Today Christmas is, once again, spoken of openly in Romania and Craciun (Christmas) is celebrated in style and with enormous joy – the Christmas traditions honoured as they always were and the air of anticipation and love almost tangible. The 25^th of December, Christmas Day, is one of the most important religious holidays on the calendar. In honour of Saint Ignatius, Ignatius’ Day is also celebrated in Romania in December and it takes place on the  20^th of December – five days before Christmas. A sacrificial ceremony is performed by almost all the villagers who own pigs and it takes place in their

back yard. As soon as the ‘sacrifice’ has taken place, the matriarch will put straws in the pig’s snout, cover it with burning straws and singe it. After this, the patriarch will make a sign of the cross on the pig’s head and make an announcement to the family, saying  “Let’s eat the pig!” A piece of the flesh is cooked immediately and it all turns into a rather splendid affair where all the family members (even extended family and neighbours) sit down to eat, washing it all down with copious amounts of ţuică (plum brandy). This is known as the ‘funeral feast’ and even though many countries consider the Ignatius ceremony to be rather barbaric, Romanians believe that it ensures that the soul of the pig receives recognition for the nourishment that it provides to all the families in Romania. Who are we to disagree?

BAKED GAMMON

Ingredients

• 5 kg gammon – pickled or smoked
• 2 onions, peeled and studded with cloves
• 4 carrots, peeled and halved
• 15 plums, seeded
• 2 tbsp good quality paprika
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 12 peppercorns
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 pint of dry cider
• Salt and pepper to taste – take care with the salt
• For the glaze:
• Cloves for spiking
• 8 tbsp plum jam
• 1 lemon, juice only

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180 C.
• Soak the gammon overnight, drain and discard the water and pat the gammon dry, putting it in a large, deep oven dish and pour in the cider.
• Place the carrots underneath the gammon so that, in the event that it caramelizes a little too exuberantly, the flesh doesn’t stick to the bottom of the dish.
• Rub the paprika into the flesh of the gammon, massaging well and salt to taste.
• Now add all the rest of the ingredients to the oven dish and cover tightly with aluminium foil.
• Bake for about 2 hours before opening it and checking to see whether there is still sufficient liquid left, scoop over the meat and cover again and bake for another 1 – 1 ½ hours.
• Once cooked, remove the ham from the dish and allow to cool before peeling away the skin – carefully.
• Re-heat oven again to 190 C.
• Score diamond shapes on the fat and stud each diamond with a clove.
• Heat the plum jam and lemon juice in a pan for a few minutes until it thickens to a sticky glaze and then brush it over the surface of the gammon.
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the glaze has set.

The real Christmas festivities begin with the decorating of the Christmas tree on Ajunul Craciunului (Christmas Eve) and here fir trees are preferred.  Everything must be ready before Mos Craciun comes to deliver the gifts – in the urban areas, the children will receive gifts but in the villages, most children will only receive sweets, nuts and cakes.  Carol singing plays an important role in the Christmas celebrations and throughout the Christmas season, small Romanian children (more especially those in the villages) will go from house to house singing carols – special favourites are Steaua (the star),

Trei Pastori (the three shepherds) and Mos Craciun (Santa Claus) – while they walk they even recite poems and tell one another the Christmas legends. On the 25^th, many carolers walk through the streets holding stars made from cardboard and paper upon which Bible scenes are depicted. The leader of the group carries a much bigger one, made from wood and aluminium foil, decorated with bells, baubles and ribbons – and in the middle of the steaua, the inevitable Nativity scene.  The singing is begun by young children, followed by the adolescents and, usually after midnight, the adults, well lubricated by now, join in.  Carolers don’t go unrewarded for their efforts – they usually receive nuts, coins and cozonaci (traditional cakes) from the homes they visit. No Christmas eve would be complete without

a dubasi (drummers band) though –the all the unmarried men in a village form a drummers band – and if it’s a large village, there will be more than one band. They walk around to give all the villagers the Good News – they start practising about a month before Christmas and if anyone is in Romania at that time of the year, it’s a not-to-be-missed event. The band consists of a leader – known as the vataf, the drummers – known as the dubasi , a large mare that will carry the gifts that they receive for their efforts and the musicians who will play a taragot*, a sax and sometimes even a violin.  They also sing and have songs for everyone – sometimes good ones and sometimes rather mean ones.  Traditionally they need to ask permission to sing and if they’re not allowed, pranks may be expected – there have been occasions where the dubasi stole a gate and hid it so that everyone could see who refused them permission to sing. So they go from house to house, singing, drumming, joining the family for something to eat or drink and receiving gifts of plum brandy, sausages and money. Today the dubasi are even popular in the cities and a band of 50 – 60 men not uncommon.

