During the 15^th February edition of the Traditional Music programme, you are invited to attend a… wedding ceremony. We won't stay in one place and we will take an imaginary trip to the traditional Romanian historic regions, from Bukovina to the Land of Olt, from Muscel to Vrancea, and from the Land of Pădureni to the Banat mountain region.

In the Christian tradition of the Orthodox Church, today is the Sunday of the Frightening Judgement or the Meatfare Sunday. The Great Lent begins today; it is a time of reflection, of introspection and (why not?) of praying and doing good deeds, a time of spiritual preparation for the celebration of our Lord's resurrection.

According to the church's practices, this is the last day of the calendar when weddings can take place.

Romanian traditional weddings were entwined several defining elements and moments, both ceremonial and spectacular, whose purpose was to ensure a complete crossing of this threshold, from the stage of being a lad or a maiden to that of being full grown-up people, man and woman, who form a family. During the 15^th February edition of our programme, we will be listening to representative sonorous patterns, historical recordings and some more recent ones, through which we will illustrate some of the most important stages in the evolution of the nuptial ritual and ceremonial.

We will witness to the separation of the girl from her home and family, when the gentleness, sadness and nostalgia of separation were highlightened in the song of the bride, which is sung by the women who surround the bride, when she is being prepared or adorned with the flower crown. We will stand by the groom who leaves behind the careless life specific to a lad who is preparing for the stormy role as the future head of the family, by listening to songs interpreted mostly by fiddlers, when the shaving the bridegroom takes place and the groom is symbolically being prepared to leave to get his bride. And, last but not least, we will witness to the road dances, which are performed on the way to the ceremony and the actual dances which are performed during the wedding and which has a ceremonial and ritual function and are followed by shouts which used to echo on the streets of the Romanian village, once.

Aşadar, vă poftim, pe dumneavoastră, / boieri mari, cinstiţi nuntaşi / la un scaun de hodină / şi la multă voie bună, / la ceas de căsătorie, / într-o zi de bucurie, / cu oameni de omenie, / cu tinerii şi bătrânii, / cu mesele aşternute, / cu paharele umplute, / cu muzicanţii în frunte...

I invite you to rediscover together the fascinating universe of the oral Romanian culture on Sunday, 15^th February, 2015, starting at 19:00, only during the Traditional Music programme.