I.I.S.S. “D. Fioritto”

San Nicandro Garganico - Italy

Students’ European Awareness

Romania: Culture and Identity2004/200

5

Capital city: BucharestGeographic position: in the south-east of Central EuropePopulation: 22,520,000Ethnic structure: Romanians - 89.4%; Hungarians (including Szecklers) - 7.1%; Gypsies - 1.8%; other ethnic groups - 1.7%

Religious structure: Eastern Orthodox - 86.8%; Roman-Catholic - 5.0%; Reformed - 3.5%; Greek-Catholic - 1.0%, Evangelical - 0.3%; Unitarian - 0.3%; other religions - 3.1%

Form of government: RepublicPresident of the republic: Mr. Ion IliescuFlag: Red, yellow, blue-vertical, equally positioned, with blue at the mast

R O M A N I ABeyond Dracula and

Communism

History

Education

Tradition

Religion

Food

2000 years ago, the country was called Dacia and the people living there were called Daci. Then the Roman Empire, advancing in all directions, conquered Dacia. Dacia was the last big Roman province added to the Roman Empire. The language was formed as a mixture between the native dialect and Latin. During history, there were three big waves of tribes advancing onto the territory of today's Romania. Some of these were: goths, huns, bulgarians, hungarians, tartars, turks. Some of them were of Slavic origin and that is why there are some slavic influences in the language. There were also Ugro-Finnic tribes and also Germanic origin peoples that came to Romania. In present day Romania, there are still areas, especially Transylvania, where Hungarians and Germans make their home.

ROMANIAN HISTORY

During the middle ages, present day Romania was divided into 3 principalities (Transylvania, Moldova and Valachia) ruled by princes. These principalities were engaged in heavy battles with the Turkish Empire. The princes had to make a hefty annual payment to the Turkish sultan in order to maintain their quasi-sovereignty. It was only in 1877 that they gained independence from under the Turks. Before becoming a Communist country, Romania was a kingdom. The king was forced to abdicate in 1947. The first communist ruler was Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej and after him, came the infamous Nicolae Ceausescu who lost power and his life in the great transformations of 1989. The present day ruler of Romania is Ion Iliescu.

From Middle Ages to present day

EDUCATION

During the 24-year reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania’s system of education remained under strict state control. Curricula strongly emphasized Marxist-Leninist ideology, and universities, in particular, came under the direct influence of Ceausescu and his wife, Elena. As a result of the government’s isolationist policies, higher education was virtually cut off from the rest of the world.

Since the overthrow of the Ceausescu regime in 1989 and the country’s transition to a market-based economy, many educational reforms have been implemented.

1997 – 2000 Additional changes in Education SystemA comprehensive plan of the reforms was drawn up in 1997 and called for the following:

Shift from rote learning to “problem solving,” and resume research in universities.

Establish links between secondary and postsecondary schools and their economic, administrative and cultural environment.

Undertake infrastructural improvements, particularly with regard to the World Wide Web and other forms of electronic communication within the classroom.

Decentralize secondary and postsecondary schools and grant autonomy to various institutions of higher education.

Modify teaching methodology, academic programs and textbooks, and make the national curriculum more compatible with the rest of Europe.

Enhance cooperation at the international level.

Pre-higher education

Primary School – Scoala Primara

Lower Secondary School – Gimnaziu

Upper Secondary School – Liceu

Vocational School – Scoala Profesionala

Vocational School - Liceu de Specialitate

Specialized Tech./Voc.– Scoala Post - Liceala

Primary education lasts for four years. It is followed by four years of lower secondary education leading to the Certificat de Capacitate. Upper secondary school education is organized as a second cycle of education (grades 9 through 12 or 9 through 13). The system comprises the following units of secondary school education: liceu, liceu de specialitate, şcoală profesională and scoală post-liceu. As for the duration of studies, it is adapted to the type of secondary school (academic secondary school, industrial, agricultural, economic and administrative secondary school, normal schools: 9-12; Forestry, Fine Arts, Sports, Cybernetics and Metrology: 9-13) or the form of education (academic secondary school and industrial, agricultural, economic and administrative secondary school evening classes: 9-13). Graduates obtain the Diploma de Bacalaureat which gives access to higher education. Graduates from şcoala profesională obtain a Certificat de Absolvire. They do not have the right to apply for higher education programmes. Studies at Scoala post liceu lasts for one to three years.

