Traditions That Remain Vibrant...Easter Eggs

Romanian Easter Eggs

Easter celebrations in the Romanian tradition is marked by sprucing up of the houses and farms, the special services in the Orthodox Churches but also a wide range of traditional Romanian rituals.

Hand Painted Bucovina Eggs

On the Romanian table an abundance of red eggs, sweet cakes and roast lamb are always present.

Roast Leg Of Lamb

The custom of coloring eggs is fortunately still practiced, especially by the Romanians in various styles and colors according to the traditions of each region or village.

Egg Painting Tradition

Maramures Red Easter Eggs

In Maramures area, Lapus region in the morning, the first day of Easter, children (up to age 9) go to friends and neighbors to announce the Resurrection.

Easter Feast

The host gives each child a red egg. 

Upon leaving, the children thank the folks for the gift and wish them blessed Easter celebration.

Tradition Of Knocking Eggs
An ancient ritual is that the threshold must be passed first by a boy so the household will be
blessed with harmony the rest of the year.

Bucovina Boy

On the morning of first day of Easter, children wash their faces with fresh well water in which is placed a red egg and green blades of grass.

Traditional Egg Painting

                         Hristos A Inviat!    Christ Is Risen!

Three Days of Christmas...Traditional Feast Dishes

Nativity

                                      Christ Is Born!   Glorify Him!

Tradition in Romania requires three days of Christmas celebration...what joy!

Celebration of faith, food and rituals that transcends centuries with variations of ingredients and details from region to region.

Maramures Carolers

Two of my favored areas of the country, Maramures and Ardeal are part of Transylvania, yet each with distinct nuances of flavors, scents and visual delights.

One common denominator is the pork meat and traditional smoked products following the traditional pig sacrifice on December 20th, on St.Ignatius day.  

St. Ignatius

In Maramures, the Christmas celebration feast includes smoked sausages and cured meats, roasts and freshly baked round breads, Colaci, sour soups and the traditional spirit of pear Palinca.   

Pear Palinca

Traditional Smoked Meats

Sweet Nut Roll

Ardeal is a region of Transylvania where local ingredients are part of ancient recipes...Christmas feasts must include a variety of soups such as Ardeal Sour Ciorba with Tarragon, Pork Meatball Soup, Smoked Meat Soup.

Smoked Meat Soup

Ardeal Sour Ciorba Tarragon

Pork Meatball Soup

Roast Pork

The pork roast is served with a spinach and sorrel sauce, sorrel being  a favorite herb of Ardeal.

Spinach and Sorrel Sauce

Sweet round braided breads abound as well as stuffed cabbage rolls with sauerkraut.

Sweet Round Bread Colac

Sauerkraut Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Polenta

The spirit of the region is made out of luscious plums, fruit-steeped brandy called Țuică.

Transylvanian Plums

Tzuica de Prune

Carolers are going house to house in every village to share the news...Merry Christmas!
 

Village Carolers

Romanian Folk Carols

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