May, 2nd Sunday
According to a very ancient custom mentioned in a great many
mediaeval charters, at the foot of the Gurghiului Mountain, at a spot
where five roads intersect and where long ago lads used to meet in order
to choose their brides - today the inhabitants of the villages in the
valleys of the Gurghiu, the Beici, the Lut and the Mures, from Glajarie
Ibanesti, Solovastru, Orsova, Hodac, Casva and other settlements possessing
rich traditions of Romanian and Hungarian folk art, congregate to spend
a beautiful spring day together. The works made by the carvers in sycamore
maple wood (loza or goat's osier as the natives call it) and plum-tree
wood are one if the chief attraction of this event.
Lady's Fair
July, 3rd sunday
On the border of the Barsa Land depression, at the foot of mount Piatra Mare, Romanian and Hungarian groups recall in a gorgeous rustic festical a very old local custom named "santilia" when the feathers-inlaw in the communes of Salulung, Cernatu, Turches or Baciu had the honour of choosing and welcoming in public their future sons-in-law. In "Braul", the "Chindia', the "Atica", the "Ciobanasul", the "Mana Purtata" or the "Lezeasca", old specific dances, as well as the "bulz", a sort of pie and "sarmale" cooked in the way shepherds like them or muttin cooked "a la outlaw", then booths with folk art objects complete and intensity the originality of this attractive feast.
Tocma nuntii Cornilor
A popular spring custom with masks (Banat). It is a parody engagement ("tocma nuntii"= arranging the wedding of the "corni"; "corni"= people who play the fools). The ritual resembles that of the "Nunta Cornilor".
Turcii
A popular custom with masks. It is a pantomime and a dance performed at the New Year or during the spring holidays (Banat).
Adina Huza
"Alexandru Papiu Ilarian" Highschool Dej, ROMANIA
Coordinator teacher: Cornelia Platon
A popular custom with masks, observed in Banat (Transylvania), supposed
to have originated in the Roman festivals "Hultorum festa" and
"Formacalia". It lasts 2-5 days, during the springs holidays;
it consists
of a popular carnival (the first day the masking of the young people,
the second a parody wedding, the third the burial of the farsanc) occasioning
a vehement satire of backword manners and morals.
Nedeie
Popular party organized in a locality on a certain holiday or when the
fair comes round, supposed to originate from the time of the Dacians;
an important form of collective expression of the spiritual life. According
to their origin, the nedeias can be classified as follows:
a) nedeias connected with vine growing;
b) nedeias connected with the cult for vegetation and animals;
c) pastoral nedeias in the mountains;
d) nedeias which are markets
Nunta cornilor
A popular custom in Banat, observed during the traditional spring fests,
consisting of a parody wedding of a "corn", with fixed personages
(the bridegroom, the bride, the priest and the wedding guests) wearing
grotesque masks. Based on an action improvised for the purpose, the groups
of "corn" satirezes backword customs and mentalities.
Semanatul inului
A spring agrarian custom, in Caras-Severin area (Banat) a sort of folk play with fixed personages, who act wearing the masks and an improvised text, satirising some of the natives' backword mentalities and attitudes.
Adina Huza
"Alexandru Papiu Ilarian" Highschool Dej, ROMANIA
Coordinator teacher: Cornelia Platon