‘Big’ Romania remembered
Despite living many thousands of miles from home, Taranaki’s Romanians are holding true to their national day.
December 1 was Great Union Day, Romania’s national holiday, and a group of Romanians gathered to celebrate in New Plymouth.
Organiser Georgeta Salanta said it was important to maintain their traditions even though they were settled in New Zealand.
‘‘We love the country and we stay here, but we have to keep our identity,’’ she said.
‘‘This is important for us.’’ There is a small community of about 30 Romanians in Taranaki who keep in touch through a Facebook group, and try to meet occasionally, she said.
The holiday commemorates the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in 1918, which declared the country’s union with Transylvania and brought the provinces of Bessarabia and Bukovina into Romania. They first held a national holiday after the Romanian Revolution in 1989.
Cristina Wolf, who helps run the Facebook group, said most Romanians were very patriotic.
‘‘When your country’s broken apart, the day when it was ‘big’ counts for a lot,’’ she said, referring to what they call ‘big Romania’ before it was broken up again in World War II.
‘‘We continue to sing Romanian, speak Romanian, feel Romanian. We continue to cook Romanian.’’
She said they tried to make their faraway celebrations as homely as possible.
‘‘We try to wear our costumes; we try to wear our colours, the colours of our flag; we try to have some of the food that we are used to.’’
She said they all came for different reasons, but they enjoy the opportunity and the freedom.
‘‘We enjoy the fact that it’s almost as beautiful as our country; not quite there but then we are biased,’’ she laughed.
‘‘People say ‘you have an accent’ and I say ‘I know and I’m not going to lose it’.’’
Salanta has been in New Zealand for four and a half years.
‘‘I came here as a tourist and I fell in love.’’
Each year a large military parade is held in Constitution Square in Bucharest, the capital city, and another in Alba Iulia, where the assembly was held 99 years ago.