The Romanian system of education has preserved along the years, the tradition of organizing a ball to welcome the new 9th graders.This event, that takes place in mid-autumn, at the beginning of the school year, marks the transition from the lower to upper secondary school. The purpose of this manifestation is to make the freshmen feel more comfortable in the new environment. The ball unfolds several stages: a programme set up by students which comprises musical, choreographically and humorous activities, a freshmen contest at the end of which the most beautiful, spontaneous and brilliant participants (miss and mister) are chosen.

The Freshmen's Party

All these culminate in a show performed by a fashionable musical band. The great atmosphere goes on for the rest of the evening with dances. The emotions of the ball seize not only the seniors, the main organizers but also the youngest ones who are truly excited by this party in their honour. This celebration for teachers as well as for students represents an important date in the school’s calendar because each generation sets the seal its own way.

Higher Education

Higher education in Romania is offered in both public and private higher education institutions. These include universities, academies, politechnics, institutes and colleges, organized in specialized departments. In accordance with its objectives, university education comprises: short university education carried out in university colleges (3 years), long university education (duration 4 to 6 years) and postgraduate university education (duration 1 to 2 years). Public higher education institutions are coordinated by the Ministry of Education and Research. University autonomy is fully guaranteed.

Romania's culture reflects the country's early, turbulent history. Because life for the Romanian people has been a struggle throughout history, many traditions revolve around "essential life moments" such as birth, marriage and death.

The Romanians are one of history's greatest survivors, and despite numerous invasions and occupations, Romanian culture has remained intact. Vibrant festivals to celebrate important occasions and holidays often are observed in colorful costumes and with the lilting, joyful folk music that is uniquely Romanian

ROMANIAN CULTURE

Easter

In Romania the Christian Church says that Jesus was born during the winter solstice and his death followed by his resurrection happened during the spring equinox, the Easter. The most important Christian holiday is the day of Jesus' Resurrection. Cleaning the houses, wearing new clothes, the ritual bath before going to church, all these are supposed to mark a new beginning. After a long fast - the Lent, tables full with all sorts of good dishes and brightened up with beautiful painted eggs create a festive atmosphere. Children are the happiest of all looking for their gifts and colored eggs in the newly grown grass. Everybody including the peasants are beautifully dressed in their national costumes, with lit candles in their hands, gathered together around the churches at midnight in order to solemnly utter:"Jesus Christ has risen from the dead". Everywhere around the churches, on the hills or in the plains, people light fires and sing Our Saviour's praises.

Painted eggsAs a symbol of creation, of begetting life, the egg have inspired, from ancient times, numerous legends, fairy-tales, an entire literature. In the romanian culture it is sufficient to mention two outstanding representants: Constantin Brancusi and Ion Barbu, whose works orbit around this subject, considered to have perfect geometrical form - the perfect object. The origin of egg-painting is lost in the darkness of the pre-Christian era, when the New Year was celebrated at the vernal equinox. The eggs were gifted as a symbol of equilibrium, creation and fecundity. The Romans used red-painted eggs as gifts on celebrating Janus and they were used in different games and religious ceremonies. The custom of the egg painting was transmitted to the Christians and is still used especially by the peoples of Europe and Asia. As opposed to other European countries, where this custom restrained or vanished, in Romania it flourished, reaching the tops of art by the technique, materials, significance of the motives and the perfection of achievement.

In Romania the painted eggs represent a proof of the tradition, beliefs and Easter customs being placed among the elements of great folk spiritual cultural value, which define the ethnical peculiarities of our people. The folklore presents several Christian legends which explain why the eggs are painted in red on Easter and why they became the symbol of the celebration of Christ's Ressurection.The most wide-spread legend tells us about how Virgin Mary, who came to mourn her crucified son, laid the basket with eggs near the cross and they reddened because of the blood that was flowing from Jesus" wounds. The Lord, seeing that the eggs reddened, said to those who were there: "From now on, you too shall paint the eggs in red to remember my crucifixion, as I did today."

Baptism: Children are baptised soon after birth in a traditional church ceremony. The ritual requires that the godparents bathe the child immediately after the priest performs the baptism rite. In the water, the godparents place a small amount of money as well as rice and basil, which signifies riches, plenty of food, and a "sweet" life. In a custom to fortell the child's future, at seven months after birth the child is positioned to choose between a book, a pencil and an egg. It is said that the child who chooses the book will become an intellectual, one who chooses a pencil will exhibit artistic skills, and one who chooses the egg will focus on materialistic pursuits.

