Easter Holidays in Romania

Easter traditions have been preserved in many regions across Romania

Daniel Onea, 29.03.2018, 13:27

Bukovina is a
region in northern Romania comprising the counties of Suceava and Botoşani. It
has always been a tourist hotspot, especially during religious celebrations.
The churches of Bukovina were built during the reign of great Romanian rulers
and ahead of religious celebrations people have always dressed in the region’s
traditional wear, therefore Bukovina is a place where each and every tourist
can have a wonderful time. A special attraction of the area is the Egg Museum
in Vama, which displays more than 7 thousand painted eggs. Almost 3,500 come
from 82 countries from all 5 continents. Letiţia Orşinschi teaches textile and
decorative art and is a member of the Traditional Arts Academy in Romania. Next
she will tell us more about egg painting:

In the past, the people of Bukovina used to paint the eggs in a simple manner,
with a single dominant motif, using toneless, earthy colors which can still be found
today on traditional costumes and cloths. The museum also exhibits eggs that
belonged to my family, which are 50 up to 100 years old. These eggs were
painted with the yolk and white inside, but, as they were not covered with
varnish, the white evaporated through the eggshell pores and the yolk
coagulated inside. These eggs used to be kept in a traditional house,
especially on stormy days. The eggs blessed during the Easter Mass used to be
placed in the window casement to protect the people inside from the evil
outside. According to tradition, these eggs were said to protect young girls
from the evil eye and to help them have a good, successful marriage. Today the
technique of painting eggs has been taken to another level. In the past, the
intensity of the colors used for painting eggs was indicative of the status of
that respective woman from Bukovina. A light red indicated a young, unmarried
woman, brownish garnet was for married women, while black was for widows. In
Bukovina you will also find the wax-melting technique used for painting eggs.

Another
point of attraction during the Easter holidays is the region of Maramureş, in
the north. Dan Carpov, from the Tourist Information Office in Maramureş County,
has more details:

Traditions have
been well preserved in Maramureş and on Easter tourists always have quite an
experience. Although modernity mingles with tradition, the people of Maramureş
won’t give up their traditional costumes, irrespective of the part of Maramureş
county you may choose to visit. Eastern traditions have been preserved
everywhere in Maramureş, that is why we refresh and improve our offer
continuously, in order to always live up to tourists’ expectations. Our tourist
attractions have been included in an already-famous tourist circuit, and
Mocăniţa, the narrow-gauge steam train, is on top of tourists’ preferences.
Actually Maramureş is the only county of Romania with 8 tourist sites included
in the UNESCO heritage list and we have already developed a tourist package that
covers these 8 sites. We also provide trips to the area’s old wooden churches.
Interest in mountain tourism has been on the rise lately, and tourists are very
happy with the region’s cycling route that measures 80 kms.

Claudia Andron,
the president of Turist, Bistrita-Nasaud County’s Tourism Promotion
Association, has another proposal
for Easter: a visit to the wine cellars
in the region:

The scenery is very beautiful and there are
many rural guesthouses where you can see for yourselves how people in
Bistrita-Nasaud spend Easter. There are many very beautiful churches where you
can take part in the Easter mass. We have fine customs and traditions, such as
the Sprinkling of the Girls, a custom that is observed on the second day of
Easter. I really recommend that you spend Easter in Bistrita Nasaud. You will
not regret it. Not only is it beautiful, but it is also a special experience.
Take the Wine Road, for instance.
Around 1600, the Saxons brought the first vine branches to our county, and
during the communist regime they were very well preserved. Unfortunately, after
1989 they disappeared until a couple of years ago, when a bunch of local
producers, who were in love with farming, sought to rekindle the tradition of
vine growing in Bistrita Nasaud. We have several very beautiful wine cellars,
ready to receive groups of tourists for wine-tasting sessions any time of the
year.

Located in
Transylvania, Sovata is a balneal resort that started gaining European
recognition as early as 1850, especially for the treatment of stomach diseases.
Kacso Marta is the representative of a hotel compound in the resort, and gave
us details on Easter offer of the compound she represents:

The Easter
offer at a four-star hotel includes accommodation for three nights in a double
room, breakfast and buffet dinner included. We have also prepared a festive
lunch for Easter on April 8. Access to the SPA center is unlimited, while for
children we have prepared all sorts of entertainment programs. The package per
person costs 960 Lei, that is 207 Euro, in a double room.

Forget about the
sea, forget about the beach, come to a camp in Straja. That is how the resort
of Straja in southwestern Romania is promoted by the manager of a three star
villa, Mihai Dumitrascu:

Straja is best
known as a winter resort, yet in recent years it has also developed as a summer
resort, since it lies close to the most important tourist sites in Hunedoara
County: The Hunyads’ Castle, the Prislop Monastery, the Sickness Cave and the
Retezat massif. Easter is the recommended time for a visit to Straja. We have
an excellent value-for-money package which includes a visit to the Straja
Hermitage and the Way of the Cross, Eastern Europe’s biggest such hermitage. We
can offer four or five night packages for the price of 595 Lei, that is 127
Euro, which covers half-board and the festive dinner on Easter.

Lucian Taranu is
the owner of a guesthouse in Poiana Galdei, in Apuseni’s Trascau Mountains. He
has invited us to places that have never been spoiled by the hustle and bustle
of city life.

A secluded area, where beauty, joy and
quiet are at home. If you take the trouble to come over, to the Garda Valley,
crossing over a bridge we built ourselves, you’re sure to find heaven on earth.
Also, the food here is fine, made of produce we grow ourselves in our gardens.
We can bake the bread together, you can taste from the famous drink prepared by
inn-keeper Lenuta, known as Forest Joy. If you stay for a week with us, you can
also enjoy the caves, the lakes, the gorges, the waterfalls and the mountain
rivers in the area.

Easter holiday
offers in hotels across Romania are very generous. However, the best version is
the one including accommodation in rural guesthouses, where you can have the
chance to be much closer to traditions and customs in each region across
Romania. And at that, you’re sure to have a complete experience.