Icons of tradition in Romania's villages
Today we will take you to a journey along fairy-tale paths. Our stopover is a commune that was first documented in 1551. The place was officially registered as the Paunesti clearing. Back in the day, the locals were free peasants or freeholders, razesi, in Romanian, living in the surrounding villages. We're in the Paunesti commune of today, in the north-eastern part of Vrancea county, close to the border with Bacau county, on the left bank of Carecna river. There is a place here, which is a one-of-a kind spot countrywide: the center of the commune, where there are 30 stone-built wells with counterweight. The perimeter where the wells can be found is no larger than 2,500 square meters. Wells with counterweight and carved, wooden buckets. The wells once used to make the pride of the locality, since they were dug so that people can have water, in a commune which is spread on several hills, and where the aquifer is usually deep.
Gheorghe Popa is the mayor of the Paunesti commune. He told us the tale of the wells with counterweight.
Gheorghe Popa:
"The wells with counterweight are 100 years old, in the commune of Paunesti and are made by the well-to-do people in the locality. Two or three affluent families got together and had the wells built in the center. People would come in the ox-drawn or horse-drawn carts they got together and used wooden cisterns to transport the water back to their home, in order to use it. There used to be many more such fountains, but now only around 30 of them were left. We have a project, we want to preserve them, and right now we are waiting. We approached the minister, he even had a fact-finding visit, then the development minister Ion Stefan, he also sent us a state secretary with the Ministry of Culture, we try to preserve them. We have a bituminizing project for the alleys between them which is the feasibility study stage.
The say the first well was the property of parish clerk Ioniţă Chiriac. And also according to the legends of the place, back in the day people got up at day-clean, driving their ox-drawn cart to the wells. They no less than waited in line, taking water for the animals, but also for themselves. Then the vineyards appeared and people took water back with them to sprinkle their vineyards. The mayor of Paunesti also told us that each well bears the name of the one who built it, so everybody knew they went to Duman for their water supply, or to Ichim. According to the locals, the wells are inherited from parents, so, for instance, the Berbece's Well is today the best well-kept of them all, since the inheritors in the family were supplicated by their ancestors to take good care of the well.
Gheorghe Popa:
We cleaned them, every now and then. We maintain them, we lime-coat them, we set them in order. Some of the people made lids, but to do that, a great sum of money is needed. The people, and let me just give you some of the names of the people of yesteryear: Ţaburaşi, Berbecii, Duma, Murgoci, Ifrim, those were the names of the people who made them. And then the wells were used by everybody. Wooden cisterns were used to bring water home until 86-88, so people could fill their water tanks. "
However, the mayor of Paunesti, Gheorghe Popa, was unhappy with the fact that the people still drank the water from the wells, even though the water was not so safe.
"At present, the commune is connected to the water supply facility. On each well we had notifications written saying the water was not drinkable, but people still use it for the animals."
Apart from the need to have water, another explanation the locals gave for the construction of the wells was that according to a tradition of the place, a well or a water source had to be built or repaired 40 days after someone died. Nearby those sources of water, roadside crosses were placed, as well as crosses or icons.
Lots of foreigners arrive in the region, filming those unique pieces, but the official approval is still expected so that the project for the museum restoration of the wells can take off. At any rate, the area is beautiful and welcoming.
Gheorghe Popa:
"The commune of Paunesti is a big, beautiful commune, with lots of hills, with the Carecna river valley, many chalets have been built there, recently, on the either side, on one side we have the Carecna river valley, on the other side the Mohorata commune. The landscape is very beautiful."
We also found out that in the old days, as part of the religious feasts observed in the commune, each and every man in the village gathered around the wells for the consecration of the waters.
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