Traditions That Remain Vibrant....Pentecost Romanian Rusalii

Pentecost Icon

Each year Romanian Orthodox Christians celebrate Pentecost Sunday or Rusalii as it is called in the folk tradition, when The Holy Spirit descends upon Christ’s Apostles.

 

Pentecost Orthodox Icon

It lasts for two days and it is always celebrated 50 days after Easter.

 

Linden Flowers

On the day of Pentecost, Christians come to church and bring linden flowers or walnut leaves, symbols of the tongues of fire that mark the descent of the Holy Spirit.

 

Blessing of Linden Flowers and Walnut Leaves

These leaves are blessed and distributed to the believers.

 

Linden Branches Protecting the Home

Tradition says that these blessed branches of walnut and linden flowers should decorate the windows of the house and icons since they have protective powers against the capricious Fairies or Rusalii.

Rusalii Pagan Fairies

Another ancient folk tradition in villages at Pentecost is a specific folk dance performed by men "Căluşari".

Dance of Calusari

Village Calusari 

Boys Calusari

Farm animals are included in celebrations with adornments of summer flowers for good fortune.

Farm Ox adorned with Summer Flowers

Feasts of cherries, wine, pastries and coliva a traditional Romanian wheat porridge are offered to friends and family.

Rusalii Feast

Celebration of Summer Rusalii

Maramureș….Dream Land of Wooden Churches

Sacred log building systems transcend centuries from the Middle Ages in Northern Transylvania area of Romania called Maramureș. 

Arduzel Church Maramures

                                                             Voyages of Discovery

Today almost 100 wooden churches still stand, about one third built two centuries ago. The skilled master carpenters continue their craft throughout the country from one generation to the next.
  
Built in 1720, the Church of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple is a World Heritage Site in Bârsana, Romania and it features some of the most representative baroque indoor murals in Maramureș.

Bârsana Church

Carved Wooden Gate

Folk architecture of wood and clay, many were listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites in 1999.
 

Placed in nature’s landscape, peaks reaching for the heavens witness the Glory of the Orthodox faith in remote villages and sides of a mountain.

Botiza Monastery

Maramures Pottery

One cannot visit this blessed place of Transylvania without a stop in Sapanta and The Merry Cemetery.

Here, naïve paintings cover the crosses in an original and poetic manner, depicting the persons that are buried there as well as scenes from their daily lives.

A legacy from the Dacian belief that death was an event filled with joy as the soul is immortal.

 Life goes on in Maramureș, children fill the village with their joy and laughter, fresh baked bread is waiting in the hearth.

Children of Maramures