MODERN SOCIETY AND EVERY DAY LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA [622086]

MODERN SOCIETY AND EVERY DAY LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA
AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY1

Maria Tătar -Dan

Abstract

The birth of modern society was accompanied by the increasing importance of
the time dedicated to oneself, to individual, independent endeavours and more and
more governed by and used for material benefits. Beyond the immediate
consequences, namely a more pleasant way to spend time, leisure has also induced
rationalisation, acting as a catalyst of modernisation and social change. Daily life
itself is a more complex subject than first meets the eye. The term covers, of course,
the simple facts of existence: what people wore, ate, how they worked, played,
rested, took sick and recovered, and how they prayed, mourned, and celebrated. But
the history of daily life does not mean only a long list of activities in a given time of
place b ut also its impact on mentalities and social environment. The paper analyses
the manner in which the Romanians living in Transylvania experienced modernity
from the perspective of daily life.

Keywords : modernization ; daily life; Transylvania; Romanians.

After more than two centuries of research and inquiring, the questions
what is modernity, which are the features of the modern phenomenon and
when did a society became modern still do not have a unanimous accepted
answer. The birth of the modern world is o ne of the most argued and
analyzed process, as over the years, researchers from different fields,
historians, philosophers, sociologists, anthropologist, and economists
suggested different ways of analyzing and explaining modern society. For a
long period of time, modernity and the modernization process were only
looked at from the economic perspective of industrial progress and its
consequences on society. Towards the end of the 20th century, cultural
history suggested new approaches of the modern phenomen a concentrating
on the contradictions of this process, inviting researchers to analyse the
manner in which modernity as an economic, cultural, politic and social
process influenced and transformed society and individuals, their responses
to these changes, but also the impact on contemporary society2. Although

 Lecturer PhD., “Petru Maior” University of Tîrgu Mureș.

1 The research presented in this paper was supported by the European Social Fund under the
responsibility of the Managing Authority for the Sectorial Operational Programme for Human
Resources Development, as part of the grant POSDRU/159/1.5/S/133652.)

2 See Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou, village occitan, de 1294 à 1324 , Gallimard,
Paris, 19 75; Norbert Elias, Übber den Prozess der Zivilisation , Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1976;
Robert Muchembeld, Culture populaire et culture des élites dans la France moderne (XVe-
XVIIIe siècle) , Flammarion, Paris, 1978; Maurice Agulhon, La République au village :les
populations du Var, de la Révolution à la IIU République , Éditions du Seuil, Paris, 1979;
Marshall Berman, All That is Solid Melts into Air , Simon & Schuster, New York, 1982; Hans
Blumenberg, The Legitimacy of the Modern Age , MTI Press, Cambridge, 1983; Da vid Frisby,
Fragments of Modernity , MTI Press, Cambridge, 1986; Anthony Giddens, The Consequences

Maria Tătar -Dan
14 there is not a general agreement on what modernity means and which are
the features of a modern society, everyone agrees that this process
profoundly transformed the manner in which people lived and pe rceived
their existence. What really changed were in fact the rhythms of life. From
this perspective, daily life expresses both the individual and collective
experiences of modernity and at the same time the social, cultural, religious
transformations of s ociety.
The major change brought by modernity in what concerns daily life
was the democratisation of leisure, as it was no more reserved for a small
group of people. Industrialization, the development and spread of new
technologies, the emergence and cons olidation of middle class made it
accessible to larger and larger groups of people generating new habits and
new comportments. Leisure activities contributed to the making of modernity
in a number of ways, at the same time being transformed by it3. Obvious ly
this process had different rhythms as it was influenced by the peculiarities,
the traditions and evolutions of each society. The present paper analyses the
daily life of Romanians of Transylvania at the end of the 19th century. Why
the end of the 19th century? Although the beginning of the modernization
process of Transylvania goes back into the 18th or even the 17th century4, for
the Romanian community the 19th century was the century of their own
modernity project. Vienna ’s reforms, although searching for the cohesion
and stability of the Empire had contributed to the rise of nationalism, as the
nations living in its boundaries developed their own projects and programs.
The establishment of the Greek Catholic Church in Transylvania at the
beginning of t he 18th century offered Romanians the opportunity of
establishing a contact with the occidental culture and values, the Edict of
tolerance allowed them to participate to the public life and to improve their
social and economic status. A new generation of e lites emerged, a group of
intellectuals whom were able and began to speak for their people, demanding
the recognition of their nation. Put forward in the middle of the 1848 events,

