Students Caroling on Christmas Eve

A most interesting tradition…

Each teacher has a number of classes which get together on Christmas Eve. They go from one teacher's house to the next, caroling for as many as they can. Teachers in town have more groups than those in the villages simply because of logistics. I am five kilometers from town and it is too far to walk and so the students must find a ride (for twenty to thirty kids) or pass.

One group that hazarded the snow and ice was my 10A class. They brought instruments and sang quite well. The students then expect remuneration in the form of food and drink. The tangerines disappeared in no time.

Blessing of the Machina

Every place has its idiosyncrasies and one of the most outstanding ones here is the practice of the Blessing of the Machina. Machina is the Romanian word for automobile and so there is a blessing especially for cars. At first, I found this uproariously laughable. Note that I have arrived in a very religious land from America, the land where we don't ask your beliefs as it might offend you and so religion is not worn on the sleeve of every American as it is here. One of the first questions anyone asks here is what my religion is. At first I was taken aback and said I prefer to keep that to myself. Then I began to see that in this society, where religion is the only hope there is to look to in the horrific times many of these people have lived through, then it is not such a probing question at all.

When riding the crowded maxitaxis, each time we pass a church everyone on the bus genuflects, sometimes once, sometimes three times, I havenlt quite figured out what the difference is. As there are quite a few of them on the way to school in the morning, it was amusing to watch. The buses are unbelievably crowded, and, yet, they all are busy making the motion. At one place there are two churches and a shrine jammed right next to each other. Imagine 50 people on a bus that says its maximum is 13 plus the driver, all genuflecting at the same time, three times in a row. It is quite a sight.

Life has been very hard on people in this part of Romania and they have not really kept up with the times. There are many who still subsistence farm with horses and hand-made plows. There is even a store here on the outskirts of town where you can buy a carute. A carute is the cart that the horses pull through town. I am told they last anywhere from 50 to 100 years. Can you imagine being able to sustain a retail establishment that sells a product with that long of a lifetime? These are not built to self-destruct two days after the warranty is over. Move over General Motors and Ford!

With this in mind, it is easy to imagine a society that feels the need for their God to look over them and give them even a little assistance on their way through this life. In earlier times, the carts and the horses were all blessed to have a long life as they had not the means to replace them as we do today. It was a bit of added insurance that we if took good care of their tools they would last just that much longer.

And so as this part of Romania moves into the twenty-first century, so has the Romanian Orthodox Church. There is a service specific to blessing cars. As I left the Christmas celebration in the Cantina at school, there was a blessing going on outside that I was able to participate in. Two of the religion teachers at school are priests and they were busy blessing the entire new school car. They blessed the trunk area, all four doors, the engine and the outside of the car. Holy water was flying as not only the car, but the Director and a few of the teachers, including the driver's ed teacher and we who were in attendance were liberally blessed with holy water.

What I had originally thought of as terribly funny, I have come to see as a natural transference of the blessing of the horses to the blessing of the horseless carriage. It is a hope for a prosperous life.

Legitimati finally!

Four trips to Suceava and I finally have my legitimati. This is rather important as I would not be allowed back in the country without it now. You are allowed to come to Romania in the first place and are supposed to apply for a legitimate shortly after beginning to work. I gather it is something like our Green Card. I have collected quite a bit of paperwork to put this in place. I did what I was asked to do at each juncture of the process. Without the card, I should have left the country before I had been here ninety days and then returned. It seems that you can leave the country every ninety days and return and the process period is extended for another ninety days. I had forgotten about this until the ninety days already passed and so I had to hope that the card would be there.

Each time previously, the policeman had asked that I return after thirty days. The last time, he did not give me a date and so I waited the thirty days and went anyway. It was a beautiful day and the ride was uneventful. IT was the Friday before Christmas when I arrived and walked to the police station and found the policeman still in the office. I asked if my legitimate was ready and he pulled an envelope from his drawer. I am not sure how long it had been there, but this time he did not call me to tell me. I wonder how long he would have left it there without contacting me.

I managed to find my way back to the hitch-hike place and get a ride back to Gura Humorului, and then a ride in the maxitaxi to Manasterii. Back to the peaceful horse and carutes. They have the sleds and sleighs out now and so it is even more like a picture postcard.

Primary classes Christmas presentation

All of the classes have prepared presentations for Craciun which are great fun. Even the little ones have traditional costumes. They have prepared a morning of singing and poetry especially for me. Many of them are dressed in traditional costumes. The third form class has made Christmas cards for me – in English – with pictures and delightful wishes for a wonderful holiday season. Some of them have included pictures of themselves so that I will know who they are. I had thought there was only the one class of them, but it seems that there are quite a few – maybe the entire primary classes. They really belt out the songs they have learned. Some are in English and some in Romanian. It is wonderful to see them. On the spot, a pair of boys decided to perform a skit. It is in Romanian and so I am not sure what they are saying, but the audience is having a grand time. Maybe they have a future as stand-up comedians.

Pagan Life Cycle Ritual Dance

This is something I would never have expected to see here although I should not have been surprised. As in Lithuania, the Romanians have held onto some of the more meaningful traditions from pagan times. This is a dance that would have originated with the winter solstice celebrations. In that darkest of times during the year, people would have needed to know that the rebirth of spring would come. Even though it comes every year, there is solace is being reassured in a time before science as we know it, that spring would, indeed, be coming.

This particular dance is a re-enactment of the birth, growth, harvest, and rebirth cycle that continues year after year. It fits in with the birth of the Christ child as a symbol of this same cycle. The bear figures prominently in this dance. (Remember that half the bears in Europe roam the mountains of Romania.) The bear was certainly a fearsome beast at an earlier time and it can still strike abject terror into anyone who comes across one unexpectedly even today. The stories are not pretty. The goat is the other animal involved in this ritual. There are characters dressed in black who represent death.

