Hello all,

Today I would like to start talking about Crișana, a traditional region of Romania, also called the plains of the West. This includes both Bihor and Arad Counties, as well as some of southern Satu Mare county and Salaj. Here is the position of Crișana within Romania. This map is pre WWII, so the borders are a bit odd.

Here is a map of present day Județul Bihor in Romania.

Like Satu Mare / Szatmar, Bihar County was recognized under the Kingdom of Hungary. It was centered on the city of Nagyvárad, Oradea in Romanian.

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

An ethnographic map from that time shows the north and west inhabited by Hungarians, shown in red, and the south and east inhabited by Romanians, shown in green.

The current border runs northeast to southwest somewhat west of the city of Nagyvárad, Oradea in Romanian. This leaves the western part of Bihar in Hungary. In the west, there are the lowlands of the Tisza watershed, in the east, Bihor includes three arms of the Apuseni Mountains.

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

Today this region is still ethnically mixed, with Hungarians in the north and west, and Romanians in the center, south, and east.

Slovaks

The one notable exception is that there is a colony of Slovaks in Șinteu, in Slovak: Nová Huta, and the surrounding villages. This is shown in violet on the map above.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%98inteu

Șinteu, / Nová Huta

I have found few images of the Slovak folk costume of this area, and some were obvious mistakes, one being of Mezőségi Hungarians, and others being of a performing group from Šariš in Slovakia. Here is what I have found that seems accurate.

A video showing a harvest ritual in this region, with some folk singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlbW7OAVluA

Hungarians

Likewise I have found little material on the Hungarians of this region. Here are some few images.

Lugașu de Jos / Alsó-Lugos

Salonta / Nagyszalonta

Arpășel / Árpád

Ghiorac / Erdőgyarak

This group of photos is labelled 'National Folk Costume Day'

The following two images are labelled as being from Rippai, most likely the village Râpa.

Tărcaia / Köröstarkány

Shepherds

Iron workers

Romanians

Some of the images above, particularly the last two, seem to be of the Romanian Folk Costume of Bihor, but they are from Hungarian sources.

In general terms, the folk costume of this region is in line with the other parts of Crișana. Embroidered blouse and linen skirt, one apron. Embroidered shirt and wide linen pants for men. I have found three variants of the Bihor Folk Costume, with varying amounts of information.

1. Aleșd

This region lies in the central valley of Bihor, along the river Crișul Repede. It lies adjacent to the village Lugașu de Jos / Alsó-Lugos, of which an image is given in the Hungarian section.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=217430445805566

2. Ceica

This village lies in the central arm of the Apuseni Mountains in central Bihor.

3. Beiuș

This region lies in the south of Bihor, between the central and southern arms of the Apuseni Mountains, along the river Crișul Negru. The vast majority of the information which I have found seems to pertain to this region. Or this is taken as the typical Folk Costume of Bihor.

The shirt is highly embroidered on the front, shoulders, sleeves and cuffs, with a round collar. Here are several examples with quite varied embroidery. Sometimes the chemise is long, and sometimes cut short at about the waist.

Here are a couple examples of the new cut.

More of the old cut.

Full linen skirts with matching or complementary embroidery are worn, often with a flounce added around the hem.

A single apron is worn with this outfit. Earlier it was a single home woven panel, more recently it has been made of commercially available cloth.

These first couple of images show the apron typical of the village of Pietroasa.

In this southern part of Bihor, two types of sheepskin vest are worn. The first is called cojoc cohănesc. These are made in the town of Vașcău, and is typically worn in the southern part of the Untu River valley. These feature leather applique and floral embroidery. This style is worn by both men and women, the women's vests being waist length and somewhat fitted, the mens being hip length and cut straight.

Here is a man's vest.

The second type is called cojoc binșănesc. These are made in the town of Beiuș, which is found further north. These are also highly ornamented, and characterized by vertical lines and attached pompoms in a very unique fashion. These are more commonly worn around this part of the valley. They are worn by both men and women, and the cut is more similar.

This vest has caught the eye of some designer with Christian Dior, who copied it exactly and released it as one of their designs. Needless to say, the Romanians are upset about this.

Here is a comparison of the two, Bihor on the left, and Dior on the right.

Another outer garment worn by the women is a sort of narrow shawl with long fringes which wraps around the waist. You can see above that similar garments were worn by both the Slovaks and the Hungarians. This may be worn with or without the vest.

Beaded necklaces, zgarda, are worn here, as in many places in Eastern Europe. Here, they often have triangular pendants.

Other types of jewelry were also worn.

A long, white wool overcoat, Suman, was also worn by both men and women. The version worn in Bihor has a distinctive design.

The men's costume is basically the same as in other parts of the western plains. White linen embroidered shirt worn outside of wide linen pants, or more narrow woolen pants in winter. Wide belt, boots or moccasins, hat, and the distinctive vest and overcoat of the region.