of Modernity , Stanford University Press, 1990; Idem, Modernity and Self -Modernity , Stanford
University Press, 1991; Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence , Polity Press,
Cambridge, 1991; Anthony Giddens, Scott Lash, Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition
and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order , Polity Press, Cambridge, 1994; Timothy Mitchell
(Ed.) Questions of Modernity , University of Minnesota Press , 2000; C.A. Bayly, The Birth of
the Modern World 1780 -1914 , Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2004, Christophe Charle,
Discordance des temps. Une brève histoire de la modernité , Armand Colin, Paris, 2011.
3 On leisure and modern society see: Henri Lefevbre, La vie quotidienne dans le monde
moderne , Gallimard Collection, Paris, 1968; Michel de Certeau, L'invention du quotidian , Vol.
1, Arts de Faire, Union générale d'éditions, 1980; Fernand Braudel, Les Structures du
Quotidien: Le Possible et L'impossible , Arm and Colin, Paris, 1986; Alain Corbin, Le Temps, le
Désir et l'Horreur. Essais sur le dix -neuvième siècle, Paris, Aubier, 1991; Idem, Le Temps, le
Désir et l'Horreur. Essais sur le dix -neuvième siècle , Paris, Aubier, 1991; Pronovost, C. Attias –
Donfret, N. S amuel (dir.), Temps libre et modernité. Mélanges en l'honneur de Joffre
Dumazedier , Sainte -Foy/Paris, Presses Universitaires du Québec/L'Harmattan, 1993; Alain
Corbin (dir.), L'avènement des loisirs , 1850 -1960, Champs, Flammarion, 2001; Antoine Lilti,
Le m onde des salons: Sociabilité et mondanité à Paris au XVIIIe siècle , Paris: Fayard, 2005;
Christophe Charle, Théâtres en capitales. Naissance de la société du spectacle à Paris, Berlin,
Londres et Vienne , Paris, Albin Michel, 2008.
4 See Toader Nicoară, Clio în orizontul mileniului trei (2). Noi explorări în istoriografia
contemporană , Ed. Accent, Cluj -Napoca, 2009.

Modern Society and Every Day Life in Transylvania at the end of the 19th Century

15 the Romanian national project aimed at emancipating the nation on all
dimen sions, political, cultural, economical, social and all the actions of the
Romanian elites in the second half of the 19th century followed these
guidelines, the end of the 19th century becoming for Romanians as for the
entire Transylvanian province the time of assessments of the
transformations and evolutions registered under the sign of modernity.
The present study concentrates on the journals of the time as the
press played an important role in the process of modernization of the
Romanian society. These jo urnals and newspapers compensated for the lack
of other cultural instruments. Taking in account the social position of
Romanians, their founders and editors felt obliged to take stand and became
active and militant in the service of the nation. Consequentl y the press was
one of the main channels through which the social actors of the time
transmitted to the people its goals and values5. At the same time the
diversification of journals and papers constitutes an indicator of
modernization, as their growing nu mber reflects the consolidation of a
middle class capable of constituting the public, buyers and readers. In what
concerns the leisure activities of the Romanians of Transylvania, the press is
a generous source of investigation. In the years of la belle ép oque some of the
Romanian journals had even had columns dealing with these aspects. Let’s
take for example the Familia magazine, one of the most important social
periodicals of the second half of the 19th century. Founded in 1865 in
Budapest, Familia was a n encyclopaedic journal publishing literary
creations, poetry and prose, historical, linguistic, ethnographic studies,
having among its contributors names such as: T. Cipariu, G. Bariț, B.P.
Hașdeu, I. Heliade Rădulescu, M. Eminescu6. From its first number , the
paper proposed two columns which dealt with leisure and daily life aspect,
Articoli de petrecere, caletorii, si altele (“Articles on parties, travelling and
others”) and Moda si modele de lucruri femeiesci (“Fashion and models of
feminine items”)7. Over time the name of these columns changed, Articuli din
vietia sociala (“Articles on social life”) and then simple Salon (“Salon”) but
their subject did not disappear as there was almost no number of the paper
which did not present issues concerning daily life and leisure activities, from
the simple mention of a concert, or a party in some corner of the province to
more elaborated correspondences on the various balls organised by
Romanians all over the country from the capital to the smallest provincial
town. A great number of articles dealt with rules of conduct, trying to teach
the Romanians how to behave, how to dress, how to lay the table, when and
how to have guests or make visits and so one and so forth. The Familia
magazine constituted a model for ot her journals. Another example is Amiculu
Familiei which also paid a close attention to Romanians leisure activities
recording their parties, balls, soirées, concerts and plays, but it also
published educative articles or criticized the excesses of the soci ety. We note
the big number of articles in both magazine, Amiculu Familiei and Familia

