The Table of Silence

Note from Mihaela and Alina: Rounite has a new author: Adrian Olaru. Adrian is a teacher from Ludus, Romania. Together with his students, Adrian started a blogspot blog: True Romania. The blog, rich in information, shows you a Romania like you’ve never seen it before, with all her extraordinary sons and daughters, with all her amazing places, traditions and culture. Unlike Rounite Underground movie download , which has a personal note, True Romania has didactic value.

Today Adrian relates a story from his childhood, a story about the mystic symbols hidden in one of Brancusi’s masterpieces – The Table of Silence

Constantin Brâncuşi (February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957), was an internationally renowned Romanian sculptor whose sculptures, which blend simplicity and sophistication, led the way for modernist sculptors.

In 1938, Constantin Brâncuşi finished the World War I monument in Tîrgu-Jiu where he had spent much of his childhood. “Table of Silence” (RO: Masa Tacerii), “Gate of the Kiss” (RO: Poarta Sarutului), and “Endless Column” (RO: Coloana Infinitului) commemorate the courage and sacrifice of Romanian civilians who in 1916 fought off a German invasion.

I want to tell you a story that can explain the significance of one of these masterpieces. In my childhood, a long time ago, I used to spend some time at my grand-father, in an isolated village in Oltenia (a region in the south-west of Romania, part of Wallachia, where Brâncuşi was born). In this village, the traditions were well kept, the daily life was quasi-archaic and for me, a child from a large town, many things seemed strange or odd. One day, my grand-father asked me to help him to do a ritual for the ancestors of our family. And now begins one of my well-kept memories…

We settled in the center of the courtyard a traditional TABLE, round and very low, with round chairs – one for each ancestor; then we placed on the table traditional pottery with food and lit candles. After that, we said a prayer for the dead and kept SILENCE for some minutes, to let the ancestors join us and enjoy the dishes…

After years, when I first saw the “Table of Silence”, I suddenly remembered that mystic, even pagan ritual, that impressed me so much in my childhood and I understood the symbols hidden behind this masterpiece.