15 October 2021, 12:00 – 16:00

ASTRA Open air museum, the sheepfold from Rășinari

 

In a scenery of sheepfolds and cabins, illustrating one of the main occupations in the Romanian mountainous areas – sheep raising, we will get acquainted with the traditional tools used for making butter. The process was a simple one, taking into consideration the fact that there was only one utensil used, the butter churn, a tall narrow wooden barrel with a stick having a disc with holes attached to it, used for stirring the cream. What made it difficult was the fact that it took a long time. Some shepherds claim that more than one thousand movements of the stick were needed, an activity that could take their thoughts far away, to their village and families.

 

Butter used to be made whenever it was needed. The unboiled milk was left in a large bowl and in the morning the cream was collected and whipped in the churn. It was eaten fresh, spread on a loaf of bread toasted on the stove, or it was used for making sweet bread, one of the main holiday desserts.

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Butter could also be made from whey cheese (urdă) when there was too much of it, but it was not as good as the one made from cream, only the latter being used in preparing sweet bread.

 

​The new exhibition circuit, including the homestead and sheepfold form Rășinari and the homestead from Sebeșu de Jos, will also familiarize you to the life of the communities of the two villages by means of new technologies used to present some of the objects exhibited in the museum.