~ A yearly Romanian socio-cultural evening
featuring Romania’s National Day ~
On Friday (December
1, 2023) I was truly happy to be able to organize a festive reunion
featuring Romania’s National Day, and the chosen place this time was a very well-known
dinner house, truly popular amongst Romanians. In this case, at the welcoming table, my guests were greeted with a large tray of
hands sanitizers (as the safety
protocol continued to be observed) and another large tray with several
distinctive gifts I’ve prepared for each of them.
For instance, this time around, I offered each lady a Christmassy
hair clip decorated with the colors of the Romanian flag and to each gentlemen a
small fir branch, also decorated with the Romanian flag colors.
Aside of that, for this evening I’ve prepared for my guests customary pots with
wheat seeds, I’ve personally planted on November 30th (on Saint Andrew’s Day…in few weeks the
wheat will germinate and grow) and gifted them each so they could enjoy the
fresh green leaves together with their families on the New Year’s Day,
symbolizing the prosperity for the year to come (this is an ancient traditional custom in our home country, many
Romanians are fond of)!
Accompanying the wheat pots, each family received from me a handwritten
Christmas card, filled with greetings of peace for a great year ahead, good
health and joyful moments together with their loved ones.
For this occasion, I’ve also prepared for each guest a holiday bag filled with some small attentions…and because
Romania's National Day seems to pave the way for the coming winter holidays,
foretelling the presence of carolers to come, I thought I would include there some
traditional Romanian symbols as well…back home, in Romania, carolers used to
receive home-backed pretzels, apples, nuts….I’ve adapted this tradition a
little, making sure though that besides all other goodies I would offer them
some customary items as well.
Now, coming back to my event….that evening, after a bit of social networking, I
began the brief cultural program with the Romanian Anthem (since Romania was the theme of the evening), fact which touched
our hearts, filling them with genuine nostalgia and authentic national pride. Then few guests read several poems, and this time I’ve joined them having
myself recite one as well….I really enjoyed it…
Additionally, I brought from home only Romanian music to share with my friends…lots
of old Romanian songs….old and very, very popular…and we all know that behind every favorite
song, there is one or more untold stories….one old song, a thousand memories….needless
to say that at one point in time the air seemed to be filled with magic notes,
able to open the most tightly closed hearts…it was really beautiful!
Last but not least, while music was on and
the food was served, I’ve continued the program of the evening with several, tasteful, party-games, which were truly enjoyed by everybody. It was much fun!
Then we all were ready to dance and in alignment
with the theme of the evening, it was appropriate to have a Romanian "hora" ready
to go…we all had a blast!
Anyhow, as you already know, usually I give you pretty detailed briefings, but
this time I will conclude my summary here, letting you enjoy the extensive
photo collage I’ve put together, because more often than not, pictures speak
better than words.
Summing
up, a big ‘THANK YOU!’ to all my guests who were able to honor my invitation,
wishing them again blessed & happy winter holidays!
Warm regards,
Alice
Mesaj personal din partea
lui Alice, adresat în limba română, la ceas festiv:
Dragii mei
Iată că anul acesta, după o perioadă destul de prelungită de austeritate
socială, am avut posibilitatea să ne revedem în persoană, pentru a petrece împreună
câteva ore de calitate, onorând Ziua Națională a României.
Așa cum m-am exprimat în cuvântul de deschidere al serii respective, această
ocazie anuală intenționează să ne dea posibilitatea să revizităm (pe fugă sau
mai pe’ndelete) ce defapt mai înseamnă România pentru noi, dat fiind că marea
majoritate am plecat de acolo de foarte mulți ani.
Cercetându-ne sufletul, inevitabil răscolim noiane mari de amintiri (unele
dulci, altele mai amare, unele mai vesele, altele mai triste), iar dacă zăbovim
mai mult prin ungherele sale (ale sufletului), o voce suavă și adâncă parcă ne șoptește
spre aducere aminte că acolo (în România) ne-am născut, că acolo avem îngropați
strămoșii, părinții și primii dascăli, că acolo ne-am făcut primii prieteni
adevărați, că acolo am învățat să visăm, să trăim și să iubim; că acolo am râs ș-am
plâns pentru prima dată….că acolo (în țara de baștină) parcă cerul ne este mai
aproape și munții parcă ne ‘înțeleg’ mai bine, la nevoie răspunzându-ne cu
ecouri ce reverberează mai profund ca nicăieri altundeva în lumea asta.
Da, acest tip de întâlnire propune o incursiune de suflet ce parcă se dorește a
fi povață și înțelepciune de viață, ce-și trage seva din filonul ancestral al
neamului nostru...și așa cum ne-ar fi povățuit bătrânii noștri, e bine să ne
aducem aminte cu respect de ceea ce este cu adevărat prețios și să nu ne lăsăm
orbiți de colbul cel iscat de vânturi efemere.
Încă odată, vă mulțumesc
că mi-ați fost aproape!
Cu prețuire,
Alice
“Culture does not make people. People make culture.”
Snapshots from our time together (Friday – December 1, 2023)
Here is the complete version of the very popular “La mulţi ani!” song....enjoy it! LA
MULŢI ANI, România! (video) | Hora
Unirii (video)
This event has been delivered in Romanian Language, featuring Romanian culture.
● ARTICLE featuring our event on December 1, 2023, published
by The Union of Professional Journalists of Romania (“Uniunea Ziariștilor Profesioniști din România”) ● ARTICLE featuring our event on December 1, 2023, published by OBSERVATORUL (from Toronto, Canada) ● Previous events I organized on the same theme: ROMANIA's NATIONAL Day – 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 NOTE: Dear readers, please be advised that on this website each of the previous postings, pertaining to the recurrent annual themes, portray a different perspective of the subject/s presented (same theme/s, but a different outlook without duplication due to the cultural richness of the specific topic/s discussed).
