Abstract
Traditional caroling in Vâlcele and Araci (Covasna county, Romania) is a calendrical custom representative of the Carpathian traditional culture from the southern area of the Baraolt Mountains and south-eastern Transylvania. The persistence of this ritual over time is remarkable, despite a hiatus in the oral transmission that occurred in the last three decades of the twentieth century. From I. G. Bibicescu’s collections (made in the last two decades of the 19th century) to the contemporary updated versions, the existence of the groups of carolers and hence of the Romanian Christmas carols is an undisputable reality of the local folk spirituality. Our study reveals certain aspects of the continuity of the (recorded) repertoire for over 130 years and of the contemporary enomenon of the Romanian Christmas time ritual, as an illustration of the local community’s efforts to preserve the cultural and national identity. The conclusions revolve around the current field researches that have revealed the enomenon of coexistence of traditional culture elements with the latest technological acquisitions in a seemingly paradoxical symbiosis, but which, before long, will generate new identity brands and cultural paradigms.
Keywords: Christmas Time Ritual, Christmas Carols, Traditional Culture, Carpathian Area, Ethnomusicology, Cultural Identity, National Minorities, Multiculturality
This paper was written within the project "Valorisation of Cultural Identities in Global Processes", co-financed by the European Union and the Government of Romania from the European Social Fund, through the Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, grant agreement no. POSDRU/89/1.5/S/59758.
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