BAKED PORK CHOPS

Ingredients

• 4 pork chops , trimmed
• 100g fresh breadcrumbs
• 2 tsp caraway seeds, crushed
• 700g sweet potatoes, sliced into wedges
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Method

• Heat oven to 200 C.
• Toss the sweet potatoes in the oil and cook in the oven for 35 minutes until lightly charred, then season with a little salt.
• Combine the breadcrumbs, the caraways seeds, the garlic and the mustard in a food processor and season lightly.
• Cover the chops with the breadcrumb mixture and pack tightly to cover them well.
• Pour a little olive oil into the baking tray and place in the oven to heat – then remove from the oven, place the chops on the heated baking tray and place in the oven.
• Bake for about 10 minutes, removed the tray, flip the chops and bake again for another  10 minutes so that the topping is golden on all sides.
• Serve with sweet potatoes.

One of the more interesting traditions would have to be the Nativity Drama which is a play of  masks. It’s known as Irozli (more especially in Transylvania for King Irod and his companions) or Vifleim and is a form of folk theatre that represents the birth of Jesus.

The characters are:

• King Irod, wearing a long red cloak on his shoulders, a sword at his hip and a big crown on his head.
• The 3 magi: Valtezar in yellow, Gaspar in pink and Melhior in violet-blue clothes.
• The priest Ozia wears a black coat and carries a book and a cross in his hands
• The captain wearing something like uniform.
• The soldiers wearing old military coats.
• The two shepherds, Action and Coridon, wear national costumes.
• The angel wearing, naturally, a long white coat.
• The gypsies wearing old, seedy clothes.

Nativity drama is inspired by the clerical literature from the Bible texts and here the folk and religious themes intermingle in a most delightful way.

LANGOSI

There are many Gogoseria booths in Romanian towns and it’s well worth stopping a while to buy one of these this season.  The plain ones are called gogosi, while the ones stuffed with cheese are called langosi.

Ingredients

• For the batter mix
• 350g plain flour
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 2 free-range eggs
• 375 ml oz milk
• 2 tbsp melted butter, plus extra for frying
• A pinch of salt

Hazelnut filling

• 3 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 285ml pint milk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 4 free-range egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 225g chopped hazelnuts
• 250ml oz whipping cream
• For the raspberry coulis
• raspberries
• caster sugar, to taste
• 2 tsp Kirsch
• icing sugar, to serve

Method

• Combine the flour, the sugar, the salt and the baking powder, make a well in the centre  and add the eggs and milk, mixing it together well.
• Now add the melted butter and mix well – this will be the pancake batter.
• To make the filling, put the butter, the cocoa powder and the sugar in a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water and combine – make very sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
• Add the vanilla extract and milk and stir well – continue stirring over the hot water until the mixture has thickened.
• Whisk in the beaten egg yolks and continue to cook until mixture is creamy – more or less, ten minutes.
• Add the chopped nuts and mix everything together and allow to cool.
• Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold into the cooled hazelnut mixture.
• To make the raspberry coulis, blend the raspberries with the Kirsch and sugar to taste.
• Heat a small, preferably non-stick, frying pan over a medium heat and then add a little melted butter followed by a ladleful of the batter mixture.
• Cook until golden, flip over and cook the other side for about a minute.
• Place on a warm plate and repeat with the remaining batter.
• To serve, place a generous spoonful of the hazelnut cream filling on each pancake and roll up. Pour over the raspberry coulis and dust with icing sugar.

* A Balkan woodwind instrument that originated in ancient Rome