DECORATIONS AND DECORATIVE MOTIFS AT PEASANT HOUSEHOLDS FROM OLTENIA

Abstract

The peasant household represents a shelter in face of the weather, of strangers, offering protection against the invisible beings that inhabited the beliefs of the rural population; for this reason the doors, windows, ceiling beams were decorated with protective decorations, the richest decorations, however, are meet on the porch of the house and at the gazebo, the predominant motifs being the geometric ones followed by the floral, zoomorphic elements and anthropomorphic stylizations, symbols related to the beliefs of the past. Also the gates from the entrance to the house, together with the fence, protected the peasants from the evil spirits, having protective symbols. Among the interior objects of the traditional house from Oltenia, with decorative function, are especially noticeable the dowry boxes. The decoration of the dowry boxes is made up from combinations of straight and black lines with red and black colors, the walls of the house being covered with woven fabrics, beds covered with wool bark in strips of red, white, green and black striations, being attached to the walls the organic wiper. The textile and ceramics are decorated with vegetal, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic motifs, the Oltenia carpet being decorated with the most beautiful motifs and symbols.