Rochia miresii – o piesă vestimentară inedită de la Gura Râului
The Wedding Dress from the Past, from Gura Râului, Sibiu County – A Unique Garment

Summary/Abstract: The wedding dress from the past, from the village of Gura Râului, Sibiu County – a type of white sarafan, obviously worn in the first half of the 20th century, up until the 1960s, by the bride on her wedding day over the Romanian traditional costume – is a unique garment that has not yet been studied. This article aims to present the current state of our research: we seek to answer questions or propose hypotheses regarding how this garment came to be in the village, which styles of old bridal gowns appear most frequently in the photographs found in the field, how the bridal gown was acquired and worn, what memories the elderly women in the village have regarding this gown, in which years the dress appears most frequently in photographs of brides from Gura Râului, why its wearing was eventually abandoned, and in which localities we have identified photographs of brides wearing a similar dress. What do these brides have in common? How has this dress evolved over time? Could there be a Saxon influence? Given that such a garment no longer physically exists in the village, the analysis I conducted was based on studying old photographs, interviewing elderly women in the village or Saxon women who lived in the Sibiu area, discussing the matter with specialists from ASTRA Museum in Sibiu, consulting books and albums on traditional folk costumes etc. Here is a unique garment that has sparked some very interesting research.

• Details
• Contents