Transylvania Fest is the offspring of Turda Fest, a traditional agricultural festival created in the town of Turda, located 27 kilometers from Cluj, in 2005.  The festival name was changed from Turda Fest to Transylvania Fest in 2010 as requests were received from other parts of Romania to replicate the festival.  The festival offers a unique multitude of Romanian, Hungarian, Rroma and Saxon experiences to visitors during the three days of the festival originally held yearly during the last week end of September.

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Past is Present in Romanian Festivals - part 1

If enjoyed reading Past is present in Romanian festivals – part 1, you’ll probably like to hear more about traditional festivals and their staples. A common one is the dance of the bears (the two-legged costumed variety). Along with their Gypsy trainer and a youth beating a tambourine-type instrument, the animals crawl through the crowd. Reaching the center, the bears dance until they fall to the ground, dead. After their hearts are taken by the trainer, they return to life, theoretically, a more gentle one. Even today, more bears exist in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains than any place in Europe and this ancient rite suggests the power of man to tame nature.

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A book I recommend to those of you with a good sense of humour is Mike Ormsby’s “Never Mind the Balkans, Here’s Romania”. If you’re easily offended, this book is not for you. I’ve always liked to believe that Romanians love self-irony, have a great sense of humour and I really hope that we will never grow to be become proper Europeans as those who kneel on the altar of political- correctness. I know some of you might not like what I’ve just said (I got used to it by now), but I hope we’ll continue to be the plainspoken people to make jokes on ethnic minorities stereotypes – no malice behind these jokes, it’s great to enjoy the ethnical diversity, don’t tell me you’ve never teased your friends?

Thoroughly enjoyed reading “Never Mind the Balkans Here’s Romania”, it made me laugh out loudly at times, and I felt that Mike Ormsby might’ve been encouraged by our sense of humour to write such an honest novel. I might be wrong, so best way to go about this, especially since Mike has accepted our invite, is to add this to our interview questions.

I’d like to thank Compania for allowing us to share the following excerpt with you. I was a very difficult choice; I just couldn’t decide which chapter to go for. The fact that at this very moment I am on my flight to Bucharest did help, so there it goes, hope you enjoy reading it!

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The summer after my first full-time job supplied (barely) the dollars for an airline ticket, I headed to Europe. That was many years ago, but the idea of travel being the reward for work never died. Somewhere along the way, as the destinations became more remote and thus, more expensive, I decided to try supplementing both my income and trip experiences with travel writing. It was a natural fit. While naming a single country as my favorite has proven impossible, Romania would certainly appear on any short list. Following my first visit in 1988, I returned more than a dozen times, driving my own Romanian-made Dacia from virtually one end of the country to the other. Perhaps Romania’s mountains and villages played a role in my decision to move from the New York metropolitan area to the town of 2,300 people in south-central Montana where I live now. It wouldn’t be the only influence Romania has had on my life.

Few people in today’s world continue and cherish their age-old customs as do the villagers of Romania. Hardly a week passes without a religious or secular festival somewhere in this eastern European country. A number of the most colorful take place between Christmas and New Year’s.

Tucked into the country’s northwestern corner, hard by the border with Ukraine, the region of Maramures is a land of 15th century wooden churches, elaborately carved towering gates rising before even modest homes, and unique music and dress. Many consider it the most unspoiled area in all Europe. Even here, however, one date – December 27 – stands out as a time for celebrating traditional culture. On this day, the normally less-than-charming town of Sighetu Marmatiei, popularly known as Sighet, is transformed for the Festivalul Datinilor de Iarna, or Winter Festival.

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