Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, observed on the Thursday before Easter, commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with his Apostles, marking a significant event in Christian tradition.
In Romanian Orthodox tradition, Maundy Thursday marks the final memorial service for the deceased during Lent.
It’s also the day when the tradition of painting eggs in red is observed, believed to imbue the eggs with resilience throughout the year.
In Romania, before painting, eggs are meticulously cleaned with washing powder and water, then boiled in dye. Historically, onion skins, tutsan, or linden flowers were used for dyeing, and eggs were polished with fat or bacon.
It is said that eggs dyed red on this day never spoil.
Joimarita custom
Another prevalent tradition suggests that Maundy Thursday served as a deadline for women in villages to finish spinning hemp. Legend has it that Joimarita, a mythical figure, would visit lazy women to inspect their progress; if found sleeping, they’d be rendered powerless for the year. Sometimes, elderly women would ignite unspun hemp in houses of young girls to spur them into action. In other regions, children with blackened faces would encourage girls to work, offering eggs for Easter decoration.
In southern Romania, a custom dictates that girls must tie 12 knots in a thread, each knot representing a wish. They untie the knots as wishes come true, placing the thread under their pillows to dream of future husbands. Additionally, older women in this region wash children’s feet on this day.
In western Romania, people bake Easter bread, bringing it along with wine and candles to church, where it remains until Easter.
The Fires of the Departed and the “Forgotten Bread”
Maundy Thursday is also revered as a day of blessing and protection for the departed, according to Romanian ethnographer Florea Marian. According to local beliefs in most parts of Muntenia, it’s believed that on this day, the deceased return to their former homes, staying until Grandparents’ Day or Pentecost Saturday. On that day, offerings of alms cakes and pots are made, and the departed depart with these offerings.
During this period, some souls are believed to perch on the eaves of houses, while others linger elsewhere until their departure.
Given that Maundy Thursday can be chilly when the departed return, it’s customary for fires to be lit in the morning and evening in the house’s yard or a designated area, providing warmth and light for the returning souls.
Fir these fires, the wood must not be cut with an ax or a sledgehammer, but must be broken by hand, and the one who brings it must not put it down from the moment of harvesting until he gets home with it. Some, after making the fire, put several chairs next to the fire on which they spread blankets, and others burn incense and pour water over them.
After the fire is made, some Romanian women make a flour cake, indented on the edges, which is called “bread of the forgotten” Joimare is the day when they have to give alms cakes for all the dead in the family.
The wedding of the nettles
The wedding or marriage of nettles means their flowering and the end of the period in which they are edible. The nettle, especially the small one or the nettle, also called royal nettle, hot nettle or stinging nettle, is considered not only very tasty but also very healthy. That’s why in the spring, when the nettles start to grow, every Romanian, especially the poor who have run out of food in their pantries, feels very happy when they can eat nettles. Since Maundy Thursday, however, the poor thing doesn’t even have a share of this plant, because from this day the nettles start to bloom.
The cry across the village
It is a custom of hundreds of years used in Muntenia and Transylvania, by which men and boys climb above a ravine and start shouting the name of each girl, who is industrious and who is lazy, who remained unmarried and who has grown old without anyone courting her. “And the young people are not held accountable for this, they are not punished as slanderers”, writes Simeon Florea Marian. In other parts of the country, men were also disgraced: those who spend too much time at the tavern or who remained with the land not plowed or who did not gather their hay from the field.
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