Growing up and living in the Midwest of the US, I in every day life often conflated the concepts of ethnicity and race. In discussing the difference between these two concepts, Historian Dr. John Cheng comments: "Ethnicity isn't just a question of affiliation; it's also a question of choice. It's also a question of group membership. And it's usually associated with a geographic region. It's also often confused or conflated with nationality, but that's not the same thing." Ethnicity, in general, is about cultural affiliation and expression. This involves language, food, dress, traditions, values, norms & assumptions. I bring this up to preface an graphic I find interesting. In the 2014 census, people in Moldova were asked how they identify ethnically. The majority identify as Moldovan. Some identify as Romanian, reflecting Moldova's history as part of Bassarabia, united with part of Romania many years ago. Some identify as Russian, reflecting the intentional colonization by Russia of countries in the Soviet Union, moving settlers from Russia into the country. The prevalence of Ukrainians is related to this intentional migration. Through the mapping out by district, you can also see the regional prevalence of smaller ethnic groups such as Gaugauzian, Bulgarian, and Roma people.
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As I wrote in the last post, Easter is the biggest holiday in the Orthodox calendar. There's not only the one Easter more common to other sects of Christianity - that Easter is followed a week later by "Easter for the Dead" or "Small Easter." Here's a description of Easter for the Dead, called Paștele Blajinilor in Romanian, from the Peace Corps Moldova book A Glance at Moldova: Cross Cultural Handbook (2001): ”A week after Orthodox Easter, there is a ”Easter for the Dead,” when people go to the cemetery with food and wine to visit with family and friends and remember those who have died. If flowers are taken, there should be an even number of blossoms. To decorate, towels are spread on the graves and individual arrangements are place on the towels. Each arrangement includes colac (special braided bread), a red colored egg, a bit of candy or mini bagel, and a slender church candle. These special arrangements are called pomana, and they are given as a gift to other people to remember the dead person with the words ”de sufletul lui ...” (”for the soul of ...”). The meaning of this saying is that people believe that the soul of the dead will rest in peace, having all that he needs in the other world. Many graves have a small bench and table for food and wine. After decorating, a small can of incense is lit, and the priest and attendants come to give a blessing. As the priest chants the blessing, he pours a dash of wine alongside the grave. The family gives him money and one of the ”bread arrangements” which is placed into a large basket carried by young boys. The priest and his entourage then move on to the next grave until all have been visited. There is much visiting as people go from one grave to another with an exchange of the ”arrangements” which are presented with prosop (a towel), and the sharing of wine. There are no toasts, and a person will often dribble a bit of wine alongside the grave with the words: ”de sufletul lui” and ”să-i fie tărâna ușoară.” [wishes for an easy arrival] The exchanges may also include a cup or mug filled with candies or sweets and perhaps even a bit of sugar or rice. Afterwards they eat and drink, and continue their celebration at home. The Monday after the Easter of the Dead is an official holiday." Please follow the links below to learn more about this holiday as experienced by other Peace Corps Volunteers: In her blog Sundry Travels, Haley describes her experience with this holiday in the south of Moldova - including insights on the holiday in Russian. David describes his experience with the holiday in central Moldova on the blog Not Exactly Retired, in which he chronicles his and his spouse's service and travels.
Sunday, April 16th, marked the biggest holiday of the Orthodox Christian calendar and one of the biggest holidays throughout Moldova: Easter, called Paște in Romanian. Here's a description of Easter from the book A Glance at Moldova: Cross Cultural Handbook (2001): "Easter is celebrated at churches in traditional all-night services with the congregation standing the entire time. There are no seats or benches in Orthodox churches. In the early morning, the people exit the church and form circles surrounding the building. Each family prepares a display on the ground or in a basket which includes special sweet bread (pasca), red colored eggs, wine, sausage, and a lighted candle. It is quite an impressive sight as the many people stand behind their candle-lit arrangements expectantly waiting as church bells peal in the near-dawn darkness. Then the priests and attendants file out of the church, and chanting, they begin the walk of many circles. The priest dips a branch of basil into a large bucket of water carried by a young attendant, and splashes generous droplets of holy water over the people and their food in a traditional blessing. Everybody is supposed to eat the blessed food first thing in the morning for three consecutive days. Easter Monday is also celebrated as an official holiday. The grown-ups exchange presents of eggs and pasca and visit their parents and grandparents saying, "Hristos a înviat!” [Christ is risen!] The children visit relatives and are given colored eggs, cookies, candies, and money. For forty days after Easter, the greeting is ”Hristos a înviat”with the response ”Adevarat a înviat” [Truly he is risen]. On the fortieth day [after Easter], people say "Hristos a înălțat,” [Christ is exalted] with the response ”Cu adevarat s-a înălțat.” [Truly he is exalted]" Please check out the links below to hear & see other Peace Corps Volunteers' experiences with Orthodox Easter in Moldova! Scroll down to the April 16, 2017 post on Mark's Trail for a variety of beautiful photos showing the blessing of food, from which I stole the above photo of a family's food display. Beth explains some common traditions leading up to Easter as well as her experience with the holiday itself in this post, from which I stole the above photo of pasca. Katrina shares about her experience last year with the food blessing process, which the above photo shows.
