What turns a house into a home? Is it the light that peeks inside through its windows? The scents rising from the kitchen? Or is it the people, the mingle of generations, of shared laughter and tears?
While we visited the house where Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Tepes, was born, I asked myself: what was the light like inside? What street noises reached every morning to little Vlad’s room and woke him up? What childhood memories he kept locked in his heart that reminded him of his mother and home – while imprisoned by the Turks? Or when he was fighting them, surrounded by the sights and the stench of war?
Emperor Aleodor, Romanian Folktale #Im4Ro
Emperor Aleodor, Aleodor Imparat, is a Romanian folktale gathered by Romanian folklorist and writer Petre Ispirescu in 1875 and translated into English in 19th by historian and linguist Robert Nisbet Bain.
Continue reading “Emperor Aleodor, Romanian Folktale #Im4Ro”The Magic of Romanian Folktales Starts with the First Words #Im4Ro
While a grew up I thought that the magic and musicality of Romanian folktales was so much better than that of the Grimm’s fairy tales. Because I was sure of their truthfulness.
Although both sources shared the same well-known prologue, “Once upon a time,” the Romanian ones went on with “for if it didn’t happen it couldn’t be told,” thus proving that some truth was at the bottom of the folktale about to unravel, since nothing can be told that didn’t happen…
Continue reading “The Magic of Romanian Folktales Starts with the First Words #Im4Ro”4 Romanian Myths between Culture, History and the Sacred #Im4Ro
The Romanian Myths draw from a popular culture that is tightly blended with the history and the sacred and it spills into the rich Romanian culture.
Myths have a powerful significance to the cultures who tell them, for they explain sacred origins, bring forward human archetypes, and are a model for future aspirations. A myth unifies cosmic and social events, explaining them in a way that is in touch with the most fundamental values of a community.
Continue reading “4 Romanian Myths between Culture, History and the Sacred #Im4Ro”Snowy Night, a Winter’s Dream
“I love the snow for what it is –
Of dreams and stars that spark,
Of clouds and tears.
Some say it’s angels in the dark.