Easter Customs and Traditions

Regarded as the greatest and most important Christian feast, Easter comes with countless customs and traditions that brighten and enliven the celebration. It also marks the beginning of spring, a time seen as a fresh start and a new hope.

The best-known custom, and perhaps the best loved, is the painting of eggs. It recalls the moment when the Saviour Jesus was crucified on Good Friday: the Virgin Mary, who had come to mourn her crucified son, set a basket of eggs beside the cross, and they turned red from the blood dripping from the Son’s wounds.

Here are the best-known Resurrection customs from different parts of the country.

Moldavia

• On Maundy Thursday (Joia Mare) the preparations for the holy feast begin. Villagers stop work in the fields, while housewives dye eggs and prepare pască (the traditional Easter cake) and cozonac (sweet bread).
• The moment of the Resurrection is marked with firecrackers and gunshots, which are said to drive away evil spirits.
• Unmarried girls from the village go to church and wash the bell tower with unbegun water (water drawn before anyone else has used it). The next morning they wash their faces with it, so that the unmarried young men will take a liking to them.
• On Easter Day, people gather early in the church courtyard in a circle, waiting for the priest’s blessing of the food in the Easter basket.
• On Easter Day, it is considered good to put an egg and a small silver coin in a bowl of water. It is said that whoever washes their face with that water will have a year full of riches.

Oltenia

• When they return from church with the holy light of the Resurrection, the faithful are not allowed to enter the house until they have picked fresh green grass from the garden and laid it on the steps of the house.
• It is said that on Easter Day the souls of the dead return to their homes, which is why a fire is lit in every household for the departed.
• In this area, it is the men who decorate the eggs.
• Good Friday (Vinerea Mare) is known as the day of bathing. Tradition says that anyone who dips three times into cold water will stay healthy all year. If it rains on this day, the year will bring bountiful harvests.

Maramureș

• It is said that those who embrace on Easter Day will meet again in the next world.
• The ancient ritual of putting an egg and a small silver coin in a bowl of water is also kept in this part of the country. The next day, the whole family washes their faces with that water and says: “May I be healthy and may my cheeks be as red as the egg. May everyone long for me and wait for me as the red eggs are awaited at Easter. May I be loved like eggs in the days of Easter.” Then the silver coin is passed over the face: “May I be proud and pure as silver.”
• The first person to enter the house on Easter morning must be a man, to drive away discord.
• An old custom, observed in some villages, is for all the members of the family to eat from the first cracked egg. In this way they will have luck and prosperity all their lives.

Dobruja

• On Good Friday (Vinerea Neagră) a strict fast is kept: no vinegar or oil is consumed and no work is done, because it is said that nothing will go well if you work on Good Friday. On the same day, people walk three times around the house with incense and the lit candle brought home from church.
• On the second day of Easter, godchildren visit their godparents with choice foods, to celebrate Easter together.
• Paparuda is a custom specific to the area and takes place on the third day of Easter. A procession of young girls adorned with green branches walks through the village from house to house, sprinkled with water, and calls for rain with their song.
• Also on the third day of Easter, the ritual known as Caloianul takes place. A clay doll is buried in the field and, after a while, it is dug up and broken into pieces, which are scattered over the field. This ritual is said to bring abundance, fertility and the regrowth of vegetation.