Bucharest International Jazz Competition sees bands, instrumentalists, and vocalists from all over the world visiting the city to compete for total prizes worth €7000. Participants must be under thirty-five to enter. Concerts are held mainly in the Hard Rock Cafe and Auditorium Hall.

In May Bucharest will step back in time for the Bucharest of Old festival, celebrating the city as it was 200 years ago. The festivities include parades of 19th-century costumes, rides in horse-drawn carriages, traditional food and musical performances.

First held in 2005, Bucharest’s International Film Festival, or B-EST IFF, opens the city’s Cultural Spring celebrations. Partnered by the Romanian Ministry of Culture, it offers a busy week of screenings, masterclasses and retrospectives.

In addition to the three competitions – for features, fictional shorts and documentaries – there are various other sections to Bucharest’s International Film Festival. Each year these include a survey of award winners from other big festivals like Cannes, Venice and Berlin, and a similar selection from American independent festivals such as Sundance, New York and Toronto.

Valentines Day is celebrated all over the world on the 14th February. Although in recent years Romanians have begun to adopt this date, instead they traditionally celebrate Dragobete on the 24th February. Dragobete is a character from Romanian folklore, the son of Baba Dochia.

The day is known as “the day when the birds are betrothed”. It is around this time that the birds begin to build their nests and mate. On this day, considered locally the first day of spring, boys and girls gather vernal flowers and sing together. Maidens used to collect the snow that still lies on the ground in many villages and then melt it, using the water in magic potions throughout the rest of the year. Those who take part in Dragobete customs are supposed to be protected from illness, especially fevers, for the rest of the year. If the weather allows, girls and boys pick snowdrops or other early spring plants (e.g. Lăcrămioară or Lily Of The Valley) for the person they are courting. In Romania, Dragobete is known as a day for lovers, rather like Valentine’s Day.

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Little in their history has given Romanians cause for celebration. They frequently suffered at the hands of a succession of invaders (invadatori) and have lived for long periods under foreign rule (stăpânire). About the year 1000 Transylvania was conquered by the King of Hungary and, except for a brief period (perioadă) in the sixteenth century, remained under Hungarian control (autoritate) until 1918. Moldovia and Wallachia were created in the 1400țs and both were ruled by Romanian princes (domnitori). The best known of these are remembered by the Romanians for their attempts to defend their domains against invaders from the north (nord) and south (sud) such as the Poles (polonezi) and Turks (turci). Stephen The Great (Ștefan Cel Mare), prince of Moldovia, defeated the Turks on several occasions and managed to keep Moldovia independent until his death (moarte) in 1504. In recognition of his exploits Stephen was called The Athlete of Christ by the Pope (papă).

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The end (sfârşit) of the First World War (primul război mondial) saw the union of all the regions inhabited by Romanians. The provinces of Transylvania, Banat and Bessarabia were added to the country to create what Romanians called România Mare. During the reigns of Ferdiand (1914-27), Carol II (1930-40) and Michael (1940-7), efforts were made to develop Romania. Modern highways (şosele) were built, a public bus, rail (calea ferată) and air system were introduced, and electricty (electricitate), gas (gaze) and water (apă) were brought to towns. More schools (şcoli) and hospitals (spitale) were also constructed. However, despite these advances the life of the peasants in the villages remained largely unchanged. Before the outbreak of the Second World War (al doilea război mondial) 80% of Romania’s 18 million people lived on the land (pământ).

In June 1940 the Soviet Union seized Besserabia and two months later Romania lost more territory, this time to Hungary, when, under pressure from Germany, she was forced to give away the northern part of Transylvania. At the end of the Second World War in 1945 Soviet troops occupied Romania and the first steps were taken to communize the country. This involved the abolition of all institutions and the creation of new ones, and the imprisonment of all those who opposed this process. The complete subjugation (subjugare) of Romania to the Soviet Union was marked by King Michael’s forced abdication (abdicare) in December 1947 and the proclomation (proclamare) of the Romanian People’s Republic.

I have recently discovered a new website called ‘Pictures of Romania‘. It gives an insight into family life and culture in Romania, with a nice personal touch.

A notable feature is the ‘request a picture’ page.

I have just found a site with hundreds of photos from all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Romania. Here is a map of the places covered:

The site can be found here.

Twenty years after Ceausescu’s execution his secret service is still active. For the first time, Romanian-German writer Herta Müller describes her ongoing experience of Securitate terror.

For me each journey to Romania is also a journey into another time, in which I never knew which events in my life were coincidence and which were staged. This is why I have, in each and every public statement I have made, demanded access to the secret files kept on me which, under various pretexts, has invariably been denied me. Instead, each time there was signs that I was once again, that is to say, still under observation.

Read More: http://www.signandsight.com/features/1910.html

Here is a video from the British Pathe archive showing Bucharest in 1961. It is in colour with English commentary:

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=700

Thanks to http://www.bucharestlife.net/2009/10/07/bucharest-old-chap/ for finding this one!