~
An evening of poetry, history & Christmas cheer, featuring Romania's National Day ~
Before
too long, I am glad to share that on Friday (December
14’18) I was truly happy to be able to meet with a fairly large group of
dear friends in order to celebrate the Romanian Centenary as this special year would end up soon. Our gathering this time was a bit different than usual, but without any doubt,
enjoyable in every way.
The
evening together unfolded with a cheerful & well garnished potluck & after
that we all settled around, in a large circle so we could start with our
cultural section.
We began our program with the Romanian Anthem (since we were honoring the Romanian Centenary), followed suit by
the Canadian Anthem….needless to say that our hearts open widely, as the musical
notes filled the room with such a profound sense of unity and heart touching
national pride, in the most genuine sense.
The evening continued with a number of interesting presentations, when my
friends evoked important pages of Romanian history; they brought along old
photo albums with dear ancestors who created those pages of history, they
shared original compositions (poems,
songs & essays) especially created for the occasion, a large genealogical tree and many heart warming life stories that were shared in such a genuine
manner….some of them I will elaborate below.
For instance, we were pleased to have with us that evening our friend Doina,
whose ancestor is the Greek-Catholic Bishop Iuliu Hossu.
Portrait: The Greek-Catholic Bishop, Iuliu Hossu
Iuliu
Hossu was a Greek-Catholic priest, Bishop of the Cluj-Gherla Diocese (1885-1970) and a very well-known historic
figure (biography), who in the year
1918, read to a 100,000 Romanians the ‘Alba Iulia Proclamation’ which officially
states the unification of Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina with the
Romanian Kingdom, during the reign of Ferdinand I.
In
the comments section I am publishing few historic articles & video links (both in Romanian & English languages) with background info, featuring Bishop Hossu.
Portrait: Ligia Oancea
Also,
on Friday, our friend Ligia Oancea, a talented music conductor and song writer (biography), brought along a personal
composition – the poem called “Mi-e dor”, which (with Ligia’s permission) I am happy to be able to publish in the
comments section.
Aside of that, we were delighted to hear from Ligia about her roots (Ligia is a descendent of Stârcea family), as she brought along her genealogical tree
covering the last 600 hundred years. With
Ligia’s permission for this website only, I’ve put together a concise collage,
which reflects her sharing.
Further,
our friend Dana offered a brief expose referring to Emmanuel de
Martonne and Robert Ficheux – two French geographers who allocated many years
of research accurately mapping the Central Europe, as well as Romania.
Besides,
Dana presented a centenary medal produced by a group of Romanians from
diaspora; this distinction is accompanied by a special parchment listing a
chart of a 100 famous Romanian historical figures.
Our
evening together continued with a lovely presentation offered by our dear
friend Dorina Aldea, who wrote an article about the Romanian Centenary & a
beautiful, heart-felt essay (the original versions are written in
Romanian Language and Dorina sent them along so I could publish both in the comments section).
Another meaningful input was brought along by our
friend Dean P., who further elaborated on the contribution of the Romanian Bishop
Hossu to the Romanian history, describing it all in an educational manner.
Then our friend Ioana shared few personal memories adjoining Christmas
family traditions.
And last, but not least, our dear friend Teo Trandafir delighted us with a
personal poem as well as few remarks concerning the Romanian history and the
Romanian Christmas traditions.
After all presentations were delivered, we raised our voices, singing together the
famous Romanian song, called “Treceţi batalioane Române Carpaţii” (“Romanian Troops, Cross The Carpathian
Mountains”) that made all our hearts beat faster, filling them with
gratitude and appreciation for the many sacrifices our ancestors made so the
Romanians would live nowadays in a peaceful, united and rejoiced country.
The
toast that followed was unanimous: “TRÃIASCÃ ROMÂNIA MARE!” ("Longlive
the Greater Romania") – we raised our voices & our glasses
with (non-alcoholic) champagne to
honor this beautiful moment of togetherness, and national pride.
Additionally, our group happiness was followed by a bouquet of very well-known
Christmas carols, and with glowing hearts, we did sing them together, each
rewinding in our minds precious childhood moments.
The time we spent together was relaxing and impressive in every way, without realizing
that in fact we were creating lasting memories!
Now, when I write these line to you, I am deeply touched recognizing that
certain heartwarming moments would be simply unforgettable, and I would like to
thank each of my friends for their companionship.
On the other hand, I would like to briefly mention that at this time of the
year, when Christmas is literally around the corner, all my guests were having
busy agendas (mine not being an exception
either), but despite the heaviness of their schedules, my dear friends
walked the extra mile to spare few hours squeezing into their calendars our
gathering – needless to say that my appreciation for all and each of them goes
way beyond any words!
So, once again my dear friends, a big & heartfelt THANK YOU to each of you, & until we meet again, I'm wishing you all, happy, blessed and peaceful holidays!
Alice
“A
nation’s culture resides in the hearts of its people.”
● A page of old history: Portrait Bishop Iuliu Hossu
● A page of current history: Portrait Ligia Oancea
Snapshots from our time together (Friday - December 14, 2018)
This event has been delivered in Romanian Language, featuring Romanian culture.
● ARTICLE featuring our event on December 14, 2018, published by OBSERVATORUL (from Toronto)
