The author of this paper is Mr.

Adrian ANDERSON, student at the Faculty

of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest, city: Bucharest,
country: Romania

Christmas traditions in Bucovina

and the Starovery Russians of Jerusalem

Following the holiday I have spent this year in Bucovina with some family
friends who live in the village of Lona, I can definitely say: Christmas is the holiday which is
kept, maybe even more than in other places, with scarcely any deviation from the tradition.
Around the Christmas Holidays, things that are loaned around the village are being returned
or reclaimed, since it is considered bad to keep borrowed things during the winter holidays.

On the Christmas Eve, women use to hide the spindles of the spinner or to put a stone inside
the oven, considering that this way they keep away the snakes from the household. It was not
long ago that the tradition said that, in the morning of the same day, the woman had to go out
of the house with the hands full of dough, enter the orchard and touch every fruit tree saying:
as my hands are now full of dough, so should be the trees full of fruitage next year.

Christmas is a wonderful opportunity for adorning the interiors of the country

houses, this is when the housewives hang under the eaves various aromatic plants (curly mint,
basil, sweet marjoram), that are left there to hang for a long period of time in the next year,
custom which is very well depicted in the verse of a Bucovinian Christmas carol:
Streaina de busuioc,
S v fie cu noroc.
Streaina de mghiran,
S v fie peste an.
Streaina de ment crea,
S v fie pentru via.
Streaina de bumbior,
S v fie de - ajutor,
La fete i la feciori
i nou de srbtori.
Christmas traditions start to be prepared long before the holiday, with the beginning of the
Christmas Fast on the 15th of November every year, when carol singers start to organize in

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The author of this paper is Mr. Adrian ANDERSON, student at the Faculty
of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest, city: Bucharest,
country: Romania
groups and to practice the carols they are going to sing during the great holiday.
In Bucovina, to go wassailing is not only a tradition, but due to its structure, it
has become a real institution, with specific laws and dogmas. Children and youths are getting
together with plenty of time before, organized in groups of six, in order to form the future
bands, the selection being made by social category, personal affinities, moral qualities or
parentage relations. Also long before, it is elected the head of the band called the bailiff, the
guide or the Turkish who has to be a good organizer, to have authority over the youths, to
have a responsible moral conduit and to be a good dancer.

The carol singing rehearsals are held either at the homes of the youths who form part of the
band, at the church or at the village gatherings, the only social community events that are
allowed during the Christmas Fast or, more recently, at the community centre. Maybe, the
most important moment of the Christmas holiday period is the Christmas Eve, when a special
meal is prepared, called The Christmas Eve Supper, and when they begin to sing carols.

The preparations for the Christmas Eve Supper used to begin very early in the
morning, when the housewives started to bake the ring-shaped loaves of bread as round as
the Sun and the Moon and a special one, also ring-shaped, known as Christmas, which
was beautifully decorated, braided in the shape of an eight and which was kept till spring to
be used for the activities that mark the beginning of the agricultural year. At the same time,
there were also prepared twelve fasting dishes (ground and cooked wheat, cooked smoked
plums, cooked beans, cabbage rolls stuffed with rice, chopped mushrooms with garlic, boletus
soup, cooked and "thickened" beans, etc.), as well as fish dishes.

The prepared food was set on the table of "the big house", after having laid the best
tablecloth. Sometimes, under the tablecloth there used to be put hay and over the table there
was passed a red thread tied in the shape of a cross, while at the corners of the table there
were put garlic heads. In the middle of the table there was set a ring-shaped loaf of bread and
around it there were organized twelve plates containing the twelve dishes. In the evening,
after the visit of the parish priest with the icon, the entire family changed into fresh clothes

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The author of this paper is Mr. Adrian ANDERSON, student at the Faculty
of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest, city: Bucharest,
country: Romania
and sat down around the table.
The supper had the character of a ritual, before sitting down at the table, all the members of
the family kneeled to say their prayer, then the head of the family summoned the spirits of the
dead, who were invited to take part in the feast, and fed symbolically the cattle of the
household, calling them by their names and throwing over the shoulder a little of each of the
twelve dishes. The family was sitting down and standing again right away, as a sign of
understanding and communion.