The drummers and chanters are the humans in the spectacle. The headdresses are completely wild. They are composed of peacock feathers and shiny glass globes. How they keep them on their heads while jumping around in this dance is beyond me. The drummers have a wonderful rhythm as they beat out the story. I get the feeling the same boys do this year after year. There is certainly an almost sacred passing of the drum that occurs. Some of these drums are very old. They have a very distinct shape to them which makes them very portable. The barrel shaped instrument emits an eerie hum when the leather thong is pulled through tiny slits in the drum head. All in all, it is an otherworldly feeling. I wish I was more of a musician as I am certain that my description of these ancient instruments could be much better if I had the words to explain.

They tell the story while the animals and death figures show the story. This is very reminiscent of the early drama where a narrator tells a story and the actors mime the action. Every night for a week, I hear the drummers out and about in town, pounding out a rhythm that has probably not changed in millennia.

This is an uncut version of the action from my camera. It is a bit unsteady in parts. Later I will put it in a better format, but here it is for now. This is obviously a low-budget production, but it is truly fascinating. Throughout the week I have seen these characters, in more elaborate costumes, but always the same headdress, walking along the roadways as I have traveled hither and yon across the countryside.

End of the Year Traditions

As the school year comes to a close for the winter holidays, the students are having a tough time concentrating on their studies. They have many practices for the Christmas presentations they will give. It seems every one of the 2000 students has a traditional costume tucked away someplace or another. There are the Polish students with the reds and whites of their regions. The Romanians from Bucovina which is this area wear gold on black costumes with highlights of silver and red. The men wear white woolen jerkins and pants with braid of the same colors. Over that is a fur vest trimmed in gold and black and the black goat skin hat. Both men's and women's costumes are trimmed in mink or a similar dark brown fur. I am sure it was originally to keep them warm in the cold winter months here in the mountains. They are still worn today for the same reason. Almost every day, I see men dressed in these traditional costumes going about town, taking care of business.

The twelfth form students from each class have all sorts of presentations to perform. It seems that each class has been busy. 12K had an evening of song and poetry for each of the teachers they had over their four years in the school. They decorated the multi-media room for us with fruits and nuts, homemade wine, and candles. It was a delightful scene. It was quite nice for us to enjoy their entertainment and then to enjoy conversation amongst ourselves afterwards. They disappeared discreetly and we stayed for hours.

I am not sure which other classes were involved, but I recognized 12A students in the choral presentation for the evening. They sang many traditional Romanian carols. It is uncanny how they are so similar to our own. I even recognize some of the words. There is a short clip of their singing. The camera work is horrendous and then the batteries died but the sound is worth listening to for a minute.

Another group acted out a traditional story about a girl and a boy falling in love.

And then, of course, there is the dinner, which is traditional sausages and sarmales with wine. Tonight there will be no dancing as it is a time of fasting until Christmas Day and then, look out!

So many presentations. Later there was a knock on the window. When it was opened, we were entertained by a raucous group of twelfth formers, all in traditional dress, who had written light-hearted poems about all their teachers. Each class had a poem to present. This tradition goes back to another ancient tradition. Apparently, they can not be allowed in as they represent the devil. I would guess that in another time the poetry would have been much more intimidating. It has become a grand tradition here in Gura Humorului for students to have fun with their teachers.

I have a separate post with a video of this excellent remnant of a pagan ritual. Just the costumes are fabulous. Can you imagine walking in this headpiece, much less dancing!?

When it is finally time to go home, I decide to walk as it is not all that cold. This night is still and there are very few sounds. Almost no traffic. There is a full moon for Christmas

12K Cracuin Presentation

I have a number of classes and it is hard to keep track sometimes which student is from which class, but this one is memorable. Craciun means Christmas in Romanian. I have a few students whose last name is Cracuin and it was a few weeks before I realized what the name meant. Cristina is the one who finally made sense to me. I thought they were all looking forward to the next holiday, when actually it was their name they were trying to explain. Cristine is a student in 12K and it was her class that decided to put together a delightful Christmas presentation for the teachers they had studied with during their four years in high school. It was quite nice.

This particular celebration was specifically for the teachers of the 12K class. It is was a thank you to the professors who care about them and all the hard work put into getting them from ninth formers to graduation. Romania has an interesting organization for their students. Each class meets with their diriginte twice a week for an hour so that they can iron out any problems that might be brewing, to council the students, to keep them on the straight and narrow. The diriginte for this class is very proud of them. I often see her talking with her students and checking with other teachers to see how they are getting along. It reminds me of our original SRT system some years ago.

We arrived in the Multi-Media room to find tables set with holiday plates and wonderful homemade wine. I never did find out who made it, but they are to be congratulated on a great vintage. The scent of freshly-baked traditional sweetbread of poppy seeds and candied fruit wafted up from the plates. Yes, the same kind of preserved fruit we find in fruitcake, but this was wonderful.

Soon the students arrived and got situated. They sang and told stories of Christmas. I have learned enough Romanian that I was able to recognize the story of the birth of Jesus. Romanian carols are beautiful with very different haunting quality to them. I found myself humming along. As the program progressed the students shared the speaking parts while effortlessly passing the microphone to each other without all the loud rustling that usually accompanies such hand-offs. They were bathed in the golden glow of dozens of candles.

As they came to the end of the program I could see a gleam in some of the boys' eyes. They sang the last carol with sparklers. Very impressive. As the applause died down, the director handed out excellent cookies to each of the performers. Amazing what you can make a person do for a sweet…