Winter traditions and customs in Bukovina

Folk customs and traditions represent an important part of Bukovinas tourist ethnographic
resources, being formed and preserved in the rural areas of the country. They belong to the
very important elements of the folk spiritual culture, being the ones to define, among many
others, the ethnic peculiarities of a folk. They also imprint to the community the rules of
conduct in social life and family, illustrate the deepness of folk philosophy and reflect the
principles of life from all the historical periods. Folk customs and traditions are very important
for acknowledging the historical peculiarities of our folks ethno genesis, the history of
philosophy, aesthetics and ethics of Romanian folk. They fall into four cycles corresponding to
the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter customs, the later being the best
preserved and also the most spectacular.
The customs and practices, the traditions belonging to the cycle of the winter traditions begin
on Saint Nicholas Day (Sannicolae) and end in January, on Saint Johns Day, comprising a
variety of artistic manifestations regarding the literary, musical and choreographic folklore, as
well as the dramatic performances. These also excel through richness and diversity of clothing,
stage props, scenery even stage direction, forming a veritable folk carnival.

Saint Nicholass Day

Saint Nicholass Day is, at the beginning of winter (6th of December), a reason of
joy for both the elderly and especially for children, because of waiting and then the
arrival of Saint Nicholas with gifts. Though, in Christian hagiography looks like a real
character, defender of faith in Jesus, in the folk calendar he is seen riding a white horse,
sometimes bringing the snow and predicting winter. As part of Santas category (in folk
belief, the deities in the beginning of winter appeared under this title), Nicholas is gentle,
wise and noble, he helps the widows and orphans, facilitates the poor girls marriage, but
he is most loved by children, to whom he brings gifts in the night of 5th 6th of
December. Though careful and kind with the nice children, Santa is rather harsh to the
naughty and lazy, to whom he brings hazel rods instead of gifts, which parents use in
order to punish them.
Cete, partii, turca, hurta
Ceata was and still is a group of masked young men, a way of performing a social
event or some folk traditions. A true cultural manifestation, ceata for winter holidays
has a clear scenario in point of stage and choreography with a certain emotional feeling
being repeated annually.
The preparedness of the costumes and the stage props for the New Years groups,
especially for the groups of masked young men called irozi, emperors and
bunghieri is carried out with the support of other people in the village. Usually, the
young women contribute with beads, kerchiefs and scarves, also being the ones making
bunches of colored ribbons used to decorate the costumes.

The pigs Ignat

The pigs Ignat is a celebration destined for a solar and vegetal divinity that assumed the
name and celebration date from a Christian Saint Ignatie Teofanul. On 20th of
December (on Ignat Day) takes place the pigs ritual sacrifice, a substitute for a preChristian deity of vegetation, divinity that died and revived on winter solstice. Though a
few practices and customs of the pigs old praise are still being kept today, very few
people are still aware of its significance. First of all, the animal is being singed
symbolizing the death of pre-Christian divinity by incineration. Then, the pig had its tail
and ears chopped being consumed by children who straddled the sacrificed animal,
symbolizing the domination of Christmas Fast that is ending. Then, the head and legs
were also chopped, being used for the preparation of a traditional dish, called racitura,
provided on Christmas, New Year and the Epiphany, as ceremonial dish, also offered for
the souls of the deceased. Then, the rest of the body is chopped and continues the pigs
feast, an ancient ritual dedicated to the ancestors. The folk beliefs that during the pigs
ritual sacrifice, the compassionate persons should not be around, because they say that
the animal dies hard and the meat is not tasty, still exist.
The Christmas Eve
As date preceding a great calendar event (The Saviors Birth), a few years ago, the
Christmas Eve had a multitude of customs and traditions full of symbols, most of them
being removed from the ancient rituals, but some of them still being alive today.
Also on the morning of Christmas Eve, the old men started to meditate near the
fireplaces, while the women prepared the ritual dishes, such as the knot-shaped breads
as the sun and the moon, as well as other dishes to be consumed the following days.
Early in the morning, the women practiced defense, impregnation and fertility rituals.
They hid the forks, the skewers and the spinning flaxes or put a rock in the bread oven
until the Epiphany Day, hoping to avert the snakes from the households. The garbage in
that day was collected in a corner and then thrown in the garden as fertilizer or burnt on
the third day of Christmas, when the cattle were also smoked. Only the unmarried young
women, after sweeping the house backwards (from the door to the window), were
allowed to take the garbage out in that day towards a road junction, with their hair
undone and praying aloud.
nother time of the day is decorating the Christmas tree, a symbol of durability, a shaft of
anchoring the human in the cosmos and of the universal mystery. According to Romanian
tradition, Santa Clause was the old men in whose household Jesus was born, basically a
popular local deity who (in the Carpathian mythological concept) died and revived on the
Eve of winter solstice. The green Christmas tree is a substitute for this character, a variant
of the burnt log, on the night of this holiday and which symbolized the incinerated deity.
Christmas
Christmas is the celebration still preserved in Bukovina, maybe more than in other
regions, without major deviations from the past, the most beautiful and important time of
the year. It is prepared long before Christmas Fast, when the carolers and the carols to be
learned are established. In Bukovina, Christmas caroling was and still is not only a
custom, but due to its organization becomes a real institution, with particular laws and
rules.
The New Year

After celebrating Christmas and the moments after it, the mystery of the holiday season
continues on the New Year to go through time, introducing the human into another world,
that seems to be governed by hidden forces able to influence the normal course of life,
leading us to the ancient myth, connecting invisible bridges between human and cosmos,
between human and environment, between human and humans. Each of the ceremonies is
to transform mythically the every day life (occupations, crafts, household works etc.), as
well as the important moments in peoples life (birth, marriage, death) in order to
synchronize and harmonize them with the great rhythms of bio cosmos.
The children begin to wander around with plugusorul (a little plow) on New Years
Eve. The children wander around with a miniature plow and get bells, cow bells, whips,
twined whips decorated with wool and tassels.
Epiphany Day
Epiphany Day, marked in the Christian calendar as the day Jesus Christ was baptized, is
the celebration that concludes the cycle of the 14th days of time renewal, days belonging
to the winter holidays. On the Eve of the Epiphany, the aliments not permitted on fasting
days were excluded from the meals, the girls eager to marry even keept the Black Fast.
The priests wander from house to house, in the villages, with the holy cross and holy
water, and the groups of children accompanying them sing in chorus Chiralesa, a
magical hail. In order to welcome the priest, the housewives prepared ritual meals
(crushed and boiled wheat, sweetened with honey, smoked and boiled prunes, minced
maize rolls wrapped in grape leaves etc.).