‘Breb the tradition warder’
Interactive Festival of customs and traditions of Maramures
The 2007 Edition Traditional dance
The 21st the 27th of August 2007 Breb, Maramures, Romania
Organized by the Romanian Orthodox Parochial House of Breb and “Dor de Maramures” Association
with the support of Ocna Sugatag local authorities
Maramures is the innermost secret of Transylvania, say the connoisseurs.
Located in the Northern part of Romania, on the Ukrainian frontier, “Maramures County” is a unique European entity, well-known for its superb landscapes, unequalled wooden architecture (not incidentally, eight wooden churches being protected by UNESCO) and for its traditional costumes, customs, crafts and folklore of its inhabitants. Among all villages of Maramures, the village of Breb is the “pearl of the crown”, as located at the feet of the dormant volcano Creasta Cocosului, place where life has a different dimension and the rural life has been preserved like nowhere else.
For these reasons, the village, although situated outside tourist itineraries, was visited by ethnologists such as Sanda Golopenţia, Mihai Pop, Claude Karnouch and Daniele Masson, photographs (the Japanese Miya Kosei, the American Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin, the Germans Bjorn Reinhardt and Wilhelm Scherz, etc.) or foundations like Mihai Eminescu Trust of Great Britain (patronized by HMS Prince of Wales and notables like Prince Sherban Cantacuzino or Lord Norwich), the latter association having purchased three old wooden houses here.
The village of Breb, with 1300 inhabitants, is located at the medium altitude of 500 meters and is centered around the two orthodox churches, the new very svelte stone-made church and the medieval wooden one (built in the 16th Century). On the winding hilly alleys of the village, a few hundreds of wooden houses have been preserved, warded by the famous fore gates of Maramures. The village householders are well-known by their crafts (many of them totally perished in other areas) and by their customs and rituals perpetuated almost unspoiled for hundreds of years.
The surroundings of Breb, meadows and forests unbelievably beautiful, preserve a variety of unusual flowers (over 900 species of plants), mountain lakes, rocky valleys, etc.
A week spent in the village of Breb is a unique opportunity offered to the large public, which will make you travel hundreds of years back in time as an unforgettable experience.
Consequently, “Dor de Maramures” Association and the Orthodox Parochial House of Breb thought about offering a small group of visitors the chance to take part in a unique experience: a holiday in the village of Breb, where they will have the opportunity to live, dance and party together with the local people within August the 21st and August the 27th, the price including board and lodging, the traditional dance classes or the visits to the archaic workshops of the popular craftsmen. Visitors will benefit from the services of some translators (into English, French or Spanish), and vegetarians may choose specific menus for the entire stay.
Reply to this 
