Holidays with Olten flavor at the museum. “Some of the children have not even heard of the carol with Steaua”
Traditional culinary preparations specific to Christmas, the Winter Holidays and the most famous carols are brought, year after year, to the Olt County Museum. Many children today only learn about certain customs in this way.
“Tastes from old people” is an event that has been organized for several years at the Olt County Museum, high school students preparing dishes together with teachers according to recipes inherited from parents and grandparents. It is, on the one hand, a way to bring the children closer to the meaning of the holidays, and on the other, to make them “question” their elders in the family and bring old recipes back up to date.
The event starts every year with carols that you might think that teenagers and young people, students at a high school in Slatina, but many of whom come from the surrounding towns, bring from the village. It doesn't happen like that anymore, revealed Claudia Balaș, museographer at the Olt County Museum. “The promotions are changing and I noticed that some of the children haven't even heard of the carol with the Star”, Balas said.
The plug, a challenge for the TikTok generation
Pluguşorul is one of the few carols that can still be heard during the Winter Holidays on the streets of the south of the country. Teenagers (and only very rarely young people) who still go around the village with carols say the verses learned in childhood without looking for their meaning. They wouldn't even be able to understand, the adults agree, because they are describing a world that is completely foreign to them. It has also become difficult for the new generations of carolers to memorize the lyrics, so they read them from their phones. It was also the case of carolers from the “PS Aurelian” Economic High School in Slatina who tried to bring the atmosphere of the holidays of yesteryear. From behind the gang of carolers, a teenager deftly twisted the whip, causing it to crack.
“Steaua” and the much better known “Sorcova” were also heard, and in the hall of the Olt County Museum there was a small concert of carols, performed by students and teachers of the Economic High School “PS Aurelian” from Slatina.
“I like the polenta with meat as a garnish the most”
The dishes brought by the students and teachers of the Economic High School “PS Aurelian” are among those that tourists go crazy for and pay good money if they find them in the restaurant's offer. Meat garnished with polenta, drumsticks, lebar, bacon prepared according to undisclosed recipes, jumars, together with the beef salad that came later in the grandmother's household, sarmales, pickles, sheep's cheese. Somewhat less represented than in previous editions was fasting food. The zacusca was the star, but the fasting sarmales were also devoured until the end of the event, as were the pumpkin pie and cornelettes with plum jam.
A student actively involved in the preparation of the exhibited dishes revealed that she really likes being around her mother and grandmother, from whom she learns how to prepare traditional dishes. “I like the polenta with meat as a garnish the most”, confessed the teenager. This preparation, brought for tasting also at “Tastes from old people”, was prepared by his mother and grandmother.
The student is delighted to learn the recipes of traditional dishes from her mother and grandmother PHOTO: AM
“I really like to stay with my mother and grandmother, because they have certain recipes that I can say I like. When I cut the pig, my grandmother came to help my mother and I saw how they prepared it. They first chose the pieces of meat, which they melted very well (n. ed. – the meat is cooked in lard), after which they placed them in the garnish”. explained the student.
The pieces brought to the exhibition were consumed at the end PHOTO: AM
He also learned to prepare the check from his mother and grandmother, for which he did not need any help.
Other colleagues did a great job of making pumpkin pie and jam croissants, these being the products of Lent.
“On this occasion, he also learns what caroling means, what it entails and how it is done”
“Tastes from the elderly” is in its fourth edition, and in previous years there were also several partner schools, high schools that prepare students for the service field.
“It is an exhibition that we are making in partnership with the “PSAurelian” Economic High School in Slatina. Those who exhibited today are students of the classes of cooks, pastry chefs, hoteliers from this high school with whom we collaborate in many, many projects. One of the projects that is capitalized today through this exhibition is
“Traditions are no longer kept even in the current Romanian village”
One of the findings of museographer Claudia Balaș, during the preparation of this event, was that from one year to the next there are fewer and fewer children who know how to carol.
Students and teachers from “PS Aurelian” High School sang carols PHOTO: A. Mitran
“As part of the artistic program presented by the children on the occasion of this exhibition, we brought the carol with the Star to the public. I noticed – from year to year the promotions change – that they don't know, they have forgotten, some have not even heard of the carol with the Star. The goat was also very little known to them. They said that they heard it in certain videos, in the form of jokes on different social networks. On this occasion, they also learn what it means to carol, what it entails, and how it is achieved thing. Although most of the students at this high school come from the countryside, the idea is that even in the current Romanian village, traditions are not preserved anymore. Unfortunately, we find that those that are related to such important holidays as Christmas or New Year are simplified, they are simply skipped from everyday life.” Balaș noted.
Students and teachers from “PS Aurelian” High School sang carols PHOTO: A. Mitran
To some extent, things can still be saved by working with children, Balaș believes. The Olt County Museum conducts, around the holidays, including workshops for making Christmas wreaths and stars, along with decorations.
The carol with the Star is beginning to be foreign to the children PHOTO: A. Mitran
“It is possible, it is possible to recover by working with children, because I am surprised to find that in this generation, the TikTok generation, as we often call it, there are still receptive children, interested in learning. At the workshops, they learn not only to make, but we also tell them what is the purpose, what is the message behind those verses. Many of them go caroling. When we meet again we ask them and many said that they caroled”, Balaș also said.
“I learned from my father, who in turn was with carols”
Among the teenagers who took very seriously the role received in the event was Florentin, a student from the town of Coteana. The boy, who is 16, amazed everyone with his whip-twisting and cracking skills. The colleagues even declared themselves conquered, and so did the teachers. Only one colleague, Florentin revealed, was tempted to try to make the whip crack as well, but he is one of those who did this before as a child. “He said he knew, he had done it before, but in the end he didn't try again, he was afraid of hitting himself, because he hasn't fired the whip in a long time. I shortened this one, it's over 4 meters, but I thought maybe I don't have room to fire it that big”, the teenager revealed.
The exposed pieces were consumed at the end of the event PHOTO: A. Mitran
The boy has been weaving his own whip for several years, from twine or bale twine, the boy reveals. When he goes caroling, he always takes a spare tip, because it wears out quickly and the sound is no longer as strong.
The exposed pieces were consumed at the end of the event PHOTO: A. Mitran
“I learned from my father, who in turn was with carols. In our village they still carol, yes. With the Ploughman, we go on New Year's Eve, and on Christmas Eve we also carol, with “Lord, Lord, let's lift up”, and in the morning with “Steaua”. Now, you realize, it's more about money, not tradition,” said the teenager.
The student who amazed his colleagues and teachers PHOTO: A. Mitran
If in his parents' time all the boys braided their own whips and knew how to use them, today there are at most two or three boys who “pull the whip”. Crackers, which he admits he still uses, have taken the place of the old whip.
