FolkCostume&Embroidery: Folk Costume and Embroidery of the Hungarians of Kalotaszeg or Țara Călatei, Romania, part 1 Women

Hello all,

Today I would like to talk about one of the most famous Hungarian Folk Regions, that of Kalatoszeg, or Țara Călatei in Romanian. This region lies in northwestern Transylvania, but is not recognized politically. It lies in the northwestern part of Cluj County and the southern part of Sălaj County. I could not find a map of it, so I took and plotted the villages mentioned in Romanian and Hungarian sources.

Because the Hungarians in this region are lumped in with larger areas, they are not listed as an ethnic majority except at the village level. They are estimated to be about 30% of the population in this region, at about 20,000 people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Aara_C%C4%83latei

The people are mostly Calvinist, with two villages being Catholic, Leghia Hungarian: Jegenye, and part of Huedin Hungarian: Bánffyhunyad.

The Hungarian roots revival of the 1970s led to the discovery and revival of many ethnically Hungarian regional folk cultures, of which the Kalatoszegi is one of the richest and most popular. Kalatoszegi music and dance is alive and well, and done all over the world.

Here is a video of Kalatoszegi dancing. The costumes are good, and they show a good variety of dances, but the guys apparently don't know how to do a Legényes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDfubgZyzTI&t=2s

Another video, of just one couple this time, but the guy does a good Legényes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20tQfy5sHEI&t=9s

One more video, this one focusing on the musicians.

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

Women's chemises were originally made of linen, and quite full. Both sleeves and body pieces were gathered into the neckline.

Embroidery consisted of dense monochrome bands that were worked in red, blue, or black. It was placed on the collar, cuffs, and often across the shoulders and/or down the sleeves, in one or two bands.

Later these were replaced by blouses made of floral print fabric in some villages. These had a more modern cut with cap sleeves.

Skirts are always long, varying from ankle length to boottop length, but no shorter. Dress skirts are always pleated.

When the short shirt is worn, an underskirt is necessary, and often worn with the long shirt as well.

The most extravagant type of skirt is called muszuj or bagazia.

It is pleated, with a band of embroidery over the pleating at the hips, a wide facing on the inner hem, and decorative embroidery over the center hem of the facing. It is worn wrapped from the back, and the front corners tucked into the waist.

Notice that in this last image a plain white pleated skirt is worn underneath.

Otherwise, a regular pleated skirt is worn. It often has a band of embroidery at the hips, and may be ornamented with ribbons, often Czech jaquard ribbons, near the hem. It may be one plain color, or of damask, or of a colorful print.

You will sometimes see, besides the band of embroidery at the hip, decorative joining stitching at the seams.

The apron is very distinctive, most commonly being made of three fields of pleated cloth joined together at the seams with an ornamental joining stitch, with a band of embroidery at the hips that reflects that often seen on the skirt.

These are very popular, being worn in neighboring regions, and sometimes by Romanians and Roma.

These may be quite subtle, being stitched in a color matching the background.

This embroidery is often done in contrasting colors, sometimes with beadwork.

Sometimes Czech jacquard ribbon was appliqued to the edges before pleating, with possible roundels in the lower corners.

Some women considered even this to be too plain, and added more appliqued ribbon. This was done on a solid color background cloth or a floral print.

A few different vests are worn. One is a simple waist length vest made of plain or floral print wool with some trim attached.

Another is made in pretty much the same cut, but of sheepskin. It is trimmed with leather applique, and extensive embroidery, although usually not very colorful.

A longer, straighter cut is also used, especially by men. This graphic, however, is for a woman's vest.

Another kind of sheepskin vest closed at the sides, and was longer, covering the lower abdomen.

A rather fitted wool jacket, bujka, was worn by both men and women. Both were highly ornamented, but in different ways. Womens' bujka had appliqued ribbons and beading.

A rather less fitted jacket called Frisko was also worn, purely for warmth.

An overcoat of heavy wool, condra, resembling Romanian garments of the region was also worn. This was often ornamented.

Jewelry consisted mostly of necklaces, usually white, red, or garnet colored.

As you can see from this image above, ornaments of Czech jacquard ribbon and beads were worn at the neck and attached to the shoulders. These were particularly worn by unmarried girls with the parta.

Little girls wore their hair in two braids, older girls wore one braid,

On festive occasions, unmarried girls wore the Parta.

This consisted of an open topped crown covered with beads and glass bulbs, generally in white or silver. To the back of the crown a flat cardboard piece is attached. This is covered in satin and/or ribbon, and has a row of Czech jacquard ribbons hanging down behind.

Often to wear the parta these girls would wind their braids into a bun like married women.

Brides and young wives would wear a fancy cap over the bun, and then pin a veil over it. This is similar to the custom of the Transylvanian Saxons.

Here is a video showing a bride putting this on for the first time.

https://www.tiktok.com/@hollandmarcsi/video/7463855121915464992

Married women wore a kerchief most of the time, presumably over the cap, but a plain one, and definitely put their hair up first. Kerchiefs were bought commercially, but had some designs unique to the region.