Located in Burzenland, Prejmer fortified church was initially Roman Catholic, but became Lutheran following the Reformation. Around 1211, King Andrew II of Hungary permitted the Germanic Teutonic Knights to settle around Prejmer, where they began constructing a church in 1218, in Gothic style.
They were responsible for the Greek cross plan, the only one of its
kind in Transylvania, but found in a few churches in northeast Germany. Following their expulsion in 1225, the Cistercians, who took over in 1240, finished the church.
Located not far from Brașov,on the former border between Transylvania and Wallachia, Bran Castle is often erroneously referred to as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker's Dracula, although has only tangential associations with Vlad the Impaler, voivode of Wallachia, the putative inspiration for Dracula. In 1212, Teutonic Knights built the wooden castle of Dietrichstein as a fortified position in the Burzenland at the entrance to the Rucăr-Bran Pass, but in 1242 it was destroyed by the Mongols.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, simultaneous with the advancement of the Kingdom of Hungary's border to the east and south-eastern Transylvania, until its stabilization along the Carpathians, Hungarian kings encouraged Germans and Székelys to colonize the areas newly conquered, in essence for economic and military reasons. The German colonists were named Transylvanian Saxons, despite the fact that most of them came from the western Holy Roman Empire.
The political, economic and social influence exercised by them in the last eight centuries in Transylvania was a major and
beneficial one. Unfortunately after the WWII, but especially after the
fall of communism in Eastern Europe, many members of this community
emigrated to Germany.
3121 Panoramic view of Bucegi Mountains
in the village of Poiana Mărului, Braşov County
The Bucegi Mountains are located at the eastern extremity of the Southern Carpathians, extending between the Prahova Valley to the east and the Rucăr-Bran Corridor and the Ialomiţa Valley to the west, and are delimited to the North by the Bârsa Depression and to the South by the Sub Carpathians of Curvature. Being of a great structural and morphological complexity, the massif appears as a natural fortress, with an enclosure suspended from 1600-2500 m, supported by strong abrupts. The highest point of the massif is the Omu Peak (2514m).
Posted on 28.06.2016, 28.07.2017 Făgăraş, together with Amlaş, constituted during the Middle Ages a traditional Romanian local-autonomy region in Transylvania, on the Olt River. The castle in Făgăraş, whose construction began in 1310 and continued through successive additions until the middle of the 18th century, was preceded by a wooden fort, surrounded by a moat and wave of land, attested to 12th century. This fort, evidence of local feudal political organization as a voivodat, was destroyed in the middle of the 13th century.
3113 The Făgăraş Citadel
In 15th century the fortress had a quadrilateral enclosure with four towers and bastions at the corners and a barricade type tower outpost on the east side. After the splitting of the Hungarian Feudal Kingdom in 1541, following the defeat of Mohács, Transylvania became an autonomous principality under Ottoman suzerainty. In this framework, the domain and the Făgăraş fortress became the property of hereditary princes of Transylvania.
Michael the Brave, ruler of the Wallachia between 1593 and 1601 and the first unifier of the three Romanian countries (Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania) had the title of "herţeg of Făgăraş". In 1599, following the campaign in Transylvania, he comes into possession of the Făgăraş domain and at the end of the year the city and the domain are given to his wife Doamna Stanca, becoming the place to shelter their assets and family. Michael the Brave gave special attention to Făgăraş due to its strategic location.
As everywhere else, in Boholţ, a village located at 12km from Făgăraş, in the right side of the Olt River, at the confluence of the Târnave area with Făgăraş Country, the customs linked by wedding are conducted after an orderliness rooted with a long time ago. The first step is the wooing. For the wooing, at the bride's parents are going only men: the future groom, his father, the godfather, brothers and uncles of the groom. The wooing was also named la învoială (to haggling), because on this occasion was established the girl's dowry.
Posted on 15.02.2017, 24.02.2017
Situated between Bucegi and Piatra Craiului mountains, in Rucăr-Bran Pass, at an altitude between 800 and 1200 m, Moieciu is one of the three commune that make up the Bran area. The Rucăr-Bran Pass is one of the oldest communication routes on Romanian territory, known even before the occupation of Dacia by the Romans in 106 AD. In the Middle Ages was the main link road between Wallachia and Transylvania, through the Carpathian Mountains.
