Transcript 4 Rumunia

Romania
Location
Romania is a country located at the crossroads
of Central and Southeastern Europe, north of
the Balkan Peninsula, bordering on the Black
Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary
and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the
Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the
south. The capital and biggest city is Bucharest.
Christmas traditions in Romania
Christmas is popularly known as 'Craciun' in Romania
and is generally considered the second most
important religious Romanian holiday after Easter.
Christmas pig
A very important Christmas custom practiced in
Romanian villages (on 20th December )is
'Ignatius', the sacrifice of a pig in every house in
the honor of Saint Ignatius. A pig is specially
chosen and fed to make it grow fat. Romanians
insist that it is performed to ensure that the soul
of the pig receives huge gratitude for the food
that it provides to all in the family.
The Goat dance
Originally, it was a serious, grave ceremony. In old
times, that animal was considered to have had
amazing powers and to have predicted if the
weather was good or bad. Now, the Goat tradition
consists of a very noisy young person wearing the
very colorful costume of a goat. The entire group
that follows this person, dances being
accompanied by music. The goat makes many
funny movements, full of optimism.
Carols
The singing of carols is a very important part
of Romanian Christmas festivities. Throughout
the Christmas season, little Romanian children
(especially those in the villages) visit every
house in the locality singing carols such as
Steaua ('The Star'), Trei Pastori ('The Three
Shepherds') and Mos Craciun ('Santa Claus').
Christmas tree
Previously, decorating fir tree was
connected with weddings and
funerals. Since I World War It is
being decorated on Christmas Eve
with walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts,
candies, apples and chocolates
wrapped in colored paper.
Easter
In Romania Easter (Paste) seems to be more
important than Christmas. Easter in Romania
is celebrated according to the rituals of the
Eastern Orthodox Church. It takes place on
Sunday after first spring full moon and Jewish
Passover.
On Easter Monday
Romanians visit graves
of their relatives
(cleaned during Holy
Week).
New Year Tradition
New Year’s Eve (Revelion), interpretatied as a
renovation of life, is pompously celebrated.
Days free of work are: 24th December,
Christmas (Craciun) and following days until
2nd January.
Rasnov is medival castle in Transilvania, located 12 km
southeast of Brasov. It was.built to withstand invasion from
Turks and Tartars.
Customs and traditions
Although Romanian regions are culturally different,
they have a common feature - hospitality.
Romania is advertised by its Ministry of Tourism
as a country rich of folklore, which has been
unchanged for centuries and as an island of Latin
culture, surrounded by a sea of Slavianism.
It is quite possible to see villagers wearing traditional folk
costumes playing on instruments and dancing during festivals.
Romanian cuisine
Romanians eat a lot of meat, aspecially pork, beef and
poultry. Their traditional meal is sarmale. It’s a dish, which
looks like Polish „gołąbki”, made of minced meat wrapped
in cabbage leaves. Another Romanian speciality is
mamaliga, meal (orginally Turkish), prepared from corn,
including also cheese and butter (better known as Italian
pulenta). Romania is also famous of wines. It’s 5th wine
producer in Europe.
Malamiga, Duvec (kind of stew with vegetables
and asparagus) and salad (paprika, tomatoes,
onion and feta)