At the entrance to Peştera there is a verse...

Last weekend whilst exploring the breathtakingly beautiful village of Peștera, Bran, we came across a statue with a sculpted plaque:

"Tu Ghicuta urci Vladusca
Pan’ la Pietrele lui Crai
Sa dai branza cea mai grasa,
Dar in coji de brad s-o dai
Afle varul secelean
C-a facut-o un pesterean…"

This lovely, simple monument in stone overlooking the magnificent Bucegii is dedicated to the shepherds of the Bran-Moeciu area with an extract from "Legenda Branului" by Ion Duicu. It is an epic poem of 2,578 verses recounting the Bran Legend he had heard from his father and grandfather, both shepherds of Bran. The book includes illustrations by Ion Duicu himself, as well as extracts from his notebooks. Definitely worth trying to get hold of, me thinks.

The verse is a reference not only to shepherds, but to other occupations going on in the village at that time, too. Some of these professions exist today, but since old farms are now mostly guesthouses, there is very little left of what used to be. The carts are gone replaced by cars, though the cheese wrapped in pine bark (brânză de coşuleţ) is going strong, as are the shepherds. This extract is a little dig telling those in Săcele that the brânză de coşuleţ from Peştera is better than theirs!

"You Ghicuta climb Vladusca

Up to Piatra Craiului,

You'll give him the fattest cheese

In pine bark.

The cousin from Săcele

Will know that a Peşterean [someone from Peştera] has made it..."

So, what of the legend? It is a 'Miorița' story of sorts, although apparently with a happier ending.

'During the times of the Getae (the original inhabitants of present-day Romania dating back to the 3rd and 5th centuries BC), in the Bucegi Mountains, there was a famous shepherd elder called Bran-da-Bur. He was the eldest brother of the Bran kin and the one who would task his nine younger brothers to go down from their home on Bucegi Mountain to settle the lands that would become known as Bran. Bran-da-Bur’s and his brothers’ actions closely resemble the founding stories of the peoples of old,' says THIS site.

More on the legend I cannot tell you, for there isn't much about it online. However, Peştera and the other Bran villages are a historian's delight. Archeological discoveries unearthed near Peștera bear witness to the Middle Paleolithic era (around 200,000 to 45,000 years ago or so). Household items and jewellery from the Bronze Age prove continual habitation of the area, with a marked separation of the Thracian tribes into farmers on the one hand and herders on the other. Further continuity of habitation is shown through Dacian pottery moulded by hand, along with other finds from the Post-Roman era (III–IVc AD). Impossible not to be overwhelmed!

Further mention of other villages in the Bran area appear in 1729, when the Austrian administration began to collect taxes. Moeciu de Jos, Coacăza (Peştera), Valea Lungă (Cheia), Zbârcoiara (today part of Moieciu de Jos) and Moieciu de Sus all noted. Magura is not mentioned until 1869 - not because it didn’t exist, but because the revenues were insignificant to the Habsbourg treasury.

Until 1848, Moeciu and Bran villages were 'subjected to or dependent on Brasov' and were found in documents only as "divisions". However, when the abolition of serfdom came to pass in 1848, the residents in the villages around Bran were also 'freed' and gradually regained their properties.

In 1885 - a time of great administrative reform - Moeciu de Jos, Cheia, Moeciu de Sus, Magura and Peştera became self-administrated "political communes" until 1924 which brought a new administrative partition. All the villages in the Bran area became a distinct section of Brasov county, known as 'Post Bran'.

Paradoxically, the villages of the Moeciu and Bran regions apparently didn't suffer too much under communism since co-operative farming was impossible. The regime attempted a form of organisation known as 'companionships', but that thankfully didn't work either. At the time of the lovilutie in December 1989, Bran was experiencing economic prosperity, allowing the entire area to develop quickly making it one of Romania's top tourist destinations.

And all that from goagaling 'Legenda Branului'!

All photos by Sarah in Romania. Please ask before borrowing and hyperlink back to this post. Thank you!

Comments

[Ioana]

Dear Sarah, I am writing from Canada :-) ; Ion Duicu was by grandfather and we absolutely adore Pestera .. every breath of Nature in that place has the fragrance of an ancient spirituality .. yet so fresh and sweet .. Thank you so so much!! yours,

[Legenda Branului]

Dear Sarah, I am overwhelmed with joy to read your essay online on what happens to be my father's life-long work: Legenda Branului de Ion Duicu.Yes, I published the book this past summer and would love, with your permission, to post your work on the Legenda Branului Facebook page. Please contact me at info@artisa.com Thank you. Isabella Duicu Palowitch (I hope you have the book. It is available online at www.libris.ro)

[aurab]

"Impossible not to be overwhelmed" how right you are!

And all the work you did, finding so many information!

One day, it would be nice to collect them in one book!

[Lidia]

Thank you, Sarah, Pestera and Magura are my favorite villages in the Bran area!