Easter Monday in Baia Mare, Romania

I will tell you now an interesting custom specific to Baia Mare for the Easter Monday.

As Easter Sunday is a time to be spent with the family, Easter Monday is a time to visit friends and family.
Starting in the morning, boys and men go to their friends' and family members' houses armed with a bottle of perfume. On this day they go to "water" the flowers from each house (i.e. the women and girls of that family) so that they "grow" beautiful and perfumed as flowers. When they enter the house they have to say a short poemto get permission to "water" the "flowers" of the house:

"I am a small gardener
I have a perfume bottle in my pocket
I have heard there's a withering flower in this house
May I water her?"


Of course, the poem has a certain rhythm and rhyme in Romanian.
Then, after he "waters" the "flowers",  the child gets paid by the "flowers": a painted egg and some money. If the "gardener" is a teenager (16 or more), and there is a teenage girl in the house, she pins a spring flower (a blue or white hyacinth or another spring flower) on his jacket. If the "gardener" is an adult, he gets a painted egg and he is invited to join the host at the Easter table.
The table is then laden with rich foods: painted eggs, roast stuffed lamb, meat balls, schnitzel, boiled smoked ham with horseradish sauce, different types of salads, sarmale (stuffed cabbage rolls), sheep cheese or other types of cheese, fresh spring radish and onion, and many others. For desert they are served with COZONAC (a special Romanian Easter cake filled with a cream made of shredded nuts, sugar and raisins, or with poppy seeds filling) and other cakes and cookies prepared by the women in the family for this occasion, (or bought if they have no time to bake.) Everything is washed with tzuika, wine and beer, or other drinks, according to what the hosts have prepared.
And everyone has a great time together!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

Daniela Buda

Easter customs in Maramures, Romania

                  In Romania, part of the Easter traditions are similar with some of those  described by Rima from Lithuania - so we are very similar, but also different. There are also many Romanian customs for Easter, which differ from one region to another. This year I will tell you about two of them: one in the village onf Ungureni, from the county of Maramures and one from Baia Mare. I have studied and ovserved them both for many years, so I can tell you some things about them.

EASTER CUSTOMS IN UNGURENI, MARAMURES:

                   The village called Ungureni lies on high hills in the region of Lapus. It is one of the very few places in Romania where the customs I am telling you about are still observed. On Sunday morning, after coming from the church on Easter night and after the blessing of the food baskets, people come home and have breakfast together. Sometime later, around 10 a.m., they call their neighbours and friends and family members to go to the cemetery to pray for the dead members of the family. On this occasion, the people gathered around the grave say a prayer, bow 3 times touching the tomb with their  foreheads and then the hosts give them presents over the tomb: a special home baked bread (called "pup", pronounced [pup]), a painted egg and maybe also a plate or glass, and they are served a glass of tzuika or wine and in the end they say "May s/he rest in peace" or "May God receive the offer".
The old wooden church there is a very beautiful old one.
                      After they visit the tombs of all the dead members of the families who invited them they go back home and prepare to go to the "Mosi" (pronounced [moshi]) in the old churchyard.
                     At approx. 1 p.m., the women gather in the old churchyard and bring with them baskets of painted eggs, home baked bread loaves called "pup", sweets and a bottle of tzuika or wine or any other drink they made at home or bought from the store.  The most extraordinary thing is that ONLY WOMEN are allowed to take part in this ceremony. After the priest says the religious service (it is an Orthodox priest), and he says "Christ has resurrected" 3 times, the ceremony can begin. Women are gathered in circles, which represent "tables".
                  Each place at a table is inherited by the woman who lives in the house. (For example, I will inherit the place at the table where my mother-in-law stays, while my sister-in-law has inherited her mother-in-law's place, as they live in another house, etc.) After the priest has spoken, the women start offering the goodies they have brought: first they give the children sweets or painted eggs. Then after all the children at the "table" get their sweets, women start to give each woman at the "table" a painted egg and a "pup" or other things they bring.
                           In the middle of the "table" there is a table cloth on which there is a round pleated bread called "prinos" (baked by a widow), a bottle of wine and a candle. When all the women at the table have distibuted the gifts, the widdow who takes care of the "prinos" slices it and gives each woman a slice. This slice of "prinos" is meant to be given to the cattle on the farm, so that they are protected against illness and so that they give good milk and other products.
                           After all these are given away, they go and serve each woman at the table with tzuika or wine or other drinks. It is a good time to chat and gossip. In the old days, it also used to be the time when mothers looked for wives for their sons or husbands for their daughters, so marriages were planned on this occasion.
                       MEN are only allowed to stay on the outskirts of this gathering and watch as it progresses. They may eventually get a painted egg or a glass of tzuika or wine at the end of the ceremony. :d :)
                       After all the women at the table have been served with the foods and drinks everyone brought, the priest says another prayer and wishes his parishers Happy Easter and then people go to take their gifts home. Some of them remain to call friend to their dead family members' tombs, or they just go home and have a party there, inviting their friends and living family members to lunch.
                      On this day, people wear their best Sunday clothes. The thing that I like very much is that there are still people in this village who like to wear traditional costumes, either those specific to this village, or others from other parts of Maramures (if they come from other villages - the wives, I mean).
                     For Easter, and not only then, women in the village like to decorate their homes with napkins woven by them at home and pottery or different pictures representing religious images and also with home woven sheep wool  blankets

