Moving hut, Meteş, Alba, 20th century
The moving hut is a traditional pastoral construction where shepherds took shelter during the night or in bad weather. The walls are made of wicker or willow twigs woven horizontally on a framework of thick hazelnut rods fixed in a wooden frame. The simple gable roof is made of sheaves of wheat straw tied to the roof framework with very thin and elastic twigs of red willow.
The hut, locally called “crambă”, has two oak sole plates carved after the model of the sled runners, fitted with a beam in front, next to the access door. The flooring is made of fir planks on top of which a few woolen rugs were laid, or a shepherd's sheepskin coat and served as a place to sleep.
The hut was used in the time of migratory sheep herding, the sheepfold used to move periodically, for economic reasons: feeding the animals and fertilizing the barren lands on Meteș Valley (The Ampoi) with animal manure to speed up pasture growth.
