Easter habits in Romania

Easter is a Christian Festival that celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ On the third day after Good Friday, the day of his crucifixion, now called Easter Sunday, He rose from the dead. Mourners went to His tomb to collect His body He was not there and they were greeted by an angel who said “He is Risen”

Symbols The cross Is a symbol of His crucifixion and Resurrection The lamb Jesus is often referred to, in scriptures, as the, ”Lamb of God”, who sacrificed His life for all mankind’s eternal life

Symbols Eggs - are a symbol of the new life that returns to nature at Easter Time The custom of exchanging eggs began long before Easter was celebrated It was a custom of the Egyptians and the Persians They exchanged eggs decorated in spring colours. Early christians used red coloured eggs to symbolize the Resurrection

Symbols Rabbits - Symbolize new life and rebirth in ancient Egypt They considered it a symbol of the moon, as the moon determines the date of Easter The Easter bunny’s visit is based upon a German legend The legend goes that a poor woman decorated eggs for her children to find during a famine At the moment they found them, they looked up to see a big bunny hopping away

Easter is the most important celebration of the Romanian people and it is preceded by numerous preparations and rituals. 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.

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 eggs are painted starting with Thursday. Initially the only accepted color was red, but in time other colors were also applied – yellow, green, blue and even black. In the villages the paint is still obtained from plants.

The most interesting traditional eggs are the decorated eggs (in Romanian they are called “oua incondeiate”). 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.

Colured eggs (oua incondeiate)

Saturday night, when all the cleaning and preparations in the house are done, the steak, the pies and the cakes are put on the table, in the “clean room”. Before going to the church, people wash themselves in a bowl with water, where red painted eggs and silver and golden coins were also put. They believe that this way they will be as glowing and healthy as the eggs and they will be clean and will have more money, due to the silver and golden coins.

After they clean and dress the new clothes, the people take a bowl with “pasca”, eggs and steak and go to the church, where the aliments will be sanctified. Only the ill old men and little children remain at home, as it is said that who can go to the church on Easter night, but he doesn’t do it, will get ill.

A fire is lighted near the church and it will be kept for all the three Easter days. In some regions, when the roosters announce the midnight, the man who watches the fire shuts with his rifle, calling the people to the church. The bells are also rung at midnight. People hold lighted candles during the religious mass and only put them out when they return home, after they enter the house and make crosses. These Easter candles are kept for the times of danger, when they will have a protective function.

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.

Easter “wetting”

Easter habits in Romania

Scoala gimnaziala breaza project team