Spinning Words

One of the biggest pleasures growing up and one of the most pleasant days in school has always been March 1st. That is because on March first you offer and you receive little Spring talismans that we call “marţişoare”. Each year on the previous day to March 1st I would get all of them out and pick some for every teacher, classmate and friend on the block. The “marţişor” is a beautiful Romanian tradition made out of a red and white thread and a small charm in various shapes: flowers, animals and the very classic four-leaf clover, ladybug and chimney sweep. “Marţişor” is also the traditional name of the month of March and can be translated by “Little March”. The little talisman is considered a symbol of Spring and is associated with the idea of a new beginning, of life and fertility. Usually the ladies are the ones that receive them but I used to give this kind of charms to all my friends. It’s a beautiful tradition and I used to wear one pinned on my jacket next to my heart all month long. Now I usually wear the red and white thread around my wrist and at the end of the month I break it and tie it to a branch in a tree. It is said that if the tree blooms beautifully your year will be prosperous. Some people wear it only until March 8th (Mother’s/Women’s day in Romania) others for two weeks, some wear it all month.

Another joy this celebration brought to me was getting all the charms my parents received from the children in school. It was so fun looking at them and analyzing each, sorting and putting them away for next year.

As I said above March 8 is also very important in Romania. It’s mother’s and women’s day. This is the day when all women receive flowers, it is so beautiful. Our male classmates/work mates were always spoiling us with flowers and chocolate on this day and we always gave them something in return: something sweet or pizza. It was a celebration in its full right.

And to finish it off in style: don’t forget to pick an “old lady” or as it is said in Romanian “o babă”. The first 9 days of March are called like that, you have to pick one and, if the weather is sunny your year will be joyful, if it is cloudy it will be a bit more difficult. With me being in Sweden I have all the chances of picking a snowy one, rain and snow are bad omen, or so they say. If it is raining in the morning you have a gloomy start of the year but by sunset it can become clear so your year will end in a cheerful way, or the other way around. It is said that these old ladies are taking off their 9 coats after Winter and if it snows it is because they are shaking them and the last traces of snow are falling off before they put the coats away. This tradition takes us back to the time of the Dacians so it is very old and extremely beautiful.

So now you know a bit about Romanian Spring traditions. I hope you like them, they’re very simple but have a lot of meaning. I am sure that in other parts of the country there are more and some are a bit different but these come from where I grew up. And I respect them. It’s folklore.

If there is one thing I regret about this movie is that there weren’t many Swedes in the audience when it was shown in Biograf Sture last evening. Maybe the discussions in the beginning were a bit too long but they made some sense to me, part of them at least but the moment the movie starts, reality hits you. It is, in a way, something like seeing your life on screen just as you witnessed it watching, maybe not your family, but neighbors, not by living the story yourself but by hearing it so many times from people standing right in front of you. Maybe some things are exaggerated in the movie, though I must say that they didn’t do this to a great extent. I think that for some people they didn’t do this at all. I am not going to expose the plot over here, instead I am going to recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in watching it.  The story itself, though sprinkled with some humor every now and then, is as sad as it is real but it is the details that hit me the most when I watched it.

It is also strange to see The Magician and Arlechino playing in something else rather than children shows, or to put it correctly, two actors that brightened my childhood are performing serious parts.

Also, because apparently I can’t do anything without running into it, and how I love this, you have no idea, and I wish it happens as often as possible, everyday even,  at a certain moment in the movie in a news bulletin from the radio you can clearly hear the lady presenting the news saying: “The tennis player Horia Tecau is the last Romanian standing in the run for Wimbledon”. That made me happy.

Watch the trailer below and give it a shot.

Another year gone but no one is awarding me the House Cup. I’d probably deserve it because Winter time is Harry Potter time, there is no Christmas without watching the movies again, for probably the 10th, 20th or 30th time. I know them by heart in case you were wondering.

