Romanians - Gypsy Folk Ensemble

Chori moldavici longe quam inter caeteras gentes alia est ratio. Non enim bini vel quaterni saltant, ut Galli Polonive, sed plures simul personae vel circulum vel longam seriem componunt, neque id facile nisi in nuptiis. Quod si omnes manibus inter se iunctis per circulum saltent, ac pari et composito passu a dextra in sinistram moventur, Chora dicitur: quod si autem in longam seriem dispositi, coniunctis licet manibus, ita tamen, ut extrema libera remaneant, per diversas flexiones rotentur, id polonico vocabulo Dancz insignire consueverunt.

 In nuptiis, antequam sacerdotalis benedictio desponsatos coniungat, in aulis et plateis saltari solenne est, idque daubus seriebus, virorum una, feminarum altera. Utrique eligitur dux, vir senex et honestus, qui baculum vel auro pictum, vel aliis coloribus variegatum in manu tenet, cuius extremo strophiolum phrygio exornatum opere obvolvitur. In primo progressu unus ducum a dextra in sinistram, alter a sinistra ad dextram sequaces trahit, ita ut faciem facies respiciat, postea inverso ordine dorsum dorso obvertitur, tandem in sinuosas flectiones uterque chorus rotatur, idque, ne confundantur, adeo lente, ut vix moveri seriem animadvertas. In utraque serie quilibet pro suae dignitatis gradu destinatum sibi locum occupat, feminae et filiae baronum eodem, quo mariti et parentes honore habentur. Primas tamen semper tenet dux chori, secundas paranymphus, tertias sponsus. Eodem loco in mulierum serie paranympha et sponsa obtinent, licet reliquis gradu multo fuerint inferiores. At post coronationem commiscetur uterque exercitus, et in gyrum rotatur, ita ut maritati suam uxorem quilibet, coelibes vero virgines sibi nobilitate pares dextra manu teneant, et circumvertant. Nonnumquam etiam in triangulum, quadrangulum et ovi figuram, aut alias irregulares chorea agi solet, pro lubitu et dexteritate ducentium.

  Praeter ista saltus genera, quae in festivitatibus locum habent, aliud est superstitiosius, quod ex impari saltatorum numero, septem, novem et undecim, debet componi. Caluczenii isti vocantur, et semel in anno congregantur, vestibus muliebribus induti; caput corona cingunt, e foliis absinthii plexa, et aliis interstincta floribus, vocem mentiuntur femineam, et ne dignosci possint, alba tela faciem contegunt.

[originally published as Descriptio Moldaviae in 1716]

A dance of very ancient invention called the Romeika, began after we had paid our compliments. It was conducted entirely by females; one of whom waved an embroidered handkerchief, and extricated herself gracefully from the rest, who coiled around her. The music consisted of a lively air by two violins, as many guitars with strings of cat-gut and a syrinx or unequal pipe, as seen on the statues of Pan and the Satyrs... A second dance commenced, which was ill-assorted to a lively air; for it was slow and solemn. All hands were joined, and the whole figure consisted in curtseys and soft motion.

Having set out we stopped just without the Village to see a Wallachian dance not very different from a reel & accompanied also with Bagpipes. The Fig: of the dance is little more than a round with setting & footing. Many of the Party appeared to be Gypsies & they exerted themselves to please us whilst we stopped.

The dance, formerly common to all classes of the natives, and which, at present, is the only one known to the lower orders, is of a singular style. Fifteen or twenty persons of both sexes take each other by the hands, and, forming a large circle, they turn round and round again, at a very slow pace; the men bending their knees now and then, as if to mark the time of music, and casting a languishing look on each side, when holding the hands of women. This kind of dance has some years since been thrown out of fashion in the first circles of society, and English country-dances, walzing, and the Polish mazurka have been introduced. Most of the ladies dance them well, but the men very indifferently, their dress being a great obstacle to perfection in the accomplishment.

In the holidays, they spend most of their time in the village wine-houses, where they eat and drink, and sometimes dance.

The chief amusement of the Wallacks, after sleeping and smoking, is dancing to the bagpipe or fiddle. On the Sunday evening, a dozen men will collect together, and, joining arms, dance in a circle, alternately advancing and retiring, beating time with the feet, clapping the hands, and singing. The women in the mean time stand round, waiting till one or more of the men start out from the circle, seize their fair prey, whirl her round for some time in a rude waltz, and then, leaving her, return to the circle, dance again, the same round, and again, as the fancy seizes, choose another fair one for the waltz.

