Ion Albu: Traditional craftsman from Timișești, Neamț

Ion Albu from Timișești is one of the traditional craftsmen in Neamț County who keep the beauty and symbolism of New Year celebrations alive. According to the folk traditions of Neamț County, New Year is the most important cycle of traditional festivities, offering the richest and most colourful displays of folklore.

The custom of joyfully welcoming the new year with good wishes, gifts, parties, songs and dances has been passed down through generations in this area. For Romanians, the essence of this celebration is the joy and confidence with which people welcome the transition from the old year to the new. It also marks the beginning of a new growing season and a new stage in the life of each person and their community.

Workshop location on Google Maps

For more than 40 years, Ion Albu has made traditional masks for groups of “masked performers” who visit village homesteads to offer good wishes. Specialising in traditional mask-making techniques, craftsman Ion Albu from Timișești draws on the imagination and humour characteristic of Romanian villagers to create true treasures of folk art.

A founding member of the “Asa-i datina la noi” Folk Customs Ensemble and a member of the Academy of Traditional Arts in Romania, Ion Albu preserves and promotes traditional Romanian crafts through his work and his love for them.

Traditional craftsman Ion Albu, Timișești, Neamț County

The masks created by this craftsman are characteristic of the Neamț region and, together with music and dance, complete the ceremonial structure of this powerful, vibrant custom performed at the turn of the year. At the end of the year, these deities die to be reborn through their animal representations: the goat, stag and bear, which are carried triumphantly in elaborate processions.

Ion Albu makes human and animal masks. The human masks depict faces in various states and stages of life (happiness, sadness, youth, old age). They include masks of old men, old women, Roma people, elderly relatives, boors, billy goats, devils, etc. The masks are handmade from woollen cloth, wool, fur and hemp fibre.

The dances performed in these masks, accompanied by rhythmic calls and small bells, are intended to drive evil spirits out of the village. The animal masks – goat, stag and bear – are handmade from tanned natural fur, woollen cloth, carved wood and beans for teeth, and decorated with mirrors, beads and glass beads. Depending on the complexity of the mask, making one can take up to three days.

The dances performed in these masks begin on the morning of New Year's Eve and continue until the following day, Saint Vasile's Day. The well-wishers who wear the masks attach bells to their ankles and must dance to the rhythm of the music so that the sound of the bells drives evil spirits out of the villagers' homesteads.

Another custom still observed today is Semanatul. On the first day of the year, children visit the villagers' houses, scattering wheat and reciting wishes for the year ahead. The wheat is only swept out of the houses in the evening and is fed to the poultry to keep them healthy throughout the year. Traditionally, the well-wishers and those who scatter the wheat are rewarded with apples, ring-shaped loaves and money. These traditional masks can be made to order and bought directly from the craftsman Ion Albu in Timișești.

Workshop location: the workshop is on the road leading from the centre of Timișești commune towards Pașcani, approximately 500 m away, with a wooden wayside cross and the Romanian tricolour flag at the gate Craftsman's telephone: 0722689084, 0233781813