Roumanian Mucenici

La Multi Ani for all those without a saint's name day to celebrate - today it's our turn! Ha! Mucenici, of course! I didn't know what it was until my Nicole told me she'd been making them, showing how she would wrap the pastry strips around her finger to make tiny figure-eights, leave overnight to harden and then flavour with honey, nuts and cinnamon! Yum!! I should really have been Roumanian! That stork's GPS was definitely badly installed.

My Nicole sent me a link to a recipe for mucenici. Makes my mouth water.

Ingredients

• already dried “mucenici” can be bought around these day. I have used a recipe for 500g:
• 500g of nuts
• cinnamon powder 10g
• 8 tbs of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Preparation

• boil 4l of water with the salt and sugar
• when the water is boiling add the dried “mucenici”
• boil for 15 minutes
• let it cool down for 10 minutes
• add the mashed nuts and cinnamon powder
• let it cool down
• serve and enjoy your childhood memories or create new ones (that's what I'm about - creating new ones!)

So, where does this festival come from, for it's quite lovely (all festivals are lovely except for the 8th May which was forced by the communists and thus impossible to celebrate as far as I'm concerned)! All I know is that it follows the days of the old women. You choose a number from 1-9 and when that day dawns in March, your 'baba' depending on the weather and what kind of a day you have, will determine the rest of the year. Now it's the boys and men who choose their 'mos' day - old man day. 9-17 March, I guess. Come on dear Serge, choose a mos! I may get my visa faster and more effortlessly if you get a day of brilliant sunshine and have a fabulous, lucky 24h!!!

Below an article from Nine O'Clock to find out more:

The Day of the 40 Holy Martyrs

Bucharest - Romanians are celebrating 'The Day of the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebastia' today, one of the most beloved holidays nationwide. This old holiday celebrated the beginning of the Agrarian Year, which marked the official end of winter and the beginning of spring (don't they have groundhogs in Roumania? - Sarah's note). As an agrarian holiday dedicated to earth, today, homemakers prepare eight-shaped bagels symbolising season cycles. These bagels known as “mucenici” are brought to church by women in the morning to be blessed by the priest.

The “mucenici” are then given to the faithful along with a candle for the souls of the deceased to symbolise the belief that on this day, the souls of the dead are released on Earth to join their loved ones so they may enjoy this holiday together. This is also the day when, as tradition goes, people should drink 40 or 44 glasses of red wine (see - I said these festivals are great! - Sarah's note), which will turn into blood during the year, making the drinker strong and healthy. Everybody is supposed to drink the wine, and those who don’t should at least have a taste of it or let themselves be sprinkled with wine (no, that's okay - just gimme a glass. Will any wine do? Or what about palinka? I have plenty thanks to Miruna and her departure to Istanbul. She left me heaps! - Sarah's note). Although the number of wineglasses that should be drunk corresponds to the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebasteia (thank heavens it's not a festival linked to the 76 virgins, or however many there are in the Islamic faith! - Sarah's note), the custom goes back to ancient Bacchian holidays celebrated on the day of the spring equinox. (Pix right - Piatra Neamt - Sarah's note)

On this particular day, in villages especially, young people gather in groups and light big fires on hills with the purpose of driving evil spirits away, since there is the belief that early spring is a good time for witch-craft and those invoking malefic forces.

It is around these fires that “mucenici” and many wine-full glasses are placed on tables, for the souls of the dead that attend the feast. At the same time, “all houses are purified with holy water, as are the animals in homesteads, since people would believe that evil spirits are driven away and they take refuge in the remote corners of the home and in animal stables".

So there you go. Now you know all about the origins of mucenici, what they are and why they're eaten. All I can say is I'm so sorry not to be in Nicole's kitchen right now, where, with the 5h time difference, she and Serge are sitting down pe masa to a nice plate of mucenici...

Inca o data, la multi ani toate lumea, and especially to Hortense and Adela, bless you both, cu drag si cu dor.

Va pup! Sarah xox