SYMBOLISM

IN CELEBRATIONS

Romanians customarily marry in their early 20s. The "wedding season" is in the fall, when wine is aged and plentiful. No weddings may take place during the 40 days leading up to Christmas or Easter. Some rural communities still employ matchmakers to unite the prospective families. Where a matchmaker isn't used, tradition requires that the man's parents ask the woman's parents for their consent for the marriage. The groom's family visits village homes with plum brandy ("tzuica") to invite neighbors to the wedding. All partake in the toast, for to refuse is equivalent to turning down the invitation to the wedding. The godparents from their baptism, or newly appointed ones, are joined with the bridal family at the church celebration, and for the reception, which lasts all night. In the past, the wedding party would continue for three days and nights. For those who have not yet found a marriage partner, one ancient tradition continues to today. Eligible men and women gather each year at the "Girls' Retreat on Gaina Mountain" in Transylvania to meet and get to know potential mates.

WEDDING TRADITION

The songs are performed by musicians and even by the wedding guests themselves. A varied melody, sometimes even with a varied text, is "A miresei" (to the bride), sung either at the solemn moment when the bride takes leave of her parents and her home, or when she changes her maiden head-gear for that of a wife. Her leave-taking of her former life, the description of her life in her parents' house in comparison with that in her parents-in-law's, the sorrow of the mother who loses her daughter, and the joy of the mother-in-law who acquires her as daughter-in-law, the comparison of the maidens with apples on a branch: when they ripen their number lessens; these are the topics very often encountered in the songs for the bride. Three times round the table is a dance: This dance was formerly meant to drive away evil from the house of the young couple. A humorous addition to the traditional ritual cries – among other jocular ones – gives a quite different meaning:

Three times round the tableFor the evil to go out

For the good to come inFor the young couple to live....

Like cat and dog!

Wedding songs

The ceremonies connected with death and burial seem to be the best -preserved of Romanian folk customs. In the north of Moldavia and of Transilvania, death is announced to the village by the sound of alphorns. Two - seldom one - sometimes four and even six alphorn players accompany the funeral procession and blow signals called: About the dead, Following the dead, For the dead, The accompanying of the dead or "The  Hora of the dead", especially for young people and sometimes for shepherds only. The alphorn is blown in the dead man's yard, at early dawn, at noon, in the evening and sometimes at night during the wake; likewise on the way to the churchyard, over the grave, after the coffin has been covered with earth. The calls played for the dead are different from the pastoral ones: "as for the dead, "more doleful."

B U R I A L

The deceased is carried in an open casket on the flatbed of a truck in a procession through the village to enable all to participate in the ceremony. Death is seen as a transition from one life to another. Romanians' attitude toward death is immortalized in the country's most enduring poem "Miorita," where a young shepherd is warned by his young black sheep, Miorita, that his fellow shepherds, a Ungurean - Hungarian - from Transilvania and a Vrancean from Tara Romaneasca, plan to murder him and take his flock. The young shepherd, coming from Moldavia, instead of resisting, accepts his fate, re-defining his death as a magnificent sacred marriage with his "princess of the world," attended by the universe. The translation suggests that death is not the end, but instead the beginning of a beautiful journey. Along this theme is the famed "Merry Cemetery" in Sapinta, where all the grave markers are lavishly carved with humorous epitaphs (in Romanian) and scenes from the deceased's life.

FUNERALS

Romanian men and women send each other greetings, MARTISOR, not on Valentine's Day, but on March 1st. The Valentine tradition dates back to the Lupercian festival of ancient Rome, a celebration of sensual pleasure. At the end of the 5th century, the Pope replaced it with a festival on the 14th honouring the martyred Bishop Valentine. In Bulgaria and Romania, a very similar custom goes back at least 2,000 years to Thracian and Dacian times. On the first day of March, people wish each other health and happiness and place a decoration made of red and white woolen threads on their clothes or on their wrist. This is a called a "Marteniza" (MART -EH- NEETSA) in Bulgaria, "Martisor" (MUR -tsee -SHOR) in Romania.  Martisor is also a diminutive from "Martie", the Romanian name for March. The red and white colours symbolize the end of winter (white) and the coming of spring (red). 

MARTISOR

In recent years cards are sent with greetings, copying from the Valentine cards that have become so popular in western European countries and North America. Charms of various shapes and images are strung on twisted red and white strings and attached to these cards. According to Romanian tradition, young men give these charms to their sweethearts. Girls and women also exchange martisoare with each other, and parents may give one to their young children. The charms are worn on the lapel from March 1 through March 9. 

The martyr Valentine entered the western culture as a saint protector of love celebrated on the 14th of February. This holiday has started to be celebrated in Romania for 7 years as a result of the American popular culture. But Romanian have their celebration of love called Dragobete. It is traditionally celebrated on the 24th of February-considered  "the day when the birds are getting engaged". Dragobete is in fact the name of the master of love of the good mood in our country. Individuals would gather to pick snowdrops (the first flowers of spring). If a girl hasn't met a boy that day, it was told that no one would love her all year long.

