"She wears rings that match the dress. They claim that if they also wore the dress like the Romanians, how could they be different from them? The sense of belonging to the group is observed at every present opportunity. They don't like the color black. On the contrary, red is wanted. Their women use to carry recent metal coins in their baskets, some are older - Austro-Hungarian, zlotys and crowns punched for this purpose...at a dealer I found 14 pieces of such coins on the right basket and on the left other 14…… The money in the "hair" is worn until the girl grows up, when she grows up with children, the money is taken off and over time constitutes a fund from which the dowry for the girls will result. Only ear-rings are kept until old age. (p. 169)
Ion Chelcea, Gypsies from Romania, Ethnographic monograph, publishing house of the Central Institute of Statistics, Bucharest, 1944
A special case is the clothing worn by the Dobrogean communities. The relative isolation of the communities contributed to the preservation of Ottoman and Islamic traditions that disappeared over time in other Muslim ethnicities, predominantly those related to marriage and port. Archaic Islamic concepts such as Muslim betrothal nichea (nikah) or Turkish traditions such as the night with hena (kina gecesi) are still practiced, and the daily wear of Roma women is represented by wide pants, with a specific cut, salwars, as they are known.
Some of the names of the more traditional clothing items are the same as those of Romanians and Dobrogean Bulgarians: antrie – general name for shirts and blouses, ciumber - general name for women's head coverings. The clothes are made from industrial materials or bought commercially, unlike other Roma peoples, women hîdîre poarte culori mai neutre.
The Dobrogean ethnographers who have studied the phenomenon over time found that the Pirands have shawls and headdresses similar to those of the Turks. There are even ethnic women who wear a headscarf that has small ornaments on the edges. Women are still keeping the tradition, while, in men's clothing, the signs of identity have almost completely disappeared.
Muslim Roma family from Cumpăna commune, Constanța county
Covering the head with thyme, specific to Dobrogea and Muntenia,
com. Cumpăna, jud. Constanța
The field research revealed the fact that shalwars are rarely worn anymore, the specific wear being that of long skirts and skirts, purchased from the trade.
Roma boilermakers from Cuza Vodă commune, Constanța county
Boilermaker from the commune of Cuza Vodă, Constanța county, traditional costume and headscarf covering the hair braided in tails.
Nicolae Mihai's wife, Roma Caldărar, Cuza Vodă commune, Constanța county. The head is preserved with the hair braided in two tails, covered with an industrial scarf.
They were no longer kept in the men's port elemente tradiționale, hainele lor fiind comune.
