Day 191 – Celebrating faith

Day 191 – Celebrating faith

Here in Romania, we have an old tradition called “Mucenici”. Today we celebrate the courage of the 40 Martyrs of Sevastia that stood up for their beliefs when others tried to force them to bow to idols. They were punished for that by being drowned into a freezing river..but after the execution something strange happened: the lake water got warmer, ice melted and 40 shiny crowns have come down on the martyrs. At dawn, they were taken out alive from the lake, were broken legs and were allowed to die.

For that, on this day, the 9th of March, people celebrate that miracle by making “Mucenici” : in water with sugar and cinnamon, forms of the figure 8, a stylization of the human form are cooked and then served with walnuts.

There are other traditions in different regions for example in Moldova, they form the figure 8 but cook them like baked buns, then smeared with honey and walnuts.

You can see the other delicious receipe here in the photo Romanian delight made by my friend Ramona.

So if you want to taste a bit of our tradition, I say to you, bon apetit :)