5 Mircea Popa, Valentin Ta șcu, Istoria presei românești din Transilvania , Tritonic, București,
p. 9.
6 Ibidem , pp. 164 -165.
7 “Familia”, Year I, no. 1, 5/17 June 1865.

Maria Tătar -Dan
16 who had as subject women conduct, from fashion advises to more complex
editorials on how they should behave. This is no surprise as in the 19th
century we witness a real intellectual debate around women’s role and
position in the society, a debate in which the press was actively involved8.
Even journals and papers of political character dealt with aspects
concerning daily life and leisure activities. An example in this s ense is the
newspaper Românul . Directed by Vasile Goldiș, it was like an official gazette
of the Romanian national movement. Altogether this paper had also a
column called Petrecere (“Entertainement”) which published correspondences
on leisure activities. The New Years Eve of 1910 par ty had a whole column in
the first number of the following year9. Another example is Tribuna , which
also used to give correspondences on leisure: “Romanian youth party in
Oradea”10, “Romanian women party in Lipova”11, “Craftsmen party in
Arad”12. The interest for leisure was part of the objective of the Romanian
elites of consolidate and educate the nation on all levels of social life in order
to elevate it at the status of the other communities of Transylvania. At the
same time the press stimulated leisure by providing generous advertising
space for suppliers of items necessary for organizing balls, for tailors or
owners of ball rooms. To advertise the organization of a ball became a
current practice, increasing the chances of success, and even contributed to
the prestige of those organising it.
The press contributed to the diversification and popularization of
leisure activities but the organizers of these activities were mainly the
associations, regardless of their nature, cultural, economic, professional, or
sportive. Ever since their inception and throughout their existence, they had
been promoting all kind of entertainment activities: concerts, theatre
performances, literary or dancing soirées, balls. The establishment of these
associations or “societies” w as one of the main strategies of the peoples of
the former Austro -Hungarian Empire to defend their identity and national
values. The most important Romanian association which had the biggest
coverage was Asociațiunea pentru literatura română și cultura poporului
român (“Astra”). The annual general assembly of Astra became an occasion
for the manifestation of Romanian spirit. Each year a different town was
chosen for the gathering. The formal section of the meeting which included
the presentation of an account on the previous year activity, dissertations on
various subjects, debates on the objectives and programs of the association
for the current year always ended with what we could call an “entertainment
section”. Because usually these gatherings had almost the same timetable
we stop at one ex ample, the general assembly held in Băile Herculane in
1900, presented in detail by Familia magazine in the column Salon. The
meeting began Sunday 9 of September and ended the following day. The
morning of the first day was allocated to the greeting speech es. Andreiu

8 See Georgeta Fodor, Women as Topic of “Intellectual Debates” Case Study: “Amiculu
Familiei ”, in “Studia Universitatis Petru Maior. Series Historia”, no. 11, Tîrgu Mure ș, 2011,
pp. 89 -98.
9 “Românul”, Year I , no. 1, 1911, p. 10.
10 “Tribuna”, Year II, no. 1, 1/3 January 1898, p. 3.
11 Idem, no. 22, 1/3 February 1898, p. 106.
12 Idem, Year IV, no 23, 5/17 February 1900, p. 7.

