Radio România Internațional

Tag: traditions and customs

  • Maramureș County

    Maramureș County

    Located in northern Romania, Maramureș
    County is an area with plenty of tourist attractions, largely due to its
    landscapes, its ethno-folk legacy and local hospitality. Over the centuries,
    the surrounding forests have provided the local population with the raw
    materials to defend their area and develop a genuine timber civilization.
    Evidence of that are the wooden churches and the grandiose traditional wooden
    gates, which are genuine works of folk art. Our guide today is Petru Daniel Măran,
    the director of the Sighetu Marmației Center for Information and Tourism.


    The best starting point for
    visiting the area is Sighetu Marmației, which starting last year is a resort
    of local interest. The city was first documented in 1326. Over the years it was
    a princely see, an administrative center of Maramureș shire and a county residence. Tourists visiting Sighetu Marmației
    can opt for a large plethora of tourist objectives and cultural events. The
    city’s museums are the most important: the Communism Victims and Resistance
    Memorial, the Maramureș Village Museum, the Ethnographic Museum, the Elie
    Wiesel Jewish Culture Museum, the Museum of History, Archaeology and Natural
    Sciences, the Dr. Ioan Mihalyi de Apșa Memorial House. The city’s anthropic heritage
    is exceptional. The city has 99 historical monuments, of which most are old
    buildings or architectural ensembles. Starting 2017 Sighetu Marmației has been listed
    as a European destination of excellence. The city was enrolled in the
    competition in the movable cultural tourism section. I am happy to invite you
    to visit Sighetu Marmației this December, although unfortunately, due to health
    safety restrictions in place, we won’t be able to observe the traditional
    winter pageant held as part of the Marmiția Festival. We do have an ongoing Christmas
    fair, held over December 5-26. Every weekend, groups of carolers will perform
    live in front of the Christmas tree for all guests at the fair.


    We continue our journey in Maramureș
    County, and Petru Daniel Măran told us what else is worth seeing in Maramureș.


    For starters, I would suggest
    a trip to Săpânța village, on Tisa Valley. The first objective here is the
    Merry Cemetery. This cemetery is a genuine museum of folk art. In 1935, Stan Ioan
    Pătraș started sculpting the first crosses that earned Săpânța its fame. The
    vividly painted crosses depicting caricatures from the lives of the departed
    turned the cemetery into a living chronicle of the local community. And while in
    Săpânța, you should also visit the artist’s memorial house. Another major
    objective, which brings in many tourists every year, is the Săpânța-Peri
    monastery, situated in a lovely oak forest called Dumbrava. Tourists should
    also plan a visit to the wooden churches, which make Maramureș so famous. Many
    of these churches are clustered in villages on Iza, Mara and Cosău river
    valleys. I recommend a visit to the wooden churches in Desești, Budești,
    Bârsana, Poienile Izei and Ieud, which are all UNESCO World Heritage sites.
    Tourists can also stop at BârsanaMonastery, known for its traditional wooden
    architecture. In terms of accommodation, you should try booking a stay in Breb,
    Botiza, Ieud and Oncești villages, which all preserve the architecture, garments
    and customs specific to Maramureș. Once here, you can also visit the Ocna
    Sugatag spa resort, known for its therapeutic benefits.


    Petru Daniel Măran, the
    director of the Sighetu Marmației Center for Information and Tourism, also recommends
    booking a trip on the narrow-gauge train known as mocăniță in Vișeul de Sus. The
    steam-powered train goes up the Vaser Valley and offers tourists a panoramic
    view, highlighting the region’s beautiful scenery and cultural richness. In
    winter time, tourists also have a number of leisure time opportunities at their
    disposal.


    It snows a lot in wintertime here, and the place is ideal for winter
    sports. You can ski in Borșa Complex, Prislop Pass, Izvoare or Cavnic resorts.
    Hikers can opt for low-difficulty trails in the nearby hills, linking one
    village to another in a picturesque setting. The most spectacular trails are
    those in Rodna Mountains, with altitudes exceeding 2,000 meters at times. Besides,
    local guesthouses often offer carriage or horse-drawn sled rides. The winter
    holidays are a good opportunity to showcase the region’s traditions and customs.
    Usually, in December, a number of cultural events take place, but due to the
    global pandemic, the events were adjusted this year in order to offer both participants
    and hosts a high degree of protection. Our guesthouses are always full around this time of the year, which is telling of local hospitality. Once they get
    here, tourists will spend a lovely time and I guarantee they will be delighted.


