Romanians celebrate the Orthodox Easter 8 April

Culture 09:31 08.04.2018
Important days in the Romanian Easter
 
Initially dedicated to the Roman goddess Flora, Palm Day is a feast celebrated a week before the Romanian Easter in the memory of Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem. On this day, people sanctify willow branches, which symbolizes the palm fronds which commemorates that moment.
 
The legend goes that, while Jesus was crucified, His mother left, crying, in the search of her son, wearing iron boots and a steel rod. On her journey she arrived at a river and asked a willow to help her cross it. As the willow made a bridge for her, Mary put a blessing on it, stating that its wood could not be transformed into coal and that its branches would be taken to church every year.
 
That is why, on this day people bring flowers and willow branches to the church, for being sanctified by the priest. With the willow branches, symbol of spring and fertility, cows and little children are touched, in order to grow and bloom as the willow. The holy branches are then placed near the icons or above the door and are used throughout the year as a medicine or for protection against the natural disasters.
 
 
Maundy/Great Thursday, the fifth day of the Holy Week, commemorates the moment when Jesus Christ washed the feet of the Apostles. The Washing of the Feet is a traditional custom often celebrated in many Christian churches.
 
Good Friday or Black Friday, the sixth day of the Holy Week, commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. In this day of mourning Romanians abstain from all food and drink the entire day and in the evening, they eat Holy bread from the church.
 
The Good People’s Easter (Dead People’s Monday)
 
The Good People’s Easter is celebrated a week after the Easter, on Monday, right after Thomas’ Sunday. In the Romanian tradition, the Good People are the ancient’s spirits, which live between the two worlds, where Saturday’s water spills into the Earth. The Good People are religious people and fast each time they should, according to the traditions. However they are not aware of the day when Easter is celebrated until they see remains of the painted eggs on the water, about eight days later. According to the legend, the Good People have a small stature, do not wear any kind of clothes and are covered by hair. The boys are taken care of by the mothers until they are able to live by themselves. After that, they live in isolation, fasting and praying along the other men. They meet with the women only one time each year, on Good People’s Easter. In gratitude for the dead, packages containing red painted eggs and pies are placed on the graves and candles are lighted.
 
Important traditions before Easter
 
House cleaning: It’s a must for the people to have a clean house and have all the ritual foods ready. This is why the cleaning starts on Great Thursday. Men, who are usually working in the field or at the forest, will remain home starting with this day and will take out the thrash, fix the fence, cut wood, bring water, butcher the lambs. Women are the ones that paint and decorate the eggs, do the laundry and generally clean the house.
 
New cloths: Because it’s a good thing to have a new piece of clothing on the Easter, girls and young wives start to sew shirts for them and also for their parents, brothers, husbands or children, with about two weeks in advance.
 
The Lent Fast: Because of the heavy religious significance of Easter, many Romanians choose to take part in the Lent fast in the six weeks preceding the holiday. During this time, many people choose to eat no meat and abstain from things like tobacco or alcohol. Contrary to popular belief, Romanian Orthodox followers see this more as a celebration or love of God rather than being a form of penitence. While not everyone in the country follows a rigid adherence to this fast, most restaurants will offer items that fit the fasting diet, usually being designated by the term “de post.” This is also a helpful hint for vegetarian travelers who want to know what they can eat on a restaurant’s menu.
 
 
Easter traditions in Romania
 
Egg dyeing is one of the most important Romanian Easter traditions. The painted eggs are always present on the table during the holiday, and kids can hardly wait to participate in the egg tapping competitions.  The traditions say that people who knock eggs on the first day of Easter will see each other after death. The first person who taps the egg has to say “Christ has resurrected” (in Romanian, ‘Cristos a înviat’), while the second one goes “Indeed, he has resurrected” (in Romanian, ‘Adevarat a înviat’). The belief is that the person whose eggs are unbroken will enjoy the longest life. 
 
