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DOMESTIC TEXTILES

The skill of spinning and weaving, so widespread in Romania and so appreciated in the household o! "Mehedinti, till nowadays, is lost as origin in far off time.

For the development of the skill so necessary to the satisfaction of some demands of life as the clothing and the arrangement of the dwelling, the raw material was needed. In Mehedinti the materials used were : the wool, goat hair, hemp, flax, cotton and much later the cocoon silk.

The utensils used throughout Mehedinti are few ones and similar to those from the close areas : shears for the sheep, comb for wool, brake or beater for taking out the stems from the hemp and flax, the wheel for •drawing the cocoon silk and the distaff.

The operations preceding the weaving, the reeling, the winding, the warping which are done with simple tools as the reeling device, the winder, the reel, the warper, do not present particular characteristics.

In Mehedinti, unlike the Dol] neighbouring area, the skill of weaving has developed in the greatest part strictly within the framework of the peasant household. Neither in the northern side, nor in the villages of the -so-called "boyars of Motru" there have been not developed workshops of "chilimene" (rugs) and nor attached to the Strehaia monastery, so as it happened in Craiova or Tismana. In the villages of Mehedinti, where the tex¬tiles have fulfilled within the interior of the dwelling merely a functional role and much more later a decora¬tive one, each woman worked to meet the demands of her household.

Classified according to the material from which they are worked, the textiles of Mehedinti are divided into several categories :

1. woolen textiles ;
2. hemp textiles j
3. cotton textiles ;
4. flax textiles ;
5. cocoon silk textiles.

Utilizing the available raw material, the creators of Mehedinti achieved a multifarious gamut of textiles. From the viewpoint of the functional character, the textiles of Mehedinti can also be classified in seve¬ral distinct groups :

a) fabrics for wrapping the bed or for covering ;
b) decorative fabrics for the interior ;
c) fabrics made for the manufacture of various articles of dress ;
d) fabrics connected with various customs.

According to their variety, the textiles of Mehedinti are quite unitary. The same categories were used tooth in the north as well as in the south of the county. What differentiates the textiles made by the mountain women of Izverna and Closani, from those from the Danube is only the chromatics, sober in the north, vivid and brilliant in the south. A certain difference is also marked by the larger number of textiles with deco¬rative character, made of cotton and cocoon silk which is met in the southern villages. Notwithstanding, the unity of the fabrics of Mehedintl is very conspicuous and stands out within the framework of Oltenia with some-particular, well defined features.

The woolen fabrics meant for covering the bed bear different names : "zaveada" — in the north of the county i "scoarta" — both in the north as well as in the south; "velinta" in several villages on the bank of the Danube. The most widespread term is of "scoarta", which indicates sometimes also fabrics put on the wall. The difference according to the denomination has not only the significance of the geographical position in which it is used but also designs distinct categories as form and sometimes even as ornament.

The decorative textiles for the interior, destined to the display on the wall stretching along the bed, were not always spread in all Mehedinti villages and have played a less significant role in the past. As the plans of the peasant dwelling were amplified through the addition of a guest room, the decorative textiles, named with a general term "scoarte" (rugs), started to be worked specially for this purpose. The fact had as a result a greater care for the blending of the colours, the amplification of the rows of selection in the loom and the reduction of the registers with horizontal stripes, the emergence of new decorative motifs, vegetal, anthropo¬morphic and zoomorphic unused until then.

So there appears about 70 years aqo. in villages as Ilovat.. Bala, Nodanova, Podeni, Ciresu, a series of rugs with which the stripes are interpolated by hand selected motifs, alternating rhythmically from one end to the other, both from the viewpoint of the distribution of ornaments, as well as of the colours.

In the chromatics of the rugs, there appear vivid colours, in harmonious blend, amongst which the most frequent are : black, red, white, green, cherry — coloured, yellow. It is noticed, in the chromatics of these rugs, a preference for the dark spaces, bordered by bright spaces — black and white, red and white, green and white.

Within the framework of the decorative fabrics for the interior, there are enscribed the bolsters and the pillows made of wool, which were compulsory part and parcel of the dowry.

The table cloth is also an important decorative piece. They form a unitary ensemble from the ornamental viewpoint, with the sheets and the chest 'masoaie", the fabrics which the pile on the bottom drawer are covered with.

A piece which has fulfilled an important decorative role within the interior of the peasant dwelling, for almost a century and a half, was the towel.

The ornamentation of the towel is more often than not geometric or with geometric motifs, such as: the tree of life accompanied by birds, the vine with birds, the solar motif in various forms. Sometimes, as an echo of the cultural exchanges with the neighbouring area of Dolj, in the ornamentation work of the towels in the south, there appear representations of women with crinoline dresses and small umbrellas, horsemen in knights' dresess, Turks with yataghans in hand.

The chromatics of the older towels is reduced to two or three hues : red, black, blue. Gradually there appear more vivid colours, especially with the embroideries : yellow, green, light blue.

Pieces destined to the weddings or to the sponsorships, the towels which are offered to the guests at table are woven of fine and richly decorated materials.

The pieces destined to the burial are sober but carefully worked.

Considered as a whole, the domestic textiles from the Mehedin{i county are making part and parcet of the family of the pieces characteristic to Oltenia, from which they differentiate themselves through a greater sobriety in the decoration and colour. According to the artistic aspect they reach, just because of this reason a particular refinement, demonstrating the talent and the craftsmanship of the folk art creators of this area of the country and enriching the Romanian artistic patrimony.

Architecture | Folk Costumes | The Interior | Domestic Textiles
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