The past few days have been frantic. We have discovered, amongst other things, that the comments section of this blog paginates when enough comments are posted.
Thank you to everyone who is supporting the case of the farmers who work with horses. It is encouraging that we have friends abroad who are prepared to stand up for our horses and us. I hope that your letters, and the lobbying that is taking place, will yield a positive result.
Emil expressed well the growing urban-rural divide in Romania. It is quite obvious that some here, even if they live in Romania, are not very accustomed with rural life. That goes beyond visiting some distant relatives for a couple of days. Or commuters who only spend the night in the country......For them, the horse-drawn cart is a symbol of a peasant society they must get rid of as soon as possible, as they get to erase any trace of their own roots to become full Europeans.
Maybe one day things will go full circle, as they have in Britain, to the point where "heritage" is a large and growing industry? However, here in Romania we're looking at people who actually depend on historic activities for their survival. It's very easy, as a visitor, to look on parts of rural Romania as a kind of working museum, as if the quaint customs are part of a great theme park. This may be an understandable mistake amongst tourists who lack prior contact with peasant farming; however it can become a destructive amnesia amongst less imaginitive urban Romanians.
The race to become full Europeans is futile. What is a "European" identity? Britain has a problem with identity, with all her historic baggage of empire, her multi-ethnicity, her decline as a world power. France tries to bolster flagging identity with futile laws to ban religious headgear. Germany has a slim post-1945 identity. National identity seems to have a diminishing role, so how can Europe gain an identity except in a negative way: as a rival to America, Russia or China?
Romania has a turbulent history as parts of other peoples' empires: Austro-Hungary, Turkey, Russia, the Soviet Union. The golden age of Moldavia and Wallachia - the Romanian ethnic heartland - was back in the late 1400's. That's a bit like basing British identity on the Second World War. There's much to be proud of, however many people suffered and died, and it was only a short period during centuries of history. The nation of Romania may embrace diverse cultures - Romanian, Hungarian, Saxon, Roma and others - however it does have commonly held values. Good values, such as hospitality; tolerance; hard work (on one's own land); faith; enjoying simple things such as food, music and dance; versatility; determination when times are tough. These values define the country. For the most part, they are the virtues of the peasant, coming from the multitude of farms and villages spread across the country. The heart and soul of Romania still is rural, and the cities - for the most part, concrete creations from the Communist era - seem strange and out of place. Perhaps that is why city-made laws sit so uncomfortably upon the peasants who are the real Romanians?
Back here, I took a walk up the hill to clear my head. There has been plenty to occupy my mind, and the horse cart issue is not the only important issue giving me stress in these days.
Oblivious to human concerns, the horses basked in the late afternoon sun. Positioned strategically, they could move up the hill for hay or down for maize. I passed a tongue of ice stretching down a shaded gully, leading from a spring from which,in warmer weather, water trickles across the pasture. Over the winter it has built up a glacier-like ice-field, engulfing a tree. Luke watched me from across the hill, looking a little like a rotund caricature of a pony with his lower legs hidden behind the slope. He was pleased to receive some attention, and curious about the cats and dogs that had followed me up the snowy hillside. I do wish that the kitten Lucky would desist from walking beneath horses. Nine lives can last only for so long. How much all these diverse animals with their varied characters mean to us, and how much richer are our lives because of them.
Funny creature, Luke, in that fuzzy winter coat! One look his way and any upsetting thought is gone:))
Posted by: emil | January 17, 2008 at 06:11 AM
I'm not good on ice. I'm not good on hills. I'm impressed with you and Luke! (I broke my foot once watering plants on flat ground.)
Beautiful photos and beautiful post, as always. Maybe an expat like you can bring an appreciation for "rural heritage" to Romania, though I think you have to have a certain distance from that kind of life to feel unthreatened by it. In other words, if you don't feel safe in your urban world and you're not many generations from hard-scrabble farming, the hard-scrabble farming has no romantic appeal but is something you are fleeing and fear will somehow suck you back in.
Posted by: Anne | January 17, 2008 at 01:52 PM
beautiful photos.
I read the below post and it shocked me to think horse carts would be outlawed in Romania.
Posted by: BarnGoddess | January 17, 2008 at 02:39 PM
Just surfed in from Ramblings... LOVE your site, fascinating. Being a farrier, I love the info about shoeing. What do the locals do for shoeing? Do they do it themselves or go barefoot?
Have bookmarked, will be back!
Posted by: Mikey in AZ | January 17, 2008 at 04:19 PM
What a tragedy should Romania lose it's connection with the past for the sake of "progress".
And what a greater tragedy it is that authorities and people in general do not see it as a treasure to be protected.
Throughout history, the peasant has rarely gained the level of respect that their hard work deserves.
Posted by: Simply Marvelous | January 18, 2008 at 05:27 AM