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In all areas inhabited by Romanians, but especially in Moldova, New Year's traditions and customs are very rich and diverse, continuing even today. The area of Târgu Neamț (Neamț county) is notable for the extent of these traditions which have their maximum on January 2 of each year (only in Târgu Neamț), a day when the main street of the city is filled with thousands of revelers and numerous gangs and folk groups arriving from both city neighborhoods and neighboring villages. In recent years, this popular carnival has been completed in the form of a folk festival, with the participation of folk groups from other areas of Moldova (even from the Republic of Moldova), which present their program both on the stage set up in the central square and on the street.
The video was recorded in Târgu Neamț, on January 2, 2023, in unusually warm weather and without snow.
The video does not exhaust the extent of the street phenomenon, but it captures some important moments. The most common are the masked bands that beat the drums in a rhythm specific to the Târgu Neamt area, alternating with the whistles. The imagination of the masks (of the characters) has no limits.
The groups of Arnauts (a word of Turkish origin that refers to the Albanian population) are specific to the Neamț area and refer to the Albanian mercenaries in the service of the rulers (sometimes also the rich boyars) of Moldova and Wallachia during the medieval period of the Phanariot reigns (1711- 1821). The Arnauts present a kind of folk dancing skit, with specific music and movements.
Equally spectacular are the groups of 'bears' and (Gypsies) bear-leaders. Their performance is also in the form of a folk skit in which the bearers (often with blackened faces to remind of this ancient gypsy trade) beat drums and shout singing, and the bears dance to the beat. The bear is a symbolic animal in Romanian mythology, being the character that chases away winter and brings spring. The rolling, the rhythmic stamping of the feet, the 'death' followed by the miraculous 'resurrection' and the climbing of the bears on the club reproduce the succession of the seasons. It is assumed that at the origin of this custom would be a pre-Christian, Thraco-Getic cult.
Other fairly common zoomorphic characters are goats and deers, in representations somewhat similar to bears, but which do not appear in this video. However, we see a few 'little horses' (caiuti) being part of a complex folkloric group that arrived from Vorona, Botoșani county. Next to the 'little horses' are bears, bears-leaders, old men and women, other masks, as well as a group of carolers.
The end of the video shows some sequences from the final part of the winners' gala. There were about 25 folklore groups that performed for 4-5 hours on the stage set up in the city's main square. We see fragments of the performances of the complex folklore group from Boiștea (near Târgu Neamț) led by the parish priest of the village and which won the second prize of this festival-competition.
Finally, the final moment of the representation of the winners of the first prize, namely the 'bears' from Dărmănești (Bacău county). These bears from Dărmănești, like other groups of bears from the Trotuș Valley, probably the best-known and most spectacular bears in Moldova, stand out for the fact that they wear authentic (genuine) bear furs. The dance of 'bears' under the burden of tens of kilograms of natural bear fur, requires special training.