Romanian National Day

Romanian National Day has always been a very special event for us at IBSB, as we love celebrating cultures and learning about each other’s history and traditions. For me personally, this is a moment of reflection which makes me step back from the daily routine and think of the past with a sense of respect and gratitude. On the 1st of December, all Romanians celebrate the Great Unification, which happened in 1918, after the First World War, when we were in danger of disappearing as nation altogether.

As a teacher, I greatly enjoy teaching the Romanian lessons based on this historical events and I am very happy to notice how interested my students are in learning about their country’s history. They ask lots of questions and make incredible connections between different ideas and events. They all find this part of history fascinating. To me it seems almost untrue.

Prince Karl of Hohenzollern left Germany in 1866 to become the king of a small, unknown country. He travelled incognito through Austria, risking his life as Germany was their war enemy. He finally arrived in Romania and took his royal position incredibly seriously: he adopted the name Carol the 1st, learnt Romanian, and became Romanian both on paper and in his soul. He married a German princess, Elisabeth of Wied, who also passionately embraced Romanian culture and traditions and supported many Romanian artists.

Carol was the architect of the modern Romania: he created the first Romanian constitution, minted the first gold and silver Romanian coins, built many banks, universities and high schools, inaugurated the first Romanian train station (Gara Filaret), and build a third of the entire Romanian railway. He built Peleş Castle, the Romanian Athenaeum, and the Botanical Garden as major landmarks. He reigned over the introduction of electrical lighting in public streets, the first telephone line and the first cinema, among many other developments. He ruled Romania for 48 years with great achievements in all areas of public life. Because he only had one daughter, who unfortunately died when she was 4, the Romanian Crown was inherited by his nephew (his brother’s son), Ferdinand of Hohenzollern, another German Prince who devoted his life to Romania, along with his wife, a British Princess, Marie of Edinburgh (Queen Victoria’s grandchild). He came to live in Romania in 1889 as the Prince Inheritor of the Romanian Crown and married Marie of Edinburgh in 1892.

He became the King of Romania in 1914 under the name of Ferdinand the 1st. During the First World War he faced a very difficult decision, which he made only thinking of Romania’s biggest dream: The Great Unification with Transylvania, Bucovina (conquered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and Basarabia (conquered by the Russian Empire). He chose to side with the Triple Entente against the Central Powers and against his own country Germany. This led to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany removing his name from the royal house of Hohenzollern. I cannot imagine a bigger sacrifice a person could make: to choose his royal duty, the best for his adopted country, against his own feelings for his family. And he was not even Romanian…

Alongside him, Queen Maria of Romania supported the soldiers as a nurse in the military hospitals and visited and encouraged them on the battle field. She also had a very important diplomatic role. Due to her connections with the most important royal families from Europe, she was able to attend private and official meetings in which she promoted the Great Unification and the recognition of Romania as an independent European state. She was greatly loved by her people and she devoted her life to promoting Romanian culture and traditions in Western Europe and North America. She and her daughters drew the world’s attention to the beautiful Romanian folk costumes by writing about them and also wearing them at different events.

After the war, on the 1st of December, 1918, the historical region of Transylvania, following Bessarabia and Bukovina, united with the Old Romanian Kingdom (formed by Moldavia and Muntenia). In 1922, Maria and Ferdinand were crowned in a specially-built cathedral in the ancient city of Alba Iulia, in an elaborate ceremony which mirrored their status as queen and king of a united state.

Today, we are not asked to fight in a war or make crucial decisions against our feelings. Thanks to the simple soldiers, but also important personalities’, sacrifice, and patriotism, we are able to live in a free country and benefit from our rights. What we must not forget is that we owe this to them and honour their memory. Looking at my students, I can see in them the people who will be able to make a difference in our future lives. I was very happy and proud to see them greatly involved in all our Romanian National Day celebrations, happily wearing our traditional costumes and learning about their past with curiosity and respect.

Unlike previous years, we were not unfortunately able to put on a big show to mark the 1st of December celebrations, due to the pandemic restrictions in place. This didn’t stop us however from celebrating and wearing our colourful costumes during our online lessons on the 27th of November. I was very impressed by all students’ performances: costume presentations, poem recitals, songs and dances that were presented in our assembly dedicated to this special event. This proved not only the talent and passion of our students, supported by their parents, but also the pride of being Romanian and the desire to honour an important page of our history.

Congratulations to all the students and thank you for offering us such a special moment!