The Christmas Holiday in Romania
The Christmas holiday has been an extremely important holiday in Romania since the fall of the Communist regime, both politically and in the hearts of the Romanian people. While they have many customs and traditions that are their very own, Romania has managed to adopt several traditions from the western portion of the world when it comes to various means of celebrating their winter holiday.
An older, more traditional means of celebrating Christmas in Romania involves their younger children going from door to door, around their neighborhood singing Christmas Carols. The procession is usually led by one person, usually an older child. As the children go from door to door, they carry large paper stars with them, on which images of the baby Jesus, the entire Nativity scene, or other Christmas images are imprinted (usually drawn or watercolor painted onto the star). The leader of the band of children carries a large wooden cut out of a star with him. The wooden cut out is wrapped in foil, and bells are fastened onto the edges of the star's points. In the middle, a Christmas scene--usually the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus--is pasted onto the foil.
The most commonly sung of their Romanian Christmas carols translates into:
"Do you receive the pretty star,
Pretty and so very bright?
It Haseko we did in the sky
Just like God thought it would be right,
Stand it could be seen on high,
Just like we did in the sky"
Still other times, children will go from door to door on Christmas Eve (or sometimes other nights leading up to Christmas) and tell Christmas stories from the Bible and Romanian legends. As Romanian children get older, they eventually stop participating in the procession, but it is an old Romanian tradition that takes place in nearly every Romanian town every year, although as of late traditional means of celebrating the Christmas holiday such as this have become increasingly less and less popular as time has progressed.
In honor of Saint Ignatius, Ignatius' Day is also celebrated in Romania during the cold winter season. Ignatius' Day takes place on December 20th, just five days before Christmas Day. On Ignatius' Day, a pig is slaughtered. They stick straws in the nose of the dead pig, and throw burning straws all over the body of the pig. The pig is nicely burned, and covered with a rag for ten minutes. After that, the family can take part in the eating of the Ignatius' Day feast, with the pig as the main course of the meal.
In Romania, as in most other places in the world, Christmas is a time for celebration of life and love. Romania has paid a careful reverence to the true meaning of Christmas, and the birth of Jesus Christ and the struggles of Joseph and Virgin Mary on the eve of his birth are a central role in their celebration of the Christmas holiday.