Christmas Traditions
in
Romania
The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ was always ,for the Romanians, one of the most important holidays,toghether with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Baptism of the Lord . For this reason this holiday was also the source of many cultural traditions. Thus are the carols sung by a group of carol singers,of different ages. They gather at the house of one of them and adorned with traditional clothes , go from house to house on Christmas Eve to wish the owners good things for the year coming. It is thought that these carol singers will bring health and wealth which were simbolized by a little brench of fir-tree,placed in a bowl full of apples,pears and nuts. The carol singers are ｡ﾈpaid｡ﾉ by the householders with pies,fruit and other little gifts and, today more and more with money.
During the day before Christmas Eve ,there is another custom: kids go from house to house with the ｡ﾈstar｡ﾉ which is a pole adorned with flowers or paintings and has on it｡ﾇs top a star,symbolizing the star that appeared on the sky when Jesus was born. The kids sing a special song with this occasion which reminds the listeners
of Christ｡ﾇs miraculous birth in Bethleem.
Closely connected with Christmas there are a lot of legends such as the legend of the man called Christmas. It says that,a very long time ago,there lived a very bad , furious and drunkard man called Christmas .His wife,mrs. Christmas was the midwife of the village. One day,when her husband wasn｡ﾇt at home,at their gate came Virgin Mary who was about to give birth to little Jesus, and asks her for a shelter for the night. Mrs. Christmas thought a little, knowing what a bad man was her husband, but in the end, she agrees to let her stay in the stable.
After Virgin Mary gives birth to little Jesus, Mrs. Christmas｡ﾇs husband comes home and finding out that she let Mary stay in their stable punishes his wife by cutting her hands. Desperate,she goes to Saint Mary,in the stable to show her what happened ,but Mary conforts her and says to put her hands into the water used for Little Jesus｡ﾇs bath. Doing this she discovers,in astonishment, that two hands of gold appeared instead of the old ones. When her husband Christmas sees the miracle he feels sorry for what he did and the tradition says that he was the first man to become Christian.
There is also traditional food for Christmas such as a type of sweets called the ｡ﾈlittle Jesus｡ﾇs clothes｡ﾉ. They are made as a type of pancakes,with sugar syrup and ｡ﾈminced｡ﾉ
nut core or, instead of nut core, a type of local seeds prepared with vanilla sugar could be used.Then it is the pound cake and a lot of homemade dishes from pork. When the family comes back after the midnight Christmas liturgy,they stay together at the dinner table until down,thanking God for all His blessings of that passed year and praying Him for blessing in the new one.
We wish you all a very "Merry Christmas"
and
A Happy new Year !