2960 Moieciu
After the occupation of Transylvania by Hungarian royalty, was build the Bran Castle, as an advanced defense point. The six villages that today make up the Moieciu commune were part of the Bran domain, being under the jurisdiction of the Bran castellan. Until not long ago, the mountain agriculture was the main occupation of the inhabitants, the main focus being on livestock. In recent years, the agritourism experienced an unprecedented development, Moieciu becoming one of the most popular tourist areas in Romania.
Bran (Törzburg in German) is a commune composed of five villages (Bran, Poarta, Predeluţ, Şimon and Sohodol), located between Bucegi and Piatra Craiului mountains, in Rucăr-Bran Pass. The medieval Bran Castle, which was once besieged by Vlad the Impaler, is a popular tourist destination, partly because it resembles the home of Dracula in Bram Stoker's famous novel.The legends mention an old man named Bran, master over these lands, who bequeathed them to his 14 sons. In this way were founded the 14 villages which make up the Bran area, grouped today in three communes: Bran, Moeciu and Fundata.
2649 Braşov - Junii Braşoveni (The Brasovian Lads)
When
the heavy snows of the harsh Brașovian winters are gone and spring sun
shines again, it is the time for people from Şcheii Brasovului, the old Romanian
district of Braşov, to start celebrating the renewal. Yearly, they have a
festival, called The Brasovian Lads - Junii Brasoveni (In Transylvania, june means
unmarried young lad) which stretches over weeks, having its climax on
the first Sunday after Easter (when the Orthodox Christians Romanians
celebrate Duminica Tomii - The Sunday of Thomas the Apostle).
2650 Braşov -Junii Tineri in 1905
In
that day, a group of horsemen from Şchei, in nowadays with ceremonial
role, parade through the streets of Brașov, in specific costumes. Feast
is a complex of habits that combines pre-Christian and Christian
practices, to restore the myth of ritual death and rebirth of the
calendar time. The oldest document recorded in which this procession is
mentioned is from 26 March 1728 but it is assumed that the celebration
already existed in antiquity.
2626 The Pentecost in Şona - Lads and girls in the courtyard of the host.
For residents of Şona, a village located on the right bank of the Olt River, at 5 km from Făgăraş, in the ethnographic area of Târnava Mare, the Pentecost (the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus), celebrated by Christians at 50 days after the Easter, is the most important holiday. On this occasion, the group of lads constituted at the Christmas resumes its activity and sing carols to the householders homes, along with the village girls.
2627 The Pentecost in Şona - The cart with girls in the courtyard of the host.
The group of lads on horseback, accompanied by a cart to which, until the 1950s, were yoked the most beautiful oxen, and now the most beautiful horses, is the pride of the village. Even if the celebration has undergone in time changes, it kept some significant archaic elements. After Christmas, the lads chose another leader, named summer mayor, which coordinate the activities of the year, and designated the host (the owner of the most beautiful horses), from who will start the showiness on the day of Pentecost.
2628 The Pentecost in Şona - The showiness of lads
In the past, on the Pentecost eve, the lads gathered oak leaves and twigs of hazel in the woods, and the girls picked field flowers to decorate the cart and horses. In nowadays are made crepe paper flowers. The next morning, the lads wash the horses in the River Olt, and go to the girls, who put woolen blankets with tassels (lepedeu) under saddles, and adorn the harnesses with flowers (căpeţel). Then the lads and girls gather in the courtyard of the host, where is the adorned cart, and go to the church.
Braşov has a unique location at the feet of the Carpathian mountains at one of the most important mountain-passes, so it had to develop a strong defense system. The Citadel on Straja Hill, or Citadel Hill as it's called today, was part of this system, even if it is located outside Braşov, aiming to observe and stop invaders approaching the main fortress of the city. It is thus known as the guarding fortress or the little fortress. Moreover, "strajă" means guardian in Romanian.
Posted on 05.09.2015, 02.03.2016
Located in the Târnavelor Plateau, at a few km from Viscri, the village of Roadeş (Radeln) was first mentioned in a complaint made by count Jakobus to the voivode of Wallachia, where he protests against the violation of his property by the Saxons from Archiud, Roadeş, Criţ, Meşendorf and Sânmiclăuş. The church in Roadeş was built in the second half of the 14th century, and fortified in 15th century. Roadeş has all the characteristics of the Transylvanian Saxon villages, about which I wrote here. Its name comes from the German verb Roden, "to cut trees".
