Carols trail
In Romanian it's called "Colindat"
The carols trail, happening on Christmas Eve, represents the beginning of the twelve Christmas holidays. Moreover, you'll find the caroling tradition on each of these twelve Christmas holidays because it's the best-known Christmas tradition.
As a matter of fact, to have a caroling we need a band (at least 2-3 people), which goes from house to house and sing Christmas carols. But every Romanian Christmas custom has a band who goes from house to house. And they generally sing at least a Christmas carol. So, caroling becomes a generic name for every Christmas custom: Dubasii, Steaua, Sorcova.
And when we go to our relatives and friends to sing a Christmas carol, this is also a caroling. It starts on Christmas Eve and goes on till the Epiphany Day.
All people participate. Boys and men form bands who start carols trails. Each band has a head and its own meeting place. Girls, women and old men wait for them to come and sing. Each person has his/her own role in the village scenery.
The gift given to the carollers is the knot-shaped bread, being itself a sign of wealth and abundance. They can also receive apples and nuts and traditional Christmas food.
Nowadays, all the people wander the cities gathered in groups of Christmas "singers" calling on their relatives and friends. Even the women. This is, because of the lack of real traditions, we need to feel the Romanian Christmas spirit somehow.
The Romanian Christmas customs are all full of joy and optimism, from which the caroling represents the light that springs from the Romanian people souls, casting a lyrical, fairy-tale light on the entire winter scenery.
Previous feast day: Saint John's Day
Next custom: Drummers' band
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