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Customs – spiritual treasures of the village, kept in memories

An old saying says that one who doesn’t have old people, should buy some.

The veracity of what is said is also proved by the ones presented below, testimonies of past times, which now find their place in the dowry box of the Romanian people.

The bringing to light of the archaic life related in the following lines is due to the memory and storytelling talent of a resident of Costești village, a locality on the way to Sarmizegetusa Regia. With great love and respect she recounts customs from her youth or customs that she did not catch either, but heard them told by her mother or grandmother.

The fortune telling custom

Half a century ago, in the rural areas of the Orăştioara Valley, the young women ready to be married tried different ways of guessing the one who was going to be their husband, so on the New Year’s Eve they were laid on the table with their mouth down, nine plates under which they sat: bread, salt, a ring, charcoal, spittle, wool, comb, soap.

Half a century ago, in the rural areas of Orăștioara Valley, young women in their marriage tried various methods to guess who was to be their husband, so on New Year’s Eve they would sit at the table with their mouths below, nine plates under which they sat: bread, salt, ring, coal, spindle, wool, comb, soap. The girls, blindfolded, were asked to lift a plate, and depending on what was under it, the young woman’s future husband was foretold. It was a lot of fun for future spouses because each object under the plate was a defining feature of it, as follows: charcoal – black, spindle – playful, mirror – beautiful, bread – rich, ring – slender and phallus, comb – angular , wool – shepherd, soap – unwashed.

Old customs are still practiced today, and travelers looking for the old world find fragments from it in the Tansylvania hotels area.

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