Folk masks
The masks in the Romanian folkloric tradition are first of all, connected to the winter feasts. The mask has a primordial role in the winter customs. The village's hearth is the scene where the folkloric games with masks take place, the membres of the colectivity being the spectators. Moldavia is the area that keeps the best the games with masks. For the masks manufacturing, large ranges of materials are being used: fur and skins (sheep, goat, nutria), wood, tin plates, copper, beads and sometimes, even beens. A famous centre where masks are manufactured is in Vrancea.
Humanizing the spirits of the ancestors, animals of the local ecosystem or fantastic ones, spirits of plants, of water, the popular masks and the activities in which they are involved represent a way of life which is lost in the mists of time, a way of life which the modern man can no longer understand.
