C & C globetrotting around the world…

From Bucharest we took the train to Buzau, the city where Cecilia’s grandparents live. The city is not touristic at all, but there is lots of family living there and around. Orthodox Easter is a week after the Catholic Easter, so we went there to celebrate it with the grandparents. Cecilia’s parents also came to Romania to see us, so we had a nice family reunion.

Cecilia’s grandparents follow all the religious holidays and customs, so during Lent before Easter we were temporarily vegetarians. The food was still very good and Cecilia helped grandma (Buni) in the kitchen. Buni was happy about the help and to share some old recipes, so we had a good time. We went to the market with them and since Buzau has a very good market, it was fun. We also coloured eggs, an important part of Easter for us.

On Good Friday in the evening we went to church for the “Prohod” mass, the so-to-speak funeral of Christ. It is also the day for “trecerea sub masa”, the passing under the table. This is a ritual where people make a wish and pass 3 times under a table put up in the middle of the church. The cross from the altar is also taken to the middle of the church, as a symbol for the crucifixion of Christ. The “Prohod” is a 80-verse-long prayer where the congregation is split in 4 and alternates singing the prayer. After seeing and experiencing so many different cultures and rituals, we were happy to learn more about our own, hehe. Buni was happy to show us off in church to the other old ladies.

For the Romanian Easter, we always go to midnight mass because that’s when it is believed that Jesus resurrected and when the “light” is given. It was interesting for us to watch the rituals through tourist eyes. Christoph thought it was very interesting how there are many things going on at the same time in the church: people singing, while others come and go. There are also 2 priests who exit and enter the closed altar at various times, but also take donations from parishioners. Later during the day we went to the Easter mass at the Bishop’s church, where lots of priests from all over town come for this special mass. We then walked back and had lunch, the famous lamb roast. In the evening we met with some friends and went for a walk and it felt good after so much food.

During our stay in Buzau, we also went to visit some family living in the countryside. Most of them Christoph had never met and some Cecilia hadn’t seen them in a long time either. Cecilia’s cousin Dany has such a cute little son with adorable cheeks. Since then, whenever we see a cute kid, we call him Matei. People’s hospitality is really amazing and it was nice to see everyone again. We hope we can go back some day soon and stay longer. We also visited friends and it’s always a pleasure to see them.

On our last day in Buzau it was grandpa’s (Tataia’s) birthday. He was very happy to have us there for this special occasion and many relatives came to visit during the “open house” day. We also ordered cake for him and we celebrated. It was a nice closure to the 9 days spent together.