via cotidianul.ro
Hello everyone! ❤
Happy New Year! ❤
I am starting the first post of year 2015 with a new episode of my series Romanian Culture, and today I am going to discuss about Romanian customs on New Year’s Day. In Romania, besides the New Year’s Day, we also celebrate a saint called in our mother tongue Sfântul Vasile. Of course, like in every country, Romanians celebrate New Year with parties held in clubs or outdoors. Given the fact that this year the temperatures were -20°C on average (in some areas were -31°C), celebrating New Year in an outdoor party was not such a good option unless you had a North Pole style suit to go with. 😀
In Romania, the night between December 31st and January 1st is called Revelion or The Night of Saint Vasile (Noaptea lui Sfântul Vasile). It is said that on The Night of Saint Vasile, the heaven opens 3 times for several moments.
New Year’s Day Caroling
On the New Year’s Day, children go on a form of caroling called here Sorcova. The children go with Sorcova usually to acquaitances, friends and families wishing them long life, health and prosperity. The Sorcova is usually made out of branches cut from fruit trees (like apple trees, pear trees, plum trees or cherry trees) or out of brances from rose bushes which are put in a vessel with water to bloom on the night of Saint Andrew’s Day (November 30th) or on Old Saint Nick’s Day (December 6th). Also the Sorcova can be made out of branches decorated with colorful wool, tinsel and a some basil branches at the top. In Bucovina region, the Sorcova has a bell attached to it.
This is how a Sorcova looks like:
via davesgarden.com
The ones in the picture are some updated versions. 😀
For us Romanians, the Sorcova is a symbol of Spring nature. When the children recite the lyrics of the Sorcova they softly and rhythmically touch the doors and the windows with the Sorcova if they are caroling outside, or they touch the host if the children are invited inside. After the caroling is finished, the Sorcova is kept as a holy object hanged on the Eastern wall, near the icons or in another clean place from the house.
Superstitions on New Year’s Day
Like on any other majory holiday, Romanians have a set of superstitions regarding the New Year’s Day. And I am going to list you them here:
1. On the night if the New Year’s Day, Romanians make a lot of noise in order to chase the evil spirits. Some even go further and hold a piece of garlic in their pocket to protect them from evil spirits.
2. On the last day of the year and also on the first day of the year it is not ok to spend money or throw out the garbage (or anything else out of the house), because along with it we also throw away the good luck from the house.
3. When the new year starts, people are not supposed to be in debt, otherwise they will be in debt for the whole year.
4. The first person who visits our house on the first day of the year will influence the rest of our year. It is said that people with blond hair or ginger hair bring bad luck, while the brunettes are bringing good luck. Also, if the first person to enter the house is a man, it will bring good luck, but if the first person to enter the house is a woman, then it will bring bad luck.
5. On the New Year’s Eve, the unmarried girls put in a vessel with water a basel thread, an apple tree branch and a coin. In the morning, the girls will dream about the man they will get married with.
6. At midnight, the house’s door must be opened to let the old year get out and let the new year come in.
7. Old people say that at midnight, the moment between the years, people should wear something new or something red (or any other bright color) to attract positive energies.
8. On the night of the New Year, people are not aloud to sleep and the ones who can’t be awake will be sleepy for the entire year. :))
9. On the New Year’s Eve you should have some wheat grains in your pockets to be protected from hunger the whole year. It is also recommended to have money in your pockets so that the New Year won’t caught you poor.
10. Romanians eat fish on the night between the years so they can enter the New Year smoothly and calmly. Eating poultry on New Year’s Day in Romania brings bad luck. That’s because the birds grub the earth and spread it away which means that they spread the prosperity and good luck from the house.
11. On the night between the years and on Januray 1st, no one should cry. If someone cries on New Year’s Day, the whole year will be full of sad events.
12. On the day of Saint Vasile, it is said that you should drink a lot of wine because the quantity of wine drank on that day measures the redness in the cheeks. So if you drink a lot of wine, you will have red cheeks. 😀 This customs comes from the fact that Saint Vasile is the Bacchus of the Christians and is portraited sitting on a barrel of wine.
13. In order to bring good luck in the family, on the New Year’s Day a pig head is boiled in a pot. This means that because the pig grubs forwards, the family is lead to prosperity.
14. The weather on the New Year’s Day dictates the way the whole year will be: if the weather is fine on that day, then the whole year will be good, otherwise is bad.
15. If on New Year’s Day are freezing temperatures (about -20ºC) and if you see on the snow a lot of sparkling stars, this means that it will be a prosper year and it will also be full of weddings.
16. If on the New Year’s Day is snowing, the new year will be prosper and if it the sky is clear and there are freezing temperatures, people will be healthy the whole year.
So, this is all about the Romanian customs and superstitions on New Year’s Day. If you haven’t read the previous episodes, check them on this page:
Thank you for reading! See you soon! ❤
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