Typical Village Woman

Traditional clothing is worn all over Maramures, but Budesti seems to have more than its share. This old woman is wearing the traditional medieval footwear called opinchi. Originally, they were made from pigskin, but they are now made from rubber. This concession to the twentieth century is much better for the often muddy streets and roads. They are laced to the leg around wool felt. For the totally modern look, the majority of women choose rubber goulashes.

The women also wear black skirts with wool aprons called catrinita both front and back. This one is solid black, but most have bold horizontal stripes.

Although this woman gave her permission to photograph her, she then remembered that she was carrying empty buckets and informed me that is was bad luck to be photographed carrying empty buckets. It must have been - I turned down her request to have a look at some icons she had for sale.