The Wallacks, especially those of this neighbourhood, have a custom of which I never heard elsewhere. A party of idle young fellows sell themselves, as they say, to the devil, for a term of three, five, or seven years,—the number must be unequal, or the devil will not hold the bargain,—engaging to dance without ceasing during the whole of that period, except when they sleep; in consideration of which, they expect their infernal purchaser will supply them with food and wine liberally, and render them irresistible among the rustic belles. Accordingly, dressed in their gayest attire, these merry vagabonds start out from their native village, and literally dance through the country. Everywhere they are received with open arms; the men glad of an excuse for jollity, the women anxious, perhaps, to prove their power, all unite to feed and fête the devil’s dancers; so that I is scarcely wonderful there should be willing slaves to so merry a servitude. When their time is up, they return home and become quiet peasants for the rest of their lives.

 Jeux, danses populaires, musique.

  Les jeux et les passe-temps favoris des paysans moldo-valaques, les luttes des bergers, les danses des montagnards sont également renouvelés des Romains. Il y a deux danses nationales dans les Principautés, la hora (prononcez chora, en aspirant fortement l’h), et la danse des calusari. Cette dernière est selon toute apparence l’ancienne danse des prêtres saliens. Les danseurs saliens, dit Nieuport, possédaient un temple sur la colline Quirinale. Aux ides d’avril ils exécutaient, en récitant des rhapsodies qui étaient à peine intelligibles au temps d’Horace, des danses que menait un chef ou vates. Aujourd’hui les danseurs valaques portent, comme les Romains, deux courroies garnies de boutons en cuivre qui se croisent sur les épaules et dont l’une figure le baudrier; ils commencent à la fin d’avril ou après la Pentecôte leur danse, que l’on regarde en quelque sorte comme sacrée, se mêlent en brandissant des massues et des boucliers qu’ils choquent avec un grand fracas, et donnent à celui qui les dirige le nom de vatof (1). D’autres voient dans ces simulacres guerriers un souvenir de l’enlèvement des Sabines.

  La hora rappelle exactement le chorus romain tel qu’on le voit figuré sur les bas-reliefs antiques. Les danseurs, hommes et femmes, se prennent par la main et forment un cercle au centre duquel se tiennent les musiciens (lautari); puis ils tournent en rond en se balançant les bras et pliant un pied, tandis que l’autre pied fait un pas soit en avant, soit en arrière, et se rapprochent tour à tour et s’éloignent du centre de manière à rétrécir ou à élargir le cercle. Pendant ces évolutions, dont la lenteur et l’uniformité prêtent à la hora un caractère d’indolence et de laisser aller tout à fait en harmonie avec le génie mélancolique du peuple roumain, un des lautari chante en s’accompagnant. Ces chants portent également le nom de horas.

 Il y aussi la danse de la ceinture (joc de braû), aussi vive et rapide que la hora est lente et monotone. Les danseurs se tiennent tous de la main gauche par la ceinture, et ont leur main droite appuyé sur l’épaule de leur voisin; ils commencent d’abord moderato, et peu à peu pressent la mesure avec une vitesse inimaginable.

 L’orchestre ambulant, formé par des Tsiganes qui vont de village en village, comme nos anciens ménestrels, se compose ordinairement d’un violin, d’une flûte de Pan et de la kobsa, sorte de mandoline à cordes de métal. Le chef de la troupe rend la mélodie sur le violin: la flûte de Pan fait ressortir en sons aigus les passages les plus passionnés; la kobsa forme la basse; elle est tenue ordinairement par le plus âgé des artistes bohémiens, qui exécute sur cet instrument les accompagnements les plus difficiles avec une prestesse étonnante.

 Quelquefois ce sont des simples villageois qui forment l’orchestre au moyen du boutchoum (sorte de trompe en bois de cerisier) ou du fluër, flûte longe et droite, compagne indispensable du pâtre moldo-valaque.

(1) De Géraudo, t. I, p. 312.

Schweineheerden ziehen vorüber, Hundern lagern überall. Dort steht ein Zigeuner mit seiner Geige, und vor ihm tanzen ein paar walachische Männer einen wunderlichen, einförmigen Tanz, trippeln im Kreise, lassen sich nieder richten sich empor, schlagen mit den Fersen zusammen. Vor der Thür jenes Häuschens sitzen Mädchen und Frauen, mit untergeschlagenen Beinen, schwatzend und lachend. Daß die Männer zum tanz ihrer nicht bedürfen, scheint ihren Frohsinn nicht zu stören.

