Romanian Easter Traditions & Useful Information
We want to acknowledge that Easter is one of the most important cultural and religious celebrations in Romania. On Easter Sunday, April 16th, 2017 many Romanian families and friends attend church and gather for the Easter lunch or dinner. Easter meals include: lamb, drob (lamb organs’ haggis with vegetables). Pască, a special type of Cozonac (walnut pound cake), and painted eggs. The eggs are colored red, yellow, blue, green and black.Romanians call the painted and decorated eggs “oua incondeiate”, “oua impiestrite”, or “oua inchiestrite”. It is customary to knock each other’s eggs during Easter. Some believe that people who knock each other’s eggs will see each other again after death. Others believe that the older person should knock the younger person's boiled egg first. Either way, we say:' Christos a Inviat! and we reply back: 'Adevarat a inviat!'
Fun Activity ...with Rewards!
Please share pictures with you, your family and friends participating in one of the activities suggested below and like our Facebook page and you can be the lucky winner of 2 free tickets to one of our upcoming events this year.
1) Painting eggs or playing the "Egg Tapping" game.
2) Easter Egg Hunt.
3) Making your own Cozonac, Pasca, or Easter Cake (Tip: You can use this recipe: atreatsaffair.com/romanian-easter-bread-)
A starting point for food shopping:
If you intend to buy traditional Romanian ingredients or food, these New York City stores are the most well known:
- Muncan Food Corporation - enjoy housemade cured & smoked meats, plus cheese & specialty products (43-09 Broadway, Astoria, NY)
- Nita's European Bakery - makes the best desserts, plus other cakes, cookies & pastries (4010 Greenpoint Ave, Sunnyside, NY)
- Alina's Cakes & Cookies - If you live in Connecticut, Alina will bake you the best dessert (White Birch Plaza, 2480 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield, CT 06825)
- Parrot - great groceries and prepared food, (4515 Queens Blvd, Sunnyside, NY)
- Or you can try sites like this one: https://www.thespruce.com/where-to-buy-eastern-european-foods-1136462
Please share with us on Facebook or e-mail office@romampro.org your favorite Romanian, Bulgarian, Polish and other Eastern European Stores throughout the US and on-line.
A sample of welcoming churches:
If you are in New York / New Jersey/Connecticut you can attend the Resurrection of our Lord service at midnight on Saturday at one of the following churches:
- Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection (59 E 2nd St, Manhattan)
- St. Nicholas Romanian Orthodox Church (45-03 48th Ave. Woodside, NY)
- Romanian Orthodox Parish “St. Dumitru” (50 W 89th Street, Manhattan)
- St Mary's Romanian Orthodox Church (42-14 74th Street, Queens, NY)
- The Life-Giving Fountain Romanian Orthodox Church (132 Califon Rd. Long Valley, NJ)
- St John of Wallachia Church (35 Fairmount Road, Ridgewood, NJ)
- Sf. Dimitrie Romanian Orthodox Church (504 Sport Hill Easton, CT 06612 http://www.stdimitrieeaston.org/)
For those of you living outside the NY Metro area, the following sites may come in handy:
http://www.roea.org/
http://www.roea.org/parishes.html
http://www.romarch.org/
https://oca.org/dioceses/romanian-episcopate
Please let us know whom and what else we are missing by posting comment on our RomAmPro Facebook page or e-mail us and we will leverage your knowledge with the community next year.
