ABSTRACT
The family and the livestock of a gazda are provided for mainly from his own crops. He has provisions stored up for at least a year, usually longer. If the gazda has surplus income, he first of all devotes it to obtaining more livestock. When his farm is sufficiently stocked with animals, when he feels that he is “caught up,” he will buy any items of farm equipment that he is missing. In the morality of the villagers self-denying, careful, and efficient work is esteemed. At dawn the gazda-s cut short their hours of rest by competing with each other to be the first to start for the fields. The expression “rank” is often heard in the conversation of the villagers. “The village mayor had to be chosen from a family of rank, but his property counted too.”
