FolkCostume&Embroidery: Folk Costume and Embroidery of Romanian Pannonia: Part 2, Satu Mare County

Hello all,

Today I would like to continue my coverage of Romanian Pannonia by talking about Județul Satu Mare, in Hungarian called Szatmár megye. The population is mostly Romanian, with many Hungarians in the west, and also scattered about the county, Roma, some Schwabians, and a small minority of Ukrainians in the north. It is located in the northwest corner of Romania, and borders both Ukraine and Hungary. I will not be presenting information on Roma costume, for lack of information.

The county is divided into three cultural regions, which I could not find a map for, so I had to draw one from the descriptions which I found. The borders are thus very approximate.

These regions are:

1. Oaș

2. Câmpia Someșană or Szatmár

3. Codru

I will start with number 3:

Codru

The Codru region includes parts of Satu Mare, Maramures, and Sălaj counties, see the map just above.

The folk costume is very similar to that of Chioar. The women's outfit consists of a chemise, with or without a rectangular yoke, the yoke appeared in this region in the 20th cent. likely as a result of influence from the north. Linen skirts that are embroidered around the hem, and a single apron.

In some cases, the aprons have vertical ornament. This seems to be more connected with the Hungarian minority in this region, the aprons resembling those of the Kalotaszegi region, which lies just south of here.

Here we see the performing group from the town of Tasnád, Romanian: Tășnad. The town has a Hungarian majority, although Codru in general has a Romanian ethnic majority.

Here we see some contemporary interpretations of this folk costume. This is characterized by simplification of the cut, and elaboration of the embroidery.

The men's costume is also very similar to that of Chioar, even down to the stovepipe hats.

And a few more images from Codru.

A video showing the folk costume of Codru region.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivf-tGacGho&t=17s

Here is a video showing a folk dance from Codru, although the women are wearing the folk costume of Maramures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFtUM55-tI0&list=RDyFtUM55-tI0&start_radio=1

Here is a much shorter video of a Codru dance. But the woman are actually wearing the Codru costume.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwbUj-RdQ_k&list=RDYwbUj-RdQ_k&start_radio=1

A dance video featuring kids, but actually from a Codru village.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEhsxpoHQ_8&list=RDGEhsxpoHQ_8&start_radio=1

2. Câmpia Someșană or Szatmár

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szatm%C3%A1r_County

This is region 2 on the map above. This consists of the lowlands around the lower Somes River, and the western part of this county. This formed the central and western parts of Szatmár county in the old Kingdom of Hungary. Here is a map of Szatmár county. The red line is more or less the current border, the western part of the county is currently in Hungary.

Here is an ethnographic map of the county, Romanians in Green, and Hungarians in Red.

You can see that while Codru and Oas are mostly Romanian, the plains in the west, and around the city of Satu Mare or Szatmár are mostly Hungarian. The folk costume of Szatmár is very typically Hungarian in style.

The following photos are from the website.

www.lipinka.hu/tudastar/viselettar

I would like to thank Lipinka for making such valuable material available

These provide an excellent understanding of how to build this attire.

Notice the tendency to sew the top with a rectangular yoke, likely under the influence of the Romanian clothing in the region.

Some couple dances from Szatmar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vIHobqID_s&list=RD6vIHobqID_s&start_radio=1

A video of vigorus Hungarian dances from Szatmar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vk3F871GDg&list=RD6Vk3F871GDg&start_radio=1

Among the Hungarians in this region lived a smaller community of Germans, generally called Sathmarschwaben.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satu_Mare_Swabians

It is difficult to find images of this group in particular, as they are generally lumped in with the Donauschwaben who mostly live further south, in Banat in particular. The folk costume in general seems to be similar to that of the Hungarians.

The only video I could find that is specifically about the Sathmarschwaben. A lecture on their history [in German], with occasional photographs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISkCipoZeNM

1. Oaș or Avas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Aara_Oa%C8%99ului

This region consists of a self contained watershed in the north of this county. It borders Ukraine on the north, Maramures on the east, Szatmar on the west, and Chioar to the south. It is called Oaș in Romanian, Avas in Hungarian, but seems to have no particular name in Ukrainian.

By far the majority of the population is Romanian, with Ukrainians inhabiting 5 villages in the northwest, particularly Tarna Mare. Three of these village are currently north of the border in Ukraine: Khyzha, Cherna, and Novoselytsia. These three villages use this folk costume, uniquely in Ukraine. Hungarians inhabit a cluster of villages in the center, Avasújváros - Romanian: Orașu Nou, Kőszegremete - Romanian: Remetea Oașului, and Vámfalu - Romanian: Vama. They also use this folk costume.

The rectangular yoke is central to this folk costume. The sleeves and body of the chemise are gathered into the yoke with elaborate stitching. The yoke is elaborately embroidered around the edges. Stitches used include, cross, counted satin, and curly stitches. The opening is in the rear. Cuffs are embroidered, and sleeves may be.

Full linen skirts are worn. Embroidery is worked on the wide waistband, the hem, and often narrow bands and tucks further up the skirt. Linen aprons were originally embroidered to match, but today floral print aprons with a flounce are common. The hems may be scalloped and embroidered, or may feature crocheted lace trim.

The men's outfit is quite similar.

The shirt is sewn with a front opening, no yoke, but has similar embroidery on the collar, cuffs, and over the shoulders. It is short, and worn open at the bottom. The pants are linen, very full, and have embroidery similar to the womens' skirts at the hem. There is no embroidery on the waistband.

The shoulder embroidery has a definite edge to the outside, but none on the inner edge, thus echoing the embroidery on the womens yoke.

Woven or embroidered shoulder bags are worn by both men and women. Shaggy wool jackets are worn. Men wear little straw hats or felt hats, lambskin caps in winter. Both sexes wear wool stockings and moccasins, or boots. Fancy headdresses are worn by women for significant occasions.

Some modern performing groups exaggerate some aspects of this costume. The embroidery has been replaced with black trim, the skirts are made of cotton, which is too stitff, and sometimes made excessively short, which looks very bad.