I could make a quick review of the year that is ending tonight but I don’t want to make any difference between moments that left a mark on my year. It was a full year, with good and bad, it helped me gather a lot of stories that I will hopefully share with my grandchildren one day when I am old, close to being senile, proud owner of a dozen cats and rich enough to afford a ticket to Wimbledon.

I am happily writing this from home, sitting by the Christmas tree, having my cute fluffy friend by my side. Both of us are wishing all of you who took the time to read this a healthy Happy New Year, may all your wishes come true!

As promised, I will talk now about a very beautiful and dear Romanian celebration: Saint Andrew’s Night, 29 November. It precedes a very important religious celebration for Romania, yes, St. Andrew. The stories and the traditions related to St. Andrew’s Night date back to the times when the people inhabiting the territory that is now Romania, the Dacians, were not yet Christianized. November 30 was the day when they were celebrating the Wolf, a very important animal for the Dacians: even their flag was represented by a beast with the head of a wolf.

The Dacian Flag

It was the day when it was told that wolves started to go out hunting in packs so you had to be cautious and protect your animals. Also it was the last day before Winter came so long, cold, black nights have a symbolism of their own.

To get right into the scary part: on this night evil spirits take over the world. Blood-thirsty undead come out of the graves and fight with each other at crossroads, live-poltergeists leave their host body and join in the fight. If any of these evil spirits can’t find someone to fight with they will turn their attention towards humans and animals so beware!!! They will try to bewitch any human that is not ready for this night or didn’t take precautions against all evil, they will attack animals that aren’t protected by magic rituals, on short: until dawn they will bring Hell on Earth. That is where the women come in and try to protect themselves, their houses and animals. The most powerful tool against the spirits is garlic. So one has to use it in the best ways possible: anoint the windows, doors, the door knobs, chimneys, one owns’ body, the doors to the stables, the animals, everything. And if by any chance in the middle of the night you are called by the spirits than you must not answer, under no circumstance. Let the poltergeists, spirits and vampires fight among themselves. The undead will go back to their graves in the morning and the living ones will return to their host human bodies and live on until the next opportunity to go out and create chaos. Of course not all spirits do harm, some just go out and dance at the crossroads.

The Romanian folklore is also filled with other beautiful traditions: while women were protecting their households, young boys and girls would party all night. In a house that is well protected with the help of garlic and magic, they would bring garlic that was guarded by an old woman all night and then they would party until morning. At the crack of dawn they would dance with the garlic and then share it among them and guard it all year long near the icons and use a piece every now and then when traveling or when one was sick: it’s magic healing powers were amazing.

Last, but not least, this is the night when a young woman can dream of her soul mate. Of course, in order to do that one should do magic. Bake a really salty small bread, eat half, put half under your pillow and the man that brings you water in your dreams is the one you are meant to be with. Put 41 grains of wheat under your pillow, say a little disenchantment and the one who comes to take the wheat is, of course, your soul mate. You could also see the face of your soul mate in the water of a well. All you had to do is know what spell to say and what things to do.

And don’t forget that one of the most important things is to plant wheat. If it grows nicely by Christmas, your year will be prosperous.

Vasile Alecsandri

And there are more traditions related to this amazing celebration. A Romanian poet, Vasile Alecsandri even wrote a poem called “St. Andrew’s Night”. The poem itself is more than beautiful and it grasps together all the scary and the beautiful part of all the traditions. The poem in Romanian sends shivers down my spine. I will try to translate a small part of it:

“Up on the cross-bare tower/The evil spirit is heading/And the whole turret is trembling!/Midnight passes through the air/And, hitting the cold brass,/Twelve black hours/Are tolled by the hollow bell”.

The only thing I respect, have done since I was little and will do forever: on November 29 in the evening I always eat garlic. And after reading all these things and writing them here for you I wonder: why do we celebrate Halloween. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice celebration for the ones who actually have it in their folklore but honestly, look at all the amazing and scary things our own Halloween involves. Who needs pumpkins in October when you risk waking up with a vampire outside your window one month later? I am a bit scared now, will they find me all the way in Stockholm?