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The Land of Haţeg is a historical and ethnographical region in Hunedoara County, in the South-Western corner of Transylvania. It includes the basin with the same name, but its „influence zone" also includes towns on the course of the Strei River, to its fall into the Mureş. Surrounded on all sides by mountains, the Haţegului basin is one of the most picturesque areas of Romania. Here can be found a few of the most important monuments of architecture and archaeology of Romania.
In regard to ethno-folkloric heritage, the area of the Country of Haţeg is interesting and significant. The fabrics from Haţeg are priceless, especially those from around the Baieşti Pui villages, as well as the stylish popular clothing, where the black and white combination gives a special subtlety. Unfortunately, these clothes are rarely used by the inhabitants of the area. Only on special holidays can one admire the men's costume with long trousers, broad belt and short („laibar"), and the women's costume composed of smock, skirt front („opreg"), peasant skirt („catrină") and singlet („pieptar").
The wood working, especially the inlay work (from Clopotiva), and certain folk architecture pieces are remarkable in their originality and special artistic sense. The „Haţeganele" and the „Caluşer" are the preferred types of the folk dancing.

The Land of Pădureni is an elevated plain, located between the basin of the Haţeg region to the south, the Mureş Valley to the north, and on the west side by the inhabited heights of the Poiana Ruscăi Mountains.
The ethnographic area of the Pădureni is a very unique locality, with an unprecedented spiritual dowry of great depth. Isolated by a belt of woods, the Pădureni population lives in small villages, located on peaks and crests of hills, divided by deep valleys where small rills flow. Here, due to these special geographic conditions, developed one of the most unique folk cultures. The Pădureni are an individual, coheasive population in all the aspects: Houses, the folk clothing, the occupations, and so on. Their life principles reflect an exceptional unity in all its manifestations. So the Pădureni are a great and unique family and they represent the most interesting ethnographic enclave of Transylvania.
The Pădureni region is comprised of forty villages. The inhabitants from these villages communicate continuously with each other, every holiday giving them the opportunity of visiting each other and of creating long-lasting bonds. Some of the greater communes, like Cerbalul, Bunila, Lelese, and Ghelar spiritually dominate this isolated region. Thus, Cerbalul dictates the clothing fashion; Bunila is the centre for artistic wooden and metal handicrafts; while Lelese maintains its first position in the textile industry.
The folk construction and decoration of dwellings is less developed in Pădureni, and the making of pottery is not present in the region. Still the houses draw the attention upon themselves by their proportion, the roof being sometimes two or three times higher than the walls.
What is really spectacular in Pădureni is the folk costume, having its own very strong personality. It is a costume that from the structural point of view belongs to the typology of the Transylvanian costume, but it has a unique line: A straight silhouette, resulting from the line of the two, sober black skirt fronts (part of women's traditional costume, from which coloured threads hang), which tightly cover the woman's lower body, and contrast to the voluminous top, which abounds in colour and decorations.
The inhabitants of Pădureni have always known how to create culture within important events, thus there are many songs sung by the young men before coming of age and marriage, when coming home from wars, the wedding of Pădureni (Nunta pădurenescă), the Song of the Fir tree (Cântecul Bradului) sung by women or girls when a young man is buried, and other customs specific to the region.

 
 
 




 
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