Valentine - Dragobete

Little March Amulet

Every year Romanian people knit two little tassels: a white one and a red one. At the beginning of March, they offer this amulet to the girls they love…

In Moldavia, part of Romania, all persons can receive a little March amulet. Red means love for everything that is beautiful and white symbolizes the pureness and health of the snowdrops, the first flowers that appear in spring. That is the first celebration of spring in Romania.

Once upon a time, the Sun embodying a handsome young man, got down from the sky to dance a “hora” in a village. A dragon lay in wait for him and kidnapped him from among the people and threw him into a jail. The world got sad. The birds wouldn’t flow and the children wouldn’t laugh. No one dared to challenge the bad dragon. But one day a brave young man decided to go and save the Sun. Lots of people saw him off and shared their strength with him. So they helped him defeat the dragon and save the Sun. His journey lasted for three seasons: summer, autumn and winter. He found the dragon’s castle and they started to fight. They fought for days and finally the dragon was killed. Powerless and wounded, the young man set the Sun free. The Sun rose in the sky cheering up all the people and filling them with joy.

The Legend of March Amulet

The nature revived, the people got happy, but the young man couldn’t live to see spring coming. The warm blood from his wounds dropped on the snow. While the snow was melting white flowers, called snowdrops, messengers of the spring, were appearing out of the snow. Even his last drop of blood dripped out in the immaculate snow. And he died. Since then the young people have been knitting two little tassels: a white one and a red one. At the beginning of March, they offer this amulet to the girls they love… Red means love for everything that is beautiful. It reminds us of the colour of the brave young man’s blood. White symbolizes the pureness and health of the snowdrops, the first flowers that appear in spring.

The Paparuda "Rain Caller" is the ritual celebrated in Spring on a date that varies from place to place. An old magical dance invoking rain, this customs survived to the present day in many village of Romania.The children knit coronets, adorning them with ribbons. Then they dance, going from house to house.The hostess throws water and milk after them. The children and the young people have to receive a coin or wheat, corn, flour or bean. A song having accompanies "The rainy-girls game":

Paparuda

CaloianulRomanian Rainmaker

"Caloianul" is a figure used in Romanian village rite rainmaker. He looks like a man and it is adorned with flowers. On summer time, women and children from the dryness regions gather and model this "Caloian". They invoke the rain and her advantages through the procession they will take part. Everybody gather then at the border of the village. They also can invite the priest of the village and together they adorn a young tree. They use fresh fruit pretzels and candies. After that all group simulate the funeral of the "Caloian". First they walk this one on the dry fields. In the end they bury the "Caloian" throwing" it into a river. The waters of the river must carry it far away, bringing thus rains.

This very ancient agrarian custom is connected with the harvest, still survives sporadically in certain villages in the south of Romania. The learned prince Dimitrie Cantemir described it for the first time in his famous work "Descriptio Moldaviae", written about 1715. The "Drãgaicas" are little girls of 11 to 12 years old, adorned with ears of corn. One of them is dressed as a bride and another one is dressed as a boy named "Draganu". Sometimes Draganu is a boy. He holds the banner of the "Drãgaicas": a pole with a rag-doll with outstretched arms, made of ears of corn or of a bunch of ears and with wormwood and garlic at its top. The "Drãgaicas" sing and dance in a circle without holding hands. At intervals they whirl round and yell and the Dragan, the boy, whistles on an ordinary whistle. Wishing to amplify the performance, the little girls have added to the original ritual dance other dances borrowed from the grown up dancer. A flute-player or a piper who accompany them plays the music

DRÃGAICA

At the winter festivals, an abundance of customs accompanied by music are displayed. These customs appear to have been inherited mainly from the ancestors of Romanian people. It is well known that the peoples of antiquity living in the regions of Romania celebrated the winter solstice, "the birthday of the invincible Sun", with songs and dances, with greetings, presents and wishes of prosperity. Later on, the feasts of the Christian Christmas were established in this period of the year. The struggle of the clergy, to abolish the pagan customs and to replace them by new ones, corresponding to the canons of the Church has been particularly strenuous and to a great extent doomed to failure. "The unlawful" and "diabolical songs", as the Lutheran pastor Andreas Mathesius of Cerghiul Mic, near Blaj, called the Romanian carols more than three centuries ago, have proved stronger. The church has succeeded in smuggling in and adopting a series of songs (Cantece de Stea- Star-songs) and sundry "Vershuri" (occasional songs with religious texts) as well as the nativity play (The Magi, The Herods, or the Bethlehem) but it has not been able at all to suppress the pre-Christian pagan customs.

