Folk costume of and embroidery of Țara Oașului, Romania and Ukraine

 

Hello all, Today I would like to talk about the Folk Costume of the Oaș, whose territory lies immediately to the west of Maramureș, which I have talked about recently. Like them, the Oaș cultural region lies along the Ukrainian border in Romania, forming the northeastern part of Satu Mare County, including a small territory north of the border, and the folk costume is worn by Romanians, and a small minority of Ukrainians.

 

The Ukrainians which wear this costume inhabit the three villages of Cherna Черна, Novoselytsia Новоселиця, and Khyzha Хижа, in Transcarpathia, as well as the village of Tarna Mare south of the border. The remainder of this area is inhabited by Romanians. 

The chemise of this region is very distinctive, resembling only that of Maramureș, and that only slightly. There is a rectangular yoke, and the sleeves and body pieces are gathered into it. The opening is in the back, as in the chemises from lowland Transcarpathia, Khust and Irshava regions. The yoke is embroidered all around the edge, and there is additional embroidery on the sleeves. It is uniquely short. 

The embroidery on the chemise is of various different techniques, notably cross stitch, counted satin stitch, kachalochka, and even curly stitch. Some examples from the Romanian side. 

Some more examples from the Ukrainian side. 

The edges of the yoke often have distinctive trim, as seen here. 

Here are some graphed embroidery patterns for shirts, skirts and pants from a Romanian source. 

The skirts are linen or cotton, full, and embroidered on the wide waistband, hem, and often bands above the hem, resembling Boiko skirts from further north, and also skirts from the western plains of Romania. The skirt embroidery often matched or complemented the embroidery on the chemise. The hem often has crotched or needle lace edging. Older skirts and pants often had a zigzag hem with embroidery. 

Some examples from the Ukrainian side.

And the Romanian side. 

The men's shirts are cut in a similar fashion, but they have a front opening. There are often two rectangular patches of embroidery over the shoulders, echoing the women's yoke embroidery. The shirts are short, and are not tucked in. The sleeves are gathered into a cuff, or are open. The hachi, or pants, are also extremely full, echoing the women's skirts. The pants often have embroidery at the hem. A cap like straw hat, or other kind of hat, highly ornamented shoulder bag, and moccasins or boots complete the summer costume. 

Some images from the Ukrainian side. Note that this first man is wearing a wide Carpathian belt with this outfit. 

This man has an outfit with an exceptional amount of embroidery. He also seems to be wearing the shirt backwards. 

The older form of the costume apparently had a double apron. This is not seen today. 

Today only the front apron is worn. This may be of cotton or linen, matching the skirt, or may be of colored floral print cloth. There is often a flounce at the hem. The women also wear the ornamented shoulder bags. Moccasins may be worn, but boots are more common today. 

And again, some images from the Ukrainian side. 

In colder weather, vests may be worn, as well as the shaggy wool jackets called hunia or gubă. These were also worn in Maramureș, as well as in other parts of lowland Zakarpattia. 

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative. Try some of this embroidery for yourself. If anyone is interested, I have more images of the embroidery, some of which may not be released publicaly. 

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com