Christmas and New Year Dishes – Ritual Practices and Symbolic Meanings

The work highlights several significant aspects of traditional Romanian culture, ritual practices and foods during winter holidays, based on responses to questionnaires conducted by Ion Muşlea during the interwar period, found in the Folklore Archive of the Romanian Academy and rigorously transcribed by researcher Cosmina Timoce Mocanu, from the Romanian Academy Institute – Cluj-Napoca Branch.
We focus on those practices that relate to the culinary aspect of winter celebrations, as they largely reflect an ancient aspect of Romanian identity and culture, namely: the preparation of colaci – a traditional round shaped braided bagel type of bread (an aliment with strong ritual and symbolic connotations) and the arrangement and order of consumption of dishes on Christmas Eve.