Easter in Moldova

 

Well in a way, it really wasn't Easter in Moldova.  This year the Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on May 5th.  They are in the beginning of Lent right now.  But for us western Christians, it was Easter.  You can tell from our weather board "Lumea Mea" at the Community Center, that it wasn't a sunny day.  "Lumea mea" means My World.  We're not having a bar-b-cue as it seems in the next picture.  Saturday night the catholic church in Orhei had the traditional Vigil Mass with the blessing of new fire.  Winter in Moldova has convinced me that the warmth of a new fire is a religious experience.  Of course the Paschal Candle is lit from the new fire and the people proceed into church with their lit candles.  You may notice a color scheme in flowers and ribbons in church that emphasize red and white.  This is a crossover from the Spring Martisol colors in the Moldovan tradition.  I noticed the absence of Easter Lilies.  I always love the smell of Easter Lilies.  On the front of the altar you see the words "Cristos a Inviat", Romanian for Christ is Risen.  As is traditional in many European countries, people brought baskets of food to be blessed after Mass.  These include things like colored eggs, breads, sausage.    Well the community in Piatra today was having a talent show: "Piatra Are Talente" or Piatra Has Talent. It took place in the cafeteria of our local school. So my Easter afternoon was filled with all the excitement of singers and comics and poets and musicians of all ages.  There were 32 acts in all.  On my way back to my house, I saw a stork gliding in circles over our valley.  What a beautiful sight.  When I got to the house, I thought I saw the Easter Bunny.  No, it was only Liviu playing in the yard with Grandma Iulia and Uncle Sergiu.  The weather did turn during the day and got up to 50.  It was a good day for puppies, kids, and little peeps.  Check back in on May 5th and see how Moldovans celebrate Easter. 

Pushing Spring

 

Pushing Spring.  The first time I hear that expression I was at a Pete and Lou Berryman concert.  They sang a song about pushing Spring in Wisconsin.  It basically means you're trying really hard to think Spring even though it isn't quire here.  The local equivalent here in Moldova has to do with a Romanian legend about Baba Dochia.  You can see her picture above shedding her many coats from winter.  Sometimes she takes too many off too soon.  And sometimes she shakes the dust off of them to cause a Spring snow storm.  Today I'm still wearing my Martisol (red and white decoration) from March 1st and also my winter scarf.  I'm beginning a new 500 piece jig saw puzzle today because the temperatures are in the 20's F and strong winds outside.  It's a good day to stay inside.  In Orhei I saw these bikes for sale.  I suppose a sign of Spring.  And here are other scenes from Piatra village life in these early days of Spring.  It rained one day this past week, and all the ducks in the yard were priming their  feathers.  The late afternoon sun bathes the valley in seeming warmth as new life tries to lift its head above ground.

 

I'm going to include a little link here to a music video from Moldova.  It's made by two brothers and I think the scenes give you a real flavor for village life here in Moldova. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf6jzxurRog   Enjoy. Think Spring.

Wood Pile and Pizza

 

Wood pile and pizza?  Kind of a disjointed topic today.  Recently we got a new load of wood delivered to the farm.  It was large cuts of tree that needed sizing down to use in our "soba".  A soba is an internal fireplace that's built right into the wall of a room.  Every day about 5 pm one of the family comes into my casa mica and strarts up a fire in the soba.  It lasts through the night and makes the room warm enough to dress in the morning before heading off to work.  Well you can see the amazing pile of split wood with the chief wood splitter himself, Domnul Sergiu.  I helped put the wood away in the little house you see behind the wood pile.  But I also had to try a swing at the axe, which is "topor" in Romanian.  Of course, it had to stick in the log instead of split it!  Well I finally got it after a few tries.  Whew, that's a lot of work.   On a completely different day, the kids at the Center made pizza!  First there was the mixing of flour and water.  Oh it was hard to keep the flour off of our faces.  And the boys were in charge of the hot dogs of course.  They sliced them up for the pizza.  If you were buying these at the alimentara (grocery store) you'd ask for "crenvursti".  Of course, we have clean hands!  I failed to get a picture of the mayonaise tube.  Yes, Moldovans love mayo on pizza.  As you can see, the final product was very satisfactory.  A final shot of the pizza chefs. 

8 Martie

 

March 8th....that's what 8 Martie translates to in English.  It's a national holiday here in Moldova.  March 8th is International Women's Day.  This year it came on a Friday in a week where children had no classes at all.  You might say it was a spring break week.  We used to refer to it as "clean-up week" when I was in school.  So activites at the Community Center Universul were a little more intense as the children come earlier when there's no school and leave at supper time.  Much of the week was spent in preparation for a 8 Martie concert.  Painting windows, making paper flowers.  And since the weather was a little more like Spring, playing outdoors.  There are some down times when you just need to stare off into space, but then you connect like Valentina and I did here in the picture above.  The concert was a great effort.  The children love to dress their best and sing, and dance, and recite poetry.  And even throw in a bit of humor as these boys dressed as girls...well it was International Women's Day.  The staff appreciated the humor, Inga our psychologist, Ala our soical assistant, and Sergiu our social worker.  And many of the mothers were there too to applaud and receive the homemade Mother's Day cards from their children.  Yes 8 Martie is also Moldova's Mother Day.