Traditions and Customs

1. All roads lead to Rome

Informations about ancient roads construction remained particularly from the peoples of Eastern
China, India, Persia, Egypt. On the European continent, the most famous road builders were the
Romans. It is known that in the IV th century before Christ the Romans knew and used only natural
roads. They had become the most talented road builders of European antiquity. Roman roads
proceeded normally in Rome, from the Temple of Saturn, the patron farm work deity and off the
land. Also from there the distances were measured to the provinces and territories conquered by the
Roman Empire. Hence the expression Romanian: all roads lead to Rome. Meaning of this expression
is any way you start, you still get the right place.
Commercial roads of Dacia, although they were not built to the most advanced technology, satisfied
the transport needs of local population.
But Romans required solid traffic arteries with an important strategic and defense role, enabling the
rapid movement of troops and transport of valuable assets taken from Dacia. Therefore immediately
after the conquest of Dacia, they start building roads as the most advanced technology of that time.
Roman roads appear in Romanian toponomia under different names: Traian's road, Royal road,
Emperor Way Dew, Road of Giants, Stone Road etc. Of these roads link many legends and folk tales
from which we quote, in short, one legend:
Traians, being companion to Novac help him with two oxen to pull the plug a swath. Traian then
made a path littered with rocks, to which every man was obliged to bring nine large stones or 13
bricks .A pregnant woman must make a stone more. And so this path was made and bent that as the
way of stars in the sky and which today is called Traian.
Often legends depict the injustice that men and women were subjected of, to build stone road.
The concern that the Romans paid for building roads, has made them to achieve strategic goals,
military and economic, and ensured uniformity and unity of the Roman Empire.

2.Traditions related to birth
In folk tradition, customs related to childbirth are as numerous as meaningful. Naturally, in the
modern world of the new millennium these customs have lost to date, but in some historic areas of
Romania, like Maramures, Northern Oltenia and Moldova, those habits are noted for their archaic
charm or for their symbolic value.
In addition to the parent, an extremely important figure in the rituals related to birth is the midwife.
This is an older woman, having rich experience, which helps women to give birth .But as we shall see;
its role is not limited to that. Midwife takes an active role in new-born life even before birth.
Thus, there is a tradition related to child sex specifying by the midwife: it binds with a hair an
engagement wedding ring from a woman, the pregnant woman lies on her bed and take the thread
still above its abdomen. At one time the thread will start to swing. If the woman will have a boy the
thread will move from one side to the other. If its a girl, the thread will move round wire. After birth,
the midwife takes care of new mothers bath, the midwife called "niece".
In the tradition of Romanians in Transylvania, Banat and Oltenia, the role of midwife in child baptism
ritual was also extremely important. She is the child leading to the church and she say "I lead a pagan
and a Christian I will bring and returning will say:" I took a pagan and brought a Christian. "
Nowadays, what are predominant Christian, are the traditions accepted by the Church. The child is
taken to church and baptized soon after birth. In the Orthodox church, the ritual committed by a
priest also takes part two godparents, and they become the childs spiritual parents.
The child is sunken in the holy water three times, receiving the name chosen by godparents together
with the parents but, according to tradition, the child must be named after godfather or godmother.
After that, the priest takes the child before the altar, icons, and if the child is a boy introduces him
inside the altar.
After the ritual of the church since baptism is an occasion of great joy, parents, relatives and those
close participates to a big party in some areas may last three days.

3.Wedding Traditions

Match- making
The young man who wanted to marry chose some of his friends (sometimes even the father or other
relatives) and they decided one day to go to the brides house. On the established day, they proceed
towards brides house, and they had little input speech, which differs from area to area.
Then comes the moment when the father of the boy talks to the bride's parents, discussing various
aspects of the future family
Often, a little party followed the match making, especially if the wedding was established to take
place.
On the morning wedding, the son in law, along with close friends decorates two trees with different
objects, fruit and rolls.
Trees are worn by unmarried young people up to the godparents house where one tree is tied in
front of the gate. Then, the procession continues its journey to the bride's house, a place that
remains the second tree. Tree is the symbol of youth and vigor; decoration symbolizes rich life of the
future family.

Wetting
The bride, the young man with the tree and bride procession goes to the third fountain toward the
east side, counting from the bride's house, accompanied by musicians. Along the way, down to the
well, the bride and the young man are wearing a towel tied with pitcher homespun, down to the
well. Here, the lad removes water from the well three times and each time, along with the bride,
sprinkled the crowd with a bunch of basil, soaked in water from the jug, as a token of gratitude for
marriage for girls, and boys and increase the wives to young men.
Back from the water the wedding guests a wedding start dancing and the bride goes on everybody
and applies on their chest wedding flowers. Same wedding flowers groom wedding guests,
godparents and other guests will receive at the church.

Shaving the groom
This usually takes place in parallel with brides dressing .A close friend of the groom, symbolically
shaves him. Sat on a chair, with money under foot, the groom must not let the fiddler to take his
money.
Shaving of the groom is a symbol of the boy's preparation for the wedding. The custom seems to
have an initiatory ritual significance, the last in a long series of initiations which passed as a boy
during his becoming man.

Bride dressing
The godmother, along with the bride's mother and close friends is helping the bride to dress, because
in the end, the godmother by herself has to tie the veil and the diadem .The bride dressing is held
simultaneously with the shaving preparation and symbolizes the girl preparation for the wedding.

Brides wedding dance
Bride wedding dance is held at brideshome, on which occasion the mother shares little different gifts
to godparents, in laws and sometimes to close relatives.

Cake break
The godmother order and pays a cake adorned with various ornaments, edible or not, knitting and
various other forms. Symbolically, the bride's cake is broken over her head and is given to guests. It
says that brings luck to those who eat from it. The custom is preserved from ancient Roman times.


Bride stealing
The origins of this are unknown. Supposed the groom to have eyes only for his bride, but some
participants at the wedding take advantage of careless groom and they steal his bride from the
wedding. The groom is obliged to seek her or to pay a ransom for the bride.
Often the groom is asked to the amusement of guests to perform certain tasks.

Throwing bouquet
Bride turns back to the group of young girls, unmarried, and throws the bouquet randomly. The girl
who catches is to be married first. Other traditions say that she will marry in the same year.

Taking of the veil
Near the end of the wedding, the godmother removes the veil from the bride's head and puts a scarf,
symbolizing the transition from girl to the status of wife. Bride's veil is put on the head of an
unmarried girl, and it says that she will be the next to be married.

4. Cluarii

The most interesting, most complex and archaic form of Romanian ritual dance, dancing boys, played
mostly in Pentecost week and spread throughout the area of Daco-Romanian, is the gag.
The name of the game is variable - gag, cluar in Oltenia, Moldova and Banat cluean etymon is
difficult to determine but in any case it can not be same the origin of the "caballus"- latin form for
horse- because the dance is rooted magical structure fixed before the horse domestication on these
lands. More apropiate looks, the etymon gag (the object used for closing the mouth), essential in the
ritual game. The folklorists considers Cluarilor game (Cluczenii) a largely magic dance with odd
number of masked dancers, female clothes and pretended voices of women, wearing flower garlands
of wormwood and field, with swords in hands - being led by the abbot and by the primicer and in
many areas, with bells tied on their legs.