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New Year’s Eve in Romania
New Year’s Eve is a time when the Romanian people got ready for a new start of a new year. All the Romanian traditions have an interesting bond with fate. New year’s Eve’ traditions are no exception. It’s the time you found out your future.
The Romanians are well known for their superstitions. So celebrating New Year’s Eve in Romania is about customs, rituals and traditions that have been kept for centuries and have given Romania a totally different flavor than, probably, almost every country you have been in before. Though, if you look at all of them, you will find out it’s a lot about having a positive attitude and about having hopes that the next year might be better. Here are some of them:
you should always be in a good mood on New Year’s Eve, if you want to be the same way all year long;
you have to keep the lamp alit on the New Year’s night until dawn, if you want to have a sunny year and rich harvests;
you have to toss money into the water you wash your hands in, so that you can have money in the next year;
if you are at a party on New Year’s Eve, you have to have money in your pockets and make sure the new year doesn’t catch you without it because you might have a poor year;
you should never sleep much in the first day of the new year, because you might be lazy all year long.
Everywhere in Romania, you can hear the ringing of bells and the bull sounds. It’s a day full of color, music and dancing which are, simply, remarkable thanks to their virtuosity and dynamism. The villagers usually wear masks on New Year’s Eve that are very expressive and full of humor. Some of them end up being genuine folk art.
The New Year’s Eve starts very early, in the morning with the Little Plough (“Plugusorul”.) It’s a very ancient custom of the primitive agricultural practice. It’s about a well wishing custom for the field fruitfulness into the next year. It comes from a Roman wish for rich crops. The Ploughmen are teenagers and children that carry whips, bells and pipes in their hands. The instrument that usually accompanies them is called “the bull” and it’s a very archaic one. It’s made of a cylindrical part of old barrel. It is named that way because it makes a sound that is very much alike with a bull’s roar. Here is a translation of it:
“The year tomorrow will be renewed,
The plough will come in your home,
To make your wishes come true,
If they are received by you,
The winter’s heavy and the snow’s high,
That is of good omen for the coming year,
That the richest harvest is announcing near,
If you drive the plough deep”
The Big Plough has no different meaning than the little one. But the show is different. It is for older men and it consists of larger groups that sing it in the evening. They even use a real plough that is driven by two oxen. So the props are different but the message is the same.
Sorcova is another important tradition. It is very loved by the kids since Sorcova is a special colorful bouquet used for New Year’s wishes. Children wish people “Happy New Year” while touching them with this bouquet. That used to be made up of one or several fruit tree twigs. They are put into water, in warm places on the 30th of November to be able to bud and blossom on New Year’s Eve. Nowadays, Sorcova is made of artificial flowers tied on a little branch. For all the wishes, the children are awarded with little sums of money by all the family, relatives and neighbors. Little Romanian kids come to people houses singing:
“Merry sorcova,
May your health be strong
And your life long:
As an apple tree
As a pear one
As a rose bush fair
Blossoming beyond compare:
Strong as a granite rock
Quick as an arrow’s shock
Hard as an iron bar
Tougher than steel by far,
In summer, in spring,
May your health be great
A New Year with happiness
And in everything success”
There are a few customs for guessing the future:
A girl has to go out in the yard on the New Year’s Eve and she starts counting 9 stars. If the last one is brighter than the other ones than her husband is going to be handsome and strong. For that, she prays to the star to bring him towards her.
In some places, people put 12 soup plates on the table and hide different things under them. Afterwards unmarried young people pick up a plate and look what’s under it. Every object has a different meaning. For example, if you pick up a mirror, it means that’s a sign of pride; if you choose the glass of plum brandy than you might be a drinker; if you choose bread, you might be rich; if you pick up salt, that’s a sign of poverty.
Young men walking throughout the village exchange the gateways of the people that have quarreled in order to force those people to talk and make peace between them.
The peasants foresee the weather in the following year by using large onion peels that are supposed to be the months of the year. They put some salt on each of them. Afterwards they check the level of the liquid left by the melted salt and that’s how they know if and when there is going to be rain or draught.
For all those customs and traditions, spending New Year’s Eve in Romania is never boring.