TRADITIONS IN MY

COUNTRY
 Romania
 People from Transylvania serve stuffed
cabbage on Christmas Eve, and next
day for lunch. Most likely the reason for
that custom is that stuffed cabbage is
the best on the second and third day
after it was cooked. Moms can prepare
the food a day earlier, leaving more
time for decorating and organizing.
Very practical.
On the 25th of December, the whole
family attended church and ate stuffed
cabbage for lunch
 Santa Claus rituals

Rituals surrounding


Santa Claus are

performed throughout
the world by children
hoping to receive gifts
from the mythical
character. Some rituals
(such as visiting a
department store Santa)
occur in the weeks and
days before Christmas
while others, such as
preparing snacks for
Santa, are specific to
Christmas Eve. Some
rituals, such as setting
out stockings to be filled
with gifts, are age-old
traditions while others,
such as NORAD's
tracking of Santa's
 Letter writing

Writing letters to Santa Claus has been a Christmas tradition for children for


many years. These letters normally contain a wishlist of toys and assertions of
good behavior. Some social scientists have found that boys and girls write
different types of letters. Girls generally write longer but more polite lists and
express the nature of Christmas more in their letters than in letters written by
boys. Girls also request gifts for other people on a more frequent basis.
 Ancient traditions from
Neolithic Times

 1) Romanians spend the
Christmas holiday in a special
way, which is closely
connected with traditions and
customs which are deeply
rooted in centuries-old
history, elements of the
rituals performed today
remind us of the Neolithic
age. A very long time ago, in
south-east of Europe,
Christmas was a solstice
celebration and the
inhabitants of the area
celebrated the solar deity
bearing a similar name. The
denomination “Mos” indicates
the worshipped character’s
old age, a character that must
die in order to be reborn at
the same time with the New
Year. In many European
countries, Christmas and the
New Year were jointly
celebrated on December 25th,
 2) The memory of those days
continues to be alive in the
collective memory of several
dwelling places from Banat
(Western Romania) and
Transylvania (Central
Romania), since The New
Year is also known as Little
Christmas. In Romanian
Culture, Santa Claus, Mos
Ajun’s elder brother,
identified as Saturn, the
Roman god and as Mithra,
the Iranian God, is an
ambivalent character, having
miraculous powers typical for
the heroes of folk tales, as
well as shortcomings typical
for the mortals. As an
apocryphal character, Santa
Claus was born “before all
the saints”, being “the
shepherds’ leader from the
SANTA CLAUS
Nineteen days of celebration
 The Christmas celebration lasts 3 days
(December 25th-27th), however, in a
broader sense it lasts a total of 19 days
(December 20th-January 7th). The
customs, magical practices and rituals
whereby the world is symbolically
recreated, mainly through Santa’s
annual’s death and rebirth, can be
broken down into two symmetrical
periods. These are separated by a
moment of “cutting through time”, from
which the counting of days begins; thus,
the ensuing first period is a rather ill-
fated one, spanning between the Ignat
(the pig’s ritual sacrifice) and the
midnight before Christmas or the New
Year, followed by a beneficial period
spanning between the midnight before
Christmas or New Year and Saint John’s
Day. The former period is abundant with
 The Caroling *
Colindatul
Traditionally, during the first hours after dark on


Christmas' Eve is the time for children to go caroling and

the adults stay home to greet them. As they go caroling
from house to house, the children receive treats like
candy, fruit, baked treats and sometimes even money in
appreciation of their performance and as a sign of holiday
good will.


The grown-ups caroling goes on Christmas evening and

night. The waits -young and mature people - gather in
groups and they choose a leader. When they are in the
front yard of a house, they perform their repertory to the
host. The songs are always accompanied by dance. When
the performance is over, the host invites the carolers
inside the house for food, drinks and presents.

For Christmas…
Proiect realizat de
Pantalon Andrada

Clasa a XI a C