Romanian Orthodox Easter Celebrations and Traditions

     Easter is one of Romania's most important holidays.  Romanian’s Easter holiday follows the Orthodox calendar, which is usually different from the date when other Christian churches celebrate.  They informed us at the beginning of the year (before I arrived), this year they will celebrate starting on Sunday 21 April and they will be out of work this Thursday (25 April) until 2 May.  Across the country, Romanian people know federal, state, and local government and public offices and utilities will be affected.  We were briefed in our staff meetings, public transportation may be near non-existent during this time.

     This holiday is filled with history, myths and legends, colors, and joyful people who keep ancient customs and traditions alive, year after year. The traditional lamb meal and the "egg tapping" make the Easter dinner celebration an unforgettable event for the family.  Relatives reunite and celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

     I always loved coloring eggs; as a child, as an adult with my own children, and eventually with my granddaughter Brooklyn.  I thought I was pretty darn good at it but I was schooled on "coloring" eggs when I got here!  Egg dyeing is one of the most important Romanian Easter traditions. Evidently, the decorated eggs are placed on the dinner table during the holiday.  The children play (but it's not really playing) in the egg tapping competitions.  Traditions say people who knock painted eggs on the first day of Easter will see each other in Heaven after death. The first person who taps the egg has to say ‘Cristos a înviat’ or “Christ has resurrected” in English.  The second person then says "Adevarat a înviat’ or “Indeed, he has resurrected”.  They believe the person whose eggs are unbroken will enjoy the longest life. The loser will die earlier and must present his egg to the winner so as not to be dealt a rotten egg in the afterlife. Hmmm?

     Normally, according to customs, the Easter eggs were painted red and represented the blood shed by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion.  Today they are also painted blue, yellow, or green, or have incredible designs painted on them.  Some are beautifully decorated in a variety of colors using wax-resistant and dye-bath methods; other times, the Easter eggs are decorated with hundreds of tiny beads forming traditional patterns. Romanian Easter eggs are called "oua incondeiate" and are sometimes brought to church and are blessed by the priest.

     More specific to the Romanian tradition of dyeing or coloring Easter eggs, is decorating them with incredibly complicated traditional motifs.  These designs are specific to each region of the country. The tradition you see here is more common in the northern region of Bukovina than the southern regions where I am living.  I haven't had an opportunity to get up there, but I'll be going the second weekend of May.  It is in the northwest and north central sections of the country.  It's pretty far from here, about a six-seven hour drive.  I was able to go downtown this past weekend and I purchased several to send home.  I don't know about anyone else, but short of Faberge eggs, I've never seen such beautifully painted ornaments.  I can't wait to go north and get more.  Btw:  I paid 3 lei each ($1.00 equals about 4 lei)!



     Let me provide a little bit of background on eggs at Easter; I've wondered myself why the obsession with eggs - bunnies don't lay eggs?



     Eggs at Easter - Whether hen’s eggs, chocolate eggs, or porcelain eggs, Easter eggs come in a variety of colors and sizes. To this day, it is customary to eat eggs at Easter (and egg salad for the days following), to give them as gifts, and to use them for decorative purposes. Not only does Christian symbolism play a role in this, but there are also practical reasons. Did you know, in the Middle Ages, the church forbade eating meat and eggs during Lent (from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday). As a result, farmers amassed large quantities of eggs before Easter.  What to do with all these eggs?  They were cooked, decorated, had them blessed in the church, and then gave them away. They reappeared on the table on Easter Sunday. In some regions, farmers were allowed to pay part of their rent in ‘eggs with interest' at Easter.



     Dyeing eggs - Easter eggs have been traditionally painted red since the 13th century, as a color representing life and joy, and also as a symbol of the blood shed by Jesus on the cross. The color red reminds us of the sacrificial death of Jesus. As I said earlier, tt was only later Easter eggs were painted in other colors and ornately decorated too.

     Although the ornamental details vary from one region to another, all of the elements on the decorated eggs have certain meaning. Here's what I learned about some of them:

• the vertical line means life
• the horizontal line means death
• the double line means eternity
• the line with rectangular symbols means knowledge
• the curved line means water
• the spiral means time - eternity
• the double spiral means the bond between life and death

     From what I read and gathered from the Romanians I work with, the second-most important of the Romanian traditions is the Holy Light. On Easter night, at around 11 o’clock, people go to church where they attend the Easter mass to light a candle and bring it into their home. That flame symbolizes the Resurrection of Christ and the triumph of good over evil.  The traffic evidently stops around churches and people put their baskets on the side of the road, waiting for the priest to come and bless their food for the next days meal. The lamb will also be taken to church to be blessed.  Interestingly, Romanians don't normally eat lamb. However, on Easter everyone has lamb dishes prepared specially for this religious celebration.

