Romanian Christmas

Traditional food

1. Celebrate ‘Ignatius’ on 20th December (5 days before Christmas day) by killing a pig in the honor of Saint Ignatius. Burn straws in its snout and hold its funeral and invite your family and friends to the feast.
2. You may serve bacon and small pieces of fried pork and give them wine or plum brandy to drink.
3. Christmas carols are one of the best-known winter traditions in Romania. So, in true Romanian fashion, on Christmas eve, go from house to house, wishing health, happiness and fortune to the householders.
4. Decorate the Christmas tree in the presence of all family members. Remember that sometime during the night, Santa will slide through the chimney and leave gifts for everybody in stockings or under the Christmas tree.
5. Look up in the sky and try to see Santa passing in his sledge drawn by eight reindeer.
6. Serve the traditional foods: sausages, “chişca”, mosaic salame, meat jelly, sarmale (traditional Romanian dish made of mincemeat rolled in cabbage or vine leaves), pork steak, jufla and the ubiquitous sponge cake at the end of the Christmas dinner.

Don’ts

• Don’t try to copy everything Romanian because you will end up confusing yourself and consequently not have any fun.