Sanziene La Corbi 2015 – #SanzieneLaCorbi2015

The Organization of #SanzieneLaCorbi2015

        In May we completed the concept and began the promotion. We inspired ourselves from the experience gained in September 2014 – the wedding of the Korean couple settled in New York. We have chosen the same place – the traditional village Corbi on Doamnei Valley and the same guesthouse lost in the fir tree forest somewhere a few miles upstream Corbi village.

The Event

Where, when, who?

        We have celebrated Ia’s Day and Sanziene a little bit earlier. Because we relied on people coming from Bucharest, we organized the event in the first weekend before 24th of June.

Curtea de Arges

        We gathered 22 people from Bucharest. Among us three tots who didn’t wear for the first time the traditional costume. We began the story with a visit in Curtea de Arges, the first capital city of Wallachia. We visited the Royal Court, the Royal Church and Curtea de Arges Monastery.

Corbi, flowers, traditional meal

        We continued our way to Corbi. A fierce rain accompanied us from Domnesti to the guesthouse. We have reached our destination with good weather. The summer rain quickly stopped and over the lake in front of the guesthouse rose the sun. We had a traditional rich lunch.  The cheese, the ham, the eggplants, the beans paste, the spawn and the vegetables were served for starter. Then we ate tripe soup and pies cooked by recipes from Arges.

Enjoying the good weather we went to the meadows in the area to pick flowers. Tradition says that the flowers picked before Sanziene have magical powers. But they can be used for teas or cures only if they are picked before the 25th of June.

Ia, Corbi Monastery, Mother Uta’s house

        Without exception we dressed the traditional costume and we visited Corbii de Piatra Monastery (Stone Ravens Monastery) and the blue house of mother Uta. It was exciting to visit this part of Corbi. First of all wearing the traditional costume brings you a feeling of peace and harmony with everything that surrounds you. Then, many of the costumes that we had were old, were costumes with which our grandparents got married, with which they or their children have lived important moments in their life – high school graduation, college graduation etc.

It was beautiful especially because we have built a moment of harmony, of communion of the present with the past. The villagers admired us in that fairytale context – young people dressed in traditional costumes at Corbii de Piatra Monastery.

The fairytale evening

We returned in the evening to the guesthouse to receive the guests. About 20 villagers joined us and celebrated with us Ia’s Day and Sanziene. All wearing their traditional costumes danced and sang in the spirit of the event. We were amazed by the mastery with which they played hore, sarbe and many other dances, some of which were specific to that area. They also impressed us with their talent for singing. A young music band played at old (from which we remember the flute and the panpipe) and new instruments a series of traditional songs.

We enjoyed the traditional dishes cooked in cast-iron kettle with wood fire: forcemeat rolls of cabbage cooked in tuci (cast-iron kettle), grilled trout, pork, desserts made after recipes from Arges. The morning almost caught us dancing and singing.

“This opportunity to wear once again the ia, to dance and sing, to eat and drink traditional drinks and dishes, brought a sincere happiness both on the blushing faces of the young people who were like teleported in a chapter from their grandparent’s life and the serene villagers faces wreathed by this returning in time” Diana Nicula, participant.

What’s next?

We want to return to Corbi to amplify this magic of the Romanian authentic and to take it into the urban areas.

“We, at Pure Romania believe in the idea of making moments capable to inspire. We hope that we manage that by Sanziene at Corbi event” Alexandru, organizer.

#SanzieneLaCorbi – an authentic story in Romania every year!

#SanzieneLaCorbi2015 – video

#SanzieneLaCorbi – photo gallery

Photo: Stefan Radu

Article: Pure Romania