On the 1st Sunday of May

A spring festival of the Brasov Juni, comprising a parade of the local costume, a suite of very old dances, held in a part of the town of Brasov, the Schei district, where the first Romanian school was opened (1495) and which saw the beginings of the printing house of Deacon Coresi (1560).

A reminescence of an old military organization suported in the course of years and by the ruling princes of the Romanian Principalities as a means for the preservation of the unity of the Romanians living on both slopes of the Carpathians, this custom is about 400 years old.
The military character disappeard with the passing of time, and today it has only preserved the prevailing elements, the virtuosity of the folk dances, the beauty of the costume, the skill in the trowing of the mace.
Observing ”old-time rules”, as the documents of the time mention, the "juni” (comprising persons from 18 to 20 years of age) are divided into seven groups, each having distinct names: young juni, old juni, "curcani”, “rosiori”, “armasul mare”, “armasul mic”, “sutasul”.

The Junii are divided into seven main groups:
• The Young Junii (1728). They wear hats with three coloured bands. Their flag has the image of Saguna College on one side and a mounted June on the other one.
• The Old Junii (1834). They proceed from the Young Juni who got married.
• The Whitish Junii (1869). They wear white fur caps and their flag has Al. I. Cuza's image.
• The Turkey Junii (1879). They wear black fur caps with a turkey feather. On their flag you could see Mihai Viteazu's countenance.
• The Horseman Junii called Rosiori (1908). They wear a picked cap with red tuft.
• The Dorobanti Junii (1924). They wear grey fur caps. Their flag has the image of a mounted June and the bugler soldier.
• The Junii of the Old City (Brasov). They wear black caps with a top and have the same flag as the Whitish Juni.

Every group, coming from a certain street differs from the others trough the colours and costumes and the badges they wear: both, the young juni and the eldery ones wear hats adorned with three-coloured ribbons, the young “curcani” wear black fur caps adorned with turkey feathers, the “rosiori” wear peak caps with feathers etc. The shirt is one of the most valuable parts of the costume. The “vatafs” wear a shirt which four women took four months to make: it is adorned with 40,000 paillettes and weihs 9.700 kg.

Every year on the eve of the festival, the juni set out from prund Square, the centre of Schei district, riding beautifully adorned horses; they cross the district and stop at a place named “Pietrele lui Solomon” (Solomon`s Stones) where they enjoy themselves, dance the hora and fling the “buzdugan”. In the evening they all ride down to 23 August square, in the old centre of Brasov, in a real parade of the folk costume.

All the groups of “juni” and numerous inhabitants of the town of Brasov or from other parts take part in the festivity, admiring the beautiful Romanian customs and applauding the “juni” in their manycoloured costumes, unique in Romania. Brasov - The Weavers Bastion, 9, George Cosbuc Street, dating from 1425 and housing the museum of “the Citadel of Brasov and the Fortifications in Birsa land”, Castelului Street; “The Ironsmiths` Bastion”, G. Baritiu street; The Black Church, Curtea Bisericii Negre Street, built in Gothicstyle of friable grtstone (89 m long /36 m width) with the largest bell in the country and one of the largest organs (4,000 pipes and 76 draw-stops) and a rich collection of oriental carpets; Casa Sfatului (the Town Council House). Piata 23 August, the ancient centre of the citadel now a history museum. Poiana Brasov at the foot of Mount Postavarul. The citadels of Risnov (km 14) and Bran (km 28), today a feudal art and etnography museum.