A land of mountains, hills, and fertile plains, Romania is a tourist destination waiting to be discovered. It is a rich and complex country: a place whose cities are home to beautiful parks and vibrant cultural scenes; whose people welcome guests warmly into their homes, sharing the best of whatever they have, and party into the night, suffused by Latin joie de vivre. Buffeted over time between three great powers—the West, Russia, and Turkey—Romania betrays the cultural influences of each, and it can be a difficult place to get a handle on. Culture Smart! Romania provides an indispensable tool for the foreign visitor, digging deep behind the clichés, explaining many of the behavioral quirks of the people, smoothing your path toward better understanding, and outlining the many attractions—cultural, social, and geographical—that await you in this underexplored part of Europe.

This edited volume examines manele (sing. manea), an urban Romanian song-dance ethnopop genre that combines local traditional and popular music with Balkan and Middle Eastern elements. The genre is performed primarily by male Romani musicians at weddings and clubs and appeals especially to Romanian and Romani youth. It became immensely popular after the collapse of communism, representing for many the newly liberated social conditions of the post-1989 world. But manele have also engendered much controversy among the educated and professional elite, who view the genre as vulgar and even “alien” to the Romanian national character. The essays collected here examine the “manea phenomenon” as a vibrant form of cultural expression that engages in several levels of social meaning, all informed by historical conditions, politics, aesthetics, tradition, ethnicity, gender, class, and geography.

Romanian crafts are celebrated around the world: fine textiles, carved wooden furniture, ceramics, hammered copper utensils, painted eggs, delicate glasswork, hand-worked leather -- these are among the items traditional Romanian craftsmen have brought to an amazing level of artistry. A directory is included providing a list of the best Romanian artisans, museums, and craft destinations; recommendations on hotel accommodations and restaurants for the traveler; and detailed information for collectors about buying and exporting Romanian crafts.

An examination on the artist Brancusi and Romanian Folk Traditions by art historian Edith Balas.

This volume explores a selection of significant and topical elements from the vast amount of Romanian folkloric and mythological material. It sheds light on the mythical-ritualistic aspects of three complex calendar holydays (specifically The Lads of Brașov, Călușarii, and Sânzienele), whose ritualistic sequences, laden with mythical-symbolical reminiscences, were lost during the Communist period and are known today thanks to their spectacular features. Such aspects include demonic mythical beings (such as Iele, Rusalii, Știma Apei, The Woodwoman, and Strigoi) that define the collective imaginary; significant myths that have found their artistic expression in fairytales and legends; and the role of women in traditional Romanian society.