Wine, in traditional customs

There is hardly any custom or village event in which people living in Târnave Valley don’t make use of wine. Thus the wine symbolizes a warm welcome to guests, a chance for people to meet and interact, the seal of a deal, a thanking.

All major events in man’s life are marked by the presence of wine, from baptize, to wedding, to funeral. Apart from the religious role of wine, there is also an important folkloric side of it. The most spectacular is the role of wine in the wedding ceremony, from the engagement, to the announcement of the joyful event, to the procession and the party itself. There is a rich wedding literary folklore which talks about wine and a nice saying, that goes like this: a wedding with enough wine is omen for a long happy marriage (Richiș). The traditional wine flask – a symbol of the wedding- is present in all the important moments of this ceremony, and the glass of wine from which the grooms drink is sign of the joy of the moment and of their future destiny.

Worth to mention is also the Crown custom, of the Saxon community, still performed in Axente Sever, which involves the skill of a young man to climb a beautifully adorned pole and pick the wine flask from its top.

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