OUR PROJECT ANTHEM

The Polish team has prepared an anthem for our project. Please read and learn it by heart so that we could sing it together when we meet soon. The music for the song is being prepared and soon it will be published here, too.

Chorus

We Ethno Treasure Hunters

The beautiful mix of cultures

We are looking for treasures

For us these are pleasures

1.

The whole Europe acts as one

Showing lots of tolerance

We search for friend in everyone

Giving you and me a chance

Chorus

We Ethno Treasure Hunters

The beautiful mix of cultures

We are looking for treasures

For us these are pleasures

2.

We discover traditions

Teaching positive reactions

Experience new sensations

Don’t accept limitations

Chorus

We Ethno Treasure Hunters

The beautiful mix of cultures

We are looking for treasures

For us these are pleasures

Chorus

We Ethno Treasure Hunters

The beautiful mix of cultures

We are looking for treasures

For us these are pleasures

LYRICS:  students - Tomasz Lenczewski, Aleksandra Stasiak, Oliwia Ormaniec,

teachers - Joanna Wilczyńska, Izabela Marczak

MUSIC:  teacher - Monika Rzepecka-Tranda

Mother's Day/ Women's Day

In Romania, the 8th of March represents the celebration of Mother's Day and Women's Day.
On this day, women receive flowers and/or small gifts from their family and friends. It is a day when children celebrate their mothers.  In schools, children prepare small song and poems shows for their mothers and teachers for this day. Of course, they are coordinated by their teachers from school. they make Mother's Day cards, which they offer to their mothers, sisters, other female family members, to their female teachers, to friends.
On this day, women have a short day and they usually have parties with their co-workers, or friends, or with their family members.
So: Happy Women's Day to all our partners: women, girls, as well as to our male friends :d

Mărţişor

Mărţişor (Romanian pronunciation: [mərtsiʃor]) is a traditional celebration of the beginning of Spring, on 1 March. It is a tradition in Romania, Moldova, and all territories inhabited by Romanians and also Aromanians. Almost the same custom can be found in Bulgaria (see Martenitsa) and similar ones in Albania and Italy.

The name Mărţişor is the diminutive of marţ, the old folk name for March (Martie, in modern Romanian), and thus literally means "little" or "dear March". It is also the folk name for this month.

Mărţişor, marţ and mărţiguş are all names for the red and white (or black and white, also blue and white) string, from which usually a small decoration is tied, and which is offered by people on the 1st day of March. Giving this Talisman to other people is an old custom, and it is believed that the one who wears the red and white string will be powerful and healthy for the year to come. It is also a symbol of the coming spring. Usually, women wear it pinned to their blouses for the first 12 days of this month, until other certain spring celebrations, or until the bloom of certain fruit-trees. In some regions, a gold or silver coin is hanged from the string, which they wear it around the neck. After wearing it for a certain period of time, they buy red wine and sweet cheese with the coin, according to the belief that their faces would remain beautiful and white as cheese, and rubicund as the red wine, for the entire year.

In modern times, the Mărţişor lost most of its talisman properties and became more of a symbol of friendship and love, appreciation and respect. The black threads were replaced with red, but the delicate wool ropes are still a ‘cottage industry’ among the country people. They still comb out the wool, dye the floss, and twist it into thousands of tassels. In certain areas the amulets are still made with black and white ropes, for warding off evil.

The Mărţişor is a talisman (amulet) made of knitted threads (wool, cotton, or silk). Nowadays, the most popular version of it is made of red and white threads, but in some regions it is still made of black and white, or even blue and white.

Black and White

Initially, the Mărţişor string used to be called year's rope (‘’funia anului’’, in Daco-Romanian), made by black and white wool threads, representing the 365 days of the year. ‘'The Year's Rope'’ was the link between the winter and the summer, black and white representing the opposition and also the unity of the contraries: dark & light, cold & warmth, death & life. The ‘’Mărţişor’’ is the thread of the days of the year, spinned up by Baba Dochia, likewise the thread of man's life, which is spinned up at birth by the fates (Ursitoare).

