„Bună dimineaţa la Moş Ajun!”. Copii cu colindul în
Bucuresti, 1929
“Good
morning on Christmas Eve!”. Children carolers in
Bucharest, 1929
The carols represent in Romanian space the most
massive and diversified category of ceremonial
texts. The term is derived from the Latin word "calendae"
and has penetrated the Romanian vocabulary with the
help of the Slavonic word "coleda", which can be
explained by the adoption of the Slav-Bizantine
clerical hierarchy. A ritual with an agrarian theme,
the caroling takes place around solstices and
equinoctials.
The caroling of the children, a practice from the
southern and western parts of the country, takes
place before the caroling of the adults. In
Ionescu’s worlds the child appears in different
spaces (The Mosi suggest the child as a circus
actor), different moments in time (the holiday
season).
The image catches the ritual being practiced on
Christmas Eve. The children have everything they
need: the bags for collecting gifts (knot shaped
bread, apples and nuts) which are filled, a sign
that this is not the first house thay have come to.
Usually the caroling takes place in the yard, in
front of the door, and in this case the ritual had
been followed. The cage (without the dog,
fortunately) and the size of the bags compared with
their bodies suggest the little children’s ages. The
youngest caroler, the one whose hand is being held
by the girl, seems very committed. The boy in the
close-up is holding a wooden stick (probably a
"carol" - a stick made of hazelnut tree wood and
decorated with white and black rhombuses).
