Well, here we are, everyone. The inevitably awkward first blog post.
Most of you will scroll and look at the pictures and move on without reading. GO FOR IT! I am totally the same way, so no hard feelings. (Maybe this is the time I should appologize to every blog that I have ever been to?)
Let’s be honest, when you stumble upon someone’s blog, you like it if they have a few pages of content. It gives them an air of credibility, almost like they know what they are doing and you can trust them. Whether we read it or not, if we search the web for answers, we are more likely to take the word of a seasoned blogger, than the aspiring newbie. Life cred isn’t the biggest factor, it’s internet cred. It’s ok, that’s definitely me too, so I don’t expect you to take my word yet. Of course, a few thousand posts in, I might raise my expectations a touch!
Since it is my first post, I figured I would talk about something that means a lot to me. That something would be – Romanian culture. Now, when I talk about Romania a lot of people think that I am Romanian and I come from a long line of Romanians, but let me set this straight now. To my knowledge, no Romanian blood runs through these veins. Lots of French, German, Irish, and Native American (if I missed a culture my family will definitely correct me), but unless some clandestine Romanian moved to the United States and married into my ancestry, I am not Romanian.
However, that is the great thing about culture. You don’t have to be Romanian to be Romanian. Sure, my blood would tell me I’m not and my family tree would wag it’s head at me for having such delusions, but I choose to ignore that. Like so many of this generation, I choose to live in denial, I have made the choice to believe that what my heart tells me is true. I am Romanian.
Those of you who love another culture understand exactly where I’m coming from. You can love your homeland and yet feel like you belong in another place. It is possible. (Perhaps someday I’ll get into my life story, but today I am trying to stay focused! ) It doesn’t make you any less patriotic. If anyone messes with your homeland, you’re gonna go after them, and if anyone messes with your heartland, you’re gonna do the same!
It’s like adoption. You love your biological kids so very much, but that doesn’t mean you love your adopted children any less. If you do, then I don’t think you understand adoption...just sayin’.
At any rate, I love Romania. I believe that God has placed her on my heart in a very strong way. To what end, I am not yet sure, but I trust He will reveal it in His good timing.
You may be wondering how this whole Romania craze started for me, right? Well, it’s quite a long story and I might get to it someday, but the shortest of all possible versions is that my parents are missionaries in Romania. They do a lot of work with pastors and people in ministry in a city called Iaşi, Romania now, but when I was a kid we lived in a town called Hunedoară, and this is the county that these pictures were taken in.
I lived in this area – the Transilvania Valley (yes, that Transylvania) – for around 8 years of my life off and on since I was one month away from turning 12. Why the precision? When you’re that age and you make a major life change, like, oh, I don’t know...moving cultures? You remember things like that.
I can’t say that I loved it for the first four years I lived there for many and various reasons, but suffice it to say, God changed my heart completely from the start to end and now there is no where I would rather be. Although I don’t mind living in central Massachusetts, I miss not being there among the people, submerged in the culture.
This Christmas-New Year season I was able to travel back and visit friends and family. My beautiful friend Tiahna of Tiahna Lynn Photography traveled with me. I couldn’t wait to show her around my country and let her experience all the intricacies and weirdness that is inevitable with any culture that differs from your own. I know she regrets nothing in coming with me! (Hehe, another convert made.)
The one thing I wanted more than anything was to begin to capture part of Romanian culture. I have always been fascinated with culture, and I think something that differs vastly from culture to culture is their traditional outfit. I mean, America doesn’treally have that, unless you call jeans and flip flops and national costume, then we definitely have one!
The more I learned about the Romanian costume, the more fascinated I became.
Disclaimer: I am in NO WAY an expert on this subject. Do not take my word for this. (Remember, my first blog, so, what would I know?) I had some helpful friends point me in the direction of some helpful articles and youtube videos. (What would I ever do without the internet?)
There are so many different outfits all over the regions of Romania, but I am only going to focus on the one that I photographed, so bear with me, and if you know more than I do, feel free to share the knowledge! I love to learn new things.
