Romanian Christmas Traditions and Customs

What they say it's good to do on Christmas Eve to have a fruitful next year

The Christmas holiday is fast approaching and Romanians are making efforts to finish preparations for the Christmas meal, buy presents for their loved ones and prepare their homes for the biggest and most important of the winter holidays.

The Birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated on 25th, 26th and 27th of December and the evening of December 24th is also known as Christmas Eve. The celebration of Christmas dates back to the 4th century, when the Christian Church established this date not by chance, but to compete with the birth of the Sun god in pagan traditions. Many religious historians believe, however, that the Birth of the Lord took place towards the end of winter. There are also some discrepancies between the dates on which Christmas is celebrated: Old Orthodox Christians celebrate it on 7 January, according to the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the official calendar.

The tradition of decorating the tree and Santa Claus

Christmas traditions have been enriched from year to year. The little ones wait year after year for Santa Claus, who comes with a quiver loaded with presents for the good children, and a few days before Christmas the tree is decorated with red or green ornaments. The custom of the Christmas tree is said to have originated in Germany, where legend has it that St. Boniface ordered the felling of oak trees, worshipped by the pagans. In the fall, the oaks destroyed all the trees in the meadow except the fir tree, which has since become a symbol of the holiday and is decorated on Christmas Eve.

In Romania, there are several Christmas traditions and customs, passed down from generation to generation. In the villages of Oltenia, on Christmas Eve, the householders get up early in the morning, light a fire in the stove with the help of a wick, while saying a Christmas greeting: "Good Christmas Eve morning! / It came at a good hour / To bring us: fat and greasy pigs / And healthy people, / The cows with calves and the sheep with lambs, the sows with piglets, the hens with chickens, the hens with eggs. Happy New Year for many years to come!"

The custom of caroling

One of the most beloved Christmas traditions is caroling. On the first day of Christmas, carolers go from house to house with a star in hand and announce the birth of Jesus to the people with songs and poems. It is said that anyone who does not open the gate to them, to the carolers, will have a bad year and bad luck at home, caused by their stinginess.

In Maramureș, adults go trick-or-treating, not just children. They are welcomed by the hosts and honoured with cake, savory sausages, meat dishes and wine.

Also on December 25th, people send Christmas greetings and messages to their loved ones and send their good wishes.

Another popular custom is to hang a sprig of mistletoe in houses. Mistletoe appears in many cultures and its origin is unknown.

For example, Scandinavian folk believed that mistletoe represented the goddess of love, Friga, and that couples kissing under mistletoe would be together for life. In Orthodox Christian tradition, it is said that whoever puts mistletoe in the house will have a rich year, happiness and peace in their family lives.

Also, on Christmas Eve, those who wanted to find out how their health would fare in the coming year would cut an apple in half. If fruit had worms inside, the belief was that the man would be dogged by illness. A rotten apple, however, heralded death.

Housewives know that the whole house must be cleaned a month before Christmas Eve, after that they are not allowed to sweep with a broom, because of an old superstition that states this is the way to throw good luck out of the house. And Christians are not allowed to drink brandy on Christmas Eve.

Another tradition specific to Muntenia, Oltenia and Banat, is for housewives to prepare a dough used to drive away the bad luck of barn animals. This way, the animals will be healthy all year round and give more milk.

Romanian Christmas tradition, in the UNESCO heritage

In Mărișel, a village near Cluj, an ancient Christmas custom is so beautiful that it has been included in the UNESCO heritage. Here, in the heart of the Apuseni Mountains, all traditions are kept sacred. There's an ancient custom called the "Junii Mărișelului": a group of 10 young unmarried people who come to the village church every year, then go out in front of the place of worship, dance and sing carols. At some point, the young men invite the unmarried girls to dance.

In Dumbrăvița, in Brasov county, a two-century-old tradition is preserved. It is the only place in the country where the Christmas tree is decorated on the Christmas Day. The Christmas tree will remain in the center of the village until after Epiphany. The "Vătafii", the young people who did their military service and the "Penașii", the young men who are about to get married, are the ones who bring the tree to the village center.

The tradition of the Christmas Eve meal and the Christmas fast

Another important tradition is the Christmas meal itself. The 25th of December marks the end of the Christmas fast, which lasts about six weeks. On this day, people can feast on traditional Christmas dishes: tobă, sausages, sarmale, caltaboș, cozonac and other cakes, pita, beef salads, or steak. The meat used to prepare the Christmas dishes is fresh, since on the day of Ignat, on December 20th, another custom takes place: the butchering of pigs (yes, it is as gruesome as it sounds).

This year in Bucharest, the celebrations are marked by a 33-kilometre route of decorations with more than three million lights and a Christmas fair set up in Constitution Square. There are 100 stalls selling gifts, handicrafts, goodies or traditional products from the Christmas market.

The open-air ice rink, carousel, workshops and Santa's House are all part of the scenery of the Christmas market which will remain open until December 27th.