Romanian dress
Encyclopedia
Romanian dress refers to the traditional clothing worn by Romanians
, who live primarily in Romania
and Moldova
, with smaller communities in Ukraine
and Serbia
. Today, a strong majority of Romanians wear Western-style dress on most occasions, and the garments described here largely fell out of use during the 20th century. However, they can still be seen in more remote areas, on special occasions, and at ethnographic and folk events. Each historical region
has its own specific variety of costume.
The seven main regions are:
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
, who live primarily in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, with smaller communities in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. Today, a strong majority of Romanians wear Western-style dress on most occasions, and the garments described here largely fell out of use during the 20th century. However, they can still be seen in more remote areas, on special occasions, and at ethnographic and folk events. Each historical region
Historical regions of Romania
At various times during the late 19th and 20th centuries, Romania extended over the following historical regions:Wallachia:*Muntenia or Greater Wallachia: as part of Wallachia, joined Moldavia in 1859 to create modern Romania;...
has its own specific variety of costume.
Ethnographic Regions
Romanian traditional clothing can be classified according to seven traditional regions.These can be further subdivided by ethnografic zones, which may range between 40 and 120, depending on the criteria used.The seven main regions are:
- Transilvania|Transilvania-Ardeal
- The western plains: Câmpia Mureșului Inferior ; Câmpia Crișurilor (Crișul Negru, Crișul Alb, Crișul Repede); Câmpia Someșului inferior (Țara Oașului)
- Banat, including Lunca Timișului and Caraș-Severin.
- Valahia, including Oltenia și Muntenia.
- The lower Danube, including Bărăgan, Dobrogea and southern Moldova.
- Moldova, including Basarabia, Bucovina and Transnistria.
- Balcans or Romanians of the Balcanic peninsula, which can be further subdivided into four areas
- The Daco-Romanians along the borders: Cadrilater (Bulgaria), Timoc (north-western Bulgaria and eastern Serbia), Voivodina/Serbian Banat and in Ukraine (especially around Cernăuți and Odesa)
- Istroromanians in Istria, Croatia
- Macedoromanians (or "aromanians") in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia.
- Meglenoromanians in Greece and Macedonia.