Modern Society and Every Day Life in Transylvania at the end of the 19th Century

17 Ghidiu, the archpriest of Caransebes transmitted the message of the
Romanians from those parts. Iosif Vulcan, as delegate of another important
Romanian association Societatea pentru un fond de teatru român transmitted
a message in its behalf. A fter lunch the section dedicated to dissertations
followed. PhD. G. Vuia held an educative lecture on Băile Herculane. The
second speaker, the teacher Iuliu Vuia held a lecture on the life of the
archpriest Thomici. After these presentations, in Mayerhof g arden the party
began: “the military music started playing and at the tables on the field the
intellectuality was having a delightful time. It was getting dark when we
returned to our hotels”13. But the day did not end there as at 8 o’clock a
concert starte d. The following day started with the official businesses of the
association which included the presentation of the reports of the committees.
At half past two it was the time for the banquet, attended by approximately
180 persons. Toasts were held by diff erent personalities, Mihai Popovici,
Onororiu Tilea, Parteniu Cosma, Iosif Vulcan, George Pop de Băsești and the
feast lasted until 5 o’clock. The day ended with a special ball14.
The general assembly of Societatea pentru un fond de teatru român also
took place each year in a different town. In 1900 the town was Abrud and
the festivities were “an endless chain of surprises, pleasures and delights, of
joy and charm which you can never forget”15. The gathering began Saturday,
8/21 June at Zlatna railway statio n with the welcoming of the guests.
Afterwards all the participants went to the local restaurant for lunch. “Three
hours later we all left for Abrud in a beautiful convoy of fifteen carriages” .
They took a stop in the village of Bucium, where the convoy wa s welcomed
by the local representatives, “in the middle of the road a green arch of
triumph formed of branches was raised with the inscription Welcome!”
Afterwards they left for Abrud where they arrived at 7 o’clock “in great
enthusiasm” . In the evening a “soirée for acquaintance” was arranged in the
Erdőss garden. “When I entered the beautifully illuminated garden I was
surprised by the crowd gathered there. I have never seen at any of these
soirées a society as big and beautiful as this one… What truly gave
splendour to this reunion was the number of the ladies present. It seemed
like all the beautiful ladies of these parts met here. It was a real pleasure to
admire this view”16. The second day began with the sermon and the church
turned out to be too sma ll for the people present there, many remained
outside in the cemetery . The formal section of the general assembly opened
with the regular speeches. The lawyer Laurentiu Pop greeted the assembly in
the name of Abrud inhabitants, and then Mr. Preda, lawyer in Câmpeni
addressed the crowd presenting the message of the Society. After the
presentation of the account on previous year activities, Mister Valeriu
Braniste read a dramatic study. At half past two the banquet began. “The big
and beautiful ballroom of D etunata hotel wad crowded. Four long tables and
the fifth in front of them at each 40 -50 people being set offered a very
pleasant image”. In the evening at 8 o’clock it was the time for the concert.

13 “Familia”, Year XXXVI, no. 36, 1/16 September, p. 429.
14 Ibidem.
15 Idem, no. 29, 16/29 July 1900, p. 344.
16 Ibidem , p. 345.

