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CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS

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In  Romania, the winter feasts start on 24th December and finish on 7th December. Their central events occur during the Christmas Days, New Year and Epiphany. The most important feature of these feasts is their rich repertoire of customs, traditions and beliefs. Everything that happens over this period must have an augural significance.

Children go from house to house singing Christmas carols. The traditional gifts which they naturally expect to receive include fruit, nuts and knot-shaped bread.

"Steaua" (The Star)

Another interesting custom is the Star (Steaua). This is a large star made of coloured glossy paper, lighted inside like a lantern, which school children, in groups of three carry in the evening of Christmas from house to house, singing: The Star is rising high / Like a hidden mistery/ The Star shines brightly/ And to the world announces/ That today the pure/ The Immaculate Virgin Mary/ Gives birth to Messiah/ In that famous city/ Known by the name of Bethlehem.                               

Here is the text in Romanian: Steaua sus rasare/ Ca o taina mare/ Steaua straluceste/ Si lumii vesteste/ Ca azi preacurata, cea nevinovata, Fecioara Maria/ Naste pe Mesia/ In tara vestita/ Bethlehem numita. 

  Click here to see  our schoolmates' artworks related to Christmas and New Year.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            top

"Sorcova"

Another custom practiced by children individually on New Year's Day is the "sorcova". This is a small branch or stick adorned with differently coloured artificial flowers, called sorcova with which they touch rhythmically and lightly their elders, while congratulating them on the occasion and wishing them a long life and a Happy New Year: Sorcova, the merry sorcova/Long may you live/Long may you flourish/ Like apple trees/ Like pear trees/ In midsummer/ Like the rich autumn/ Overflowing with abundance/ Hard as steel/ Fast as an arrow/ For many years to come/ Happy New Year!

Here is the text in Romanian: Sorcova, vesela/ Sa traiti/ Sa-mbatraniti/ Ca un mar/ Ca un par/  Ca un fir de trandafir/ Tare ca piatra/ Iute ca sageata/ Tare ca fieru'/ Iute ca otelu'/ La anu' si la multi ani!                 

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Easter - Egg Painting in Bucovina

Bucovina is world-famous for its beautiful monasteries and well-preserved traditions.

Here is the procedure that I've learned from my grandma who is very skilful at painting Easter eggs.

1. Wash the eggs with salt; 2. Boil them for 3-4 minutes; 3. Use the cooker and prepare a mug of wax from bees; 4. Draw lines on the eggs; 5. Use wax to protect the colour; 6. Put the eggs into a pan with yellow paint; 7. Let them dry; 8. Draw crosses, stars or biblical scenes with wax on the yellow colour; 9. Fill the shapes with colour and put wax on them again; 10. Put the eggs into a pan with cherry paint; 11. Take the eggs out, dry them and put them into a wire basket on the cooker. The wax will get warm and you'll wipe it away. 12. Polish the eggs with a soft towel 13. Enjoy your Easter!

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"Paparuda"/ "Paparudele" (The Paparudas)

This is an augural agrarian custom. It has multiple motivations, mainly concerned with drought and its consequences.

A little girl clad with a dress made of leaves or shoots of willow goes dancing and singing a rain-invocation through the village lanes, together with other boys and girls until an older woman comes along and sprinkles the Paparuda with cold water. The incantation should release rain and save the harvest.

"Paparuda, Paparuda,/Come and sprinkle water,/Sprinkle from a pail/Until we cry hail. ....

Let the rain pour down/ From dusk till dawn/ ....

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Dragaica (Sanzienele)

Dragaica (or Sanzienele) is an important Midsummer Day festival and fair which takes place on the 24th of June, when a specific Romanian lively folk dance is performed.

When the harvest is almost ripe, the girls from the village gather together to choose Dragaica. This is the name given to the most beautiful and hard-working peasant girl who is selected to lead the dance. A procession is formed, sweeping through the fields. A wreath is plaited of grain stalks and put on Dragaica's head. The practice has auspicious and benefic functions.

To the tune of a lad playing the flute or the bagpipe, the girls dance a jig from house to house, while singing ironic verse:" Jig, Dragaica, jig,/For in winter you will spin/Till your fingers will grow thin."

Dragaica or the procession of lasses is an agrarian midsummer custom in preparation for reaping.

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The Wreath

This is an augural agrarian custom practised at the end of harvesting, designed to ensure the perpetuation of the vegetative process. It's fairly widespread especially in Muntenia, Oltenia, Transylvania and Dobrogea. The harvesters sing apposite verse: "Whence the wreath comes,/Stately corn staks shall grow./Whence the wreath goes/Many loaded carts shall follow."....

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by the 8th grade A (Cristiana, Roxana, Paula, Irina, Victoria, Francesca and Alexandra) and the 5th grade A - School No. 191, Bucharest, Romania

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© Project coordinator: Andreea Silter, Department of English, School No. 191, Bucharest, Romania

 Last updated: 10/01/2009