Culture in Romania - If you want culture, this is the place for you!

Are you looking for culture in Romania? If Romania was a food, it would certainly need to be a yogurt as it is so full of culture. For example, look at their examples of rural Romanian art . I have two artist God parents, and so I have become a bit of a Romanian art expert. Read this article to find out what happened when I commissioned them to paint my wife's portrait!

The Romanians are very proud of their long, settled past. They will be the first to tell you to check out their Romanian literature and their Romanian poetry if you are looking for true examples of culture in Romania but they get a little edgy when you politely ask why something this good is given away free with the local newspaper? To make matters worse, they are more likely to look at the pictures of topless women and read their torrid love lives than ever actually get around to opening those classic poems about life in a silver birch forest! (You can spot I am a tourist... I have read all these poems over the course of a year, but you would not be so impressed where I was when I had the time for my in-depth study - all is revealed in the article!).

If you ask an old peasant woman to show you her tradition dresses you will discover a real treasure, the real culture in Romania always needs a little bit of searching to find it. These old dresses took months of fine sewing to produce.

Traditional Romanian folk music can be found everywhere. There are at least 6 different TV stations playing Romanian singing (always it seems based in a clean, stylized bar) with them all rocking side to side. If you watch them you will see almost all the songs have a la-de-la-de-la somewhere in them.

The good news is the Romanian songs are far nicer and involve less physical pain or injuries than traditional English songs. While the English character always seems to die, or suffer from the horrific injury during the song, the worst I have heard is a slug being stung by an ant and threatened by an annoyed beetle. I think most children could cope this this level of violence. Read here to see my take on it all!

A curious note I found was on the trains to the mountains. All the way the train played traditional Romanian music until we got into a station, where old pop songs were then played... As soon as the train moved - back came traditional songs . We decided it was to make the train look like a cool modern music train - when it moved it was too late to escape!

The culture is no harder to find in the city where you can find interesting peasant fairs where traditional crafts people come in to sell their wares.

Go into the country and you are much closer to the real culture of the country with their quaint hay stacks (which are a hidden art to make!) to the castles hidden high up hills but due to Romania's terrible road signs you never find the entrance to the wonderful monasteries.

The most intense Culture in Romania is found in the northern part of the country, in Moldavia. Here you will find the most beautiful monasteries Romania has to offer... Just try to go out of the tourist season so you have them to yourself. If you do go there, take a hire car to move around them. You can make the experience more authentic by asking to sleep in them at night.

When you do come here you will discover their ideas about most things are odd such as any wind is bad for babies, people can steal your energy and leave you weak and anything to do with your health they will turn on its head - support ridiculous ideas while ignoring huge scientific studies as these are obviously funded by companies...

As my friend said - now is the time to see Romania as you can feel we are coming to the end of an era of catching authentic Romanian culture first hand.

Romanian gypsy music is a major tourist attraction. I have detailed where to go and not to go to hear it. There are lots of Romanian theme pubs which also offer Romanian gypsy music, where you can experience Romanian women, wine and song all in one evening, which is the very best way of experiencing traditional Romanian music.

Romanian bouses are cultural items in their own right. The patterns and colours of culture in Romania are different in different parts of the country and these signify different ideas. Romania has lots of different designs and colours and so you are certain to find a blouse to suit you when you are looking for culture in Romania.

When you buy a traditional blouse, it is also worth exploring their other clothes which use Romanian point lace and we would love to know what your best piece of lace is and is it old or new?

Romanian fashion is a great part of Romanian culture. It is interesting to compare the differences between fashion in the towns, capital and the countryside. The more rural things become, the less important the images - you can't milk a cow in high fashion and you can't go shopping in Bucharest in wellies.

The Romanian films is a growing industry. People I have met who work in the film industry, after a while of suffering, seem to head off to work in other European countries. The Romanian films on TV often seem to come from the communist era, so they have a scratchy sound, and poor image quality. Rarely there is a film worth seeing.

A curious part of Romanian culture is choosing a Romanian name for your new son. It took a lot of time and effort - finding a second name will take even longer! Here are a few other Romanian baby names for you to consider, and more of the traditions which go on behind choosing a name here. Have fun - suddenly everything will fall into place - even if it comes to you in a dream, just go with it.

Are you looking for wonderful gifts for a friend based on culture in Romania? I don't think you can go far wrong with buying Romanian wine glasses. My sister was given some, and now these glasses take pride of place in her new kitchen - with specially built lit cabinets to show them off to their best advantage.

Romanian Icons make fabulous gifts in this highly religious country. Read why you should give them, where to buy them and why I simply refuse to have one on the head of my bed for practical reasons. They are an important part of the culture in Romania - learning about them will help you understand more about Romanians in general.

For lots of culture and customs in Romania, try to get yourself invited to a traditional Romanian wedding and, if you are lucky, or know the right people, you will be entertained in places such as private parks or the army restaurant. You will also get to appreciate a very wide range of Romanian dances and other entertainments. Be warned though, as a guest, a Romanian wedding does not come cheap! However this is the very best place to gain experience in Romanian dance

The culture in Romania is strongly influenced by its Romanian exports to the rest of Europe? What is Romania famous for exporting? Wine, Women and Song to the rest of the EU. What does it really export? Cars, clothes and shoes, which don't really have the same ring to it! The wine is drunk by students, the clothes either fall apart or are high class labels and the Dacia Logan was banned a few years ago for safety concerns, which I understand have since been fixed.

Romanians have invented a whole new concept to time. The culture in Romania dictates 'Next week' roughly translates as next year, if it is not too hot, too cold or raining, while 'immediate' can mean anything for now to eternity.Read here more about the concept of Time in Romania.

Romanian soccer fills our local TV screens, along with all the stadiums. You can be sure of a decent ex-pat turn out in the local expensive ex-pat bars when Romania plays other Western Europe teams. They seem to win more than they lose, which always confuses me as to why they never seem to get into the Fifa World Cup scores - but then again as I always support Switzerland, what would I know?

The Romanian Royalty may have deserted the country and gone to live it up in nicer countries, such as Switzerland, even if not by choice! What their ancestors left behind, makes Romania the great place is.

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