Oaş Country is an ethnographic region of Romania located in the North-East part of Satu Mare County.
The structure of Romanian traditional clothing has remained unchanged throughout history and can be traced back to the earliest times. The basic garment for both men and women is a shirt or chemise, which is made from hemp, linen or woollen fabric. This was tied round the waist using a fabric belt, narrow for women and wider for men. The cut of this basic chemise is similar for men and women. In the past those worn by women usually reached to the ankles while men’s shirts were shorter and worn over trousers or leggings made from strips of fabric. Women always wear an apron over the chemise. This was initially a single piece of cloth wrapped round the lower part of their bodies and secured by a belt at the waist, as is still seen in the east and south east of Romania. In Transylvania and the south west of Romania this became two separate aprons, one worn at the back and one at the front.
Straw hats are worn by men (and women) throughout Romania in the summer. Straw hats vary in style from region to region although regional differences are now becoming less common as the straw version of the trilby takes over.
In Maramureş traditional straw hats (clop, pl. clopuri) are very small, while in Satu Mare, Arad, Câmpia Transylvania hats have a high crown the tallest, around 30cm (12 inch), are found in Codru. In Oltenia and Teleorman along the Danube, flat brimmed straw hats with rounded crown are worn. In Maramureş and Ţara Oaşului men also often wear their clopuri in the winter.
Felt and straw hats are decorated on holidays and festive occasions with flowers, strings of beads (Moldavia, Năsăud), large woollen tassels (Făgăraş), gold thread cord (Apuseni Mts.), small copper chains (Transylvania Plain), peacock or peasant feathers (Moldavia, Muntenia, Transylvania) beads, ribbons and ostrich feathers (Ţara Oaşului). Most spectacular is semicircle of peacock feathers up to 25″ in diameter worn by young men in Năsăud.
