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- Udatorii from Surdesti, Agricultural HolidayThe Magic of Books in Romanian Popular LegendsThe “Living Fire”Dream and Sign Interpretation in RomaniaThe Girl Fair of Mount GainaRomanian Wedding TraditionsEaster – The Most Important Christian HolidayDragobete – The Lost Romanian God of Love and LoversRomanian Spring Traditions
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The Girl Fair of Mount Gaina
Near Mount Gaina you’ll witness one of the most interesting traditions of Romania: the Gaina Girl Fair, taking place each year in the Sunday closest to July 20. Known as "targul de fete", this is the greatest outdoor holiday of the country and it hosts the greatest traditional song and dance groups from Romania.
The history of this celebration was lost in the mist of time, but Mount Gaina was mentioned by Strabon, "the father of geography", who claimed that Dacians had a "cogaiom" mountain near their capital, Sarmisegetuza, where they made their sacrifices. Gaina is probably the peak where Dacians invoked their Gods and offered them such sacrifices.
The girl fair is first mentioned officially in 1816 with people from all over Romania taking part in it, specially those from the Bihor, Aries and dwelling near the river Crisul Alb. They’ll exchange traditional products, like food or clothing and have a good time singing old songs and taking part in dances. This place is not only a symbol of Dacian traditions, but also one of the landmarks of the local "gold rush", as the precious metal seemed to have been widespread in this area.
Christian tradition placed this holiday in the second decade of July, so it'll be close to the celebration of Saint Ilie. The girl fair of Mount Gaina also has economical reasons, like the need of buying or selling various products, including girls, but only symbolically. The festivities of the girl fair take place in a beautiful local forest, surrounded by fir trees and situated at 1467 metres altitude.
There's also a romantic and ethnic motivation of the fair, as young people who live in very remote regions get together in this celebration, meet each other and sometimes fall in love and get married. In the past, girls would arrive at the fair with their dowry on their horses and the marriage was done on the spot by priests who came to mount Gaina for this purpose alone.
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2 Comments to “The Girl Fair of Mount Gaina”
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Jennifer Veall says:
Hello,
I am writing from Bounty Books in London who are publishing a book called ‘501 Must Be There Events’. Two of the events featured are the Pageant of the Juni in Brasov and the Maidens’ Fair on Mount Gaina. We would very much like to include photographs of them if possible and I am hoping that you may be able to help with this.The book will have a worldwide distribution and offers information and recommendations about where and when to visit events and festivals throughout the world.
We would require high resolution images (at least 10cm x 10cm at 300 DPI). Please could you let me know if you have any photographs that would be available for this kind of use?
Please let me know if you would like any further information regarding the book.
Yours sincerely,
Jen VeallOctopus Publishing Group
2-4 Heron Quays, London, E14 4JP, U.K.
+44 (0)20 7531 8544 -
admin says:
Hello,
We’ve sent you an email a few days ago regarding the photographs. Please let us know if you’ve got it.
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