Romanian and Scottish customs and traditions

The students from Dragoiesti School have once more

proved their creative skills and they have made some projects
comparing Romania and Scotland, their customs and
traditions, their personalities, their legends, their flags, their
national costumes, etc. The purpose of this activity is to
understand the similarities and differences between the two
countries.
Students have presented Scotlands national day: St
Andrews Day, which is celebrated on 30th November every
year. The Blue and White Cross of the St Andrews Flag is
also known as the
Saltire.

On

the

other

hand,

Romanians

celebrate their national day on December 1st

every year. It commemorates the assembly of
the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba
Iulia,

which

declared

the

Union

of

Transylvania with Romania, but also of the

provinces of Bassarabia and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom, in 1918.
Scotlands national poet was also mentioned in their
projects. Robert Burns (17591796) was a Scottish poet and a
lyricist. He is the best known of the poets who have written in
the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in
English and a "light" Scots dialect, accessible to an audience
beyond Scotland. He also wrote in Standard English and in
these his political or civil commentary is often at its most blunt.
Romanias national poet is Mihai Eminescu (18501889), a
Romantic poet, novelist and journalist. His first poems volume
was published when he was 16 and he went to Vienna to study
when he was 19. Notable works include Luceafrul ("Evening

Star"), Od n metru antic (Ode in Ancient Meter), and the five Letters (Epistles/Satires). In his
poems he frequently used metaphysical, mythological and historical subjects.
Being born and raised in the countryside, our students enjoyed finding out more things
about the Scottish traditional clothing. The kilt has long been
the most recognizable cultural tradition of the Highland
Scots. The kilt is a traditional Scottish woolen cloth costume
with a tartan or plaid pattern. Scottish families are called
clans and each clan has a special plaid to show what their
family is. These are the plaids on their kilts. The Romanian
traditional clothing, on the other hand, for both men and
women is a shirt or chemise, which is made from hemp, linen
or woollen fabric. This was tied round the waist using a
fabric belt, narrow for women and wider for men. Romanian
women wear an apron over the chemise. Men's traditional
clothing comprises a white shirt (cmas), white trousers, hat, belt, waistcoat and an overcoat.
Scottish legends are just as interesting for our students, as well as known all over the
world. The legend of the Loch Ness Monster tells that St. Columba heard about the monster's
murder of a man and he ran to the center of the water to order the monster not to hurt anyone.
Even though lots of people say that they had seen
the monster, there are few clear proofs. Loch Ness
is located in the North of Scotland. The lake is over
750 feet deep and 23 miles long. The Romanian
legend best known by foreigners is that of Dracula.
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular
antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. His character was inspired by the 15th
century Romanian Prince Vlad III the Impaller. The Prince of Wallachia ruled mainly from 1456
to 1462. Historically, he is best known for his resistance against the Ottoman Empire and for the
impaling of enemies. In Romanian folklore Vlad epe is portrayed as a hero, a man who stood
up to both foreign and domestic enemies.

Very passionate with Romanian history, students wrote about Queen Marie of Romania
(previously Princess Marie of Edinburgh; 29 October 187518 July 1938). She was Queen
Consort of Romania from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania. Her influence in
the country was large and she had many notable
contributions to the war effort. During the war, she
volunteered as a Red Cross nurse to help the sick
and wounded. An important figure in Scotlands
history, Mary Queen of Scots was Queen regnant
of Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July
1567. Mary was the only surviving legitimate
child of King James V of Scotland. She was 6
days old when her father died and she was crowned nine months later. Mary fled to England
seeking the protection of her first cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England. Perceiving her as a
threat, Elizabeth had her arrested. After 19 years in custody in England, she was tried and
executed for treason for her alleged involvement in plots to assassinate Elizabeth.
Searching further information related to Scotlands history, students discovered William
Wallace, one of Scotland's greatest national heroes, undisputed leader of the Scottish resistance
forces during the long struggle to free Scotland from English
rule at the end of the 13th Century. He was a Scottish knight
and landowner who became one of the main leaders during
the Wars of Scottish Independence. Wallace defeated an
English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. An
important figure in Romanian history was Alexandru Ioan
Cuza (18201873). He was a Romanian politician who ruled
as the first ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and
Moldavia between 1859 and 1866. The union of the two principalites was formally declared on
24th of January, the new country bearing the name of Romania, with Bucharest as its capital city.
Cuza initiated a series of reforms that contributed to the modernization of Romanian society and
of state structures.
Students were also interested in castles, both in Scotland and Romania. Founded as a
monastery in 1128, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is The Queen's official residence

in Scotland. Situated at the end of the Royal Mile, the Palace of Holyroodhouse is closely
associated with Scotland's turbulent past, including Mary, Queen of Scots. Successive kings and
queens have made the Palace of
Holyroodhouse the premier royal
residence in Scotland. As for
Romania, one of the countrys most
beautiful castles is the one in
Hunedoara, called The Hunyad
Castle. The castle is a relic of the
Hunyadi dynasty. It was built
mainly in Gothic style, but has Renaissance architectural elements. It features tall and strong
defense towers, an interior yard and a drawbridge. The castle is a large and imposing building
with tall and diversely colored roofs, towers and myriad windows and balconies adorned with
stone carvings.
Literature is just as important for our students, so theyve searched and wrote about prose
writers. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (18591930) was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted
for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which
are generally considered a major innovation in the field of
crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor
Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works
include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and
romances, poetry, and non-fiction. Students were most
familiar with Mihail Sadoveanu (18801961), who was a
Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and
political figure. One of the most prolific Romanianlanguage writers, he is remembered mostly for his
historical and adventure novels, as well as for his nature writing. Among Sadoveanus books,
there are Neamul oimretilor ("The oimreti Family"), Fraii Jderi ("The Jderi Brothers")
and Zodia Cancerului ("Under the Sign of the Crab").