Easter is one of the most important religious celebrations in Romania and this special day is preceded by numerous preparations and rituals. The celebrations starts with the Good Week, which begins with Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem and ends with Easter Sunday, when Christ resurrected. During this week, final preparations are made for the big celebration.
Romania is a place where traditions are still kept and locals with folk costumes (adorned by intricate embroidery) go to church on the night before Easter, for an outdoor ceremony. At midnight the priests light a candle (as a symbol for Jesus’ return from the dead) and starting from that candle people chain-light their own candles …so hundreds of candles light up in the night, in a magical moment that can take your breath away.
In Bucovina, on the night of Easter, there is the custom of “fires vigilance”. Fies are lighted on the hills and they would burn all night. In Transylvania, young girls are sprayed with perfume by the boys dressed in traditional clothes on Easter Monday. This way, they say girls will have good luck all year. In Maramures, children go to friends and neighbors to announce the Resurrection of Christ.
Everyone goes home, carefully holding their candle, ready to begin the feast - starting with some dishes that were taken to the church for the special food blessing. Among them, lamb meat, that is traditionally prepared on Easter and two types of desert: cozonac (a delicious poppy seeds and walnut pound cake) and pască (sweet cream cheese cake usually made only for this special celebration).
A legend from Bucovina goes that the “pasca” has been done from the times when Jesus was traveling to the world together with his apostles. They remained a night at a peasant house and when they left, he put food in their bags. The apostles asked Jesus when the Easter is and He replied that the Easter would be when they would find corn bread in their bags. Looking in the bags, they noticed the peasant had given them exactly corn bread, so that they knew it was Easter time.
The real symbol of the Romanian Easter are the painted eggs. It is an old tradition, connected with the resurrection of Jesus and the blood that was spilled on the cross, and while initially the only accepted color was red nowadays one can encounter different ones too (yellow, green, orange, blue) and various motifs and decorations (in the villages the paint is still obtained from plants).
The eggs are painted starting with Thursday. Initially the only accepted color was red, but in time other colors were also applied – yellow, green, blue and even black.
In the villages the paint is still obtained from plants.
There’s the custom of knocking the eggs. It is believed that those who knock their eggs will see each other on the other world, after death. In the first day of Easter, eggs are only knocked with the top. On Monday they can be knocked top to the bottom and on the next days they can be knocked any way.
When a person sees a friend or family for the first time after Easter has passed, the normal introduction is skipped and the first person says, “Hristos a inviat (Christ has risen).” The second person responds by saying, “Adevarat a inviat (Indeed, he has risen).” This verbal exchange is very much part of the celebration and is a way for people to remind each other of the importance of Easter even after the holiday is over.
April 2014
I. C.
