Pig slaughter: 12 december

The wonderful people we met in Bărbăteşti invited us to show up on the pig slaughter! The slaughter was going to be held in the house of Bărbăteşti´s mayor.

We left very early in the morning, at 7 am. When we arrived one of the pigs was already killed! And there he was, laying with his tongue out of the month, looking like he was smiling! So big he was! They were already in the phase of burning the fur with the blowtorch.

Almost all of the people were there that we had already met before and I felt that everybody was very happy to see us! One does not really need to speak a language to understand when there is empathy!

They immediately offered us hot Țuică and, of course, we didn´t refuse it (I don´t remember of drinking alcohol at 8 am before!!)

In Portugal we also keep this tradition of pig slaughtering but the last time I attended one was more than 10 years ago, so I just had a distorted image!

I believe that the big difference of the process, comparing with the Portuguese one, is that here they do not profit the pig blood (we use it to do other kind of sausages)  and they eat the skin without cooking it before!

It was quite cold and standing there doing nothing was difficult to handle, so we went inside of the house. We ate cozonac, drank coffee and there we were, entertained and having fun, enjoying the Denises´s company and singing Christmas carols.

When we went to take a look outside, another murder was committed already!

The women were separating the meat and in some pots something was being prepared, but I dind´t pay too much attention to that. It was actually a surprise to me when at 12pm the table was already set! Mămăligă, cheese and meat from the first dead! It was certainly the best pork I remember to have had eaten before! And believe me, I ate it in a lot of different places, also in villages, all and all, for more than 10 years, I was a countryside girl…! Perhaps because it was so fresh or because they feed the pigs with different food… I don´t know, but it was really delicious. If one day I will think about becoming vegetarian, the memory of that pork will be enough to dissuade me!

The lunch was great! I can say that almost just Denise was speaking English but it wasn´t at all an obstacle to communicate and laugh with the others.

Unfortunately, shortly after lunch, we had to leave because we had Martha and Roshan´s birthday party and we still had to prepare some snacks to take and prepare disguises (it was a thematic party). We lost too more deaths. 

Handmade in Călimănești

My visit to Călimănești was fantastic.

My partness couldn't come with me but I went with our great friend Andrea.

In the first moment we wanted to go to Dăesti but it was impossible because we didn't have transport, so finally we went to Călimănești, a place known like a spa town.

When we arrived it was very difficult to find someone to speak and we decided to see Mănăstirea Ostrov, the first nuns moastery in Romania.

After the visit, we continued to look for people to speak and when we though that we didn't find anything, we found an interesting man who work in handmade wood. He showed us his home and his art, then we saw his work in live action; It was great!

He told us that he learned from his father but now the young people aren't interested in to learn this tradition how is the handmade wood and the traditions are losing. New generation doesn't take care about the traditions that always been in our life.

As a part of this generation I can understand that now we have new tecnology to make things easier but I think that learn and preserve the traditions it's important because it's part of our history and it can be an important thing to be accomplished like person for the fact to know, because more that a tradition, it's something that you make for yourselves with their imperfections and merits with out machines, and that is amazing.

The handmade isn't something to remind, it's something to continue.

Remember: The machines can do things easier, but with out human they couldn't exist.

The taste of November

I can't believe that already passed two month that the project started! Time goes so fast!

This was also a great month! We travel a lot around Romania and other countries, passed good moments with the volunteers and learned more things about the romanian culture.

Regarding to the activities, well, we continued enthusiastic with the Romanian lessons; we had a religious celebration in the village museum that began with a Mass in the church and then we had lunch together traditional Romanian food; we prepared some activities for Tolerance Day; we did many activities at the office and we participate in the treasure hunt with the purpose of knowing the rural traditions and we spent amazing moments in Barbatesti. Some of  my team went to planting treens in a iniciative …..

Here some pictures :


-The welcome party that the old volunteers organise for us.

-The religious celebration in the village museum.

Treasure Hunt in Bărbătești

The day 26 of november, we take the bus to Bărbătești.

Bărbătești is a commune located in Vâlcea County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Bodeşti, Bărbăteşti, Bârzeşti and Negruleşti.

The population of this commune is 3.861 residents.

In the bus, we met a girl that help us, she responded our questions and called the council to inform about our arrival.

When the bus stopped in front of the council, the bus driver accompanied us to enter in the building.

After they talked with us about:

- The origin of Bărbătești name: According to the legend, three brothers, Barbat, Costea and Dobrea had a big argument, so they decided to split and create their own community, respectively Bărbătești, Costesti and Dobriceni

- Another legend is about the monastery Mănăstirea Pătrunsa: The legend says that the inhabitants of Bărbătești were fighting against the Ottomans and a lady of that village was pregnant and to save herself and her baby who carried in her womb, fled the village and hid in the mountains, there gave birth to a child who later decided to build the monastery as a symbol of such a miracle to which it gave its name.

-The  story is about an important celebrity whose name were Ticarel, Ticarel is known in the community as the Romanian Robin Hood. He was a rebel who lived in the mountains and as Robin Hood also Ticarel robbed the rich to give to the poor.

Also they talked with us about the local problems and for the community the biggest problem is that young people leave the village to go to work for other countries and the village without young people is an aging village.

When we asked about the traditions, they showed us traditionals clothes, dances and songs and they gave us some presents. A belt, gold belt, whom won in a dance competition and a book about Bărbăteşti.

Also they gave us a two traditionals recipes: Sarmale and Cozonac

And one of the best part of the day were when they invited us to have lunch with them and try the tradional food: Mămăliga with cheese, meat pork and of course Țuică!

When the lunch finished we went out to visit diferent places where they made by traditional methods Țuica and Palinca.

 

So they took us to visit diferent natural places and after Dumitru Tîrcală invited us to drink a coffee and met him family, because we only had met one of his daugther, Denisa. In his house we met the other daugther Ariana and his wife Alina. And we felt truly like at home. They not only invited us to their house, also gave us jams, syrups, natural juices and a nice conversation.    

To finish the day in the town, Alina went to the bus stop with us... 

Bărbătești is not a big commune but their residents made us feel at home.