It was forbidden to finish the twelve dishes, the rests were kept on the table until
the Twelfth Day, when they were mixed in the food of the cattle or they were set on a plate in
the window, together with a glass of water, to feed the spirits of the dead.

The tradition of the Christmas Eve Supper, which has a deep and defining significance in the
rural traditional world formed mostly of ploughmen and shepherds, is still kept, sporadically, in
the mountain villages Bucovina. However, the wassailing, a climax of the Christmas holidays,
has been kept very strictly in most of the Bucovinian communities.

The tradition is initiated by children who, around noon, gather in small groups and go
wassailing, passing, one by one, by each of the houses in the village. In the past, the little carol
singers, before going to spread the news of the Birth of Jesus, were gathering in groups to ask
forgiveness from one another.

The carols sang at Christmas time are considered the oldest literary forms, in our
country their existence being dated back to the Middle Ages. In what follows I am reproducing
an old Christmas carol collected from the Village of Udeti:
Sculai, sculai mari plugari,
C v vin colindtori
Pe la patru cheutori.
Cheutoarea de la vale
A aprins o lumnare.
Lumnarea s-a aprins
Sfnturoaica s-a deschis.

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The author of this paper is Mr. Adrian ANDERSON, student at the Faculty
of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest, city: Bucharest,
country: Romania
O Iisuse, prea Hristoase,
Rmi gazd sntoas.

The traditional reward for the little carol singers usually consists of small ring-shaped loaves of
bread, apples, pears and nuts, but nowadays the hosts offer them mostly money and sweets. At
dusk, the villages start to be animated by the carols of the lad groups who pass through all the
alleys of the village, crossing it from one end to the other, all night long. The lads still dress
even nowadays in traditional winter costumes, which include long coarse coats or sheepskin
coats and they wear their sheepskin hats adorned with myrtle and geraniums. The head of the
band wears his hat adorned with multi-coloured ribbons, as a distinctive sign.
Until the middle of the 20th Century, the carol singers were accompanied only
by the pipe and a special drum (made for this particular event), later becoming more common
to sing to the brass band or the modern musical instruments.

Once the night carol singing has begun, the people consider that the holidays have started.
The carol singers depart usually from the house of the head of the band, after which they go
wassailing through the entire village. There are, nevertheless, communities where there is
organized only one group of lads, who go wassailing to each house in turn, without any
priority.

Once inside the yard of the house, without having uttered any permission
words first, the lads start to sing the carols. From praising the greatness of the house, of the
yard and of the activity of the host, the repertoire of the carols passes through various themes
that treat allegorically familiar realities. The carols do not use satirical verse, only wishes of
health and good omen. The local people believe that the carols are sang in order to keep away
the devil and to purify the space, this is why it is considered a great sin for someone to keep
his gate locked during the night of the Christmas Eve.

After singing the carols at the window, the lads are invited into the house, where they are
offered food and they are rewarded. When they come accompanied by music, a small party is
taking place in those households that have girls, the girl being the first to be invited to dance

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The author of this paper is Mr. Adrian ANDERSON, student at the Faculty
of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest, city: Bucharest,
country: Romania
by the head of the band or, depending on the case, by the lad who admires her most.
In some localities (Solea, Poieni - Solea, Partetii de Sus, Cacica, Doroteia, Lona), together
with the carol singing band there go the masked groups the old women and the old men
who through their dance, their gestures and their dialogue transmit, in their own vision, the
principle of fertility, as a preamble to the New Year.
If on the Christmas Eve day and night only the children and young lads go
wassailing, starting from the Christmas Day (the 25th of December) up to the Twelfth Day, the
householders are the ones who go wassailing to their neighbours, relatives and friends. In some
villages, such as Lona, there is also a church carol singing group called the old carol
singing, which is made up only of married people who are taking this opportunity to raise
funds for the church.
From the morning of the 25th of December there starts the star carol singing. Going wassailing
with the star implies the gathering of the children in groups of three. They use as props a star
made of a sieve frame with rays of wood strips, covered entirely in coloured paper. The
children wear crowns of paper on their heads and the star carol is based on the hymn praising
the Birth of the Lord. The carol refers to the effort of finding the newly born Baby Jesus and
contains some philosophical reflections regarding life on earth.
The Starovery Russians of Jerusalem celebrate Christmas on the 7th of
January, according to the Julian calendar. The people keep the Christmas Fast during 40 days,
from the 28th of November till the evening of the 6th of January, when the first star appears on
the sky.
The supper starts with a prayer to the Lord which is said by the head of the family. It is said a
thanking prayer for the last years blessings, followed by one dedicated to the good things that
are to come next year. At the end, the head of the family says Christ is born!, and all those
around him answer The Lord be Praised! and those who sing this specific psalm are the
children of the host who offers the Christmas meal the first day. The housewife blesses
everybody drawing a honey cross on the top of their heads while she says In the name of the

