Our proposal for the “month artefact”, month which started this year with the Easter Holidays of Orthodox and Greek-Catholic rite, the prosphora seal bears the “Jesus Christ, the Overcomer” or “Jesus Christ overcomes” message in the IC XC NI KA inlaid signs.
Known under several names - “prescurar”, “pristolnic”, “pistornic”, “pecetar” – the prosphora seal (“prescurnicer”) is a cult object,
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In the development of human society, the use of domestic animals’ tractive force was vital both for tillage and transport, remaining important even after motorized traction.
Throughout time, archaic technical solutions were passed on from one generation to another. Among these, we find tools and technical ensembles by which peasants were plowing the land, preparing it for seeding (the plow) or
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In order to establish the size of certain lands, whether they had agricultural or forestry purposes, different units were used, depending on the area and historical period, but also different measuring instruments. One of the most archaic tools of this type is the wooden chain link. Quite commonly used until the early 20th century, these pieces had different lengths depending on the area and they
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Widespread throughout the entire Romanian territory, unitary in shape (elongated rectangle) and structure (piece of linen, cotton, raw silk canvas, etc., adorned with flowers or embroidery, finished in purls or hemmed, often with added lace), huckaback towels differ zonary by ornamentation, name and function. Huckaback towels are encountered as household pieces (‘strecătoare’, ‘merindar’, ‘șervet
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In the traditional Transylvanian village, boys’ groups, children and masked men were sending their good wishes to the community for the year to come, each group having a distinct role. Children were responsible with the singing of carols, on Christmas Eve, who were making abundance wishes in every house, receiving nuts, apples and bread wreaths in return. The church intervened in this archaic
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The artefact of November is măngălău. Also called in certain areas mangalău, tăvălug, maglă, scândură, zolitor, mai de pânză etc., it is made of wood, and in fact it is a long and rectangular board, with a wavy or smooth surface, on which thick cloth laundry, wrapped around a prop, is being rubbed or smoothed. Once the flat iron became widespread in the village world too, the functionality of
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Considering the fact that we are in full hunting season, the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography proposes to you, as artefact of October, the antler gunpowder case, an indispensable object in practising hunting with fire arms at a time when this type of weapons was not yet perfected.
Unlike other types of horns (for eg: cattle horn which was mainly used to make various
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An important part of traditional diet, fruits were considered a source of food in all seasons, being a consistent alternative during fasting periods, whether they were freshly consumed, or kept in the cellar or turned into marmalade (sometimes called “lictar” or “silvoiță”). Some of the fruits were dried for consumption during long winters. These dried fruits were part of the daily diet,
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This type of jug was used for transporting, storing and drinking water. The piece has a bitronconic shape, a domed body, a narrow base, a high and narrow neck, a bilobed mouth, endowed with a holed jigger, in order to prevent impurities from accessing the recipient. The jug is provided with a tube-type handle, endowed with a hole (“nipple” or “țâță”) for drinking. Inside the recipient, there is a
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Since the Universal Day of the Romanian Traditional Blouse (“Ia”) is unofficially celebrated (but perhaps more fastuously) on Midsummer Day (“Sânziene”), the artefact of June at the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography is an “ie” from central Romania. Not any Romanian traditional blouse was named “ie”, this term being used in Wallachia and southern Transylvania; in other regions, the same piece of
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