White is the symbol of purity, the sum of all the colours, the light, while Black is the colour of origins, of distinction, of fecundation and fertility, a colour of the fruitful soil. White is the sky, the Allfather, while Black is the mother of all, Mother Earth.

Red and White

According to the ancient Rome tradition, the ides of March was the perfect time to begin the war campaigns. Related to this context, it is considered that the red string of Mărţişor signifies the vitality, while the white one is the symbol of victory.

Red is the colour of fire, blood, and the symbol of life, associated with the woman. Meanwhile, White is the colour of the cold snow, foamy waters, the clouds, and also of man's wisdom. So, the thread of the Mărţişor represents the union of the feminine and the masculine principles, the vital forces which give birth to the eternal cycle of the nature.

Red and white are also the complementary colours present in all the key traditions of the Daco-Romanian folklore.

George Coşbuc stated, in a research over the Mărţişor, that it is a symbol of fire and light, a symbol of the Sun. Not only the colours, but also the traditional silver coin hanged up from the thread is associated to the Sun. White, the colour of the silver, is also a symbol of power, force. This is only one of the reasons why the Mărţişor is a sacred amulet. The round form of the coin is associated with the round form of the Sun, while the material of it, silver, is associated with the Moon. This is, again, the unity of the masculine and feminine principles, and the eternal movement of the matter.

In the Daco-Romanian folklore, the seasons are attributed symbolic colours: spring is red, summer is green or yellow, autumn is black, and winter is white. This is why one can also say that the Mărţişor thread, knitted in white and red, is a symbol of passing, from the white winter, to the lively spring, associated with fire and blood.

Relation to the Bulgarian Martenitsa

Some ethnographers, especially Romanian, consider the clearly related Mărţişor and Martenitsa as being of Thracian origin, which they believe is attested by archaeological evidence. They argue that the Bulgarian legend concerning the origin of the Martenitsa is nothing more than a late 19th century Romanticinvention, not rooted in the past. They argue that Martenitsa was the result of Romanian influence on Bulgarian traditional culture (see also Căluşari, Kukeri, etc.)

Theories in Bulgaria

According to one of the several proposed legends about the Martenitsa in Bulgaria, the custom has roots in the late seventh century. This legend, first attested in the 20th century, says that the Bulgar Khan Asparukh wanted to send a message to other Bulgars across the Danube. He tied his letter with a white string to the leg of a white pigeon. The Eastern Romans (i.e. Byzantines) saw the pigeon flying and hurt it with an arrow. It was finally able to deliver the important message but the white string has turned into reddish because of the pigeon's blood. The Bulgars then started to wear this thread.

Another Bulgarian alternative theory completely omits the role of the Bulgars in introducing the Martenitsa into the Balkan folklore, and instead links the custom to the Thracians (but without a Romanian connection)


Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%83r%C5%A3i%C5%9For

Dragobete, the Romanian version of St. Valentine's Day

On February 24, the day when the Orthodox Christian church celebrates The Finding of St. John the Baptist's Head, the Romanian folklore celebrates the day called Dragobete. Dragobete was the god of love in the Romanian pantheon, protector of love and good spirits.

Dragobete, the God of love and cheerfulness in Romania, called also the Hedad of spring or the Head of summer, is the son of Dochia. He is identified with Cupid, the god of love in Roman mithology, and with Eros, the god of love from  the Greek mithology. Locally, he is called the Hothead, handsome young man, who makes girls and young women get infatuated with him. He was transformed by the Virgin Mary into the flower called Heart’s tongue (Phyllitis scolopendrium). Dragobete was celebrated by the young people from the villages until the mid 20^th century on February 24 and 28 or on March 1 and 25. 

In Romania, Dragobete was the day when the girls and boys put on their best clothes and, if the weather was good, they used to go out in the forest singing and looking for the first spring flowers. The girls used to gather snowdrops, violets, and other spring flowers, which they used to put near the religious icons and saved them till the holiday called Sanziene (Bedstraw, on Midsummer Day), when they threw them in the rivers. If they happened to  find wild strawberry flowers (Fragaria vesca), these flowers were gathered in small bouquets and they were put in the girls’ washing water whille they chanted:” Wild flowers of strawberry / Picked on February/ Let all people love me/ Send bad things away from me”.