ROMANIAN WINTER CUSTOMS

Among the masked dances performed during the winter feast, the most remarkable is “Capra” (Goat), emblem of fecundity. This custom, whose magical significance has become lost during the course of time, consists of the dance of a masked man generally representing a goat or a stag. The muzzle of the mask is made of two pieces of wood covered with hare-skin. Many of the midwinter musical customs nowadays find excellent means of diffusion through the activities of organized artistic groups, whether amateur or professional.

“Capra” Feast

Romanian proverb: “What does the Romanian like? Fresh bread old wine and a young wife.”

The Romanian cuisine is extremely generous in offering its products and foreign travellers don’t easily forget the delicious Romanian dishes. , green peas, beans, carrots, cabbage, pimentos and tomatoes. The hillside supplies potatoes, maize, but then also grapes and all sorts of fruit. From the mountains, from sheepfolds and cattle herds come milk, cream, cheese, as well as meat. All over Romania hunting and fishing provide cuisine with an impressively diverse raw material. All year round people store food to have from one season to another. In autumn, their cellars are filled with potatoes, cabbage, vegetables, fruit; in winter they make meat preserves for the spring and summer months, while in spring and summer they make fruit jams and juice preserves for the whole year.

Traditional cuisine

In autumn the preparation of pickles and zacusca is almost a ritual performed in each Romanian kitchen. Cauliflower, gherkins, bell peppers, young watermelons or cabbage are pickled in brine or diluted vinegar, with carrots, celery, pepper, garlic or dill as spices.Zacusca is made from aubergines, bell peppers, onions and tomato juice either according to a classical recipe or according to the housewife’s taste, with other ingredients added. Sealed and sterilized in order to keep, the jars with zacusca then take their due place on the cellar’s shelves, until the time comes for them to delight the sical features. From the plains it takes cereals palate during winter holidays.

Christmas dishes

The slaughtering of swine for Christmas is another ritual preserved by the Romanians since ancient times. It begins with the killing of the animal and it goes on with the cutting and with a dinner for everyone who participated in this ritual. The traditional dish on this occasion is tochitura served with polenta and pickles and accompanied by plenty of wine. The moment marks the beginning of the Christmas holidays, with the string of feasts always including such dishes as sarmale (minced pork rolled in sauerkraut leaves or vine leaves), pork sausages, toba, caltabosi, chisca. For the carolling young people, the housewife always cooks walnut cakes and apple or pumpkin pie, or cozonac (traditional pound cake usually made for religious holidays).

Most Romanians are Orthodox Christians. Along the year their diet follows the religious calendar which sets periods of fasting prior to the major religious celebrations which are accompanied by bountiful feasts.After the Christmas and New Year holidays there comes the great fasting period of Lent, meant to purify both the body and the soul. As nature revives, man’s blood too must regenerate so that in spring the Romanians eat more and more greens, lettuce, green onion and garlic and other green leaves. We may say that Romanian cuisine has two seasons when its originality and specificity stand out: winter and spring.After the so tasty and diverse pork dishes of winter, there come the lamb dishes at the end of a long and strict fasting period that makes Easter meals seem even tastier.

On March 9 the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrates All Saints’ Day, the day of the 40 martyrs of faith. In the region of Moldavia, housewives make mucenici (martyrs) from leavened dough arranged in the form of an 8-figure which after baking they brush with honey and sprinkle with crushed walnuts. In the region of Muntenia (onetime Wallachia), the mucenici come in a different form: tiny eights are made from unleavened dough and boiled in water with sugar and then crushed walnuts and cinnamon are added.. The Resurrection of Christ is celebrated after a few long weeks of fasting when the Romanian’s food consists of vegetable soups or broth with green onion, sauerkraut stew, or iahnie made from potatoes or beans and served with pickles or sauerkraut salad. Baked pumpkin or baked potatoes or onion replace cakes, meeting the need for sugar and supplying energy.

Easter dishes

Roast lamb, lamb stufat (a lamb stew with green onions and garlic), lamb broth, and lamb haggis are all so delicious that the Easter celebration is rightly considered a victory of life both in Heaven and on Earth.Romanian Easter eggs are true masterpieces. Decorated with floral or zoomorphic motifs, the Easter eggs from Bukovina, Banat, Moldavia, Transylvania and Muntenia are world famous. Pasca, a pie made with cottage cheese, and cozonac are always on the Easter table.