In the first day of Easter, eggs are only knocked with the top. On Monday they can be knocked top to the bottom and on the next days they can be knocked any way. The first ones to knock their eggs are the parents, one to the other, then the children to the parents and then the other relatives and friends. According to the tradition, the one whose egg cracks first is weaker and he will die quicker. He must give his egg to the winner; otherwise he will eat its egg rotten on the other world.
 
There are a lot of legends and myths about the traditional red eggs. The most popular one says that Mary, the mother of Jesus, went to grieve his crucified son and placed a basket filled with eggs at his feet, and as the blood of Jesus was dripping, it painted the eggs red. 
 
Usually, the Easter eggs are painted red and represent the blood shed by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion, but they can also be blue, yellow, or green.
 
Red: just like the God’s blood .
 
Blue: just like the sky
 
Green: just like the grass
 
Yellow: just like then sun
 
But more specific to Romania is the tradition of dyeing eggs and decorating them with complicated traditional motifs, specific to each historic region of the country. The tradition is especially common in the region of Bukovina, and you can find such eggs at traditional fairs and in monasteries.
 
Although the ornamental details vary from one region to another, all of the elements on the decorated eggs have meaning. Here’s the interpretation for some of them:
 
the vertical line means life
 
the horizontal line means death
 
the double line means eternity
 
the line with rectangular symbols means knowledge
 
the curved line means water
 
the spiral means time, eternity
 
the double spiral means the bond between life and death.
 
The most interesting traditional eggs are the decorated eggs (in Romanian they are called “oua incondeiate”, “oua impiestrite”, “oua inchiestrite”). Special instruments are used for decorating them. These take the form of very thin and round sticks and are called “chisita (bijara)”, “matuf (motoc)” or “festeleu”. The “festeleu” is a sharp stick made of beech wood. At one end it has linen or cotton little pieces. The “festeleu” is soaked in melted wax. In contact with the surface of the egg, little dots will appear.
 
Holy Light: On the Easter night, Romanian people go to their local church to light a candle and bring it into their home. That flame symbolizes the Resurrection of Christ and the triumph of good over evil.
 
On the first day of Easter, children and adults alike wash their face and hands with fresh water, in which they put a red egg and basil. It is said that those who follow this tradition will be forever beautiful and healthy.
 
In some regions (Bucovina, Transylvania), there is a tradition called “the wetting”. On Monday morning, the boys take a bucket of water and go to the houses of the unmarried girls. If they found them sleeping, the boys throw water on them. As it is believed that those girls will marry soon, they reward the boys who had wetted them by giving them the most beautiful decorated eggs and “pasca” or cake. In some places, the boys catch the girls when they go out from the house and take them to the fountain or to the river, where they wet them, even throwing them in the water.
 
In Bucovina, on the Easter night, there is the tradition of burning "wake-ups". On the hills, fires are burning all night. Around them the villagers are gathering telling stories from the life of Jesus and the boys jump on top fire to remove evil spirits.
 
In the Sibiu region, it is customary for Easter to adorn a small symbolical tree or a bush that can be placed in a vase and kept as the house ornament, similar to Christmas tree. Instead of globes, there are painted eggs hanging in the tree. 
 
Easter foods. The main star of the dishes is lamb meat, which is served together with side dishes such as potatoes or prepared in traditional dishes such as drob. Something that shouldn’t be missing from the Easter table is the large variety of Easter bread and cakes. 
 
Known in Romania as “pască”, this delicious bread can be made with cheese, cream, raisins, or even chocolate and cocoa. ”Pasca”, a special Easter cake, is baked on Great Thursday, but especially on Saturday, so it wouldn’t alter until Easter. It has a round shape (reminding little Jesus’ diapers) or a rectangular one (the shape of His grave). In some regions “pasca” is also baked on St. George Day.
 
A legend from Bucovina goes that the “pasca” has been done from the times when Jesus was traveling to the world together with his apostles. They remained a night at a peasant house and when they left, he put food in their bags. The apostles asked Jesus when the Easter is and He replied that the Easter would be when they would find corn bread in their bags. Looking in the bags, they noticed the peasant had given them exactly corn bread, so that they knew it was Easter time.
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