The Romanian Ia (which is a Romanian traditional blouse) has an antiquity that spans almost twenty centuries, reaching back in history to the time of the Dacians, two millennia ago.

The blouses worn by the women and men of the Carpathian-Danubian-Pontic lands have accompanied the troubled history of our people, but also our development and definition as a nation.

Coming closer to our days, we learn from the artistic consultant of the "Carmen Saeculare" Centre for Culture and Arts Neamt, Valentin Andrei, that the crafting activity of tailoring in the area of Moldavia developed especially in the feudal period, particularly in rural areas, in the 17th and 18th centuries.

"From the 19th century onwards, the crafting activity also flourished within towns, where there were guilds of tailors, furriers, skinners, etc. (...) who worked skirts, silk and fabrics. The domestic textile industry excelled in the working of cotton, hemp, flax and wool, from which cloths, clothing items and coats were made. The variety and beauty of the folk costume in the ethnographic area of Neamt can be explained by the extensive development of the crafts that produced clothing pieces and the domestic textile industry," Valentin Andrei told AGERPRES.

The ethnographic area of Neamt county is divided into three sub-units - Bistritei Valley area, Neamt area with four sub-areas - Targu Neamt, Razboieni, Piatra-Neamt and Campul lui Dragos and Roman area.

"In the mountain area, Bistritei Valley, the traditional costume includes darker, predominantly black models, while in the hill areas (Targu Neamt and its surroundings) and even lower (Roman and its surroundings) the color opens up, with red being preferred. In the old days, the traditional costume was used mainly in rural areas. Peasants dressed for the days of the week in the simplest clothes possible: men in tight trousers and shirts, women in long blouses over which they placed a traditional apron. Both the blouses and the traditional aprons were modestly adorned with patterns, most of them not at all. For Sundays or holidays, the common people chose to dress themselves in festive clothes, beautifully decorated with local designs. (...)," Valentin Andrei explained.

While in the mountainous areas, linen or hemp cloth woven in cotton were used to make the festive shirts, in the lower areas (Roman), it was used the short and curly wool, spun through the bead.

"At the end of the 19th century, cotton and floss silk appeared. The cloth of mastic hair (thin cotton) and mastic cloth (thick cotton) began to replace the short and curly wool cloth, and the floss silk was used for various occasions. One of these, the wedding, had the groom's shirt made from such cloth. The short and curly wool cloth, cotton or floss silk were decorated with stripes of different colors from warp called picot. These were made with thick white cotton," Valentin Andrei said.

The oldest, archaic pieces, over a hundred years old and even better, are kept today in the chests, the former dowry boxes of grandmothers and great-grandmothers.

Such traditional costumes are of unquestionable artistic and documentary value, the most valuable dating from the second half of the 19th century, when the development of folk art reached its peak.

"The developmentof wearing the Ia in the urban environment takes a significant turn with the promotion of the Romanian Ia by Queen Maria. She probably took over the idea from her predecessor, Queen Elisabeta, who, in the privacy of the Peles Castle, often wore the popular Romanian blouse. Thanks to the photographer of the time, Adolph Chevallier, a Romanian born in Brosteni - Neamt county, with a Swiss father and a Romanian mother, today, we have splendid images in which the direct granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the UK was a model for the ladies of the upper class, many of whom later chose to wear, not only on holidays, the blouse of their great-grandmothers. A son of Bistritei Valley, a fine connoisseur of traditions and customs, as well as of the life of the villagers, Adolph Chevallier also captured for the future various rural characters. So today we have a visual testimony of the beauty of Romanian women, a beauty enhanced by wearing their traditional costume," Valentin Andrei said.

For those who carry out their professional activity under the flag of the "Carmen Saeculare" Centre for Culture and Arts Neamt, wearing the traditional costume or at least some elements of it represents a double duty - says Valentin Andrei.

As of 2001, the Centre has also been home to the "Floricica de la munte" (Flower from the mountain) Folklore Ensemble, an artistic group that features instrumentalists, vocal soloists and dancers.

On the stages of the county, across the country and abroad, the members of the ensemble proudly wear the traditional costumes of the areas of Moldavia, Oasului, Maramures, Ardeal, Oltenia, Muntenia, Dobrogea, the repertoire of the ensemble being from all these areas.

For the creation of the costumes, over the years, the coordinators of the ensemble's activities have called upon folk craftsmen from these areas.

"I like to dress up in Ia because it makes me feel closer to my roots, to my grandparents, to the home where I grew up, to my first artistic activities," the artistic director of the "Carmen Saeculare" Centre for Culture and Arts, choreographer Dedilia Popovici stated.

''Wherever I am, I wear it with pride and gratitude for what we were, are and will be as a people. I had the opportunity to experience many special moments with the folk costume, but one that has remained in my heart was in the winter of 2019, when the 'Floricica de la munte' Folklore Ensemble celebrated the National Day at the Romanian Embassy in London. A patriotic performance attended by the Romanian community in London," Ioana Gurau brought to mind.

"The folk costume represents an unwritten book of every Romanian woman. It has its own aura, unique in its own way, thanks to the stories told through weaving, stitching and those thought or uttered during the creative process," soloist Paula Andrei said, in her turn.

''Wearing the traditional costume is for me like a beautiful spell which I don't want to ever break. I believe that it combines beauty, richness, expressiveness, self-love and love for the roots," soloist Georgiana Serban Axinte believes.

Dancer Silviu Soroaga says that wearing the folk costume gives him a feeling of direct expression of the national side and preservation of the purely Romanian traditions and customs inherited from his ancestors.

For soloist Laurentiu Marian, wearing the traditional costume is more than a simple clothing, it is an expression of cultural identity and personal values.

Choreographer and dancer Marius Lupu says that the feeling given by wearing the folk costume is that of strengthening the national spirit, bringing the entire body into a pure emotion. AGERPRES (RO - author: Gabriel Apetrii, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - editor: Rodica State)

Photos source: "Carmen Saeculare" Neamt Centre for Culture and Arts