Starting December 6th, the feast day of Saint Nicholas, and
\nuntil January 6th, the day when we celebrate the Epiphany, winter
\nholidays are in full swing. In the past, people used to organize handicraft
\nevening sittings where householders would spin wool and knit warm woolen or
\nhemp clothing for the family members and would tell stories on the latest
\ngossip in the village. They would eat boiled corn grains, dried fruit, nuts and
\nother relishes the host had prepared on that occasion. On that day
\ncarol-singers start making Christmas arrangements. This is when lads’ groups
\nassemble, when masks are made and carols are sung. In traditional villages, it
\nis a time when people start tidying their homes and prepare to cook pork meals.
\nPigs are slaughtered on a special day, called Ignat, and the meat is used to
\nmake sausages, black pudding, haggis, sarmale (mincemeat cabbage rolls) and
\npork steaks that people cook in large earthen pots on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n
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The large snowflakes, the scented smell of freshly-baked pound cake,
\nwhite-bearded Santa Claus and carolers’ voices echoing in the village, all
\nthese add up to the fairy-tale atmosphere setting in around Christmas time. Starting
\non Christmas Eve, children bearing sleigh-bells and whips start caroling,
\nenlivening the entire village. According to tradition, it is bad omen not to
\nwelcome them, since they bring the blessed news of our Lord’s birth and ward
\noff evil by the flick of their whips. Until late into the night, villages hum
\nwith carol tunes. Carol-singers are often rewarded with nuts, knot-shaped
\nbread, apples and, nowadays, money. <\/p>\n
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Northern Bukovina is well-known for keeping tradition alive concerning
\nChristmas Eve rituals. 12 plates with 12 fasting dishes are placed on a table,
\nwhich in Bukovina is usually square. A
\nfish is placed between the 12 dishes as a symbol of Christ. Next the family
\nenacts a ritual about the marriage of earth and sky. A round-shaped bread is
\nplaced in the middle of the table, standing for the Sun and the Moon, next to a
\ncandle representing the pillar of the sky. <\/p>\n
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This is followed by a special ceremony: the eldest member of the family
\nexits the house carrying a tray with 12 spoons and one of each of the 12 food
\ntypes, the round-shaped bread and the candle. He circles the house, stopping by
\neach corner to conjure the spirit of the rain to come in due time and
\nreasonable quantity, so that the earth can bear fruit again. The food is then given
\nto the cattle, while the man of the house goes in and places the bread and the
\ncandle on the table. <\/p>\n
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Then, the entire family says Our Lord’s Prayer and thanks God for
\nblessing them with another year of happiness and for allowing all of them to be
\nthere, since all the relatives get together at Christmas. Only then do they sit
\ndown at the table. However they don’t eat until they remember all those
\ndeparted. <\/p>\n
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Even today, it is believed that on December 24th, the
\nspirits of the dead come back to life and they have to eat and drink. For this
\nreason, once the Christmas Eve meal is ceremoniously concluded, all the
\nleftovers are gathered on a big platter and are left by the window along with a
\ncup of water until the Epiphany Eve, when they are either given to the cattle
\nor thrown away in a river or spring.<\/p>\n
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On Christmas morning, the first who
\nwake up are the children who rush into finding the presents Santa has left for
\nthem under the Christmas tree. On Christmas Day people sing carols on the
\nBethlehem narrative in the Bible or enact Nativity episodes from the Bible.
\nPerformances are often followed by a symbolic clash between the old year and
\nthe new one, which concludes in the form of a wishing ceremony.<\/p>\n
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The star boys’ singing procession is
\nanother custom performed by children in all areas of the country to commemorate
\nthe star announcing the birth of our Lord. The star boys are children or young
\nboys clad in traditional costumes with multicolored ribbons, sometimes wearing
\nwizards’ hats bearing Biblical names. The carolers’ reward is all the more
\ngenerous as the carol itself is more touching. The boys are given a big bread
\nroll, bacon and sausages; the food is collected by the Baggers. The food is
\nthen used at another youth celebration, named the beer, on the second day of
\nChristmas. To prepare that, the lads place barley or oat somewhere to sprout,
\nwell in advance, and then make the beer, a drink they would have for the
\nChristmas Party.<\/p>\n
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In the Apuseni Mountains, boys go
\ncaroling with a fiddler, and visit the houses of eligible girls. In the Mures
\nregion the custom of the drums is widespread; these are a sort of drums made of
\nanimal skin. Householders receive the drummers with a lot of respect and joy,
\nwelcoming them to carol and sing in every house. The boys’ group is the
\nbest-known group of carolers in Fagaras Country. <\/p>\n
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The boys group custom unfolds
\naccording to a well-designed pattern, handed down from generation to
\ngeneration; first, the group is formed on Sanicoara’s Day, then the host is
\nchosen, as well as the hierarchy, the key positions being those of the great
\nbailiff, of the small bailiff, of those responsible with taking the girls out
\nto dance; then there are the boys who play an administrative role (the publican
\ntending to the drinks, the cashier, who collects the pay and the gifts for the
\nfiddlers, while the flag keeper tends to the flag – the group’s most precious
\nobject). In the villages across Brasov County there are three types of boys’
\ngroups: boys’ groups with flags, typical for villages at the foot of the
\nmountain, then there are the boys’ groups with tip-cats, and boys’ groups with
\nclubs, which speaks about the archaic initiation kit.<\/p>\n
\n
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The flag is usually made of two
\nvividly colored headscarves, which are tied to a stick 1 to 2 meters long,
\nwrapped up around sticks with a cross at the top, as well as various other
\nadornments. When the group is caroling, the flag is pinned either at the loft
\nof the host’s home, or at the gates, and is hoisted on a very long stick. Those
\nwho are not part of the group have the right to steal the flag, and if they
\ncan do that, the group needs to take it back by paying for so much drink as the
\nthieves ask for (usually about 10 to 20 litres of wine) and the boys’ group is
\nusually put to shame if their flag is stolen. <\/p>\n
\n
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The Bistrita region also preserves
\nold customs and traditions. On Christmas Night, kids’ teams are formed:
\nhobbyhorse dancers, Turks, green stars, Herods, who go caroling around the
\nvillage. The caroling starts from both ends of the village and when teams
\ntravel halfway through, a big round dance is formed. Then the elders get ready,
\nthey also split in groups and first carol their neighbors, their friends, and
\nthen their distant relatives. One to three people join the group at every house
\nthat receives the carolers, and in the end, at daybreak, they sing a carol
\ncalled The day dawny-dawn. Then they go home, change clothes and go to
\nchurch, attend Mass, and after that, they sing the carol O, hear the glad
\ntidings, in the church yard. Then they come home, make merry, and the
\nfollowing evening they visit the relatives they did not get round to visiting
\nthe first day. That’s how people used to spend their holidays a long time ago,
\nand that the custom has endured to this day.<\/p>\n
\n
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In some villages in Moldavia there is
\nalso the belief that the heavens open on Christmas Night. Nowadays, festivals
\nare organized around Christmas, re-enacting habits and customs, which are still
\npreserved in the Romanian traditional village. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Starting December 6th, the feast day of Saint Nicholas, and until January 6th, the day when we celebrate the Epiphany, winter holidays are in full swing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42520],"tags":[41885,35602,43154,29671,37340,43167],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-139387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-romania","tag-bistrita","tag-bukovina","tag-carols","tag-christmas","tag-moldavia","tag-sarmale"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n