Seventeen ethnic-folkloric and religious groups from Moldova and Romania sang traditional Romanian carols typical of different regions of the country within the Festival “Jesus is born, praise him”.  It was the first festival of the kind staged and its goal was, according to the National Museum of Ethnography and History of Moldova that organized and hosted the event, to promote and perpetuate authentic carols, IPN reports.

Valentina Onofriescu, head of the Museum’s Exhibitions and Cultural Activities Division, said the festival is designed to propagate the authenticity of carols and of the national costumes of the groups. “The goal of the festival is to preserve the traditions of singing carols, observing winter customs and celebrating Christmas. We want to keep these traditions for our children,” she stated.

Attending the event, people’s artist Zinaida Bolboceanu spoke about the importance of perpetuating the traditional carols. “We should sing our home-produced carols, not the carols learned from different TV channels. We have a rich and nice repertoire of secular and religious carols,” she said.

The event was organized with the support of the Metropolitan Church of Chisinau and All Moldova. Priest Nicolae Ciobanu, cultural adviser at the Metropolitan Church, said that only traditional carols will be sang within the festival. “We speak a lot about carols and winter holidays, but not many of us open the soul to allow Jesus Christ to enter. There will be sung authentic carols that are known already. These are not modern carols brought from abroad, but Romanian carols,” he stated.

The participants in the festival will receive diplomas, while a jury consisting of such well-known artists as Suzana Popescu, Zinaida Bolboceanu and Tudor Ungureanu will assess the performance of the competitors.