You can see more pictures in the photo album. I hope you enjoy them.

HAPPY EASTER!

Daniela Buda

EASTER CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS IN LITHUANIA

Easter rituals start one week before Easter, on Palm Sunday. That week is called the Great Week, it is full of prohibitions, beliefs and archaic traditions.
On the last Thursday before Easter, women cleaned houses, washed windows, whitened walls and stoves, washed clothes. Spinners hid spinning wheels and spindles because should they be seen by anyone, the spinner would have great difficulty with her work during the coming year.
Holy Friday was also held to be an unusual day. People cast spells, chased witches and other evils. To make insects disappear from houses, stoves were heated with the herb artemisia and all house bugs and insects were thrown into the fire. Ashes were removed, taken far away from the house and dug under. 
Blessing of water takes place on Holy Saturday. It was tradition to bring back holy water in a hurry, so that farm chores would be done faster that year. On Easter morning the house, fields, orchards and barns were all sprinkled with holy water. Some holy water was poured into wells, lakes and ponds. Old people washed their eyes and skin with holy water. Homemakers wet cows' udders, vegetable seeds and seedlings. The sick and dying were also sprinkled with holy water.

After the mass on Easter, some placed food near Virgin Mary's altar, while others placed food in the churchyard. After the blessing of the food, everyone hurried home with the belief that those who got home first, they will be first in all their endeavors and that their bees will swarm faster.
Having returned with the blessed foods, everyone sat at the table, laden with traditional foods: eggs, pig's head or roast piglet, cheese, butter and baked lamb. If there was no baked lamb, there was a lamb made of butter or sugar placed on top of sprouted oat greens. This was a symbol of Easter. Before eating began, the family stood around the table, saying three prayers and wishing peace to the home. Eating began with eggs. If your egg shell is stronger, you are destined to live longer. The Easter egg shells were collected and half of them were fed to the hens, so that they would be good layers. The other half was burned in the stove, to make sure that trees will bud earlier. Meat bones and remaining egg shells were dug in the fields, so that mice would not eat the grain and hail would not be destructive to the grain fields.

Egg rolling is also popular throughout Lithuania. A thick tree bark with a smooth inside is placed at an angle and eggs are rolled down through it. When the egg hits another egg, which had rolled down earlier, the egg's owner takes possession of both eggs. 