On the Dragobete morning, the girls and young women used to gather the fresh snow, melt it and use it to wash their face and hair, believing that people would like better their face and hair.

On this day, usually the boys and girls would meet at one house and invoke the Dragobete to bring them their loved ones, and those who had no lovers hoped to find their own lover, so that they would be loved till the next Dragobete holiday. This meeting usually became a big party, with food, drink and dances. Sometimes the boys went to other neighbouring villages to celebrate Dragobete, singing and shouting over the hills, having fun.

People also believed that on Dragobete the birds that did not migrate would gather in great flocks and chirped and chose their mates and started to biuld their nests. The birds that could not find their mates would have no chicks during summer. The old people celebrated Dragobete to protect them against colds and other illnesses.

Romanian version:

La 24 februarie, in ziua cand ortodoxia sarbatoreste Aflarea capului Sf. Ioan Botezatorul, spiritualitatea populara consemneaza ziua lui Dragobete, zeu al tineretii in Panteonul autohton, patron al dragostei si al bunei dispozitii.

Zeul dragostei si bunei dispozitii pe plaiurile carpatice, numit si Cap de Primavara sau Cap de Vara, este Dragobete, fiul Dochiei. El este identificat cu Cupidon, zeul dragostei in mitologia romana, si cu Eros, zeul iubirii in mitologia greaca. Local, este numit Navalnicul, fecior frumos care ia mintile fetelor si nevestelor tinere, metamorfozat de Maica Domnului in floarea cu acelasi nume. Dragobetele a fost sarbatorit de tinerii satelor pana la mijlocul secolului al XX-lea la 24 si 28 februarie sau la 1 si 25 martie. In ziua de Dragobete pasarile nemigratoare se strang in stoluri, ciripesc, se imperecheaza si incep sa-si construiasca cuiburile.

La noi, Dragobete era ziua cand fetele si baietii se imbracau in haine de sarbatoare si, daca timpul era frumos, porneau in grupuri prin lunci si paduri, cantand si cautand primele flori de primavara. Fetele strangeau in aceasta zi ghiocei, viorele si tamaioase, pe care le puneau la icoane, pentru a le pastra pana la Sanziene, cand le aruncau in apele curgatoare. Daca, intamplator, se nimerea sa gaseasca si fragi infloriti, florile acestora erau adunate in buchete ce se puneau, mai apoi, in lautoarea fetelor, in timp ce se rosteau cuvintele: "Floride fraga/Din luna lui Faur/La toata lumea sa fiu draga / Uraciunile sa le desparti". 

In dimineata zilei de Dragobete fetele si femeile tinere strangeau zapada proaspata, o topeau si se spalau cu apa astfel obtinuta pe cap, crezand ca vor avea parul si tenul placute admiratorilor.

 De obicei, tinerii, fete si baieti, se adunau mai multi la o casa, pentru a-si "face de Dragobete", fiind convinsi ca, in felul acesta, vor fi indragostiti intregul an, pana la viitorul Dragobete. Aceasta intalnire se transforma, adesea, intr-o adevarata petrecere, cu mancare si bautura. De multe ori baietii mergeau in satele vecine, chiuind si cantand peste dealuri, pentru a participa acolo la sarbatoarea Dragobetelui.

 Se mai credea ca in ziua de Dragobete pasarile nemigratoare se aduna in stoluri, ciripesc, isi aleg perechea si incep sa-si construiasca cuiburile, pasarile neimperecheate acum ramanand fara pui peste vara. Oamenii batrani tineau aceasta zi pentru friguri si alte boli.

 Dragobetele era sarbatorit in unele locuri si la data de 1 martie, deoarece se considera ca el este fiul Dochiei si primul deschizator de primavara.

