Sibiu family owns 300-strong doll collection dressed in Hartibaciu Valley traditional garb
Two retired teachers from Sibiu, Maria and Mircea Dragan, have a collection of 300 dolls dressed in traditional folklore costumes specific to no less than 46 villages from Hartibaciu Valley, a Sibiu County ethno-cultural area crossed by the Hartibaciu River, the County Council (CJ) wrote on Thursday on its Facebook page.
Maria and Mircea Dragan put together this unique doll collection over the last 25 years.
“It was a pity that most of them would have ended up destroyed by moths or thrown in the trash. The Saxons departed en masse, leaving behind things that said a lot about their cultural identity. We managed to save a few,” says Mircea Dragan.
Maria Dragan put in a lot of work to dress the 300-strong doll collection, sewing them clothing transformed from items received from neighbors, friends, or bought from Hartibaciu villages.
Her husband now plans to write a book “about the inhabitants of yore of the entire Hartibaciu Valley, about the times when one lived in the fear of God and with shame from others when one would cross certain lines. These were once the guiding values for the people of these places.”