Am Tage darauf erschienen die Freundinnen der Braut in festlichem Schmuck im Hofe vor der Wohnung des Bräutigams und tanzten den landüblichen Reihetanz, indem sie einen Kreis bildeten, bald rechts, bald links ein paar Schritte gingen, sicn niederließen und wieder aufrichteten, schnell hintereinander mit den Füßen den Boden stampften und in kurzem Aufhüpfen die Fersen zusammenschlugen. Wild und ausgelassen ist dieser Tanz keineswegs, mann kann ihn noch jetzt allenthalben beobachten; bei dieser Gelegenheit wurde er aber mit ganz besonderer Sittsamkeit aufgeführt.

The dances habitual among the Roumanians may briefly be divided into three sorts:—

1. Caluseri and Batuta, ancient traditional dances performed by men only, and often executed at fairs and public festivals. For these a fixed number of dancers is required, and a leader called the Vatav. Each dancer is provided with a long staff, which he occasionally strikes on the ground in time to the music.

2. Hora and Breûl, round dances executed either by both sexes or by men only.

3. Ardeleana, Lugojana, Marnteana, Pe-picior, and Hategeana, danced by both sexes together, and in which each man may have two or more female partners.

  These last-named dances rather resemble a minuet or quadrille, and are chiefly made up of a sort of swaying, balancing movement, alternately advancing and retreating, with varied modes of expression and different rates of velocity. Thus the Ardeleana is slow, the Marnteana rather quicker but still dignified, and the Pe-picior is fastest of all. Also each separate dance has two distinct measures, as in the Scotch reel or the Hungarian csardas—the slow rhythm being called domol, or reflectively, and the fast one being danced cu foc, with fire.

  All these dances are found in different districts with varied appelations.

  There is also a very singular dance which I have not myself witnessed, but which is said to be sometimes performed in front of the church in order to ensure a good harvest—one necessary condition of which is that the people should dance till in a state of violent perspiration, figurative of the rain which is required to make the corn grow, then the arms must be held on high for the hops to grow, wild jumps in the air for the vines, and so on, each grain and fruit having a special movement attributed to it, the dance being kept up till the dancers have to give in from sheer fatigue.

  The Roumanian does not say that a man is dancing with a girl, but that “he dances her,” as you would talk of spinning a top. This conveys the right impression—namely, that the man directs her dancing and disposes her attitudes, so as to show off her grace and charms to the best advantage. Thus a good dancer here does not imply a man who dances well himself, but rather one skilful at showing off two or three partners at a time. He acts, in fact, as a sort of showman to the assortment of graces under his charge, to which he calls attention by appropriate rhymes and verses. Therefore the sharpest wit rather than the nimblest legs is required for the post of Vatav flacailor, or director of dances in the village.

  Dancing usually takes place in the open air, and in village where ball-room etiquette is duly observed the fair ones can only be conducted to the dance by the director himself, or by one of his appointed aides-de-camp. It is so arranged that after the leader has for a time shown off several girls in the manner described—so to say, set them agoing—he makes a sign to other young men to take them off his hands, while he himself repeats the proceeding with other débutantes.

  The music usually consists of bagpipes and violin, the latter sometimes replaced by one or two flutes. The musicians who are frequently blind men or cripples, stand in the centre, the dancers revolving around them. Tzigane players are rarely made use of for Roumanian dances, as they do not interpret the Roumanian music correctly, and are acccused of imparting a bold licentious character to it.

CHAPTER VIII: THE PEASANT IN HIS AMUSEMENTS AND PASTIMES

“Dear is to me the Roumanian dance

But I know not how to start it;

If I do not start it fitly

Shame shall I bring upon me!”

“Drag mi-i jocul româanesc

Dar nu stiu cum să-l pornesc;

Şi de nu l’ oiŭ porni bine

Lesne voiŭ păţi ruşine!”

