Colindătorii

Our exhibition project explores, through contemporary approaches, the Male Group Caroling (Colindatul în ceată bărbătească)—a ritual of time regeneration and community protection, with elements of male initiation, inscribed on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The opening takes place on Thursday, December 4, at 6:00 PM, at Palatul Dacia–România (18–20 Lipscani Street), in the presence of a group of carolers from Țara Făgărașului – Radu Negru National College.
The carol is a vocal chant of blessing, festive in character, intended to foresee and secure the future, to communicate and reconcile with the souls of the dead, and to invoke totemic representations. The ritual unfolds primarily in transitional spaces—at the window, the gate, or the threshold of the house—and takes place at night, a time considered sacred, associated with death and rebirth, a specific interval of initiation. The traversal of the village streets becomes a route imbued with magical significance, a true protective belt with an apotropaic role, encompassing the entire community. The presence of masks, musicians, and dance amplifies the ritual dimension, serving an augural function. The carol, as a sung blessing, is repeated at each household, reinforcing the performative power of the word through the fulfillment of its message. Sleigh bells, cowbells, and small bells serve signaling functions and, through rhythm, contribute to the restoration of order after the chaos generated by the agony and symbolic death of the Old Year.
Unlike star songs, which evoke religious themes centered on the Nativity of Christ, carols address cosmological, allegorical, and mythic themes: the genesis of the world, fantastic hunts, wedding ceremonies, vegetal disputes, love and death, and sometimes even the end of the world. Although Christianity has influenced some texts, the core of the carols preserves pre-Christian structures—relics of solar and agrarian rituals. The group exudes an exuberant, playful atmosphere, reminiscent of the merriment of Saturnalia and Dionysian celebrations connected to death and rebirth, maintaining the original syncretism of word, music, and dance.
In the exhibition COLINDĂTORII (The Carolers), the artist addresses the pițărăi caroling tradition of the Jiu Valley through the lens of his belonging to the momârlani community and by evoking a custom he participated in during adolescence. Grouped around the “flags” (poles decorated with bells, colorful kerchiefs, wool tassels, beads, flowers)—archaic representations of the axis mundi—the pițărăi are present in the exhibition through the spirit of symbolic masks, created by the artist based on the physiognomies of men from his lineage. Visual and anthropological research strongly intersects with the utopian world of childhood, highlighting individual and collective identities activated around the winter holidays.

Male Group Caroling in Romania and the Republic of Moldova was inscribed on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2013. The project is part of a series generated by the National Institute of Heritage at ART SAFARI.

Dr. Iulia Gorneanu