A Romanian in Morocco...

Hello, I’m Ana-Isabella, and I study at The Lycee Lyautey, in Casablanca.

I live in Morocco since my birth, but I’m Romanian.

I consider that I am very lucky to live in such a multicultural background, and that my roots are a real wealth.
Through this article, I would like to make you discover my country’s culture, by exposing its colorful traditions.
Romania is a Latin country, situated in the Eastern Europe, bordering on the Black Sea. It is a country full of history, with wonderful landscapes, crossed by the Carpathian Mountains and by the Danube, which gives to Romania its green and thick forests, its lakes and rivers;

The Music
For hundreds of years, music has played an important part in Romania.
The music is different from the other countries in Eastern Europe, because Romania is a Latin country, and not a Slavic one.
Today, Romania is divided into many counties, and each region has its own specific traditional music.
They differ by the rhythm, the instruments, depending on the influences of the region.
The best known form is The Doina, a poetic and melancholic music, played against a fast accompaniment pattern.
Gheorghe Zamfir is a Romanian pan flute musician, one of the most famous pan flutists in the world, if not the most.
Zamfir is known for playing an expanded version of the traditional Romanian-style pan flute.

Dances:
Just like the different music forms, the dances also represent a wide range of styles.
The dancers wear traditional costumes, according to the county. They are usually colorful, and each one represents an important artistic work.

Legend…
Romania is also well-known because of the vampire legend: Dracula
How would you react if I told you it is not totally wrong?
Well, obviously Dracula didn’t use to drink blood, or to follow other fanciful vampire traditions.
His real name is Vlad III Basarab, and he used to be called Vlad Tepes, which means “impaler”, in reference to his favorite way of executing his enemies.
He was born in Transylvania, and became prince of Valachia, a region of the medieval Romania, He was a tyrannical governor, according to the writings of that period. But this reputation could have been made up by the other kings and foes, who were trying to justify their hatred against this powerful prince.

The legend has been amplified by the tale of Bram Stoker, based on his life, and which gives him the “Dracula” denomination.
In final, though the Dracula story was above all a legend made up over time, no one really knows were stops the tale and where begins the reality…

Bran castle… It is known as Dracula's castle :

Many other castles are hidden in the mountains of Romania:
-Corvin castle is one of the most important monument of Gothic architecture in Transylvania.

-Peles Castle, with unique character, was built at the wish of King Carol I of Romania between 1873 and 1914.

Culture:
Romania has a unique culture, which is the product of its geography and of its distinct historical evolution. Like Romanians themselves, it is fundamentally defined as the meeting point of three regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but cannot be truly included in any of them.
Constantin Brancusi, Mircea Eliade, Mihai Eminescu, Eugen Ionesco, George Enescu are only a few names of Romanian artists who made their talent shining all over the world.