After a popular first post about "the two kinds of people in Moldova", the Diez.md posted a second list. The translated first list is here and below is my translation (and commentary) on the second list. În Moldova există două tipuri de oameni (II): Tu din care faci parte? - There are Two Kinds of People in Moldova (2): Which One are You? ”We often run into situations in Moldova where people do one of two things. The #diez team has identified several ways to categorize people. If you know others, write them in the comments. 1. People who put lightbulbs in the stairwells of apartment buildings and people who steal them. [All I have to add is that there are no lights in our apartment block's stairwell...] 2. People who listen to Carla's Dreams in full sight/hearing of others, who post their songs on social media without shame and people who listen to them secretly. [Moldova's biggest pop star.] 3. Those who go outside wearing a light shirt and cardigan when it's 68* F in April and those who leave the house in a long coat with fur edges. 4. Those who send packages abroad and those who receive them from abroad. [It's estimated that 1 in 4 Moldovan adults live/work abroad.]
5. Those who wait patiently in line and those who impatiently push ahead saying, "I just have a question..." 6. Those who have a 6-foot high fence and those who are saving up for one. 7. Those who openly look to see if their trolleybus ticket is lucky and those who do it secretly. [There's a superstition about the numbers printed on trolleybus tickets... I'll have to get the exact details and make a post...] 8. Those who are politicians and those who actually know about politics... and geopolitics. [Trust in politicians is low here; corruption is said to be very high.] 9. Those who struggle to untie the knot on bags of sour cream bought at the market and those who quickly cut them open with scissors. 10. Those who open the windows in minibuses when it's suffocatingly hot/stuffy and those who slam them shut because a breeze is blowing. [Breezes, called "the current", are believed by many (including doctors) to be the primary cause of medical issues.]" Due to holidays and illness, I fell out of the habit of posting. I'm jumping back in by translating two pieces from the Moldovan Romanian-language news website Diez.md. A friend shared these with me and I found them both amusing and that they provide little insights into some aspects of daily life. În Moldova există două tipuri de oameni (I): Tu din care faci parte? - There are Two Kinds of People in Moldova: Which One are You? ”We often run into situations in Moldova where people do one of two things. The #diez team has identified several ways to categorize people. If you know others, write them in the comments. 1. People who applaud when the plane lands and people who don't. [It is not unusual to hear people applauding when a plane lands, which was common a long time ago in most countries.] 2. People who say "Christ has risen!" and people who say "hello!" [According to Orthodox Christian tradition, for the 40 days after Easter we should great each other with "Christ has risen!" "Indeed he has!" instead of hello, good morning/afternoon/evening, etc.] 3. People who pay immediately when they enter a microbus and people who pay after they sit down. [We can pay immediately upon entering, or pass money up through the passengers to the driver (who then sends our change back, again through the passengers), or wait and pay upon exit. I try to copy whatever the person who got on before me did] 4. People who have Romanian citizenship and people who don't. [Many Moldovans have dual citizenship in Romania, which opens up many travel, study, and work opportunities.] 5. People who tag others in holiday pictures on social media and people who untag themselves. [A common way to share holiday greetings is to post a picture with holiday wishes on Facebook or Odoklasniki and tag everyone you are "saying" these holiday wishes to.] 6. People who organize events and people who eat the snacks during the coffeebreak at events. 7. People who buy tickets to events and people who call friends looking for free invites/tickets to events. 8. People who have balconies and people who build their own. [Hopefully the picture from the article explains this... A lot of apartments come with balconies and sometimes people figure out ways to add balconies to apartments that don't have them...] 9. People who stay in Chișinău for holidays and people who don't. [It is traditional for many holidays to go to family, to go to where one's parents and/or grandparents live.]
