Christmas Traditions in Romania. Romanian Christmas Pig Pork is an important part of the Romanian...
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Christmas Traditions in Romania. Romanian Christmas Pig Pork is an important part of the Romanian Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meal. On December 20,
Romanian Christmas Pig Pork is an important part of the
Romanian Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meal. On December 20, St.
Ignat's Day, a large pig, fattened for this very purpose, is
slaughtered to provide the staple ingredient to the Christmas time
feast. While rural villagers still practice the pig slaughter,
keeping and slaughtering domestic animals isn't practical for city
dwellers, but the tradition of eating pork for Christmas in Romania
prevails. Other dishes will accompany the main pork dish or be made
from pork, and Romanian plum brandy may be drunk.
Slide 3
Romanian Christmas Carols Christmas carols and the practice of
caroling both feature heavily in Romanian Christmas traditions. The
act of going through the village, or from house to house, singing
carols dates to pre-Christian times. Today, Romanian carolers are
most often children who may carry a staff topped with a
representation of the Christmas star. Some Romanian Christmas
carols have a religious theme, while others may reference Romanian
folklore.
Slide 4
Capra In many parts of Romania, it's also traditional that
someone dresses up as a goat, with a multicolored mask, and goes
round with the carol singers. The goat is known as the 'Capra' and
it jumps and dances around getting up to lots of mischief!
Slide 5
Santa Claus In Romania Santa Claus is known as 'Mo Crciun' (Old
Man Christmas) In Romanian, Merry Christmas is 'Crciun
Fericit'.
Slide 6
Decorating the Christmas Tree
Slide 7
Christmas Dinner with the Family
Slide 8
Traditional Christmas meal Traditional Romanian Christmas foods
include Roast Gammon and Pork Chops (made from the killed
pig!)
Slide 9
Sour Meatball Soup 'Ciorba de perisoare' which is a slightly
sour vegetable soup made with fermented bran and pork meatballs
Ciorb is a distinctive type of Romanian soup that is soured with
vinegar, sauerkraut juice or another sour agent. Sour meatball soup
is among the most traditional of the sour soup.
Slide 10
Sarmale cabbage leaves stuffed with ground pork Sarmale or
stuffed cabbage are enjoyed year-round in Romania, but especially
for holidays like Christmas and Easter. This Romanian stuffed
cabbage recipe is made with pork, sauerkraut, cabbage and
tomatoes.
Slide 11
'Cozonac' a rich fruit bread Romanian cozonac is a slightly
sweet yeast-raised egg bread, that is traditionally eaten for
Easter, Christmas and New Year's. Bulgarians call this bread
kozunak. It's considered the Italian panettone of the Romanians.
Some cozonac are filled with nuts, lokum (Turkish Delight) or
raisins. When the cozonac dough is filled with farmers cheese, it
becomes a pasca, similar to a Polish kolacz.
Slide 12
Salam de Biscuiti Salam de Biscuiti, or unbaked cookies made to
look like slices of salami, are popular at Christmas time in
Romania and elsewhere throughout Europe, especially Italy, Germany
and Hungary whose cuisines have influenced Romanian food.
Essentially it is a combination of cocoa powder, butter, sugar, rum
extract or other real liquor, crumbled cookies and, usually Turkish
delight. Some recipes call for whole eggs or egg yolks but, because
this cookie isn't baked, make sure to use pasteurized eggs. The
mixture is formed into a log shape, refrigerated and then sliced
and served.
Slide 13
Sibiu Christmas Market The Sibiu Christmas market in Romania
follows the traditions of other Christmas markets in Eastern
Europe. The charming historic center of Sibiu has celebrated
Christmas in this way since 2007. Though it's one of the
lesser-known Christmas markets. The Sibiu Christmas market is
called "Targul de Craciun" in Romanian. Sibiu has been nominated
for UNESCO World Heritage protection, so expect the Christmas
market to reflect the best Romanian Christmas traditions, foods,
and crafts.
Slide 14
New Year's Eve New Year's Eve is also an important celebration
in Romania. It's sometimes called Little Christmas. Traditionally a
small, decorated plough called a 'Plugusorul' is paraded through
the streets on New Year's Eve. It is meant to help people have good
crops during the following year.
Slide 15
Sorcova On New Year's Day, children wish people a Happy New
Year while carrying around a special bouquet called a 'Sorcova'.
Traditionally, the Sorcova was made of twigs from one or more fruit
trees like apple, pear, cherry or plum. They're put into water in a
warm place on 30th November, so they hopefully come into leaf and
blossom on New Year's Eve! Nowadays often a single twig of an apple
or pear tree is used and it's decorated with flowers made from
colored paper.