Folk Costume of the Hungarians in Torockó, Alba County, Romaniana

 

Hello all, 

Today I will continue my coverage of the Hungarian Folk Costumes by talking about the region of Torockó. This lies to the south of the Kalatoszegi region, in the Apuseni mountains, just over the border into Alba County. 

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

This is a small region, consisting of only two villages,  Torockó and Torockószentgyörgy. In Romanian, they were traditionally called Trascău and Sângeorzul Trascăului. More recently the names have been changed so as not to resemble the Hungarian names, they are now called Rimetea and Colțești. This region was first settled in the 13th century, because of the Iron mines in the area by both Hungarians and Germans. Since then the Germans have become assimilated.  Currently Hungarians form about 85% of the population, at roughly 1,000 people. A distinctive culture and folk costume has formed in this region. 

 The chemise is long, in the old fashion. It is called sípujjú ing. It has monochrome embroidery in red or blue across the shoulders and on the cuffs, somewhat similar to the Kalatoszegi. This may be replaced by appliqued colored lace. 

This is accompanied by a pleated skirt, white for girls, and blue for married women. A calico apron is worn for regular days, while an apron of green or other color, of silk, or ornamented in some way for more dressy occasions. A belt is worn at the waist. 

For dress occasions a green silk apron with red ornament is worn. Unmarried girls pin a folded silk kerchief over this, which is secured into the belt. 

For dress, girls wore a white vest with vertical red ornament, which included an ornamented cross piece on the chest, a gathered collar with black or red edging, and a black velvet crown, parta, ornamented with gold galloon, lined in red, that has wide hanging ornamental ribbon. 

Boots are richly folded. 

Married women wear kerchiefs, and often more plain vests that open in front or on the sides. 

Brides and young wives wear a fancy cap and pinned veil, as in other parts of Transylvania.

Married women may wear short jackets, similar to those seen in Mezőség.

Highly ornamented sheepskin vests, lajbi, as in other parts of the Carpathian Basin, are worn here on dress occasions or to church, although it seems that the arms are rarely put through the armholes. 

Unmarried girls in full dress outfits may replace these with short pleated capes of cloth. 

High collared jackets covered with blue cloth and edged with white leather were also worn. 

Men wear white linen shirts with full sleeves, with or without cuffs, and tight fitting white wool trousers tucked into boots.   

Red or black cloth vests are sometimes worn with gatya. Ties are worn around the neck. 

More commonly, embroidered sheepskin vests are worn, as in other parts of the Carpathian Basin. These are of two kinds;, the first have outline embroidery and greatly resemble those won by men in the Mezőségi region.

The second type is identical to those worn by women, except for size. The men, however, do put their arms through the armholes. 

Sheepskin jackets, ködmön, are also worn. They greatly resemble the vests but have sleeves. 

Dark cloth jackets, bujka, are worn here as in Kalatoszeg. 

These various outer garments may be layered. 

The outermost garment is the condra, which greatly resembles that worn in Kalatoszeg, and also by Romanians in surrounding regions. It appears that here this is strictly worn by men. 

A felt or sheepskin hat completes the ensemble. 

I will close with some few more images from this region. There is what seems to be an excellent photoalbum from this region, but I have been unable to find it on a website that ships outside of Hungary. Does anyone know how it may be obtained? Torockó és viselete by Klotz Miklós

Here is a video showcasing the music, landscape, and folk art of this region. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkzRYRsgiEo&list=RDHkzRYRsgiEo&start_radio=1

And that is about all of the information that I have on this region. Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K. 

email: rkozakand@aol.com