The True Path to the Romanian Spirit
Romania: ancient battlefield where proud Middle-Ages empires contested their supremacy, the jewel of the Roman Empire, sea shore colony of the Greeks, home to Dacians, Getae, Thracians, also known as Dacia. A blessed land of breathtaking sceneries, unseen reaches and ultimate geo-strategic gauntlet.
About 2,000 years ago, a new people emerged from the marriage of two great nations – the called themselves Romanians to honour their Roman legacy. These people scoffed at death, just as their Dacian predecessors did. Wherever they go in the world, this identity shines within them. Successive foreign occupations, years of subjugation and imposed sanctions could not shake the Latin spirit. The Romanians maintained their identity regardless of any hardship attempt at assimilation by outsiders. This unshakeable Latin influence has made the Romanians the proud inhabitants of, in effect, the last remaining “Latin oasis” in a circle of Slavic and Finno-Ugric countries.
The Ottomans, the Hungarians (alone or with the help of their allies the Austrians), the Russians, the Polish, the Germans, and a long succession of would be conquerors came and went, leaving both shallow and deep marks on this land and its inhabitants. Through some miracle, the Romanians managed to keep their Latin core, their identity, their ideals and their surprisingly strange beliefs and rituals.
A River of Misunderstandings
The downside of this troubled history? The multitude of cruel, disrespectful and misleading opinions spread across the world - leading to huge misunderstandings and misinterpretations. For example; the legend of Dochia, sister of Dacian leader Decebal, relates that she preferred to take her own life rather than be forced into the bed of Roman Emperor Trajan, which he of course - did not suspect.
Or perhaps we should reflect on Bram Stocker, who inspired by blood thirsty Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary, chose instead a man “Count Dracula” for his fictional character, over a Countess, and gave him a castle in a county many believed for years was a fairytale – Transylvania. Later, when the novel became popular, everyone assumed that the Count was actually the Romanian ruler Vlad Tepes (Vlad The Impaler). Though Tepes was cruel there is no historic evidence that impaling concluded with vampirish behaviour. As for the countess, drinking the blood of others is a foregone conclusion and historical fact.
We should also mention current media coverage depicting Romanians as the world’s worst plague? These false assumptions, describing us as gypsies, roughs and unrefined people or attributing other national identities to us have one common root - ignorance. The lack of proper communications channels, biased information and the unfortunate apathy of some Romanians has led to a distorted world view of what and who Romanians truly are.
What Do We Do About It?
We’ve set our minds into building a true image, to bring you the true Romanian spirit, to show you the beauties of this land, to get you acquainted with the real people who lived and still live here. For those who left, yet never forget.
We are determined to negate the biased and forged truths. We won’t ‘photoshop’ our articles, nor adopt a negative view, although we will allow ourselves to be amazed by certain astonishing details.
Why Is Our Take on Romania Unique?
We, the authors of this blog, Mihaela Lica (Mig) and Alina Popescu, share memories, images, knowledge, but we have different angles of approach - one lives in Germany, while the other is still in Romania. So we will bring you the inside story and the longing heart with each and every letter typed.
Prepare to be mesmerized!
