Easter in Romania

1
Easter in Romania
2
Easter in Romania

• The Easter is the most important celebration of
  the Romanian people and it is preceded by
  numerous preparations and rituals. Its a must
  for the people to have a clean house and have all
  the ritual foods ready.
• On Good 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. Usually, women are the ones
  who paint and decorate the eggs, do the laundry
  and generally clean the house.Because its 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.

3
Easter in Romania

• Christian Easter lasts 40 days. The first 3 of
  the 40 pascal days are holiday in Romania. In the
  orthodox church people prepare to welcome the
  pascal celebrations through "Easter's Lent", also
  called "The Great Lent", which lasts 8 days.
• The Great Lent consists in eating only vegetal
  food (meat, milk, eggs, or other animal products
  are forbidden also vegetal oil is forbidden),
  not drinking alcohol, and praying.
• This period can be also days without eating and
  drinking anything.
• The last week of the Easter's Lent is called "The
  Holly Week"(The Passion Week) and starts on Palm
  Sunday, when is celebrated Jesus's arrival in
  Jerusalem. "The Holly Week" celebrates Jesus's
  capture, his crucifixion and his death. During
  this final week, the churches hold services
  called "evening service during passion week"
  every evening.

4

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Catholic Easter 24 April 8 April 31 March 20 April 5 April 27 March 16 April 1 April 21 April 12 April
Orthodox Easter 24 April 15 April 5 May 20 April 12 April 1 May 16 April 8 April 28 April 19 April
5
Palm Sunday (Florii)

• A week before the Easter, the Flowers Day Palm
  Sunday (Romanian Florii) is celebrated. This
  was initially dedicated to the Roman goddess
  Flora, but then it was celebrated in the memory
  of the Jesus entrance to Jerusalem. The legend
  goes that, while Jesus was crucified, His mother
  left, crying, in the search of her son, wearing
  iron boots and a steel rod. On her journey she
  arrived at a river and asked a willow to help her
  cross it. As the willow made a bridge for her,
  Mary put a blessing on it, stating that its wood
  could not be transformed into coal and that its
  branches would be taken to church every year.

6
Palm Sunday (Florii)

• That is why, on this day people bring flowers and
  willow branches to the church, for being
  sanctified by the priest. With the willow
  branches, symbol of spring and fertility, cows
  and little children are touched, in order to grow
  and bloom as the willow. The holy branches are
  then placed near the icons or above the door and
  are used throughout the year as a medicine or for
  protection against the natural disasters.It is
  also believed that the people who wear the willow
  branches as a belt will not suffer of loin aches
  who eats three catkins will not suffer of throat
  aches.

7
THE HOLY THURSDAY

• The Thursday before the Easter is called the
  Holy Thursday, the Thursday of sufferings or
  the black Thursday.Skies, graves, doors of
  heaven and hell open in this day. The dead return
  to pass the Easter near the loved ones. They will
  remain at their old houses until the Saturday
  before the Rusalii, when pies and bowls are
  doled for their souls. It is believed that the
  spirits sit on the roofs or in the yards. As it
  is still quite cold, fires must be lighted in the
  morning and in the evening, so that the dead
  could have light and heat. The fires are lighted
  for every soul or it is only lighten a fire for
  all the dead souls. The brushwood can only be
  gathered by children, pure girls and old women, a
  day before and only by hand (they must not be
  cut). On the way home they must not be let down
  and will be placed on a fence or on another
  object until morning, when the fire will be
  lighted.Chairs with blankets are also put near
  the fire, as it is believed that some souls will
  sit on chairs and other will sit on the ground.
  Girls and women carry water buckets to the graves
  or to the fire, for the dead that will sit there.

8
Good Friday

• The Friday before the Easter is called the Good
  Friday. Also named the Friday of sufferings, it
  is the day when Jesus was crucified. People dont
  eat on this day, as it is believed that doing
  that they will be healthy and they will know
  theyll dye three days before.The tradition
  recommends that you step on a piece of iron when
  you wake up, in order to be protected from
  bruises. If you bathe in the river before the sun
  rises, you wont suffer from bone illness. In
  Bucovina it is said that who bathes three times
  in a cold river will be healthy all year long.

9
Good Friday

• In this day people go to church and they will
  walk under the table for 3 times. The table is
  the simbol of tomb of Jesus, and this action is
  like people dont find him in the tomb, because
  of his resurrection.People go to church to
  confess.Bread may not be baked, the earth may
  not be ploughed and trees may not be planted, as
  they wont fruit.
• It is said that if in this day will rain it will
  be a wealthy year, if not, it will be a year
  without rains in the summer.

10
Saturday night

• 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 doesnt do it,
  will get ill.

11
Saturday night

• 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 ringed at midnight, announcing all
  the people about the Jesuss resurrection.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. Also, people go with lighted candle to
  the graveyard to give light those who passed away.

12
First Easter Day

• At home, people first taste the anaphora and then
  sit to the table. They first eat some of the
  sanctified aliments and only then the rest. In
  some regions, rabbit or fish meat are first
  eaten, believing that these animals will confer
  to the people some of their agility. The
  shepherds and the other persons who are away from
  home on Easter day eat willow or apple tree buds
  instead of anaphora. Theres the custom of
  knocking the eggs. It is believed that those who
  knock their eggs will see each other on the other
  world, after death. In the first day of Easter,
  eggs are only knocked with the top. On Monday
  they can be knocked top to the bottom and on the
  next days they can be knocked any way. The first
  ones to knock their eggs are the parents, one to
  the other, then the children to the parents and
  then the other relatives and friends. According
  to the tradition, the one whose egg cracks first
  is weaker. Eggs are knocked until the third
  Easter day.

13
DECORATED EASTER EGGS

• The most interesting traditional eggs are the
  decorated eggs (in Romanian they are called oua
  incondeiate, oua impiestrite, oua
  inchiestrite). 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. The most used decorative motifs
  for these eggs are the lost path (on which the
  souls of the dead walk toward the judgment), the
  cross, the fir or oak leaf. In Walachia the saw
  and the plough are also drawn and in Moldavia the
  lightning and the fork. Various plants, animals
  and kinds of crosses are also drawn.

14
TRADITIONAL FOOD FOR EASTER

• Pasca, a special Easter cake, is baked on Great
  Thursday, but especially on Saturday, so it
  wouldnt alter until Easter. It has a round shape
  (reminding little Jesus diapers) or a
  rectangular one (the shape of His grave). In some
  regions pasca is also baked on St. George
  Day.A legend from Bucovina goes that the
  pasca has been done from the times when Jesus
  was traveling to the world together with his
  apostles. They remained a night at a peasant
  house and when they left, he put food in their
  bags. The apostles asked Jesus when the Easter is
  and He replied that the Easter would be when they
  would find corn bread in their bags. Looking in
  the bags, they noticed the peasant had given them
  exactly corn bread, so that they knew it was
  Easter time.The pasca can be simple, with
  jagged margins, or it can have dough braids. The
  middle braid is cross-shaped, reminding of Jesus
  crucifixion. This is called a cross pasca. The
  simple pasca is for the family, while the
  cross pasca is taken to the church, in order to
  be sanctified. Small pasca (pascute) are
  baked for the little children.Among the
  ingredients are pot cheese, egg yolk, raisins and
  sometimes sugar and cinnamon.

15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)