Thailand,the land of smiley people

               The Thai cultural festival took place between 18-22 September in Bucharest. Craftsmen and dancers from Thailand came there and show their most beautiful traditions.

                Firstly,the festival was places in the Peasant Museum and after that it was moved to Cismigiu Park. There weren’t so many things as in the first place, but we could also see dancers and craftsmen.

                The program was starting at 1 pm with some dance demonstrations, we could see a dance ceremony for agriculture and it lasted until 5 pm. During this period every craftsman was working: some were making Thai dolls, some animals by shaping the sugar and others were making fans and fishes from palm wood.

                On 18 and 19 when they were at the Peasant Museum, they had also umbrellas made from paper and hand painted , but they were all sold when untill they moved to Cismigiu.

               The most interesting craftsman was the one that made animals from sugar. He made horses, kangaroos, monkeys and whatever you were asking. Nevertheless, the most beautiful figurine was a dragon. It was the most difficult to made and it was up for auction at the end of the day with the starting price of 15 ron.

               It was an interesting experience, as long as I can’t travel to Thailand, I’m glad that I could see their traditions here, in my country. Thai people were very nice, smiling all the time and trying to answer you, even though they didn’t know English very well.

               In the end, I asked an craftsman if they will come back next year and he said that it is very likely to return because everything worked very well and they made good money. 

Cha no yu at Rendez-Vous Café

Cha no yu is the Japanese tea ceremony. It is an important tradition in Japan which in this crazy modern world gives you the moment of peace you need.

                Today, I had the opportunity to see a little demonstration at Randez-Vous Café in the old part of Bucharest. The space was very small and there took place two events at the same time, a girl from Japan played at shamisen and two other girls from Romanian-Japanese Studies Center organized a tea ceremony demonstration.

I couldn’t be in two places at once so I chose the tea ceremony. The girls explained us what tea ceremony means in Japan and how important is the way it is realized. They also told us that everything has to be unitedly : the people, the objects, the nature .The atmosphere during the ceremony was very nice and all that silence gave you an inner peace. At the end of the ceremony, the “host” told us the names of the objects that she used, their importance and also how they were made.

                In the end, they served tea to anyone who wanted to taste it. An interesting thing was that they served cookies and chocolate before tea the reason being that the green tea tastes bitter.

                The organizers were very kind, answered our questions and explained to us the whole ceremony. They also told us that the ceremony was a very small one, because of the small place and the large number of people who wanted to see it, and suggested to us to come to the Romanian-Japanese Studies Center to see a real one.

For more information about Japanese Tea Ceremony read link or link

Targ de produse eco si traditionale

Ati fost la Targul de produse Eco si Traditionale de saptamana trecuta?Daca raspunsul este nu, stati linistiti,nu ati pierdut nimic extraordinar. A fost un targ mic,cu maxim 7-8 standuri,cu produse din diferite parti ale tarii si un stand cu produse din Ungaria.

Pe langa nelipsitul Kurtos Kalacs, am mai putut gasi branzeturi,prajituri traditionale din Maramures si nu in ultimul rand Braga (pentru necunoscatori, bautura facuta din tarate,foarte apreciata pe vremuri).

Pe langa acestea,care mi-e una mi s-au parut mai interesante, au mai fost un stand cu diverse lucruri traditionale,cum ar fi cosuri din paie, covoare, diverse articole de imbracaminte facute din lana,obiecte decorative din lemn,un stand cu miere si produse apicole si un stand cu ceaiuri si plante medicinale.Aici erau si ceva pernute umplute cu plante care,cica ,te ajutau sa dormi bine.

Una peste alta, a fost acceptabil targul,ma asteptam sa fie ceva mai mare, cum a fost cel de mestesugari de prin mai,dar probabil nu prea sunt oameni interesati de produse traditionale in oras,mare pacat.