EASTER WOMAN

Easter eggs were taken to children by the imaginary Easter woman, who was not to be seen by the children. Children usually found two Easter eggs, in places like wooden shoes, baskets and even in bed. These eggs were very different from those that were dyed at home. Most often mothers exchanged eggs with neighbors or secretly used different dyes.
Children began to wait for the Easter Woman on Holy Saturday afternoon, prepared egg nests and placed them in flower gardens, bushes, between wall logs and even on doorsteps. Each child tried to make most beautiful and colorful nests. 

LITHUANIAN EASTER EGGS - MARGUCIAI

Painting eggs for Easter is a special Lithuanian tradition. The egg is considered a symbol of life and rebirth of nature since pagan times. The tradition of egg dyeing is much older than Christianity and it was believed that painting symbols on eggs has magic power. In Lithuania, there are different ways of dyeing eggs.

If guests arrive on Easter, they are given Easter eggs as gifts. The guests also bring an Easter egg for each family member (or at least the hosts and sweets for the children).


HAPPY EASTER!




Rima and the Lithuanian team

NEWS FLASH!

As I have told you before, we applied our ETHNO TREASURE CHEST to participate in the National Contest "MADE FOR EUROPE" 2011 In Romania.
Well, we have very good news: Dan Cont, from Grade 7th A, who represented us all in the contest in Piatra Neamt in 14-17 April 2011, has won the 4th Prize (called in Romania Mentiune).
We are so very proud of him, as we know it was not an easy task and an easy competition, considering the fact that there were present very many very good Comenius and Grundtvig projects with coordinators or only partners from Romania and many other European countries.
We consider it a great success and we'll participate next year and try to get better results in this competition.
So, when we meet in Turkey next month, we will celebrate this success.

Easter Art Exhibition in Baia Mare 2011

April has been a happy time for us, preparing to discover the treasures hiding behind Easter celebration in all Christian countries.
To celebrate this, we decided to see how Easter is seen through the eyes of our pupils, so we organized the Easter art exhibition in 2011. It is a moment of dissemination for our students' work. Many art exhibits are present in the exhibition: drawings about Easter religious moments, about the Easter Bunny, or baby chickens, painted eggs, Origami models and so on. The students participating with their works are from the Ethno treasure hunt project partners from Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. 
Anna, another friend from a Polish school (Szkoła Podstawowa z Oddziałami Integracyjnymi Nr 342 im. Jana Marcina Szancera in Warsaw, Poland), participated in our exhibitions, as she also did last year.
We wish you all HAPPY EASTER!

Feedback after the project meeting in Italy

Through this project, "Ethno treasure hunt", we had the opportunity to get acquainted with the culture of the Sicilian people. It was interesting to see such important places as Savoca, Taormina, Roccalumera and to find out about such famous people as Salvatore Quasimodo.
I want to thank my kind hosts, the Italian friends, who showed me their rich history and culture.
Daniela Georgieva, teacher from Bulgaria


My participation in this project meeting has been an experience I will never forget. Thanks to the European Comenius project I have made new friends, I have exchanged padagogical experiences with teachers from other countries and I hope our friendship is going to develop. I want to thank my Italian colleagues for the unforgetable experience.
Georgi Ivanov, Headmaster of the Bulgarian partner school, coordinator of the Bulgarian team


Thanks to the treasure hunting, I made many friends, I tried new food and visited many places. My host family was so kind with me! Now I feel like they are my real family. I will miss many things from Italy. I am happy that I met such wonderful people here. I will also miss my Turkish, Polish and Lithuanian friends, too. Thank you, Comenius!
Alexandra Lyutsvanova, student from Bulgaria


I had a lot of fun in Italy. My host family is very nice. The town of Santa Teresa di Riva is so exciting! I'm happy to be a friend of many people from the countries partners in this project. Thank you for everything!
Kiril Georgiev, student from Bulgaria


