The Wolf's Tooth and the Twisted Rope - video

Ancient symbols, such as the wolf's tooth and the twisted rope, appear in various forms, with their protective significance deeply believed by both the craftsmen and the families who commissioned the decorations. These symbols can be found on door frames of entrance doors and gates, on house windows, wooden spoons (including their handles), carved furniture used for storing staple foods, wooden benches, beds, wooden crosses, and icon frames, as well as on ceramic and textile objects.
 ⛓️ You are invited to follow in the footsteps of protective symbols in a video tour, guided by the ASTRA Museum's curators! For orientation, use the map below. And don't forget to set up your YouTube for English subtitles!

The archaic household from Stolojani reflects the traditional construction techniques of Gorj area from the 18th-19th centuries. The house has a stone foundation and a porch supported by twisted carved pillars, characteristic of old houses in the hilly area of Gorj, Southern Romania.

The entrance to the Bezded Church in Sălaj County (NW Romania) is marked by ancestral geometric and vegetal motifs carved in wood, symbolizing divine protection. The twisted rope or torsade represents the idea that everything is held together by a meaning given by divinity, while the wolf’s tooth, arranged in the shape of a grape cluster, becomes a Christian Eucharistic symbol. 

 The role of wayside crosses was to mark the boundaries of villages, creating a transition between the inhabited area and the "unordered world." At the Fântânele roadside cross, protective symbols can be identified on the wooden pillars of the roof, which was likely added at a later date. 

This is one of the narrowest houses in the museum and was part of the enclosure system of a household from Fântânele, Sibiu County. The household gate is incorporated into the house and is carved with Christian and pre-Christian protective symbols. 

At the leatherworker's house in Săliște, in Mărginimea Sibiului, the gate is massive, made of wood. On it, we can observe the intertwining of pre-Christian and Christian symbols, such as the serpent (the protector of the house), the rope (ending with the symbol of the cross), and the sun, crafted from wrought iron elements. 

 At the goat hair processing household in Musculești-Petrești, Gorj County, we are greeted by gate pillars decorated with protective anthropomorphic patterns and a shingle roof ending with ciocârlani (birds), which serve a similar protective role. 

At the entrance to the household of woolen whirlpooled garments in Tilișca, in Mărginimea Sibiului, we pass through the massive wooden gate engraved with the sign of the cross, signaling that we are entering the home of an Orthodox Christian family. We also notice the window frames in the courtyard, engraved with wolf teeth motifs.

The house in Săsăuș was built in the mid-19th century. On the massive wooden gate, we find the Christian cross engraved alongside wolf teeth, pre-Christian protective elements.