There is hardly a Roumanian village of any size where a dance will not be held on a Sunday or holiday. Dancing is the chief amusement of the Roumanian peasant, from early spring far into the late autumn, and often also in winter. In this respect, however, as in every other with peasant usages, local colour is very much to be taken into account, considering as local, though, not the village type but the provincial type generally. What the cause of differences between one region and another may be, it would be difficult to say, but it varies with local taste and local originality; certainly it has nothing to do with administrative divisions. In the mountain regions the lines of division appear rather more clearly, the dividing line the river valley; habits as well as costumes vary from valley to valley, and so do the local details of amusements. Still keeping to the national ground-work in general, each valley has a variety of usages of its own, which, on the whole, define the small fatherland the peasant feels so much bound to, in the bosom of the larger fatherland. Besides, the plain presents differences from the mountain, without being itself uniform in all its area; it may fairly be assumed that usages and customs in the plain vary pretty much with the basin of the rivers running through it.

  Generally speaking, dancing is the favourite Sunday pastime all over the Roumanian ground. In some places they start the dance earlier, in others later; in some places there may be a dance regularly every Sunday, in other places --smaller ones-- only occasionally, the people then walking to the neighbouring village to take part in its dance. As a matter of fact, by noon on a Sunday, a traveler is sure to come across a peasant dance in every village of any size. At Easter the dance is accompanied by the swing (the scrânciob), built on purpose for these occasions, which swing is also subject to local rules: in some places it is used only up to Ascension Day, in others all the year round, or, more accurately speaking, as long as it will last, which is never a whole year.

 The dance takes place in front of the public-house, where there is a large, more or less even, well-beaten, if not always well-swept, ground, the batatura (“beaten ground”). Occasionally, the public-house may be provided with a large room with timber floor, where the peasants will crowd together, the young to dance, the old to look at the dancers, but the atmosphere becomes so stuffy in time that the open air seems far preferable. Neither is the dancing-room other than a rarity in villages, and where there is one, the lads have a liking for it on no other account but the timbered floor, the stamping of their heels resounding ever so much better on the boards! The open ground is not without drawbacks either: the heat of the sun -- but in all the dances I had occasion to watch, never an idea of minding the sun arose; the men with their hats or fur bonnets on, the girls with only their flowers and ribbons on their heads, they wipe the streaming perspiration from their brows, and go merrily on, dancing and enjoying themselves tremendously. Another drawback is the dust that rises after a while under the feet of the energetic dancers; but this they seem to mind just as little. In some places, some one will from time to time sprinkle the ground with water, but in other places nobody wastes a thought on dust!

 One wonders that just at that time of the year when work is hardest during the week, dancing should fill up the Sunday, when people would rather be expected to rest from their hard toil of the week. But this is what they explained to me as being a very wrong expectation, “because,” said they, “if we stood still the whole Sunday, our limbs would get quite stiff, and we could hardly work on Monday, whilst with the Sunday dance the muscles are kept at work continuously, and on Monday morning we are just as nimble with them as ever.”

 The young men take their first stand in the dance according to local rules of their own. In most places the lads of the village form among themselves a kind of brotherhood, the ablest dancer at the head of it; if the brotherhood accepts him, the lad takes his place among the others. The village dance is entirely at the will and command of the young men of the place (the flacai); they organise the dance, they appoint the musicians, they overrule the dances and often the dancers too; the flacai are the undisputed masters of the dancing ground on a Sunday or holiday.

 The girl begins to take part in the dance when her father and mother permit it; when the girl is on the threshold of the marriageable age; when the zestrea is nearly finished, when she is fairly acquainted with her several housewifely duties. Then she is allowed to take part in the dance, and she goes there, shy and fearful, and looks archly for the lads to come and ask her to dance.

 It is always the flacai that open the dance, the leader of the dance and some of the boldest joining him. In places, there are regulations as to the stepping into the dance; in other places again, freedom rules: every one begins when he or she chooses, the girls never waiting to be asked, but just taking for partner another girl, while a lad will dance just as simply with another lad. The dance is for the young folk; married people dance also in many places, and even older ones, but this rather happens in cases when some jolly old fellow had had a glass too much, and wants to make a fool of himself, then the young will use him as their butt. In other places, however, the married men and women take part in the dance only towards the end of the day, when the young have begun to disperse; in other places, again, they only dance after dark in the public-house. In some places I have come across local regulations that young men were not to dance with married women, because blood had been shed on that score.

