Moldovan-only** traditions:
Paștele blajinilor (Easter of the weak/peaceful) Проводи -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radonitsa
Found in Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia.
Painting eggs -
http://www.maribol.ro/wp-content/upl...015/09/oua.jpg
Isolated to the northern regions of Moldova, this tradition might have been taken from the Hutsul people.
Digging up the dead after 7 years. Unfortunately only some Romanian articles speak about it, but it is a centuries old tradition in Moldova that still scares Romanians when they hear about it. Some blamed its apparition on lack of burial places, but that is strange, knowing that Moldova has been a country ravaged by wars and sparsely populated. The tradition died in the Rep. of Moldova and cannot even be found everywhere in Moldova, but mostly just in the part bordering the Prut (Romania).
My personal interpretation is that this might be a pre-Christian, Slavic tradition that somehow survived, as it has been documented in the pagan Slavs (they did take the femur and head of the ancestors for protection, we don't do that). In itself, the tradition just implies digging up the dead after 7 years while a priest says some prayers. The remains are collected in a satchel but buried back in the same place. The burial place is not reused.
If anyone else wants to contribute, please do. I personally find Romania to be a country that takes huge pride in its traditions but left them to die, with few folk groups preserving mostly just the music part of it. When I look at Poland, Ukraine or Bulgaria, I see much better kept traditions with people much more interested in preserving them.
The dances that started this thread are probably proto-Slavic in origin as they can be found with very similar characteristics from Serbia-Bulgaria to Russia.
Bookmarks