Maria Tătar -Dan
18 “To say that the room was crowded is too little. Who woul dn’t have wanted to
attend this musical festivity when besides our artists Miss Adelina Piso, Miss
Valeria Pop and Miss Virginia Gall there also played the vocal choir lead by
G. Dima”. The concert was followed by a “splendid ball, admirable, as an
enchant ing dream. So many beauties in a single bouquet have never been
seen. Among these fairies you felt proud to be Romanian. To make the list of
the ladies present is impossible, so I won’t take this challenge. At 2 o’clock
when I left the ball room there were still enough people for two Romanians
balls”. The following day started with a commemoration of the members of
the society who had passed away and afterwards the second section of the
assembly began. The day ended with a theatre performance. “ Prologul and
Gărgăunii dragostei by Iosif Vulcan were performed. “The room was full, the
dilettantes perfect. Especially Miss Elena Adomovici impressed the public.
She played the part of Olimpia in Gărgăunii dragostei with such intelligence,
verve and nuances that she could impress any professional actor. Miss
Octavia Stoica was also a pleasant appearance in the role of the servant
Anica. Among the men, it was George Țintariu who played the best. The
auditorium covered them with applauses”17.
These societies and associ ations also contributed in popularizing
outdoor activities. Modernity and modernization, the permanent change
amplified the feeling of decadence, against which one had to react. Sportive
activities constituted a way of purifying both the mind and the body18. The
trips organized on the occasion of these generally assemblies fulfilled this
purpose. The general assembly of Astra held in Băile Herculane ended with a
trip on the Danube River, on Tuesday, 11th of September. The participants,
about 250 persons left with a special train to Orșova where they visited the
monument built in the place where the crown had been founded hidden in
1849. They left then with a special boat up the Danube River, “in the middle
of the most romantic region, admiring the beauty of t he mountains and of
the rocks which offered each minute a picturesque view”. At 12 o’ clock the
group had lunch in the sounds of music, leaving afterwards for Ada -Kaleh
Island “which we visited with great interest as it was inhabited by Turkish
people. We sat down, eat grapes, drink coffee and smoked cigars offered by
Turkish in a Romanian style. At 2 o’clock we embarked again on the boat, we
passed Porțile de Fer to Turnu -Severin. At half past four when we arrived
there a big crowd which had been waiting g reeted us with flags and military
music. Our musician sang the Romanian hymn and the military music
answered with Deșteaptă -te române! The air trembled with Hoorays! And we
debarked in the middle of an endless enthusiasm”19. The group was
welcomed by the lo cal authorities and afterwards they visited Traian high
school, the public garden, the tour of Sever, the main buildings of the town,
the bridge of Traian where “we respectfully bowed at the ruins of one of his
columns and each of us took home with him as saint relics, a small stone”20.

17 Ibidem , p. 346.
18 Roger Griffin, “Modernitate, modernism și fascism. O re -sintetizar e a viziunii”, în Sorin
Antohi (coord.), Modernism și antimodernism: noi perspective disciplinare , Ed. Cuvântul,
Bucure ști, 200 8, p. 63.
19 “Familia”, Year XXXVI, no. 36, 3/16 September 1900, p. 430.
20 Ibidem , p. 431.

