Village scenes--National dances--The picturesque peasant
costumes--Peasant girls who powder and paint--An idyllic scene--A
country wedding--Peasant simplicity.
When staying in the country, I always took great delight in witnessing
the village scenes. Roumanians, as I have already mentioned, are a
musical race. They also love dancing. Some of their country-dances
are very pretty. The principal one is the “Hora,” and it is danced by
any number of people to the music of a violin. A number of young men
and girls take hands and form a large ring. They then begin a slow
and stately step, the music gradually increasing in speed, and their
movements also, till they become fast and furious. Music and dance then
suddenly stop. Another dance is the “Sârba,” which is danced by two
people, either men or women. They stand side by side, each with one
hand resting lightly on the other’s shoulder. Then the dance begins,
and when well done it really affords a most interesting spectacle,
so varied and intricate are the steps employed. There is far more
individual dancing in these national dances than in ours.
On Sunday afternoons dancing on the village green is the great
amusement, and when one comes on the company unexpectedly, and they
are not too shy to continue, it is an interesting sight. The girls,
dressed in their varied and picturesque costumes, the crimson, blue,
and gold of which flash here and there with the movements of the
wearers, the young men clad in snowy-white garments, make a pretty
picture, backed as it is by the surrounding foliage, and bathed in
brilliant sunshine.
I must describe the dress of the young peasant, as it is rather
curious. A very tight pair of breeches is worn, of a white thick sort
of flannel, sometimes embroidered, and sometimes simply bound with
black. The snowy shirt is adorned with a row of thick lace, and is not
tucked into the breeches, but hangs straight down. It is, however,
caught in at the waist by a very broad leather belt (in which he keeps
what money he may have). Sandals on the feet tied on with leather
thongs, and a high cap of sheep-skin with the woolly side out, complete
the costume of the young gallant. If he wants to be very smart on
Sunday he wears a flower behind his ear to have in readiness for his
sweetheart. If the weather is chilly he wears a loose short jacket over
the shirt, but in winter he has a long sheep-skin coat which covers him
completely.
One would imagine that the peasants in those remote districts would be
very unsophisticated and quite ignorant of the various little ways and
means by which the women in city life seek to enhance their charms.
This, however, is not the case. It is quite a common thing to see the
peasant girls “done up” with powder and paint to as great an extent as
their town sisters. The complexion of the Roumanians is rather dark,
but as they prefer the white and red of fairer races they do their best
in imitation.
It is very interesting to walk through a village on a summer evening.
Most of the people are sitting at their doors enjoying the cool air. A
song is heard in the distance, then another group takes it up, till the
music swells into quite a volume of sound as the singers draw nearer.
Sometimes a wood-fire is burning outside the house, and round it
friends and neighbours gather, either singing or relating stories till
far into the night. As we look round on the dark eager faces lit up by
the firelight, then at the towering mountains which surround us, and
the great golden moon hanging midway in the dark sky, we realise that
we live in a beautiful world.
The little country churches are very quaint. They are generally built
in a circular form, with no seats, just a mat on the stone floor on
which the priest stands. There is always a sort of vestibule, and
in this is the “bell,” or rather gong. It is a large metal tray,
and worshippers are called to church by repeated strokes made on it
with two stout sticks. A boy wields these sticks, and though at the
beginning the strokes are slow and measured, as the hour of service
draws nearer they become quicker and quicker till there is a regular
hail of them. Then they suddenly cease. The effect is curious and even
comical. The country priest is not at all so severe or so reserved
as his town brother. On the contrary, if anyone of a better class
visits a country church the priest will be quite willing to enter
into conversation in the intervals of the service, and he will by no
means forget to refer to the needs of the church, the poverty of the
parish, and to explain what a godsend it would be to them to get a new
altar-cloth.
Sometimes a family from Bucarest will have a fancy to celebrate a
wedding in the country. It is a very jolly event indeed. Everyone wears
Roumanian costume, the procession goes on foot to the little church,
and after the ceremony there is feasting and dancing till all hours.
But it is the real peasant wedding that is most interesting. People
are invited from far and near. The visitors arrive at the church in
_karutza_ (ox-waggons) all decorated with flowers. That of the bride
has a regular canopy over it, under which she sits embowered in flowers
of all colours.
She is accompanied to the church by her mother or some other near
relative, and given into the keeping of the young man, who awaits her
at the altar. The service is then proceeded with, and is followed by
the “holy dance” and the exchange of rings. But I shall never forget
the shock I experienced at the first country wedding at which I was
present, when I saw the bride meekly lift the husband’s hand at the end
of the service and kiss it. One may see by that that suffragettes have
not yet propagated their theories in Roumania.
The visitors at a country wedding do not go empty-handed. Even on the
day before the ceremony presents begin to arrive--very often presents
in kind, loaves and cakes of all sorts; eggs, butter, fruit, meat, and
wine. All this is very necessary indeed, when there are so many to be
fed, as the feasting is often kept up for two or three days. One of our
maids who had been invited to a wedding told me afterwards, “Oh, miss,
it was grand; not like the town weddings, when you get only a glass of
wine and a bit of cake. No, indeed; we feasted and danced and amused
ourselves for three days!”
Generally speaking, the peasants are very ignorant, and unfortunately
the townspeople are only too ready to take advantage of their ignorance
when the country folk adventure among them. Seldom having money to
handle, the peasants have only a slender knowledge of the currency
of their own country, and at one time they used to be defrauded by
the tradespeople in consequence. The currency consists of _lei_ and
_bani_; equivalent to francs and centimes. There are no Roumanian gold
coins, those current in the country being French. The one-, two-,
and five-franc coins are of silver, as is also the fifty-bani piece.
The five-bani piece, made of nickel, is exactly the same in size and
appearance as the silver fifty-bani piece, and the peasants, unable
to recognise the difference in the metals, were often fleeced. Some
time ago, however, the attention of the Government was directed to the
matter, and all five-bani pieces issued since are distinguished by a
hole pierced through them.