Dear Friends / Dragi prieteni,

Romanian Easter is finally here, this very Sunday, 27 April 2008. We would like to wish you all Paste fericit / Happy (Romanian) Easter!

Don’t think our calendar has gone off on strike, or that we forgot Easter has already taken place this year. Let us give you a small explanation for the phenomenon.

The majority of Romanians are Orthodox Christians (like the Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, and Russians). Orthodox Christians usually celebrate Easter at different dates than the Catholics and Protestants, and that is because the date of the feast is calculated using the old-style Julian calendar (in use since Julius Caesar), not the modern Gregorian one (which is in use only from 1582). Thus Orthodox Easter falls generally on different days than the Catholic / Protestant Easter. Sometimes, the dates happen to coincide, but most of the times it can be a delay between one and five weeks.

Easter in Romania is the most important celebration of the Orthodox calendar and its complete observance requires a period of 40 days fast. Nevertheless, most of the people observe the fast on Wednesdays and Fridays and the week before Easter – the Holy Week. The religious meaning of Easter as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is still preserved in Romania and is very important to people. The Easter Bunny and chocolate eggs are also present, but they are a not a mandatory part of the celebrations.

As with many Romanian holy days, there are some things without which one cannot have a proper holiday. Such is the case with Easter too. First and foremost, there are the Easter eggs, which are hard-boiled and then painted in vivid colours one or two days before the big day. The most often used colour is red, as a reminder of Christ’s blood. Some eggs are beautifully decorated with traditional patterns, following an ancient technique preserved only in several areas of the Romanian countryside.

As you will see, food is very important for the Easter feast. Another must-have is lamb. Lamb is not a most popular food in Romania, and many people eat it only for Easter. But then, they do so in various wonderfully tasty ways: ‘drob’ – a coarse lamb pâté, ‘ciorba de miel’ – lamb white borscht garnished with chopped lovage leaves, roast leg of lamb, and lamb casserole.

Then, there are the ‘sarmale’ – cabbage leaves stuffed with a mix of pork mince, rice and spices, and then everything ends with the ‘pasca’ – a sort of Easter only cheesecake, and ‘cozonac’ – which is somehow similar to marble cake or a brioche loaf with walnut or poppy seed filling.

Traditionally, the feast starts when the family comes home after the midnight Resurrection Mass. The meal starts with the participants knocking and breaking the painted eggs, with the shout of ‘Cristos a inviat!’ (Christ is risen!). It is more or less a meal-time contest, where the one who manages to break the greatest number of eggs from their “opponents” is considered the winner. After this, the entire family will enjoy the banquet and begin the celebrations in earnest. The banqueting goes on during Easter Sunday, after the main Easter Day Mass.

We hope you will have a great Romanian Easter, full of happiness and sunshine, and – of course, filled with some or all of the dishes mentioned above.

With best regards,

The Romanian Cultural Centre in London