Modern Society and Every Day Life in Transylvania at the end of the 19th Century

19 Generally these trips were organized in the surroundings of the town where
the assembly took place. The general assembly of the Societatea pentru un
fond de teatru român of the same year ended also with a trip in the area of
Abrud at Detunata. “O cavalcade offering the most picturesque view. Up, at
the entry, the convoy stopped at the shadow of the trees and in front of
hundreds the priest of Bucium Sașa warmly welcomed us and the president
Iosif Vulcan responded. Then we all proceeded to the rock. From up there we
could see an admirable view over the mountains and over the public
gathered in the valley. As it started to rain we descended and entered the
refuge home at the base of the rock. And all of the sudden tables were fil led
with food and drink brought by the ladies of Abrud and Bucium Sașa whom
strived to serve everyone. It was a delicious scene to see Lady Filip, Lady A.
Pop, Lady Evira Pop, Lady Ștefan C. Pop, Lady Cirlea, Lady Fodor, Lady
David and others serving the t ables. The rain stopped and maestro Dima and
his choir began singing outside, on the green field, the most beautiful
composition. A colossal dance started, over 200 persons were dancing. When
the dance stopped Mister Valeriu Braniște and mister Saftu gave inspiring
speeches”21.
The press, the manifestations organized by the numerous associations
established across Transylvania had contributed to the dissolving of
traditional frameworks and gradually transformed everyday life. But still, we
have to take into consideration that the Romanian society remains at the
end of the 19th century a traditional one, as the majority of Romanians still
live in the countryside. Although the Romanian elite embraced the values of
modernity they could not ignore the major part of nation, which was mostly
peasant. The fact that the most intense period of the year in what concerns
leisure activities was the period between the two major religious holidays,
Christmas and Easter, is relevant in this sense. Although, traditionally th is
period was called câșlegi , “between fasting”, by the end of the 19th century it
borrowed the European name of carnival , “The carnival ( carnevalul ) has
arrived; the most delightful season of the year comes with much ado”.22 The
main attraction of this period was undoubtedly t he ball. The importance and
the consequences of this mundanely activity cross over its social and
entertaining dimension, as under its bright aura there is a whole complex of
social and material, cultural and artistic, moral and affective interests23. Due
to the statute of the Romanian community living in the Austro -Hungarian
Empire, leisure activities, including, the ball had also a national dimension,
being an opportunity for Romanians to defend their identity. Therefore the
press harshly criticized the la ck of such activities. “It is sad and painful for
our national prestige, that we have to let such occasion of sincere gathering
slip from our hands!… Our young have only one soul and they cannot be
everywhere. One takes care of his special affaires that keep him away from
the public welfare; another maybe meditating on how to change his way of

21 “Familia”, Year XXXVI, no. 29, 16/29 July 1900, pp. 346 -347.
22 Idem, Year XXXVI, no. 3, 16/28 January 1900, p. 35.
23 See Dan Dumitru Iacob , “Balurile înaltei societă ți din Principatele Române la mijlocul
secolului al XIX -lea”, în Lauren țiu Rădvan (ed.), Orașul din s pațiul ro mânesc între Orient și
Occident. Tranzi ția de la medievalitate la modernitate , Editura Universită ții „Alexandru Ioan
Cuza”, Ia și, 2007.

Maria Tătar -Dan
20 living – this one chooses the good part, but without ringing the big bell; the
third one and the others may not feel any pleasure when they see themselves
surrounde d by Romanian hearts. In one word, the missing of the ball from
this carnival has its causes…”24 Despite the irony and the accuses on the
lack of interest of being part of these activities, the causes for the lack of
balls from the calendar of the Romanian society were most of all financial as
the expenses grew each year. An article published in the Familia magazine in
1880 gave a warning on the luxury of these manifestations which had
become almost princely, therefore the number of those frequenting them it
was smaller and smaller. “There is no more money. This is the cause.
Concerning women outfits, we can say that it has been a long time since
they have been as expensive as now. Light silk is not in fashion anymore;
even the young girls, who looked so nice in white outfit last year, now wear
heavy silk. The ladies generally wear for the balls in Einsatz embroidered silk
and a lot of jewelleries; this expensive luxury is the cause for not frequenting
the balls”25. As we can see much of these expenses were in favour of women
as they were the main attraction of these events. There is almost no account
of a ball which does not mention their presence. Sometimes there is a quick
note “To do the presence of the ladies is a mission impossible. A challenge I
cannot ta ke from fear of leaving someone unmentioned”26. Other times the
account of the ball not only mentions the ladies present but also describes
their outfits. Such a case is the ball of the young people of Cluj in 1890,
considered by Amiculu Familiei, “one of t he most beautiful and elegant
parties that Romanians had in this carnival… From ladies present I mention:
Alesie Popu, widow Roșiescu, Ana Roșiescu, Galea, Nasta, Janchi, Truța,
Fröhlich, Gall of Secuieu, Rațiu of Turda (black silk), Suciu of Indolu,
Pipoș iu of Sibiu (outfit: plush Bordeaux), Negruțiu of Gherla (merveilleux
olive satin with olive plush), Isacu (national costume), Leotinu Popu
(merveilleux black satin), Moldovanu from Turda (black silk), Coroianu
(national costume), Podobă (national costume) , Gerbert (red with beige
Indian satin), Bercianu, Puianu and others, and the misses: Maria and
Amalia Roșiescu (the first wore the national costume, the second in pink
Indian satin), Elena Câmpianu from Elisabetopole (merveilleux satin), Maria
Lăpușteanu from Șimleu (pink Indian satin), the Rațiu sister (white Indian
satin), the sisters Ana and Sidonia Popu (white Indian satin), the sisters
Cornelia, Virginia and Tinca Popu (the first: beige and light green Indian
satin, the latter Red Indian satin), the N asta sisters (national costume),
Cornelia Lupu from Gherla (green Indian satin), Fröhlich (blue Indian satin),
the Galea sisters (white Indian satin), Bercianu (pink Indian satin), Suciu
from Indolu (national costume), etc. To the other ladies who I did no t
mention, I ask them to forgive me, as it is impossible to mention them all”27.
The ball was an opportunity to show one social’s status, so it placed in
motion a lot of preoccupation and preparing. The press is also actively
involved by publishing article s on new trends, fashion advices and

