When asked what he loves about Moldova, my partner Chris usually responds with how Moldova has taught him to really enjoy and appreciate celebrations. Sometimes, it seems like every day is a celebration of some sort. Part of what contributes to that feeling is the ”double holidays” effect - several religious holidays we had experienced before are celebrated twice because the Romanian Orthodox church and the Russian Orthodox Church use different calendars for determining when holidays are held, the former using the Gregorian and the latter using the Julian. The Romanian/Gregorian calendar holidays are often called ”new style” and the Russian/Julian calendar ones ”old style.” Depending on the community in which one lives, people might celebrate one, the other, or - when we are lucky! - BOTH!
Below is an excerpt from the book Sărbătorile de iarnă: Winter Celebrations by staff of Peace Corps Moldova. Calendar of winter holidays and some traditions related to them
Our students put on two concerts the last two days of the semester, just before our two week winter vacation. The audio track is 6th grade students singing a famous Christmas carol ("colinda"), Steaua sus răsare. At 0:40 you see 7th grade boys doing an urătura/plugușorul and at 1:19 you see 5th graders throwing seeds/corn/wheat doing a ”semănatul” or ”sorcova”.
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Rebecca LehmanHealth Education volunteer serving at Boris Dînga Middle & High School in Criuleni, Moldova. Archives
May 2017
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