| HOW ROMANIANS SPENT CHRISTMAS 28/12/2009 |
| (2009-12-28) |
| Last updated: 2009-12-29 18:01 EET |
 With their families, around the Christmas tree, or together with their friends in a mountain resort surrounded by snow, Romanians have fully enjoyed the magic of the Christmas days. Traditionally, in the Christian world, Christmas is the most beautiful holiday. Romanians associate it with hope and maybe it was not by chance that the 1989 anti-Communist revolution took place in December around Christmas time. Romanians have enjoyed the Christmas days with their families and friends singing carols and offering presents to their loved ones.
The Christmas dinner was very rich in traditional pork dishes and lots of cakes, of which the pound cake was the most appreciated. On the third day after Christmas the Orthodox Romanians celebrated Saint Stephen.
Although people generally spend Christmas with their families, many chose to go to the mountains to ski and spend Christmas in a hotel or guest house together with their friends.
Romania’s president, Traian Basescu, has conveyed a message to Romanians encouraging them to enjoy the peace of the season and the beauty of the Romanian folk traditions while the former king of Romania, Mihai the 1st, expressed hope that 2010 would be a better year despite the economic crisis. King Mihai, who is currently living in Romania, took part in the Christmas mass held at the Cathedral in Alba Iulia (in central Romania). The cathedral is a symbol for the royal family given that sovereigns of the re-unified Romania, Ferdinand 1st and his wife, Maria, during whose reign the great union of the Romanian principalities took place on December 1st 1918, were crowned in this very cathedral.
To welcome Christmas properly Romanians spent a lot on food and presents pumping more than 4 billion euros in the economy. According to experts this sum of money will lead to a slight increase in the GDP.
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2025-04-03
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