Romania

The History and Identity of

Romania
 Geographical location
• Romania is a country located at the crossroads of 
Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It has
borders with the Black Sea to the southeast, Bulgaria to
the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, 
Serbia to the southwest, and Moldova to the east. It has
a predominantly temperate-continental climate. With a
total area of 238,397 square kilometers (92,046 square
miles), Romania is the 12th largest country and also
the 7th most populous member state of the 
European Union, having almost 20 million inhabitants.
Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, and other
major urban areas include Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, 
 The oldest writing kept
Linguistic Affiliation. in Romanian is 492 years
old

•The official language is Romanian,

which has Latin roots that date back
to the Roman occupation of the area
but also contains words from Greek,
Slavic languages, and Turkish. In the
fourteenth century, the country
adopted the Cyrillic alphabet, but it
later reverted to Roman lettering.
Magyar (the language of ethnic
Hungarians) and German are spoken,
as are Serbian, Ukrainian, Slovak,
Czech, Bulgarian, and Turkish. The
language of the Roma population is
Romany, although many Roma
combine that language with
Romanian.
 Symbolism.

The flag consists of blue, yellow,

and red vertical stripes that
symbolize Transylvania, Moldavia,
and Walachia, respectively. The
coat of arms, adopted in 1992,
consists of a gold eagle against a
blue background holding a cross in
its beak, a sword in one claw, and
a scepter in the other.
Emblazoned on the eagle's chest
are the symbols of the five
provinces: Walachia, Moldavia,
Transylvania, Banat, and
Dobrogea.
 Romanian history
• Modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the 
Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state,
officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the 
Ottoman Empire in 1877. Following World War I after declaring its 
neutrality in 1914, when Romania fought on the side of the 
Allied powers starting with 1916, Bukovina, Bessarabia, Transylvania as
well as parts of Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș became part of the
sovereign Kingdom of Romania. In June–August 1940, as a consequence
of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and Second Vienna Award, Romania
was compelled to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the 
Soviet Union, and Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In November 1940,
Romania signed the Tripartite Pact and, consequently, in June 1941
entered World War II on the Axis side, fighting against the Soviet Union
until August 1944, when it joined the Allies and recovered Northern
Transylvania. Following the war, under the occupation of the Red Army
's forces, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the 
Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition
 towards democracy and a market economy.
 WAR

WORLD
 Ecaterina Teodoroiu
• She was a Romanian woman, which was born in gorj our
county who fought and died in World War I, and is
regarded as a heroine of Romania. A Scouts' member,
she had initially worked as a nurse but she subsequently
decided to become a front-line soldier, being deeply
impressed by the patriotism of the wounded and the
death of her brother Nicolae, Sergeant in the Romanian
Army. It was an unusual decision for a woman of that
epoch, so she was sent to the front rather reluctantly.
However, with the support of the Romanian royal family,
soon she proved her worthiness as a symbol and as a
soldier.
• She is favourably compared to Queen Maria of Romania.
 The Communism in Romania
• After the Communist leader 
Nicolae Ceaușescu was executed in the 
Romanian Revolution of December 1989, the 
National Salvation Front (FSN) took power, led
by Ion Iliescu. The FSN transformed itself into
a political party and overwhelmingly won the 
general election of May 1990, with Iliescu as
president. These first months were marked by
violent protests and counter-protests,
involving among others the coal miners of the 
Jiu Valley. During the period Romania has
become more closely integrated with the West
, becoming a member of NATO in 2004 and of
the European Union in 2007.
 Culture of Romania
• The culture of Romania is the product of its geography
and its distinct historical evolution.  Romanians and the 
Vlachs (Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, and 
Istro-Romanians) are the combination of descendants of
Roman colonists[1] and people indigenous to the region who
were Romanized.
• The Dacian people, one of the major indigenous peoples of 
southeast Europe are one of the predecessors of the Proto-
Romanians. It is believed that a mixture of Dacians, Romans
, Slavs and Illyrians are the predecessors of the modern
Romanians, Aromanians (Vlachs), Megleno-Romanians, and
Istro-Romanians. Modern Romanian culture visibly reflects a
tremendous amount of Eastern European influences. In
addition, Romanian culture shares several similarities with
other ancient cultures such as that of the Armenians.
Traditions
• Romanians have had, from time immemorial, a myriad of customs,
tales and poems about love, faith, kings, princesses, and witches.
The ethnologists, poets, writers and historians have tried in recent
centuries to collect and to preserve tales, poems, ballads and have
tried to describe as well as possible the customs and habits related
to different events and times of year. Customs related to certain
times of year are the colinde, Romanian Christmas carols, sorcova on
New Year's Eve or the Mărţişor custom on the first day of March
marking the spring. Other customs are presumably of pre-Christian 
pagan origin, like the Paparuda rain enchanting custom in the
summer, or the masked folk theatre or Ursul (the bear)
and Capra (the goat) in winter.
Mărțișor is an old tradition celebrated all over
Romania every year, on March 1st.
The name Mărțișor is a diminutive of March .
According to archaeological research, the
Mărțișor traces its history more than 8,000
years ago. Some ethnologists believe that the
Mărțișor celebration has Roman origins, others
support the theory that it is an old Dacian
tradition. Nowadays, on March 1, Romanians
buy silky red-white threads tied into a bow to
which a small trinket is attached and offer
them to their (female) family members, friends
and colleagues to show friendship, respect or
admiration.
Winter traditions
The Romanian winter holidays begin
with St. Andrew (November 30th)
and lasts till  St. John (January 7th).
It is a mix of traditions and customs -
some coming from the pre-Christian
period - with Christian religious
celebrations. These give a special
charm cold season impregnating it
with joy, cheerfulness but also with
mystery and spiritual experiences.
Pitarai
Pitarai is a custom
practiced for many years
by the citizens of
villages. People with
traditional costumes and
masks go to carols on the
morning of December
24th.
Romania has also a lot of traditionals dances. One of
them is Hora, a traditional folk dance that gathers
everyone into a big closed circle. The dancers hold
each other's hands and the circle spins
 Traditional costume in Romania
Maramures

In Romania there are

several types of
traditional costumes
depending on the area,
the area of Maramures
or the area of Banat,
etc.
Banat
Romania is a beautiful
country, full of
traditions and customs.
The history of Romania
is also a very
interesting and complex
subject