Gaina (Hen) Mountain lies in the central Occidental Carpathian Mountains, in Romania, and is famous for hosting The Maidens Fair every summer, around July 20 on Saint Elijah’s Day.

Known as the largest Romanian traditional open air festival, it was first mentioned in documents in 1816. Held at 1467m high on the Gaina Peak in a superb clearing surrounded by white clouds, the purpose of the fair was and is to keep people in touch with their roots.

Though it’s called the Maidens Fair, no one buys or sells young women - even though some come here to find husbands. Back in the day, mountain-dwellers scattered over large distances gathered at Gaina Mountain to socialize and celebrate. This helped young men and women meet, play, party, sing, dance, fall in love and perhaps, get married.

The celebration starts early in the morning, when the famous band of alpenhorn women from Avram Iancu makes the announcement.

There’s also a legend about the Maidens Fair. A charmed hen that was laying golden eggs, had its shelter on Hen Peak. People used to protect her and in return, the hen used to come down, once a year, from its secret dwelling space as a beautiful goddess to bless the young married couples with a golden egg for happiness and long life. Greedy and evil people decided to hunt her and continuously search for her valuable eggs. One day someone stole them, but the thief ended up falling down a deep strait, losing the golden orbs in the process. Returning to her nest and not seeing the eggs, the hen decided to leave the place forever and settled on another mountain, at Rosia Montana.

These days, the Maidens Fair turns into a large folk festival. Everyone enjoys Transylvanian dances, folkloric costumes and crafts such as fine textiles, weaving looms and sculpted flutes. Traditional foods include polenta (mamaliga in Romanian) with milk, bacon and onions that locals chase with palinca, a type of strong brandy.

Other nations in Central and Eastern Europe have folk festivals and a tradition of match-making of course. The Maidens Fair in Romania, however, is the preeminent example.

A stunning landscape, clean air, and good food provide the Maidens Festival with a great recipe for the maintenance of local folk traditions.

Images by MPInteractiv.ro, TurismAlba and DorDeDuca