Dragomiresti, the museum of the Romanian peasant woman

The Museum of the Peasant Woman is located in the village of Dragomiresti. It is hosted in a traditional house of the Maramures area, made of stone, wood and adobe, having a relatively small interior yard where one may find objects used by local peasant women.

The tree in the courtyard typical to this area has the bowls of the family hanging on its branches. The number of bowls is indicative of a certain family’ welfare and they are of different colors. The red bowl on top of the tree means that the girl in the family is not married yet.

The museum was founded in order to celebrate the woman as mother, grandmother, wife, sister or friend and her role as engine of life. The Maramures peasant woman is the one who kept alive over the centuries the Christian faith, the traditional customs, the folk costumes and the language.

Inside the museum one can admire exhibits such as:

• the spindle with `turgalau` which has a legend: in order to be loved by a girl, a lad in the village gave her a spindle as a present telling her that if she found the piece which once taken out it would unweave the spindle, they would break up; as the girl didn’t find that piece, she began to like the lad and got together;
• tools specific to weaving in hemp, linen and wool;
• the tree with hanging bowls;
• typical kinds of fancy bread for different occasions and celebrations;
• masks worn by young men on different religious holidays;
• the dowry of a girl, consisting of loom-woven counterpanes, pillows, sheets, etc. all vividly colored and beautifully decorated with geometrical and floral motifs;
• the oven used for cooking but also for sleeping ;
• the folk costumes typical to every village in the region of Maramures;