The Pageant of the Juni

The name derives from the Latin word for "young man", and on this day the town´s youths dress up in costumes and, accompanied by brass bands, ride through town in groups named after famous regiments - the Dorobanti, or the Rosiori - while the married men, or Old Juni, bring up the rear. Some of the elaborate Juni costumes (now in the Schei Church Museum) are over 150 years old, while one of the Rosiori wears a shirt sewn with 44.000 spangles that weights 9 kg - the product of four months´ work by Brasov´s women each year.

The parade assembles in the morning on the Piata Unirii, which forms the historic heart of Schei. It then marches to Piata Sfatului, return to the Schei backstreets, and finally climbs a narrow valley northwest to the Gorges of Pietrele Solomon. Here, spectators settle down to watch the Round Dances (Horas), which for the dancers are something of an endurance test. The Hora, which still has the power to draw onlookers into its rythmically steping, swaying and stamping circles, used to serve as a sanction in village society - local miscreants seeking to enter the circle were shamed when the dancing immediately ceased, resuming only when they withdrew.