Our visit to Sicily was fantastic - perfect hosts, excellent food, sunny weather! We have found a lot of new friends and I believe our friendship will last longer than this project. 
Thank you for this magnificent opportunity to find new friends, to learn much about Sicily and its friendly and jolly people!
Rasa and Jurgita, teachers from Lithuania


I liked everything in Sicily - people, music (the school orchestra), mountains, the sun, palms, and also the perfect project activities.
Renata, teacher from Lithuania


While being in Sicily, I spent useful time together with the project partners. There was a great possibility to discuss some matters of our project and visit a lot of unforgetable places in Sicily. The kind people and magnificent views made the meeting in Sicily the perfect experience.
Rima, Coordinator teacher of the Lithuanian team


I'm so happy to be here! I think Sicily is beautiful. I saw many beautiful places, I met friendly people, I made new friends. I don't want to go home. However, I'll remember Sicily. I'll miss it.
Zivile, student from Lithuania


The visit to Sicily was just amazing! I met new faces, saw new wonderful places. The Etna volcano was just amazing. I don;t want to return to Lithuania because I spent here some unforgettable time. I hope that someday I'll visit Sicily again. But untill it happens, I will  really miss it.
Migli, student from Lithuania


It is our 2nd meeting within "Ethno treasure hunt" project and we have hunted for other treasures. Still more to come in Turkey. I will treasure all the memories and moments spent here. Every day was a new experience, every hour a pleasure, every minute not lost.  I will always keep in mind the Sicilian hospitality, open hearts, smiles and smallest things: preparing meals, travelling by bus, chats under the sun, jokes by the table.
What a great Ethno group we are! Thank you for everything, my Sicilian friends!
Looking forward to waiting for you in my home town, Denizli, in Turkey!
Ozgur Boyaci, Coordinator teacher of the Turkish team


Before coming here, I felt sad as I was leaving my family, but here we became a family, too, which made me happy. 
In the education field, since I saw your system, I believe there are many things we will learn from you and we must work hard to reach you. No matter how hard the situation is, I see teachers reflect their societies as our leader said: "Teachers, the new generation will be your legacy!" In addition, it is the most important thing that our students, too, have communicated with other students from various countries and have new friendships.
It is a great honour to meet you. Best wishes!
Kudret Ozgur Yuceroy, Vice-headmaster from the Turkish partner school


Here, due to the "Ethno treasure hunt" project, I have met different people and seen different cultures. Of course, our friendship will last forever. I am waiting forward to seeing them in Turkey. I am so happy to see and meet them that I hope we will gather again.
Ismail Kaygisiz, student from Turkey


Firstly, I thank the project providing us with opportunities. I have made many friends I will always remember and miss. Here, I have met new cuisines. I am happy to meet new good friends and to be here. Best wishes!
S. Ozan Oz, student from Turkey



 It was great to have two Polish girls in my house in Savoca!
At first I was a bit shy  because I thought I couldn't speak at all! But in the end I made a great friendship and I hope to keep in touch  with Ola and Oliwia forever!!!
MARTINA, student from Italy

 Wonderful experience!! A week full of new emotions because I met a friend from a country which I didn't know anything. I will come to Turkey to meet you again!!
GUGLIELMO, student from Italy

It was a beautiful experience but it is over now! They stayed here
in Sicily only a few days  but  I will never  forget  all the moments spent together. I'm sure that the big friendship born between us will last forever and it will get stronger and stronger. This cultural exchange  was beautiful and joyful. Now I know many words in Bulgarian. When they left I wasn't able to keep my tears and even now while I'm writing my impressions!! Friends, you left the sign!!! We will meet again  in Turkey! And now I tell you: "DON'T WORRY, BEHAPPY"!!! FRIENDS FOR EVER!!
COSTANZA, student from Italy


 From the end of March to the beginning  of April, some boys and girls from our school in S. Teresa di Riva hosted  Turkish, Bulgarian, Polish and Lithuanian students. It was an exciting  and useful experience! We learnt some words in their language and their traditions, their food, for example the
kebab, a Turkish dish, made of meat. We enjoyed a lot and it was a good way to speak English. This experience will remain  in our hearts forever!! And now we're going to Turkey, it's wonderful!!!
ILARIA, student from Italy

