De la Borten la vălitură. Etape din viață, simbolism și morfologie stilistică. Bortenele din colecția Muzeului ASTRA
From Borten to Vălitură. Symbolism and Stylistic Morphology of Bortene In the Collection of ASTRA Museum

Summary/Abstract: Borten (the hat made of black velvet) belongs to the category of folk costume accessories of the Saxon woman in Transylvania – present in all communities and mainly obeying the same paradigm. In this study, we want to present the woman's metamorphosis from child to adult, through the symbolism of head adorning element, mainly the manufacture of borten, its function, and the completion of the cycle by reaching the next stage in life, the adult married woman identified through vălitura placed on her head. We want to show all of this through seven bortene selected from ASTRA Museum’s collection. Through this overview, we learn that this ritualistic hat was inherited from the German community. It is an item that adapts to the religious and memorial requirements. Stories describing acts of courage are associated with borten. They impose a strict moral conduct that must be obeyed by the person wearing it. It is assigned to an age of transition, from the innocence of the adolescence to the responsibility of adulthood. It is associated with the search and creation of individual moral character through the understanding of rules, and through the acknowledgment of those rules that reflect society’s expectations. The symbolic moment when one stops wearing borten and takes on vălitura represents a child's loss of innocence, and stepping into a new life stage, that of married woman who will embrace motherhood in the future.

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