Stars twinkle in the sky. Carols are sung. Jingle can be heard everywhere. A gentle light comes down on earth bringing peace and harmony. Inside the houses parents and grandparents, sons and daugthers get together around the Christmas table to celebrate the birth of the Holy Infant. One could easily notice joy and love on their faces....
The Romanian soul includes a particular sense of tradition which makes Christmas a special time for everyone - a time of the heart, a time of the joy to share. It doesn't really matter if they are rich or poor. On Christmas Day Romanian people will open their hearts, will open the doors of their houses and will warmly invite you in. You will necessarily sit together round a Christmas table and share...

Besides the common dishes, including a lot of starters (feta cheese, sliced salami or ham, aubergine salad, mushrooms in mayonnaise, fish roe salad, meatballs, cheese pastries, eggs filled with pate and topped with mayonnaise etc.), soups, larded roast, potatoes, rice, vegetables, pickles and so forth, the Romanian Christmas table means a lot of traditional dishes.

There still is a tradition - especially in the country - to slaughter a pig the week before Christmas. It is then cooked in different ways and served on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. It can be roast or grilled pork or they can make sausages (usually garlic sausages) - photo - and black pudding. Another very tasty traditional dish is 'sarmale'. They are cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of rice, onion, minced beef or pork and herbs which are then boiled in a light tomato sauce and are usually served with sour cream. They all go very well with one of the Romanian so famous wines.

It is said that Romanian women are great at making cakes and cookies. The cakes are generally made from sponge moistened in light syrup and layered with various fillings including butter cream or whipped cream flavoured with vanilla, chocolate and nuts or fruit. Smaller versions of these are called 'prajituri' and there usually is a special day before Christmas just for making them.

At Christmas, Romanians like to eat 'cozonac' which resembles Italian 'panetone' and which is a large sweet loaf flavoured with nuts, raisins, poppy seeds or Turkish delight. And if all of these are accompanied by wonderful carols, sung together by all the participants, by the glittering of the Christmas tree, then one could easily understand why every Christmas is special, unique. One of the Romanian carols says something like this:

Open wide the doors of you hearts
We are not here to ask for anything
We are here to give...

This is our message when we go caroling. This could be our message to the whole world.

by Scoala n.o 7 - Cluj-Napoca