National Holidays In Romania And Ancient Traditions

Romanians, as every other nation on the Earth celebrate all kind of holidays, whether they are traditional holidays or general holidays, which are celebrated together with other religions.

Romanians are orthodox, but even if that is the case, they celebrate New Year with the rest of the world, as opposed to Russians for example who celebrate it according to the old calendar, meaning two weeks later. So New Year celebrated at midnight is an important one of the national holidays in Romania.

They all wish each other happiness and more success for the year to come. The week between Christmas and New Year is dedicated to all kinds of other traditional habits, which Romanians have. Along with the Christmas carols, groups of people go from door to door to bring positive energy and happy thoughts and wish happiness to the hosts in a special way with the help of traditional songs and poems.

For their greetings the young receive not only money but also many fruits, like apples and nuts, food and drinks for the whole community to feast on the next day. Romanian holidays are about joy and happiness, and joyful and positive thinking especially around New Year, so that everybody could start their new year with pure thoughts and positive thinking, for a better life.

The originality of the Romanian holidays can be seen no matter what the holiday is. Researchers assume that the games and the costumes around Christmas come from the sacred archaic ceremonies, which were dedicated to the rebirth of divinity. For example, one of the Romanian customs is called “Plugusorul” (the little plough).

And it is performed on the first day of a new year. Groups of boys go from house to house with a decorated plough pulled by oxen. They snap the whip and say a special poem, which basically describes the stages of wheat growth, and harvest and it ends with wishing the hosts all the best for the year that has just started.

On New Year, the sky opens and there is a holy bond created between God and humans, a spiritual bond. Domestic animals talk to each other and they say that the animals can foresee the fate of their owner in the year to come.

Another national Romanian holiday is what they call “Boboteaza” which is celebrated on the sixth of January. This is the day when the immersion of Jesus by Joan the baptizer was performed. Romanians go to church and take holy water, which is considered to be necessary for healing and purifying the body.

They also say that this is the day when the sky opens and God can actually be seen. The priests holy the water and the animals, the fields and they bless the people and the rivers every year on this particular day. In villages, young people use to throw buckets of cold water on each other in front of the fountain in the yard. They believe that it will keep them safe from diseases, and they will sprinkle holy water on each other at the church exit.