Queen Marie of Rumania

Hi Everyone,

My friend Mary sent me the link that you will find on the right of this page: Queen Marie - My Country, Rumania. It's a gorgeous site and I'm thrilled to have read it. At last, I have found a text, written by a fellow compatriot, who loved it here, too - no, but reeeeeeally loved it. She made it her own, she explored and protected and cherished it to the limit. Even during two years exile she yearned to come 'home', to feel Romanian soil under her feet once more, take her horse and gallop across the sands at Mamaia, explore little village churches, examine their frescoes and throw herself into imagining the sories behind them, say a prayer at the roadside crosses, visit peasants in their homes and press coins into their hands... This had become her land and without it, she couldn't breathe.

I feel as if she has taken the words right out of my mouth in so many of her paragraphs - it's as if I am reading, most curiously, my own thoughts. Her descriptions echo so precisely my own unbound love for this beautiful country and its people, that I really must share it with you. Here's an extract:

'From the beginning of time Rumania was a land subjected to invasions. One tyrannical master after another laid heavy hands upon its people; it was accustomed to be dominated, crushed, maltreated. Seldom was it allowed to affirm itself, to raise its head, to be independent, happy, or free; nevertheless, in spite of struggles and slavery, it was not a people destined to disappear. It overcame every hardship, stood every misery, endured every subjugation, could not be crushed out of being; but the result is that the Rumanian folk are not gay.

Their songs are sad, their dances slow, their amusements are seldom boisterous, rarely are their voices loud. On festive days they don their gayest apparel and, crowded together in the dust of the road, they will dance in groups or in wide circles, tirelessly, for many an hour ; but even then they are not often joyful or loud, they are solemn and dignified, seeming to take their amusement demurely, without passion, without haste.

Their love-songs are long complaints; the tunes they play on their flutes wail out endlessly their longing and desire that appear to remain eternally unsatisfied, to contain no hope, no fulfillment.'

As a result of spending the best part of the evening with my nose in it (series 3, last 4 episodes of Lost can wait), I have decided to take a stand. Not only do I continue to remain firm on my refusal to step foot in the UK while the present labour laws single out the Romanians and Bulgarians from getting jobs, but I shall, from this moment on, spell Romania with the 'U'. Why Ceausescu insisted that the 'U' be dropped in the first place back in 1966 will always remain a mystery to me, except that I understand it had something to do with getting back to original links with Rome - but he did rather shoot himself in the foot and make life very difficult for the future generations of Romanians, I mean, ROUmanians, in more ways than one. Here we have the first reason for the international misunderstanding and confusion of telling the difference and separating Romanians from Rroms (see great video on Gaby's site - link also on the right of this page). So, now, this blog is Sarah in ROUmania, not ROmania.

Actually, to be fair, my friend Nicolas in Nice did point this out to me some time ago. He tried to tell me that if I love 'Romania' so very much, as is plain to see, I should at least spell it right! But, me, always the stubborn one replied, 'but the spelling was changed Nicolas, and I'm an English teacher, so I can't spell the name of the country in which I live incorrectly'. He didn't take up the argument any further. And then I read Queen Marie's book, and well....that's that as far as I'm concerned. An upholder of the English language I may well be, but from now on, Roumania will be correctly spelt as it was before it was so stupidly altered.

Wikipaedia says the following on the subject: "The name "Romania" (România) was first brought to Paris by young Romanian intellectuals in the 1840s, where it was spelled "Roumanie" in order to differentiate Romanians (fr.: Roumains) from Romans (fr.: Romains). The French spelling version (Roumanie) spread then over many countries, such as Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany. In English, the name of the country was originally borrowed from French "Roumania" ("Roumanie"), then evolved into "Rumania", but was eventually replaced after World War II by the name used officially: "Romania". With a few exceptions such as English and Hungarian ("Románia"), in most languages, the "u" form is still used (German and Swedish: Rumänien; Bulgarian: Румъния; Serbian: Румунија / Rumunija, Polish: Rumunia, etc). In Portuguese, to distinguish them from the Romans, the Romanians are called romenos and their country Roménia."

So, that's that.

Do read Queen Marie. It's a gem, and so was she.

Thanks Mary! You're a gem, too.

Love, Sarah

Comments

[Little Me]

That is a beautiful extract and for once am not being sarcastic but YOU HAVE TO GET UP TO DATE ON WHAT IS GOING ON IN LOST before series 4 comes out (thankfully delayed due to writers' strike) so watch the episodes you know you want to.... tis seriously the best season yet!!!!!!

Lots to say, las day at work tomoz so will email you LOTS after that! Bises to Rosie.