René Duda

What people wore

Heavily decorated traditional shirt

A specialized traditional shirt worn by leaders in Brașov was covered with 40,000 sequins and weighed nearly 10 kg.

Getting around

Dining habits on interwar Romanian trains

On long train journeys, passengers could either dine in first-class cars or buy food like bread, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs from women selling them from wicker baskets during brief 10 to 15-minute station stops. Third-class passengers often arrived covered in sooty grime from the steam locomotives, a reality they accepted as a natural cost of travel.

At the table

Mamaliga as a staple rural food

In rural areas, families often relied on cornmeal porridge called mamaliga as a daily staple, sometimes consuming up to 3 kilograms per person during heavy work days. It was frequently eaten with simple side dishes like vinegar-sprinkled fried mamaliga, crushed garlic with pickles, or a fruit-based stew called chisälita.

Music

Wedding roles in Transylvania

During weddings in Transylvania, peasants sang ritual songs themselves, while Roma professional musicians played for the dancing.

Daily life

Rudimentary home lighting and window coverings

Villagers often lacked glass for windows, using paper instead, and lighted their homes with rudimentary lamps made of a bowl filled with pork fat and a floating rag. Lighting was dim and produced significant smoke.

What it cost

Low wages and poverty

By 1938, many workers lived in poverty, as average monthly wages for a significant portion of the workforce were often under 1,125 lei, while basic expenses like rent for a three-bedroom apartment reached 1,600 lei.