The elegance, refinement and beauty of women’s clothing from Woodsmen Land are also highlighted by the adornment worn by girls and women, around neck and waist. Full of artistic individuality, the adornment represents a harmonious union between material, technique and functionality, creating an unlimited world of patterns and colors. Adornment worn during holidays marked the social status, marital status and age of the wearers within the community.
The adornment around the neck, worn by women from Woodsmen Land, was made by themselves, as illustrated in the negative made by Romulus Vuia, in 1923. In the image, there is a girl dressed up in a folk costume, sitting on a flagstone, weaving a “letițar”. “Letițar” is a kind of braid made of very small beads strung on several threads, imitating a cloth decorated with geometric motifs (“pizar” - “S”- shaped motif). The girl’s head is covered with a colorful, flowered headscarf purchased commercially. In her ears, she has earrings, and a flower on each temple. Around her neck, the young woman wears two bead strings with elongated beads and “lătiță” (“șiptari”) that has coins at its corners. The long shirt, made of homemade cloth, has wide sleeves starting from the collar, a deep mouth, placed centrally, and in the middle of the mouth, there is a button. The solid, compact decoration of the shirt, worked in a kind of curled seam (“ațește” and “șinorește”) is disposed on the collar, chest, sleeves and lap. The geometric motifs sewn on the chest, on either side of the mouth, form two wide, waist-length strips (named “foi de ciupag”). The “rows” on the shirt’s sleeves form a unitary, compact sheet and they represent the characteristic element of women’s shirt from Woodsmen Land.
These “rows” are usually sewn with cotton threads, with specific geometric motifs that have local names. For example: “budiană” - the motif of the rhombus with crossed heads; “hooks” - cross surrounded by a rhombus with hooks. Parallel to the “rows” on the sleeve, towards the chest, there is a narrow strip sewn with motifs in the shape of small rhombuses (called “alciță”, “altiță”, “p-altiță”), with the role of ending the sheets’ edges. The laps have, at the bottom, at the junction of the back and front with the side gussets, motifs sewn in vertical, narrow, dark rows. Over her laps, in the back, the girl wears a dark skirt (“opreg”), and in front she has a shorter apron (“șurț”), which leaves visible the seam on laps. The cliché, registered with title “Intertwining of letițars”, with inventory no. 168, is made in the gelatin-silver bromide technique on glass support, with dimensions of 9 cm x 12 cm.
Photo: MET archive