Everyday life
For employees, the working time is set at 40 hours per week. At school, the day lasts four to five hours for primary school students, six to seven for middle and high school students. In many schools, there is not enough space and the premises have to be shared: some have classes in the morning, others in the afternoon. There are no fixed times for meals. Moreover, restaurants are often open continuously from morning to evening. Lunch can be quick and light: city dwellers like to go to the local kiosk, buy a covrig (a kind of pretzel) or a pateu (a salty puff pastry). On weekends, Romanians in the cities like to go for a walk in the park or in the shopping malls. On sunny days, barbecues (grătar) in the middle of nature are very popular. On Sundays, many Romanians go for a day at the lake, in a valley or any other green spot: they grill sausages (mici) and drink beer, listening to music and chatting. A word has even appeared to describe the followers of this practice that has become a social phenomenon: they are called grătariști. As for holidays, they are most often spent by the Black Sea, a reflex that remains from the communist period, which gave rise to large seaside resorts. At the time, each one was dedicated to a specific public: Costinești for students, Neptun for party executives... Today's youth prefers Vama Veche, in the very south, the Mecca of the party. More and more Romanians travel abroad, especially to visit their relatives.
Obligatory visits to the church
For Romanians, who are 86% very religious and orthodox, baptism (botez) is almost systematic. The ceremony usually takes place a few weeks after birth. The child, naked, is entirely immersed in holy water by the pope. Marriage (căsătorie or nuntă) is a very important social event. A lot of people are invited and a lot of money is spent to organize a big party. The civil ceremony, at the town hall, is quickly dispatched. The religious service is much longer: the priest reads prayers and passages from the Bible. Then he places wreaths on the heads of the bride and groom, blessing their marriage. The couple walk three times around the altar, symbol of eternity, and embrace the iconostasis. The banquet, very copious, stretches throughout the night and is accompanied by music, still often played by lăutari, traditional music players. During the meal, sacrifices are made to a tradition that is not at all religious: the bride is "kidnapped", sometimes taken to a bar or club, and a ransom is demanded from her husband (alcohol or money). Funeral rites are numerous. During the three days following the death, the deceased is laid to rest in his or her home for relatives and friends to come and collect themselves. During the burial (înmormântare), the coffin goes through the whole village to be carried to the church and then to the cemetery. After the burial, a pomană meal is organized, where simple dishes such as rice pilaf with chicken and colivă, a traditional preparation made from boiled wheat, are served. Several other pomeni are organized afterwards, in memory of the dead: forty-five days and six months after the burial, then every year for seven years.
A changing traditional society
Romanians remain attached to a traditional family model. It is one of the European countries where people marry the most and divorce the least. Single-parent families are rare. However, things are changing, cohabitation is developing and young people are getting married later and later. The patriarchal model still prevails. Domestic chores are very largely devolved to women, who are much less well represented than men in politics and in the upper economic spheres. As for homosexuality, it was only decriminalised in 2001 and homophobia is still widespread. However, the situation of LGBTQ people has improved in recent years.
The soul of the villages
Despite the forced urbanization under communism and the rural exodus, the village (sat) remains the soul of Romanian society and popular culture. About 47% of the population lives outside the cities, a huge rate compared to Western Europe. In recent years, there has even been a return to the villages. City dwellers, tired of city living conditions or driven out by unemployment, are retreating to the countryside where, at least, one can cultivate a plot of land for one's own consumption. Many city dwellers still have strong links with their home villages. They go there for festivals, holidays and picnics. Each house is a self-sufficient little world: everyone grows their own vegetables and a little cereal, raises a few animals, distills their own țuica, makes their own hay... Millstones, carts, animals in the wild, villagers chatting on a bench or putting on their traditional Sunday costumes: these images of Épinal charm visitors, who will also find a strong sense of hospitality in the countryside. But many villages still remain off the road network, or without paved roads. They sometimes have no running water or sewerage. The well at the entrance of the house or the toilet at the bottom of the garden are still a reality. Thousands of homes are still not connected to electricity.
In the city, life in blocks
Under communism, large bars of concrete buildings grew like mushrooms in every city, and sometimes even in the countryside. Today, these blocks, as they are called, still house a large part of the urban population. Viața the block has in fact become a common expression. It's also the title of a hit from the 1990s, which describes daily life in these buildings: the broken elevator, cockroaches in the kitchen, hot water cuts or radiators that don't work... Inside, the apartments are often small, poorly soundproofed. The blocks are more or less pleasant, depending on whether they have been refreshed or not. In Bucharest, they often form lively neighbourhoods, surrounded by shops, with large trees and playgrounds.