The Csangos (Hungarian: Csángók, Romanian: Ceangăi) are an ethnographic group of Roman Catholic faith, living mostly in Moldavia (especially in Bacău County), and speaking an archaic Hungarian dialect. Some Csangos live also in Burzenland, in Săcele area (once called Şapte Sate, which means Seven Villages), but they are of Evangelical Lutheran faith.In three of these villages (Ţărlungeni, Purcăreni and Zizin) was preserved an ancient dance named borica, in the past a rite of fertility addressed to the family, the homestead, the earth, the animals, and also a practice of initiating the young men.
2157 Borica dance - Kuka
The dance is performed in the third day of Christmas, the Day of the Holy Children, at the performance participating young men from 15-16 years of age (in even numbers), best dancers and connoisseurs of the traditional customs.They wear the traditional costume of Csangos: fur hat adorned with a red carnation and a nagara (a red feather), white shirt, black cloth waistcoat, black pants and boots with sleigh bells. In the past, during the dance they kept in his right hand a hatchet, replaced in modern times with a little wooden shovels named lapocka (in Purcăreni and Ţărlungeni) or pyrographed sticks (in Zizin).
2158 Borica dance - little wooden shovel (lapocka)
Above all, they form a procession after a well-established order. In front are the fiddlers, then follows the vatáf (the usher), the two rudas (the main dancers), one or two kuka (a masked man), and then the rest of the dancers. The vatáf holds a bull leather whip (bikocsok), a symbol of power, with which coordinates the movements of the dance. The kuka bears a zoomorphic wooden mask, adorned with feathers. At the waist has bells, and in the right hand a leather whip, with which frighten the people. He is a speechless character, all his actions being linked to the pantomime.
The lads stop at each house, and the kuka and one of the dancers ask permission to perform in the yard. The dancers are arranged in half circles, with the vatáf at one end, and at the other with the two rudas, who go backwards. The dance is composed of four distinct moments. While the lads dance, the kuka try to attract attention to himself, walking in the yard and collecting various objects, which the host must redeem them. In the past, the dancers were rewarded with meat, sausages, sauerkraut and bacon, which they put on a long stick or in baskets. Today they only get money and drink.
In 12th and 13th centuries, kings of Hungary colonized Transylvania with Germans, to defend the new southeastern border of the kingdom but also to develope the area. After 1211, they built in Burzenland, along a strategic road leading to the Buţii Pass, 14 settlements, including Sânpetru (Petersberg). Also at that time, King Andrew II of Hungary invited the Teutonic Knights to settle and defend the Burzenland. Even if in 1225 the king expelled the Order from the area, alarmed by their rapidly expanding power, the colonists remained, and the settlement lasted until the present.
2081 Sânpetru - The interior of
the evangelical church
The colonists were named Transylvanian Saxons, but actually they came primarily from the Rhine Valley. The mainly three arguments are the language (a Franconian dialect), the names of the settlements (for instance are two Petersberg near to Trier), and the plan of the settlement. It is noteworthy that the settlers founded the village along the road above mentioned, with two almost parallel streets (the main street - Vordergasse, and the cemetery street - Hintergasse) between 1211-1225, the feature that lasts until today.
2082 Sânpetru - A frescoe from the chapel of the fortified church
In the center of the commune is a fortified church, used by locals as a refuge in case of danger. The tradition relates the beginning of the construction of the basilica to the presence of the Teutonic Knights and the ending with to the Cistercian monks who took over the construction site after the knights were banished; most probably the church was built at the beginning of the 14th century. After the devastating Turkish invasion in 1432, the community built an 8m high defensive wall fortified with 5 towers and a water trench.
2083 An anatolian carpet that belonged to the Lutheran Church,
now in the Black Church in Brasov
The Romanesque basilica was dismantled in 1794, after the belfry had collapsed over the church. The three nave hall church built later in a neoclassic style has the choir orientated towards the west. The ceiling of the church is supported by four pairs of octagonal pillars and the aisles were provided with lofts. The belfry placed on the east was built in 1817. To the curtain wall was annexed a 13th century long and narrow building with successive rooms which functioned as cells for the Cistercian monks. Some of them preserved traces of paintings.
