June 24, 2020: Universal Day of the ROMANIAN BLOUSE

The Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse (Rom: "Ziua iei"), each year on June 24^th, has become a global event celebrated on six continents, 55 countries, 130 cities, with lots of gatherings. This movement has contributed decisively to the rebirth and a renewed interest in traditional Romanian culture. The blouses are special as venerable anthropological artifacts, communicating through hand-embroidered symbols the identity of their wearer.

The Romanian blouse, "ie" by its original Romanian name, is not a simple traditional peasant blouse, but it became a symbol of Romania, with its legends, stories and deep significance. The "ie" (pronounced "ee-eh") is a blouse, commonly worn by Romanian girls and women, and it has overcome its historic peasant confines, as it became an important source of inspiration for the fashion designers in Romania and abroad (high-ranking names, such as Tom Ford based his 2012 collection on the Romanian traditional motifs). The "ie" is entirely hand-made from a special fabric (called approx. in English "sheer lawn"), with exquisite embroideries on the chest, back and sleeves, with designs preserved for centuries. The signs and symbols embroidered on the Romanian blouse aren’t just random decorations, but each has its own significance, depending on the region, the seamstress, and the person who wore it. 
Every "ie", along with the other items of the traditional folk costume, has its own story. Among the symbols embroidered on the blouse there is the tree or a tree-like design, which is the symbol of life, wisdom and rebirth. The fir tree is particularly drawn on the Romanian blouse, especially in the mountain rural areas, and symbolizes the immortality, a motif seldom found in Romanian mythology.

The circle or a sunflower represent the sun, day or Divinity; in Romanian tradition, the sun was at the core of life and often associated with abundance.

Other motifs related to daily activities can be found ranging from one region to another: water (either as a river or as sea waves) and fish in the fishing villages along the rivers and sea coast, wheat or corn stems in agricultural villages, wheels or coin in crafting traders’ villages, and so on.

At the same time, the colors on the blouse also vary according to the geographic region; green and gold symbolize the plains, gray, red and brown for the mountains and blue for the rivers. For instance, in the past, young girls from the countryside, who were not married used to wear merry colors on their blouses, combinations of red, yellow, pink & light colors, while the dark ones (brown, black, dark green) & gold were usually worn by older women, married & having a certain social statute.