I could never imagine saying this-“I was in a church after midnight.”
But, guess what-I was in a church after midnight.
Sounds intriguing, funny, strange, like a cult thing? Yes, it kind of does, but it wasn`t. Romanians have this tradition-yes, another one (one of many many many) that to me-a Latvian-sounds strange.
So, I was standing on a stage and a priest was cutting my wrists to collect my blood to summon dead spirits..
Wowowow. I`m just kidding. Yeah, but one thing was correct. No-nobody was cutting my wrists.
But, first, how I got to this point-standing with Praise and my mentor and experiencing one of many Romanian traditions.
Here it goes.
A normal day in Segarcea.. As usual we were stealing Dan`s WIFI, surfing a bit and, of course, working. Suddenly doors open, my eyes were not sure what I was seeing, but, yes, it was Praise. She came to visit us and Iuli(our mentor). Greetings, greetings, chitchatting, and finally Praise and I went to surprise Iuli. Anna and Sara as usual vent to Craiova to let off some steam by breaking the dance floors all over the big city.
So, we entered our third house (home home, our home and Romanian mama`s home), haha, no surprise, she was sleeping. On the TV was “Mireasa pentru filul meu” -Iuli`s favorite TV show. So, Praise woke her up and the conversations started. After few hours we decided to go to Texas. After 10 min we were there. What is Texas? It`s a place where you can buy the best pizza in Segarcea. Om nom nom. Of course, each one of us had one. Sooo, after our tummies were full of deliciousness we went back at Iulianas.
One thing lead to another.. Iuliana told us that she has to take mamaie (mother in law) (translation-grandmother) to church after midnight. Ha. Imagine our faces when we heard this.
-Whaaaaaat? Why?
So, I`m sorry, but I`ll have to disappoint you. I don`t know the full and detailed story, but, what I know is that women write names of their family members-dead and living- on a piece of paper and take it to church along with a basket full of good stuff-cookies, cakes, vine etc-to give to the priest, who will pray for the dead and living.
We entered the church and in front of us was an unseen sight, many mamaies standing along the walls, baskets with the good stuff and lighted candles on the floor and we could hear the priest saying some prayers and other guys singing…
Of course for some minutes the attention from ladies was turned on us, but that`s fine, because after this Iuliana explained that it is unusual to see other people, that was already there, coming to this event, because the visitors are usually the same mamaies .
Okay, we stood there, made some crosses (had to switch hands after few crosses, because my tactic wasn`t correct), listened to the priest and then went home to sleep. Before that we found out that there is a room in the church where no woman can enter… The natural reaction was-I want to break in. But, yes, the mystery of the no-woman-room will be there for a long time.
Oh, I almost forgot. They do this thing not that often. One month before some celebrations, like Easter etc.
And it`s a pity that I couldn`t take any pictures (my morals didn`t allow it). But, I can say you this- the sight was amazing, also because the church was old and the drawings on the walls and ceilings were very beautiful.
And so our day ended with one more story to tell.
…