10. People who go to the city center in Chișinău for concerts and people who avoid these concerts. [There are a variety of events in downtown Chișinău - concerts, festivals, sporting events, and more. These can be exciting and they're nearly always crowded!] Fellow Peace Corps Volunteer Lauren recently contributed to the site The Beauty of Peace Corps, which is gathering posts from Volunteers around the world about their experiences with the concept of beauty in their host country. Read the full post about Lauren's experience in Moldova HERE. (excerpt below)
"2)WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CULTURAL BEAUTY STANDARDS AT YOUR SITE? DO YOU FIND YOURSELF TRYING TO MEET THOSE STANDARDS OR NOT?Oh, Moldova. The word in Romanian for beautiful is “Frumos” and it is the standard in all things. Gardens, houses, lesson plans, chalk boards, dresses, hair styles, shoes (especially shoes), must be frumos at all times. Some of my most challenging moments in Moldova have been trying to emphasize efficiency and achieving our educational goals when my partners value the visual aesthetic (aka frumosness) more than the learning outcome...” Full post HERE. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month in countries all over the world, including the USA and Moldova. #RedMyLips is an annual campaign coordinated by the international NGO Red My Lips, which works "to raise visibility and awareness about the realities and prevalence of sexual violence, while combating rape myths and victim-blaming." Acțiune pentru Justiție (Action for Justice) and Moldova ATiP work together to engage people all over Moldova in the campaign. Below is a slideshow of some of the images used so far in this month-long campaign. Some comments are specific to Moldova, but the core message is important for us all!
Mark G., a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer in Moldova, publishes a monthly newsletter called 800 Days in Moldova in English, Romanian, and sometimes Russian. This month marks the 12th edition and I thought the topic was interesting: Comparing rates of pollution and garbage production.
Before becoming a Volunteer, Mark was a professional photographer. He continues to use his craft in the project Imagini Rîșcani, photographing any person, place, event, or object that someone requests him to. These photos are then made available for free use by the local District Council (with whom he does his Peace Corps Service), village leadership, and local organizations to help in improving daily life in Moldova.
You can see & hear Mark in the video below, which he made for a group in his home state of North Carolina. You can see many beautiful sites from his region as well as get a reminder about how Peace Corps works globally and here in Moldova. Cross-posting from another Volunteer, Haley, who writes so much better than I could on the issue of stray dogs in Moldova:
”But the life of dogs is not always a cakewalk with tasty people-food and scritches. One of the country-wide problems is an overabundance of strays. During training, Peace Corps warned us about dogs that might bother us (or worse) while running. And yeah, I have some running buddies down by the local lake… I couldn’t help but admire a white wolf-like beast (from a distance). To address the issue, Peace Corps issues dog deterrents (batteries not included) to scare away any potential followers. ... The stray issue really is a problem in Comrat. Locals will tell you that dogs bite, bother and chase – and people often feel at unease walking alone in certain areas because of this. At best, they’re considered pests. In 2014, Comrat officials reported that almost 150 locals were attacked by these stray dogs. The local government has attempted to address these issues in the past. Although Comrat residents were divided on the issue, in 2011, a special team of 7 men were assigned to begin shooting the strays. ” See the full post HERE. My significant other also partners with a group through World Wise Schools. He recently connected two groups of young people and below is the results. Quoting him: "This winter and spring, my partner in Ciorescu, Galina Rusu, and I challenged our students in our English Speaking Club to participate in a Photo Scavenger Hunt. Each Sunday, for 4 weeks, Galina gave the children 5 objectives that they were to capture in photos. The kids teamed up in pairs and took photos of things they thought met the criteria.For my American friends back home, this 8 minute video will give you a great way to see the ways that Moldova is similar to America and the ways we are different. You’ll see their school, the main streets in their villages or cities, quiet parks, grocery stores, their school notebooks, and favorite trees. This video is part of an exchange we are doing with the Human Rights Club at Campbell County High School in Kentucky. The students there also sent us photos of similar places in their home and our students on Friday had the chance to compare the two. Big thank you to the students in both countries and my partner teachers in each place, Galina Rusu and Bridget Brown." |
Rebecca LehmanHealth Education volunteer serving at Boris Dînga Middle & High School in Criuleni, Moldova. Archives
May 2017
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