Christmas was introduced with the arrival of Christianity in Romania, but had a period of break during communism when religion, Jesus Christ and the Cross were banned by the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

In Romania, Christmas is preceded by the specific fast which lasts six weeks (from 15th of November to 24th of December). Fasting means giving up meat, eggs and milk or as our grandparents would say, giving up “sweet food”. A real fast means giving up physical love, alcohol and the payment of all the debts. Romanian living in villages do not watch TV, listen to radio and do not go to any party. The fast ends on Christmas Eve.

On 20th of December, Romanian people celebrate the “Day of Ignat”. On that day, people sacrifice a pig and start to prepare the dishes for Christmas. The sacrifice of the pig on  the day of Ignat anticipates Christmas. The traditional Romanian pork dishes are the sausages, “chisca”, “racituri”, “sarmale”, “cozonac”and more.

As in many other countries, Christmas is announced by the custom of children going to sing carols to people’s houses and going with “The Star”, announcing the birth of Christ. Also an old tradition is “going with the icon”, a kind if caroling made by the priests of the local community with the icon of the Nativity, blessing the houses and Christians. In the plans, the carol singers were receiving for Christmas pretzels, nuts and apples. Today these have been replaces with money, candies and cookies.

Nowadays, in Romanian cities the Christmas was transformed from a religious celebration in a commercial one. Instead of being a celebration of joy, Romanians got to categorize it as a tensioned event. Stress is felt especially for those living in big cities. While in villages people are preparing to cut the pig, in big cities they are in a run for gifts.