 Obiceiurile de Dragobete, zi asteptata candva cu nerabdare de toti tinerii bucovineni, au fost in buna parte uitate, pastrandu-se doar in amintirea batranilor. Iar in ultimii ani, Dragobetele autohton risca sa fie dat cu desavarsire uitarii, el fiind inlocuit de acel Sfant Valentin ce nu are legatura cu spiritualitatea romaneasca.




Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragobete


http://www.e-transport.ro/DRAGOBETE_OBICEIURI_DE_DRAGOBETE_ZIUA_INDRAGOSTI-i41-news25867-p82.html

http://www.studiidecaz.ro/index.php?ifile=text_full&id_text=290&id_text2=10e2407cd8164a94a0b2d7565def0bc9&caption=DRAGOBETE-SARBATOAREA-DRAGOSTEI-LA-ROMANI

CHRISTMAS EVE IN POLAND

Hi, all ethno-treasure hunters! I would like to tell you about our traditions and the way we celebrated our Christmas this year. People in Poland celebrate 3 days of Christmas: Christmas Eve, 1st Day of Christmas and 2nd Day of Christmas [this is the way we call these 3 days unlike the British].

For Poles, Christmas Eve is a time of family gathering and reconciliation. It's also a night of magic: Animals are said to talk in a human voice and people have the power to tell the future. The belief was born with our ancestors who claimed that Dec. 24 was a day to mark the beginning of a new era. We often say: "The better Christmas Eve, the merrier the whole new year." Hoping for good 12 months, everyone is polite and generous to one another and forgives the past mistakes. In the old days, "Maidens" interested in their marital future and elderly people who tried to predict next year's weather based on the sky's aura between Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night (Jan. 6), sometimes referred to past superstitions.

When we set the dinner table we always leave one plate with cutlery for an unexpected guest who may be a poor or homeless or a miserable person. The custom has it that whoever come on Christmas Eve should not be forlorn or denied. He or she will always find warmth in the house and hearts of the hosts.

Polish villagers are among the few who still keep up the old Christmas Eve customs. In eastern Poland it is still believed that girls who grind poppy seed on Christmas Eve can hope for a quick marriage. After dinner, they leave the house, and the direction of the first dog bark points to where their future husband will come from. Another fortune-telling trick is eavesdropping on the neighbors. If in a casual conversation, the girl hears the word "Go" it means she will get married in the coming year. A loud "Sit" announces long-lasting maidenhood.

When going to Christmas Eve midnight mass, girls would blindfold each other and touch fence pickets. A straight and smooth picket would portend a resourceful husband, while a crooked and rough one was an indication of a clumsy and awkward spouse. If a maiden wanted to learn about her future fiance's profession, she would go to a river, dip her hand in the water and pull out the first thing she touched. Wood meant a carpenter, iron-a blacksmith, leather-a shoemaker, etc. Before going to bed, she'd wash her face with water without drying it. She would hang the towel on the footboard of her bed. The boy who passed her the towel in her dream was to become her husband.

Weather-forecasting superstitions were also popular. It was believed that if Christmas sees no snow, Easter certainly will be more severe. "If the Christmas tree sinks in water, the egg rolls on ice." Other sayings include: "A sunny Christmas Eve brings fair weather all year round", "Stars that shine bright on Christmas Eve will make hens lay plenty of eggs", "A shine on the birth of our Savior will be seen all throughout January."

From the small hours on Dec. 24, women are found cleaning and sweeping the entire house. An ancient belief has it that forces of evil would dwell in all things left dirty on that day. If the first person to enter a house on Christmas Eve was a woman, it was a bad omen, meaning that only heifers would be born in the farm in the coming year. It was a good sign when a man was the first to cross the threshold of the house.

At the Christmas Eve supper, each dish has to be sampled, and a traditional meal should consist of 12 dishes. The more you eat, the more pleasure would await you in the future. We hide some hay under the tablecloth to bring us luck. The old tradition was that the more daring diners would pull out blades of straw from underneath the table cloth. A green one foretold marriage; a withered one-waiting; a yellow one-spinsterhood; a very short one-an early grave.