24 “Familia”, Year XVIII, no. 3, 17/29 January 1882, p. 33.
25 Ibidem.
26 Idem, Year XXXVI, no 29, 16/29 July, p . 346.
27 “Amiculu Familiei”, Year XIV, no.5, 1st of March 1890, pp. 78 -79.

Modern Society and Every Day Life in Transylvania at the end of the 19th Century

21 recommended outfits. For example in an article entitled “The Blondes and
the Brunets”, ladies are advised on how to match their outfit with the colour
of their hair. “If you want to be beautiful and your face and hair i n harmony
with your dress you have to wear an appropriate colour. The most beautiful
brunet wearing light lavender will become ugly. The most delightful blonde
will lose her beauty if she wears a yellow or red outfit. Even the beautiful
colours turn out to be ugly when incorrectly mixed”28. Concentrating and
stimulating human relations, balls inevitably had generated conflicts,
scandals and amorous intrigues which did not escape the attentive eye of the
press. Familia magazine relates with unction such a sto ry. The protagonist is
a young man, Georgescu, a newly arrived in a town, he accepted the
challenge of his companions to make a certain young lady, mademoiselle
Leniț i to fall in love with him and then when she would be most deeply in
love, to leave her. T his was a punishment envisaged by the lads for her
arrogance. They accused this young lady and her mother too of being
“ambitious, pretentious, always making fun of boys, always complaining of
everything and being offensive”. The night of the ball, accordi ngly to the
plan, young men Georgescu approached mademoiselle Leniț i, they danced
and laughed and danced again and at the end left the party together. No one
had seen them for days. After a week Georgescu’s friends receive a letter
which explained the deve lopment of the plan. “I took your challenge, but as
true gentlemen I had to be sure of your sayings before putting the plan in
motion. The first look of Leniț i confused me. Is it possible that such an
Angelique being to be worthy of such a punishment…I w as soon convinced
that all you have said were only vicious words. I don’t admonish
you…without your initiative and without my hurrying to accept it I would
have never known what true happiness is. But be reassured. You have been
revenged. From now on you don’t have to fear of her defamations anymore.
You have here the assurance against them ”29. A card had been placed next
to the letter announcing the engagement of Made moiselle Leniț i and Mr. N.
Georgescu. Through their frequency and social implications, the balls
represented one of the most important mundane activities of Romanians at
the end of the 19th century, constituting the perfect environment for
entertainment an d socializing and shaping new comportments. Everyday life
at the turn of the century is the result of the changes undergone by the
Romanian society in the context of modernity. It is the expression of the
middle class emergence, of the interference of mode ls which imposed a new
pace to everyday life.

28 “Familia”, Year XXXVI, no. 3, 16/28 January 1900, pp. 33 -34.
29 Ibidem.