This costume comes from the Region of the „Foresters” of people of the forest. It’s up in the Poiana Ruscă Mountains in the county of Hunedoară. It’s a fairly isolated place, but with this isolation is a feeling of such peace and serenity. The air is clear and crisp, especially after the snow that we had the night before we went up to the small village of Hăşdău. The roads are narrow, and fairly old, but it just lends to the air of stepping into another time. Kind of like entering a fairy, I guess. You can feel the traditional values by the way the community lives in their day to day lives.
My dear friend Cristina introduced me to Adelina, the young lady that agreed to be my model for the day. She was very sweet and her family invited us in while she got ready and fed us a delicious pastry and some wonderful coffee while we waited. Tiahna said that she never seemed to stop eating since she got to Romania, and she was never actually introduced to the family. I guess the day was such a wirlwind that somehow we missed that...but they still treated us with typical Romanian hospitality - friendship and food.
Adelina was wearing her grandmother’s costume and possibly some things borrowed from a neighbour. In and of itself, that shows the culture. They are very community and family orientated like very few places these days. For example, As we walked through the village, I began to wish I had brought a bucket as a prop, so she just called at the front gate of a house and borrowed one from someone in the village – that’s community. Did I mention it was the perfect color? (Another reason I believe in God, not coincidence.)
From all accounts, the young unmarried women wear the costumes with the brightest color - Red. So, of course, hers is full of reds and her head covering has a bright floral pattern – also red.
The hand stitching is very intricate and unfortunately it seems is becoming something of a lost art. I’m sure that is not the case everywhere, but it would be sad if it fell out of knowledge everywhere. I would hate to see Romania get swallowed up in the rest of the world and lost themselves...but I digress. There are many techinical terms for the kind of stitching done, but I’m not sure they really translate (a constant problem for conveying culture accurately).
Girls of 6 or 7 begin to learn to hand stitch by stitching the cuffs of the sleeves, but as they get older (10, 11), they work on the more intricate and difficult the arms. As I look at the beautiful stitching, I wish I had been more enthusiastic about sewing, no matter how bad I was at it, this shows that practice makes perfect!
The front of the shirt can contain up to 21 different technical kinds of stitching. Seriously, why didn’t I work harder? Each different stitch told you something about the person wearing it. Something like a silent introduction before verbally meeting them. I wonder if they actually wore their heart on their sleeve?
The front of the skirt is beautiful and apron-like. It came into the culture sometime after the first World War, from what I understand (again, not an expert, so anyone can correct me) and it has a leaf pattern on the edge – which is of oriental origin. It’s fascinating really, because so much history is in every stitch. I can only imagine out much work the lace was on the edges of the skirt! But I like to imagine someone lovingly stitching their finest work to wear about the village on a beautiful day.
This photo shoot was a dream come true for me. It’s sort of my tribute to the undying Romanian spirit. It’s my way of demonstrating the strength of a people with thousands of years of history, that has –despite so many odds- survived the generations. My only hope is that these photos did them justice.
There is a lot that I am leaving out, mostly because I don’t know how to do explain it in English and part of it because I don’t fully understand all of the symbolism myself. The other part is that I feel I have already written a novel and should give everyone a breather! My hope is, however, that it peaked interest in Romania and their fascinating culture and maybe just maybe makes people curious enough not to get stuck in their own, but adventure into this wonderful wide world we all inhabit.
After all, home is where the heart is, but if you don’t go, how will you know where your heart lies?
Special thanks to:
Dani Hriţac – Our fearless driver along the snowy roads. (Also to Lenuţa, his wife, for letting him come with us.)
Adelina – For being such a sport and posing in the cold for amazing photographs!
The villagers – For lending us a bucket and letting us photograph in front of houses and haystacks.
Cristina, Tiahna, and Laur – For being amazing assistants and lifting me up when I needed help! You are the best!
Alina – For being great company and a great support along the way.
To everyone who fed us (because there were two families!) – You made my day!
Thank you, Lord, for protection and vision.
And to all of you who made it to the end of this post - wow, respect! I really do appreciate it!
~ Alyssa Kay
Sources: https://amfostacolo.ro/romania-pareri,15/hunedoara,92,3905/o-zi-in-ghelari-tinutul-padurenilor,21100/impresii-sejur-si-fotografii-vacanta__44700.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MCJtiVF3r4