Easter Traditions in Romania

Adi and I grew up under Communism in Romania, and we were young adults when the regime fell. For years, the joke around Easter would feature a discussion between two Party officials.

As they would meet each other on Resurrection Sunday, one would greet the other with “Cristos a Inviat!” (Christ is Risen, something we ALL said on that Sunday, despite the regime), but the other would answer: “I know. It has been reported!”, instead of “Adevarat a inviat!” (“He is risen indeed!)

We silently laughed then and smile now, but in those days, everything seemed to have been reported or taken note of, and the impression was that nothing escaped the “eye of the Party”.

One nice tradition or activity which we have adopted in our family and done yearly the day before Easter when our sons were growing up was egg coloring. When dying was completed, all the eggs would be then laid out nicely in a basket.

As we would sit for the main meal on Easter Sunday, which is always the lunch meal in Romania, we would first each choose an egg and then “knock” (or tap) the eggs with each other, saying “Cristos a inviat!” and then “Adevarat a inviat!” with each tapping. The “winner” would be the person whose egg did the most number of knockings without being cracked.

But beyond the egg coloring and egg knocking, the message we always wanted our family to celebrate was the sacrifice and redemption on our behalf which were a gift from God through His Son who came to die for us. And even though the Easter bunny was the most popular and celebrated “character”, we chose to speak about the lamb as representative of the Lamb of God who came to take away our sins.

For the Easter Sunday meal, Romanians have dyed eggs with green salad, lamb meat and vegetable soup, lamb stew or roast and mashed potatoes, and a special loaf made of the lamb’s liver and herbs.

Along with the meal on Christmas Day, this one is the meal most Romanians spend a lot of time and money to prepare, and it’s customary for the larger family to come together in one home. 

Listening to Handel’s Messiah, (the parts which are for Easter), was also a highlight in many years, even though when our sons were younger I would get a “rolling of the eyes” as I would hold the “Messiah” musical score in my hands and turn on the CD and “sing along” with the choir and orchestra “Worthy is the Lamb” and the “Halleluiah Chorus.” And along with that, reading Isaiah 53 aloud on Saturday, after we finished dying the eggs and the meal preparations, provided a way to focus our minds on Jesus’ immense sacrifice on our behalf.

We recently participated in a three-day consultation for Christian counselors and Mental Health professionals living in Eastern and Central Europe.

The main topic was Trauma and Resilience, and though we all welcomed the presentations and discussions, they had a deeper meaning to our colleagues from Ukraine (all women, since men are still prohibited from leaving the country without special permission).

One of the presenters, though, encouraged us to ponder more on Saturday, that Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, and think about and pray for all those around the world who are mourning, like the believers in Ukraine, Turkey, and Syria.

Many of them have lost their homes and will not be able to observe any of the familiar traditions around Easter.

Let us pass or pay this encouragement forward to you, our dear readers: as we are immensely grateful for Christ’s sacrifice, may we be willing and open to intercede on behalf of those who find themselves at a loss, much like the disciples and all the Jesus followers found themselves on that Saturday.