In Romania, the sound of an angel’s song is absolutely unique, something you will never ever hear some place else. That’s because angels use the tulnic or bucium to deliver their musical messages.

The term “bucium”, derived from the Latin word “bucinum” (meaning curved horn or trumpet blast) is used n the Muntenian Carpathians of Arges and Prahova, and in the Moldavian Carpathians of Vrancea and Neamt. In Romania’s northern regions the name might be linked to the Slavic “trambica”, and may have been taken over from the Huţul populations. Other names of the same instrument are “trambita” in Bucovina and “trambita” or “tranghita” in Oas and Maramures.

Photo credit – Gandul

The tulnic is an instrument with origins lost in our Dacian roots, somewhere at the dawn of civilization. It resembles the Alpenhorn but the sounds of the two instruments are quite different. Their usage however is sometimes similar. Specific to mountain dwellers in particular, it is mostly used by shepherds for signaling and communication in the forested mountains, as well as for guiding sheep and dogs, and it also used to be way to signal military conflicts in the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Although it’s a huge instrument, ranging from 1.5 to 3 meters, women in the Apuseni mountains are using it frequently, sometimes to call their loved ones, other times for more practical purposes.

Depending on the region of the country, communications through the bucium song happen in different times of the day and have different meaning. While the shepherds are those who mostly use it (in the evening to call their sheep and dogs, or in the morning to take the sheep out), it is also an instrument leading funeral processions in Oas, Maramures and other villages in the north of Neamt. In the Apuseni, where women are the patrons of the tulnic, it’s mainly a communication device for those living in the highlands, similar to how Scandinavians use their luur.

The tube is made of well-seasoned deal, maple, ash, lime or hazel wood which is conical or cylindrical bored, slit length ways, hollowed out and then glued together. In northern Romania, metals are added to the tube: it can be made of galvanized iron and folded like a trombone. As it does not have valves or finger holes it can only play the pitches in the natural harmonic series.

My memories of the tulnic involve groups of women from the Apuseni mountains being brought to Bucharest to play these marvelous instruments on folk shows aired every Sunday. They came with their folk costumes and where in a complete contrast with the show host or the popular singers using makeup and modern jewelries. They were simple women, extremely modest, and you could easily tell they would have preferred not to be asked so many questions. They were there to sing, nothing more and definitely nothing less.

On those shows I found out of all the love stories behind the tulnic. The sounds of this instrument still seem to me the best to express lost love, missing the one you’ve lost or who is far away. When those women started singing, everything else just stopped, no one could think of anything else, except the song and the eyes of the musicians. There was a special glow, one seeming to hide secrets from long ago. No doubt angels chose this instrument to announce the Judgment Day!

Voices of Angels Resounding from Bucium Tunes is a post from: Rounite

Romania is this little country somewhere in Europe for a lot of people. If they’d try hard enough, they might be able to find it on the map. But most people, although they don’t know much about Romania, know a little about the people that made it famous. And when you’re a Romanian, traveling across countries and oceans, hearing a familiar name of a popular figure whose image you grew up with, it really makes you feel at home.

In my recent travels, the name that had that effect on me was Nadia Comaneci.

Yes, practically everyone has heard of this wonderful gymnast that turned the whole world into her fans. Everyone is impressed by her performance even if they aren’t gymnastics fans to begin with.

And what’s not to love? The girl whose name was chosen by her mother while watching a movie actually managed to bring down a computerized display system when she was given a 10 for her performance. This happen because no one expected a gymnast to attain momentarily perfection, so the computer was never programmed to display this mark. So it displayed a 1 instead. All this happened in Montreal, at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

But this is only one of her many unique achievements. Nadia Comaneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the all-around title at the Olympics. She also holds the record as the youngest Olympic gymnastics all-around champion ever. Throughout her career, she won 16 gold medals in international competitions, including the Olympics. No wonder every girl wanted to be just like her as I was growing up!

