Romanian easter traditionsBularca Alexandra

How Romania Celebrates EasterBeing all humans, we mostly like and do the same things really, but much of the beauty in our world resides precisely in what makes us each unique. The places where we belong, the old traditions that can often seem ridiculous, the habits that we forgot to keep and all those things that society inhibits, define us, whether we like it or not. And in all this there is no greater shame than to deny our origins. Romania is one of those countries with a richness of culture, where by some miracle, traditions are still preserved and where people pride themselves in being descendants of great antiquity, inheritors of long since nobility. And inheritors of lesser things too, simple things.

Palm Day (Flowers Day)• A week before the Easter, the Flowers Day

(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.

Great Thursday• The Thursday before the Easter is

called “the Great Thursday”, “the Thursday of sufferings” or “the black Thursday”.

• Girls and women must finish sewing the new blouses for the Easter until this day. Otherwise they will be punished by Joimarita, a mythical woman who beats or burns them. She is believed to take the laziest girls at her home and eat them. Another (not so cruel) version goes that Joimarita spells those girls, so that they wouldn’t be able to work all the year.

The Friday before the Easter is called the Great Friday. Also named “the Friday of sufferings”, it is the day when Jesus was crucified. People don’t eat on this day, as it is believed that doing that they will be healthy and they will know they’ll 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 won’t suffer from bone illness. In Bucovina it is said that who bathes three times in a cold river will be healthy all year long.

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 won’t fruit.

The week before Easter, called The Passion Week is meant to prepare the faithful people for Easter by purifying both their body and their soul. All Christians should abstain from bodily sins and no one is allowed to eat animal products. While women do general cleaning, men deal with the rest of the household activities during this time in order to make the house look flawless on Easter Day.

In Banat, the first painted egg is called a „try”. In the Easter morning it’s shared between the children residing in that house.

Traditional Easter food

• ”Pasca”, a special Easter cake, is baked on Great Thursday, but especially on Saturday, so it wouldn’t 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

• There’s 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 and he will die quicker. He must give his egg to the winner; otherwise he will eat its egg rotten on the other world.

The Good People’s Easter (Dead People’s Monday)

• The Good People’s Easter is celebrated a week after the Easter, on Monday, right after Thomas’ Sunday. In the Romanian tradition, the Good People are the ancient’s spirits, which live between the two worlds, where Saturday’s water spills into the Earth. The Good People are religious people and fast each time they should, according to the traditions. However they are not aware of the day when Easter is celebrated until they see remains of the painted eggs on the water, about eight days later.