Christmas in Romania

"O Tannenbaum" or “O brad frumous”:
Romania loves Christmas and celebrates it to the fullest. Bucharest is aglow with lights and ribbons and decorated trees throughout. The trees are hung with anything from wrapped boxes to stuffed animals. Massive garland is usually strung from top to bottom rather than ‘round and ‘round, some symmetrically and carefully laden, others more haphazard. Every Piata has its own décor, making each easily identifiable for drivers still figuring out the city. All are beautiful and blue seems to be the favourite colour.



"Here We Come A’ Wassailing":
At 8:00 a.m. on December 24, we were aroused by a sharp knock at the door. In his non-dressed state, Ed peeked through the peephole, and beheld ---- carolers! Four young men, occasionally on key, stood in the apartment vestibule outside our door and favoured us with Romania’s best-loved carol, “Dimineata lui Craciunu”. (Tomorrow is Christmas day.) In the next couple of hours, we determined that this was indeed a Romanian custom, as they were only the first of a string of carolers, all singing the same song (!), all expecting favours of money or food in return. This however, proved to be the mild version of the custom. From our fourth floor apartment windows, we became aware of large bands of roving well-wishers, going house to house in the early morning hours. Singing is only part of the tradition, which also involves great banging on drums, pipes of all kinds, and raucous shouting. The cacophony set up a bellering and baying of stray dogs the like of which we’ve yet to see surpassed. These revelers are cross-generational, all of them dark-skinned (gypsies?), many dressed in red, with some of the kids in complete bearskins, head to tail. We are told that some of them sing rather well. This revelry reminded us of the tales of the Brummtopfers of our ancestry.

"Dimineata lui Craciunu" (in tune): Christmas Eve at the Athenaum : An evening of Romanian carols sung by ”Preludiu”, one of Romania’s leading choirs

Although we were in a receptive mood for an evening exactly like this, we were hard pressed to think of another choir as fine as the one we heard tonight. These rich harmonies, warm voices and divine tuning, sung from memory with most heartfelt faces, proved that all the awards in the world have not wearied these singers. They finished the concert with an audience sing-along, including “Chingle Bellss”, which got the most applause of all!

“Oh Bring us Some Figgy Pudding":
Supper at Caru cu’ bere was nothing to write home about, although the setting and the entertainment that came with it offset the food quite nicely. We should have stuck with the figgy pudding.



"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day":
At 11:00 p.m. we attended the service at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, which proffered more Romanian and German carols, spiced with pipe organ. By midnight there was standing room only; the community of worshippers arriving to celebrate the mass spilled out into the street. From 11:50 to midnight the bells rang nonstop.

"Joy to the World":
7:00 a.m: As we made our way across our vast apartment to call our kids, the phone rang! They had “beat us to it”, and we all talked at once for about half an hour. They were celebrating Christmas Eve together, just like we always did, with gifts and games and encircling each other to say nice things on purpose. If your morning coffee can have a “spring in its step”, ours did today. As for us, our “no gifts this year" promise to each other held up in its usual way. Millie just happened to have picked up a “Kleinigkeit", upon which Ed was obliged to extract the “Kleinigkeit’ that HE had just happened to pick up also. And as usual, the "trifle" that Ed had got for Millie was much nicer (and bigger) than the one she had got for him, he protesting all the while that it's for "both of us"!!! Ah, tradition.....

"O du Froeliche":
This was the opening hymn of the service at the Evangelische Kirche (Lutheran) this morning. The sermon, in clear and (to us) surprisingly comprehensible German, compared the accounts of the Christmas Story in Luke and John. It was lovely to hear the story read in the language in which we first learned it. It was nostalgic.




“Bring me flesh….”:
Noon: And now we were treated to a feast, the likes of which Good King Wenceslas himself would have admired. Christmas dinner consisted of the finest flavours surely to be had in the city. The best part? The beef! Our declaration begat the curiousity of the waiter (Romanians don’t eat much beef), and a discussion ensued covering a plethora of topics which included the farm and my beef-producing brothers back home. The waiter was partial to saying, “Wow-wow!!"
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"
As Christmas day in Romania draws to an end, somewhere it is just dawning. Our hearts are full as we send our thoughts, good wishes and hugs out to our friends and families. May “auld acquaintance” not be forgot, and may you experience many blessings in the New Year ahead! Against the night sky, we can see brilliant fireworks as the celebrations continue.

Crăciun Fericit!
Millie and Ed