 As may be expected, a good deal of flirtation goes on through, and between, the dances, and in this respect also local character is very varied. Most respectable and reserved in some places, manners become much freer in others. Courtship begins from the handkerchief: the lad will try his best to take off this Sunday adornment from the girl he cares for, and for that purpose will push her, and pull her, and struggle with her a good deal. With great pride will he then wipe his brow with the stolen handkerchief! Next comes the girdle (the bete), also to be taken away from the girls, and worn during the week by the victorious lads. And girls act as if they minded, and sometimes they do mind in earnest; often also strifes and fights among lads will be brought about by those bete. In places, manners are free at the dance: kissing, and pinching, and bustling; and, if you ask the girls about it, they do not seem to think it very proper either, but they give this explanation: “The lads are the masters of the dance, they pay the musical band, they give the invitations, and if you would not ‘joke’ (a sugui), that is to say, flirt with them, they would not ask you to dance any more! Or, if you do not ‘joke’ with all those who want to, you may never get the chance of a dance, and they will play you all sorts of bad turns, so that, whether you like it or not, you must submit and ‘joke’ with the lads at their wish and will.” This seems to be one of the draconic laws of the dance in general.

 The popular dances are many and very varied, but few of them are genuinely national. Among these, the more universal dance among Roumanians, the national dance par excellence is the Hora from Chorus, thing and name coming down from the Romans -- for a long time the chief dance of all classes; turned out now from drawing-rooms, it still prevails at the village dances. The hora is danced in a circle, the dancers holding each other by the hand, and moving with rhythmical steps, now to the right, now to the left, the arms swinging in cadence. It is again the lads that start it; then the bystanders will gradually join, each when he chooses and where he chooses, until the circle grows so large that sometimes it has to be broken into two concentric circles, the band taken to stand in the middle and play the tune of which the rhythm is uniform, the melodies, however, being very varied. One of the finest printed horas is the so-called Hora Sinaia, composed on popular melodies:-

[MUSIC]

The hora, like other dances, also is accompanied by spirited verses, recited in an energetic tone to the rhythm of the dance, rather shouted out, by the leader of the dance usually, the “lion” of the place; these verses are called strigaturi (“shouts,”) and have a caustic epigrammatic point in them, directed not exactly at persons but rather at faults of behaviour, or character in general; if any one happened to be hurt at them, so much the worse for him. These verses are improvised very often, or at least changed or added to, so that one may always happen to hear new ones. The musicians contribute verses, too, of a very coarse character sometimes, they being gipsies and not much acquainted with modesty or shame. Sometimes, too, they may become a subject of strife, if there happen to be two or more lads clever at them in the same place; then they will exert all their power to overcome each other in the best verses -- the strife may sometimes end in blows.

...

 The hora can be very quick and spirited, and then it can turn without transition into a second national dance, also very widespread among Roumanian peasants, the so-called De brau, in which the dancers hold tight to each other, every one having his left hand in the girdle of his neighbour (hence the name “by the girdle”) and his right one on the other’s shoulder. Sometimes they hold each other only by the shoulders. The dance is very animated, and the heels are much at work. It is especially a dance for men, but women will join often enough. The tunes of the De brau are very varied; the one just described will do for a De brau as well as for a hora, or this one, among many :

[MUSIC]

 The De brau is danced in a bow shape, sometimes also in a closed circle. There are several varieties of the De brau; a rather elaborate form of it, with various figures, is the so-called Batuta (“the beaten one”), also a national dance, the music of which is like this --

[MUSIC]

 Beside these almost general national dances, there are an infinity of local ones, some original, others borrowed from neighbouring nations. The Ardeleanul, said to be very similar in step and melody to the Italian “Tarantella,” the Mocaneste, are mostly Transylvanian dances, together with many others; then there are the Rusasca, the Cazaceasca, numerous Sarbe, all borrowed or imitated from beyond the frontiers, and a number of local dances. In the vicinity of towns, it is not unusual to see clumsy imitations of the town dances. There is also among the national dances the dance of the Calusheri, but this is more of a theatrical dance and will be spoken of by and by.

  The musical band is almost invariably composed of gipsies lautari, two of them at least, one playing the fiddle, the other the cobza (Fig. 1), or lute, which gives the accompaniment.

Horele ce se joacă pe aici de flăcăi, sunt: [Dances done here by unmarried folk are:]

Hora dreaptă, Sârba, Ungureasca, Brâul, Brâuleţul, Hora Nuţii, Zoralia, Moldoveneasca, Tărăşelul, Piteşteanca, Joiana, Floricica, Murguleţul, Irindeaua, Costoreanca, Mânioasa, Jianul, Petrişor, Rostimul (sau Resteul), Aţica, Ardeleneasca, Bugeacul, Ulmeasca, Lozeasca, Foişoreanca, Bulgâreasca, Pipăruşu, ş.a.