No matter how much of a star she was, the communist era did not fail to taint her life. As her coaches defected while they were away at a competition in the US, Nadia was closely monitored throughout the rest of her career. Although she never defected while competing, she did manage to get to the US shortly before the Revolution in 1989.

Although she faced enormous difficulties in the US, mostly caused by her fashion-wise attitude and a circle of personae non gratae, she managed to build a new career as a coach at the gym she later opened with her husband, Bart Conner, whom she had met for the first time in 1976 at the American Cup. She keeps visiting Romania, her mother country which she loved enough to be married there.

Apart from a marvelous career and from being an ongoing inspiration for all girls wanting to become gymnasts, she is also involved in many charitable activities, both in the US and in Romania.

In 1999, she became the first athlete to be invited to speak at the United Nations to launch the Year 2000 International Year of Volunteers. She is also the Vice-Chair of the Board Of Directors of the International Special Olympics and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

In Romania she has funded the construction and operation of the Nadia Comaneci Children’s Clinic, a clinic in Bucharest that provides low-cost and free medical and social support to Romanian children. She is still a vivid role model to us all.

Perfection in Motion is a post from: Rounite

While Valentine’s Day is mostly related to people (a saint and those he helped) and their actions in the name of love, the Romanian holiday dedicated to love, Dragobete, is strongly connected to nature. Celebrated on February 24th, it is linked to that special time of year when birds build their nests and mate. As the first signs of spring show, nature and man restart the cycle of life and love. What better reason to celebrate? What better reason to sing, dance and kiss girls?

Dragobete, also named Dragomir, is the local counterpart of Roman god Cupid and Greek god Eros. He isn’t however mentioned as a divine creature. He is a positive character, a symbol of pure love, completely opposite to his mother, Dochia. Dochia is said to have been a very cruel mother in law, making a habit of mistreating her daughter in law. She sent her to pick up berries in the month of February, an impossible time of year to find such fruit. God helps the girl in her task fact that leads to a tragedy.

Dochia, believing it was spring already, takes her sheep and her son, Dragobete, up the mountain. Although she carries 12 lambskins in the beginning of her journey, she looses them. The story has two versions here: they either get wet because of the rain or she throws them as it was very warm. Both Dochia and her son freeze to death on the mountain.

However, I like happier myths about who the mother of Dragobete was. One version of the story is of a proud woman, teasing the month of March who then gets even by taking a few days from February. Other stories are of Dochia, sister of Dacian ruler Decebal, who runs away in the mountains to seek refuge from the Roman Emperor Trajan. She disguises herself as a shepherd, but looses her lambskin and freezes. She is then metamorphosed into a stream and her sheep are turned into flowers.

Regardless of its origin, the myth of Dragobete speaks of pristine love, of nature’s rituals translated into people’s life, of new life cycles and of being reborn. It is also said that couples are watching out for which one of them is stepping over the others foot. It is believed that he or she will then take the lead in the couple

You all know Valentine’s Day is not a big celebration in all parts of Europe. I believe it is gaining more ground in Romania because of Dragobete. We were all used to celebrate love in February. But the celebration of Dragobete was somehow lost. There are quite a few Romanian voices frowning upon the widespread of this “imported” holiday. They see it as an US commercial scheme, forgetting all about its European roots.

I believe it was a good thing. Besides giving us a different reason to celebrate love in all its forms, it reminded us of Dragobete. The moment the foreign holiday started to become popular, voices rose to remind us of our own tradition. More of us got to know what it was all about and we do celebrate it.

In the tradition of Dragobete, this weekend has been extremely sunny and warm. Birds also seem to sing a lot more cheerfully.

I’ve heard of celebrations being organized in the Cismigiu park. I’ve heard of lover’s trips to Venice offered as prizes on Dragobete. It’s here, around us, and invites us to sing and dance. That is why I am inviting you all to come celebrate with us. Bring your loved ones along, get them flowers and warm feelings and let’s cherish the rebirth of nature!

For those of you wanting to know a little more, here are a few furtherreferences on Dragobete.

Dragobete, Romanian Celebration of Love is a post from: Rounite