    There are many projects aimed at developing tourism in Maramureș, our guide today, Petru Daniel Măran,
    has told us.


    Some projects are aimed at
    developing ski slopes, others to improve hiking trail markings or rehabilitate
    the local heritage in villages. I can go through the specifics of a number of projects
    in Sighetu Marmației, where we want to rehabilitate a number of buildings that
    are either home of museums or are historical monuments. Right now, we are
    implementing a cross-border project to renovate the Elie Wiesel Memorial House.
    We also have a plan to set up tourist promotion panels and come spring we will
    start refreshing markings on tourist trails around the city. I wish you Happy
    Holidays and invite you to visit Maramureș and discovery yourself all the
    marvels of this area.


    The invitation has been made
    so make sure you put down Maramureș on the list of destinations in Romania if you
    plan on visiting soon. (VP)

  • New Year Traditions

    New Year Traditions


    New Years Eve is one of the most anticipated events worldwide. Although for some it means no more than a simple change of date in the calendar, New Year is celebrated on all continents as a transformation of time. In Romanian tradition, the first day of the New Year was known as Little Christmas, because most of the rituals related to the period were actually enacted in spring. Moreover, many rituals are associated with this time, such as Plugusorul, which literally means “little plough. Plugusorul is a specific carol which people, young men in particular, sing on the morning of January 1st to herald the New Year.



    Little Christmas was meant to reintegrate mans day-to-day life into the wider historical framework after a period of soul-searching that ended on Christmas Day. Carols represent the most important New Year tradition in Romania. In regions such as Maramures, in northern Romania, New Years wishes are still delivered in their archaic form.



    Many customs in Maramures are related to carolling, as carolling still continues once Christmas has passed. The period between Christmas and the New Year is usually known for mask carolling. The mask is an important element in the traditional mindset. It is an imaginary representation of the world beyond. They usually depict figures of old men, totemic animals or plants that help man reintegrate reconnect to the world of the living or the white world, as it is ethnologically called. We therefore have pageants of masked men, usually wearing masks of old men and veils. The old man mask is deeply rooted in ancient traditions. The old woman and the old man usually acted as mediators between the worlds.



    The old mens dance in Maramures is highly symbolic. The men form a circle and strike the ground with their staffs. They also touch everyone attending the ritual with their staff, which has a rich symbolic value. The dance pays tribute to the cult of the ancestors, who are believed to restore any unbalance in the world. Then we have goat masks. The goat plays a fundamental role, as it dies and is reborn. She stands for the old year that comes to an end and the New Year, which comes with its abundance of blessings. Devil masks symbolise evil. Their role is to warn and recall people that there can be no good without evil, just as there can be no evil without good. Traditional communities have always brought these elements together in rituals.



    In the north-west of Romania, in Maramures, groups of carollers known as “brondosi in Romanian go from house to house every day between Christmas and New Year dressed in full costume and wearing masks made up of sheep skin. They carry bells and whips and the sound they produce is meant to drive away evil spirits from the community ahead of the New Year. According to a pre-Christian tradition, a number of rituals were performed on New Years Eve to ward off bad spirits and persuade the sun to stay longer in the sky. These groups of traditional carollers are today a popular tourist attraction.



    On New Years Eve, they put on the costumes they have inherited from their predecessors and go carolling from house to house. In Moldavia, in the east and north-east, a similar ritual is known as the “bears dance. Young men dressed in costumes made of bearskin and accompanied by musicians and drummers walk through every street in the village striking their whips in the air. People welcome them into their homes and ask them to perform the “bears dance in their gardens as part of a fertility rite. The bears dance stems from an ancient tradition. The bear was in fact considered a sacred animal by the Romanians ancestors, the Geto-Dacians.



    A ritual we find all over the country is wishing someone best wishes in the new year while touching them lightly with the ‘sorcova, a stick adorned with artificial flowers. By this ritual gesture, a transfer of power is taking place from the vegetal to the human world. Other widespread New Year rituals are the predictions of future marriages. In Maramures, for example, young unmarried women go out into the garden on New Years Eve, climb on the log used for cutting the firewood and wait until the name of a young man is called out. It is believed she will marry someone bearing this name and coming from the direction wherefrom she hears the name being called out.



    Superstitions were also important for people living in traditional communities. It was believed, for example, that evil spirits are afraid of powerful sounds and light, so people would light big fires on New Years Eve to drive these spirits away. Also, people would not lock their house doors on this evening so as to give a good welcome to the year to come.


    (Translated by C. Mateescu)