'Silita' -the Eve before Lent
In Romania is a very old custom called “silita” which takes place on the eve before Lent.
Some days before that the children prepare some balls of rags on top of sticks or wires, the “silitas”, which they will dip in petrol and born on that special evening. At one end of the village all the people gather to watch the children spinning the “silitas” around their head, shouting and yelling in order to chase away the evil spirits, to call in spring and ask for good crops. The young men wrap some cartwheels in straw, set them on fire and roll them down the hill. In the same spirit of the purifying fire they make fires with sticks and wood and jump over them to prove their strength and in order to be healthy and protected all year round.
The ladies of the village come out with doughnuts ands fried pies, another tradition before Lend that all the people respect, and the men come out with their best home-made wine.
