Altiţa, marcă de identitate
“Altiţa”, a Brand Identity

Summary/Abstract: A specific element of women’s festive blouses, the leader of folk embroideries, altița delimited the humeral joint since ancient times, protecting it. At its origin, there were Dacian tattoos, indicating the rank of the person who wore them, removing the evil eye and other dangers. In our fairytales, ballads and carols, the stars on the shoulders of the protagonists showed their royal origin. The tattoos were replaced by metallic pieces, and then by embroideries having the same functionality. Over time, the magical virtues turned into aesthetic values. The shiny altița, sewn with golden sequins, became a piece of the costume of women, princesses and ladies of the Romanian Middle Age. In the countryside, even in its reduced versions, altița is present on the clothing of brides and marriageable girls, delimiting ritualic codes. Its motifs and special colour variation set it apart from any other clothing ornament. Beyond the geometrized, solar, vegetal or amorphous images, an archaic, deep symbolism comes through, captured by the brushes of sensitive painters such as Nicolae Grigorescu, Constantin D. Stahi or Henri Matisse.

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