from its own home and its replacement with the Lenin-Stalin Museum. The National Art Museum moved, as a tenant, in Ştirbei Palace on Calea Victoriei, for 25 years and under a new name: the Popular Art Museum of the Romanian Popular/Socialist Republic. During this period, the museographers were forced to “forget” exhibiting some valuable collection pieces, especially the religious ones. However, they succeeded in increasing the heritage of the museum with three times as much objects of peasant art. In 1978, the Popular Art Museum and the Village Museum are united in one institution. The unification mainly meant that most of collections of the Popular Art museum remained hidden in a long and unhealthy sleep until 1990 when the museum was reestablished and brought back to its home on Kiseleff no.3.


The Romanian Peasant Musuem, National Museum of Arts and Traditions holds the richest collection of peasant objects in Romania. Almost 90.000 pieces of patrimony are as many witnesses helping our contemporaries to understand the peasant world.


The Ceramics Collection holds around 18.000 representative pieces for the almost 200 pottery centers of Romania. Tohether with these, we hold the complete inventory of some pottery workshops from Hunedoara and Valcea, dating from the 19th century. The Costume Collection holds almost 20.000 pieces of costume from all Romanian provinces starting with the first half of the 19th century.


The Collection of Decorative Interior Homespun increased from 5000 pieces in 1991 to almost 10.000 today. Most of The Wool Homespun, over 7.000 of them, are dated back to the beginning of the 19th century.

The Wood, Furniture and Ironware Collection holds almost 8000 pieces.


The Religious Collections holds almost 4.000 pieces.

The Woodcarvers of Maramureş

Maramureş is a rugged and independent area in the North of Romania where traditions have lasted due to the isolation of geography and the neglect of history. The Romans conquered Romania in the early 2nd century AD but they never went as far north as Maramureş. The valleys of the Mara and Iza rivers lead nowhere, meaning strangers have always been rare. During communism many villages escaped collectivization due to poor soil and hilly landscape. Today, the proud Maramureşeni continue practicing their ancient traditions of farming, costume making and folk dancing. They also serve as a time capsule preserving old attitudes and the traditional roles in the community.


Wood is the dominant theme in Maramureş. Almost everything can be made of it: churches, houses, horse-carts, tableware and, not to be forgotten, wooden gates.
For someone was born elsewhere and has not grown up with it this omnipresence of wooden gates seems like an obsession. Gates are almost more important than houses; they seem to be the measure of importance of house owners. Often an impressive gate is standing before the house itself is properly finished; new houses can be made of stone rather than wood, the old shingle roofs are replaced by corrugated sheeting, but the traditional wooden gate remains as symbol of Maramureş identity.


Four examples of the resplendent, up to 4m high wooden gates. Often there is a bench nearby or integrated into one side, on which the family can sit together chatting with the neighbours. The extravagant carvings, often in the form of twisted ropes, include old heathen and Christian motives. The wooden gate with pictures in it is at the entrance of Surdeşti church and cemetery. On the right is an interesting model. It is principally two gate corners with wide gate doors in between, giving the advantage of unlimited height going into the farmyard. The gates are still handmade. Some of the Maramureş woodcarvers have become famous, such as Toader Bârsan from Bârsana, who built an original little Romanian wooden church in 1999 at a Folklife Festival in Washington, DC.

The Bear's Day

Every year on February 2nd, Romanians celebrate the Bear's Day, a popular tradition with similarities in other countries (see the 'Groundhog Day' in the US and Canada). It is said that in this particular day, the bear leave its winter shelter; if it is a sunny day and the bear can see its shadow on the snow, it hides for another 40 days, sign of a prolonged winter. On this day, people do not pronounce the word "bear", they refer at it with the nicknames "Old Martin" or "the old one" and some Romanian highlanders leave near the bear's couch pieces of veal meat.