Category: Romania #Im4Ro

#Im4Ro ~ Sharing Positive Stories from Romania

I'm for Romania #Im4Ro

Here you can discover inspiring stories, timeless travel paths, and the rich folklore of Romania.

For additional nuggets from Romania’s culture you can jumps straight to these pages on my blog:
Nuggets of Romanian Folklore, Myths and Legends
Jewels of Romanian History and Travel
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Decoding History: Vlad Dracula’s Letters and Their Scientific Secrets

white painted papers

There are moments in history when the past reveals itself willingly to those who study it with patience and passion. One such arrived recently, when historical chemist researchers bent over three 500-year-old letters written by voivode Vlad III of Wallachia, the man the world remembers as Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad Drăculea, the Son of the Dragon.

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Vlad the Impaler and How Dracula’s Epic Shadow Was Made

Vlad the Impaler and How Dracula’s Epic Shadow Was Made

Long before Bram Stoker wrote Dracula there was Vlad the Impaler: voivode of Wallachia, enemy of the Ottomans, ruler feared as much for his punishments as for his political cunning.

This is the Vlad who moves through the pages of When Secrets Bloom and Kate’s Letter, included in the Courage Anthology out 17 JUNE. Vlad the man, consumed by passions and hidden fears—not as a figure of legend already swallowed by bats and myth. A man still anchored in the hard geography of his own century.

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Real Places in Historical Fiction: Brașov in When Secrets Bloom

Biserica Neagra Brasov si Piata Honterus in fictiune istorica

There are cities in Transylvania that do not simply sit on the map, they remember. They carry the sediment of centuries like bark around an old trunk. Brașov, know as Corona or Kronstadt in medieval times, is one of those places. In When Secrets Bloom Brașov does appear only as a backdrop. It breathes. It resists. It watches.

Because to write about a place is to write against forgetting.

Readers will discover Brașov as a setting in my story Kate’s Letter featured in our historical fiction anthology Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope.

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Why Red and White Became the Colors of Mărțișor on March 1st

Why Red and White Became the Colors of Mărțișor

Red and white color my thoughts well ahead of 1st of March. In the Romanian tradition, on the first day of spring (in the Northern hemisphere), twined together, threads of red and white spring forward on Mărțișor day, quiet yet insistent. Unassumingly simple. Deceptively small. A charm no heavier than Spring’s first breath.

But red and white are never accidental. They’ve followed humanity across centuries and continents like faithful companions.

So why do red and white spell Spring?

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