In Oltenia, winter customs and traditions are unprecedented and are still preserved in the rural areas. Despite being banned during communism, these traditions bravely stood to face time and modern life. Among the most common customs and traditions from Oltenia there are: stirring the fire, garbage piling, the star, predestinated husband divination or the onion-leafed calendar.
Stirring the fire is a custom practiced in most of the villages in Oltenia on Christmas Eve. All family members are gathering around the fire and stir it with a rod, while saying an incantation asking for health, food, good crops and animal products.
The garbage piling is a ritual being practice on Christmas’ first day. The members of the house are picking up all garbage from the courtyard, hoping the household will have more chickens. Women are sitting on their hams, as the broody hens will sit in the upcoming year.
There a lot of typical carols in Oltenia, but the most spread ones are the Star and the Plough, practiced on Christmas Eve up to dawns. The troop is made of four children, each of them having a preset part: one is holding the star, the other is responsible for collecting the money, nuts and pretzels, while the last two are holding the bag and the stick in order to defend themselves from dogs.
The Big Plough is practiced on New Year’s Eve night. The lads from the village are led by a “staroste/guild master” who holds the plough’s horns and say the hail. The 12-lad troop usually goes only to the wealthier families in the village.
The predestinated husband divination is practiced by the single girls on New Year’s Eve. Eyes shut, the girls used to tie the tenth stick of the paling. The next day they went to see how the stick was like. If it were straight, the future husband would be a handsome man. If the stick were shrimped, the husband would be ugly. If the stick were knotted, then the girl would have a rich partner.
Also to know her future husband, the girl would go on the New Year’s Eve night in the stable where they kicked a cow, asking: “When shall I get married?” If the cow is toilsome, then it’s a sign the girl has to wait until getting married, but if the animal is agile, the girl will marry soon.
The onion-leaf calendar is another unique custom in this part of the country. 12 onion leaves are placed on a table outside on the night of December 31. The leaves are representing the 12 months of the year. They are checked on the morning of January 1: if one leaf is wet, that month will be rainy, if it’s dry, the month will be rainless.
Pițărăii cohorts
The custom dates back in Dacians’ times and symbolizes the sacrifice brought to the divinity as a sign of reward for the crops and trees richness. Pițărăi are cohorts of men, boys and teenagers, who, dressed in traditional folk costumes, get together on the night before Christmas Eve. They start caroling the villagers, wearing flags adorned with bells, colorful scarves, tassels and flower wreaths hanged on tall perches.
In Jiet village, the “pițărăi” custom is preserved unaltered for hundreds of years, as well as specific incantations.
