St.Ilie The Stormy Saint

July 20...a candle is sending holy light for my father's soul...it is St.Ilie, his name day, celebrated in the Orthodox traditions in Romania.

St. Elijah Fresco

Folk traditions associate this saint with the rain, he is patron of the clouds, lightning and thunder, he travels in a chariot with winged horses.

Traditions continue after the passing of our loved ones, they keep them with us during our journey among the living.

Icon of St. Elijah on Glass

I remember hot summer July days in Moldova, Bucovina roaming the region's hills for ancient painted monasteries and their feasts.

Now, in the villages, beekeepers harvest honey from their hives. Harvesting honey is made only by men clean in body and soul, dressed in holiday clothes, helped by a child, women are not allowed to enter the apiary. 

Country Beehives

Sweet Honey

Beehives Fresco

After harvesting the honey, the families, along with relatives and neighbors are invited to a festive meal, the guests taste and celebrate with new honey, and palinca, a plum spirit sweetened with honey. 

The women get the ovens hot to bake the savory pies and tarts.

Getting the oven ready

Transylvanian Traditional Foods

The meal is meant to ensure the abundance of beekeeper's hives, healthy bees and as every celebration it turns into a real party with song and dance.

Savory Pie

Fresh Romanian Cheese

Fresh Goat Milk and Savory Tarts

In my father's honor I painted my interpretation of St.Ilie, roaming the skies, snapping his whips as thunder and bringing rain clouds over the crops.

Memory Eternal Tati!

St.Ilie Painting on Gold Leaf

Dormition of The Mother of God…..Traditions in Romania

Dormition Of The MOG Fresco 

Should you pass by Curtea de Arges Monastery, situated on the right bank of the Argeş River flowing through the valley of the lower Carpathians (the Făgăraş Mountains) on August 15^th, you would be greeted by pilgrims celebrating Dormition of The Mother of God, Virgin Mary.

Curtea de Arges Monastery

Monastery Mosaic

Every year, the day of the Dormition, Monastery Curtea de Arges, dwelling built in the early sixteenth century by ruler Neagoe Basarab, awaits believers who come to worship the Virgin Mary and Saint Philothea.

Curtea de Arges Cupolas

Monastery Interior

Ancient folk traditions are transcending in various parts of Romania, each specific to the microcosm of the region.

By the Danube and the Black Sea, sailors celebrate as St. Mary is their protector, Romania Navy Day.

The autumn season starts with celebrations in the vineyards, planting of the wheat fields as well as feasts and pilgrimages at the monasteries with the name of the Virgin or the Dormition.

Văratec Monastery

The feast day at Văratec Monastery, the nuns are preparing for the believers who will cross the threshold of the monastery.

Humor Monastery

While traveling through Moldova, one has to discover the culinary delights of the region as well.

Stuffed Cabbage and Polenta

Mucenici Moldova Pastry

Bors Moldovenesc

Meatball Sour Soup

Also on August 15th honoring their patron are Bistriţa Monastery and Hermitage Draga from Neamţ County, monasteries Zosin Cozancea from Botoşani area, monasteries Rarău, Humor, Feteşti Hermitage Orata and Plutoniţa in Suceava.

Neagoe Basarab was the Prince of Valahia between 1512 and 1521, the great ruler that built Curtea de Argeș Monastery.

  

He was canonized as Hesychast and Prince of Peace on September 26, 

2008.

Neagoe Basarab and Milica Despina


My Travel Artist

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