     On the first day of Easter, adults and their children wash their face and hands in a bowl filled with fresh water. In the water they place a red egg and fresh basil leaves or coins. There are a lot of legends and myths about the tradition of red eggs. The most popular one says Mary, the mother of Jesus, went to grieve his crucified son and placed a basket filled with eggs at his feet, and as the blood of Jesus was dripping, it painted the eggs red.  The story goes, those who follow this tradition will be beautiful and healthy forever.  Anyone think it's worth a try?

     In the city of Sibiu, nestled in the mountains in central Romania, on Easter night trees are decorated with red eggs.

     Another tradition I witnessed was when I went downtown on Sunday, I saw many people walking home from church with willow branches in their hands.  I thought it was odd, so I asked. Initially dedicated to the Roman goddess Flora, Palm Day is a feast celebrated a week before the Romanian Orthodox Easter in the memory of Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem. On this day, people sanctify willow branches, symbolizing the palm fronds which commemorate this moment.  I surmise, because of the climate here in Romania, there are no palm trees but there are A LOT of weeping willow (which I love because we had a huge one in my front yard when I was growing up), so they have substituted willow for palm.

     Every evening during this week they celebrate the harvest.  The believers, with candles in their hands, surround the church singing “prohodul” (an anthem dedicated to Jesus Christ). Each day of the Holy Week has one liturgical signification, but the deepest symbols are found in: the Holy Wednesday (the day of anointing), the Holy Thursday (the day of washing the feet of the Apostles, the Last Supper, the sale and the capture of Jesus), the Holy Friday (the day of the sufferings and crucifixion), the Holy Saturday (the day of the burial).  During this week, according to the tradition and customs, people clean their homes, whitewash the houses, and fix what is broken (maybe we could use a week like this?).

     Good Thursday is the traditional day for decorating the beautiful eggs in the traditional Romanian manner.  Maundy Thursday, the fifth day of the Holy Week, commemorates the moment when Jesus Christ washed the feet of the Apostles.

     Good Friday or Black Friday, is the sixth day of the Holy Week.  It commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. On this day of mourning, the Romanian people abstain from all food and drinks the entire day and in the evening, they eat Holy bread from the church.  Another tradition on Good Friday is to place flowers in church for Christ and to pass under a table three times, signifying the pains Christ endured when he carried his cross to the hill of his crucifixion at Golgotha.

     I told you, they take Easter serious here and it encompasses an entire week.

     Here's an Easter tradition I bet you've never heard of.  In Transylvania, in the Carpathian mountain regions north of here, boys and young men visit unmarried girls and sprinkle them with perfume. This tradition was borrowed from the Hungarians and Austrians. The sprinkling of perfume used to be done in noble families at the end of 19th Century. The tradition says women are perfumed this way so they will smell like flowers all year long and they will bear beautiful children.  In some areas, boys say little poems and then they ask for permission to sprinkle girls with perfume. In the countryside, before the habit was "perfume" sprinkling, girls and women used to be showered with buckets of water.  I can see why it evolved to "perfume" sprinkling.  In theory, this is a cute tradition but I'm just not sure women in America would be too cool with it - there would be a lot of boys and men with black eyes the next day!

     The Easter Feast - my favorite part.  Food features strongly in the Romanian Easter tradition. Pasca is the traditional Easter cake, much like Panetone is in Italy.  Pasca is prepared on the Thursday or Saturday before and blessed at the church.  It is the main focus of the feast.  The cake is made with dough, cheese, and raisins. Lamb, symbolizing Christ, is widely served, along with a Romanian version of haggis made with organ meats (I'll pass on that but I think I could be persuaded to try it at least once). Cheese, vegetables, sweet bread, and of course eggs are also essential components of Easter Sunday dinner.

     On the Monday after Easter, ancient spirits are appeased. These ancient spirits, or little people as they are called here, can’t determine when Easter is over on their own and only understand when they see the remains of eggshells floating on the water, which have been placed there by human celebrants.​



     Well, that's how the Romanians celebrate this most holy holiday.  I know some of the traditions sounds strange to us but I recite them because through them we can see where some of our customs come from.  Coloring Easter eggs, Easter baskets, Easter feast, etc.  It is one of the more enjoyable things about living overseas; learning the cultures of the country you're sharing if for but a short time.  I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed American Easter.



     More than 85 per cent of Romania’s 19 million people belong to the Orthodox Church. The Church, which has enjoyed a revival since Communism fell in 1989, remains the most trusted public institution in Romania.  I'll be thinking about you this coming week as I share the traditions of my host - the Romanian people.

România Easter Sunday

Easter in Romania - Traditions, food, fun, facts, and more