The Ignat day
The folklore is the ensemble of artistic creations, of the customs and
of the popular traditions from what are: the literature, folklore music,
the dance and popular theater.
A beautiful folklore have Romania near the other Balkan country. The better
customs of the Romanians are the Christmas customs what bring a lot love
in the people house.
A nice custom is the cuttings of pig in the Ignat Day special for the
cutting of this animal; it say from the olds men that the animal dream
the knife in the night befor the Ignat Day. The pig is cuttings with very
much mystery from the people what know this job, they know this tradition
from ancestors. After the cut it do the Als pig when the all family eat
of the pig meat.
Another custom is the Christmastree adorn. Is a tradition what is know
in a very much country. At the village the children are dress in popular
suits and adorn the tree in Christmas Eve. They put in tree orange, apple
and nuts near the ornaments. The children with popular suits in the evening
of Christmas Eve bring the Christmas spirit. The suits are embroider of
grandmothers with red color. In the Christmas Day it dances and do Romanian
ring dance and the folklore dance like: geamparale(Dobrogea), polka(Dobrogea).
Brasoveanca(all country), Fedeles and more. In the New Year's Eve the
boys go with the plough at the people house for to ovation a New Year
rich. A nice carol is the bear and the she-goat.
The Romanian folklore has a lot tradition and customs and at Romanian
village are keep.
Badea Ana-Adelina
VII gradeB Eforie Nord School,Romania
Coordinator Neacsu Iuliana- Romanian Teacher
iulianan@efnord.lefo.ro
New-Year Traditions
Spread on a very wide area, from Banat to Oltenia to Maramures the masks
dances are considered as the most picturesque and meaningful component
of the folk customs celebrating, in Romanian villages, the coming of
the New
Year. These dances originate from the archaic, pre- Christian mentality
according to which difficult moments occur in the people's lives and
in the course of time when the effects of the never ending struggle
between good
and evil taking place in the Universe can have a negative impact on
everyman's life. People have resorted to the wearing of masks ever since
the remotest times, with a view to protecting themselves, by concealing
their identity
so as to keep the malefic spirits at safe distance away. One of those
moments of crisis, when the threat of evil seemed impending, was the
very passing from one year to another, all along the twelve cosmogonical
days, when one world was dying and another one took shape, at the end
the beginning of every year. In the course of time and alongside with
the spreading of Christianize, this interval has been assimilated to
the sacred and festive period between Christmas and the protection rites
were
preserved, being transmitted along centuries as specific Romanian traditional
customs. "The Goat Dance", which is very often associated
with a vast "Goat Procession", is very popular within the
entire Romanian geographical
space. It includes, apart from the "goat" itself,which is
the main character, a number of secondary ones, such as "the gypsy",
"the he-goat" and many others. The costume of 'goat' is made
of wooden skeleton covered with a hand
woven carpet adorned with mullet-colored ribbons, tassels and small
pieces of mirror. Its head is moved by means of a lever system which
renders the jaw sufficiently mobile so as to beat the dance rhythm,
while the main character is mimicking illness or even death. But it
so happens that the
"goat" always comes back to life, the same as the vegetation
which keeps reviving every year. By their ingeniously combining the
most unexpected materials, such as pieces of cloth, wood animals horns,
untamed skins of sheep, goiter bear, pieces of adornment-beads, little
bells, mirrors, tinsel, fringes, feathers, etc. -, the maskmakers create
amazingly variegated and expressive masks and costumes.
Cristina Bordea,8th gradeA
EforieNord School,Romania
Coordinator Iuliana Neacsu-Romanian Teacher
iulianan@efnord.lefo.ro