CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS AND

CUSTOMS

Class 7ATeacher: Alina Raduianu

The celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ is an important holiday for Romanians, as an Orthodox Christian people, in its majority.

Christmas is a holiday of light, a time of joy, good food and special moments in the family.  

In Romania Christmas is the time when all the family gets together, even though some of the members come from a distance. From the 20th of December you can smell the Christmas scent. The moment that announces Christmas is the sacrifice of pigs, according to a certain ritual: stabbing, burning the skin with straw fire, cleaning, cutting and separating the meat in categories: the steak for charity, sausages, meat pie, meat jelly, ham and bacon.  

› Food is usually prepared one day before Christmas Eve and on Christmas eve: pork (sausages, meat jelly, pork pie), mined meat rolls in cabbage, setak, sour soup, “boeuf” salad, etc. Sweets are also taken care of: sponge cake, cookies, all of them with the best ingredients.

› At the countryside, men are in charge of traditional drinks: hot plum brandy with pepper and a little sugar, and, of course, the all time hot wine with cinnamon and various herbs, served in jugs because they keep the taste of the drinks.

› The people from the countryside cook some special cookies, called Lord’s nappies in memory of those who served Him at His birth. They are girdle cakes made of wheat flour and filled with wallnuts or hemp seeds. The resulting cake is called « julfa ». These cakes can be eaten during the feast and served on Cristmas Eve, according to tradition, when the priest comes to proclaim Jesus Christ’s birth.

Children love decorating the Christmas tree and waiting for Santa Claus. It is connected to the gifts brought to Christ as well as the joy of His birth.

Children go caroling on Christmas Eve, proclaiming Christ’s birth. They receive nuts, apples, pretzels or even money for their effort. People think that those who go caroling or those who receive and listen to carolers will have a rich year ahead and they will be healthy.

Before the Christmas holiday, you can hear carols, listen to poems or enjoy drama and sketches about the birth of Christ. Adults and little ones sing together and at the end you can enjoy “the plough song” and all the best wishes for the holidays and the year to come.

The priest proclaiming the birth of Christ by showing the icon

This is one of the Christian traditions. The priest visits the people in his congregation on Christmas Eve or some days before, if the congregation is too big.

People have various reactions to this tradition, showing their spiritual state, their religious education, their belief in God and their respect for the traditions in the church and for its servants. Many people are happy to see the priest and understand that in this way the birth of Christ is proclaimed and they can be blessed by Him. That is why for some people the holiday does not have the same impact without the visit of the priest.

On Christmas day, on the 25th of December, all the members of the family gather together to enjoy the traditional meal. They also visit their relatives and spend time together.

Another Christmas tradition is “The Star”. The children carrying the star from house to house are between 7 and 14 years old. They hold the star which reminds all the people of the star proclaiming the birth of Christ and leading the Magi to Him. The star carried by children is a big one, made of wood and decorated with coloured paper and fir branches around an icon that illustrates the Birth of our Saviour.

The plough song

It is a general tradition held on New Year’s Day. Connected to agriculture, with deep roots in the spirit of Romanian people, it has as subject the work carried on to have bread – its name is the traditional tool used in the field.  

It is a poem told by children from house to house until New year’s morning. It is also used to wish all the best to local authorities. The included wishes refer to the fertility of the land and the richness of the household.

The young people use the whip to make sounds that banish the old year and the bells ring, the drums and the big bells make sounds to greet the new year.

The Seeds Song is another agricultural tradition, with the same structure as a carol – it is sung by children on New Year’s morning. The carolers wear bags with wheat and rye seeds, enter the house and throw the seeds, imitating the actions in agriculture and wish health and rich crops to the hosts. They are rewarded with apples, ring biscuits or money. After they leave, the women gather the seeds and take them to the cattle, so as to be healthy all year long. Sorcova SongIt is another New Year tradition, which means carrying a little stick adorned with flowers and tap someone's shoulder to wish them all the best in the New Year. The children also sing a cute little song. The little branch is similar to a magic wand that can give health and power to others. It Is kept throughout the year as something holy on the East wall, next to an icon or somewhere clean in the house.

The dance of masks

Held in Moldova , they are archaic customs, related to agriculture and pastoral beliefs.

The bear masks dance symbolizes the death and rebirth of nature. The bears rolling in a circle, their fight and their death followed by rebirth suggest the sequence of seasons that have as symbol this animal due to the fact that it can defeat winter and it knows when spring is really here.

The group is leaded by a captain and is made of people dressed as bears, Herods, people with masks and drummers.

The Goat Dance

is also a tradition mostly kept in Moldavia. Its most important characteristic is the goat costume, but some other elements are also important: the texts, the music and the dance.

“The goat” has a “peak" made of wood, which clatters and horns decorated with pieces of mirror, coloured beads and binds, bells and goat fur or rabbit fur. The rest of the costume is made of wool, blanket or goat fur, meant to hide the one wearing it.

“The goat" is surrounded by a noisy group of people and a band that sings. The goat jumps and turns, goes round and goes down, making a sound with its peak. It is meant to bring good luck and wealth. At the end, the goat is killed, as a symbol of the old year which is gone.

The deer symbolizes justice, purity in the Romanian mythology and it was the symbol of sun for other people. The mask is beautifully decorated and the dance is very elegant.

The horse is another symbol. It is beautiful, agile, but also unpredictable in movements – it is loved by villagers. It is a symbol of protection of houses and churches, but it is also a symbol of a full life and death.

The Twelfth Day is the last winter holiday and includes themes from all the previous Christmas holiday.

In the Eve of this holiday, believers have a fast as a spiritual meditation before the time when Jesus Christ was baptized. In most of the villages but also in cities, around this day, groups of boys and girls go from house to house to announce the people of the coming of the priest by shouting „Chiraleisa!” (from the Greek Kyrie Eleison – Lord, have mercy) three times.

On the Twelfth Day, on 6th January, believers go to church where there is a service to make the water holy. People take this water at home and besprinkle the house, the animals, the trees. Many of the Orthodox believers take this water before eating anything else for eight days. People say that it has healing properties and it is used as needed during the year.