Impressive Christmas traditions in Romania: the Bear's dance, the Goat, the Star, and drumming bands

Carol singing is the rule on Christmas night in all of Romania’s regions. Traditions vary depending on the area, but the ritual of going from house to house and singing carols crosses everything through like a big red thread. Nowadays, even in urban apartment blocks built during the Communist era, groups of small kids gather and go to their neighbors on Christmas night. They will sing carols and receive in return some money. Neighbors, however, sometimes decide not to open the door so they won’t have to spend money. The ritual is better kept in Romanian villages. In some villages in Transylvania, the first carol singers need to be groups of men, because they bring good luck. Girls need to wait for their turn. In Bucovina, children initiate the carol singing around noon, on the day before Christmas. In the past, kids used to gather in small groups to ask for forgiveness one from another before going carol singing. In some Transylvanian villages, the eldest member of the family needs to greet the carol singers with grains of wheat and maize. The next year’s harvest will be better if people will mix normal seeds with the grains of wheat touched by carol singers. Decades ago, carol singers used to get presents like walnuts, apples, bread. Now people mostly get money. Here are some of the most impressive Christmas traditions from various regions of Romania: The Viflaim play - Maramures, north of Romania In the Maramures area, in the north of Romania, teenagers and even grownups still dress up in Biblical clothes and take part in a theater play called Viflaim. It describes the birth of Jesus Christ. They rehearse several times in advance and perform the play on Christmas night. However, the play is performed in fewer villages nowadays, as it requires many characters and a lot of preparation in advance. The characters include Joseph, Mary, the biblical king Herodias, the two shepherds, the three Magi from the East, sheep, angels and the devil. The play combines pre-Christian ancient traditions with Christian legends. The masks are of heathen origin, and many of the characters represent good and evil spirits. The name Viflaim comes from the old Romanian name of the Biblical city Bethlehem.

Capra - all regions of Romania, mostly Moldova A man will dress up as a goat, called capra in Romania. He wears a multicolored costume and is accompanied by a group of singers during Christmas night. The goat will jump and dance, trying to scare the host. The custom involves props, literary and musical texts and dance. The goat costume is made up of a wooden head, whose lower jaw bone is loose so it can clatter, and multicolored horns that are adorned with mirrors, beads, colored tassels and ribbons, bells and goat or rabbit fur. The costume’s body is made up of thick fabric. It can be made of wool, a carpet or goat fur. Its main function is to hide the one who is wearing it. In some regions, the goat’s dance is performed on New Year’s Eve.