FolkCostume&Embroidery: October 2025

Hello all,

Today I will continue my series on the Csángó, one of the Hungarian minority groups which inhabit Romania.

Gyimesi Csángók

This group lives in Harghita County in Transylvania, high in the Carpathians around the Ghimeș-Palanca Pass (Hungarian: Gyimesi-szoros). Their main villages are Gyimesfelsőlok :Lunca de Sus, Gyimesközéplok : Lunca de Jos, and Gyimesbükk : Ghimeș-Făget.

https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyimesi_cs%C3%A1ng%C3%B3k

The Gyimesi Csángó are indicated in green on the first map, and yellow on the second.

The music, rhythms, dance and other aspects of the culture of the Gyimesi Csango have retained archaic features. Here is an example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtZLTTLK8lg&list=RDVtZLTTLK8lg&start_radio=1

Instrumentation generally consists of a fiddle and an ütőgardon, which resembles a crude cello but is actually a percussion instrument.

https://organology.net/instrument/utogardon/

The folk costume is derived from the general Romanian costume of Transylvania, in contrast to the Moldvai, whose costume is derived from the Romanian Moldavians.

Here is a diagram of the women's costume

The wrap skirt held in place by a sash is substantially the same as what is worn by the Moldvai, but notice the red horizontal band at hem and waist, which is not seen among the Moldvai.

The cut of the chemise is typical for Transylvania.

The sleeve is cut in one piece up to the neckline. There is no cuff, but the sleeve is gathered at about elbow height, and embroidery is executed over the gathering. There is a narrow horizontal band of embroidery on the upper sleeve and another on the lower sleeve. The hem is edged with a wide band of lace. The neckband is also embroidered.

A front opening sheepskin vest is worn. It is embroidered in Transylvanian style, not resembling that of the Moldvai. The vest is shorter, and straight cut.

The married women traditionally wore a cap, but this has mostly been replaced by a kerchief today.

Unmarried girls wear a parta, a sort of crown for special occasions.

Leather shoes or boots have replaced the old leather moccasins.

The men's costume is similar to that of other Csángó.

The linen pants are perhaps more narrow than among the Moldvai.

The tunic cut shirt differs in that it generally has no cuffs and there is a narrow stand up collar embroidered with darning stitch.

This embroidery is on the sleeve ends.

This embroidery is found on the hem of the shirt.

Embroidery patterns from other mens' collars.

As you can see, sometimes the men's shirts do have collars.

This shirt is from my private collection. It has embroidered cuffs.

A wide belt is more typical of the Gyimesi costume. This type of belt is widespread in Transylvania. It is often ornamented with embossed designs and quillwork.

While the men may sometimes wear a vest similar to that of the women, It is much more common to see them wear an embroidered sheepskin vest that has the closure on the side, under the arm and on the shoulder.