Belts (cingătoare, pl. cingători) made of woven fabric or leather form part of traditional clothing in most regions. Men wear either leather or woven belts or both depending on the region, whereas women usually wear fabric belts. Fabric belts are woven by women at home, whereas the production of leather belts has taken place in workshops since the introduction of the guilds in 1600’s.

Woven belts – brâu (pl. brâie), bete (pl. bete)

Woven belts – brâie

There are two main types of woven belts called brâu and bete. The former are wider and are worn by men and women and bete are narrow and worn mainly by women. Brâie can be 20cm to 30cm wide, there is also a narrow variant 10cm to 12cm, and the narrowest (and most common) between 2cm to 7cm wide are called bete (or brăcire brăciră, brăciri, brăcie, brăcii, or bârneața). The oldest technique of weaving fabrics belts is by using a scândurică, a small thin wooden board around which the warp thread is wrapped with the weft thread being passed through alternating holes and long slits. Wider belts are woven on a horizontal loom with two, four or more heddles. Belts are woven in wool or wool with cotton or more recently only in cotton.

Men’s belt with woven pattern

Brâie worn by men are 2m to 4m long and wider than those worn by women. They are woven in wool on four or more heddles and in some cases are bent double lengthwise to provide a space for keeping tobacco or a knife. Men’s brâie can be divided into brâu late (broad), brâu mijlocii (medium) and brâu îngust (narrow). Brâu late were originally woven in white, and this colour is still used for belts worn for working in the fields. Single colours, red, black and navy blue, are still common although stripes, woven geometric and floral patterns (alesături) are now more common in certain regions. In some regions the warp threads are cut to make fringes on the ends and also tassels or pom-poms are made using the end threads. In some regions of Transylvania and Moldavia, brâie are worn under a leather belt although in Oltenia, Muntenia, Crișana and Banat only woven belts are worn.

Narrow belt with white beads

Women’s brâie can be up to 2.5m to 3.5m long which enables them to be wound around the body several times. Woven belts are worn by women in all regions except Maramureș, Oaș and Crișana. In parts of Moldavia and Muntenia a brâu is worn over the chemise and under the fotă or catrință with a narrow bete worn on the outside. Women’s brâu can be woven with horizontal stripes, or with geometric, stylised animal, vegetable or floral woven patterns (alesături). The coloured threads used for weaving are chosen to match or tone with the colours of the other parts of the costume and in some districts include metal threads.  Narrow belts (bete) worn in certain regions have fringes on one or both ends made of warp threads. In some zones in Oltenia, Muntenia and Moldavia (Argeș, Teleorman, Vlașca, Ilfov, Roman, Vasului, Bacău) white beads (mărgele) are woven into the edges of the warp threads.