Raising sheep is one of the oldest forms of farming in Romania. In legends such as the Mioriţa - a poem created in the 19th century from oral sources which tells the story of a brave shepherd who sacrifices himself for the sake of his flock - it’s also connected to myths of national unity and independence. The image of the shepherd is so familiar in European religion, literature and mythology that it’s almost a cliche, and although shepherds are not always shown as good, kind, wise, self-reliant and heroic - like the boy who became King David or the shepherds who carried the news of the Protestant Reformation secretly across Europe - this view is still potent. So is its obverse. In western legends and literature, shepherds are also seen as marginal, nomadic and ungovernable and in Britain at any rate, farmers don’t have a terribly good press.
Myth or reality, past or present, this project aims to let shepherds have their own voice. The recordings will be made in several different regions of Romania but starting with one of the most famous areas for all things sheepish, Marginimea Sibiului (in the southern Carpathian Mountains), and moving on to the Apuseni Mountains (Bucium and Mogoş), the Banat (Rudăria), Maramureş (Slătioara and Surdeşti) and Moldavia.
One of the fascinating things about transhumance in Marginimea Sibiului is the fact that so many shepherds drove their flocks overland to far away places. Their journeys (always carried out on foot) took them south to Serbia, Greece and Macedonia, west to the Banat and east to Dobrogea, Bessarabia (modern day Moldova), southern Russia (Ukraine), the Crimea and the Caucasus. The reason for their going was usually lack of sufficient grazing at home but even if they stayed away for years at a time they never forgot where they came from. During the mid- to late 19th century and the early 20th century, lots of Margineni settled in Russia. Those that stayed until the 1930s were trapped by Stalin’s brutal regime. Some of those that escaped had children, grand-children or great grand-children who are still alive. Their stories of prosperity followed by terror have never been recorded until now.
The Welsh Connection
I also want to compare and contrast Romanians’ sheep-farming experiences with those of shepherds in Wales where I live. By exchanging stories, memories and experiences (via the internet, DVD, or personal contact) I hope that it will bring people in both countries closer in touch.
Sheep hefted on the Preseli Mountains of
south-west Wales. A heft is an English term for an area of unfenced land where a farmer encourages his sheep to graze. Once they’ve got to know their place they’ll stay there without roaming too far away.
In Welsh, this area is called yr arosfa
A flock during winter transhumance on its way across Transylvania from Răşinari to Satu Mare
The chief shepherd (baciu) of the flock (shown opposite) with his dogs
Photo courtesy of Muzeul Etnografic, Sălişte, Sibiu
View across the Apuseni Mountains
between Bucium Poieni and Mogos, about 5pm, October 2008
Carpathian sheepdog - bred for protecting
rather than herding sheep.
This is one of Liviu
Marian’s twelve dogs.
Liviu Marian, from Mogoş,
Alba county, one of the shepherds
who has contributed to this project
Costache, from Bucium Poieni, wearing a traditional shepherds’ pot hat made of felt. He grazes his sheep on the mountains near Liviu.
There are only a few other sheep farmers who still use the Apuseni mountain ranges for this purpose.
Liviu Marian’s flock consists mainly of hardy Turcana sheep. In the background on the right you can just make out the grey back and neck of the donkey which he uses to carry his food while he’s out on the ranges.
This flock numbers about 1000 head and they all belong to Liviu. He stays with them 24/7, sleeping out with them in a homemade cot when they return to his fold at night.
Transhumance:
Stories from Romania and Wales
A project funded by the Raţiu Foundation
and Helen Maclagan
Din când e transhumanţa? Din când e lumea şi pământul
(How old is transhumance? As old as the world and the soil)
Eleven hard years of living out in all weathers are recalled by this former shepherd from Bucium Poieni in the Apuseni Mountains.
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