My Microcosm
I put my spiritual luggage from my native town,
Sacele in the middle of the new room ,that means deeply in my heart ,it seems heavy and overloaded emotionally.
It has all the seasons compacted in a package altogether with the mountains, rivers , traditions and gorgeous architecture. I’m planning to turn it some day into a type of album that opens itself pages letting the emotions to flow...
It still preserves intact the colors, the nature outlines ,houses shapes and grandmother ’s whispering:’ be proud of our heritage and transfer it to the next generation’.
l kept intactly in memory my grand mother’s voice and the glamour of her deep eyes.
Alongside the years spent in rural Nova Scotia I understood that the most precious thing in our life is to keep the spiritual candles lit in our hearts .I don’t have anyone in the house to speak Romanian, but often feel that my microcosm can extend its boundaries beyond present and can absorb eternal voices from my native land, articulating syllables and tunes from old times.
My native Carpathians , the Transylvanian mountains, rivers ,the pastures and the hills have etched in my memory a strong contour that feds itself through the affective memory . Page after page is coming up instantly to reconstruct the time into a remembering book.. It helps me to survive and maintain that special sentiment of belonging ,
of breathing freely in my own world with the calm and smoothness of the land .
I also hope to do a reconciliation of thoughts and feelings in my mind ,a type of monologue with the past that can be always transferred in present simply just by a button switch.
My journey will open the view towards some old buildings from Sacele.
Have a look and you’ll certainly feel free visiting and knocking at the doors ,then entering the nice orthodox churches or just watching them outside. You’ll get a type of’ curiosity fever’,the urge of visiting the place some day.
It’s’ no place other than home’ and no murmur more emotional than that of your own language you’ve heard the first time when you came in the world.
The porches of the old houses in Sacele were made of fret sawed wood or masonry and are reminding us the quiet years of our childhood. The water pumps that couldn’t miss at any crossroad , the ceilings with wooden beams which are still breathing the air of nostalgic times ,all of these give the impression of emerging into a 18th-19th centuries world museum with precious acquisitions. The old inhabitants of Sacele were good shepherds and had kept the traditions of wool fabrics, sheep milk products and nice buildings, wood carving, clay pottery, sewing and embroidery, decorating the houses, gardening, cooking in a very elaborate traditional style.
The people are called’ Saceleni’ and they are proud of their ancestors ,enjoy getting together on festivals and celebrations during the year.
‘Santilia’ is one of these, that means a local summer holiday with celebration of St.Ilie in July..
Beyond the religious aspect, it tends to be a feast for joy and happiness for bringing on the local scenes many folkloric dancers and singers from all over the county. The people enjoy to celebrate the events getting dressed with their old traditional costumes, coming with drama plays , crafts for sale and other goodies.
The wooden houses in Sacele were the first time built in 18th and 19th centuries. They had a rectangular shape with several rooms and annexes. Most of them had wooden shutters and as a sign of Orthodox Christianity a cross mounted on the coping at the street frontage. As a characteristic of the area were the longitudinal porches with folklore decorative elements and nice carved pillars.
Later on the houses of the 19th century started to be built of stones and bricks with very solid walls, beautiful arcades, large basements with walls made from alternating rows of bricks and stones.
Another interesting architecture element is noticed in the architecture of the old gates with frames from bricks. Some gates are in the prolongation of the house structure giving the impression of a fortress.
Most of these old houses had traditional shepherds’ wooden gates fully made of wood or wooden gates with masonry frames with semicircular vault and wooden beam at the gates for carriages.
The yards were synchronized architecturally with the buildings and were paved with river stones ,also nice garden flower bordures.
The five orthodox churches of Sacele seem real jewelries alongside the main road. They are strategically placed at the entrances of the communities and can be seen almost everywhere from the hills and mountains that surround the city. They are made of bricks on stone foundations and wooden frames with ceramic roof tiles and mural inside or outside religious painting, stone floors and beautiful sculptured oak stalls. The churches still preserve the old Christian Traditions of towers with bells which announce the mass services, the holidays and the funerals .Besides the churches, some triptychs as accompanying elements complete the architecture and give more details through their inscriptions.
To give a recognition sense ,I would call my place… a sanctuary of peace and highly cultural events ,a city that preserves its traditions through archaic, a place of ‘good- hearted people’ and hospitality. And even more ,a town blessed by God through His holiness and endless love.
Laura Mason, July 2008 / Nova Scotia Canada
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Laura Mason 7/23/2008 |
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