R omania

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 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)