Ice

The Boars Were Mild

Condrat stands, props the oar against the thick trunks of the oaks and pushes the boat through the wood. Bits of ice slam against the ribs of the boat-bits of ice mixed with broken boughs, clots of floating vegetation, old leaves, cormorant and heron feathers. The storm

A Fishery

From the hotel on the lake we proceeded to the fisheries. Leaden clouds began to lour in the sky, a sharp wind began to blow; and the willows on the banks writhed in every direction. Far off, in the lakes, as far as our eyes could see from the upper deck of the ship, the

The Ethnography And Folk Art Museum Of The Institute For Ecomuseum Research In Tulcea

ASPECTS RELATED TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND FOLK ART MUSEUM  The Ethnography and Folk Art Museum represents one of the four museums which form the Institute for Ecomuseum Research in Tulcea (founded in 1993) following the reorganization of the Danube Delta

The Last Mohicans

Director of the Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest The right of the Danube Delta Biosphere locals to preserve their specific customs and traditional economic activities is guaranteed. That was in 1993. It was a sort of constitution of the Delta, which guaranteed

On Saint George's Day With The Hahols*

A white fur cap walks its way boldly above the fences, turns left all of a sudden and appears in front of me, before the gate of the church. The churchyard is full of people but the old man walks determined, bold, with his chest pushed out front, straight to the target:

Ivan Patzaichin - The Most Well-Known Lipovan Russian In The World

Between 1968-1984 Ivan Patzaichin (b. 1949), won seven Olympic medals (four gold and three silver) and eight world championships in canoeing. A golden Lipovan who has never denied his identity of a Starover (i. e. Old Believer) Russian from the Delta. He is modest, honest,

How Lipovan Russians Live

TULCEA Our journey to a few of the Dobrogean places inhabited by Lipovan Russians began in the town of Tulcea. Before everything else, we wanted to stop over in those neighborhoods where the population of Lipovans is more or less compact. There are two neighborhoods fitting

Ethnicity And Imagination In The Danube Delta

The Danube Delta is a land inhabited by Romanians coming from Transylvania, Moldavia and Oltenia (Little Walachia), as well as by people who came here from Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. There seem to be two causes that led to this ethnic mosaic: a political one –

The Stork

The Stork's an absolutely cool girl…None is svelterIn the Delta – She'll shriek, she'll jog, she'll comb the bogIn search of the odd fish and frog. She walks aroundTouching the groundWith one foot at a time, thereforeHer feet are never ever sore.

Nightfall On The Lake

He'd come with his head down, as if searching for something among the rocks on the road. What could he have possibly found new here, in a land surrounded by waters, on the shore laden with miasma? The narrowness of the bank? He knew all about it; the shiny grit? –

The Mirage Of Bird Migration

Head of Romanian Ornithological Center Over hundreds of thousands of years, Nature has searched for and found the most efficient adaptation mechanisms for each species, as well as for ways in which groups of animals and plants could support the big natural systems. In their

Spoonbills

At times, in vernal Romania, one may observe large birds migrating in triangular formation, high above towns, in a north-westerly direction. Their elongated necks remind one of our storks, still – the swift, fast propelling pinion flaps make one acknowledge a different