Maramures

Maramureş is a historically self-contained area of north-west Romania. Its enchantment lies in its pastoral landscapes, its vigorously independent and hardworking people and their extraordinary traditions. Sheltered and isolated by the Carpathian Mountains on three sides, Maramureş was never collectivised which means that its character remains largely the same as it was before the communist take-over. And while the authorities suppressed some of the customs that make the place so special, many of them have been revived, not for the tourist trade but because the Moroşeni want to preserve them.

If you are there at the right time of year, you can participate in ceremonies to celebrate the best ploughman (and the start of Spring), to measure milk production and in special customs that accompany birth, marriage and death. The Moroşeni have a rich and intricate belief system which has survived because they are isolated from the rest of Romania by mountains which surround them on three sides. Here, separate strands of mythology and religion are so closely woven together that they are inextricable.

The landscape is bound to change as the pressures of a capitalist economy begin to bite but for now, this is a place that seems lost in antiquity, where people have time for each other and still see the point of practising skilful crafts such as pottery, weaving and woodcarving handed down from previous generations. The mountains are rich in non-ferrous metals and it is a mining area but at present there is very little industry to disturb the peace.