13 June 2021, 10:00 - 16:00

ASTRA Open air museum, the homestead from Rășinari

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Producers from Rășinari, Sebeșu de Jos and the surrounding areas invite us to a fair where we will find bee products, woven fabrics and clothes having traditional motives, sheep dairy products, jam, syrup, zacuscă (eggplant spread). Like during any fair, visitors will be able to learn about the local resources used by the producers and to taste products that have a long tradition.

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On this occasion, we will learn more about lovage, its properties and how it is used during some customs that are specific to the Ascension Day in the village of Rășinari, through re-enactments in the museum.

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In the evening before the Ascension Day, women bring lovage to the wayside crosses and to the tomb crosses of their family members, where they also light candles. During the same evening, people place lovage under their pillows and around their waist, believing that if they sleep on the plant they will gain health and protection from evil for the entire year. This custom has changed in time; we know from Victor Păcală's monograph (1915) that at the beginning of the 20th century it was different in some respects: "all people, with the priests preceding them, go in the fields, where they have a religious service and get sprinkled with holy water. On that same day, the girls put lovage around their waist, believing they will be protected from lower back pain and from evil spirits (strigoaie). In the past, they also used to put lovage on the gates' pillars."

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On Sunday, youngsters from Rășinari will bring us closer to the old village: they will ornate the homestead's gate with lovage, also using the plant for decorating a wayside cross brought to the museum from the same village, which dates back to the 18th century and is beautifully painted with biblical scenes.