11th February 2003 Romanian festivals Romania has many beautiful festivals and traditions. People have festivals for each season. Here are some festivals that Romanians celebrate in Spring: -The Paparuda "Rain Caller" is the ritual celebrated in Spring on a date that varies from place to place. An old magical dance invoking rain, this customs survived to the present day in many village of Romania. -The March Amulet is a traditional Romanian custom. Once upon a time, the Sun embodying a handsome young man, got down from the sky to dance a “hora” in a village. Powerless and wounded, the young man set the Sun free. The Sun rose in the sky cheering up all the people and filling them with joy. The nature revived, the people got happy, but the young man couldn’t live to see spring coming. The warm blood from his wounds dropped on the snow. While the snow was melting white flowers, called snowdrops, messengers of the spring, were appearing out of the snow. Even his last drop of blood dripped out in the immaculate snow. And he died. Since then the young people have been knitting two little tassels: a white one and a red one. At the beginning of March, they offer this amulet to the girls they love… Red means love for everything that is beautiful. It reminds us of the colour of the brave young man’s blood. White symbolizes the pureness and health of the snowdrops, the first flowers that appear in spring. Here are some Festivals that Romanians celebrate in Summer: 57364smz34mpm4n -Dragaica:This very ancient agrarian custom is connected with the harvest, still survives sporadically in certain villages in the south of Romania. The "Dragaicas" are little girls of 11 to 12 years old, adorned with ears of corn. One of them is dressed as a bride and another one is dressed as a boy named "Draganu". Sometimes Draganu is a boy. He holds the banner of the "Dragaicas": a pole with a rag-doll with outstretched arms, made of ears of corn or of a bunch of ears and with wormwood and garlic at its top. The "Dragaicas" sing and dance in a circle without holding hands. At intervals they whirl round and yell and the Dragan, the boy, whistles on an ordinary whistle. Wishing to amplify the performance, the little girls have added to the original ritual dance other dances borrowed from the grown up dancer. A flute-player or a piper who accompany them plays the music. Written By: Stefan Dobrin Cosmin
The children knit coronets, adorning them with ribbons. Then they dance, going from house to house.
The hostess throws water and milk after them. The children and the young people have to receive a coin or wheat, corn, flour or bean.
Every year Romanian people knit two little tassels: a white one and a red one. At the beginning of March, they offer this amulet to the girls they love…
In Moldavia, part of Romania, all persons can receive a little March amulet. Red means love for everything that is beautiful and white symbolizes the pureness and health of the snowdrops, the first flowers that appear in spring.
The Legend of March Amulet
A dragon lay in wait for him and kidnapped him from among the people and threw him into a jail. The world got sad. The birds wouldn’t flow and the children wouldn’t laugh.
No one dared to challenge the bad dragon. But one day a brave young man decided to go and save the Sun. Lots of people saw him off and shared their strength with him. So they helped him defeat the dragon and save the Sun. His journey lasted for three seasons: summer, autumn and winter. He found the dragon’s castle and they started to fight. They fought for days and finally the dragon was killed.
