The processing of natural fibers of plant and animal origin within the peasant household was done with relatively simple tools, ensuring the satisfaction of their own needs for clothing and interior textiles.
The negative on glass made by Romulus in 1913, in Hățăgel village, Hunedoara county, captures one of the operations preceding weaving: placing the warp on the warp beam (the back one) of the loom, outside, by three women and a man. Placing the warp on the beam was done in two ways: outside, when the weather was good, and inside, directly at the loom, when the weather was not favorable. Wrapping the warp on the outside meant that the spinning roll was placed between two sticks fixed in the ground. One end of the warp is attached to the roll, and the other is stretched and fixed with various weights, on the opposite side. Wrapping the warp on the outside meant that the warp beam was placed between two wooden sticks fixed in the ground. One end of the warp is attached to the beam, while the other is stretched and fixed with various weights, on the opposite side.
In order to make the work easier, several people would join. The man in the picture spins the beam with the help of a mechanism, while the woman next to him watches the warp fixation on the beam with the help of hazel rods. To avoid tangling the warp threads, the other two women ensure that they are placed equally, with the help of rods. The man and women are dressed up in folk’s costumes from Hațeg Country. The man wears a round hat made of black fur with a wide bottom (“căița laie”); a knee-long shirt; a knee-long “laibăr” with rolled-up sleeves, made of fleece, decorated on edges with “bârnași” (wool braided chenilles); woolen trousers; socks and sandals with tips, tied with ankle straps. Women’s ‘horned’ comb, specific to the area, is covered with a long ‘propoadă’, made of white home-woven cloth or commercially procured “cârpă” (kerchief).
The shirt worn by one of the women is made of woven cloth and has wide sleeves finished with “fodori”. Over the shirt, two of the women wear the short “laibăr”, up to the waist, made of fleece, with sleeves rolled up at the bottom, decorated on the edges and sleeve with “bârnași”, in colors that varied according to age and locality. Women wear “laibăr” over the shirt or a stuffed breastplate made of sheepskin, ending under the arm, with little ornamentation, centrally placed, hemmed at the edges, around the neck and at the pockets. Over the hems of the shirt (“inia”), women tied the shorter “catrințoi”, plain or with stripes, in the front, and the longer “catrințoi” in the back. Women wear socks, being shoed with sandals with tips, tied with belts. The cliché, registered with title “Laying the warp on the beam”, with inventory no. 41, is made in the gelatino-silver bromide technique on glass support, with dimensions of 9 cm x 12 cm.
Photo: the MET archive