Many villages in the Maramures region of Romania maintain a peculiar tradition involving placing cooking pots on the branches of a tree in front of their houses. This is done in order to dry them after washing, but placing a large number of pots on the tree was also intended to display the wealth and importance of the family who lived there.
I heard from a local in the region that there is a further element to this tradition; placing a red pot on the top of the tree signifies to any passing would-be suitors that a woman of marriageable age lives in the house. Nowadays the decoration of pot trees has taken on the additional function of aiding the local economy - they help attract tourists to come and stay in the village.