Project meeting in Italy

On March 26-April 2011, the Ethno treasure hunters have been treasure hunting in Sicilia, Italy. The treasure hunters from the 6 partner countries met in Santa Teresa di Riva to discover the Sicilian treasures. Our hosts, Mimma, Nina. Linda and Mrs. Rosa Crupi, the Dirigente scolastica (school Headmistress), gave us a warm welcome and planned a very interesting programme for us all.
On our first day of work, the Romanian team presented the ETHNO TREASURE CHEST, which contained the addresses of the project website and blog, the "Ethno treasure hunt - Traditional costumes around Europe - Colouring book and Card game", The DVD with the dissemination film from the official launghing of the project at the first meeting in Baia Mare, Romania, in November 2010, as well as some products made by the Romanian children at the Origami optional course. They have also announced the winning of the 1st prize in the regional phase of the National Contest "Made for Europe" in Romania with the ETHNO TREASURE CHEST, and its selection by the  School Inspectorate to participate in the National phase of the project. Dan Cont, the student from the 7th grade A, will represent us all in that contest in April 14-17, 2011.
The Polish team presented us the draft for the project dissemination leaflet and also the Project ANTHEM, which sounds great! We love it!
As the Romanian team brought each partner team a Treasure chest, we added the CDs the Polish brought (with the anthem and some video recordings) to the chest. During our stay in Sicilia, we added more treasures to this beautiful Chest that Marcela Zaplac designed for the project.
We also discussed the details concerning the other end products we planned to make within the partnership, as well as deadlines for sending the data to the partners responsible for each product.
We visited the Italian school and talked to the school Headmistress, teachers who work there and students who attend the school. The students from the partner countries, who took part in the project meeting, were hosted by local families and had the opportunity to see how the Sicilian families live. They also attended activities at school with their peers and joined us on the documentary visits in and around Santa Teresa di Riva.
We did a lot of treasure hunting in Sicilia, by visiting museums, such as the one in Savoca, where we saw the traditional tools that were used to work the land and in the household, and also the place in Savoca where F.F. Coppola  shot some scenes in his film "The Godfather". Savoca is a picturesque village on top of a mountain cliff with excellent views.
We visited the interesting Quasimodo Literary Park from Roccalumera, where Mr. Carlo Matroieni told us about the life and work of Salvatore Quasimodo, a famous Sicilian literary figure, who got the Nobel prize for Literature in 1959.
We visited Taormina, with its interesting Greek temples and the Greek temples and the History Museum in Aggrigento. We also visited some craters on the Etna Volcano. Well. Lady Etna was a bit busy so she could not invite us for tea, but we did not mind that too much, as the views there were awsome.
We tasted the sweet sicilian bees honey in Zafferano and  visited Giardini Naxos and Messina and many other beautiful places. We learnt a lot about the Italian way of life and the Sicilian ethno and cultural treasures.
We had an impressive dinner at a fish restaurant, with all kinds of fish and sea food and traditional local sweets and ice cream.
We also had an official dissemination Gala, when we presented our project and the partner schools to the officials of Santa Teresa di Riva and the region of Catania, as well as the massmedia and the families and other public who came to meet us. After that, the choir and orchestra from the Italian school presented a wonderful concert for the public present there.
We spent some very good quality time together in Santa Teresa di Riva and renewed our friendship and had fun in the evenings spent at the hotel talking and making plans for the next meeting. The evenings were excellent intercultural exchanges,
 We believe that this project is already a very successful one, because we already made plans to start new and different types of projects with our partners or with NGOs from Sicilia.
We all loved our time in Sicilia and we are all looking forward to meeting again in Turkey in early May 2011. :)
You can see here our treasure hunting in Sicilia