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The author of this paper is Mr. Adrian ANDERSON, student at the Faculty
of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest, city: Bucharest,
country: Romania
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, may you have sweetness and plenty of good things in your
life and in the new year"

Then, the family eats a twelve-dish supper, in the honour of the 12 apostles of
Jesus, among which there are: fish, beetroot soup, cabbage with millet, dry fruit. The most
important ingredient is a kind of porridge called (Cutia), made of wheat or other
cereals, symbolizing hope and eternal life, of honey and poppy seeds which are thought to
bring happiness, success and tranquillity.
This supper is considered holy, since it coincides with the appearing of the first
star on the sky, the North Star, symbolizing the star that showed the Magi the way to
Bethlehem (The House of Bread), the town where Christ was born.
According to the tradition The Holy Supper consists of 12 dishes, standing for the 12
apostles. In spite of the tiny differences between the regions, the 12 traditional dishes usually
are:
- Mushroom Soup (bor) or sour cabbage soup
- Fasting bread (pagach)
- Smashed garlic
- Honey
- Cooked fish
- Apricots, oranges, figs and dates
- Nuts
- Beans (left all day to simmer) accompanied by potatoes, plenty of garlic, salt and pepper
- Peas
- New potatoes boiled with parsley
- Bobal'ki (a kind of biscuits combined with sour cabbage or poppy seeds with honey)
- Red wine
Following the Christmas mass, and not before the holiday, it is praised the
Birth of Christ by means of a single carol a religious song. This song is Christ is born
(Hristos rajdaetsja), which is taken from the religious mass. And they all gather at the
parents house around the Christmas table: sons, grandsons, godsons, brothers and sisters, and

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The author of this paper is Mr. Adrian ANDERSON, student at the Faculty
of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest, city: Bucharest,
country: Romania
before entering the house they are met with a plate of date and orange jam and with hot
blackcurrant flavoured tea.

At the corner of each table of the houses I have been visiting, I saw the hosts placing a plate
of corn, wheat and seeds that symbolize the wealth and prosperity in the house and that is
kept until the 19th of January, when the Twelfth Day is celebrated.
The Starovery Russians believe that the Christmas presents are brought by
(Father Christmas) or Father Frost Mo Geril, who replaced . (Saint
Nicholas) during the communist regime, but also by (The Grandmother).
According to a legend, there was an old woman who went to see Baby Jesus with a basketful
of presents, but, as she didnt find him, she left presents to the children of every house she
visited. , the spirit of winter for the Russians, is helped to deliver the presents by
(The Daughter of Snow).
The Christmas Tree ( ) is another tradition that was
forbidden during the soviet domination, but, to keep it alive, the Russians used to adorn trees
for the New Years Eve. And since the ornaments were either too expensive or they were hard
to find on the market, the Christmas Trees were adorned with homemade objects and with
fruits. And this custom is still kept nowadays, but the tree is kept adorned up to the 19th of
January, when (the Twelfth Day is celebrated).
And under the tree they put a round-shaped battered bread called
(The cave of Christ), symbolizing the vow made by the Lord and the man, and they also put a
bunch of wheatears that stands for richness of the soul and the rays of the star that led the
Three Wise Men from the East to Jesus. By the tree they put a round little table with a candle
and two icons on it: an icon of the Holy Mother ( ), symbolizing the blessing
of the parents of the girl for her marriage and the house and the children she is to bear or who
are already born in the house; and the other icon is of (Christ the Saviour)
representing the pillar of the family and of the house and the protector of the children to be
born or who are already born in that house, and this is followed by the blessings of both

