The birth of Jesus Christ is one of the most important feasts of the year on which the other feasts are based. It is an origin holiday consisting of pagan and Christian elements. The pagan reminiscences survived in time and are perpetuated by popular customs and traditions. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Doctor of Ethnology Tudor Colac, managing scientific researcher at the Institute of Philology of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, said that Christmas represents not only the birth of Christ, but also his life. All the facts, sufferings and the christening of Jesus Christ are remembered on Christmas. [The Gates of Sky open on Christmas] As any other great liturgical holiday, Christmas has an eve that is also celebrated. Christmas Eve is the day before the feast and is a fasting day. On Christmas Eve, groups of children and teens and even of adults go caroling. Another tradition bans lending on Christmas Eve. A proverb says that ‘you don’t have if you give’. The Gates of Sky open on Christmas night and those who really believe in God can hear the angles and the voice of living creatures that communicate with human voice. They say that the birds and animals must be fed well on Christmas Eve so that they are healthy throughout the year and produce more milk, eggs, wool. The women used to bake special Christmas bread in the form of number ‘8’ with the ends loose in the lower part. It was kept near the icon until the plowing season and then was used to feed the plowing man and the animals used to plow so that they had strength to do the farming works. [12 kinds of food on Christmas table] According to some traditions, there must be 12 types of food on the Christmas and New Year table. They symbolize the 12 months of the year and the apostles that followed Jesus Christ. They obligatory prepare food from meat. Tudor Colac said that they believe in the first visitor of the house tradition in some part of Moldova. It is better if the first visitor is a man, who should wish the family success and rich crops. “The Christmas tree is of a newer tradition that came to Moldova through Germany and Austria. It was lost in the place of birth, but is kept in our country. The evergreen tree symbolizes eternal life that dies and revives on Christmas. It is a calendar cycle of the traditional nature. The tradition of Santa Claus appeared on this occasion. He brings gifts to children and in the Romanian spiritual area includes many elements typical of Saint Nicholas, Saint Andrew and Saint Ignacio,” said the folklorist. According to Tudor Colac, there are at least 30 hypotheses as to where Santa Claus came from. According to some legends, Christmas is the man who didn’t want to allow Marry to give birth in his house and cut the hands of his wife for allowing Marry to give birth in their stable. The woman’s hands grew back in a miraculous way and this made Christmas accept Christianity. [Aggressive editing of carols caused great damage] Tudor Colac also said that the children were not allowed to go caroling in the Soviet period. The children were told that they go begging as if they don’t have what to eat. This thing still remained in the mentality of some generations. ‘This is painful and the fact that we went though such periods is a spiritual tragedy. Even the then publications removed the religious elements from carols. Who was then born on Christmas, if they took Christ out of carols? This aggressive editing of carols caused serious damage and we now have to reedit the traditions in order to prevent their disappearance,” said the folklorist. Tudor Colac also said that several years ago he welcomed a large number of carolers at his home, but now the number of children caroling on Christmas Eve decreased significantly. The schools are also to blame for such a state of affairs as they do not cultivate the love for national traditions. “It’s a pity that the national theaters do not put on plays with relevant people’s traditions that explain the origin of customs. The children do not want candies and Christmas bread now. I saw myself how caroling children threw the candies and the bread, put the money in the pocket and went on. The situation in rural areas is different as they keep the tradition of bread and labor there,” stated the folklorist. [The people that knows how to keep culture is lucky] Tudor Colac considers that the traditions and customs are passed on first of all in the family, and then in schools and at church. “They cannot wear trousers from hemp today as cultivating hemp is banned by law. If a woman wants to bake poppy flat cakes, she must file an application to the mayor’s office one year beforehand and ask to be allowed to buy a limited number of such plants. Things change in time, but the essence of the people’s astuteness remains the same. The people that knows how to keep their culture is lucky,” he said. According to researchers, there are over 300 carol subjects on Moldova’s territory. [Alina Marin, Info-Prim Neo]