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Abstract

The individual has always felt as part of the Universe, and thus, wemay better understand
why he or she never lived in a world of the visible everyday real, but also in a surreal,
imaginary world, which allowed him on repeated occasions to be aware of the fact that beyond
this world, there exists another.
Customs, traditions, and rituals, kept more or less in their original forms, defined
people’s lives fromtimes immemorial.All of these forma behaviour pattern, a human scheme
of actions through which individuals seek to annihilate the chaos surrounding them, and to
bring order and harmony to their daily lives. Regardless the type of the custom, its way of
manifestation, its structure always refers to the relation between the individual and his/her
social group, on one hand, and to the relation of the individual with the Universe, on the
other. People that are products of their traditional environments still live marked by the
consciousness of the time and the place he or she belongs to; such a way of belonging the
World, means in fact “to be in harmony with the universe” (informant BerindeAnastasia, 79
years old, Negresti).
The old house, though small, was pleasant, coquette, but, especially functional; both
the outside and the inside of the traditional houses were simply organized and decorated, giving
people a feeling of cosiness. Houses in our villages have always combined practical, utilitarian,
and ornamental aspects. They equally respond to the family needs, being a centre
for the perpetuation of the family and of the nation, at the same time defending the village
life as a form of communication between microcosm and macrocosm – through their house,
people become part of the GreatWhole.
The small, yet functional house, allowed people in traditional environments to live
permanently in a state of equilibrium, which was established between them and the other
members of the household, between them and the Universe. Even the way they painted their
houses was very significant, as the various shades of blue, which appeared both on the outside

and the inside walls, were a form of communication – the walls became the horizon which
proposed an opening of the micro-universe towards the macro-universe. People here have
always surrounded themselves with colours of symbolic value.