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Washington, DC - “Gateways to Romania” was one the three cultural traditions featured at the 33rd Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival celebrated on the National Mall in Washington, DC from June 23-July 4, 1999. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival annually celebrates the cultural traditions of communities across the United States and around the world. The 1999 Festival featured the cultural traditions of New Hampshire and South Africa in addition to those of Romania. Romanian icon painters, carvers, and egg decorators demonstrated ritual arts. Music and dance groups from Moldova, Transylvania, and Wallachia performed a variety of traditions that ceremonially mark the seasons and celebrate the life of Romanian villages in sound, movement, costume, and theatrical play. A variety of craftspeople including weavers and potters demonstrated different regional styles in objects central to the arts of everyday life. Processions moved through authentically reconstructed village courtyards and urban musicians entertained while visitors ate traditional foods and watched the sights and smells of cooks preparing dishes such as sarmale (from cabbage) and mamaliga (from corn) provided a sense of Romanian traditional culture and its current adaptations. |
| On Sunday, June 27th, the Byzantine Divine Liturgy of St.
John Chrysostom was celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine in
Washington by His Grace, Bishop JOHN MICHAEL (Botean), Eparch of the Romanian
Catholic Eparchy of Canton, Ohio. Following the Divine Liturgy, Romanian
Catholic and Orthodox faithful, as well as many hundreds of visitors, gathered
on the Mall to watch as Professor Buzura, representing the Romanian Cultural
Foundation in Bucuresti, officially presented the church structure to Bishop
JOHN MICHAEL. Bishop JOHN MICHAEL then clebrated a Moleben (blessing
service). Following the 33rd Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival,
the donated building was deconstructed and transported to SS Peter and
Paul Romanian Catholic Mission in Chicago where it will be stored until
land and funds can be obtained for its reconstruction in its final location.
The church structure was donated in honor of the Jubilee year of the new
Millennium.
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival attracts over one million visitors each year. This story adapted from the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Information Website and from a press release by the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Canton, Ohio. Photographs by Nancy Olds, courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Archives and Collections, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution. Architectural sketches courtesy of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Canton. Special thanks to Stephanie Smith of the Smithsonian for her assistance in obtaining the photos. |
From top: 1. Romanian Orthodox nun prepares to call the faithful to worship. 2. His Grace, Bishop JOHN MICHAEL (Botean) greeting visitors. 3. Bishop JOHN MICHAEL and Romanian priests conduct a Moleben (blessing service). |
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