Sărbători tradiţionale în context european

Holidays in Romania

Romania is a country with a long and complicated history. It also has a variety of customs, traditions and holidays. Some of the holidays are celebrated throughout the whole country; others are designated for specific regions of the country.

The Romanian holidays have preserved the foundations of family structure and organizations, as well as the patterns defining social groups. The holidays reflect rules of behavior that originated in the Roman and Byzantine civilization.

The Romanian customs can be divided into family customs, calendar-based customs and religious customs. They represent a "triptych" marked by the three major life changes: birth, marriage and death.

The wedding is a performance with well-established rituals. Poetry, song, dance and ceremonial costumes all have a detailed role in the wedding ceremony.

Christmas carols, traditional foods and decorated trees are part of the Christmas traditions. Children start to sing carols during a ceremony in which a white newborn lamb is carried by a child, thus symbolizing religious faith and purity.

In Romania, the Christmas and New Year celebrations become merged, and elements of the Christian faith are blended with hopes for a prosperous New Year.

Some of the many traditions or symbols include:

- the singing of carols as organized by young men or children;

- the plow;

- the skin-covered barrel through which a tuft of hair is pulled, thereby imitating a bull's roar;

- the sheep's skin or the goat dances;

- the mask plays;

- the walking of the star;

- folk theater.

The first day of March is the celebration of MĂRŢIŞOR (mar-tsi-shor), a day when gifts of small objects--plants, shells, flowers, animals, snowmen or tools--as well as a red and white ribbon symbolizing life and purity--are given to young girls and women. The little gift brings good luck, it is said, during the month of March and throughout the year ahead. Overall, Martisor signifies the end of winter and the arrival of spring.

On June 23, SINZIENELE is celebrated. This day represents a ritual honoring the beginning of summer. It is a ceremonial ritual performed by young girls who are the symbol of purity. They are to invoke the spirits of wealth and crops and to bring forth a good year in general.

The harmony of the scenery is reflected artistically and synthesized in traditional dresses, differing from region to region; in the aspect of the interior of the houses; in the objects of the folk art; in the country songs and dances and in traditional customs.

Festivals in Portugal

In Lisbon, the biggest celebrations take place in June in honor of Saint Anthony. On June 12, the mayor offers free weddings in Saint Anthony's Church, followed by an all-night street fair in the Alfama district. The city's oldest quarters are decorated with paper lanterns, colored lights, and streamers, and the day ends with a parade down Avenida da Liberdade, when each neighbourhood marches vying for prizes for the best costumes and songs.