Monthly Archives: December 2021

A Very Happy New Year!!

There are numerous traditions in Romania, but we can only uncover or read about them in books, not in our daily lives.

One of the most interesting traditions is the fight in Ruginoasa, a village in the county of Iasi.
On the 31st of December, usually at the crack of dawn, two groups of men armed with very long clubs start fighting, or better said, hitting at one another rather viciously. After the fight, the men go to the local pub to celebrate. The two parties fight because one party represents the people downhill and the other the people uphill, and also because this has been their tradition for as long as they can remember.

In the olden days, the villagers used mostly whips and harmless weapons, because this was more like a symbolic battle, the battle between the Old Year and the New Year. They also made noises in order to scare away the old year. People used to wear animal furs and very beautiful costumes.
Unfortunately, nowadays this fight has become rather violent due to the loss of the old tradition of an allegorical fight and the appearance of the new tradition of a real life battle. That is why it was cancelled by the authorities in the last few years.

The Anglo-Saxon tradition that I love is the First Footing. On the 31st of December, after midnight, young men start wandering from house to house. The tradition says that you will have a very good year if the first man to enter your house, or the first foot, is a tall, dark man. The first foot has the right to kiss the girl who answers the door. For the sake of a good prank, a crone ( old, ugly woman) is sometimes sent to welcome the first-footers and expect a kiss at the door.

A Very Happy New Year to all!

Written in 2013.

Art – Sergey Sviridov. Source: Facebook

Despre istoria parfumurilor

Parfumul „este un poem silenţios, parte a limbajului invizibil al corpului. Ne poate însori zilele, bântui nopţile şi însoți lanțurile amintirilor”.
Michael Edwards

Cuvântul parfum, folosit în zilele noastre, provine din limba latină “per fumus” și înseamnă “prin fum”. Parfumeria, sau arta preparării parfumurilor, a luat naștere în Mesopotamia antică și Egipt, și a fost rafinată în continuare de romani și perși.
Deși parfumuri și parfumerii au existat în India, o mare parte din aromele lor se bazează pe tămâie. Primul chimist înregistrat a fost o femeie pe nume Tapputi, o preparatoare de parfumuri. Ea a distilat flori, uleiuri și obligeană, cu alte aromatice, iar apoi le-a filtrat și le-a pus înapoi, repetând procedura de nenumărate ori.

Arheologii au descoperit, în 2005, cele mai vechi parfumuri în Pyrgos, Cipru. Aceste parfumuri au o vechime de aproximativ 4.000 de ani. Parfumurile au fost descoperite într-o parfumerie antică. În epoca veche, oamenii au folosit ierburi și condimente precum migdale, coriandru, mirt, rășină de conifere, bergamotă.

Un chimist arab, Al-Kindi (Alkindus), a scris, în secolul al nouălea, o carte despre parfumuri, pe care a denumit-o: “The Chemistry of Perfume and Distillations.” Aceasta conține sute de rețete de parfumuri pe bază de uleiuri aromate, balsamuri, ape aromatice, camfor și unguente, și înlocuitori sau imitații de medicamente scumpe. Cartea descrie, de asemenea, metode și rețete pentru prepararea parfumurilor și echipamentele pentru prepararea parfumurilor.

Al-Kindi este considerat unul din pionierii științei parfumeriei.

To be continued…

Photo by RF._.studio on Pexels.com
Written for Pearlovski.

Just a star

I want
Just a star
And then we are
The stars that twinkle
Close to the heart
Of snowy, blizzardy winter
arrested in the wish
Of never-ending shine.

Happy never-ending shine
of winter
and precious gifts!

© Iulia Halatz
Co-author of Anthology Volume I: Writings from the Sudden Denouement Literary Collective, available on Amazon and Kindle.
Thank you for reading!

Art – Jessica Boehman. Source: Pinterest

Also featured on Medium.com, the Blue Insights publication.

Honour Christmas

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”
Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol.

Art – John William Waterhouse (contemporary Christmas adaptation)

Leave abysses behind

I understand predicaments. I lived through them.

After I left the limbo, something broke and the words and the odds have become simple and clear. As in a song sheltered by the desert.
Indeed, you are right. After all, we have nothing but possibilities, to build and to fly.

Working hard, musing and vicariously traveling in the obscurity of the Unknown. Reading and rewriting the stories of tomorrow. Because at your fingertips there is an inventory of light that was once gloomy shadows.

You have created wonderful dominions with the power of your mind and imagination. And we have the same engine that sets us going, doing better and leaving abysses behind.

And remember:
“We are the masters
of two small islands:
One of carton trees
and hollowed plastic flowers
and One
where the moon lives.” — from Trapeze Artist of the Moon

© Iulia Halatz
Co-author of Anthology Volume I: Writings from the Sudden Denouement Literary Collective, available on Amazon and Kindle.

Art – SALVADOR DALÍ -Woman at the window in Figueres. Source: Pinterest

Saint Nicholas was here!

A venit moșul!

Cu parfumuri Pearlovski și testere.
Între timp, elfii lucrează la următoarele cadouri.

Vă așteptăm cu 28 parfumuri de damă, 20 bărbătești și 5 unisex.🎄
Toate parfumurile noastre sunt persistente și puternice, deoarece conțin 30% esență de parfum made in France și 70% alcool etilic denaturat românesc.

Saint Nicholas was here!
Presently, I have sent word to Santa, through a friend who knows a friend who is good friends with an elf….