In pre-electricity times, after the last supper dish (which was kutia, a mix of soaked wheat, raisins, nuts, honey and spices) candles were blown out and the direction of the smoke was observed. If it moved toward the window-the harvest would be good, toward the door-a family member would die, toward the stove-a marriage.

Until recently, harvest fortune-telling was very popular in the countryside. After supper, the host would go out to the garden, carrying dried fruit. He would throw it on the trees, shouting "Apples, pears, plums, cherries, and all the leaves in the neighbor's yard." He would take a handful of straw and twist it into a rope. Grabbing an ax with other hand, he would approach a tree and threaten it by saying, "I'll cut you down!" His wife would cry, "Don't cut it, it will bear fruit!" Then she would tie the straw rope around the tree. This bizarre little pantomime apparently brought a good harvest.

Today, few people are familiar with Christmas Eve fortune telling, especially urban dwellers. Yet some old traditions can still be found among village people who tend to lead a more old-fashioned lifestyle, closely connected to nature and its cycles of death and rebirth.

Till today, we have the custom of constructing nativity scenes of Jesus Christ and displaying them in public places for every one to admire the handicraft skills. The pictures present some of them.

*****

                Like every year, we celebrated the forthcoming Christmas at school with our students and colleagues. On 22^nd December, which was the last day at school before the holidays, we prepared some delicious dishes and brought small presents. The children gathered around tables in each classroom and together with their class teacher they ate, talked and wished themselves all the best. They also exchanged gifts that Santa brought to them for being good for the past year. After that,  they cleaned the classrooms, bid farewell to teachers and went happily home.

                Teachers also gathered around a big table to eat their Christmas Eve supper, laugh, sing carols and exchange small gifts which this year were to be a funny surprise [each present had to start with the initial letter of the name of the receiver and had to be something cute and funny]. Our headmistress, all dressed in Santa’s costume, cracked the Christmas wafer and wished all the teachers everything good for the Christmas time and New Year. Later, we tasted delicious dishes and chatted by the candle light. After that, the headmistress played Santa and distributed the presents among us. We had so much fun! Teachers turned into kids for a while laughing and joking happily. After an hour or two, we all said goodbye and with a smile on our faces we parted.

                You can see some of the photos from that day below.

                We didn’t forget about our partners. Our school kids and teachers prepared some Christmas presents for them. We sent: home-made postcards with Christmas wishes, some ethnic Christmas tree decorations and chocolates. We hope you enjoyed them. The pictures show the contents of the parcels.

prepared by: Joanna Wilczyńska

after: http://www.polishworld.com/christmas/

COMENIUS CONFERENCE AT THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTE IN LODZ, POLAND

On 23^rd November 2010, some students from the Polish school together with teachers running the Comenius school project “Ethno Treasure Hunt”, Mrs Joanna Wilczyńska and Mrs Agnieszka Szymańska, took part in a conference concerning the European Lifelong Learning Programme. The conference was organized by the European Institute and was the occasion to present our end products of the former and present Comenius projects that we have been involved with.

                We have prepared an interesting stand displaying all our achievements and promoting the recently started project “Ethno Treasure Hunt” together with our experiences from the 1^st meeting in Romania. We have also shown a multimedia presentation on the visit to Baia Mare and answered many questions about Romania. The pictures below show some of our souvenirs brought back from this beautiful country.

 

THE EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES

Every year on 26th September, Europe celebrates the European Day of Languages. The European Commission has established the day to promote versatile languages, multilinguality and learning languages throughout our lives.

                The Polish school also too part in this enterprise. Mrs Joanna Wilczyńska, the school coordinator of the “Ethno Treasure Hunt” project, suggested that all students and teachers took part in a knowledge-language quiz concerning the partner countries of the Comenius project, i.e. Poland, Romania, Turkey, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Italy. She also managed to talk into this other partner countries. Thanks to Ms Izabela Marczak and favor or all teachers at school we succeeded. The answers of the quiz were surprising and at times shocking but everyone had lots of fun, both in Poland and abroad in other partner countries. Students and teachers who scored best received prizes and diplomas.