On Wednesday, the 20th of December, we invited members
of the community to the GEYC office to talk about rural heritage as part of
the project Promote Rural Heritage by Youth Workers. We talked about what
rural heritage is, got familiar with Romanian traditions and discussed in what
aspect of life rural heritage gets involved by preparing posters in teams. We
concluded by sharing our thoughts on the importance of traditions. In the
following article you will find highlights of this moment of sharing and
learning.
The rural heritage is the traditions that we kept through the years. We use
the word rural because these customs started in the countryside to be then
disseminated in the cities by the people. The notion of generations of people
and timeline is really important because it is what carries the rural
heritage. Without kids, parents, grandparents or other far away relatives the
rural heritage will be hardly kept as time passes. Of course, a part of it is
also carried by the society and the culture of a country, with holidays,
public holidays, certain dishes you find a certain time of the year in shops,
events, etc…
The traditions were created most of the time around beliefs such as religions
or spirits, ancient manners or even sometimes poverty, for example with dishes
that are efficient to give you enough calories and warmth. The rural heritage
is most of the time found around the same topics in countries, cities and
villages. For example, around love relationships: we can still find families
demanding dowries, waiting for the man to ask the daughter’s hand to her
father. In some villages in Moldova, when two people start to like each other,
the woman lights a candle at night in front of her window to tell the man she
is waiting for him.
There are also traditions when you install yourself in a new home. Your
parents could give you rice and/or salt to bring you prosperity, or you can
bring the broom you used to have at your parents house, so when you sweep
spirits go away and it brings good energies. And finally, there are also some
traditions when you meet your relatives. Outside of religious celebrations,
birthdays, there are customs such as “la bise” in France where you kiss the
two cheeks of your family members when you meet them.
Overall, we find ourselves carrying these traditions so unfortunately, we tend
to lose them through the times. They disappear more slowly in the countryside
than in the cities. But as time passes, as more people live in the cities, how
long will they be kept? Of course, some of them are forced to disappear with
the evolution of society. For example with equality between genders, less
people will use the concept of dowry and asking permission to marry to the
father. We will also create our own traditions without knowing it and they
will replace the old ones. Nevertheless, it is still important to keep some
traditions, because they tend to unite people, to link different generations
in families and elder generations to share their life and way of living with
younger generations. It helps to better understand the way our world worked in
the past and how it influences the way it works today.
Since our participants were from Brittany, Normandy, Alsace, Romania, and the
Republic of Moldova, they had a lot of specific traditions to share, and some
of them are mentioned above in this article. The end of the event brought a
deep discussion on how all of them cherish their heritage and identity, and
how this plays an important part of our everyday lives, even if we don’t
realise it.
The project also produced a Manual of Competencies, which was shown to the
participants towards the end of the event. This manual describes the skills of
a Rural Heritage Adviser, a new occupational standard proposed by this
project. As it was also discussed during the activities, traditions make up
who we are, and as time goes by, it is that much more crucial not to forget
them. This role would help public administrations in their endeavours, so that
rural heritage can be preserved, and cultural identity be maintained.
Find out more at
geyc.ro/PROruralheritage
#PROruralheritage