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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

Unseen Romania » Traditions » The Girl Fair of Mount Gaina

Today, the Mount Gaina fair is just a great local celebration, which takes a couple of days of preparation. It starts with the "tulnicarese" group of Avram Iancu, followed by various artistic programmes, which last till night kicks in. Among the dances on Mount Gaina there are the passionate "tropotite" played by mocani or "tarina", a dance for pairs and the most famous of locals, also known as "moti". There are variations of this dance, as, for example, the Abrud tarina is played elegantly and slowly with wide arm movements, lots of walking around and spinning the girl underneath the man's hand.

For tourists, the fair is the perfect place to buy unique local products, like musical instruments, wooden vases, ceramic ornaments, wooden tools or clothing items and culinary products.

Regarding the name of Mount Gaina (which means chicken in Romanian), there’s  a legend that says that on this mountain lived a chicken that laid golden eggs. Locals tried to steal her eggs, but the creature moved its nest all the way to the Rosia Montana area, where gold is extracted now. A smaller version of the girl fair of Mount Gaina is held in October (26th) and this is called the Fall fair.

The origins of the Mount Gaina celebration lie in the pagan celebrations of the summer solstice when people gathered on the peak of the mountain and worshipped the sun, praying for better crops and wealth. As Christianity became popular, Mount Gaina turned into a gathering place for shepherds and local folks, looking to dance or get married. A couple of traditions still remain from the ancient times, like the girls kissing the morning dew on the ritual plants or the early morning singing of the tulnicarese group, which point their musical instruments toward the sun.

The girl fair was most of the time a series of planned weddings between people who didn't want their young ones to marry their own relatives from small communities, so they travelled to Mount Gaina in order to find matches. It's  nice to see that a romantic tradition is still alive in the era of digital matchmaking, but that's one of the advantages of a rural/agricultural country with a rich tradition of legends.

Author: Alex Stanescu

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2 Comments to “The Girl Fair of Mount Gaina”

  • Jennifer Veall says:
    May 8, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    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 Veall

    Octopus Publishing Group
    2-4 Heron Quays, London, E14 4JP, U.K.
    +44 (0)20 7531 8544

  • admin says:
    May 18, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    Hello,

    We’ve sent you an email a few days ago regarding the photographs. Please let us know if you’ve got it.