FolkCostume&Embroidery: Folk Costume and Embroidery of the Csángó, Part 1, Moldvai and Dobrudjan Csángó

Hello all,

Today I would like to write about the Csángó, one of the Hungarian minorities which inhabit Romania. This is their flag, and also coat of arms.

The origin of the name Csángó is somewhat disputed, but seems to stem from a Hungarian word meaning 'wanderer'. It is generally accepted that these people migrated from the west at some point. Some of their dialects use many words and constructions that have fallen out of use in standard Hungarian. The majority of the Csángó remain Roman Catholic, which has helped them retain their identity among the Orthodox Romanians. The exception are the Barcasági csángók, who have become Lutheran under the influence of their Saxon neighbors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cs%C3%A1ng%C3%B3s

The Csángó are generally divided into four groups,

1 Moldvai Csángók who live in Romanian Moldavia, a northern group in the counties of Neamț and Iași, and a southern group in the counties of Bacău and Vrancea.

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

Their music and dances look Romanian, with strong Hungarian Styling. The northern group has the most archaic dialect, being not very comprehensible to speakers of standard Hungarian. The image at the head of the article is of Moldvai Csángó.

2 Gyimesi Csángók This group lives in Harghita County in Transylvania, 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

This group has retained unusual rhythms and dances which are mostly forgotten among other Hungarians. They are known for the use of the instrument called ütőgardon, which looks like a primitive sort of cello, but is actually a percussive instrument.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_i6esYOUJE&t=1s

3 Barcasagi Csángók or Hétfalusi Csángók These people live mostly in the Seven Villages: Baciu, Turcheș, Cernatu, Satulung,Tărlungeni, Zizin, and Purcăreni, today combined into the municipalites of Săcele and Tărlungeni in Brașov County, in southwestern Transylvania. There are some other settlements, but all in Brașov County. This group has been strongly influenced by their Saxon neighbors.

https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcas%C3%A1gi_cs%C3%A1ng%C3%B3k

4 Dobrudjan Csángó. This group is confined to the village of Oituz in Constanța County. They seem to be derived from the Moldvai Csángó. Here are the couple of images which I have been able to find of this group.

In Hungarian sources, there are some other groups which are sometimes called Csángó, but I will limit myself to these 4 groups.

None of the Csángó folk costumes look typically Hungarian, but have been strongly influenced by their neighbors.

Moldvai Csángó

The Molvai, or Moldavian [Moldovan] Csango wear folk costume that look very Moldavian.

The chemise is cut with the shoulder insets sewn to the sides of the body, as in the general Moldovan-Podillian area. The entire top hem of the chemise is gathered into a neck opening.

The shoulder insets are ornamented with embroidery, or often, as in the two following examples, weaving. The sleeves are ornamented with bands, either vertical or diagonal, woven or embroidered. There is a narrow plainer band of ornament at the upper edge of the sleeves. Romanian Moldavians do not use woven ornament in these locations.

There are also vertical bands of ornament on the front and back of the body.

Sometimes the embroidery is minimal, but is never omitted.

Over this a rectangular woven wrap skirt called katrinca or fota is worn. These usually have vertical stripes when worn, but can occasionally be seen with horizontal stripes. This is held in place with a sash around the waist.

Girls wore their hair in braids, with ribbons adorning them, or kerchiefs when necessary in colder weather or in Church.

Brides wear a special wreath.

Married women more recently wear kerchiefs, but traditionally put their hair up around a wooden ring, which was then covered by a cap, and then a long cloth, marama.

As you can also see above, sheepskin vests, embroidered to varying degrees were worn by both men and women. These resemble those worn by Romanians in Moldavia.

Other overgarments of wool or sheepskin are also worn.

Footwear originally consisted of leather moccasins, but now mostly consist of leather shoes or boots.

Weaving is important to the Csángó, and household textiles, besides the wrap skirts are often home woven.

Men's costume consists of plain linen trousers, a tunic shaped shirt, and a sash or wide leather belt.

The shirt is worn outside the pants, usually has cuffs and a fold down collar.

The collar and cuffs are traditionally embroidered in white, yellow, and spots of other colors. The neck opening and hem may have simple white embroidery and hemstitching.