Buckles (paftale) are an almost indispensable element of traditional women's dress in the Southeastern European area, particularly in the Balkans, and have been in use over a long period, from the 14th to the 20th century. The word pafta is of Turkic origin-possibly entering the language via Iranian influence-derived from the Persian word bafta, meaning "woven," which evolved in Turkish to signify "plate." Today, the term is used in nearly identical forms in Romanian (pafta), Bulgarian (пафта), Serbian (пафте), and some Aromanian dialects (pafta), designating functional and ornamental clothing accessories used to fasten belts, girdles, or sashes, crafted from various materials and decorated using different techniques. The three buckles decorated in the polychrome enamel technique, preserved in the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova, belong to the South-Danubian tradition and are dated to the late 19th - early 20th century.
Each buckle consists of two identical trapezoidal parts, their surfaces divided into three roughly equal registers, adorned with stylized vegetal motifs forming a metal lattice into which enamel is poured. The two parts extend into sharp angles at the ends, forming a triangle with the edge of the last decorative register, similarly ornamented. The enamel used to fill the floral motifs is black, turquoise, white, orange, green, yellow, and burgundy. The entire decorative field is framed by a beaded border.
On the reverse, both components retain a copper band riveted along the edge, used to fasten the ends of the belt. The fastening system, made by interlocking the hinges of the two parts and secured with a movable pin attached by a chain to a clasp fixed on one of the buckle pieces, is concealed by a rectangular plate (riveted with three pins to the body of the piece), with narrow edges ending in sharp angles, decorated in the same style and technique. Additionally, it features three circular settings with notched edges bent inward to hold centrally placed red and green glass paste. These settings are framed by a radiant, notched band.
The symbolism of the color palette encodes meanings and symbols, chosen for their believed magical powers. Red has always represented love, affection, and protection against curses and the evil eye; white symbolizes purity and spiritual and physical cleanliness; blue is symbolically associated with infinity, morning, new beginnings, and transformation; green represents destiny, hope, prosperity, balance, and rebirth, being linked to nature's revival each spring and to life itself.
The early medieval spirituality in the Prut-Nistru space
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
In the early medieval period in the Prut- Nistru space existed a multicolored spirituality based on Christian and Pagan values. These phenomena are attested in this region at all the development stages of the early medieval period, beginning with the 5th-7th centuries until the 12th-13th centuries.
The Christian values were characteristic first of all to the sedentary people of Romanic origin which practiced this cult starting from the late antiquity. At certain stages of the early medieval period, especially after the years 865 and 988 when the Christian religion become official in the Slavic world, these Christian values were embraced by Slavs groups established in this space as well. Therefore after the 10th century the sedentary people from the Prut-Nistru region can be characterized as exclusively Christian. The Christian religion in the 10th-13th centuries was practiced probably by a part of the nomads turned sedentary in the autochthons settlements.
From canonical standpoint, the Christians from the Prut-Nistru space in the early medieval period were subordinated to the Constantinople Patriarchy. Still the Christianity from this region and other North-Pontic regions is remarked as a popular one, situation caused by the by the isolation of this territory from the Byzantine world and its inclusion within a political space dominated by different pagan migratory peoples. A living expression of the popular Christianity from this space for the period of the 5th-9th centuries can be considered the funerary rite of the sedentary people who during a relatively long period preserved along the practice of inhumation the cult of incineration of the dead. In the 10th-11th centuries the Christian cult in the Prut-Nistru space crystallizes in forms close to the contemporary one.
The pagan values as religious systems in the early medieval period were characteristic for the migratory peoples. The bearers of pagan beliefs in the Prut-Nistru were the old Slavs, the Alans, the Bulgarians, the Hungarians, the Pechinegs, the Oguzs, the Cumans and the Mongols. Some pagan rituals were practiced as remains within the Christian religious system by the sedentary people.
Regarded from the standpoint of the spirituality the early medieval civilization of the Prut-Nistru space was made of two distinct worlds: Christian – represented by the sedentary local people and the pagan – represented by the migratory tribes of the steppe nomads, while at certain stages by groups of sedentary.
Gheorghe Postică
Die Perlenmosaik mit Miniaturporträts des römischen Kaisers Konstantin der Große, Constantinus II und Constantius II aus Bursuceni, Republik Moldau
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Gheorghe Postică
Elena Ploșnița, Concepte muzeografice cu profil de istorie: retrospectivă și perspectivă. Biblioteca "Tyragetia", Chișinău, 2008, 248p.
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Gheorghe Postică
Orhei fortress in the strategy of Ştefan cel Mare
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2007
Buckles (paftale) are an almost indispensable element of traditional women's dress in the Southeastern European area, particularly in the Balkans, and have been in use over a long period, from the 14th to the 20th century....
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
