Vlad JURCĂ
Școala gimnazială Șimand, jud. Arad
The village Vasile Goldis is located in the eastern part of Zarand’s Depression. It is a village that belongs to the commune Beliu. Over time, this beautiful place suffered lots of changes regarding its name. At the beginning its name was Mocirla, then Lunca Teuz, ultimately ending up with the name of the head (leader) who led the Great Union from 1918. Vasile Goldis was born in the village that has his name.
1552 is the year where we have the first documentary attestation; the settlement takes the name from “Mochola” stream.
Vasile Goldis was born on the 12th November 1872 in Mocirla, in his grandfather’s house, named Teodor. His parents were Isaia and Floarea. Even nowadays, the people of this village keep the old words and sayings, most often used in spells and different sayings specific for wedding and funeral ceremonies.
In my research I found in the village many holiday customs, that are about to be forgotten because they aren’t practiced any more. In our country we have a lot of customs that are unique for every important event in a person’s life; they go from birth to death. The customs specific for birth are kept even today with small changes. The childhood and the entire life are defined to the spell, so each person should be protected from evil things.
The wedding is a complex ceremonial which brings together the entire village. Relatives, neighbours, friends bring their gift, which consist of food products, to the groom and bride. The wedding starts in the morning or at the latest in the afternoon. The groom goes with some of the wedding guests and with the musicians first to the godparents’ house, then to the bride’s home. Together with the bride, they go to the groom’s house, where the party will be held.
The funeral, just like the wedding, was an event where the entire village took part. The death of a person from the community was announced by the bell of the village’s church. The bell beat in a certain way. The funeral was organized with the help of relatives and friends; in this way everything was ready for the day of the funeral. The holidays over the year were usually celebrated individually in the family; they were rarely celebrated with all the people in the village. Collective customs gathered the entire village and this was shown trough dances and raft meetings.
Through this research I tried to rediscover some customs and customs that are soon to be forgotten, but they define us as a nation.
Keywords: Vasile Goldis village, traditions, customs, holidays.
