Romanian traditions

You hear it often in the movies that Christmas is not about the presents, it’s about family and traditions. Well, in
Romania it is really about traditions, enjoying the holidays, time with family and gift giving is quite rare. These are the
ways Romanians enjoy Christmas.

This are only few of them.

Carol singins

On Christmas Eve, 24th of December, groups of children will go from house to house to sing carols. The hosts will give
them cakes, cookies and all sorts of sweets. This tradition is especially maintained in the villages, where children know
the locals and after singing they are always asked about their families. In areas such as Maramures children dress in
traditional clothes and sing songs such as : Trei pastori ( three shepherds) O brad frumos ( O christmas tree). As well,
the second day when families visit each other they always sing at the door before entering the house.

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4XplXeM5oM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHDUBkh2Txs

The star

This is another type of caroling where children go to every house to sing ” The star” while showing off a home made
star that usually has tinsels. The star carol refers to the star that leads the wise men to baby Jesus.
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5efOLd2esLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhY3vi8vLcI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKyJujX_Y9Y

The Goat

A group of young men goes from house to house to sing a special song about a goat (on Christmas Eve as well). One
man will dress as a goat and do the dance while the others sing. This dance is also done on New Year’s Eve in some
parts of Romania.

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tco3MFfx1Pk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1kvC3D_dSk

The bear

This tradition is mainly maintained in Moldova where men dressed as bears go out on the streets to do the dance.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzgp63d8rjI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx6OfchxmoI

Pig slaughtering

On December 20th or Ignat day, traditionally a pig is slaughtered in the countryside. The family will then prepare
sausages and other meats to be served for Christmas.

Decorating the Christmas tree

Decorating is done on Christmas eve, right before the carolers come. It is never done before that and if you do, it will
be seen as quite strange.
Traditional foods

There are some foods that Romanians always eat on special celebrations like Easter and Christmas and
these are: sarmale ( stuffed cabage leaves), cozonac ( special fluffy cake with walnut cream or poppyseeds), pork
sausages, gogosi ( doughnuts).