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The author of this paper is Mr. Adrian ANDERSON, student at the Faculty
of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest, city: Bucharest,
country: Romania
couples of parents for the young family. They are kept there from the 6th of January, the
Christmas Eve, until the Twelfth Day, celebrated on the 19th of January, when all the other
icons in the house are brought to the little round table, where the two most important icons
have already been standing, and the family gets up around four in the morning to do this;
together with the icons they also bring the (the rosary) and oil and flour and there is
also the big candle still standing there since the 6th of January, all of them kept on the round
table by the still adorned tree. After having laid all these things on the round table, the family
put on the church clothes.
The woman wears a long sleeve blouse and a very long skirt that lets out only the tip of her
shoe, on the head she wears a little beret if she is married, and over the beret a scarf, and
around her waist she wears a belt symbolizing the Belt of the Holy Mother, and if she is not
married, she keeps the same costume, without the little beret under the scarf, and women are
not allowed to wear any makeup when they take part in the religious events.
The clothing tradition for men is that of wearing a long sleeve shirt which goes over the
trousers, the trousers are long, covering the ankle and very ample so as not to let anything
show, which is also valid for women. The men also wear belts and starting from the age of 18
they have to grow beards, which are a sign of maturity and closeness to the Saviour.
Once they have all dressed up, the family and the close relatives (brothers, cousins, nephews,
brothers-in-law, fathers-in-law) go to the place where all the icons stand together with the
other objects and they start to pray, and the first prayer they say is (Our Father)
which is repeated 6 times by the men of the house and then it is the turn of the women to say
(Our Father) 3 times, followed by 300 prostrations - the first 100 prostrations for
the Holy Virgin and the other 200 prostrations for Christ - while the youngest member of the
family stays by the door to await the priest to come and say (the priests ritual
prayer). The priest usually comes around 05:00 05:30 in the morning and is welcomed by
the youngest member of the family with the traditional Twelfth Day priest greeting:
, ! , !
, and the priest gets into the house and crosses himself before the icons on the
round table and then addresses everybody the answer to the greeting the youngster welcomed
him with: , ! ,
!

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The author of this paper is Mr. Adrian ANDERSON, student at the Faculty
of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest, city: Bucharest,
country: Romania
! !, and following this spiritual greeting, the priest begins to
read from the Gospel of Saint Matthew the passage that relates the episode of the Baptism of
Christ and when he finishes the lecture, he starts to hallow all the objects laid on the table and
then goes to each room of the house and to the yard and returns once again to the dining room
where the round table is and hollows the objects again, and then the men and afterwards the
women go to be blessed by the father. And when the ceremony is finished, the priest is invited
to help himself to a cup of hot black tea and fig jam and then to tell them some more holy
teachings. This whole process begins at 4:00 a.m. sharp and ends at 10 a.m. sharp, when the
priest leaves and blesses once again the house and all its inhabitants, so as to begin well the
New Year and to enjoy good health.
When he leaves, the youngest member of the family says: ,

! And the priest answers the following: ,
, .
! Once the priest has left, the family sit down at the table for lunch
and afterwards each of them go and take their icon and rosary and put them back in their room
and the men read The Archangels St Michael and Gabriels and also St Nicholass prayers for
the dead while the women read Holy Marys as well as the Holy Crosss prayers for the dead
and then all of them begin the house tasks.

And here are the traditional Christmas wishes used by the Starovery Russians.
I.
II.

III.

! Merry Christmas!
. , ! - For Christmas I
congratulate you and I wish you happiness and joy!
! I wish you a lot of luck in the New Year!

IV. / , , ! I wish you happiness, health and

success!

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